Bleeding Out
Disclaimer: I do not in any shape or form own Halo. It belongs to Bungie, 343 Industries, and Microsoft, nor am I associated with them in any way. This is a non-profit fan work written solely for the purpose of entertainment. This is in no way canon.
Responses to questions or statements:
-Gwynx: Thank you, mate, hope this chapter is enjoyable.
-edboy4926: Thank you very much. Hope you like this chapter.
-Guest: Yup.
-Krieger Techpreist: Thanks. As always, hope this chapter is up to your liking.
-WarCorgi: Thanks man, hope this chapter was satisfactory.
-Mythic Imagination: Thank you for the praise. Perhaps I should've explained it better, but the MC was religious before he was sent to the Halo Universe. Casper was-and still is-a Christian before he died in his original life, and he still maintains his faith despite being in the Halo universe. I didn't really see a point in mentioning it earlier because it wasn't really important, so I apologize for that So yeah, now you know a bit more about the main character of this fanfic. Anyways, hope you enjoy this chapter.
Now, without further adieu, onto the chapter!
Chapter 11
(Time: August 23, 2552)
(Location: New Alexandria, Reach)
The past few days flew by in a blur for the two Spartans of Noble team and their guardsmen compatriots, whom they had learned their names to be Ditmer and Kane. It was relatively uneventful aside from a few occasions where they had to hide from Covenant air patrols and one time where they were almost spotted by a massive enemy convoy consisting of Wraiths, Ghosts, Revenants, and several Scarabs that were transporting entire companies worth of Grunts, Jackals, Elites, and even a few platoons of Brutes. Which was rather surprising as Elites and Brutes were very rarely seen working together during the entire duration of the Human-Covenant war.
While it was agreed upon that they had to do something to at very the very least slow down the convoy and buy the UNSC some time, they lacked explosives and were only equipped with their sidearms with a few spare magazines for each. As Jorge was trying to come up with the plan, Casper told him and the two coastal guardsmen to wait and that "He'll be back" before taking off and vanishing into the camp that the convoy was setting up to rest in for the night.
About half an hour later, explosions began going off all across the encampment, one of which originated from right inside one of the Scarabs which blew off two of its four legs and left it reduced to a massive and really expensive alien paperweight. Not long after, Six arrived and immediately began saying that they needed to start moving; not a bad idea considering that the Covenant force was now on full alert and searching for whoever had disturbed their period of R&R and killed dozens of their troops when they were caught totally unprepared.
It was rather frustrating, especially for Jorge in particular, that the rest of UNSC garrison on Reach as well as the rest of Noble team were off fighting against the invading Covenant fleet while they were hiking and while they did just disrupt a large Covenant convoy, he felt there still more that they could do.
As they were making their final approach to the city, they could hear the all too familiar sounds of gunfire, explosions, plasma fire over the hill. Civil defense air raid sirens could be heard blaring off in the distance occasionally drowned out by the sounds of conflict.
Climbing on top of the hill overlooking the metropolis, the four-man group were greeted with a sight that many have become accustomed to ever since the war with the Covenant began three decades ago. Several Covenant corvettes could be seen above the city of New Alexandria with swarms of fighters and dropships flying out of the space craft into the city; plasma rounds were also fired from the ships with impacted the buildings below, causing some of them to collapse in on themselves which resulted in a cloud of smoke and dust in where it once stood. The four men could feel the ground beneath them vibrate, which really wasn't too surprising given the frequency and yield of the explosions; causing buildings and structures that took years or even decades to build cave in on themselves. Though the shockwave, did cause a few of them to momentarily stumble, it was definitely a lot worse for anyone that was in or even near the structure when it happened.
20mm Tracer rounds from human anti-aircraft guns and surface-to-air missiles lit up the sky as they targeted anything of alien origin- whether it be Banshees, Seraphs, Phantoms, and Spirits. Concentrated fire could be seen on the corvettes as the Covenant shields have thus far managed to shelter the space vessels from all UNSC defenses.
At the edge of the city, at the spaceport, massive amounts of activity could be seen even from where they were standing and what looked to be a brigade size force of between 3,000 to 5,000 men were creating a perimeter around the area. The Spartan-II and Spartan-III activated the binocular function in their helmets as both zoomed in to get a better look at what was going on, as even with their enhanced natural vision it was hard to tell.
Passenger spacecraft, cargo ships, and pretty much any space worthy human vessel could be seen landing, refueling, and taking off at the landing fields. Crowds of hundreds of thousands, possibly even millions of people could be seen in evacuation areas either huddled together in fear or trying desperately to get a spot on one of the evacuation transports. A few platoons worth of UNSC Army personnel could be seen trying desperately to maintain order and keep the situation from spiraling out of control while the rest of the Army units- including what looked to be members of the New Alexandria Police Department, were scrambling to set up defenses as they hurriedly constructed cover, kill zones, machine gun emplacements, and so on using both civilian and military trucks, military metal barricades, and what few armored vehicles they had on hand such as a couple of M350 Onyx IFVs, M464 Dauntless APCs, and even a few M808D Scorpion and M858 Venom Main Battle Tanks. Firing their autocannons, mounted MGs, and automatic grenade launchers at the Wraiths, Ghosts, and Revenants attempting to probe for weaknesses in their perimeter and Covenant infantry and armored companies that were trying to break through. The human defenders fought fiercely and valiantly as they knew that the lives of thousands were in their hands. CASEVAC birds could also be seen flying in and out of the city, liking carrying casualties and assisting with the evacuation.
"We can take a path here; it looks like it leads into the city." Ditmer said as he gestured to a nearby trail hidden by some foliage.
"I'll take point. Five, you watch our backs," Six instructed as he started moving forward. "Let's go, come on."
Following the side trail, they soon entered the metropolis and began creeping along the side of a building with Six taking point with Jorge taking up the rear with the costal guardsmen in the middle, flicking the safeties off their weapons. The corpses of UNSC personnel and civilians could be seen in the hundreds scattered about everywhere they went. Still, there were still bodies of Grunts, Jackals, Elites, Brutes, and even Hunters as well, showing that despite being outmatched in every way; humans weren't going down without a fight. As they continued moving their short-range radios began picking up nearby transmissions on various frequencies, none of which were good and only served to paint how dire the situation was.
"/ Echo Delta, Ripcord 2, LZ Neptune is being overrun! We have nineteen wounded, twelve dead and more than a hundred people on board! Multiple x-rays all around us! We're boxed in and need- /"
"/ Enemy drop pods have been spotted landing in- /"
"/ Copy, Rapture 5-2, Airheads are oscar mike. /"
"/ FAC, Killjoy 3-3 Alpha, requesting immediate fire mission at grid Papa-Charlie-five-two-five! Fire for effect, fire for effect! Do you copy?! /"
"/ Strongarm 4, Strongarm 4-3 Actual, TIC! I say again, troops in contact! Taking heavy fire at eleven o'clock, fifty meters! Daniels, get that SAW over here and mow them down! We need QRF at- /"
"/ Husky 6, this is Husky 2 Actual. Be advised: we've got snipers in grid 6-3D. MSR Henry is too hot. We're moving to- /"
"/ We've got Charlie foot-mobiles and armor moving along the- /"
"/ 3-2 Actual, 3-2 Bravo, our victor is down! We're combat ineffective! Say again, we are combat ineffective! LRP Butler has been overrun! Cannot maintain- /"
"/ Ambush! Right side! Right side! /"
"/ I don't care if you have to strap kids to the wings, Lieutenant! Just get them out! /"
Shutting their radios off to prevent themselves from being distracted- with the exception of Six to keep track of what was going on in the area- so they focus on the task at hand, dropped down from the destroyed balcony and moved to street level. The two Spartans glancing down at the motion sensors in their HUD to check for any movement in the vicinity.
Taking a detour through the front area of a building due to a car pile up, they had run into a skirmisher patrol who squawked in alarm as they saw them and started firing with their needler and plasma rifles. Casper and the two guardsmen quickly took cover while Jorge rushed forward, moving fast even for a Spartan of his size. Seeing the eight feet tall, armored juggernaut charging straight as them at the speed of at sixty miles per hour caused the skirmishers to quickly redirect their fire at him, but they were too late as he was already on them by the time they did. The super-soldier punched the nearest skirmisher, killing it instantly and launching it into the nearby concrete fall which left a blood smear, before turning his attention to the rest. Needler rounds and plasma shots began pummeling Jorge's shields as the remaining Jackals began panic firing.
"Should we help him?" Kane asked in uncertainty as the three watched the scene unfolding before them.
"No, he's got this," Casper answered without taking his eyes on the older Spartan, "He just needs to vent some anger."
It was over not long after, as the last few jackals laid dead as their blood began leaking out of them. Many of whom were deformed and limbs bending in the opposite direction from which they should as Jorge made there way back to them now with jackal blood splattered on his armor. Deciding to wait until later to talk about Jorge's rip and tear moment, Casper said nothing as he gestured for Jorge to follow him.
Before they could reach the street at the end of the building, Six suddenly stopped and raised his hand with a fist formed, signaling for them to stop. Not even a second later a Phantom gunship appeared from being a nearby structure, and miraculously somehow didn't see them. Not that they were complaining given that they would have no effective way to defend themselves if it did give that they currently didn't possess any anti-aircraft weaponry.
Using his enhanced and augmented strength, Six shoved the door open which broke the lock before he began gesturing with his left arm for the rest to move inside.
"Move in Go." Six hissed without taking his eyes off the enemy dropship with his finger ever so slightly itching closer to the trigger.
Two seconds later, he felt a hard tap on his back, signaling everyone was in and that he was clear to disengage. Which he did by immediately taking a few steps back into the doorway before turning around and following the others in his group.
The building was pitch black which was most likely a result of the city's power grid being damaged as a consequence of the Covenant plasma bombardment which damaged the cities power station or grid. In response, Casper and Jorge activated the built-in flashlights in their helmets which lit up the room they were currently in with whitelight.
With the room now illuminated, the group began making their way through the building, trying to find an exit or at the very least heavier weaponry. Soon thereafter, they came into contact with five suicide Grunts with a Brute right behind them who ordered them to charge as soon as they spotted the group. Without hesitating, Casper fired a shot directly at the head of the Grunt in front, causing it fall forwards and stumble the rest behind him which in turn made them drop their grenades and blow themselves up and even disorientating their Brute leader. Before the Brute could regain his bearings, he was tacked to the floor by Jorge who began punching him directly in his face, the Brute feebly attempted to shield himself by raising his arms, but it quickly proved to be for naught as the bones in his arms broke which forced him to lower them and exposing his face once again to his killer. The Brute stopped screaming as it soon laid dead from the repeated strikes.
Taking down the last batch of suicide grunts before it could get within range, causing it to drop the two primed plasma grenades it was holding which caused the subsequent detonation to reduce its body to scorched and burnt flesh, he saw Jorge still decking the Brute he had pinned against the floor right in the face. Its face turned into an unrecognizable mess of smashed flesh and bones. Kane and Ditmer looked at each other nervously at the display of violence and brutality that most civilians and even other servicemen ever inflicted on Covenant troops, not that they didn't think Charlie deserve it mind you. After all, the Covenant were single-handily responsible for billions of human deaths over the last thirty years.
"I'll handle this. Set security." Casper ordered as he began moving to his squad mate, seeing the two regular humans begin to carry out his commands from his peripheral vision.
"Five, that's enough." Six said as he grabbed Five's right shoulder. However, the Spartan-II showed no signs that he heard him or even registered his touch as he continued punching the Brute square in the face.
"Jorge, stop! Get a hold of yourself!" Casper nearly yelled more forcefully as he dragged his friend away from the Brute whose head was now turned into a mush of blood, flesh, bones, and armor. "He's dead, alright! Knock it off!"
Jorge was breathing heavily now as he stared at the corpse for a few more seconds before turning his gaze to his Spartan-III colleague. Who had now placed both hands on his shoulders, trying to get him to calm now which was rather difficult given that Jorge was much taller than he was.
"Jorge, I need you to focus." Casper said much more calmly while still being commanding in order to get his message across. "I can't have you flying off the rails like that. Look… I get it. You want to make Charlie pay for destroying your home, but you must not lose control like that every time we get into a firefight. You hear me? You keep going berserk like that you put every single one of us at risk. Understood?"
Jorge heavy breathing began to slow as he took in the younger Spartan's words. Despite feeling more enraged than he had ever felt in his entire life, he knew his words to be true. Losing yourself in the middle of the gunfight won't help anyone and that it proved you couldn't be counted on by the rest of your team and that you were a liability.
"Alright…alright. I'm OK." Noble Five said as he calmed himself down.
"You sure?" Six asked as he slowly removed his hands and took a few steps back from the largest Spartan in Noble team.
"I'm fine, Six." Jorge responded as he picked up the spare Brute Spiker that his most recent kill was previously wielding less than ten minutes ago, taking out the mag to see that it was three quarters full before taking a few spare ones from the dead Brute beside him laying on the floor with its head caved in. "Let's just get moving."
Casper nodded in his head in affirmation as he took point and continued making their way through the building with the rest of the group behind him. Explosions outside from both Covenant and human artillery could be heard more frequently in the background now and vibration waves shook the building every few minutes, indicating that they were getting closer.
Eventually, they managed to find a door leading to outside and the four men exited the building, where they had come across a squad of soldiers defending about two dozen civilians from a combined force of Brutes, Grunts, and Jackals. Coming across a balcony, they fortunately came across a few crates of humans with a few dead soldiers scattered about. Casper picked up a MA37 with and M302 underbarrel grenade launcher while Jorge grabbed a M122 LMG as Kane and Ditmer grabbed a M392 Bandit DMR and BR55 respectively. The four didn't waste anytime as they took a few grenades and magazines and began opening fire on the Covenant forces across from them, drawing the attention of their fellow UNSC servicemen.
"Spartans!"" Six heard a female voice shout out in near disbelief, "Where the hell did they come from!?"
"Who cares!" Another retorted as he gestured for them to come over, "Hey Spartans, over here!"
The two super-soldiers and two quickly topped off their gear from the nearby weapons cache before they made their way to the UNSC Army personnel who were still currently engaging the brutes as another Phantom dropped off more Brutes and Jackals before disappearing behind a building.
"What's the situation?" Casper asked the G.I who had a Staff Sergeant insignia on his vest- with "Powers" on his nametag, who was taking cover behind a concrete wall along with another soldier as he reloaded his M392 Bandit.
"We're trying to get these civilians to the evac site, through the elevator in the atrium." He said as he peaked around the corner and fired off a burst of 7.62mm rounds before diving back as needler right whizzed by centimeters passed his head almost blowing it off." Ugh! That was close! We've been trying to break through for nearly ten minutes; almost made before a Spirit dropped off more covies on us."
"Ditmer, Kane, get back to the ledge and provide overwatch. Jorge, you're with me. We'll draw their fire and punch a hole." Six said as he started taking charge, the aforementioned Costal Guardsmen nodded as they made their way back to where they came from. "Staff Sergeant, mind giving us some covering fire?"
"Don't worry, Spartan. My boys and I have got you covered." Power's reassured as he readied himself and his men.
"Good to hear," Casper stated as he checked the ammo on his newly acquired MA37 before turning back to his fellow super-soldier. "You ready, Five." He asked as he pulled out an M38 High Explosive Frag grenade and readied himself to pull the pin.
"Ready," Jorge answered with conviction as he pressed the butt of the stock of the M122 Light Machine Gun against his shoulder, holding the LMG as if it weighted nothing as he stacked up behind Noble Six.
Casper gave am approving nod before pulling the pin on the frag and tossing it down range. After waiting a few seconds until the heard of the sounds of the grenade detonating and the pained screams of the unfortunate Covenant troops that happened to be near it when it did, he gave a light tap on one of the Staff Sergeant's armored shoulders.
"Alright, people. In three, two, one… SURPRESSING!" Powers shouted as he and every other Army Solider leaned out of their respective covers and began opening fire on the Covenant, who responded by either firing their weapons or hunkering down into cover to avoid being shot by the human made bullets.
Taking advantage, Casper and Jorge instantly exited their cover and began pushing forward, immediately taking down several Brutes and Grunts who were withering on the ground as a result of the shrapnel from Six's frag. The rest of the Brutes, Grunts, and Jackals fell soon after. Making through way through the atrium to the elevator, the Spartans, Coasties and soldiers defended the lift from Covenant attacks as they evacuated the civilians through it. Once they were clear, the warfighters entered the lift and it to the parking garage.
"So where are you guy's going?" Power's inquired as they now had a moment of reprieve.
"We're making our way to the evac site." Jorge informed. "Any idea what the weather's like?"
"Trying to get there by ground is a no-go. Charlie has every entrance locked down. " The Staff Sergeant explained. "We're trying to secure the executive landing pad to get these civvies across to the port. Heard a group of ODST specialists have a plan, I'm sure they could use the help."
Just as the two Spartans took in the information, the elevator doors opened. Where they were greeted with cries of pain and the sight of dozens of wounded servicemen and civilians laid scattered about with civilian doctors, combat medics, and anyone that had even the slightest knowledge of medical training were tending to whoever they can. Some wounds look quite gruesome such as Brute spikes embedded in various bodies and third degree burn marks as a result of plasma and needler shots.
"Other side of the hallway, Spartans." A PFC informed the super-soldiers as they stepped off the lift. "Right through the CCP."
Making their way through the triage, squeezing through a few tight spaces, they made walked through the corridors until they came across the exit leading to the balcony outside.
"Backblast clear!" An ODST yelled to his mate, who was shouldering a M41B2 Anti-Vehicle/Assault Weapon and aiming it at a flight of three Banshees heading towards the building they were in.
"Rocket out!" The Helljumper announced as he launched a rocket, impacting one of the Covenant fighters and causing to fall to the ground. The remaining two Banshees broke off and retreated back to where they came from.
"Hey there, Spartans." One of the leathernecks- with the nametag of 'Gardner' and rank of Master-Sergeant greeted the two super-soldiers as they stepped onto the balcony. "Radio's buzzing about you two, one of you feel like jumping?" He inquired as he gestured for of his men a Series 8 SOLA (Single Operator Lift Apparatus) jump-jet for one of them to take.
"Afraid we only got one left."
"Go," Jorge said to his colleague. "We'll hold down the fort here."
"Alright, see you soon." The two gunfighters fist bumped each other before Casper took the pack and attached it to the back of his armor. Quickly running a diagnostic to see that the pack was successfully connected to his MJONIR's systems.
"Welcome to the Bullfrogs." The Devil Dog said half-heartedly with a salute before two of his men used their jump-jets to leap to the adjacent building with the rest of the Jarheads covering them. As soon as they reached the structure, they immediately began setting security and provided overwatch for the next group who were already jumping to their location.
"We're going to capture the landing pad on the executive wing so the evac birds can land." He notified the Spartan-III before readying himself to jump. "Try and keep up, Spartan."
After jumping across multiple structures and reaching the landing pad, the Spartan-III and Bullfrogs ran into a platoon of Brutes and Grunts who were beginning to dig in into their position, It was a fierce firefight that ended with the humans retaking the pad, which unfortunately came at the deaths of two Helljumpers.
"Thanks for the assist, Spartan. We'll hold down the fort here." Gardner said as he and his men began setting up defenses and radioed in for the Pelican which arrived seconds later with an escort of two Falcons, one of which landed on a pad.
"Mind being hopping on for a bit, Lieutenant?" A female voice said over the radio which presumably belonged to the pilot of the UH-144. "One of my door gunners got shot an one hour ago, if you need a ride to dispatch you can hook up with us."
Casper responded by climbing in into the chopper and getting of the M247, racking the charging handle to make sure a round was in the chamber as the bird lifted off and proceeded along the coast.
"City's been under siege for the last five days." The pilot narrated as they flew along the city. "Thought we had it in hand, then those Corvettes showed up. The fleet's scattered and pulling back. Hell, we all got orders to evacuate. But some of us don't like leaving a job empty handed.
She went quiet after that as Six used the mounted machine gun to engage every target he came across. Doing his best to lend an assist to the people on the ground, even taking down a few Banshees that nearly shot down the Falcon. The whole time he could hear the chaos over the radio as evacuation ships scrambled to get out and units requesting reinforcements. At one point, a passenger ship was shot down by a flight of Banshees and crashing into the sea, with search-and-rescue being denied as the airspace was too hot.
Soon as Casper reached the location where they were coordinating the city's evacuation, he saw multiple anti-air batteries scattered about such as the M452 Spitter Anti-Aircraft vehicles, M9B4 Wolverine Self Propelled Anti Aircraft Artillery, and M809A Deathstalker Self Propelled Anti-Air Guns. A few of which were now on fire or turned into smoldering wrecks while the rest continued to fire at the Banshees and Phantoms flying overhead.
Waiting until the UH-144 Falcon began descending on the landing zone, Casper jumped off once the chopper was a few feet above the ground and creating a small puff of dust, he made his way to the command tent with were buzzing with serviceman packing up documents or gear or frantically typing someone on one of the few terminals still remaining, with some officers looking over them and giving orders for the soldiers to carry out or relay to other units in the field. Six made his way to the man who had the highest rank on his armor, who was giving orders to one of his subordinates before turning to the Spartan-III that entered the command tent.
"Man are you a sight for sore eyes," The man who looked to be in his late forties said in utter sincerity and relief. "I don't know how or why you're here, but I'm not complaining. Sergeant-Major Duvall." He introduced himself.
"Who's in command here?" Casper inquired as he grabbed a few more M38 frags.
"I am," The Sergeant-Major stated bluntly. "Our last officer got hit by a sniper this morning. The rest are scattered around the city."
"Alright," Six nodded as he digested the information. "What can I do to help?"
"I've got dozens of transports in the port across from here waiting for the go-ahead to lift off. Problem is that the Corvette shoots down any vessel trying to leave the city. We brought in a missile platform to deal with it, but we lost contact with the crew about one klick north of here. Their last transmission said that they were under heavy contact, so we have to assume the worse," Duvall informed. "If you can get it back online, we'll be able to bring that Corvette down and open a gap in the airspace so those evac birds can break through."
"I'll handle it."
"Much appreciated, Spartan. Here's the location." Duvall pulled up a map on the data pad he was holding and showed it to the super-soldier. "Stay safe out there, Lieutenant. We've been taking hits from Wraiths on the path leading there, and I haven't got the men to spare to deal with it."
"Don't worry about me, Sergeant-Major. You just make sure those birds are ready to go." Casper said as he sprinted off in the direction of the mobile launch platform.
Making his way to the location, he came across two Wraiths moving into firing position along with an escort of grunts and jackals, preparing to launch plasma shells at the UNSC encampment. Sneaking his way around the force until he had a clear shot at the back end of the Covenant tanks, leveled his MA37 and reading the underbarrel M302 grenade launcher; firing a HE-FRAG 40mm round directly into the cannon which if done right, would caused the vehicle's power core to go critical and destroy the tank. It was a fatal flaw in the Covenant armor that various UNSC warfighters have exploited over the years to destroy Wraiths with anti-tank weaponry.
The resulting explosion caused the Wraith to go up in a blue explosion that launched shrapnel that killed several grunts and jackals that were close. The remaining troops immediately began taking cover as Six began opening fire, only stopped to move to dodge a Plasma shell fired by the Wraith.
It was an intense firefight, but Casper came out victorious as he was able to flank the remaining Covenant troops and board the Wraith. Using his enhanced strength to pop the hatch open and drop a frag grenade inside, hearing the panicked yells of the Elite inside as he jumped off right up until the tank exploded. Not wasting any more time, the hyper-lethal continued to his objective.
Not long later, he came across the missile platform with its escort and crew dead and guarded by a few Brutes including Chieftains. Who were swiftly taken down as they were no match for the experience gunfighter.
Once the last Brute dropped dead as if it was a puppet that had its strings cut, Six performed a tactical reload before making his way to the M316 Omega Mobile Missile Platform, entering it and immediately began accessing the firing station via one of the three launch terminals that were manned by the vehicles launch operators. Bypassing the security system via a program in his TACTPAD, he began priming up the two remaining MIM-43 Ramhorn surface to air anti-ship missiles as the missile bins slowly turned to the Corvette hanging above the city, hopefully this would be enough to bring down or at least disable the Covenant vessel. As the main armaments finished powering up, Casper moved to the missile control console and began painting the target via the Missile Platforms on board radar system, using the lock-on designator. Watching with satisfaction as the biggest blip on the radar turned from green to red on the targeting computer, signaling that the Ramhorns were now locked on the signature that was highlighted.
As the last few systems powered up, Six reported in. "/ Evac Dispatch, this is Noble Six, missiles are online. Over. /"
"/ Copy that, Spartan. /" Duvall responded before he opened up the channel to the docks. "/All evac transports, you're cleared for take off. I say again, you are cleared for take off! Go now!" /"
Flipping the primer switch and pressing the firing button, Casper fired the remaining Ramhorn missiles at the Corvette. Causing massive damage and making it slowly begin to descend as it was unable to keep itself airborne. At the same time, civilian transports begin flying out of the city as fast as their engines could take them. Dozens of ships containing hundreds-if not thousands- of people began disappearing over the horizon one by one.
"/ Evac birds are away, /" Sergeant-Major Duvall exclaimed with pure relief and gratitude in his voice. "/ You saved a lot of lives today, Spartan. Great work. Echo-9-Delta out. /"
Six stepped out of the mobile missile launch platform and began walking to the shore, watching as the human space craft head off into the distance. After a few seconds, his radio came on with a familiar voice coming through it.
"/ -come in. I say again, this is Noble Two to Noble Six and Five. Do you read me? Please respond. Over. / "
"/ This is Five. I 'm reading you. /" Jorge answered.
"/ Roger that, /" Casper responded through his helmet's built-in radio. "/ This is November Six. Go ahead, Two. /"
Six could hear Kat let out a heavy sigh of relief before she continued. "/ We picked up your guy's IFF transponder about an hour ago but could not risk communicating over open comms. Charlie has this city locked down tight; what's the situation at Starport exit? /"
"/ Last few transports are leaving now. Over /" Casper reported as he could see the last passenger transport disappeared over the horizon.
"/ Roger, we're sending a transport to bring you to us. Over/"
"/ Six copies all, tell the bird we'll mark the LZ with a flare. Five, rally on me. Sending coordinates now, over. /" Six pressed a few buttons on his TACTPAD which sent his current location to his teammate.
"/ Coordinates received. /" Jorge answered after a few seconds of silence. "I'm en route now."
"/ Affirm, we'll see you soon, Two. Out here. /"
Casper shut off his radio taking a few steps towards a nearby rock that provided an excellent view of the ocean before him. Leaning his rifle against the rock and taking off his backpack, he sat down as he began appreciating the sight before him. An opportunity he had quickly grown to appreciate as where he sat gave him a clear look at the many of planets orbiting the planet along with the massive sea of water that seemed to stretch endlessly created quite a spectacular scene.
Soon, his motion tracker located in the lower left corner of his HUD began picking up movement roughly twenty-five meters behind him from where he sat. However, it appeared in yellow which indicated that it was emitting a friendly IFF. It wasn't long before he heard heavy footsteps behind him and a thud beside him on the large rock, taking off his GRENADIER helmet and placing it on the rock right next to him. Six gave his partner a quick glance with a small tilt of his helmet to the side before looking back to the sea before him.
"Where's Kane and Ditmer?" Casper asked when he saw that the two coasties they had traveled with for the past few days didn't arrive with his teammate.
"We meet up with members from their unit at the evac site. They decided to stay with the rest of their unit after we held off the Covenant assault."
"Makes sense," Six replied as he took off his own helmet and set it in his lap. Pulling out his canteen, he unscrewed the cap and took a sip before handing it over to his fellow Spartan-II.
"Want a sip?" He offered with a light shake of the flask, the water inside swishing around as a result.
Jorge took it and took several gulps of water before screwing the lid back on container and handing it over to Casper, putting it back inside his backpack.
"What a day, huh?" Noble Five muttered aloud.
"You can say that again." Six said in agreement. "You know things are only going to get worse from here before it gets better?
"I know," Jorge answered solemnly as he slightly lowered his head. "But like you said, all that matters is what we do right now."
Casper gave a nod in affirmation before raising his right hand clenching it into a fist, seeing this Jorge let out a small chuck before forming his own with his left hand and bumping it. Things went quiet for the next few minutes as the sound of water splashing against the shore could be heard along with the distant gunfire and explosions. The two super-human warriors stayed there; sitting on that rock for hours as they watched the horizon. The sun slowly disappearing over the horizon by the time the D77-TC Pelican arrived, prompting Noble Six to pull out a magnesium flare from his backpack and popping the cap off before lighting it and tossing it to the ground. Resulting in the dropship, to begin speeding over to their location.
And cut! That's it for now. As always, thanks to all of you for taking the time to read my story and leave a review.
Terms:
-FAC: Forward Air Control.
-LRP: Logistics Resupply Point.
-CCP: Casualty Collection Point.
As always, hope you guys have a pleasant day and remember… stay frost, gents.
