It would probably seem to many that saw the reports as though the Automaton War was going well on Malevelon Creek...
Appearances could be deceiving. That was all Alessia was thinking as they beat a fast-march retreat now. Overhead, Automaton dropships landed behind them, disgorging platoons of troops that chased them into the thicket of the dark, foggy jungle. Dozens of pairs of scarlet eyes peered at the Marines and Helldivers as they pulled back from a position that was soon to be overwhelmed.
Alessia tapped in the code for a SEAF Artillery Strike and threw it right in front of them. The distant artillery gun thundered, the shell arcing high and down. It landed amidst the crowd of retreating Marines and Divers before a cloud of smoke spread out around them. SEAF Infantry behind them fired their guns to cover the retreating Marine troops as more Dropships moved in overhead.
The group burst through the smoke, with Tomas immediately skidding to a halt and signaling Radomir to stop beside him. The man then hefted his anti-tank recoilless rifle, aimed up at a Dropship that contained a dozen Marauders and fired. The projectile flew straight, intercepting the Dropship and nailing its back engine. It ditched its cargo as it went into a flat-spin and crashed somewhere farther in the rear of the jungle.
Tomas then took a shot to the head, sending him tumbling back into his loader. Radomir barely caught him and gasped, noting that the helmet had broken. He took it off of the young gunner's head, revealing someone, maybe nineteen years of age. He had a cut on his forehead and a shard of glass embedded into his cheek from the helmet's visor breaking. He swore to himself and barked, "I'm fine! Ringing fucking headache, though!" before grabbing his Liberator and launcher off the floor.
Radomir nodded and said, "We'll treat you at the EVAC site!" only to watch him stick a needle full of stims into his neck. The man breathed in, then coughed and nodded, patting his buddy on the chest as they rejoined the running formation. Johnson watched the AT Gunner hobbling a bit, despite not being hit in the leg, and quickly motioned to his Corpsman to check on him.
Just in time for an autocannon shot from a Marauder to cut down one of his own, spraying blood across the black mud. The Sergeant-Major swore to himself and spoke, "I almost took an energy blast to the goddamn chest five damn years ago! I'm not lookin' forward to testing how a gunshot feels!" before grabbing the Corpsman and showing them to keep moving.
More Dropships poured in from the rear-line as Troopers and heavier enemy units burst through the treeline, firing their weapons after the Marines and Helldivers. It was almost annoying, but at least their aim was as shit as their looks, a Marine thought. The group slid into cover behind the trees and began to return fire as reports came from across the front line of the 'Bots pouring onto Malevelon.
Johnson cocked his head left as he reloaded his shotgun, rounds zipping by him and his men. He stared up at a moon above and saw a faint silhouette in the distance, though he couldn't make out its full shape. It didn't look like a Super Destroyer or UNSC support vessel, either. He ducked behind cover as a round scraped the tree, more pouring from the advancing mechs. He poked out and snapped off a shot from his shotgun.
Alessia looked to Johnson, watching as his Marines all scrambled for cover in various ditches and other positions, primed another beacon and murmured, "I swear, we rely on these too much!" before long-arming the Stratagem Beacon:500kg bomb forward. She watched Eagle dive down, planting the bomb dead on the Beacon and amidst a dozen Machines, only for it to detonate in a surprisingly bright flash that shattered the entire forward line.
Tomas poked out from cover and scoped in, firing his assault rifle in full auto, before ducking back into cover and swearing up a storm to himself as he dropped the spent plastic magazine into the mud, losing it there. Beside him, Rado and Helena fired their weapons, too, the latter making sure they'd make it out of the place alive. A Marine beside them exploded in a shower of gore, much to everyone's surprise, as more enemy units poured through the treeline.
"Christ, they're really laying into us with everything they have!" Johnson barked, then radioed, "We're gonna need a carpet bomb run down here, ASAP! Lots of targets, Danger Close!" before marking the targets with lasers. The Marines beside them fired Battle Rifles and ARs as they marked the treeline from which the Automaton Horde continued to seemingly spawn.
Eagle was more elegant with her drops, what with the dance and divebombing from up above. Even though she really didn't need to do it. The Longswords, meanwhile, flew high above, dropping their munitions from on high while ensuring they had the ability to dive down on anything that so much as scoffed at them wrong. When the first few 1000lb bombs landed, the detonations came in a row, separated by a half-second's pause each as they shattered the treeline and broke the enemy's advance.
Johnson then called out, "Keep pulling back! Move!" to which Alessia nodded, hurrying her men back and firing her Breaker shotgun at the enemy. Berserkers burst through the smoke, their chainsaw arms revving, bodies glowing scarlet in the darkness. She shredded the nearest one with the gun, but a second kicked her back, slamming her into the thick trunk of a tree before trying to lob off her head.
Johnson's own shotgun barked and an AP Slug tore both of the monster's arms off, considering it was side-on with him. He ran over to Alessia, helped her to her feet and handed her her gun back. The two Sergeants wordlessly nodded to each-other, then began to run. They'd accomplished their objective in the AO, that being the deactivation of that jammer, but hadn't managed to reactivate the SAM site. However, as the first AA missile streaked in and struck a transport, splitting it in two, they realized that the second team that had deployed with the Helldivers of Alessia's unit had probably done it.
Radios blared with requests for reinforcements from other Helldiver units nearby, distant thundering gunfire filling the air as Dropships moved in, delivering even more troops. A Marine wondered aloud, "WHERE IN THE HELL DO THEY EVEN HAVE THE FACTORIES TO DUMP THIS MANY DROPSHIPS OUR WAY?!" before taking a round in his helmet that sent him sprawling into the mud. He was alive as he straightened up and said, "I'm okay...! I think-" only to get cut off almost comedically as a bullet from a Bot Trooper punched clean through his jaw.
"Poor bastard..." Radomir murmured as he and Helena took cover. Ahead of them, on a hilltop, flashed the evacuation beacon. Their Super Destroyer squadron also lay in low orbit above. Anti-orbital weapons, however, fired up at them, red projectiles lancing past the Destroyers as they maneuvered slowly, avoiding the unguided projectiles. The group of troops scrambled up the hill behind them.
A SEAF fire-base had been set up here, meaning a few trenches and defensive positions. Alessia ordered, "Radomir, Helena, get your Sentries down. Tomas, I'm calling down a Resupply for you all. Grab ammo and everything else you need for your launcher. The 'Bots seem pissed..." then she approached the Evacuation Beacon and tapped in the orders, stating, "PELICAN-1, this is Alessia... We're at the EVAC, requesting help now."
"I'll be on my way the minute I'm refueled, boss. Keep yourselves alive," The pilot replied, the com buzzing with the life of the 'Pit Crews' aboard her Destroyer working to refuel and rearm. He told her, however, "Eagle's back and rearmed. She's waiting for you and the boys to paint targets, much like the rest of the Pilots in the squadron. Whenever you're ready..."
"Thanks... Alessia out," She replied, then activated a calldown Stratagem, dropping in supplies and looking to Johnson. She told him, "I'm gonna call down an MG. Mind wielding it while we're down here?" to which Johnson shook his head. The Sergeant stowed his Shotgun onto his back as the girl did the call-down and tossed the beacon next to the resupply one.
When the pods came down, Johnson approached the heavy-weight LMG and extended its bipod, grabbing it, hefting and shouldering it, before marching over to one of the trenches and setting up. There were two ways up, both covered by Sentries, including a Mortar one. Alessia jumped into the Trenches as well, hefting her Breaker shotgun and aiming.
Down below, in the Fog, they could see them. Many dozens of pairs, maybe even a hundred, of burning red ocular sensors. Thumping footsteps and grinding treads filled their ears, meaning the enemy was coming in with armor, while Radios continued to scream of enemy reinforcements pouring down onto Malevelon Creek like never before. The Machine Army that was coming was strong, fresh, reinforced.
They chanted in that infernal binaric language of theirs, but the Humans could almost make out their words. "Heart-Steel... We kill. Iron Will, onto war." It was terrifying, how monotone it sounded. They could make out the melee units, Brawlers and Berserkers, leading the formation. Commissars sat in the rear, pistols at the ready as they moved toward their position.
Another two platoons of Helldivers and three of Marines had joined them at the Evac Site, Johnson looking over to see Farkas jumping down next to them, as well as Erika. Both them and their troops looked like hell, with Lana sporting a new bandage over her eye. She swore a bandage over her eye as she and Caleb took cover. Johnson greeted her with, "Sergeant."
"Johnson, sir," The girl nodded, "It's almost like something possessed the bastards. We've got word a few armor units were surrounded on their way to here... We called in EVAC from the Appalachia, but the enemy's coming our way in the thousands..." before peering over the cover. The enemy began to ascend from the Fog even as Longsword Bombers overhead laid into them with airstrikes, autocannons tracking the aircraft to try and shoot them out of the sky.
Still, the Horde emerged. Autocannon and Gatling Sentries opened up first, the main line of defense, thumping detonations and chattering gunfire filling the air, laying into the demonic machinery down below. The UNSC Marines opened fire, battered as they were, right alongside the Helldivers, white and red tracers filling the darkness in reply to the enemy's own red ones, which started to fly.
A Marine was nailed in the head by a good shot, tumbling back. Helena knelt quickly and checked on him, then spoke in a thick Finnish accent, "She'll live! Bullet didn't pierce the armor!" before standing up and sticking the girl with a Stim. She immediately jumped back to her feet, drawing her rifle and opening up, much to the surprise of Caleb and the others.
"Gave her a little pick-me-up?!" Radomir asked with a smile. Helena giggled, then snapped up her assault rifle and domed a 'Bot Commissar. They watched Alessia prime a Stratagem and throw it, only to then watch a drop pod fall in the middle of the 'Bots and start spewing out anti-personnel mines by the bucketload. The mines now acted more as a cluster munition, detonating all around and thinning the 'Bots ranks further, but that did not stop them one bit.
As they moved up the hill, their tanks emerged from the fog, main cannons firing. In the distance, other evacuation sites on the continent were slowly getting overwhelmed, coms spewing warnings and requests for help as other Destroyer squadrons already laid hell down onto the planet. Johnson murmured to himself, "How the hell did things go down shit creek without a paddle this quick...?"
"Reinforcements came down like a tidal wave..." Alessia, who'd heard him, replied quietly as she domed another unit, "Bots learned not to send shit in waves anymore, it seems. They're learning, adapting to us like any sane machine would. Which is scary, 'till you realize we're humans and we're better at adapting on the fly than some tin cans,-" She ducked as a snapshot from an autocannon zipped right over her head, then popped up and mauled a Berserker with her shotgun.
Johnson shifted his fire left, emptying a quarter of the belt into the Marauder that had fired at Alessia, as well as its escorting formation of Bots. Engine sounds came from overhead as two UNSC Pelicans swung in, firing their autocannons and missiles into the crowds of enemy units, while a third touched down and unloaded Corpsmen and stretcher-bearers that started loading up the wounded.
Farkas said to Alessia, "Keep it steady! Get your men to shift their fire right! We have the left!"
"Understood!" The girl replied, then gave chops of her hands. Radomir quickly refocused his fire, ringing belts through his Stalwart as they held the line. Rounds zipped by and sometimes struck them, denting their armors, but they were gonna make it. If there was any squad that was gonna make it out from under this kind of onslaught, it had to be them. Helena beside him kept treating wounded, helping them pack the dead away.
Hell still rained down on the Troops, enemy infantry pouring toward them like a tidal wave once more. One Pelican was surprised by a pair of anti-air batteries raking its outer hull, forcing it to back away before it could expend its full payload. The second Pelican was struck in the cockpit by a shell from an actual enemy tank, coring it, killing the crew and whatever troops it carried in the back. The husk of the aircraft careened right and dived right into the mist, probably squashing several more bots below.
Eagle-1 flew continuous sorties, dropping payload after payload without a real need to get tags, considering just how surrounded the Hilltop seemed to be. She watched chunks of metal fly high into the sky, the remnants of Automata falling like robotic gore and viscera across the battlefield. She broke right as a trio of UNSC Fighter-Bombers swung in as well, dropping their full payloads on advancing enemy units, the pilot of the leading craft calling out, "Apologies for the scare, Eagle-1. Command ordered all operating Bomber squadrons to redirect, provide cover for forces evacuating from this sector. We didn't get to call it in."
"Well, we didn't crash," The girl breathed a sigh of relief, "Can't say you lot didn't nearly give me a heart attack..." before she swung the aircraft in, powering engines in reverse to touch down aboard the Destroyer. Pit Crews immediately got to work refueling and rearming her bird with rocket pods and loading the Autocannons with HE rounds. She heard another Eagle pilot over the com call out a 500kg drop.
She looked to the leading pit crew, then watched Pelican finally managing to lift off. She whispered, "Godspeed, brother..." while preparing her own aircraft. She'd taken a few bursts of flak, but she was still able to fly, going by the fact nothing was in the red. She radioed, "Sergeant, I'm almost back in the green! Gonna be delivering some nice flechette-shaped democracy in a sec!"
"We're gonna be out in forty! Give'em a parting gift to remember, Eagle! UNSC's planning their own!" Alessia replied even as the chatter of automatic fire echoed over the com. She smirked, pulled the cockpit cover back down and activated the Aircraft. When she got the all clear from the crew below, she prepared herself for launch, feeling the aircraft's wings extend as she powered the engines.
The magnetic catapult launched her out of the Destroyer, allowing her to bank hard left and down. Her HUD aligned the targets below with her guns and rocket pods and she opened fire, laying into the enemy advance with anti-personnel rounds. She could see as small clearings formed in the mist that her hits were having an effect. Beside her, two more Eagles swung in, too, dropping payloads of cluster munitions and even two more 500kg bombs.
She saw Pelican land right on the Beacon, dropping his landing gear and firing his own autocannon as his engines vectored for landing. Two other UNSC Pelicans landed now beside him, with the troops in the trenches scurrying out to be evacuated by the trio of air assets. There was still a large formation of Bots coming in, so large, in fact, that the next call didn't surprise her. The captain of the UNSC Appalachia spoke over broad coms, "Any and all assets, stand by. Area denial of Sector Three-Charlie is in effect. Ten seconds to impact."
... Eagle-1 was never much afraid of orbital ordnance. Hell, she practically was orbital ordnance.
So, when she saw the sky of Malevelon Creek glow on that night, her heart nearly stopped in her chest. The rippling thunder of a massive ferromagnetic projectile filled her ears, barely muffled by her cockpit's window as she was pulling up to board their destroyer again. The ground flared next, a burning, terrifying white, before it faded to black again. A shockwave followed next, a ripple that caused the very earth to shatter below the Enemy's Sixty-Sixth Automata Division, uprooting trees and cracking the very ground of that spot of Malevelon to the point it caused the hills to collapse. The shockwave shook even her aircraft, a good few thousand feet above the impact area.
"Jesus Christ..." She whispered to herself, watching the dust bowl begin to settle, revealing a massive crater where once had been an Automaton Army that was trying to tear their throats out. She knew that Sergeant Veratti had seen it, too, as had most of the staff aboard the Super Destroyers. When she landed and got out, she walked right up to a window.
The dust still hadn't settled by the time Alessia and her team had landed back on the Destroyer. They walked up to the same window as Eagle-1, with the Sergeant patting their pilot on the shoulder. She looked back, stunned, then stared at the cloud of debris still covering the area, blacker than the mist. Alessia said, "Sergeant Johnson told me they call that the MAC... It's their ships' mainstay armament."
"... And that was what a Cruiser-sized MAC can do," Tomas grinned, surprisingly happy about having witnessed that. Genuinely, he was probably the sole person excited to have seen such firepower, if only because of the innocence brought about by being the dumbest of the lot of Helldivers. He told them, "Sarge Johnson also told me they have bigger ones, used on orbital defense platforms and their Command Ship, the UNSC Infinity."
"A Cruiser did this..." Eagle murmured, covering her mouth, "One shot from it could split a Super Destroyer in half... And you're telling me they have bigger ones than this. What the hell's the biggest one of theirs gonna do, split a planet in half?" all while more and more worry thoughts about their newfound comrades came to mind, especially the what-if of having to fight a war against them. Like, yeah, she'd heard the Cruiser had slapped an enemy ship something silly, but she didn't expect the MAC to be this powerful.
"Not quite," Alessia sighed, "But they are pretty powerful. That was a half-strength shot," all the while thinking that her worries and concerns were correct. If they'd go to war with the UNSC, yes, it would be a bloody, long affair, but it would also end up with them dead. She didn't know whether to appreciate the fact that, by some cosmic coincidence, the UNSC saw the plight of fellow humans and decided they'd help instead of being another problem, or be fearful of if something went awry and got them on War Footing with each-other.
Eitherway, she let those thoughts vanish as she said, "Malevelon's being reported to command. We've still gotta fight for it, but the Bots have started pouring more reinforcements into this place. You going to be okay, Eagle-1?" to which the pilot turned to face her. The tan girl nodded, then rubbed her eyes and looked back out at the massive crater and the dust cloud, shuddered and shook off the fear, before nodding to her CO again. Alessia nodded, gave her a light pat on the shoulder and said, "Alright. Be ready, UNSC's sending more reinforcements now that they've managed to rally up..."
"Hey, boss...?" Helena started, looking at her, "We ever figure out what year they're in?"
"2558, according to the Sarge," Alessia replied, causing everyone to pause. She shrugged and said, "Yeah, I know. C'mon. We've got more work to do. If we're getting reinforcements to hold the Creek, then I want us in top shape... Helena, get Tomas's ass to medical and get him a new helmet. Radomir, with her. I know how close you and your little Finnish friend are... Eagle, get some sleep."
"Ma'am," The group replied, then scattered.
Alessia herself marched up to the Bridge and saluted their Democracy Officer, before leaning against the holographic table. She looked at the planet below them with a hint of anger, noting just how many good 'Divers had been lost in the Reports. The poor bastards had landed here, hoping they could strike a blow against the Automatons, the kids of the Cyborg traitors.
Here they were, now, though. Stuck in a weeks-long battle on a planet that was a real, genuine pain and with Bot Reinforcements pouring down on top of their heads. Things were only going to get much rougher from here, considering the word of mouth about the 'Bots' deployment of assault units now. Hell, she had seen missile launcher Marauders in the battalions charging them down there, a new unit meant to combat their own heavily-armored ones.
Sighing deeply, she looked to the Democracy officer, who simply stared at her with an un-erring calm. He nodded to her and said, "All will be well, Sergeant. The Light of Democracy shall shine over this barren rock once more, once our allies bring their full might to bear on this War..." with all the confidence of a propagandist, pretty much as expected of him at this point.
"Indeed, sir," She nodded. She just prayed they weren't gonna use that might on them next. Super Earth's main fleet was still stationed around more major manufacturing planets and Super Earth itself, in the Sol System. Their Destroyers, Cruisers and other warships waited patiently, just in case they'd be needed, while the Super Destroyers deployed to the Rimward Fronts against both Automata and Terminids fought hard... Malevelon had become a center-point, a major flashpoint, for the Western Front. Nobody knew why, really. Maybe it was because of its position as a Supply Hub. Maybe it was because of Propaganda, Sunk Cost Fallacy and the dead piling high in unmarked graves on the surface.
She momentarily wondered if the 'Nid front was having it any better. Damn bugs were still a problem, but not like this...