Chapter 6 - Ars imperatoria
May 8th, 2545 (09:40 Hours – Military Calendar)
Aquilla System, Actium
High Mediolanum, Republic of Pavia
Near HMPD Headquarters
:********:
Duncan sprinted to the end of the alleyway. He took several cautious steps towards the edge and slowly peered around the corner.
Save for a number of abandoned cars and refuse flying in the morning breeze, the streetway looked clear leading up to the High Mediolanum Police Department Headquarters.
The building reminded Duncan more of a 14th century cathedral than a headquarters. Its Neo-Gothic styled architecture was comprised of four external wings, one facing east, one west, another north and the last one south. The wings stood five stories tall with two rectangular towers at the corners of their front ends that rose to ten stories. Flying buttresses ran along their sides like arching ribs on a skeleton, giving the four structures a kind of Notre Dame appearance. All four wings met at a segmented trapezium dome structure that served as the central building and the heart of police operations.
Duncan's primary concerns were numbered at two: the surrounding buildings and the HQs multiplicity of windows.
He skimmed the rooftops of the closest of the former with his targeting reticle. So far it was clear. He wanted to be sure since they'd already had three separate run-ins with Sniper Jackals on their way here.
Shortly after the 27th Marines and the 53rd Armored had arrived on High Mediolanum's doorstep, the Colonel had the 7th move ahead of them to secure footholds for the invasion force' push into the 2nd Tier. They left the gatehouses, traversed over thousands of Covenant pyres and circumvented lakes of fire dotting the promenade in order to reach the Residential District. The torched ruins of the frontmost buildings were difficult to navigate through. However, the public sprinkler systems shot out high-pressured water from where they had been attached on nearby lampposts to keep the flames in check. It was an ingenuous safety system, and one believable for a city that had, only a few decades ago, faced a catastrophe. Perhaps the urban planners of 2502 came to an understanding that any mass threat to the citizens was a problem, not just those from the sea.
Half a kilometer into the Residential District the companies broke off to their individual assignments. Echo was sent to secure an Überchassis car dealership off in the northeast in case the 53rd required the fuel reserves there. Delta headed further north to capture the Octavia sports stadium which would work as a great observation post over the area. Alpha was saddled with the Sally Greens Department Store further south in the case that the invasion became bogged down and needed extended food and water supplies.
Bravo was bound for the HMPD Headquarters to the southeast. Its importance was two-sided. First was its tactical positioning between two highways running from the 1st Premiere Wall all the way to the second.
Next were its facilities. Depending on whether they were still intact, they would provide the task force with a suitable site for a logistics base. It was one of the few structures within range that fit that kind of bill. But so far Duncan was finding that idea somewhat debatable.
The building had taken visible damage during the initial assault. While the few holes blown through its sides were few, there was still the question of the state of the interior.
Duncan turned to the rest of the squad stacked up behind him against the alleyway's walls. He twirled his forefinger around twice then clenched his fist.
The Staff nodded Deaks forward. The sniper hustled over to the corner, counted down from three and dashed out at one. Duncan leaned out to cover him as he ran for an abandoned shuttle. Deaks slid behind it, stopped to scan the nearest rooftops through his scope then, satisfied that they were still clear, leaned out from behind the shuttle to zoom in on the HQ.
Their target building was on the far end of a long boulevard. However, the space gave his SRS-99 just the right amount of breathing room. He sighted across the urban isle, searching the windows of the convenience stores that lined the way forwards then up the length of the stagnant traffic lanes. After thirty seconds of searching he winked his green acknowledgement light.
The Staff pointed two fingers forward. Duncan left the alleyway first with everyone else following.
They prioritized stealth, as did the rest of Bravo currently advancing on the HQ from different directions. With their supply of munitions left collectively strained after the showdown at the promenade few ODSTs were in any shape to face a full-on firefight. But they had to get moving all the same and hold down what positions they could get their hands on before the next big push. The 27th Marines and the 53rd Armored were currently busy mopping up any Covenant forces still in the 1st Tier. The distant sounds of chattering gunfire and the occasional explosion coming from the west suggested they were moving quickly. Even so it was hard to distinguish it from the echoing reports of firefights raging further east, though whether those were from the other 7th Battalion companies or elements of the 22nd hard at work, no one knew for certain.
Duncan gave quiet thanks that at least the journey up the sidewalk to the boulevard's end was quiet. The squad stopped at the corner to get a better view of the locale.
The HQ on the other side of the highway was surrounded by a three-meter tall perimeter wall. Duncan noticed a few cameras mounted on it that looked relatively intact. That was good. If they could be brought back online then they would come in handy.
The squad weaved around the smoldering car wrecks occupying the first highway. As they did, they spotted 2nd platoon another hundred meters down. They also crossed over before disappearing behind the walls in front of the Western wing. It was another good sign, that everyone was moving at the same pace.
Epsilon stopped at the threshold of the gateway. Its two retracting barriers having been blown open allowed them to fan out into the interior grounds with weapons raised, ready for anything to pop out at them. But the only thing that did was the view.
The interior was disarmingly beautiful. The entire HQ was surrounded by a grassy pavilion. A number of decorative pools, fountains and stone benches rested beneath the shade of decorative palm trees whose lazy sway gave the pavilion the air of an extravagant garden. An asphalt road led past the gateway, through the scenic flora towards the Northern Wing. It morphed into a roundabout in front of the steps leading to a small stony courtyard, and past that, the front doors. The roundabout split off into two roads that dipped down into the ground to pass into two subterranean garages beneath the building, their entrances on either side of the courtyard. An emblem was painted on the upper part of the Northern wing's face, showing the side-profile of a white lion framed from top to bottom by the words 'High Mediolanum Police Department'.
The environment's natural beauty was only disarmed once they saw the bodies. HMPD personnel lay where they had died across the pavilion. Pockmarks from plasma scoring were everywhere and the presence of dozens of dead Grunts and Jackals hinted at the scale of the fight.
Epsilon carefully stepped over the bodies on their way to the entrance. Still, no one was keen on missing a chance to collect ammo. As they went, they dipped down to take an M6 or M7 from beside a corpse or the extra clips from their ballistic vests. Duncan found a corporal lying on her back and staring blankly at the sky. The right half of her face was missing, left slagged on the asphalt by plasma. He noticed the MA37 in her hand along with a few clips in her vest and helped himself. After dogging the final magazine into one of his own holders he closed her last eye for her and moved on.
Duncan felt a little bit more reassured now that he was sitting at a comfortable 212 rounds rather than his earlier 20. He scanned the quiet pavilion as they crossed over the roundabout and up onto the stony courtyard. There were a few more bodies here as well, notably civilians. They were gathered around the doors and looked like they had been trying to get inside.
The Staff reached the first door, a revolving type. He tried to push it open but it wouldn't budge. The others tried a few of the regular hinge doors. Those were locked as well.
In irritation Rico leveled his grenade launcher at one. "Quieres que vuele las puertas, jefe?"
"No." The Staff said. "Too much noise. We'll find another way in." His attention shifted to the garage entrances. "I want two fireteams people. The first goes with me, the other with Nova. We'll link back up inside."
He dropped Nav points on the two garage doors. The ODSTs winked their acknowledgement lights and broke up into their fireteams.
Duncan went to the garage on the left with Yuri, Mito and Deaks. Nova led them down to the metal door blocking their way in. Only it wasn't blocking them, not entirely. There was a sizable hole in the side that looked like the handiwork of a plasma grenade by the way it peeled back like burnt paper from the point of detonation. It was large enough for an Elite to fit through, meaning they were able to get inside with no problem.
They activated their VISRs to capture the dark interior in a faint green luminescence. Isles upon isles of blue-accented police Warthogs, Mongooses and other patrol craft materialized in front of them. It appeared that the garage wasn't to peak capacity with most of the vehicles that had probably once occupied the place having been sent out.
Team 2 moved carefully down a roadway labeled '5', checking beneath and to the sides of the Warthogs for any signs of an ambush. Team 1 was doing the same along the adjacent roadway '4'. The Staff planted another Nav point on an exit at the center of the garage. They regrouped at the door to find a stairwell on the other side. A trail of human blood leaked down the steps.
Halfway to the top they came upon the source of the trail; the body of an officer lying face down on the stairs with a hand clutching his stomach. The Staff stepped past to make sure the rest of the way was clear then motioned to Renni. She crouched down beside the officer and ran her hands over a pair of burn marks puncturing his vest. She shook her head. "Energy sword."
The Staff nodded. Not many people who encountered Elites wielding those things wound up in one piece when all was said and done. He carried on up to the door marked 'Sub-entry 2'. He slowly shouldered it open, keeping his shotgun aimed out. After a brief look around, he pushed through to hold it for everyone else.
The squad found themselves inside of a large basilica serving as the main body of the North Wing. Its brown floor was a polished marble. Two colonnades comprised of white marble pillars ran along the long sides of the interior. There were five levels on both sides, palisaded by more pillars. A slew of desks and cubicles on every level suggested that this was an office area. Inactive elevators and stairway entries connected the ground floor to the rest of the building.
Even though the lights were off, sunlight still poured in through the curved front windows to shine off the spots of dried blood pooled around several dozen corpses. Some spots were redder, others blueish in correspondence with the species of the corpse.
The ODSTs stuck to the shadows of the left colonnade, shifting between pillars while scanning the upper and lower levels. There was no telling who or what else was still alive in here, and there was no guarantee of a friendly reception.
After a minute, they arrived at the central atrium. The circular space was much wider than the wings with twelve dormant escalators connecting the equal number of levels to the ground floor. More encircling colonnades and pillars lined the office spaces above and contributed to the building's dignified atmosphere. To top it off, an enlarged version of the HMPD emblem dominated the surface beneath their boots. But that dignity stopped where the blood began.
Officers had made a final stand here with several AIE-486H turrets setup behind individual sandbag walls. The bodies strewn around the floor showed that the police had been soundly defeated, but not without making sure the Covenant paid a price for it.
Across the way, the other three Bravo platoons were entering from the other wings into the atrium. From there they quietly ascended the dormant escalators onto the varying floors.
The fourth floor fell to Epsilon. They combed through the maze of work cubicles and thrown over desks, checking bodies left lying around amidst a mess of bullet holes, scorch marks and needler fragments.
After an extensive ten-minute search, the platoons reported in. The building was secured with no signs of any Covenant left behind, or any of the resident officers for that matter.
:********:
Duncan and Mito accompanied Nova down the hallway of one of the portions of the fourth floor that branched away from the main offices. Since the fight hadn't come this far in there were less corpses to impede their progress.
They passed by maintenance closets and air-conditioning chambers on their way to their destination. Nova was the first to spot the door on the end marked 'Security Room 4C' and tossed a Nav marker on it.
They moved to either side. Nova grabbed hold of the knob, nodded to Duncan and pulled it open. He sidestepped inside, keeping his weapon leveled as he scanned the shadows. He quickly discerned the more distinct shapes in the room. It was a small space with a semicircular desk on the other side and two chairs. "Clear."
Nova pushed the door open to let some more light in. The rays reflected off several dozen observation screens laid out in a neat grid over the desks.
"Looks like this is it." Nova remarked. "Mito stay at the door. Make sure nothing waltzes in that isn't ODST."
"Yes mam." Mito answered and braced near the door while the other two slid into the seats.
Nova swiveled back around, depolarizing her visor to show her tired face. "Also, don't call me mam. I'm not much older than you."
"Wouldn't that still make you my senior?" Mito asked honestly as he kept an eye on the outside passage.
Nova shook her head in pity. "Good God, you're worse than Zack. Listen, just a little life advice, if you're trying to get a girl to like you, don't tell her she's your senior, okay? We've got a thing about that that I don't think a lot of guys understand."
"You want me to lie mam?"
"What did I just-, okay, just don't call me mam. Call me Nova, alright? Nova. I give you permission to use the name."
"Yes ma-, I mean no mam…" Mito stopped, seeming to struggle with Nova's suggestion more than her order to guard the door. The Specialist rolled her eyes and swiveled back to the desk.
Duncan was already busy switching on the disc-shaped CPU mounted beneath the screens. Its light flickered a warm orange then an active blue as the displays came online. "We're in business." He chirped.
The screens flashed to life, portraying a uniform boot-up screen. Once the system finished warming up the password request appeared. Nova spotted the sticky note on the side of one of the screens with a short six-digit number. She typed the code in on her keyboard and watched with satisfaction as the desktop appeared. "And we're in. Let's get to it, Irish."
"On it." Duncan said, not bothering to fight against the nickname. It was a lot less of a hassle to let it slide nowadays.
Nova manipulated a few subroutines in the main server to split off half of the screens for her own use and gave the other half to Duncan. Through mastery of their keyboards they began running through the feeds of the HQ's perimeter cameras. Duncan further segmented his into four feeds per screen. It gave him a better view of the grounds that were divided into eight sectors with four cameras each.
He checked the first three sectors, finding little more than beautiful scenery and dead bodies. He stopped at a camera on Sector-4, the Southeast. It was posted in the corner of one of the towers so that its elevation gave him a good view of who was coming.
The other platoons of Bravo Company were now making their way through the southern gateway and into the pavilion. A sizable force from the 27th Expeditionary was following them. More than four hundred Marines, two companies worth, were filtering through the suburban and market areas surrounding the southside of the HMPD. Duncan figured they had to be 2nd Battalion's Juno and Golf Companies since he'd heard they had made it up here an hour earlier. A detachment of twelve Warthogs and five Scorpion Tanks joined them in rolling down the two highways towards the HQ. The sight of them alone was a welcomed reprieve. One tended to feel more assurity behind enemy lines when a few hyper-accurate tanks were present.
He watched the Marines pour into the southern gate followed close behind by the convoy. They quickly defused around the sides of the building until they occupied the whole perimeter.
But Duncan stopped himself once he realized that he wasn't doing his job. The Staff had sent them here to get a sense of the HQ's surroundings as well as the cityscape. He glanced over at Nova. She was already activating surviving cameras from the northeast to the southeast of the HQ. He swam through the system to reach a secondary option in the form of a file labeled 'Municipal'. Clicking it lead him to another passcode request.
"I, underscore, love, underscore, bees, underscore, number '2'." Nova said, giving him the answer without even looking his way.
"Thanks." He typed it in. A mainframe interface appeared along with an unfolding list of links beneath subcategorizations named after numerous locations around the 2nd Tier.
He focused on locations that indicated northeast and southeast. As their feeds opened, his attention settled on a few whose descriptions displayed their relative coordinates and the label 'Block-5'. The area was just two kilometers to their northeast. He noticed one feed showing the overhead view of several HEVs that had landed in a street. Though there was no sign of their owners, the distinct bark of assault rifle fire told him they were close. He sifted through a few more cameras in the immediate vicinity of the first until movement in one caught his eye.
On screen he witnessed two ODSTs with rocket launchers race from a doorway onto the roof of an apartment building. Two more ODSTs emerged onto an adjacent building. Both pairs crouched at the edges overlooking the street below where a convoy of five Ghosts was patrolling down its empty length. The troopers waited for them to get closer then let loose.
Muffled thumps sounded as the eight rockets zoomed down towards their targets. Three of the five Ghosts flew apart in the explosions. The fiery wrecks of both the lead and rear crafts blocked any escape for the last two. A quick reload enabled the troopers to take out the remaining assault vehicles before their Elite drivers could react. Then, just as quickly as they had appeared, the ODSTs retreated out of sight, leaving behind the wrecks of five burning Ghosts.
The whole thing lasted less than ten seconds.
Duncan turned to tell Nova when he saw her also focusing on one of her screens. That particular feed was showing a trade-off of bullets with plasma taking place across a market bazaar. He counted around three squads of ODSTs taking on a batch of Covenant and could tell who was winning by the way the plasma fire racing over the lanes of wooden stalls gradually became less frequent.
"You seeing this?" He asked.
Nova nodded. "Looks like the 22nd's still kicking." She breathed out. "That's good."
"Did you-"
"Upper left."
Duncan looked at the upper left corner of his feed that had displayed the earlier ambush and noticed the red recording icon. The same icon appeared in the corners of his other feeds as well. "Thanks."
"Don't mention it. We'll keep a record of their footprints so that we'll know where to look for them later."
"If there is a later." Duncan said doubtfully.
"Hey, watch it. There's no place for an I in team like there's no place for a defeatist in the ODSTs. If they've survived for this long then they can make it for a little longer."
"Long enough?"
"Let's hope so, Mr. Optimist."
Duncan nodded and did his best to focus on the situation at hand. Still, he wondered how many of their sister battalion were fighting out there, and how many less they would find when they undoubtedly went after them.
He began flipping through more cameras in locations further northeast. In doing so he encountered more pockets of ODST resistance. Some of them were promising in size, looking like whole platoons and even groups of two or three were still holding their own out there. His hope quietly grew with each new firefight found and refuge discovered. He logged each of their locations.
Then that hope stopped growing and began to collapse under the weight of confusion at the realization of a fact that became all the more apparent with each passing minute: the 22nd Battalion weren't the only ones taking refuge out there.
He stumbled upon the first settlement merely by chance. After selecting a link at random he found himself staring at multiple angles of an unexpectedly large gathering of Grunts. It was difficult to get a good idea of their numbers due to the presence of a thick layer of green gas that pervaded the lower streets of Block-23. From what he could tell by the silhouettes waddling below and the occasional sighting of Grunts moving in the haze, their ranks were massive. His best guess brought him up to about a thousand, but he felt even that missed the mark.
He decided to come back to the location and went to a camera further northeast, closer to the 2nd Premiere Wall. The action only helped turn his confusion into abject terror. There was another gaseous zone like the first, covering streets and highways that converged at a rectangular park. Hundreds of flimsy, white dome-shaped tents were erected there like islands in a sea of green fog. He traced the thickness of what he was understanding to be methane back to a dozen atmosphere pits the size of tennis courts that oozed the gas for the methane-breathing Grunts. Guard towers along the perimeter rose up from mobile bases up to ten meters in height. The plasma turrets mounted atop them regularly swiveled from corner to corner in search of targets. He spotted a few Polyhedral huts on higher ground where Elites paced about isles of Wraiths and Ghosts lying just outside. They were likely the ones overseeing whatever was happening here.
He drifted further northeast. His mouth felt dryer with each feed that only showed him one Grunt encampment after another. The closer he came to the 2nd Premiere Wall the more he saw of gatherings whose enormity dwarfed the others. Their existence was a uniquely unsettling sight:
Covenant settlements...in a human city.
Seeing them not trying to destroy a human habitation was a lot like how he thought it felt to see a burning bush that actually refused to burn. He struggled to piece together the magnitude of everything he'd seen and match it against the map of the city in his head. Whatever the Covenant were doing here it was monolithic. And what were they doing? He couldn't wrap his head around why they would be settling parts of the city to begin with.
The warring thoughts within him made it hard for him to pry his attention away from the screens. When he ultimately managed to do so, he moved to speak with Nova but stopped when he saw her eyes filled with a similar horror and bewilderment. Only her attention was stuck to a different abnormality.
Her feeds showed multiple different locations in the southeast dominated by more strange tents. There, scores of Jackals scavenged through meter-high piles of scrap and refuse, throwing what they found of interest into levitating gurneys that flowed back and forth along the streets like red blood cells. Some of those piles were formed vaguely like bird nests where Jackals sat inside, sorting through a treasure trove of horded materials.
Other feeds in the east displayed something even more unsettling. Swarms of Drones flocked around the buildings like a disturbed wasp nest the size of a sandstorm. They took on the visages of honeybees on the comb as they nestled on entire buildings, covering their surfaces with their own bodies by the thousands. Others crawled into and out of open sewers to join the currents of their kin that flowed throughout parts of the eastern Residential District.
Duncan didn't know what to say. He didn't know if he could say anything either. His tongue felt heavy in his mouth.
Mito found the words that he couldn't as he slowly walked up behind them. "That's…a lot…"
"…Yeah." Nova said hoarsely. She blinked a few times then switched on her comms. "Ep-2 to Ep-1, can you hear me sir?"
After a few seconds, the Staff's voice came through. "Go ahead Ep-2."
"We've…accessed the security room. We've spotted a few holdouts from the 22nd."
"Good to hear. We should be moving out soon to regroup with them."
A brief silence passed before Nova mustered the strength to continue. "That's not all sir."
"Something else?"
"Is the Colonel here?"
"Why, what about him?"
Nova tensed, her eyes dashing between the sights playing out on hers and Duncan's collective screens. "We've found something he needs to see right away, sir."
:********:
Colonel Garrison watched the recordings playing out in front of him while keeping his genuine worry hidden behind a mask of steely observance. Out of the corner of his eye he gauged the expressions of the other three persons in the room. They held their shock in well by the way they looked so mildly conflicted, although the fourth person technically didn't count since he wasn't actually here. His holographic projection simply gave the false impression of presence.
Lieutenant Colonel Serakovich was a grizzly faced man with the sharp facial features of someone with Cossack descendance, an ancestry he claimed to share with one Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb. His husky stature stood at attention as his dark eyes scrutinized the display. Garrison wondered what his takeaway was from this whole situation given that he was the most junior member of the task force's leadership currently present. He'd been saddled with leading the 27th Division when its original leader, Major General Sintomas was assassinated shortly after being given charge of the fighting on Actium.
Next was the most junior person in the room. Private Renni Mahonis wasn't part of the leadership or even an officer for that matter. Still she stoically watched the recordings closely with her helmet held against her hip as though she were. He wondered what her thoughts were since it would give him a good idea of how his own troopers would react to this news. He initially had his doubts about having her here. However, after she approached him about a particular matter related to their current topic of discussion, he knew her involvement would be critical and convinced Serakovich and the last man in the room to bring her in.
Lastly was the person whose importance was paramount to Actium's future, so long as he was alive and not replaced.
Colonel Mentieth was dressed in his Army Officer BDU. His jaw was locked in a deep contemplative expression that suggested he was busy trying to piece together exactly what he was looking at. Garrison was thankful that he hadn't chosen to stay aboard his command vessel, the UNSC Tower of Babel, to direct things from a safe distance like most other commanders were in the habit of doing. He preferred a superior who was willing to get his hands just as dirty as the average steel-hearted grunt under his command, mostly because that was his own style of leadership. It was good that they shared that much in common. It made him easier to work with.
At the moment all four of them were in the HMPD HQ's upper briefing chamber, an ovular room with a strategic planner at its center and screens lining its walls. They were here to discuss the topic of the day, perhaps the topic of the century: Why was the Covenant colonizing High Mediolanum?
"Its no wonder the 22nd never made it to the wall." Serakovich remarked under his breath. "It's a miracle any of Taylors' people are still alive out there to begin with. They weren't only facing an occupation force but entire population centers."
"Explains how they could throw whole divisions at us like it was nothing." Garrison added. "They're not just occupying. Now they've got skin in the game. Almost every block within two kilometers of the 2nd Premiere Wall is infested with them. Recon's confirmed it. We're looking at Grunt habitations in the Northeast, Jackal colonies in the Southeast and Drone Nests to the East. They're maintaining a heavy presence along the wall's circumference."
The way he laid it out for them left the most obvious problem lying in the open. He watched to see who would address it first.
Mentieth spoke up, as expected. "Do we have an idea of how many we're facing?"
"While these are just some preliminary observations, our best estimates hold the enemy's strength at around 40 to 50,000…and…"
"And?"
"That's only the groups we've discovered a kilometer away. We don't know how many more there may be closer to the wall. They seem denser there so we're thinking around 90 to 100,000…at minimum."
Serakovich closed his eyes to imagine it. He sighed at length. "I only brought 10,000 Jarheads with me. They're good but I don't know if they're that good. If I recall correctly the 53rd has 12,000 personnel currently in the city. With your ODSTs and whatever is left of the 22nd, we've got somewhere close to 24,000. That still means we're looking at a force that outnumbers us by more than 4 to 1."
"That's not the only problem." Garrison said.
Mentieth and Serakovich both turned to him, prompting him to finish.
"These are just the numbers we've seen and guessed about on the 2nd Tier. Our teams utilizing the HQ's security rooms couldn't access the municipal cameras in either the Coastal or Scenic District. Apparently, they would need to be granted that access by local police stations in those areas, otherwise they're locked out. Simply put, we…don't actually know what's waiting for us in the 3rd Tier."
The air was starting to turn heavy. Garrison noticed it and didn't know how to dispel it. Even he wasn't sure how they could clear the city short of tactical nuke deployments. He'd done almost exactly that with his decision to blow the pipes, one which Mentieth expressed his concern and disapproval over upon his arrival at the HQ, then lamented that there probably wasn't any way around it. That wasn't to suggest that it had destroyed the city however, but that last fact was really due to a strange paradox. The Covenant had saved the human city from its own destruction at the hands of other humans. While a few of the pipes running through the Residential and Scenic District were destroyed, the majority were somehow kept from detonating. Through some unknown means the Covenant had managed to stop the entire system from being compromised and contained the damage to less populated regions. Garrison hated to admit it but he was actually grateful to them for once. Had those explosions reached the methane-rich Grunt habitats…well, he didn't like to think about it. The point was that the enemy had saved all their lives by extension of saving their own.
"Task Force's 2 and 3 are busy handling their own problems with New Eretria to our North and High Estonia to our South." Mentieth said, breaking the silent deadlock. "So are 4 and 5 with New Athens and Patras on the other side of the Koronea. However, 6 hasn't assaulted Caerleon just yet. The Commander of Battlegroup Crimson said their attack route crossed paths with a passing tropical storm that had started kissing up on the west coast late last night, so they're waiting for it to pass."
Colonel Mentieth suddenly walked away from the wall screens. The others followed him over to the tactical planner, Serakovich only having to flash into place. They stood around the table as it detected their presence and the screen warmed. A moment later it emitted a blue holographic image that slowly formulated into High Mediolanum. It showed the three UNSC Destroyers hovering off the coast as well, highlighted in a friendly yellow. Hundreds of yellow dots were moving through the streets of the Coastal District as well as flying over it, they're friendly IFFs identifying the individual units moving around the city. There were fewer yellow dots on the 2nd Tier that were mostly coagulated around four spots. The system identified them as the ODST, Marine and Armored companies currently in the Residential District. However, there was an entire section of the district close to the 2nd Premiere Wall that was essentially bathed in red. A number of yellow dots were spaced out around the red area along with the more residual blue areas where there was less of an enemy presence.
"No one is coming to help us." Mentieth put plainly. "They won't be able to, especially given the bloodbath we're expecting at Caerleon. Any solutions we come up with will have to require the forces we have on hand. And on that note, I want to know why it is that we can't seem to communicate…" He tapped a handful of the yellow dots in the redder zone. "With them."
Mentieth turned on the youngest person in the room. "And I assume that's where you come in, private?"
Renni stiffened slightly under the Colonel's gaze but held it with her own. "Yessir."
"And how is that?"
She looked to Garrison who nodded as he stepped closer to the table. "We've figured out why it is that we can't communicate with most of the 22nd Battalion. The areas where we have the greatest difficulty with comms are here." He reached over and drew his finger in circles. The planner's software generated a white line in the digit's wake. In finishing he left five circles around parts of the red zones, each encirclement five square kilometers wide in real distance. "These are the areas where we believe the black holes in our comm capacities are located. We've suspected what we'll find there are Covenant Communications Jammers. Those CCJ's can block out our comm-frequencies within a preselected range of effectiveness. My guess is that the Covenant are using it to stop the ODSTs in their vicinity from coordinating against them en masse or communicating with us. That way they can keep them isolated and wipe them out one group at a time."
Garrison straightened up. "If we're to retake this part of the city then we'll need to deal with these jammers."
"You're suggesting we send in a strike team to take them out, that way we can get the 22nd up and operational again?" Serakovich asked, folding his arms over his chest. "That only gives us the opportunity to get what remains of the battalion back into play. There's no way they would be enough to help us make a reasonable dent in those forces."
"That's actually not what we were going for." Garrison admitted. "In actuality, we don't need reinforcements." A slight grin flashed over his face. "In fact, we've got all the reinforcements we need right here." He tapped a finger on the red zones.
Mentieth arched a curious brow at him. "Do explain."
Garrison leaned over the planner. "To win this fight we really don't need to fight at all, just let the Covenant do it for us."
Serakovich squinted in confusion, then gave a small laugh. "Are you saying you want us to enlist our enemies into the war effort here?"
"It's a lot easier than you might think."
Mentieth glanced between the redzones and his fellow Colonel. "How is that?" He asked seriously. "Because they've shown little to no attempts at friendly relations with us since our official first contact with them went sour. What's to give them a sudden change of heart now after some twenty odd years of attempted genocide?"
"No change of heart is required, sir." Garrison corrected. "Not on their end or on ours."
"Then what does it require other than hatred of us?"
"Mutually shared hatred for each other."
The attention of the other three flashed to Renni from whose mouth the statement had originated. She took advantage of the quiet. "In those twenty years sir, we've managed to learn much about our enemy. They operate in a kind of caste system with a warrior class led by the Elites and a form of clergy leadership class led by a species they refer to as the Prophets. In the former case of the warrior caste, it's comprised of multiple species who hold grievances against each other, like any class system humanity has. Interspecies strife has been observed on multiple occasions. Although the Elites and Prophets keep things held together, there are flareups, instances where two or more species fight each other on a small scale for any number of reasons. In this instance, we're aiming to exploit the tension between the Grunts and the Jackals. These two species don't get along very well without Elite overseers. The latter are known to bully the former and the former are known to kill the latter if they have bigger numbers and get angry enough. If we were to set something off, say to bring about an incident that boils over into fighting, then we could wreak enough havoc behind their own lines to weaken them."
Mentieth looked Garrison straight on, his brow arched further. "You want us to instigate a Covenant Civil War?"
"Its best to think of it as a Fort Sumter moment." Garrison said. "They already have the fuel. We just need to give them the fire to get things going the way we want them to. If we do manage to pull this off successfully then the repercussions would be immense. It would probably rock the Covenant's internal morale and cohesiveness in the long term if we start convincing them that humanity isn't as much a threat as the alien next door."
"The birds and the turtles huh?" Serakovich huffed, starting to genuinely consider it. "Seems possible."
"And how do you propose we accomplish this?" Mentieth asked.
Garrison nodded to Renni who took a step closer in turn. "I have access to a special offensive intrusion software that will prove useful for this mission." She went so far as to add action to her words by pulling out several red colored stick drives from her pockets. She held them up for everyone to see. "It's essentially a modification of the Smartlink-Hybrid software that enables UNSC personnel to operate Covenant equipment they encounter in the field, such as weapons and vehicles. This version allows a person to gain access to more complex Covenant hardware through an additional translation matrix. These can be given to a few ODSTs as an update to their Smartlink software, enabling them to engage with higher end Covenant equipment, such as the CCJs." She paused to give them the time they needed to digest the new information.
"Can I ask how you came into possession of this technology?" Mentieth pressed.
Renni's gaze flashed to the floor. She moved to speak when Mentieth cut her off. "Actually, don't tell me. I don't want to know, especially if it has something to do with the Office, which I don't doubt in the least. A better question would be has this software been tested?"
"It has." Renni assured. "Navy special forces under NAVSPECWEP have been outfitted with this tech for some years now. They've been using it for highly classified operations with an extreme success rate."
Garrison noted that she didn't name which unit had tested it. For one reason or another his mind drifted to the armored supersoliders he had seen on Miridem. "It's been tried and tested by the best of the best for some time now sir." He said. "If that's not a good review then I don't know what is."
Mentieth slowly nodded, his recognition of the information's relevance showing in his relaxing countenance. "Say we were to deploy a few ODST teams with this new Smartlink software. You said that we won't simply be taking out the Jammers. So, what would you have these theoretical strike teams do?"
:********:
Duncan found the HQ's conference hall to be a mildly pleasant seating space, mostly due to the air conditioning that Squad Guardian had gotten online after finding the building's temperature regulation room.
Setup in the main center's upper floors, the carpeted hall was both long enough and wide enough to house a few hundred persons with a matching number of cushioned seats. At the moment it housed a little over fifty.
Squads from each of the four companies had been called in to attend the current mission debrief. There was November from Alpha Company, Juliet from Delta and Mike from Echo. In attendance from Bravo were Squads Hotel and Epsilon. They all sat near an elevated stage at the front after the Colonel had personally requested their presence.
They'd been sitting for the last five minutes with nothing to do except chat. Duncan heard Hector on his left talking to Mike-4 about the kinds of vehicles they found at the Überchassis car dealership with words like "hot piece" and "4-bangers" coming up frequently. Zack was on his right laughing with November-2 about an incident that occurred at the Sally Greens Department Store where some cook in Alpha had apparently tried whipping up a sandwich with a bad pilot light and nearly blew himself up in the process.
Duncan couldn't bring himself to focus too long on anything, mostly because his mind was still stuck replaying what he had seen. He wasn't distracted enough though to not notice that one person from their squad was missing. He'd been wondering where Renni had gotten off to not long after Garrison and the rest of Epsilon saw the cameras. Wherever she had gone she hadn't told anyone else.
The sound of a door opening caught his attention. He looked up to see Colonel Garrison walking through a rear door onto the stage.
The ODSTs rose and saluted.
"At ease."
As they sat back down, the Colonel raised a hand and the room's lights dimmed. A holograph flashed into being over the stage. It was decipherable to any person who had seen the map enough times already to know that it was a three-dimensional portrayal of High Mediolanum. Its characteristic three-step appearance was always a dead giveaway.
"Listen up boys and girls, we've got no time for formalities so I've just got to jump right into it." Garrison began. The projection zoomed in on the 2nd Tier, portraying the activities occurring there in a series of yellow dots, some of which fell within a haze of red closer to the next wall.
The Colonel explained what they were looking at. He went on to inform them of the massively unorthodox Covenant presence in the 2nd Tier, to elaborate on the numbers they faced as well as the plight of their sister battalion struggling to survive in isolated pockets. Duncan noted how the expressions on some of the helmetless ODSTs turned to concern and even shock at the magnitude of the situation. Then the Colonel moved on to the second phase of the meeting, discussing their newest strategy: communication suppression.
"For this op, our goal is to reach the Covenant Communication Jammers setup in these locations." On the projection, five circles appeared in parts of the Residential District further to the east. "We suspect them to be located here since these are the areas with the highest comm frequency blackouts. ODSTs, your job is to find these CCJs. But rather than destroy them, you will be securing and hijacking them in order to suppress any and all Covenant communiques to and from the area. How you will accomplish this is simple."
The projection changed into what at first looked like a purplish beetle. Then the image resolved into an object with architectural features that were distinctly Covenant. It was a device with a base suspended off the floor by three tripodal legs. Three conjoined cylinders stuck upwards from the base, radiating a bright blue light. Some of the components beneath the conjoined cylinders were marked with the glowing patterns common to Covenant tech.
"This is an example of the Jammer type you will likely discover. They disrupt long range communications. However, short-range communications like your team comms won't be affected. Once you've located the device, secure it and access its main control display." The holograph changed, showing a display on the device's front with stylized Covenant calligraphy. "They can be interacted with using an update to your BDUs' Smartlink software. Tech-specialists in your teams will receive the updates along with a tutorial that they'll need to review beforehand in order to to learn how it works. With it, they will reverse the Jammers' current function of blocking UNSC communications to instead block Covenant communications at a preestablished time."
The projection changed back to the city again, this time with an aerial view of the 2nd Tier. Five yellow arrows moved through the redzones to reach the five white circles, turning them green.
"Once you have jammed all Covenant communiques, secondary ODST insertion teams will both destroy Covenant infrastructure and target special HVIs detected amongst the Grunts, Jackals and Drones. Our ultimate goal here is to bring about a civil conflict between these three groups. "
Multiple yellow arrows appeared next, showing friendly forces slipping into the area to take out specially selected targets.
"We'll use the chaos to get them to kill each other off as much as possible. Once they've inflicted sufficient casualties on themselves, battalions of the 53rd and 27th Marines will push in to wipe out the remainders with the 7th Battalion. We will link up with surviving forces of the 22nd and move to take the 2nd Premiere Wall."
The projection accounted for his descriptions with larger yellow arrows pushing into the 2nd Tier's eastern red zones, wiping them away until none were left.
"At that point we'll have no further need for the Jammers so you'll activate their overload sequences before you leave them. From there, we will advance on the 3rd Tier and take the city."
The projection reflected his words then, at completing its simulation, winked off. The lights came back on.
"We've still got another minute before I have to send you to gear up. We're rather limited on time as you're all well aware. Any questions, troopers?"
The room was silent for ten long seconds as the ODSTs spared the Colonel and each other looks of subdued shock.
"No?"
Zack raised a hand.
"Go ahead Matthews."
"Um, where'd we, ugh…where'd we get that software thing you talked about, sir? How come we suddenly have it now?"
Garrison clenched his jaw in thought, perhaps considering how to phrase his answer. "We have available sources at hand. That's about as much as I can disclose, trooper."
The Staff also held up a hand. "What are our rules of engagement on this one, sir?"
Garrison smiled. "You're heading behind enemy lines where there's 2,000 of them for every 1 of you. Do you really want to go guns blazing into that, son?"
"We just might sir, to stir things up a bit after that little warm-up they gave us on the beach."
Garrison's smile widened and he nodded in understanding. "Keep it stealthy until you're ready. Once you've got the Jammers and can hold them down, feel free to go loud with my blessing."
The Colonel waited a little longer for more questions. When none came, he moved to conclude the matter. "Head down to the armory on Level 3. Juno Company's already moved some of their goodies in there so help yourselves. Suppressors are priority one. Your tech-specialists will also receive the Smartlink updates there from Gunnery Sergeant Singh. The coordinates for your individual squad objectives have already been uploaded to your HUDs. Have those jammers secured no later than 1730 Hours. We jam Covie frequencies at exactly 1800 sharp. No sooner and no later. Let's get this done quick and clean Helljumpers. You're dismissed."
The five squads rose and gave a final salute then filtered out through one of the side doors.
Still, Duncan had a sneaking suspicion that was starting to bother him. It had been heightened for a few days already but now it was impossible to ignore. Something about this mission was off and he felt that the others knew it too. The Colonel hadn't exactly given them a straight answer when Zack asked about the new tech update. Although he knew he would probably be outfitted with it for Epsilon, he still wanted to know where it came from. For the time being at least he forced his suspicions into a distant corner of his mind as he and the others drained down the marble stairs to the armory.
Ars imperatoria - Strategy
Sidenote: Hey so…I realized earlier that for the last 3 chapters I've been accidentally referring to the Residential District as the 'Scenic District' which was the wrong location. I had to change that recently and I seriously apologize for any confusion that might've caused. I'll be removing this sidenote in a few days as well. Please forgive me, have a beautiful day and thank you for reading my work you absolute boss of a human-being. Stay awesome😉