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Legion of Honor - part 2:Essence of Camaraderie /Chapter 2
Posted By: Brocktree<brocktree@sbcglobal.net>
Date: 16 February 2005, 12:22 AM
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Section 2
In order to neutralize the Covenant in the town, A-company needed to construct a simple, but effective, bait and trap scenario. All elites, hunters and jackals had to be killed otherwise they might present a danger to the soldiers, even if captured. Grunts on the other hand could be virtually left alone unless they fire a direct shot on a soldier.
Twin machine gun nests were placed at the end of a cul-de-sac block up in the nooks of buildings running parallel to the broad street. Four snipers, three with Covenant rifles and one with the standard issue army sniper rifle were perched on various rooftops around the circled street. A heavy mortar detachment set up two blocks from the cul-de-sac, their turrets zeroed in on the prime attack location. Grenadiers and the poor bloody frontline troopers hid behind various overturned cars, pillars and other barricades along the street. Third squad was the bait and planned to grab Covenant attention of the sentries who would then raise an alarm at the headquarters, whose position was revealed to them by the grunt POW's. Evanson nearly went completely pale when he learned how many units of ground support the Covenant had here in the town. Then he remembered the grenades and high explosives his team had recovered, the tanks wouldn't be a problem. The plan was pretty straightforward but all Evanson had were eighteen men, hardly enough to defeat even a company of crack Covenant troops. He was going to need a miracle and a bit of luck.
* * *
Everyone sat in their place, ready to fight as soon as the bait ran back with the Covenant on their tails. Some were visibly nervous as they checked and rechecked weapons and ammo supplies others still were determined to kill anything that crossed into their crosshairs, but they all had one thing in common, they all had the sinking feeling that this was a last stand.
Third squad pumped themselves up for their mission. The squad comprised of five of the company's best fighters and recon soldiers, all easily the fastest in the company and for the moment, the most armored. Each man armed himself with an M22 assault rifle, three fragmentation grenades and a single plasma grenade. All which was located at the weapon cache and company HQ on the main floor of the city's bank. Evanson put his most trusted man in charge of third squad, PFC Taylor.
The Captain ordered that the heavy plasma bomb be placed inside the building the Covenant armor must pass by in order to be within range of the company's position. He needed to make sure the tanks were not allowed to loose a single shot at them, which alone could scrap the entire operation. All together the humans had two advantages: they planned for this fight and would be set up an the most effective way a stronghold defense could be and the street in which they would fight was only so wide and it would be hard for tanks and infantry men to try and get into the fight.
Evanson called out to Taylor from behind his column, "All right, third squad, move out and catch us some nice Covenant. Attract as much attention as possible without getting yourselves killed. Don't engage; just run back here as fast as possible."
"Sir, yes Sir!" The men called back in unison
The Captain watched as his men made their way down the street, then lost sight of them as they rounded a corner.
* * *
Taylor peeked around the corner and saw an empty, desolate street. Jesus, He thought, the moment we actually want to run into those Covies none are anywhere in sight! He quickly waved the rest of the squad forward and they moved up the street cautiously.
A sharp crack ripped through the saturating silence that had engulfed the men and a bullet crashed through the windshield of the car they were in front of. Suddenly a machine gun opened up a hail of bullets on the helpless squad and concrete flew up all around them. Taylor began hopping around, trying to dodge the bullets and finally dove behind an overturned car followed by the rest of his men.
A deep voice yelled out, "Who the hell are you guys?"
Taylor peeked his head over the trunk of the car, "Able company, from the 37th, who are you?"
"Dog, with the 501st."
"Jesus Christ, you guys almost killed us!" Taylor yelled angrily to the lone voice.
"You scared the holy hell out of us! We've had Covies pass by all day."
Taylor stood up slowly and spotted the company that lay hidden in a burned out building. He called up his squad and they formed close behind him.
"How many men do you have with you?" Taylor yelled up.
"Almost seventy-five. Wait just a moment, our Captain is coming down to speak with you guys."
Taylor looked around impatiently, they needed to get moving now; but an extra company helping would definitely beef up the mere twenty or so guys in the stronghold area right now. Captain Evanson would be more than happy for the extra men; they would need all the help they could get.
A tall, burly man walked casually down the wrecked stairs and out into the street. He had a spark of confidence in his eye and his arms looked as large around as tree trunks. He strode over to Taylor and looked down at him. The Captain extended his hand which met with Taylor's in a firm handshake. The two stood and stared at each other for what seemed minutes.
Finally the Captain spoke, "You boys from Able?"
"Yes, Sir. The rest of our company or what's left of it is two blocks over from here. They're waiting for us to lead the Covies into their guarded cul-de-sac: we're the bait."
The Captain laughed, "Sounds like an amateur plan to me. Who's leading your Op?"
Taylor swallowed back his anger at the Captain for his insults to his CO, "Newly appointed Captain Evanson, Sir."
Another soldier stepped forward, a Staff Sergeant by the look of his arm patch, and spoke quietly to the Captain, "Captain Harkins, SatCOM has detected two units of Covenant troops heading toward this town. More than three hundred troops as well as a full complement of armor support. No aircraft have been spotted yet. I advise we bug out now before we get roasted in here.
Harkins looked up to the sky, "We can't leave these boys here all by themselves to defend this town, can we?"
Taylor suppressed a smile; he never thought that the Captain would volunteer to help defend the stronghold.
The Captain looked down at Taylor and grinned widely, "Show us the way, Son."
* * *
Captain Evanson took a long swig of coffee from his canteen and swished it around in his mouth before swallowing it. He grew worried, he had less then twenty men to fight off hundreds maybe thousands of Covenant troops. He didn't like to show any kind of apprehension or fear in front of his men, but this time Evanson couldn't hold it in. His hand shook crazily as he took another sip from the rattling canteen.
Out by the street a deep thudding dully reached Evanson's ears. He dropped the canteen and raised his rifle. A sharp whistle from a nearby sentry sounded and every man brought his weapon to battle ready stance. The Captain noticed for the first time the darkening sky and the large dark clouds blanketing the sky.
Private Sydney from third squad ran as fast as he could from around the corner. He slowed down once he spotted the Captain and made his way towards him.
"Sir, we ran across Dog Company with the 501st. They are seventy-five men strong and are headed this way now with the rest of third squad. The bad news is that we spotted two full units of Covie troops, plus armor. "
Evanson nodded, "well, looks like we're in for a fight then."
The marching grew louder and louder until finally eighty soldiers marched into the cul-de-sac with a 501st banner waving broadly in the setting sun. The banner depicted a puma surrounded by a field of grass; the puma looked ready to pounce on an unsuspecting prey.
Captain Harkins marched up to Captain Evanson and saluted, "We wish to aid you in the defense of this town."
Evanson, face as hard as stone replied, "We are going to need every man we can possibly get."
* * *
The plan was changed slightly to accommodate for the influx of reinforcements. Nests and barriers were quickly constructed in the street and near the buildings to provide cover for soldiers. The original bait plan was scrapped and a new one was put together. Instead of sending out men, they would simply fire off all the flares they could find to draw the aliens' attentions. They found every color imaginable and set them all up in a rigging of twenty shoots connected to a single fuse so they would all fire off at the exact same time. This would hopefully draw the attention of the Covenant forces massing at the edge of the city.
Evanson and Harkins gathered the soldiers up to brief them on the new plan.
Evanson started, "Listen up, everyone, we have nearly one hundred soldiers here; the Covies have nearly two thousand, not including armor."
"Sounds fair to me, Sir!" A voice from the crowd yelled.
Evanson chuckled slightly, then his face hardened again, "If we are going to hold this city, we need every one of you to be at your best. Keep your head clear, think things through. We are going to be hard-pressed in here, no escape routes. If we die, we die together. Is that understood?"
"Sir, yes Sir!" A roar of voices shouted in unison.
The Captain continued, "We lost contact with HQ about ten hours ago; the Covenant have jammed all our freqs. All we have access to the satellite images beamed to us from our friends in space. All right, then, everyone to your positions, the flares fire in fifteen minutes!"
Harkins walked over to Evanson, "You think we can actually take these Covies on?"
Evanson started walking, Harkins followed, "Between you and me, Captain, I've seen entire company's of Marine's get laid to waste by a handful of Covenant soldiers. I've seen marines crack; ball up and start crying their eyes out and yelling for their mommas. I even saw a marine get sliced in two by one of those sword carrying elites."
Harkins stood still, "We don't have a chance then?"
Evanson smirked, "Well, we're not marine's now are we?"
Harkins laughed and scooped up his assault rifle, "Jesus Christ, your going to get us all killed, you know that?"
"Not today." Captain Evanson replied as he locked a magazine into his rifle. "Everyone ready?" He asked, and then buttoned the flare launcher.
* * *
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