Chapter 3 - Calidum Portum
May 8th, 2545 (06:55 Hours – Military Calendar)
Aquilla System, Actium
Over High Mediolanum, Republic of Pavia
:********:
Who'd ever heard of a mass counteroffensive being announced one day then launched the very next?
The Staff had been the voice of reason on that, explaining that they simply didn't have time to wait and extensively plan, that they had to move quickly before the Covenant started glassing.
Still, it was much to swallow in one night.
The Colonel assembled the 7th Battalion outside the Coroebus Stadium shortly after the general meeting to break down the goals of each company the moment they hit the ground. The objective was straightforward: they would capture High Mediolanum's 1st Premiere Wall and neutralize any Tyrant AAs thereafter, of which satellite reconnaissance revealed the presence of 12 within the Coastal District.
While their sister battalion, the 22nd handled the Residential District, the 7th would land in the Coastal. The coastline was their best option since the high urban density within the adjacent area would hinder their efforts to regroup and make them easier targets for local Covenant forces. The beaches were divided up into four different sectors each tasked to a single company. The Lavender Sector, named after the beach like the others, would be Bravo's drop-zone.
As the Task Force left New Verona with Battlegroup Indigo and crossed southward over the Strait of Per Ciridium, Duncan spent the time meditating on the steps. Step 1: Get off the beach. Step 2: Secure the Eluciana Hotel located there as an advanced operating post. Step 3: Push further east to the 1st Premiere Wall. Step 4: Secure the wall's transportation gatehouse as well as the lower and upper terminal leading to the 2nd Tier.
Run. Take the hotel. Run again. Take the wall.
His meditation continued even as his pod began turning in the launch tube.
Battlegroup Indigo's forward elements had managed to descend into the Stratosphere. Eight Paris-Class heavy frigates comprised the advance force dropping the ODSTs onto High Mediolanum, four dropping the 7th and another four moving a few kilometers east to drop the 22nd. They were initially expecting a fight on the way in but then discovered no major Covenant naval forces in the area, an easing but also uneasing fact. Their absence would at the very least make the drop smoother. But the question remained. If they weren't here then, where were they?
As the drop bay of the UNSC Thermopylae opened, Duncan felt his hand reach impulsively for the MA37 nestled in the weapon rack. The absent Covenant ships were the least of his worries. What really worried him was the fireworks show of plasma AA currently crisscrossing the airways above High Mediolanum.
The element of surprise had obviously been lost before they had even arrived. Perfect.
"That's a nice view." The Colonel remarked over Bravo's comms. "What do you think, troopers?"
Several ballsy ODSTs sounded off their 'appreciation' of the view.
"This is about as close to a vacation spot as we're gonna get, isn't it?"
"Shut it Hotel-7. As far as I can tell we're landing in luxury."
"Sun, sand and sea sounds good to me."
"Sounds like a good place to die too."
"Drop on my mark." Garrison said. "Remember, we get off the beach and hit the Eluciana's plaza. From there to the wall."
The ODSTs of Bravo Company flashed their HUDs' acknowledgement lights.
"…Mark, punch it!"
Garrison's pod went first, taking the lead as always. Bravo rocketed after him in a cascade of high velocity dispersals. The other companies followed in jettisoning from their ships. Further east, the 22nd Battalion were doing the same.
In less than a few seconds the stratosphere above the city was filled with over 2,000 HEVs. Their large number made focusing on any individual pod nearly impossible. They grouped together in clusters or streaked solo across the sky, then were joined by scores of others flying at similar velocities. There were a few A-list drop artists willing to risk a little more speed to overtake the rest of the group, Yuri predictably being among them.
To Duncan, this was the real view. Even back during the trainings on Onyx, the Beta Company LRSOIPs never exceeded 300. Now he was looking at well over six times that many pods all in a single drop. They looked seemingly suspended in mid-air over a surface area that was getting closer and more defined with each second and kilometer passed.
Since they had bypassed the mesosphere entirely, the drop was turning out to be a lot smoother than normal. The usual atmospheric burn midway into the journey instead came as a small wash of flickering flame over their viewports rather than an all-consuming curtain of hell. This way they were able to see what was coming.
After bursting through a fading layer of stratocumulus clouds, Duncan got a good picture of the area.
The city was even more massive than he'd imagined. Given that he knew the holographic portrayal wouldn't do it any justice, he still wasn't quite ready for the scale.
Each one of the three individual tiers of High Mediolanum was a city in its own right. The 'districts' were more like urban mazes of buildings. Although most of the skyscrapers were located in the Scenic District, there were some pretty sizable structures in both the Residential and Coastal Districts, notably the myriad of hotels that dominated the latter. A number of marinas with seaworthy recreational craft dotted the length of the 34-kilometer long bay in front of the first tier. At least a dozen pairs of kilometer-long causeways allowed for back and forth travel between the city and the islands of the Gulam archipelago lying outside the mouth of the bay.
Then there were the three Premiere Walls. Standing around 100 meters tall, they divided the city into three giant terraces, giving it its unique appearance of mother nature's attempt at making a staircase the size of several municipalities.
With the addition of the encircling mountains, the city reminded him of images of Rio de Janeiro that he'd seen on Waypoint advertisements.
A flash of light yanked him from his observation as bursts of plasma zipped past his viewport.
Outside, a flurry of plasma fire came up to meet the incoming HEVs. Streams of AA discharges filled the air, emanating from sources on the ground that were only just coming into view. Hundreds of anti-air shades stationed throughout the city were opening up on the two descending battalions. Distant and nearby explosions went off across the morning skyline with more fortunate HEVs continuing past the flaming wrecks of their less fortunate comrades.
Duncan flinched when a pod on his left suddenly disappeared in a blast of blueish yellow flame. Like hundreds of other ODSTs he was forced to steer away from the showers of burning debris that had held fellow troopers in them only moments ago.
They reached the altitude for chute deployment. While a good number deployed theirs, some chose speed over safety simply because the latter wasn't a guarantee anymore. Slowing down meant they wouldn't smash into the ground, but it also made them easier for the shades to track.
The Shade Turrets weren't the only things giving them hell, however, as an angry swarm of Seraph fighter squadrons flew in to intercept them like shivers of sharks to a flock of tuna. ODSTs tried piloting away as they ploughed into their formations. Seraphs slashed at their pods with plasma cannons and launched torpedoes that chased after their targets like deadly green fireflies. Some didn't bother firing at all, but merely crashed into the pods themselves, causing a number to detonate as they impacted off their multi-phased energy shields.
Duncan saw a Seraph zoom just underneath him to laterally guillotine an HEV off to his left, destroying it outright. In passing it also grazed Nova's pod, sending her spiraling off course.
On one of his internal monitors he saw her being jostled in her seat.
"Ep-2!" The Staff called. "Stay with it, get your pod back into alignment!"
Nova was breathing hard now, the G-forces from her spin pinning her in place. "…Trying."
Duncan felt a deep sinking feeling at what he knew wasn't a good situation. The beach was only another twenty seconds down. He tried to think of something, anything to help. But by the time he got an idea she was already out of range and the ground was too close.
At fifty meters his breaking rockets engaged. He watched Nova's pod crash into the nearby shallows as his own impacted the shoreline. He popped his hatch, grabbed his rifle and leaped out into a frenzy of flying plasma and bullet tracers.
ODSTs from Bravo Company were firing from behind their pods at targets further up the beach, laying down covering fire for others that were just landing.
Across the Lavender Sector, HEVs were pockmarking the surface with a few even landing in the nearby shallow shoals.
In under ten seconds the surviving elements of Bravo had made it down and used their HEVs to setup loose defensive positions along the first fifty meters of the beach. The last twenty meters were barren leading up to the concrete foundations on which the beachfront property of the Eluciana began. Palm trees palisaded the area and their fronds swayed lazily in the morning breeze. Further back were over half a dozen bean, star and rectangular shaped pools that were themselves surrounded by swim-up bars, straw-roofed cabanas, rings of white poolside chairs and decorative sea grape hedges that branched intravenously throughout the beachfront. The Eluciana itself was a lavish, twenty-story building that looked more like a castle due to its stylistic features reminiscent of Norman fortifications. Its light beige coloring helped downplay the scorch marks dotting its surface. What it couldn't downplay were the room-sized holes that had left parts of the hotel looking like a fruit that a caterpillar had greedily burrowed through. The same could be said for the large number of craters spotting the beach.
A quick glance down the 34-kilometer long coast confirmed that the Eluciana was the norm rather than the exception. The urban tree-line of hotels and resorts that stood before the rest of the metropolitan forest were all left in some form of disruption and disrepair. Some were bombed out. Others had crumbled into ruinous debris mounds where the skeletons still jutted out from the destruction.
The damage was extensive, and also useful for Covenant forces defending the coast. Hundreds used both intact positions and rubble as advantageous cover, firing and receiving return fire from the battalion of shock troopers advancing up the beach.
Jackal snipers took up overwatch from elevated positions while contingents of their shielded brothers, Grunts and Elites maneuvered to take out the Helljumpers.
A few kilometers to Bravo's north, Delta Company were struggling to hold their ground amidst an array of plasma cannons and shade turrets guarding the exits to the Medallion Sector. Further down, Echo Company were similarly pinned but making some headway by exchanging Fuel-rod cannon blasts with rocket explosions on the Sangria sector. Alpha Company was two kilometers to Bravo's south. They were already pushing past rows of smoking Shades guarding Aegean beach to commence their assault on the Fera Caspa resorts.
Bravo actively stared down the twin-barrels of twelve Shades squatting on the Eluciana's property. A mix of Grunts and Elites manning the Type-26 Stationaries strobed the landed pods with plasma, gunning down any ODST that couldn't find cover or that had just leaped out from their HEVs.
Ten pairs of sniper Jackals occupied the Eluciana's rooftop. They sighted in on troopers, skewering vulnerable shoulders, hands, legs, chests and helmets with a round from their beam rifles. Meanwhile, squads of Elite minors maneuvered around the area in front of the shades to take a more active role in the fighting, hurling untranslatable death threats as well as simmering plasma grenades at the troopers.
At least twenty pods had gone up in flames and nearly thirty ODSTs were either dead or wounded by the time Duncan got a full grasp of the situation.
He winced as a cascade of pink needler rounds glanced off the other side of his pod. A few hit the sand mere centimeters from his boots. He wheeled out and focused on a quartet of Grunts bold enough to charge into the Helljumpers' positions. He sighted on the lead one aiming a needler his way and put a six-round burst through its face. As it toppled back, other ODSTs cut down the rest.
He fell back just as a beam round flashed past. The Jackals were quickly becoming a problem. So were the Shades. If they were going to move up the beach then both had to be dealt with. How to do that, however, was the question.
Other platoons answered by laying down suppressing fire for binary rocket teams to dash to cover further up the beach. The brief engagements were stopped short before the Shades again divided the area into a lattice of firing lanes.
The Staff came over team comm. "Ep-8, on me, now!"
He looked over his shoulder to see the Staff dashing back towards the shore, towards the pod that was slowly sinking into the shallows. In all the action he'd almost forgotten about Nova. He risked sprinting after the Staff, zigzagging between pods while streams of plasma stitched the ground around him. Halfway to the shoals he felt a beam zip past his neck and he threw himself behind an HEV a short jump away. To his surprise, Deaks and Renni were already crouched behind it. They both nodded at him.
"Get going Irish." Deaks said, hefting his sniper. "We'll cover you. Just get Nova out of there."
Duncan nodded and rushed away as Deaks and Renni swiveled out to cover him.
He reached the shoreline where the Staff was already wading through the crystalline, turquoise waters to Nova's pod. The HEV was submerged up to the viewport. Since no more shots came his way he went in after them.
The water combined with the yielding seafloor made it difficult to move. The further he went the warmer the Koronea Sea became. He was also starting to notice the heat. It was Spring on Actium, but it felt more like midsummer.
He saw Nova's pod disappear beneath the waves before he could reach it. The Staff immediately dove down after it.
Duncan was still a few meters away and he found himself having to swim as the water deepened. His armor started weighing him down. He made it to the bubbling wake of the entry vehicle and dove.
The water was remarkably clear. He could see up to twenty meters in either direction, including the sprawling patches of fringe coral reefs and schools of vibrant colored fish that trafficked between them.
Nova's pod hit the seafloor five meters down in a more open space. The fact that its occupant hadn't tried getting out yet or respond to his or the Staff's comm-heils was worrying.
Duncan breast-stroked towards it, although the weight of his suit helped bring him down more than his own efforts. His BDU switched to limited oxygen mode, causing the armor's air reserves to appear on his HUD. He hoped the two minutes he had would be enough as he watched the Staff angle up alongside the pod. Duncan headed over, grabbing its other side to steady himself.
"Ep-2, what's your situation?" The Staff called.
No answer came. There was no sign of activity on the other side of the viewport either. The craft bore a sharp indentation in its exterior that didn't look too promising.
"Ep-2, respond, over."
A wash of static flared through team comms before Nova's disoriented voice came through. "…Here sir. The…pod's…oh god, where am I?"
"Underwater." Duncan answered. "You need out before the water gets in." He looked in closer and saw Nova up to her shoulders in it. "Can you blow the hatch?"
"No. That impact knocked out my electronics. My bolts aren't primed."
The Staff took a step back, pulling out his sidearm with one hand and a grenade with the other. "Ep-8, back up."
Duncan started connecting the dots as he stepped back, sparing a worrying look at the HEV.
The Staff wedged the frag in the indent on the vehicle's surface. "Ep-2, I'm about to blow the pod open manually. Keep your teeth in your skull, understand?"
Nova hesitated but flashed her green acknowledgement.
The Staff crouched on the seafloor, aimed and fired two shots. The water's density slowed the bullets but not enough to stop them from hitting the grenade. The subsequent blast created a sphere of displaced water that quickly collapsed into a rising mushroom of bubbles. The hatch flew away and the pod toppled backwards as compressed air spewed from the newly exposed cavity.
The two ODSTs swam over. Nova still sat in her seat, looking slightly rattled yet lucid enough to grab her MA5B. She clipped it to her back harness and took their hands for them to pull her out.
"We'll run for it since we're too heavy to swim back." The Staff said.
The other two nodded and followed him in a slow dash across the seafloor.
Fish parted before them on their way through a small neighborhood of brain corals, waving sea fans and coral pillar mounds that grew more tightly packed the further in they went. They squeezed down aquatic alleyways while smaller fish as well as the larger, whiskered variety with the appearance of Catfish-Mako shark hybrids glided over them.
At a certain point Duncan checked his oxygen and saw he only had another minute left. They had just come out into a more open area with a clear way to shore when Nova started falling over. Realizing she was running low on air; the Staff and Duncan grabbed her arms and dragged her onward.
With three meters to the surface Duncan felt his air supply running out. The last ten seconds on his timer winked red.
He forced himself forward. Then his timer hit zero.
Immediately he felt unable to breathe. He eyed Nova's limp form and the Staff also struggling with each step. He forced himself to ignore the growing pain in his lungs, instead focusing on the approaching surface. When it came, both he and the Staff lunged out into the open. Their BDUs quickly switched to an active air intake.
The three swallowed in the fresh air by the mouthfuls while their armor cycled in more oxygen to replace their spent reserves.
The relief was cut short when a plasma mortar landed a few meters out in front of them, boiling the water's surface.
Multiple energy mortars were now arcing towards Lavender Beach. They appeared from beyond the Eluciana and streaked down onto the sector. Several accurate shots consumed HEVs and the ODSTs fighting behind them whole.
Duncan spotted Deaks hailing them over from behind an upturned pod. The rest of Epsilon were also taking cover nearby.
The three of them fought through the water to sprint to shore, sliding behind a set of pods with the others.
"What's the situation, Ep-3?" The Staff asked.
"We've got Wraiths to our north and southeast. They started opening up about a minute ago."
"And the breakout?"
"Neptune-Actual said its almost in place. We're just buying a few more seconds for-"
A sudden rise in assault rifle fire caught the squad's attention. Twenty meters ahead, 2nd platoon peppered the nearest emplacements with suppression fire, giving a two-man rocket team the chance to dash over into a crater.
"That was last one." Yuri said, ducking as a beam round struck the other side of his pod.
The Colonel came on the squad's personal comms. "Neptune-Actual to Ep-1, you there son?"
"Present, sir."
"Hope you had a nice swim. As you can see, we've got a little Wraith problem."
A Nav point appeared on the squad's HUDs highlighting a location half a kilometer away, just northeast of the Eluciana. "STARS observations and radio-traffic show a fire controller relaying orders to the Wraiths. Once we break from Lavender, I need your squad to take it out. That'll stop their mortars long enough for us to neutralize the hotel. Use the pool formation I highlighted to reach it."
The Staff checked the route on his TACMAP. He looked at the others who nodded back in reception. "We'll get it done sir." He said.
"Copy."
The Colonel switched to the company's communications. "Neptune-Actual to Bravo, rocket teams prepare to engage. Everyone else lay down some cover on my mark."
Duncan saw everyone across the beach reloading their rifles. He checked his own and decided he could make do with '26' on the counter.
"Mark!"
The entire company swiveled from behind pods and inside craters to put down a swath of suppression fire across the area. The sheer intensity of over two-hundred guns letting loose a uniform salvo caught Covenant forces on the ground off guard. Grunts and Jackals fell by the handfuls. Even the Elites were forced to retreat to higher ground or throw themselves flat on the sand. Those that couldn't simply added more stains of blue blood to the upper half of Lavender Beach.
"Rockets!" The Colonel called.
Immediately, the twelve binaries that had moved up the shoreline arose and fired their SPNKRs at the line of Shades along the beachfront. Two dozen rockets struck their targets. In an instant, most of the turrets went up in fiery gasps. A second volley struck the remainder, putting them permanently out of commission.
With the sector's defenses neutralized the Colonel gave the order: "Move up!"
The surviving ODSTs broke cover to sprint up the width of the beach. While the Jackal snipers and plasma mortars still came, they were no longer enough to stop them. However, the outgoing tide of ODSTs made the number of dead and wounded more visible. Around a platoon's worth of troopers had to be left behind with few that were still clinging to life having medics tending to them.
The Staff turned to Renni and Deaks. "Ep-10 stay behind to save who you can. Ep-3, you're her big brother today. Don't let her out of your sight unless those buzzards on the roof start paying her some attention. Both of you keep an eye out for mortars. Understand?"
Renni flashed her acknowledgement light. Deaks did as well, although with a palpable delay.
"Stick with it, Ep-3, you'll get your teeth soon enough. The rest of you on me."
The Staff sprinted out and the others followed. Renni and Deaks joined them up to the point where the wounded became denser and broke off from there. Epsilon's new medic slid to a crouch next to a trooper with a plasma burn on his side. She dragged him to cover behind a toppled pod the corporal had found, got a good look at the wound and whipped out her biofoam injector. Deaks watched her get to work spraying the tissue regenerative polymer onto the wound, then refocused on the rooftop snipers, paying back a Jackal that had tried taking a potshot at his head.
Meanwhile the rest of the squad managed to catch up to Bravo as they started filtering onto the Eluciana's property. From there the company broke into its individual squads, maneuvering down the lanes of hedges while using them for cover.
Troopers began systematically clearing the area. Wounded Covenant were summarily executed while Elites, Grunts and Jackals still on their feet fought on. The two sides traded fire over several pools while regularly dipping behind the thick hedges when the other side returned the favor.
Epsilon came out onto a section just to the north of everyone else. There they came across the hotel's lazy river, a lengthy pool that snaked all throughout the property. Remarkably the water current was still functional. They walked up to where the river looped back towards the side of the hotel.
Nova let out a sigh. "Are you really going to make me go under again, sir?"
"Oh I'm not making you do anything. You can stay if you want." The Staff said then leaped into the water with a splash. Nova watched the others jump in after him.
Duncan came up on her right, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You'll be fine. Just think of yourself as a marshmallow in a mild cup of chocolate."
Before Nova realized the lurking intonation beneath his words, he swept one leg out from under her and used her imbalance to push her over the edge. She tumbled into the water face first. When she resurfaced, she depolarized her visor to glare at him, then slowly melted into a grin. "Guess I had that coming."
"Woah, Deja vu." Zack said, having watched from the side. "Never thought you were the type to hold a grudge that long, Irish."
"I don't." Duncan corrected as he jumped in next. "I just have a long memory."
"I'll bet." Zack followed him in and trailed behind the rest of the squad.
Epsilon moved with quiet haste. They were forced to crouch since the water was only half a meter deep here, meaning they would rely on the encompassing walls to hide their progress behind enemy lines. They moved along the long passageways, circumventing bends in the river while the current pushed them along. They navigated around a few corpses as well, usually ones dressed like former staffers. Their bloated bodies, made so from prolonged exposure, floated past them.
The sounds of plasma and ballistic fire continued in the air. Yet the decorative palm trees that swayed peacefully overhead seemed unaffected by the plasma mortars that flew high over their tops.
Then there were the pipes.
The further in they went the more of the dark-purple pipelines they came across that dipped into the river and sucked out quantities of water. They networked across the hotel's property, even running back towards the waterline on the beach. Whatever their purpose was, they would have to find it out later. For now, something else equally strange held their attention.
Hector had pointed it out first; an object that floated alongside them once they were passing the Eluciana. A closer look revealed it wasn't an object at all, rather a worm, a Hunter worm.
The squad stopped to let it swim past. Duncan noted that the orange, serpent-like lifeform was less focused on them and more so on what lay ahead. They followed it around a bend until they came across a deeper, wider section of the river. Only what little of the river there was to see was nothing in comparison to the swarm of Hunter worms that coalesced on the surface. Their appearance vaguely reminded him of living seaweed. Their slithering forms shifted over the chlorinated water like a gathering of eels in the Sargasso Sea.
Rico stopped to look back at the Staff, shaking his head. The latter looked to the squad and pointed down.
The ODSTs dipped into the now meter and a half deep water. They crawled along the outer edge of the wall, keeping one eye on their oxygen timers and the other on the blanket of disembodied worms, wondering where the bigger forms were. That question was answered when squad's started reporting run-ins with Hunters. Four pairs had stopped Bravo's advance just outside the Eluciana's rear plaza. To add to their troubles, the Wraiths were getting more accurate in targeting them.
Duncan noted their objective was less than fifty meters away. However, it felt as if the river had them going in circles. They were sacrificing speed for stealth. While the random shadow of a passing Elite or Jackal would flash across the surface without noticing them, the entire venture was costing them more time than anything.
The Colonel comm'd in. "Ep-1, we're getting cornered by Hunters and artillery up here. What's your status, over?"
"Forty-five meters left sir. We've encountered Hunter worms across the river."
"…Copy that. Keep moving."
As the Colonel signed off, Duncan spotted an area on the surface where worms appeared to be falling into the water. He upped his visor magnification on the phenomena. Above them stood the silhouette of another pipe. But this one was releasing worms rather than sucking up water. He briefly wondered if there was some connection between the pipes and the worms. Whatever it was he still couldn't pull out an idea that made sense. What exactly were the Covenant doing here: making an aquarium?
Epsilon rounded another bend that led into the mouth of a bean-shaped pool where the Nav point stopped. It was both wide and deep enough for them to get around the denser patches of Hunter worms congregating on the top.
The reddish-purple structure standing in the middle of the pool had more in common with a land crab than a fire control station. Several segmented leg struts upheld its base over the surface. The central body was ovular shaped with various glowing components surrounding a strip of observation windows. A few pipes connected with its main structure while two small ramps extended back to the poolside.
There were no signs of Covenant forces in the area. Most of the fighting surrounded the Eluciana's backyard. Epsilon was near its front side, far enough away from the shooting.
Seeing more plasma mortars soaring overhead reminded them there was no time to waist. The Staff pointed one half of the squad to the left set of legs and the other to the right.
They waded through the water at head-height, making it easy for them to blend in with the worm colonies.
They assembled at the struts. Two-man teams each took a leg. One kept watch while the other pulled out an M168 Demolition charge from their rucksack.
Duncan quietly thanked the Colonel for having the foresight to make half the battalion carry at least one M168 in case they came across such obstacles. He planted it on the strut, twisted the priming handle into place and gave the Staff the thumbs-up. One by one the other planters did the same.
The Staff pointed back to the river mouth. When they were safely away, he gave Rico a nod. The ODST held up an interlinked detonator and thumbed the trigger.
There was a synchronized beep right before the charges went off. The quartet of explosions completely engulfed the station. A secondary blast from inside turned the fires into a plasma-blue inferno that mushroomed up into the sky, sending burning debris, worms and steaming water falling across the area. The fiery remains crumbled into the pool.
Duncan watched the burnt upper arm of an Elite land in a hedge off to his right and felt a small tinge of satisfaction.
They waited for a few seconds. The plasma mortars flying overhead soon grew few and disorganized. After a full minute they stopped completely.
The Staff comm'd the Colonel. "Neptune-Actual, Covenant firing control is down and out sir."
Garrison sounded somewhat strained on his end. Gunfire followed by the bellowing whine of a plasma cannon echoed nearby. "Copy your last, Ep-1. Now move up to flank the Eluciana. We're still taking some heat from these Hunters so make it quick."
"Roger."
The Staff led them out onto the poolside. Happy to have their feet back on dry land, they made their way through mazes of sea grape hedges, crossed walkways and slaughted an unfortunate Grunt patrol along the way.
There were no Covenant actually defending the eastern face of the hotel save for a pair of Grunts manning Type-27 Shades to either side of the lobby doors. A quick barrage and they were dispatched.
Remarkably the front doors still slid open at their approach, indicating the presence of emergency generators.
Several crystal chandeliers gave the front lobby its light, reflecting off the brown marble floor as well as the blood that pooled from over forty dead bodies. They were civilians, many of them lying with suitcases in hand in what looked like a failed escape turned massacre.
There was at least some form of life in three Jackals that stood around a few Covenant supply crates near the receptionists' desk. They were reaching for the weapons inside when they saw the ODSTs standing in the doorway, their weapons already drawn.
Neither of the three aliens ever got to pull out their own pieces before the squad cut them down, leaving the already plasma scarred room riddled with bullets.
The Staff held up two fingers, flattened out his hand in a sweeping motion then pointed up.
The troopers took the hint and split into their four-man fireteams again, the Staff taking point on Team 1 while Nova took Team 2. They fanned out from the lobby across the ground floor. Marble corridors and empty eating areas spanned the majority of the space. Save for a few unfortunate Grunts, Team 2 encountered nothing, nothing alive at least. There were plenty of dead tourists, staffers and scattered suitcases to go around.
Soon they arrived at a kitchen. Stacking up on either side of the doors, Duncan kept his focus on Nova's hand signaling, mostly because he didn't want to risk glancing down at the two little girls lying near the threshold. Both looked like they'd given up trying to escape and instead held each other close. Maybe they were sisters. He stopped once he realized where his mind was going. He forced himself to ignore the still glowing needler fragments embedded in their backs as Nova pushed through the doors. He followed close behind with Yuri and Mito in the rear.
They were flanked on all sides by rows of metal stoves and empty workstations. They filed down the central walkway, scanning the room. But it was when they were almost to the door on the other side that Duncan finally noticed the tips of quivering gas tanks hiding behind stoves on the far end. The owners, several Grunts, rose up with pistols drawn.
"Contact!" Nova shouted.
The ODSTs broke off to cover as the Grunts hurled plasma fire over their positions. Duncan peeked out from an oven to uppercut the closest with a ten-round burst to the face, knocking it back in a spray of blue blood. He targeted the one next to it and scored a lucky shot through its eye socket, killing it instantly. Nova disemboweled another with half a clip from her MA5B.
The last one jumped out to attempt a brave last stand when its throat was suddenly slashed open. It hadn't noticed Mito sneaking up next to it until he had already struck, arcing his katana across its neck. The alien toppled back; its head barely still attached to the rest of its body by a few lucky tendons. Mito twirled the sword downward then finished it off with a thrust through the chest. Once the alien's struggles died away, he withdrew his blade and saw that everyone else was staring at him.
"You know you could've just shot him, right?" Nova asked.
"Yeah, I know." He whipped the blood off his blade. "But that wouldn't be as satisfying. Besides, we can't let them think they're the only ones with swords around here." He slid the Yamamoto Aka back into its sheath with remarkable grace.
The others stared at him a moment longer then continued to the door.
"I like how he thinks." Yuri laughed.
"He's a character, alright." Duncan added.
They stacked up on the door. Nova counted down her fingers. At one they rushed through onto a fire stairwell.
Nova pointed up, and up they went.
Each floor seemed more damaged than the last. A number of exits had clear views of the outside due to gaping holes in the walls left from explosions. They couldn't afford to stop and check the floors though, not while those sniper teams were still active.
Duncan felt like his legs were ready to give out by the time they reached the doorway leading onto the rooftop. The roof's floor was covered in gravel, something that gave the feet of the ten pairs of Jackal snipers enough traction to position themselves along the western wall. They had bundled closer together as the fighting grew closer. With their beam rifles they tracked and fired interchangeably on targets moving throughout the beachfront.
Across the rooftop the entrance to the other stairwell slowly opened. The Staff and the rest of the squad stood in the doorway. Spotting the other fireteam, the Staff held up a fist, flicked his thumb and pointed at the Jackals. The order was straight forward.
Yuri stepped up on one side, Hector on the other, both carrying frags.
They popped the pins before lobbing them over. Four active grenades tumbled and bounced into the Jackals' ranks. Several got off terrified squawks before the successive detonations tore half of them apart, leaving the other half clutching at wounds and struggling to turn on their attackers.
Epsilon moved to flank them on both sides, spreading out and starting forward to lay down an advancing curtain of fire. They gave the Jackals little room to maneuver and their long-ranged weapons proved less accurate in close quarters.
The last one standing had backed up against the wall when a high caliber sniper round tore its throat out from behind. It collapsed in a bloody heap.
"You're welcome." Deaks said over the comms.
"Thanks." The Staff replied and began directing the troopers to positions along the wall.
Duncan was sent to one of the far corners. He peeked over the lip, sighting down the scope of his newly acquired beam rifle. His armor's smartlink software adapted the V-shaped weapon to his HUD, allowing him to scan across the battlefield below.
Bravo Company squads were going toe to toe with a few small pockets of resistance, mostly Elites. The vast majority of the beach's defenses were on their last legs save for the Hunter pairs. While two of the pairs guarding the hotel's rear plaza lay slain, the other two were actively trading SPNKR rockets for bursts from their plasma cannons. Green flames ignited over the hedges, forcing the troopers firing from behind them to displace. But the Hunters kept firing, slowly creating a wall of emerald blazes between themselves and the Helljumpers.
Duncan set the two crescent targeting reticles on the unarmored back of a juggernaut standing in front of a pool. He pressed the triggering stripe, sending a shot through its back. It had roughly the same affect as hitting a rhinoceros with a pin needle, albeit a high-powered pin needle. The Hunter lurched forward but didn't stop firing on a nearby squad. He gave it another shot. This time it growled and turn to face its attacker. Duncan shot it in its unprotected midsection, gutting out more worms. The Hunter held up its shield and was about to aim its cannon when two rockets slammed into its unguarded back, finishing it off.
He switched to the next one lumbering along a decorative colonnade that separated the pool areas from the plaza. A few rounds to the back weakened it enough for a squad hidden in a poolside bar to rise up and gun it down, adding in a grenade for good measure.
Duncan checked left in time to see the last Hunter of the other pair succumb to a barrage of rockets and beam rifle fire from Zack and Rico.
The last firefights were ended a few seconds later as troopers rushed over fallen Elites to storm the now undefended Eluciana.
"Looks like our job here's done." The Staff said, causing everyone to turn to him. He pointed down to the floor below. "Floor 20, we'll start clearing form there."
The ODTs winked their acknowledgements and reloaded. Now with the way cleared, they needed to consolidate their territorial gains. Duncan took one last look at the Premiere Wall before joining the others down the stairwell.
:********:
After clearing the Eluciana, Bravo Company advanced out into the surrounding area. Another three kilometers stood between them and reaching the 1st Premiere Wall. In the interim they were made to push back local Covenant forces street by street and neighborhood by neighborhood.
Less than ten minutes after they'd taken the hotel a reaction force of four Wraiths was sent to stop their advance. They got within half a kilometer of the hotel before 2nd Platoon ambushed them, destroying two of the tanks.
Under Garrison's order the company spread out in a wide advance with at least 20 meters distance separating each platoon, enabling them to cover more ground. Across the Coastal District the other companies of the 7th were doing the same, carving through swaths of enemy territory to reach their main objectives.
The further in they went the more Duncan began recognizing the unique esthetics of the 1st Tier. It was mostly comprised of high-end hotels, reputable resorts and fanciful restaurants. He was even certain he'd seen one or two Csillagos Éj hotels on the way in, the line of hotels known throughout the inner colonies for always being reserved for the extreme upper crust of colonial society.
There were thousands upon thousands of lavish and elaborate villas, many with pools and open glass walls showcasing their luxurious interiors. Many were so diversely extravagant that it seemed as if they belonged to artists striving for their own creative expression. Others were so uniform that they had the appearance of their own little towns. But across the board they shared similar traces of Greek stylistic influences with Corinthian and Ionic columns as well as other features mixed tastefully with more modern architectural styles. Stadiums for every sport under the sun stood throughout the first tier, their archway entries attesting to a similar motif. Theme parks were scattered throughout the district as well. However, those locations often had the most smoke rising from them.
During the initial assault, the Covenant had caught much of the population of High Mediolanum off guard. It showed in the swaths of torched Überchassis, expensive sportscars that had once been a part of traffic jams. Now they were tombs. Even more people had tried escaping on foot. Most hadn't gotten far. The few police officers they found hadn't gotten far either. Their cars and even their own bodies were left mauled by plasma fire.
On every street were more dead, men, women and children alike. Some were more intact than others, some less so. There was no sign of life either way.
It was getting harder to ignore them all. Duncan willed his eyes to stay up as Epsilon vaulted over yards and crossed through villas, blocking it out whenever he felt himself step on someone and even ignoring his natural inclination to apologize.
The 1st Premiere Wall lay ahead of them. Duncan's initial summations looked to be accurate. It stood at an imposing 100 meters tall and curved slightly along the 34-kilometer length of the 1st Tier. Beyond it lay the Residential District at a nearly equal elevation above sea-level. The 22nd were undoubtedly giving the Covenant hell on the other side. Hopefully, they would run into a few of them on the way over.
Yet the closer they came to the wall the more Tyrants there were to be noticed. Twelve were setup near the wall's base, spaced out a kilometer from the next in a line of emplacements. They would have to handle those after they secured the walls. For now, the gatehouses came first.
Gatehouse-15 was one of the Premiere Wall's many gatehouses placed every kilometer along its length. It functioned both as a gate lifter and a mobile platform. For the first function, there was a tunnel entrance in the wall large enough to fit a MagLev tram. Its dark interior led into a subterranean tunnel that ran at an increasingly acute angle through the wall up to an entrance on the surface of the Residential District. While a few of them had transit trams leading between different levels of the city, most locals would've driven up the tunnel highways to get where they needed to. For its second function the gatehouse had a platform the size of half a football field attached to its side. The platform was sectioned off into smaller lots for vehicular commuters, those on foot as well as special cargo. A team of conductors made scheduled trips along the massive magnetic levitation rails built into the wall that allowed the entire structure to travel between districts. That last function made the building a necessary objective.
Epsilon arrived to find the assault already underway. Two platoons were converging on the intersection just before the target building, trading fire with the small Covenant garrison in the gatehouse.
Epsilon sprinted along the intersection towards a corner-side gift shop. They took cover inside and focused on a crew of Elites shooting from behind two abandoned busses near the tunnel.
As more platoons converged on the area the Covenant forces came under greater strain. The few Shades they had atop the gatehouse were quickly taken out by rockets and sniper fire, leaving them with fewer defensive options.
The Elites looked ready to buckle when the low rurring of engines caught everyone's ear.
Three Phantom Dropships flew over the top of the wall and swooped down, pulling up over and around the gatehouse. Gravity lifts flickered to life from their underbellies.
Before the first reinforcements could descend, a new sound came, one of whining screams whose pitches rose in intensity until their origins crashed into the dropships. Two of the Phantoms shook under the impacts of plasma mortars. They turned down the nearest boulevard to see a duo of Wraiths, their own vehicles, moving towards them. However, the 2nd platoon personnel manning them were less than friendly, hurling two more mortars at them to confirm as much.
Fires sprang to life on the dropships' hulls as they swayed under the impacts. They moved to target the traitorous craft with their own heavy plasma cannons as their troops started down the beams.
Two more mortars cut their responses short, however. They erupted into short-lived stars that shut down their gravity wells, causing the riders to fall to their deaths.
The last Phantom moved to escape after dropping its crew, its fuselage already smoking from multiple rocket impacts. Several more darted after it. They slammed into its underbelly and gutted the craft in the ensuing explosion. The reinforcements it dropped off were cut down before any ever hit the ground.
The last defenders were cornered then wiped out by the Wraiths, destroying the two busses in the process.
Second platoon's squad Hotep was the first to break into the gatehouse's doors. Goliath was quickly on its heels, followed by Epsilon.
They systematically cleared the three levels of the building by gunning down Grunts, gun-butting unwary Jackals and smoking out more ornery Elites with frags. In under a minute the teams met up at the structure's conduction center. A breaching charge punched in the door and they slid inside, giving the several Elite Minors and the lone Major inside next to no time to respond. The ensuing bullet storm broke their shields then tore them apart, clearing the room.
A quick investigation confirmed that the instrument panels were still operational.
The Colonel walked in soon after. He looked around, pleased at his troopers' handiwork. "Great hustle out there Bravo, now get us underway. The upper gate's next on our list."
Goliath's 2 and 9 got on it at the instrument panels, leaving Epsilon free to stand guard on an encircling balcony just outside the conduction center.
The rest of the company had already assembled on the lift platform. The Wraiths were the last to come onboard into the vehicular lot. There was a slight jolt accompanied by a brief grinding of hydraulics. Then the subtle purr of the MagLev rails came to ear as the platform began its slow ascent up the wall.
The ride to the top was like a peaceful glide. The new perspective it accompanied made Duncan take note of how the Premiere Wall was not only vertical but possessed a slight diagonal slant.
His attention drifted towards something even more interesting, and more concerning.
The very same pipes he'd seen on Lavender Beach were actually just one part of a larger system running throughout the entire 1st Tier. Its extent became more visible the further up they went. The pipes were weaved all throughout the Coastal District, stretching from the water of the coast and even up the wall where it presumably went into the Residential District as well. Most notably, the pipes connected with the bases of the 12 Tyrants. He couldn't help wondering exactly what the Covenant were up to here, and if they were doing the same thing with places like New Eretria and High Estonia or even the planetary capital of Caerleon.
In the distant North he could see Gatehouse-12 moving up along the wall under Delta Company's control. Echo was slightly ahead on Gatehouse-10. Gatehouse-18 to their south was nearest to the top with Alpha Company in the lead.
Alpha reached the 100-meter mark first, their gatehouse slipping into place within the gateway slot.
Bravo came next. Their gatehouse slid into place, stopping with a hiss of hydraulics.
The lift platform's eastern wall folded in on itself before extending out into a ramp onto the ground of the Residential District. Bravo Company ODSTs poured out into the area. Alpha did the same a block away, along with Echo and eventually Delta several blocks to their north.
The buildings here were more tamed. While they reflected the influences of the coastal area, they were more like middle class suburbs that expanded up a high incline before plateauing out of sight.
A wide cobblestone promenade separated the wall from the district itself. From beyond the incline came the sound of far off firefights combined with the sights of rising smoke pillars.
Yet there was no sign of any progress on the 2nd Premiere Wall kilometers away. In fact, there were no gatehouses moving up to the 3rd Tier whatsoever.
And besides the echoes of distant fighting, the immediate area was utterly quiet. The only sound came from a strange rumbling in the ground. Whether it was from some vehicles or the gatehouses settling, no one knew for sure.
The Colonel joined Epsilon on the balcony to look over the district. His visor was depolarized, letting them see an expression that no one was quite expecting. The hardy old man seemed perturbed beyond what mere words could describe.
"Something wrong sir?" The Staff dared ask.
"It's the 22nd." The Colonel said with eyes wide, not even looking at the man.
"…What happened to them, sir?"
Garrison shook his head, his grip tightening on the rifle at his side as his voice went horse. "Why aren't they taking their…"
In the silence that ensued Duncan felt a growing sense of unease. It was mostly at seeing the Colonel's face. What had happened to the 22nd Battalion to make him look so troubled?
The quiet was disturbed when Hotel's radioman, Hotel-5, burst through the doors of the conduction center onto the balcony. "Neptune-Actual, we've got a problem sir!"
"Being?" The Colonel asked.
Hotel-5 sounded on edge. "I've got two more updates from the 22nd. They never made it to their objectives, sir. None of them. They never even got close."
Garrison was about to ask another question when the trooper cut him off. "There's an even bigger problem. They've reported a Covenant counterassault on its way here."
The Colonel winced, glancing between the district and the trooper. "How far out? What numbers are we looking at?"
Hotel-5 was about to answer when the loudening rumbling sound answered for him. His attention shot to the eastern horizon. The Colonel followed his gaze and froze. The rest of Epsilon tried to see, noticing that the rest of Bravo Company were also looking ahead.
In that moment they collectively realized where the rumbling was coming from. It hadn't been caused by any large vehicles or the titanic gatehouses, but by each and every individual footstep of the thousands of Grunts, Jackals and Elites that were cresting the horizon to bare down on the premiere wall.
Calidum Portum - Hot Landing