Alessia surveyed the positions of the Automatons from the Holotable aboard her Super Destroyer. She sighed, leaning onto the table as she tried to pick an LZ. She saw Radomir picking up his old habits, namely, the R-63 Diligence Counter-Sniper DMR, from the armory and said to him, "Finally going back to sniping duty after so long in the muck?"
"Figured it'd be a good idea to have mid-to-long range capabilities again, aye," The man replied as he clipped the weapon to his belt. He looked at the holographic map and asked, "We gonna be redeploying to deal with the bugs? Operation VALIANT ENCLOSURE's underway," as he leaned over the table.
"We are," The woman replied as she shifted the map to back out fully and view the known galaxy and the two fronts. The red sectors occupied by the Bots stretched from Severin to Xzar. The bugs, meanwhile, occupied a lot more planets than one would've thought possible. So many enclosures destroyed… So many dead Citizens.
"The UNSC's already deployed two new Battle Groups to assist, too," Helena spoke as she prepared her medical kit off to the side. She noticed their Democracy Officer give her a slight look, but she smiled at him as if to feign stupidity, before looking at Radomir. He gave her a very light nod, to which she continued, "At least we don't have to hang around Mort all that much…"
"Heh," Tomas, who had been helping the engineers load backpacks of ammo for his Recoilless, chuckled as he walked in, "A bit too grey for my tastes, too, but, hey, my folks were born here…" before walking over to join the group at the table. He had a new gun strapped to his belt:An AR-23C Liberator Concussive.
"Regardless," Alessia nodded as she started prepping the course, "We're heading out to Angel's Venture… Hope you kids put on handwarmers," before she hit the button. Ahead of them, Mort began to disappear, steadily replaced by the speckled darkness of the void. The ship's warp drives audibly spooled and the three other attached Super Destroyers, all connected via computer and DataLink to hers, followed in, synching their jump drives.
Space warped around them and, in a flash, rebuilt itself back to normalcy, save for the sight of the planet ahead being different as they gently glided toward it. It glowed a faint orange, courtesy of the tundra and the system's large orange sun shining down upon it, with Alessia humming, "Thank Democracy for Warp…"
"One of the many reasons we need to keep the Terminids contained," The Democracy Officer reminded calmly, one hand behind his back and under his cape as he gazed upon the map. He looked outside, through the main window, at the sight of the hundreds of Super Destroyers hovering in low orbit. Mixed in between them, UNSC warships, namely what was called the 'Phoenix-Class Refit Support Vessels', hovered as well.
The Phoenixes were planetary invasion support craft. Though not defenseless by any means, much like Super Destroyers, their main objective and duty was the deployment and support of ground operations on any planet the United Nations Space Command deemed a target for their wrath. Five such ships, attached to two Divisions of the UNSC Marine Corps and their supporting elements, hovered amidst the Super Destroyers.
They weren't without escort, however. A dozen frigates and seven of their spearhead-like Destroyers hovered around them in a spherical formation, the Destroyers themselves raining fire down from the top-mounted missile launch cells. The Frigates, a combination of smaller support vessels known as Charon-classes and the Paris heavies they'd become so used to, were far more openly prepared for anything else.
"Wow," Helena audibly gasped as she stood up. She walked over to the window, staring out of it with a smile as she saw the Fleets present. Certainly, Super Earth's own War Vessels were impressive, but as a person who'd trained on them, it was potentially quite hard for the young girl not to be hyped by the fact they had allied support.
"Quite impressive," The Democracy Officer murmured with half-a-mouth.
Alessia snorted and said, "Agreed," before tapping a button and saying, "Alright, fellow lady and gentlemen. Pack your gear, we're moving in," before she checked over her Breaker, slamming the magazine of shells to make sure it was seated properly. She clipped it back to her belt and marched to the pods as the shipboard PA spoke softly, Helldivers to Hellpods. Helldivers to Hellpods.
The woman paused, putting her hand up to her ear and stating, "Go ahead… Com, put it on PA."
"... This is the UNSC Eagle Eye, Phoenix craft carrying the 103rd. Be advised, Sergeant Veratti, we're deploying an ODST team to your AO to support Civilian Evacuation," The captain of the vessel closest to them spoke as the bay holding the UNSC's version of Helldiver pods opened, preparing to deploy their comrades in arms.
"Copy your last, Eagle Eye. Victory favors the bold and democratic," The woman said as she marched up to her own Hellpod, the farthest to her left, then said, "See you groundside," as she set her boots into the Pod's sole 'seatbelt'. She looked at the Democracy Officer and told him, "Keep the ship warm, sir. We'll be back in a few," as the others boarded.
After securing their Stratagems into their tacpads, the Divers hit the 'Ready' button and the Pod doors below opened. The pods shot out like bullets from the maw of the vessel just as the ODST's SOEIVs also launched. A dozen Pods formed up for landing, diving toward a specific point on the surface of the Tundra planet.
Around them, dagger-shaped starfighters and Eagle fighters dived to provide cover, with the UNSC's craft, the Baselards, spooling up their 30mm autocannons to lay hell down upon the Bugs attacking a Civilian Settlement nearby. The bunkers within which the civilians hid were swarming with the enemy:The Terminids.
A formation of Bugs from the First Galactic War, evolved and bred specifically for the collection of Element 710, E-710 for short, which, when refined, acted as the fuel necessary for Super Earth's Warp Drives to function. They varied in size, shape and capability to the point it was hard to pinpoint specific strains, with them adapting to their new environments within a generation.
As the Pods made landfall, burrowing into the ground around the bunkers, the ODSTs and Divers jumped out of them, meeting the first of the Terminids' swarms. Hundreds of Scavengers and Bile Spitters, small bugs of orange and green colorations respectively. The latter unit had an enlarged, green-glowing abdomen that contained the aforementioned 'bile', an acidic liquid.
The first ODST to step off the pod knelt and opened fire with her SAW, belts ringing and spent casings falling to the semi-frozen ground while her buddies and the Divers moved in. The thunderclap of the Liberator Concussive echoed soon, the explosive rounds in the magazine staggering several bugs and killing several more.
"PERIMETER! FORM A PERIMETER!" Barked Alessia as she aimed and fired bursts from her own weapon. The ODSTs and Divers formed up, lining the perimeter around the Bunker as dozens of Bugs swarmed over their cover, skittering over the corpses of dead SEAF Infantry. "CALLING IN A SUPPORT WEAPON!" The Sergeant then stated as she dropped a blue Strat-Beacon behind her.
The others did the same, calling in their support weapons. Tomas quickly retrieved his Recoilless, while Radomir knelt and sniped advancing larger enemies with his Diligence, waiting for the Anti-Materiel Rifle to drop in. Helena herself picked up a resupply backpack, firing her SMG one-handed toward the bugs, then called out, "Calling airstrike! Danger close!"
She tapped the Stratagem call-in for an Eagle bombing run then over-arm threw the strat in the middle of the crowd of Bugs, before kneeling beside Radomir and laying down hellfire with her SMG. They watched as the Eagle from Helena's Destroyer swung in low and fast, dumping several unguided bombs before banking hard and fast.
Bug bits and blood rained onto the troops, painting their armors a bright yellow as they began to push forward. One of the ODSTs put his hand to his ear and called in, "Phantom Two-Two, this is Stalwart Five-Actual. Requesting gunship support in our current AO to thin out these Bugs, how copy, over?" only to look up as the roar of an armed Pelican's enhanced engines echoed.
The gunship above swept in low and fast, rocket pods firing a swarm of flechette-loaded rockets while the chin-mounted autocannon lit up the area ahead. HE rounds ripped through the swarms of smaller bugs as they tried to dive onto the unit's position, but the Gunship provided the UNSC and Helldivers room to breathe and push forward.
Retrieving her Stalwart LMG, Alessia shouldered the weapon and walked over to the bunker, hitting a button and stating, "This is Sergeant Veratti to the Militia troops inside. We've secured a perimeter. Prepare your Civilians for evacuation," before she dropped a spent magazine from her shotgun and slammed in a fresh one.
An affirmative reply came from within as the UNSC Pelican above continued laying down heavy fire. She marched up to the ODST Lieutenant and told him, "The civvies are prepping for Evac! If you can open up a route to those LPs north of us, we can get them the hell outta here!" as she shouldered the Breaker, firing three rounds into a swarm of bugs.
One of the bugs stood on its hind legs. It was a Warrior, from the looks, a milky white chitin-clad creature with much larger talons and jaws. It was about to summon reinforcements, Alessia thought with a hint of panic as she aimed her shotgun. The thunderclap of Radomir's Diligence filled her ears and the bug lost its head, staggering and seemingly confused before it died.
He aimed and fired at another one as it tried to summon reinforcements, while Tomas kept firing his Concussive rifle until the barrel was glowing. The ODSTs beside them followed in the example of their buddies, with the Lieutenant stating, "Any time they wanna come out, we'll make a hole!" before loading a grenade into his underbarrel launcher and firing it.
Two Warrior Bugs emerged from the right, one of them pouncing an ODST and raising its talons before coming down on the soldier. In the flash of a second, it drew blood and slit the Marine's throat, only to get gunned down with its sibling by the SAW Gunner, Alessia and Helena. Helena herself ran up to the dead ODST, looked him over, then called out, "He's gone!"
"Fuck!" Alessia swore to herself, then dropped another spent magazine and rallied the others to move on forward. As the door to the bunker opened, a second Pelican swung in, firing its rockets at the enemy. The sole reason neither of the Pelicans above was touching down to help evacuate what was now a crowd of Civvies moving in behind them was space.
The area surrounding the bunker was jagged, filled with rocks and uneven terrain that made landing both a dangerous proposition and terrible to attempt. It was why the teams now advanced toward the landing pads just over the concrete walls ahead. Over said walls, however, more Bugs climbed, forcing the troops to expend more ammunition as they advanced.
Radomir aimed for any bug that was trying to cause a Breach by calling in reinforcements and was lucky enough to pick them off so far. His crosshair settled on another distant Scav bug and he sniped its head off just as it sat on its hind legs to try and start spewing the call for backup. Then, he shot a pair of Spitters off to the side, only to pause as he saw larger variants of the Scavs and Spitters.
Four Spewers, two Bile, two Nursing, emerged with swarms of smaller critters beside them. One brought its head back, then opened its mouth and started vomiting, forcing the ODSTs, Alessia and even Helena to dodge out of the way. Tomas aimed and fired a burst from his Liberator Concussive, staggering them and killing several of their offspring…
Warriors followed, swarms of dozens. It was like watching a massive ant colony wake up for war, with all of them streaming over the tundra, talons stained by the blood of SEAF Defenders. The civilians behind them screamed in fear, all while the Pelicans continued providing support. Guiding the Civilians through while making sure no harm came to them, the ODSTs and Helldivers sustained injuries.
Namely, Tomas took a slash to the stomach from a Terminid Pouncer and a stab to the shoulder from a Warrior, but was thankfully able to beat both back thanks to Radomir sniping one of them. Helena administered a stimpack, then wrapped his arm in bandages and put a gauze over his stomach as they continued advancing.
He gave a nod of thanks to her, then paused as he heard the thundering footsteps of what he'd only seen in training. The bugs ahead parted, swarms of warriors, jumpers and hunters moving out of the way of what might as well have passed for the quadrupedal heavy armored unit of the Terminids. Clad in thick layers of chitin and resembling a Super Turtle more than a bug, with an abdomen hidden under said layers of armor and with a head made up of armored chitin that resembled stone, it made Tomas scream out, "Holy SHIT, WE'VE GOT A FUCKING CHARGER!" as he drew his Recoilless.
Before he could do anything, or even before the Gunships could turn and pelt the fucker, it charged past its brethren like an angry bull, slamming into Tomas and sending him flying right into a wall. He stopped, slamming against it with full force, then sliding down it, still gripping his recoilless. Shaking off the possible concussion, much to the surprise of his comrades and the ODSTs, the man hefted his recoilless and aimed it at the Charger. He called out to the ODSTs carrying Jackhammer launchers, "THE LEGS! SHOOT THE FUCKING LEGS!"
As if he'd remembered training, Alessia thought. She watched him take a knee, aim his recoilless and fire, nailing the Charger just as it was about to strike the crowd. It stumbled and skidded to a stop on the ground, still alive, but still pissed off. Alessia scoffed, then barked, "FOCUS FIRE ON THE EXPOSED LEG!"
The team aimed and fired as the monster stood to its feet again, bullets tearing through flesh and through the crowd of other Bugs behind the Charger. A second missile struck the Charger on the leg, causing it to scream in pain and rise on its hind legs, now missing one of its forward ones. It aimed for Alessia and swung down its surviving front leg.
It struck where Alessia had been, as the woman jumped out of the way with a huff, then turned about and started laying into the monster's exposed flesh with her shotgun. A second recoilless shot and a second Spanker rocket struck it, this time shearing the head plate clean off. The Spanker's HEAT Jet pierced its skull, stopping its flailing. Not before it hit an ODST with its leg, cracking the Marine diver's battle plate and wounding, but not killing him.
Eagle-1 swooped in next, under Alessia's request, dropping a 500 kilo bomb in the distance. The detonation shattered several dozen bugs, spraying bug bits across the environment and turning bug internals into bug externals. Meanwhile, the UNSC's Pelicans touched down to retrieve the Civvies as they climbed onto the Landing Pads.
Medical personnel from UNSC vessels above welcomed the people on board, while two platoons of new ODSTs, these ones clad in heavier, fire-retardant materials and thicker armor, stepped out from the vehicles to make room. Armed with what looked to be UNSC-standard Flamethrowers, the platoons disgorged onto the platform, with their leader, a man clad in thick black armor with red stripes and red visor lined with white teeth like those of a shark, stepped forward.
He saluted and said, "Lieutenant Harris, Sergeant Veratti. I'm Lieutenant Harper. Hellbringers. Command told us you guys might need some help burning these fucking things out," as he watched the Bugs swarming toward the Landing Pads, a sea of chitin, sharp claws and bile. Alessia stared, stunned, at the group.
She looked at the ODST Lieutenant and said, "So, Helljumpers, Helldivers and Hellbringers… Here for a cookout?"
"Damn straight," Harper nodded as he hefted his flamer. She could hear the grin behind his helmet, so she gave the go-ahead, letting the platoon of forty-something Hellbringers form a line around the ships. He balled his fist and said, "Alright, boys and girls! FIRE AT WILL!" before hefting his thrower up. And, like clockwork, the weapon began to belch its fuel.
The stream of highly-flammable fuel ignited and spat out of the thick muzzle of the weapon, heating the tip to a burning orange. The other soldiers of the Hellbringer Corps let loose as well, tongues of fire creating an impenetrable wall against which the Bugs crashed. Smoke rose high into the sky, while the Helldivers and ODSTs watched.
Lieutenant Harris said, "Hellbringers were always a crazy bunch. Strapping tanks of highly-volatile liquid to the back of an exosuit and wearing said exo into battle never sat all that right with me," as he saw Alessia staring, dumbfound. He told her, "Of course, they're a containment unit… Ya read about the Flood on your stay aboard our temperamental Flagship?"
"I think I talked to some people about it," Alessia mumbled, "Horrific parasite thing. Guessing these guys and girls were the main containment method?"
"Can't infect anyone if you're burned to a crisp," Joked Harris as he shouldered his rifle. He saw their wounded get evacuated, pausing when he watched Tomas take his helmet off, revealing a nosebleed. He asked the man, "You good, Diver?" only to see him turn toward him and give a thumbs up, causing confusion.
Alessia spoke, "If only you knew how many hits to the head he's taken, El-Tee…" which got short, awkward laughs out of Helena and Radomir. The latter had lowered his rifle now, simply keeping it at a ready position in case he needed to snipe at any reinforcement-summoning bug. Not even a sec after he lowered it, though, he spotted one Bug through the smoke trying to do just that and domed it.
Helena, meanwhile, smiled and said, "Glad to be back in your element, Raddy?"
"Heh, you kidding?" The man asked as he leaned the rifle against his shoulder, "It's like I got feeling back in my limbs after a coma," which garnered a giggle out of the girl he'd joined the Helldiver Corps with. He asked her, "Why? Were you worried I lost my ability to shoot straight?" only to see her lift her helmet, grin and give him a quick wink.
"Oh, I'm well aware you can shoot straight~..." She giggled, then paused as she saw Alessia staring at her. She slid her helmet back down and let out a quiet whine, while Radomir chuckled. The man gave her a pat on the head, or helmet, really, then walked over toward Tomas to check on him, only seeing a guy processing the fact he survived another kinetic impact that really should've killed him.
He sat down and asked, "You good, Tom? Looking a little under the weather."
"I think the Charger hit shook my brain awake for a bit," He shrugged, then scratched his chin and mumbled, "I should'a died a bunch of times. I mean," and he looked at his helmet, noting the multitude of impact points and non-lethal deformation on the outer layer. He then also looked inside and said, "Huh."
Radomir looked over and said, "Liberty, man, get a new helmet…" before sighing and looking around as the Hellbringers began fanning out from the landing pads. The scent of burning 'Nid filled the men's nostrils, with Rad adding in a mumble, "And with every bloody step, I'm glad we're buddies with these guys… Cuz that is terrifying."
"I'd've thought you'd see the MAC round hitting as crazier, Imma be honest," Tomas replied halfheartedly. He put his helmet back on and stood up. Radomir nodded as he, too, stood to his feet, then whispered something to himself as he drew his rifle. The Sergeant, in the meanwhile, summoned a Resupply Stratagem. The pod launched from her Super Destroyer, landing on the Pad with a metallic clang, before its contents opened, revealing four boxes of equipment.
Each member of the team retrieved one, with Helena saying, "Glad to be back to full on Stimpacks… I was actually worried there for a moment," before looking at the UNSC Gunships and the Civvies aboard as they lifted off, the rear hatches closing. She caught a glimpse of a young boy smiling and waving at them from his parents' side. She waved back kindly, then sighed, relieved.
"Didja use a lot of'em?" Tomas asked as he slid fresh rounds into his backpack for the recoilless, locking them in place via mag-clamps. Sliding it onto his back again, he noticed Helena give a nod of confirmation as a reply, before adding, "You're gonna get some of the Helljumpers hooked on the stuff. Nice work, giving business to SuperPharma," with a grin behind his helmet.
Alessia quipped, "Super Meth for everybody," quietly, which got a bunch of the people around her to laugh. The ODSTs let it out nervously, though. She continued, "Relax, gentlemen. That was a simple joke," as she straightened up and stretched a little. "Focus on killing Bugs and we'll be alright…" She then said, looking at the Hellbringers.
The teams replied positively and affirmatively at that, descending from the Landing Pads as the UNSC and SEAF Troops on the planet seemingly caught up with them. A convoy of UNSC flame tanks rolled by, with supporting Marines and SEAF Troopers clad in the dark-blue and white uniforms of the Army. They waved to the 'Divers and ODSTs, the SEAF troops being surprisingly peppy about the Hellbringer troops.
They joined the advancing units with Alessia inquiring, "You boys heading to Val's Ridge!?"
"Hell yeah!" The Marines cheered.
"Yeah, this is our convoy," She said to her team, before climbing onto one of the tanks. The others climbed on, too, riding on the combat vehicles. Tundra, frozen dirt and plants crunched under the treads or under their boots, the troops rolling through, past manned SEAF Artillery positions and SEAF Cleaners, plus the ruined remnants of old Bug farms and normal farms.
The UNSC troops didn't say anything about the SEAF basically asking for this to happen, considering the fact they were harvesting a bunch of space bugs for their blood, which turned out to burn just the right way for Warp engines to be feasibly used by them. It was kinda pointless, especially taking into account all the death these bugs were wreaking.
And how was it different from standard animal husbandry, really? Aside from a slightly higher risk of death? At least, that's probably what Super Earth thought about bringing all of these bugs onto Human-colonized worlds to use for fuel. Honestly, Alessia herself was starting to question if the idea was sound instead of just… Harvesting them off of one contained planet instead.
Regardless of that and with zero anti-democratic thoughts now, the Sergeant held onto the Scorpion tank they were one as they rolled ever forward, eyes locked onto the Front as it was materializing in front of them. Destroyed bug nests littered the areas around them, the corpses of bugs laying among the rubble where UNSC Marines and SEAF troops were setting up mortar positions. Who knew setting up a Front Line against burrowing enemies was possible? Or at all feasible, really. Without the Nests, though, they had nowhere to tunnel to and thus no way to flank.