A Marine Patrol formed of a dozen soldiers marched through Malevelon, rifles at the ready as they moved to reinforce 4-man team of Helldivers in the AO. This was, according to the Helldivers they'd spoken to, one of the easier locations to deal with, considering these were the 'Divers' main landing zones for establishing control over AOs. Any bot Outpost that would appear would be destroyed either by orbital artillery, or by strike teams of four men and women belonging to Super Earth's Helldiver Corps.
One of the men among the ranks was a Corporal Caleb Evans. A veteran of the ides of the Human-Covenant War, the young man had been reactivated alongside his platoon to engage in this little support mission for Super Earth and Her Colonies. Despite everything he'd read on them, he still wondered how he got stuck with the posting on a rock in perpetual darkness and covered by the antithesis to normal plants.
As they treaded through the jungle by the side of a creek, the fair-skinned man with dark eyes scanned the surrounding treeline for the scarlet eyes of the bots. Beside him, a fellow patrolman was a Marine by the name of Anastasia Foch. Ana Foch, for short, a Private. She and him had been in the same platoon for years at this point, operating rather closely against both the Covenant and Innies at times.
"Remind me again why we can't keep our flashlights on?" Ana looked forward, pushing her short black hair strands back under her own personal helmet, MA5 at the ready. Caleb carried a BR55 Battle Rifle which he cradled close, while the others all carried assorted variations of these weapons, or the heavier gear like Machine Guns and SRS-99s, as well as other equipment.
"Automatons might track us with them, considering the Fog," Lieutenant Michael Kraus, the German-born officer of the squad, replied as he utilized his helmet's VISR system to keep tabs on both his squad and the trees around them, even through the Fog. He looked back at her, noting the green outline that marked her as a friendly on the IFF, then ordered her, "You got VISR, so use it."
"Bot photoreceptors are better than we gave them credit for," Valentin Ivanovich, a private carrying the SRS-99 sniper in question, explained to the still-annoyed Ana as he held his rifle close, making sure to scan the trees every so often with his Oracle. He continued in a murmur, "Can't imagine how the 'Divers managed to fight for this place for this long..." as they stepped over a small creek that fed a larger pond to their right, their feet splashing through the water and digging into the black mud of the place. A skittering underbrush bug ran away when he exited the swampy, reflective water.
"Don't give'em too much credit," The squad's Sergeant and unusual position in the team, Lana Ivanovich, told him with a hint of anger in her voice as she hefted her light machine gun onto her shoulder, stepping into the sludge next. She spoke, "It's some poor 18-year-old schmucks that are being thrown into the rathole. Hope ONI manages to do something about their whole 'managed democracy' bullshit they keep touting..."
"Don't let them hear you say that, or we'll have a shooting war with them," Kraus warned, just as annoyed, but managing to hide it better, his eyes scanning the area ahead as he pushed a massive blue leaf aside and sidestepped a tree, while also keeping his eyes down on the floor for enemy mines. He told them, "Their political commissars aren't gonna let any dissent slide," with even more anger in his voice.
"Aye, aye, sir," Lana replied, annoyed, as she hefted her rifle and peered around the tree with it. She looked back at the dozen other Marines trailing behind them, rifles up, including at their Corpsmen, all of whom were highlighted green in the fog and shrubs. She was thankful they had the VISR systems become complete and total standard for the UNSC Military at this point.
"This is nuts, man," The platoon's anti-tank weapon specialist, Roman, complained as he lugged around both the launcher and two extra twin-tube launchers, not to mention his M7 SMG and the ammo for it. He muttered to himself, "We're dragged into a war to help them fight both Bots and some kind of alien bugs and we're the ones meant to keep our traps shut," as he walked past the first Helldiver Corpse they could see, a man torn in half by what seemed to have been heavy weapons fire, his visor cracked, eye rolled almost to the back of his skull and intestines hanging out, painting the tree roots below an eerie, dark shade of red. The trees themselves were marked by bullet holes...
"Yeah, well, we're not paid to think at this point. As usual, guns forward, eyes sharp," The Lieutenant snapped back as they advanced. The staggered column formation pushed deeper into the jungle, their Motion Trackers picking up the light-footed movement of various critters inhabiting these forever-dark woods, the fog ahead growing thinner as they advanced uphill. The blue canopy soon opened, revealing the glimmering blue orbital rings around the planet, as well as the hundreds of SEAF Destroyers raining hell and Helldivers down onto the planet's various Sectors.
They heard the rattle of a gatling turret in the distance, the Lieutenant immediately giving a series of hand signals. The squad scrambled into cover beside trees, behind rocks and in waterlogged ditches, black mud staining their armors as they trained their weapons. Their MTs immediately picked up incoming Unknowns. They'd yet to share IFF tags with the 'Divers and SEAF, so it was up to standard greetings. Namely, signals.
The Lieutenant aimed his rifle forward and spoke, "Star..." in a whisper as he aimed for the head of a silhouette emerging from the treeline. He whispered again, slightly more loudly this time, "Star, or you will be fired upon...!" as his men trained their weapons upon the figures. Three green lasers appeared from the under-barrels of what looked to be heavy rifles.
"Texas..." The Helldiver in front of the group replied, rifle held close to his chest as he lowered it and turned off the laser. He wore a more ornate armor than his comrades, while one of the other three wore a white armor set with medical kits and extra pouches attached. She took her helmet off and smiled, while the leading man of the Formation also took his own helm off. He extended his hand and said, "Lieutenant Kraus?"
"Aye. Chief Farkas?" The Lieutenant nodded and got a nod back in return. The Marine then said, "Good to finally see the Helldiver squad we're supposed to reinforce..." only to pause as he saw that only three of the four they were supposed to back up were present. The Helldiver Chief, noting this, pointed back to the way they came. The Lieutenant sighed and said, "That was the corpse of your buddy?"
"Space Cadet Lee. She was a good 'Diver, went out swinging..." The Man replied as he grabbed his rifle off of his belt, "C'mon. The Nuke controls are a few klicks farther ahead. Keep your eyes open for patrols and Outposts. We've got about 35 minutes left before we have to head back to our ship, so we'll have to haul it..." only for all of them to pause as a Destroyer above detonated in a blaze of fire. The traces of the enemy's planetside defense platform fire were visible as the Destroyer broke up mid-uncontrolled descent, chunks of it landing all over the jungle of Malevelon.
"Roger. Marines, five meter dispersal, watch for hostiles..." The Lieutenant ordered and readied his own weapon again. The group began marching together. Up above, the cannons of a Destroyer thundered and the group paused as a UNSC Fighter-Bomber flew overhead. The man checked the BattleNet and nodded, then said, "They're hitting an enemy gun emplacement that's firing up on your Destroyers. Clearing us a path for Evac."
"Got it... Let's go..." The officer replied as the group re-started their march, forming a column. Three surviving Helldivers and a platoon of Marines fresh off the ship in another variation of the Milky Way Galaxy. As they slowly crept forward through the brush, they kept their eyes peeled for hostile AP mines and various other problematic traps that would kill them the moment they set foot on them.
Farkas and Kraus led the way forward, weapons at the ready as they pushed through the underbrush. The Marines marked the three Helldivers reinforcing them as friendlies on the BattleNet system and in their own IFF tags as they pushed past a series of Robot Trooper corpses that now littered the jungle. They deeper they pushed, however, the thicker the brush became.
"Reminds me of reading about the Rainforest Wars, sir," Joked a Marine as they pushed through. The Lieutenant showed him to be quiet, while Lana gave him a slap upside the head. Farkas looked to the Lieutenant with some confusion and Kraus simply shook his head as he helped lead the way through the 'blue'. The creek running beside them soon expanded into a small river that diverted right, toward a large planetary lake or inland sea that was visible from the Cruiser they'd come here on.
UNSC ships had also broken orbit and entered the upper atmosphere, it seemed. Broadsword bombers flew in low, dropping a full payload of napalm each on the area ahead, lighting the dark skies in dancing orange flames. Farkas sighed and spoke, "How did your people even get stuck into this mess, Lieutenant? Off the books... I figured Super Earth would see anyone not aligned with us as dissidents."
"You're a smart one, then, Chief," The Lieutenant nodded, "But so are your people. Malevelon was barely starting to go to shit when the Super Earth Government made a deal with us:We help you all duke it out with the Robots and the Bugs because we're all human after all..." Before sighing deeply and adding, "I remember the day the Broadcasts came clearly."
"I was actually there, sir. President's Guard," Lana spoke, grinning. Everyone looked to her as she said, "Yep. I can tell you guys the whole shebang. Was fucking hilarious..."
The Chief motioned for his two other Helldivers to push forward, while the Lieutenant gave a nod for Lana to continue the moment they were out of earshot. She grinned and gave them both a nod, before starting to tell the tale of how in the sam fuckery of Liberty the UEG had agreed to mobilize for a two-front war alongside their fellow Humans, especially against Bugs and Bots.
A couple months prior, on Earth
President Ruth Charet, head of the Unified Earth Government since her election in 2553, sat at her desk in Sydney, pruning through various reports and new laws she had to approve through her own stamp. She sighed and pushed her glasses back, then pulled out said stamp and put it onto a motion in regards to assigning more funds for post-Glassing planetary recovery for Reach. It was one of the most important colonies they had, after all.
The office was not an empty place, thankfully. She had enough in the room to distract her when she didn't feel like writing a confirmation for some toilet necessities for the people in Senate, like bookshelves, a nice wide window to look through into Sydney Bay, a TV and paintings, including one of Admiral Cole's Last Stand, showing the Everest's fight against the Covenant over Viperidae. Sighing deeply, however, the woman rubbed her forehead and mumbled something about food, before lifting up her tablet and thumbing it to read the news and mails that had been recently sent to her.
She yawned as she browsed through various weeklies from her other staff. She kept an eye on anything funny that could be made into a report for the newscasters, considering they liked tiny updates about the lives of her various co-workers from the denmother herself. Of course, she wouldn't give any important information about any of them, just fun tidbits given with their express approval.
She blinked, however, as a new mail flashed on her screen, marked in bold as IMPORTANT, PRIORITY SCARLET, which usually meant the Office of Naval Intelligence had decided to bypass every other means of non-military communication and directly send her the data. Thumbing the mail open and straightening up, the woman started to read. Ever so-slowly, her eyes widened as she read.
"... Strange gravity-affecting device in EPSILON INDI SYSTEM activated spontaneously, providing bridge connected to possible new Galaxy. First Contact established with HUMAN research outpost on other side. BE ADVISED:NOT UEG, NOR INSURRECTIONIST. Requesting diplomatic staff. Research and Civilian Staff of human group cooperative. First Contact was with UNSC Naval Security Detail, UNSC Infinity and Battlegroup..." The woman whispered to herself, taking her glasses off. She blinked, then yelled out, "LANA!"
The Marine, clad in her Dress Blues and with her MA5 at the ready, burst into the door and saluted, "Reporting, ma'am!"
"Send for Ambassador Nunez and have her travel to meet this new group of people ONI just sent me... Epsilon Indi," She ordered, then stood up and handed the girl the tablet. She told her, "Make it quick. I want the contact with these people to go as smooth as possible. Send a message to Fleet Admiral Lasky, too. He should be ready to welcome our Diplomatic Staff... I'll join the talks two days after the Ambassador arrives."
"Aye, ma'am," The girl saluted and turned to leave. She paused, looked back and asked, "Anything else?"
"Just make it snappy, Sergeant... Let's see what these people want..." The President nodded. The girl sped off immediately after. When word got out to the Unified Earth Government Senate and then, to the Public through the Press Conferences, Humanity was in a bit of a fervor. Humans in another Galaxy were something that nobody thought possible, yet here they were...
The first meeting between the two sides of Humanity would happen on their own personal envoy vessel. The SES Ambassador of Democracy, a small, cruiser-sized vessel that was painted white and had gold trimmings. It almost looked like a goddamn Yacht, thought the President as their shuttle approached. There were a hundred smaller military vessels facing off the UNSC's own present force in the Epsilon Indi system.
"Gaudy..." Murmured the President as she arranged her tie. Lana chuckled beside her, clad in a full UNSC Marine BDU.
As the vessel docked, the group was surprised to be met by soldiers clad in blue uniforms, weapons held close. The men and women raised their right, balled fists in a sort of salute, elbows bent 90 degrees and the palms facing inward. The platoon of Marines with the President took a moment to register the sight, looked to one-another, then sighed and stepped out.
Walking through the opulent halls, they saw some soldiers clad in jet-black and very ornate armors, carrying rifles that were almost too similar to their own for comfort. The men also looked like a cross between the Spartans and ODSTs. When they entered the opulent main hall, however, they were met by a man in an even gaudier white suit standing next to Ambassador Nunez. The man turned around, putting his gloved hands together and smiled, "Ah! You must be President Charet! A pleasure to meet'cha, ma'am!" and he walked up to her, extending his hand.
The dude looked like the standard movie jock, too. Slicked-back blonde hair, a wide grin, nice jaw and sunglasses-worn-in-a-starship type of Jock.
The two awkwardly shook, while Nunez looked to the woman with an almost apologetic look. Lana was already stifling a laugh as the man spoke again, "Do I have a proposal for you and your people from my government! For the sake of Managed Democracy and the continued existence of human race, I do hope you'll listen to me, ma'am, so that we may work together."
"... The bastard was inches short of begging for our help," Lana snorted as she stepped forward with the rest of the platoon, hearing the giggling and laughter of a few people. Still, the stare from the Helldiver told her to clarify, "I said inches short. Man kept his composure surprisingly well while presenting us with the 'We're all humans, so we're bound by blood to help each-other' rhetoric. And, luckily for you, old Ruth ate it up."
"Wasn't part of her inaugural speech about how humanity has earned its place in the Galaxy and will henceforth defend it?" Valentin quipped with a grin. The woman nodded as they walked through, which got Val to ask, "So what dragged your ass to the Front, sis? Weren't you supposed to be guarding the President after all this?" as the Helldiver leader stared at them, a bit confused.
"I'm surprised you can listen to this without trying to shoot us, Farkas," Kraus stated as they walked, "Every bit of Intel the Office of Naval Intelligence managed to hand us about you folks literally tells of how you deal with 'dissidents'..." before noting the man stop. The Lieutenant motioned to his troops to keep moving, then turned to face the man who took his helmet off.
"All I care about is keeping the enemy off of Super Earth... Dissidents can be the Ministry of Truth's issue for all I fucking care," The man replied as he slid his helmet under his arm. He was dark-haired, with almost buzzcut hair and two dark-green eyes, surprisingly. He told the Lieutenant and the Sergeant, who'd also stopped there, "Just keep this quiet around other 'Divers. Don't want one of'em going off on you because you insulted one of their politician family members..."
"Rog," The Lieutenant nodded, then gave him a pat on the shoulder and said, "Let's go set that Nuke off, then..." before he watched the man nod and slide his helmet on. The squad continued their march, forming back up with one-another and quietly advancing through the AO toward the nuclear weapon. The UNSC BattleNet was active and loud, several infantry platoons encountering heavy 'Bot resistance near their objectives.
The Helldivers fared no better. Even in the distance, on the tops of hills that poked out over the fog and darkness of the jungle. Lana pushed a massive leaf from in front of her and looked over to the Chief, starting, "Hey, Chief. It true you guys have a breeding permit or something?" which got pretty much everyone, the man included, to stagger. He looked to her and she stared at him dead-serious.
"... You mean the C-01 Form?" The man replied, "Yeah, we do."
The girl snorted, "Holy fuck..." before pausing. Her eyes shot wide open as she ran toward the man and threw herself against him. A scarlet tracer zipped over them, aimed at where the officer's chest would've been. Lana immediately hefted her LMG and fired from the prone position she found herself in, her own tracers lighting the darkness of the Forest. She got off of Farkas, who drew his rifle and balled his fist, then pointed forward, opening his hand with a chop.
His surviving Helldivers took cover and opened fire against the Automaton Patrol. Behind them, a sniper rifle shot rang out, aimed for the Commissar. Val aligned his sights with the next big threat and snapped off a shot from behind the group as Lana scrambled forward, mounting her gun against a set of rocks that would also act as cover and opening fire.
The Lieutenant looked to Caleb, who hefted his MA5 and let loose bursts of automatic fire toward the burning eyes of the enemy. The patrol had probably been just as surprised to see them, considering everything. The Marines and 'Divers swept forward, firing their weapons from cover as they met the enemy's Troopers with shot and grenade. They pushed forward, forming a perimeter around where the Bots had come from, then made sure each and every Trooper was dead by shooting them in whatever remained of their heads again.
Up ahead lay an enemy Outpost. The Chief motioned to one of his Divers to move forward, then gave a series of hand signals to the Lieutenant. They were gonna surround the outpost, a medium-sized enemy encampment with two Manufactories, then they were gonna engage the enemy, sniping out the Commissars while the Diver they sent forward cleared the place.
The other Diver raised his hand and the Chief nodded to him. Wait, no, Her, going by the build and voice. The woman stepped up to the officer and spoke with a clearly Irish accent, "Sir, wouldn't it be better if we dropped an Airstrike? Eagle Six's still waitin' for a fire mission and ya know how he gets up there:Impatient..." to which the man nodded. He gave her the honors, then motioned for everyone else to move back a little.
Initiating the call, she spoke, "Destroyer Defender of Democracy, Eagle-Six, this is Auburn One-Four, requesting Air Strike on beacon..." as she tapped the commands onto her tablet. She primed the Beacon with them, grabbed it with her right hand and then long-armed it toward the enemy outpost, landing it, terrifyingly enough, in the middle of a Bot Squad.
The Bots had noticed it, too, though a little too late. Overhead, the drone of a jet engine filled the air, followed by the roar overhead and the crack of the sonic boom as the aircraft slowed. A line of bombs dropped diagonally onto the outpost and detonated half-a-second later, blasting apart the concrete manufactories and the Automaton units securing the area. The pilot reported over the com, "Thanks for the target. Liberty delivered."
The Lieutenant smirked at that, then nodded to Farkas. The group then proceeded toward the nuclear weapon launch pad and set up defenses as the ICBM was being prepared to fire.. The central silo itself was massive, probably at least the size of the average nuclear missile on board UNSC Destroyers and Cruisers, meaning a big payload that would be felt across the pond. The Lieutenant radioed, "UNSC Show Me A Good Time, this is Delta-Seven. Be advised:AUBURN, Helldiver unit, is about to launch an ICBM at enemy targets on grid two-two-five-niner one-one-six-eight."
"Roger, Delta-Seven. Area is clear of allied troops and is, in fact, showing heavy Automaton activity. We'll enjoy the fireworks show. Show Me a Good Time, out," The Captain of the Cruiser replied. The El-Tee gave Chief Farkas a thumbs up, then shouldered his MA5 and prepared to call for backup. As his two Divers prepared and unlocked the latches to the Silo door, the man inserted the coordinates, codes and brought the missile up to launch position.
One press of a button later, the missile lanced out from the silo, leaving a trail of smoke in the air as it angled for its target and began its stage separations. It wasn't long after, either, that the nuclear detonation occurred over the horizon. The mushroom cloud raised high into the sky, billowing and flaming and shining in the darkness. The shockwave followed after, causing the clothes of the Marines and Divers to ripple, their capes fluttering almost poetically in the nuclear winds.
Their main issue now was gonna be evacuating with an army of pissed-off bots on their tail...
Annoying. Doable.