Halo: Firefight

by Ian Otter

Twenty-eight years. Billions upon billions dead. And a galaxy forever changed. These were the cost of the Human-Covenant War. But for many of the soldiers who participated in this war, they would never see this end, traveling from one battle to the next as they fought and died to defend their people from total annihilation. These are their stories. These are their firefights.

9. Newsaka 2545: Kings of Battle

Seven Pines
Osaka Prefecture, Newsaka
28 February 2545

PV2 Pieter Andresen, 7-319 FAR, DIVARTY, 31st CAV

Battle of Seven Pines

"All units, WATCH OUT! Covies are attempting a breakout! All cavalry troopers, stand your ground! Do not let the Baby Kongs break through! All division artillery, we need immediate final protective fire all across our line! …Divarty? Division Artillery, respond, dammit!"

xxx

"Turn left here and follow the Lieutenant to our new firing position!"

Pieter spun the wheel, switching from high gear to low gear as Lieutenant Tofte's Warthog turned off the road and onto a muddy field. The entire cab shook as they drove across the rough terrain, but fortunately the Kodiak's powerful engine ensured they didn't get stuck, even though they only had wheels instead of tracks.

Cutting through the mud, Tofte led 2nd Platoon of Sierra Battery out into the middle of the field before his Warthog pulled to the side and he began waving at the howitzers, gesturing at where he wanted the self-propelled artillery pieces to position themselves.

"Okay! Pull up here Andresen, this is our new firing position! Get the gun ready!" Sergeant Oleneva commanded from the passenger's seat.

Engaging the air brakes, Pieter reached for the gun controls before the Kodiak even had a chance to settle.

"Extending the outriggers!" he warned as he thumbed the buttons and the entire Kodiak began to level out as the support struts embedded themselves into the ground. A green light appeared on the dash, signaling the vehicle was now locked in place. "Unlocking the main gun!"

"Shit, that's a lot of fire mission requests," he heard Oleneva mutter beside him from where she had fired up the cab's main computer and, stealing a glance over her shoulder, he could see the system queuing up enough 'messages to observer' to fill the entire screen. Their fire direction control team had clearly been hard at work, processing all the requests for support, even while they had been maneuvering into position. "Let's hurry it up, Private, so we can get back into the war!"

"I can only go as fast as the Kodiak allows me to, Sergeant!" Pieter snapped. There was a loud clunk and another green light appeared on the dash, showing their howitzer was now in battery. "Gun ready!"

"Finally! First mission! Target number Echo Bravo one one three seven, three rounds HEPD, charge four hotel! Deflection three three two zero point eight, quadrant three seven point zero niner! Standby for adjust!"

"Deflection three three two zero point eight, quadrant three seven point zero niner!" Pieter repeated as he plugged the numbers into the gun computer and he could feel their 152mm howitzer automatically rotate and rise to the indicated position. "Three rounds HEPD, charge four hotel! Gun set!"

Oleneva immediately leaned over to double check the screen. "Verified! Gun ready! Standby…"

Pieter flipped up the plastic safety covering the front of his joystick and planted his fingers on the trigger.

"Adjustment round, shot one - FIRE!"

Pieter squeezed the trigger. Instantly, the entire Kodiak jumped as a forty-seven kilogram hunk of metal was ejected from the muzzle of their fifty-two calibre barrel at speeds upwards of seven hundred meters per second. The flash from the muzzle immediately lit up the surrounding area so much, for half a second, Pieter almost thought someone had dropped a flare on their location. Even from inside the Kodiak's armored cab, the noise was shocking and Pieter knew someone on the receiving end was about to have a really bad day.

Assuming they scored a direct hit, of course.

"Save that as target concentration alpha!" Oleneva commanded as their howitzer reset. "Second fire mission! Target number Sierra Tango two zero three niner; infantry in the open! ICM in effect, three round burst, charge two lima! Deflection… two three three two! Quadrant three seven point one four!"

"Deflection two three three two! Quadrant three seven point one four! ICM in effect, three round burst, charge two lima!" Pieter echoed under his breath as he glanced at the screen depicting a cluster round being rammed into the breech while a second shell was dropped onto the ramming tray in preparation for rapid fire. "Gun set!"

"Verified! FIRE!"

This time Pieter squeezed and held down the trigger. The Kodiak shook once more but as the barrel recoiled then returned to its original position, the breech automatically opened and before the smoke could fully exit, the second shell was already being rammed in, followed by two cylindrical propellant charges. At the exact same time, a mechanical arm removed a third shell from its blast protection case and dropped it onto the ramming tray. A split second later, the shell was fired, allowing the third and final shell to loaded, before being fired in turn. The entire process took less than nine seconds.

"Shots one, two, and three, away!" Pieter reported as he released the trigger, allowing the safety to automatically engage.

A buzzer unexpectedly sounded in the cab and Pieter reflexively glanced towards the roof.

"Warning buzzer! Last fire mission before we need to relocate!" Oleneva noted. "Adjustment for target concentration alpha! New deflection: three three seven zero point zero, quadrant three five point five! Three rounds HEPD, charge four hotel. All rounds, fire for effect!"

"Gun set!"

"Verified! Fire for effect!"

"Target concentration alpha: shot one!" Pieter warned as he pulled the trigger. "Shot two! Shot three! Rounds complete!"

"That's it! Displace! Stow the gun, I've got the outriggers!" Oleneva offered, shoving her data pad away and reaching for the controls. At the same time, Pieter heard Tofte announcing over the radio, "FDC to all Guns: that is a displace, I say again, we are displacing! End all fire missions, stow your guns and indicate when ready, over!"

Pieter didn't bother responding and instead, yanked on the lever that would cause their howitzer to automatically stow. He could hear the barrel cranking downwards as it lowered into a horizontal position before there was a loud clank as it latched onto the travel lock, and a green light appeared on his dashboard indicated the barrel was secured and the Kodiak was ready to move out.

"Gun stowed," he reported.

"Riggers in! Get ready to move." Oleneva grabbed her radio. "FDC, this is Gun-2: we're ready to displace on your signal."

"Copy. Guns 1 and 2 are ready, Gun-3, you're holding us up!"

Pieter glanced out the driver's side window to see Gun-3 – which had been positioned just off to their left – finally and fully retract their outriggers.

"Sorry about that, FDC: last fire mission required two adjustments," Pieter heard Gun-3's gun chief apologetically say over the radio. "Gun-3 ready!"

"Copy! FDC to all Guns: we're Oscar Mike! Move it out!"

Pieter immediately shifted into gear, hearing the hiss of the air brakes releasing.

"Hang on, wait for Gun-1!" Oleneva warned. "Rasmus is pulling out first, we'll follow him."

Pieter grunted and watched as Sergeant Rasmus's Kodiak peel out of the field, following in Tofte's wake. Spinning the steering wheel, Pieter maneuvered to follow and the platoon quickly abandoned the muddy patch. Glancing at the rear view camera as they drove away, Pieter half expected their former firing position to be immediately obliterated by a Covenant mortar strike, but nothing happened.

"Covies didn't have us zeroed yet!" he exclaimed.

"I know that, but we don't want to stay in the same position for too long otherwise, the Covies would have found us," Oleneva impatiently explained. "Shoot 'n scoot; that's the name of the game. Now shut up and focus on driving!"

Pieter did just that, following the convoy as they sped down the road. All around him, he could hear the dull thunder of guns as other Kodiaks from the rest of the battalion engaged Covenant targets from their own firing positions. In the distance, the horizon was lit up from all the explosions; he took a moment to count them. In less than thirty seconds, he counted upwards of twelve flashes, which was a crazy rate of fire and an indication of just how much ordnance 7th Battalion was sending downrange.

And things were only starting to pick up…

"We got any idea how the battle is going?" Pieter asked.

"Nope," Oleneva calmly replied, popping the 'p.' "And I don't really care either. We're Redlegs; our job ain't to hold the line, it's to bring the rain. Long as we're doing that, that's all I care about."

"I thought you had a brother who was a Bison commander. Aren't you the least bit curious as to how he's doing?"

Oleneva didn't immediately respond and for a moment, Pieter wasn't sure if she had heard him. He was about to repeat the question when she finally admitted, "I had a brother. He was killed in action three days ago."

Pieter's head snapped in her direction. "Shit! I didn't know that! Fuck, Sergeant, I'm sorry to hear that. Why didn't you say anything?"

"Why the fuck would I?" Oleneva brusquely snapped. "It's got nothing to do with our job. So let's fucking do it. Turn here!"

Pieter jerked and spun the wheel, following the platoon into what might have been a parking lot ages ago, but had since been retaken by nature.

"Pull up next to Gun-1 and get ready!"

"Yeah, yeah," Pieter impatiently retorted, but Oleneva was no longer paying attention, her eyes glued to her data pad, leaving Pieter to set up the Kodiak himself.

He reflexively looked up at what he thought was the sound of jet engines flying by overhead, but it was either too dark or the planes were flying too high for him to spot. Whatever. As long as they didn't stay in the area, Pieter didn't have to worry about accidentally hitting them with his howitzer.

"Hey!" Oleneva barked, effectively drawing Pieter's attention onto her. "What type of smoke do we got? Regular smoke or -"

"We got Willy Pete!" Pieter yelled back.

"Right! Fire mission! Target number Delta November one two five three; maneuver unit needs smoke cover! Two rounds Willy Pete, charge two lima! Set shell smoke fuze time three zero point three! Deflection two five niner four, quadrant four five point one five!"

"Smoke fuze three zero point three, two rounds, charge two lima," Pieter muttered, checking the cameras as a pearl white shell was shoved into the breech. "Deflection two four niner five- "

"Niner four!" Oleneva angrily snapped. "Deflection two five niner four! Fucking pay attention!"

"I am fucking paying attention!" Pieter snapped back, just as irritably. "That's just a lot of fucking numbers getting thrown out at the same time!"

Pieter jerked his head to the side as Oleneva smacked him alongside his helmet. "Those fuckingnumbers matter, you dumbass! You understand you were about to lob a fucking shell an entire fucking grid off!? You can't fuck around with six inchers! Especially when we're dealing with white phosphorus!"

Pieter opened his mouth to retort-

"COUNTER-BATTERY!" Tofte suddenly screamed over the radio. "Covenant battery of mortar Wraiths located at grid: Charlie Romeo five niner three two five, six six two one zero! Altitude, one five zero zero; direction four seven five zero! All guns, check fire on current missions and fire for effect on new target!"

Pieter and Oleneva exchanged a startled glance, their argument instantly abandoned in light of the new threat.

"Counter-battery!" Oleneva yelled. "Prep two Krasnopol shells while I figure out distance, deflection, and quadrant to target!"

"I'm on it!" Pieter promised. He hastily turned back to his controls and slammed his hands down on the 'unload' button, watching as the Kodiak go through the entire loading process, just in reverse: the grabber arm seizing hold of the smoke shell as it popped out of the breech, maneuvering it back its protective ammo case on the side of the vehicle, before grabbing a 'Krasnopol' smart submunition artillery projectile used in the anti-armor role and loading it into the breech. "Setting targeting profile to search for Covenant mortar Wraiths!"

"Alright, got it!" Oleneva triumphantly yelled. "Charge three hotel! Deflection three one eight eight! Quadrant four five point zero two!"

"Charge three hotel, deflection three one eight eight, quadrant four five point zero two!" Pieter repeated. "Gun set!"

"Verified! Gun ready! Shot one: fire!"

Pieter slammed down on the trigger, and the entire Kodiak shook once more.

"Shot two: FIRE!"

Pieter pulled the trigger once more, sending the second Krasnopol down range, and waited in anticipation. Even though he wasn't there to see it, he still remembered from training what the two rounds would do: exiting the muzzle at speeds in excess of eight hundred and thirty meters per minute, the Krasnopols would overfly the target area, at which point, the entire shell would essentially disintegrate, ejecting two submunitions. Once cleared of the shell's remains, winglets would deploy and cause the submunitions to begin to spin, slowing the shell's descent like a parachute and giving the on-board sensors a chance to scan the ground below for a target. Anything within a 32000 square meter area that fit the computer's target profile – in this case, mortar Wraiths – the submunitions would fire an explosively formed projectile capable of penetrating up to a hundred and forty millimeters of armor straight down through the target's roof, disabling or outright destroying it.

Considering the entire platoon just fired two rounds apiece at the same target, those Wraiths were toast.

"Hell yeah! There ain't no kill like overkill!" Pieter triumphantly crowed.

"Hey! There's no time to celebrate, we still got a long battle ahead of us!" Oleneva snapped. "Switch back to target number Delta November one two five three! And try and get the deflection right this time, yeah!?"

"Right! Need the numbers again!"

"Two rounds Willy Pete, charge two lima! Fuze time three zero point three! Deflection two five niner four, quadrant four five point one five!"

"Deflection two five niner four, quadrant four five point one five," Pieter repeated under his breath as he jammed the numbers into the system. "Gun ready!"

"Verified! Gun ready! Shot one: FIRE!"

CLUNK.

Pieter pulled the trigger but this time instead of firing, the entire system let out a shrill of an alarm.

"Fuck- MISFIRE!" he yelled, yanking his screen towards him and immediately running a diagnostic. "We have a misfire!"

"What? What happened!?"

"One of the goddamn limas split!" Pieter angrily spat, ripping off his crash harness and kicking the driver door open, exposing the cab to all the thunderous noise outside. "Gotta do a manual reset!"

"Hey! HEY! Take your fucking rifle with you!"

Pieter poked his head back into the cab and just barely managed to catch the MA37 rifle Oleneva hurtled at him before it smacked him in the face. She gestured at her headset. "I'm on TEAMCOM! Let me know when we're set!"

With his hearing going in and out because of the other howitzers going off around him, Pieter tossed her a thumbs up and sprinted for the rear of the vehicle, pausing only long enough to grab the ramrod from its bracket mount on the side of the vehicle. Stabbing the rammer into the ground, he clambered onto the Kodiak's rear stabilizer, grabbed the breech block with both hands and yanked it open. Immediately, a rush of black propellant came out and began dumping onto the ground.

"Andresen! What happened!?"

Pieter jumped, not having heard Lieutenant Tofte's approach.

"We had a misfire, sir!" he yelled back. "One of the limas split!"

"Move!"

Pieter stepped aside and watched as Tofte plunged his hand into the breech and yanked out the half intact propellant charge, tossing it to the ground.

"Get the swabber!" he barked and Pieter automatically grabbed the rammer. "No, not the fuckin'… the damn swabber! Leave the rammer though!"

Swearing to himself, Pieter ditched the rammer and run around the Kodiak to get the swabber and bucket. Sprinting back, he rounded the corner in time to hear Tofte yell, "Wipe down the breech block! Get as much of the propellant off as possible! Gotta make sure it doesn't go off too next time you fire!"

Pieter worked frantically, quickly scrubbing away at the breech block screw and breech itself. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Tofte returning with two fresh propellant charges in hand.

"Alright, that's good enough! Hit the shell! Make sure it's still in place!"

Working as fast as he could, Pieter grabbed the rammer and slid it up the barrel until he hit the bottom of the shell still sitting it inside. Giving it a couple of taps to verifying it wasn't moving, he yelled, "Shell in place!"

"Charge two lima?"

"Yeah!"

"Move!"

Withdrawing the rammer, he nervously waited as Tofte shoved two propellant charges up the barrel behind the shell. Without prompting, Pieter immediately released the breech block, allowing it to automatically close.

"Oleneva, Tofte: gun set!"

"Copy. Clear breech. Engaging in three… two…"

Pieter hastily slapped his hands over his ears.

"… one… shot one: FIRING!"

A loud ringing immediately filled Pieter's ears as the entire Kodiak jumped from the recoil. The breech automatically popped open as the barrel reset, allowing a small cloud of smoke to exit, and Pieter leapt forward to reload the gun but fortunately the Kodiak's auto-loader kicked in and began reloading the howitzer at a far faster rate than Pieter would have been able to achieve.

"Shot two: fire!"

The howitzer fired once more, but Tofte was already grabbing Pieter and pulling him close so he could yell at him.

"Clean up here!" he barked. "And get ready to displace!"

"Yes, sir!"

Pieter hastily gathered the Kodiak's tools and moved to put them away, but as he did, he happened to glance up at the sky and something caught his eye. At first he thought it was a smudge on his night vision glasses, but as he continued to stare, he abruptly noticed the purple haze characteristic of an anti-gravity engine covering the bottom half of the object and he felt his blood run cold.

"COVENANT SPOTTER DRONE!" he screamed at the top of his lungs.

Rammer and swabber immediately hit the ground as Pieter grabbed his rifle and started shooting. Tracers streaked right past the drone, missing it by millimeters as Pieter frantically attempted to shoot the UAV down, though how long the Covenant drone had been hovering there, unseen, he had no idea. Maybe it was already too late.

"Covenant Spotter Drone, two o'clock over our position, four hundred meters! Take it out!" Tofte was screaming over the radio, before adding his fire to Pieter's.

RATATATA!

The sound of an M247 general purpose machine gun split the air, and Pieter glanced over at his Kodiak to see the RWS mounted machine gun on the roof of the cab had come to life, spitting out bullets and tracers and adding to the hailstorm of rounds being directed at the drone. Under such relentless fire, it didn't take long before there was a blue spark, and the drone began spiraling towards the ground, self-destructing in a violent blue flash a few meters before it landed.

"Oh, god, we gotta get out of here!" Tofte yelled. "Covies have got this spot zeroed! All guns: displace, immediately! Private Andresen! Get the hell out of here!"

Without waiting for a response, Tofte took off running for his Warthog, and Pieter moved to follow suit, running for the cab of his Kodiak. All throughout the clearing, the rest of the self-propelled howitzers were hurriedly packing up, trying to clear out of the area before the Covenant counter fire could arrive.

All except one.

"PRIVATE! HURRY IT UP!" Oleneva immediately screamed at him as he ripped the door open, even as she frantically thumbed the buttons to retract the outriggers and stow the barrel into its travel position.

Pieter didn't bother responding, he just tossed his rifle at her and clambered into the driver's seat. Not even stopping to buckled his crash harness, he jammed down on the gearshift and accelerator, only for a loud grinding noise to fill the air. "Shit, shit, shit!"

"Did you just fucking stall the vehicle? Are you fucking kidding me right now!?"

"Sarge, I realized I fucked up, but now's really not the time to be yelling at me!" Pieter snarled as he attempted to jam the vehicle back into gear. "Bitch, son of a bitch!"

"Gun-2, get the hell out of there!"

"Alright, stop! Stop fucking panicking! Put your foot on the fucking brake, then put the clutch all the way in!" Oleneva snapped. "Put the gearshift into neutral- "

"Restart the engine and place it into first gear," Pieter finished, physically going through the steps as he recited them, and was rewarded by the sound of the Kodiak running as normal "Yes! We got it! We're getting out of here, Sergeant!"

"Oh shit…"

Pieter glanced over at Oleneva, only to see she wasn't looking at him, but out the side window. Without thinking, he followed suit, only to notice the entire lot was beginning to be illuminated by a rather unhealthy looking blue glow…

He jammed down on the accelerator. The Kodiak lurched forward, just as the first of the plasma mortars came screaming in.

The entire planet seemed to shake as the first plasma mortar slammed into the ground less than twenty-five meters away and detonated in a violent and messy explosion. Unlike the shells the UNSC fired, plasma didn't generate fragmentation in the traditional sense, but what it did generate was heat. A lot of heat. A visible bubble of air rapidly expanded from the initial impact point, literally vaporizing everything it passed through. Asphalt, dirt, plants; it mattered none to the plasma. Not even the moisture in the air was spared as Pieter could see the sky rippling and writhing as it boiled.

And that was only the first shell.

"GO! GOGOGO!" Oleneva urged and Pieter drove down on the accelerator, causing the Kodiak to shoot across the lot at high speeds. Where he was even going, Pieter had no idea only that he had to get out of here right. Fucking. NOW.

More mortars came screaming in, slamming into the ground and leaving craters all over the area. The Kodiak rattled and violent shook as it was rocked on all sides by the shockwaves, but Pieter ignored all that, singly focused on the tree line directly in front of them that marked the edge of the parking lot. If they could just make it…

Abruptly a mortar exploded a few meters just off to their left, enveloping the entire cab with the blast. Flames licked at the windshield and side windows, and temperatures inside the Kodiak skyrocketed to the point Pieter thought he could feel blisters immediately forming on his exposed face. Every single screen and electronic device began to go haywire as the shockwave rippled through them, and he could hear the Kodiak's engine roaring in protest as the self-propelled howitzer's front tires were lifted clean off the ground by the blast.

A sense of weightlessness fell over Pieter, and he could hear someone screaming and he couldn't tell if it was coming from him, from Oleneva, or maybe it was both of them and for a moment he was convinced that this was it, these were his last moments and his thoughts immediately drifted to his mama and how devastated she was going to be when she received notification of his death –

- and then the cab came crashing back down onto the ground and Pieter found himself getting thrown headfirst into the steering wheel, yet somehow his foot remained glued to the accelerator and he automatically grabbed the wheel to try and keep it straight as the needle on the speedometer continued to climb. Another explosion ripped through the vehicle, lifting the vehicle up off the ground once more, but this blast came from directly behind them and with the front six tires still touching the ground the Kodiak was less effected as the hood of the cab slammed into a small tree, uprooting it entirely and then, suddenly, it was all over.

Pieter frantically looked around as the Kodiak cut a scythe of destruction through the undergrowth. Plasma mortars continued to devastate the parking lot behind them, but having escaped the blast zone, Pieter found they were now free and in the clear, having somehow miraculously escaped with minor to no damage, both to their vehicle, and their persons.

"Gun-2, this is Actual; come in! What's your status, over!"

Pieter violently started and reflexively twisted the wheel, nearly causing the Kodiak to spin out of control but Oleneva immediately reached out and stabilized the vehicle even as she grabbed the radio with her other hand and replied in a remarkably calm voice, "Actual, Gun-2: we're both up, but it was a near one and our gun might have been damaged, over."

"Copy that. Glad to hear you guys are alright. As for your gun, we'll find a place to pull aside and get it checked out. Don't fire it, obviously, just in case it explodes."

"Copy that," Oleneva replied as Tofte's Warthog pulled out in front of their Kodiak. Lowering the radio, she slapped Pieter on the shoulder, causing him to jump. "Hey. You alright? You good?"

"Yeah," Pieter quickly replied, trying to sound confident, though the death grip he had on the steering wheel was probably undermining his words.

"Yeah," he repeated. "That was, uh, just a bit closer than I was expecting."

"No shit," Oleneva replied with a snort. "But that's part of the job. It's why they give us guns, you know, in case something like that happens."

"Nah, I get that. Just… long as we can avoid any more close calls, I think I'll be good."

Scrubbing his face, Pieter looked up just in time to see a spike grenade embed itself into the side of Tofte's Warthog a split before it exploded, causing the entire vehicle to erupt into flames. And just like that, Lieutenant Tofte and the rest of the Fire Direction Center team was KIA.

For a few moment, all Pieter could do was gape, his mind struggling to comprehend what he had just seen as the burning wreck of the Warthog rolled to a stop in the middle of the road. Then the fear kicked in. "Oh, fuck! Holy shit!"

"Contact right!" Oleneva began screaming at the same time. "Contact right, contact- URGH!"

Pieter's head snapped in her direction to see five Spiker rounds had slammed into their front windshield in rapid succession, weakening the reinforced glass enough to allow a sixth spike to punch clean through the window and hit Oleneva directly in the chest.

"SERGEANT!" Pieter screamed, slamming on the brakes and lunging towards her as she slumped in her seat, blood gushing out from her wound.

She was chanting something, and it took Pieter a moment to understand what it was. "Get the gun, get the gun, get the gun."

A fresh volley of spikes slammed into the passenger window and Pieter immediately understood what she was ordering him to do. Scrambling for the controls to their roof mounted machine gun, Pieter's finger found the trigger. Their RWS roared to life, and he wildly sprayed down the woods with gunfire.

"Sergeant! Are you alright!? Talk to me!" Pieter frantically called, trying to suppress the Covenant infantry hiding in the woods while assessing her wound.

"Fuck," she gasped even as she reached into her IFAK and pulled out a can of biofoam. "Fuck, fuck, fuck."

"Sergeant, let me! I can help!" Pieter yelled, keeping one hand on the trigger while reaching out for the can with the other.

"No…" she gasped. "Gotta… keep the Covies… suppressed… secure area… then treat wounded… keep shooting…"

Pieter snarled and turned his attention back to the screen. He swiveled his gun left and right, sweeping the woods with bullets but the Covenant were well concealed and he had no idea where they were, or even what their numbers consisted of. And where the hell did they even come from!?

"Status?" Oleneva rasped out, her voice strained and obviously in pain.

"We're fucked!" Pieter couldn't help but resignedly yell, flinching as a plasma bolt splashed against his windshield directly in front of him. "We're totally fucked! We've got an unknown amount of Covenant infantry in the woods and only a single machine gun to hold them off!"

"Call for help…"

"Fucking fuck!" Keeping on hand on the trigger, Pieter grabbed his radio with his other. "This is Storm Wind 2-2 broadcasting in the blind to any UNSC call signs on this net: we need immediate help! We're pinned down by a Covenant infantry seventeen klicks behind the MLR. Multiple casualties! We need immediate assistance, I say again, immediate assistance! Does anyone copy, over?"

"Storm Wind, this is call sign Noble Protector," came the immediate reply over the radio, and Pieter felt a surge of hope, only for it to be immediately dashed the moment he heard the speaker's next words. "You're not the only ones getting attacked; a Covie counterattack has penetrated our lines and we're getting reports of firefights taking place all across our back lines. Division reserve is moving in to plug the hole, and they'll be in your area in… fuck, I don't know. They'll get there when they get there. Just hold out until then, over."

Pieter let out a string of curses, but what else he could he do besides reply with, "Wilco, out."

Throwing the radio aside, he continued to tap on the trigger as he glanced at Oleneva. "Hang in there, Sergeant, help is coming. Just hang in there!"

But Oleneva wasn't looking at him. Instead, she was looking out the window. "GRENADE!"

"What?"

Pieter reflexively tried to look around Oleneva but immediately realized his mistake and snapped back to his screen, but it was too late: the Grunt hurtled the plasma grenade which arched through the air, hit the ground and rolled underneath their cab. There was no time to react.

For the second time in less than fifteen minutes, Pieter found himself in a state of weightlessness as the grenade exploded, lifting the front of the Kodiak a few centimeters off the ground. Oleneva screamed in pain as the Kodiak landed heavily back down onto its wheels, and for a split second, Pieter lost his grip on the control. And of course it was in that exact moment, a Brute stepped out from behind a tree, leveled its Spiker, and fired a single shot.

"Fuck!" Pieter screamed, punching his controls as the dreaded words 'Gun Offline' flashed across his screen. "Motherfucking shit!"

"What happened?" Oleneva coughed out.

"Our gun is down! That's it! We are so fucked!"

"Use the howitzer."

"What?"

"Line-of-sight fire; hit 'em with the cannon," Oleneva gasped as she lifted her rifle. "I'll buy you time."

"Wha-? No, wait, Sergeant- !"

But it was too late, as Oleneva had already slipped out of the cab and through the window, he could see the muzzle flash from her rifle as she fired wildly into the woods, immediately attracting the attention of the Covenant who instantly returned fire. The Kodiak shook as stray rounds struck the side of the cab.

"Fuckity-fuck; we don't even know if the gun still works!" Pieter protested to himself even as he unlocked the barrel and quickly loaded a single high explosive round into the breach. "Don't blow up…"

Disabling the safety, Pieter took a deep breath -

- then pulled the trigger.

The Kodiak rocked from side to side as the recoil nearly caused the entire vehicle to flip, but that didn't stop Pieter from seeing the shell fly through the woods, punching through entire trees like an angry beaver and sending them crashing to the forest floor below. A split second later there was an orange flash as the shell exploded deeper into the woods and for a brief second Pieter could only hope he hadn't just caused a friendly fire incident but he had no time to dwell on it as the Kodiak immediately became the Covenant's priority target.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Pieter yelped, mentally begging the auto-loader to work faster. Plasma and spiker rounds raked the entire vehicle from front to rear but fortunately none of it did any serious damage as the Kodiak was armored, but the armor was only rated for shrapnel and not direct plasma fire, so it was only a matter of time before –

"- FUEL ROD - !"

Pieter snapped his head up to see a Brute emerging from the trees at the exact same time as the ready light on his dash appeared. Without thinking, Pieter immediately pulled the trigger.

BOOM!

The shell slammed into the Brute's chest. At that range, the fuze had yet to arm so it failed to explode but it didn't matter: getting hit in the chest with a fifteen centimeter wide, four-seven kilogram shell – even one fired with a single base charge – was not something even a Brute could simply shrug off. Pieter could only watch with morbid fascination as the Brute sort of… fell apart… as the shell passed right through its chest and buried itself into the ground.

"Yeah!" Pieter couldn't help but cheer. "Take that you stupid- "

Thunk.

A single spike grenade embedded itself into the hood of the Kodiak.

Thunk. Thunk.

A second spike grenade and a plasma grenade quickly followed suit.

"Fuck," Pieter whispered.

xxx

XXVII Airborne Corps HQ
22 Hours Later

Lieutenant General Noland Archer studied the tactical map. With the liberation of the town of Seven Pines, the linkup of the 25th Rifle Division, the 31st Cavalry Division, and the 222nd Airborne Division was complete and with it, the total encirclement of what UNICOM was calling "the Southern Covenant Army." Being cut off from their supplies and sealed in a pocket didn't mean the Covenant were automatically defeated, of course, but their isolation from their main landing site meant the Covenant invasion force was now cut in two, allowing UNSC forces to defeat each half in detail.

But, as always with the Covenant, victory had come at a high cost in both equipment and manpower, and none more so than the 31st had suffered. Taking advantage of the reduced sightlines within the jungle, the Covenant had been able to amass enough warriors for one last minute breakout attempt. They had slammed into the 31st's lines with enough force to punch through into their rear area, taking many support units by surprise. The destruction of the division's main communications hub had greatly aided the Covenant's assault as many of the cavalrymen had not even known a counterattack was underway, at least not until their positions starting coming under direct fire.

Ultimately, the cavalry troopers - armed with their Bisons, Cobras, and Kodiaks - had been able to repel the attack using their own resources, but doing so had cost them a brigade of cavalrymen, almost sixty percent of their divisional artillery, and roughly a third of all their support troops. Over the course of the Newsaka Campaign, all combat divisions had been relying on a steady stream of replacements to cover their casualties in order to maintain the initiative, however with losses as high as the 31st had taken, that was no longer possible; most likely, the 31st was going to have to be pulled off the line to be reconstituted.

Fortunately for Archer, he no longer needed to concern himself with the 31st CD as they were being transferred out of his Corps, and being reassigned to the XI Infantry Corps in the south. Instead, his paratroopers were pivoting north to begin the second phase of the liberation of Newsaka: Operation: LONG PATROL, which, if successful, would see the destruction of the "Northern Covenant Army" as well as their main landing site. The operation was going to be tough and bloody, as his paratroopers were going to have to fight uphill, through the thickest part of the Tien Giang Forest, in the middle of monsoon season, across terrain that was only permissible for light infantry.

Yeah…

Archer had absolute faith his paratroopers would be able to overcome whatever resistance the Covenant threw at them, but there was no doubt in this mind this operation was going to be brutal. And it was up to him, as their commander, to do whatever it took to try and ease their suffering.

As he studied his maps and reconnaissance photos in order to familiarize himself with the terrain his paratroopers would be soon fighting across in the coming days, all thoughts of the 31st Cavalry Division slowly faded from his mind until they were nothing more than ashes in the wind.

---

Canon Notes

- The M400 'Kodiak' Artillery System is a canon self-propelled artillery vehicle first seen in the Halo Wars 2 RTS game. It is an 8x8 wheeled vehicle system, similar in appearance and function to several IRL wheeled self-propelled howitzers such as the Swedish Archer or the French CAESAR. It is armed with a 152mm "M4131 rapid-fire howitzer."

- Krasnopol: this is named after the Soviet 2K25 'Krasnopol' 152/155mm laser-guided artillery shell, which is the Soviet equivalent to the United State military's 'Copperhead' or 'Excalibur' shells. Unlike its IRL counterpart though, the shell in this chapter is intended to be a "fire-and-forget" indirect fire top-attack cluster muntion, similar to the French/Swedish "155 BONUS" or the German "SMArt 155."

General Notes

I'm not too crazy with how this chapter turned out. I've wanted to write a chapter that focused on artillery for a while now, in recognition of the fact that once you get into the 20th Century, with the advent of better medical procedures and technology, artillery jumps up to being the number one cause of casualties among armies. However, my biggest problem has always been, I find it difficult to make it a thrilling and exciting chapter simply because, if an army is doing it correctly, at no point should an artillery battery be exposed to direct fire. As a result, I sort of muddled by way through this chapter by throwing random scenarios at the page, even if they don't make the most logical sense.