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Underfire
Posted By: Puck Nny<crzymn711@comcast.net>
Date: 3 February 2004, 2:11 PM
Read/Post Comments
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Chapter 1: Knowing my enemy
"Most people don't expect to get attacked by the Covenant, neither did I until it happened. I was on a cargo vessel carrying supplies under armed UNSC escort when they attacked. They appeared out of no where, surrounded our ships and opened fire. We thought that we where going to die as we headed for the nearest planet; and this is where our story begins...."
"Everyone ok?" called out a man dressed in fatigues. A few people responded and stood up "Nice to see some survived huh?" the man asked another who appeared in the gapping hole in the side of the ship. The other man just nodded and walked off. "Damn that hurt." said a boy dressed in baggy exercise pants, a white under-shirt, and an unbuttoned dress shirt "Who the hell was driving?" he asked rubbing the back of his neck and standing up.
"Quit your belly-aching Lee." another boy sat up and popped his neck "You never could handle rough rides." the new boy was dressed in similar exercise pants and a 'Bite me' shirt. Lee looked at his friend "Quiet you." the two smiled and walked outside into the bright sun. "What planet is this Gab?" Lee blocked out the sun with his hand and looked around.
"Welcome to Ten-buck-two." they turned to a soldier that was walking up to them "Don't just stand around, get to the compound." Lee and Gab looked towards the small, alien hut jutting out of the ground in the distance "Is that where the others are?" Lee asked pointing at the hut. The soldier nodded "It leads to an underground shelter, now move it." the soldier got behind Lee and Gab and pushed them along towards the hut.
Lee and Gab got inside and found a ramp going downwards "I guess this means we're going down." Lee was a master at pointing out the obvious. Gab looked at him and slapped him up the back side of his head "Shut up and go, Captain Obvious." Lee rubbed the back of his head as they went down "Didn't have to hit so hard."
They reached an open area with temporary beds set up for civilians, while an upper level balcony was turned into a tactical station. "I better get paid for this shit." Gab said walking over and grabbing a rolled up bed from a medic standing near by. Lee took a bed and followed Gab to a corner, where they set up their beds. "Think they'll draft us while we're on this planet?" Lee asked lying on his bed "Don't know." Gab shrugged "I hope they do, it might be better than the jobs we have now."
They laid there for about five minutes until they heard something "What was that?" Gab asked sitting up. Lee sat up "It's the guys up stairs. Let's listen." They shut up and listened again. "I don't care get us a communication channel with any UNSC ships in the area. You, get every able bodied person suited up. You, check our supplies and see how long we can last." Lee and Gab looked at each other and said "Drafted." they laid back and listened to the Captain of the UNSC soldiers give orders.
"I want to know how the Covenant found us, and if they know what we're transporting. Check the cargo holds of that ship again, see if we missed anything." Lee and Gab looked at each other "What cargo?" Lee asked giving Gab a puzzled look. A soldier threw fatigues on their stomachs "Put these on boys, you're coming with me."
Lee and Gab changed and follow the soldier over to a gun rack "You boys will be under my command until we get off this planet, understood?" Lee and Gab nodded but the soldier repeated himself "Understood?" They both took a deep breath "SIR! YES SIR!" they shouted as he nodded "That's better, now what are your names?" he asked taking two M6D pistols off the rack and handed them to the boys with holsters. Gab holstered his gun "Gabriel Jenkins sir." Lee took his gun and checked the magazine in it "Lee Wong sir."
The soldier took a MA5B assault rifle and handed it to Gab "You will ride passenger in the Warthog." he grabbed a S2 AM sniper rifle from the rack and handed it to Lee "You have gunner." the soldier grabbed a M6D and a M90 shotgun "I am Corporal Isaac Wellington, I am your superior officer." Isaac shouldered his shotgun and walked over to the Command Post. "You two will stay here while I get our orders." Lee and Gab nodded and leaned against the wall near the stairs leading up.
Corporal Wellington came down the stairs five minutes later "Alright boys, we're taking down a Covenant patrol that's going to be checking the crash site. The Covenant patrols will have two ghosts and a transport bus." Isaac, Lee, and Gab all headed for a larger exit ramp. Isaac pulled something off his belt "You might need this." He tossed the object to Gab. "A grenade?" Isaac nodded as they reached the line of vehicles.
Isaac hopped into the driver's seat of one of the Warthogs "Saddle up boys, lets roll." Lee and Gab get into their appointed spots on the Warthog. Isaac started the engine and pressed the gas pedal causing the Warthog to rush forward "After we secure the crash site Fire Team Zulu will sweep the inside of the cargo vessel." they sped on for ten minutes until they saw the cargo ship's wreckage "This is it boys, lock and load." Gab loaded his assault rifle and Lee readied his finger on the RPG launcher.
Isaac stopped one hill short of the ship "Hang tight." he pulled the keys and jumped out of the Warthog. He ran to the top of the hill then lowered himself flat on his stomach. He peered over the top of the hill then ducked and crawled back. He waved for Lee and Gab to come over. Lee and Gab jumped out of the Warthog and ran over to Corporal Wellington "The Covenant Ghosts have already arrived and secured the entrance, Private Jenkins you get back into the Warthog and prepare to shoot the Transport bus when it arrives, Private Wong get to the top of that cliff over there and take out the two sentries. Understood?" Lee and Gab nodded.
Gab ran back to the Warthog while Lee headed up to his sniping position "You boys stay frosty." Isaac crawled to the top of the hill again and pointed his shotgun towards the only direction the Ghosts could have come form. "I'm in position and I have a clear shot." Lee whispered through his intercom "Take them down Private." Isaac watched as the two Covenant fell to the ground missing parts of their brains "Hostiles have been neutralized; I repeat hostiles have been neutralized." Isaac stood up and ran back to the Warthog "Get ready Jenkins. Wong hold position and take out Transport bus gunner, understood?"
Lee gave an affirmation and peered through his scope towards the road that the Covenant would be taking. After five minutes the Transport bus appeared and moved slowly towards the cargo ship "Incoming hostiles." Lee aimed at the gunner's head and pulled the trigger. Isaac tossed a grenade at the Transport bus "OPEN FIRE!" he yelled as the grenade blew up and the doors fell open letting the Covenant inside jump out. Gab started firing the RPG launcher at the Transport bus until it exploded.
"This is Fire Team Zulu to Corporal Wellington, do you copy?" Isaac stood up and pumped his shotgun's last empty shell out "This is Corporal Wellington to Fire Team Zulu, Landing Zone is secure." Isaac started putting shells into the gun. Lee came off the cliff and hung his sniper rifle over his shoulder "Not bad for Privates." Isaac said sitting on the hill top. Gab had hopped out of the Warthog and walked over to his CO "What else do we have to do out here?" Lee asked sitting next to Isaac.
"Wait for Fire Team Zulu and then we sweep the inside of that ship, that's all I'm able to tell you." Isaac pulled out a pack of cigarettes and took one out "You boys smoke?" He offered one to Lee and Gab. Lee shook his head; Gab took one and had Isaac light it up "FT Zulu should be arriving by Pelican so a lot of dust is going to get kicked up." They nodded and sat there, Lee checked his weaponry just in case some more Covenant came, Gab smoked, and Isaac lay down.
A Pelican came over from off in the distance "This is Pelican Bravo 44 to Corporal Wellington, report your status." All three of them stood up "This is Corporal Wellington to Bravo 44, LZ is secure." The Pelican slow to a stop over them and lowered itself to the ground and let landing gear come out. Fire Team Zulu jumped out and ran over to the cargo ship, except for the Sergeant in charge of them who walked up to Isaac "Good job Corporal, Start sweeping that ship." Isaac, Lee, and Gab stood at attention "Sir, yes sir!" They saluted and were dismissed.
They entered through the hole that the two ghosts were at "So what are we sweeping for?" Lee asked moving down a hall towards one of the smaller cargo bays. Isaac looked behind him then at Lee and Gab "Keep this to between us, but apparently there was a squad of Spartans on board and the Covenant found out somehow." Both of them looked at Isaac "Spartans?" Isaac nodded "Spartans, you know super soldiers." Sergeant Newton of Fire Team Zulu came over their intercoms "All squads, this is Sergeant Newton; I want this ship swept in ten minutes. The Covenant are sending a search team to find their missing patrol."
Isaac shook his head "Let's go, double time." They started doing quick searches of the rooms. Lee came to the last door on the hallway "This is it for us." Gab took up a position on the other side of the door and Isaac got behind Lee "Open it." Lee pressed the button and the door slide open "Clear it." Isaac gave a hand motion to move forward. Gab and Lee moved into the room quickly while Isaac brought up the rear. "What the hell." Lee said looking around. Lee, Gab, and Isaac were standing in a room with four cryo tubes "We found it boys." Isaac lowered his weapon "This is Corporal Wellington to Fire Team Zulu, we found the Sleeping Children, over."
Newton came over their intercoms "We don't have time to move their tubes, blow the pins and get them hot." Isaac walked over to a ladder and climbed it "Get into those lockers and lay their equipment out for them." Lee and Gab nodded, and ran to a row of lockers, started pulling duffle bags out, and placed them next to the cryo tube that had the same name as the locker. Isaac leaned his weapon against the console and started typing in commands to wake the sleeping Spartans.
The four cryo tubes depressurized and opened, letting the Spartans wake up. "What's going on?" asked one of the Spartans that sat up in their cryo tube. Isaac had slid down the ladder and joined Lee and Gab who were standing by the door "I'm Corporal Wellington; this is Private Wong and Jenkins. This ship crashed and the Covenant know you're here, we have to get moving." All the Spartans got out of their tubes and grabbed their duffle bags and picked up the gun placed next to it "All right then Corporal, what's the situation?" the lead Spartan said with a slight feminine tone to it.
"I think the Captain can explain the situation better Yamoto, right now getting out of here is more important." Isaac turned to Lee "Private Wong, you have point." they all left the room and headed down the hall towards the gaping hole in the ship. Lee checked outside and saw Fire Team Zulu engaging a Shadow, three Jackals, and ten Grunts "Damn, this is Corporal Wellington to Sergeant Newton, we have the package. Do you need assistants?" Isaac asked over his intercom. Newton was firing from behind the Warthog they came in "Negative, get those troops out of here ASAP." Isaac gave an affirmation and signaled for them to get on the Pelican "Pelican Bravo 44, get this bird of the ground immediately and return to base." after Isaac, Lee, Gab, and the four Spartans got on board Pelican Bravo 44 took off and flew back towards the CP.
Sergeant Newton came over their intercoms "Watch your six; you have two bogies coming your way, Banshee class." Everyone in the Pelican looked out the back and saw two Banshees closing in on them "Corporal this Bravo 44 I need you to shoot down those Banshees before they find the CP, over" Isaac got out of his seat and went to a hatch far from the opening. He pulled out two straps and a M19 SSM Rocket Launcher "Hook these to the sides." he handed the straps to a Spartan and Gab then connected the ends to his belt "Fire in the hole!" He aimed at the Banshees and fired one rocket at them.
The Banshee pilot moved, but not fast enough because the rocket blew up one of its wings making it go into a barrel roll and collide with the other Banshee. Isaac lowered the weapon and raised his eyebrows "Well that wasn't expected." he unclipped himself and stowed the M19 SSM and straps "All clear Bravo 44, take us home." Isaac took a seat as the pilot gave an affirmation.
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Chapter 2: Keep your friends close.....
"It's nice to see you again Captain McCleis, what's the situation here?" Yamoto shook hands with the Captain and stood there while the Captain explained everything then handed her a set of dog tags "I'm sorry to have to say this but William is dead." the Captain finished off. Yamoto lowered her head "I see, when was this?" the Captain shook his head "about two days ago." Yamoto nodded and was dismissed to join her team.
Isaac came up to the Captain "Sir I was already debriefed, might I ask why I'm here?" Captain McCleis turned to Isaac "Yamoto has her team undermanned because the Covenant killed them in space before we crashed here, so I'm placing you and those two privates under her command." Isaac saluted and left the CP. Lee and Gab were waiting for him below "Looks like we're with the Spartans." they all looked at the four soldiers clad in maroon armor.
They walked over to Yamoto and saluted the Spartan saluted back "I'm off duty boys, so that really isn't needed." Isaac, Lee and Gab all sat on the floor "We are to be transferred to your command and replace the Fire Team you lost in the crash." Isaac pulled out his cigarettes and offered one to Yamoto. She took one and placed it on the bed next to her "Thanks." she reached behind her helmet and did something they couldn't see from their view, but her helmet hissed and the front popped up just a bit.
She lifted the front part and back parts of her helmet and placed it in her lap "What are your names?" Isaac, Lee, and Gab all looked wide eyed at her. After her helmet came off her ponytail fell out and stopped around mid-back and her face didn't look like one of a soldier, more like a models. Isaac was the first to gain his composer "Name's Isaac Wellington, this is Lee Wong, and Gabriel Jenkins." Lee and Gab nodded. She looked at the other Spartans "I'm Yui Mizaki, that's Alan Levins, he's Miguel Vasquez, and that's Simon Drake we call him Caesar. Caesar usually fly's the Pelican." the three Spartans nodded as they removed their armor.
Yui picked up the cigarette of the bed and put it in her mouth "Got a light?" she asked as Isaac pulled out a lighter and flicked it 'on'. She sat back and blew smoke "Welcome to Fire Team Sierra."
"Fire Team Zulu lost a few men protecting our escape. Three days later Captain McCleis got in contact with a UNSC frigate called the Osiris. Everyone got off the planet safe and sound, but we weren't in the clear yet....."
Captain McCleis shook hands the CO of the Osiris "Heard your ship went down, it's good to see you made it." McCleis and the CO went to the bridge leaving everyone else in a spare cargo bay. Isaac, Lee, and Gab all sat on the floor against the wall "How do you guys know so much about shooting and what not?" Lee and Gab looked at Isaac. Lee shrugged "Well we figured that we'd get drafted or something so we started going to a firing range and reading up on the military. Plus we wanted to kick some Covenant ass while we're at it." Isaac smiled and shook his head "Why do I get the weird ones?" they laughed and talked for an hour until all military personnel were called to action stations.
Captain McCleis came over a COM channel "All hands this is Captain McCleis, A covenant Cruiser is trying to cut off escape, prepare to fight back enemy boarders. I'm bringing us up to combat alert alpha. All Longsword fighter pilots are to launch immediately." the COM channel clicked off. Marines started to scramble into position. A sergeant started walking along prepping his men for combat "Alright men this is it get ready to face to the Covenant up close and personnel, and when we meet our enemy we will rip their skulls from their spines, and toss them away laughing. Am I right marines?" the marines in alpha company all readied their weapons "SIR! YES SIR!" the sergeant nodded "Damn right I am. Now move it out, double time!" the marines and sergeant all left the cargo bay.
Yui and the others came over to Isaac "Get yourselves combat ready, the Captain wants us to try and board that cruiser." Isaac, Lee, ad Gab all stood up "Yes ma'am, get moving Privates." they left and came back within a seven minute time period prepped for close quarters. Yui nodded and looked at them through her helmet "Get to launch bay two and prep a Pelican." they left and ran for the launch bay.
Captain McCleis stood next to the Osiris' CO "Commander Goff, how many missiles do you have on this ship?" Goff punched in some buttons on a console next to him "About six Dragoon class missiles, four Tomahawk class missiles, and thirty Libra class missiles sir." McCleis turned to Goff "Why so few?" the ship's AI appeared "We engaged some heavy Covenant patrols when we got close to the planet." the AI looked like a purple Shaolin Monk. McCleis turned to the construct "Are there any other weapons we can use to fight that cruiser."
"Yes we do Captain." Goff pulled up a list of functional weapons "Cao what is the status on the fifty-cals?" Cao closed his eyes then opened them a second later "Ammo down sixteen percent and guns on starboard decks B, D, E, and F are disabled." McCleis sighed "Let's hope they don't broad side us." a COM channel opened to the bridge "This is Lieutenant Richmond, All Longswords are away and engaging the Covenant Phantoms." McCleis, Goff, and Cao all looked out a window on the bridge and saw a series of flashes. McCleis turned to Cao "What is the primary weapon on this frigate?" Cao closed his eyes "We have a prototype Hyper Velocity Cannon that as built in two months ago, but we never used it."
McCleis sighed again "Get it ready to fire, launch one Dragoon, and five Libras. All Longswords, target the cruiser's plasma cannons." Goff raised an eyebrow "Only one Dragoon?" McCleis nodded "yes, so if they shoot it down we still have five more for future skirmishes." a COM channel opened up again "This is Yamoto to Captain McCleis; my team is ready to go on your command." McCleis smiled "Go right ahead Fire Team Sierra." The Com channel clicked off. A few moments later Cao switched the firing codes for the HVC over to McCleis "Hyper Velocity Cannon ready to fire on your command." McCleis pressed a button on the console in front of him.
A whining noise could be heard through out the ship then there was a small rumble. A silver flash sped out towards the Covenant cruiser, hitting it near it's port side engine. Cao looked at the Covenant ship "Enemy cruiser engines are down thirty percent, slipspace generator is unusable, four plasma cannons are destroyed. Nice shot Captain."
Yui turned to the private frequency for her team "All right Caesar, take us out of here." Caesar pressed a few buttons and the launch bay doors opened up "This is Caesar to all Longswords keep the enemy distracted while I get Fire Team Sierra inside the Covenant cruiser." the Pelican flew out of the launch bay two and wove in and out of dog fights between Longswords and Phantoms.
Caesar approached a Covenant Hangar and blew his way inside the ship "Get ready to move, it's going to be hot." the pelican made a 180 degree turn and opened it's back. Fire Team Sierra jumped out guns ablaze while they dodged plasma from three veteran squads of Jackals and a veteran squad of Elites "Get out of here Caesar, We'll call when we need pick up." the Pelican closed it's rear hatch and flew out of the hangar just as the shield started to come back online. Fire Team Sierra made its way to a door off to the side of the hangar. Yui signaled for Miguel and Alan to enter and sweep it.
Yui entered the room after the ok was given "Corporal, you and your men guard this door until we get back." Isaac nodded and had Lee get in the corner and look down the hall, Gab sat by some pipes in the wall and aimed his assault rifle at the door. Isaac sat on the floor right around the corner of the short hallway leading to the hangar. They 'dug in' and waited for any Covenant forces that would come their way.
Yui, Miguel, and Alan all headed for the Command Center of the cruiser "Stay frosty, those blue bastards are around here somewhere." Yui and Alan nodded as Miguel checked around a corner "Clear." Alan took point as they headed down the hall. An Elite jumped out and knocked Alan's assault rifle out of his hands "Son of a..." Alan kicked the plasma rifle out of the Covenant's hand "That's better." the Covenant roared and threw a punch at him; Alan ducked under the punch then grabbed the Elite's arm and raised it. Alan punched the tender part of the Covenant's underarm area and dislocated its right arm. While the Elite howled in pain, Alan took this time to pull a grenade off his belt, jam it in the Elite's mouth, and push it away.
Alan stood up straight as the Covenant tried to get the grenade out of its mouth, but to no avail. The Covenant's head exploded as Alan retrieved his weapon "Haven't gotten into hand-to-hand with Covenant for a while." Yui took point this time "Remember good times later, we have a mission to do." they nodded and followed her until they reached the bridge door "Vasquez clear ground floor, Levins secure all exits, I'll take the control platform." Yui raised three fingers. Two. One. The door slide open and they ran in and dove behind pillars, the door slide closed drawing two Jackals over.
Miguel pulled out his combat knife and sliced the first Jackals throat and shot the second with his shotgun at point blank range, leaving quiet a mess. Alan ran along the wall towards the only other door into the room, shooting any Covenant that fired at him. Yui ran to a ramp sitting not too far from the door she had entered from "Vasquez secure ground floor, Levins backup Vasquez." she tossed a grenade up to the top of the ramp and waited until the body of the commander flew overhead with a the sound of an explosion and shrieks from Grunts.
Yui stood up and ran to the top of the ramp "All clear ma'am, securing exits." Alan said as Yui walked over to the main console and pressed in commands then turned "I've set the auto-destruct, lets fall back." they all ran out the door from which they had come "We have about twenty minutes before this place becomes a fireworks display." Miguel smiled under his helmet "I love fireworks." They would have stopped and stared at him, but they had to run like hell.
They turned a corner and saw Isaac and Lee holding the door "Break's over boys, time to go." they all went through the door and took cover behind some columns "Caesar we need immediate evac from the drop point, over." Yui's intercom crackled with static from the shield "Yamoto, I don't have enough firepower to lower that shield, I'm afraid one of you will have to shut it down from the inside." Caesar flew in front of the hangar and hovered "Lower that shield ASAP Yamoto or you're getting stuck there."
Yui looked at the second floor balcony of the three story hangar and saw the shield controls "Vasquez lower that shield, Levins, Wong, keep that door secure. Wellington, Jenkins, on me." Miguel ran out a door and appeared on the second floor balcony almost a minute later. Miguel went over to a console and pressed a series of commands into it. The shield vanished allowing Caesar to fly in and turned around "Alright team, let's get the hell out of here." Miguel jumped down onto a Covenant style crate and ran over to the Pelican with the rest of Fire Team Sierra. Yui took a seat and closed the hatch "Get us the hell out of here Major."
The Pelican flew out of the Covenant hangar as fast as it could "This Yamoto to Lieutenant Richmond, pull back to the Osiris immediately. That Covenant cruiser is going to blow in about ten minutes." Caesar flew past some Longswords and opened fire on a Phantom that got in his way. Longswords started breaking off contact with the enemy and flew like a bat out of hell back to the Osiris. Yui went up and stood behind Caesar "Can you get me a Com channel with Captain McCleis?" Caesar nodded and punched in some frequency codes "Go ahead." Yui reached over Caesar's shoulder and pressed a button "This is Yamoto to Captain McCleis, do you read?" the COM channel crackled with static "This is Captain McCleis, report your status."
Yui checked how much time was left "The Covenant cruiser is set for auto-destruct and will blow in three minutes. All the Longswords are pulling back." Caesar pressed in his landing code and opened launch bay two's doors "Roger that Yamoto, all Covenant boarders have been repelled. Welcome back." Yui clicked off the COM channel and got out of the Pelican after the bay doors closed "Good job today men, get some sleep."
An explosion rocked the UNSC frigate signaling their victory against the Covenant cruiser. Fire Team Sierra all headed for their bunks to try and get some shut eye.
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Chapter 3: There goes the neighborhood
"All hands this is Captain McCleis. We received an SOS from a Colony saying that Covenant forces are trying to wipe them out; since we are the closet UNSC ship we are going to assist them. All able personnel are to get themselves assembled and ready to assist the Colony on land." The intercom crackled off. Yui ran into Fire Team Sierra's locker area wearing only a towel "Suit up gentlemen; we have a job to do." Yui threw off the towel on grabbed her armor and some underwear. Miguel, Alan, and Caesar acted like it was the most natural thing in the world for their leader to run around the locker room in her underwear putting on armor, but Isaac, Lee, and Gab were having a hard time focusing on the task at hand.
"Does she do this a lot?" Isaac asked putting shells into his shotgun trying not to stare "Most of the time, she does a lot of this stuff when she's not on duty." Caesar checked his new MA5C Battle Rifle's sights. Yui placed her helmet on the bench behind her and grabbed her MA5C, slapped a clip in, and leaned it against the other lockers "We're going to be providing support for the marines already fighting on the colony. Wong you'll assist recon when we land, Caesar you take Jenkins and Wellington for a ride through the city. Vasquez, Levins you're with me, all of you get to Pelican Foxtrot 57 in hangar 04 ASAP."
Captain McCleis and Commander Goff surveyed the situation with Cao. "Where is the safest drop zone down there?" Goff asked looking at a map of the colony "There are three drop zones that have almost no Covenant activity, and have no strategic value." Cao made three blue circles appear on the screen "This one would be the best possible place for a Command Post, Captain." McCleis nodded "Alright then, have Lieutenants Dagda and Hughes secure that area and set up the CP." Cao relayed the order "Captain, what of the Longswords we have? Are we going to send them down there for bombing runs or stay up here and beat back Covenant boarding craft?" Goff asked as he surveyed the combat going on down in the city.
McCleis thought for a second "Send a squad down for emplacement removal, the rest will defend the Osiris. Cao, I need a status report on the fifty-cals." Cao nodded and closed his eyes "Ammo down twenty percent, Guns on decks B, D, and E are repaired; Fifty-cal on deck F is disabled." McCleis walked up behind one of the bridge crew working on a console off to the side. "Commander I want you to fire one Tomahawk and five Libras at the closest Covenant ship, Cao have one squad attacked that ship's Plasma cannons." Goff and the AI nodded and relayed the orders.
A COM channel opened to the bridge "Captain McCleis this is Lieutenant Hughes, All designated ground forces are moving out now." McCleis nodded "Good luck Lieutenant, you might need it."
Hughes closed the COM channel and climbed into one of many pelicans going down to the surface. Moments later the bay doors depressurized and opened, three Pelicans flew out and joined up with the rest of the dropships and their escort consisting of a squad of Longswords. Three bright blue balls flew past them as they dodged fire coming from two Phantoms. One of the Plasma balls crashed into a Pelican causing it to explode and made bodies of the Marines inside spill out.
When the Pelicans got close enough they tilted their noses up and entered the planets atmosphere "Prepare for reentry, hang on tight it's going to be a bumpy ride." The insides of the Pelicans started to shake and after a while the shaking stopped and the Pelicans tilted their noses down again. A crackle came over the intercoms "This is Lieutenant Hughes to all ground forces, sweep and clear once you hit the ground and proceed to set up the Command Post." the intercom crackled off and the Pelicans neared their drop zones.
Lieutenant Hughes and his men jumped out of the Pelicans and secured the area after taking out five Grunts and two Jackals. Fire Team Sierra walked over to Hughes who was watching some engineers set up the Command Post "What are your orders Lieutenant?" Yui asked saluting Hughes. Hughes saluted back "I have two warthogs and two ATVs for you Team, and seeing as you're one person short of eight..." Hughes pointed to a soldier standing by an ATV putting a clothed weapon on it "the Captain there will be transferred to your command Yamoto. He has an outstanding service record; his name is Will Kurtz." Fire Team Sierra saluted and walked over to Will "Captain, I'm Colonel Yui Mizaki leader of Fire Team Sierra. Welcome aboard." Will looked up at her and nodded "Excuse me if I don't salute, I'm kind of busy at the moment."
Will finished strapping on the covered weapon; he saluted, and grabbed his MA5C battle rifle "Caesar and Kurtz will take the ATVs. Wellington, Wong, and Jenkins will take the Warthog with the RPG. Levins, Vasquez, and I will take the remaining Warthog with the minigun." Fire Team Sierra ran to their vehicles and drove off to give support to the Marine forces that sent the SOS. Caesar and Will scouted ahead while the Warthogs made their along wider streets "Kurtz to Yamoto do you copy?" Yui fully sat down in the Warthog's passenger and lowered her weapon "This is Yamoto, go ahead Kurtz." Her intercom crackled for a second or two then Will's voice came with the sound of gunfire.
"The Marines are under heavy fire and need immediate assistants." The Warthogs turned a corner from where the Marines were. Yui took her spot and waited for the Covenant to come in sight "Get ready boys, here comes the fun." They passed a building and saw two Shadows and a Wraith provided support fire for the Elites that were making their way towards the troops. Yui, Alan, Lee, and Gab all opened fire on the Covenant troops drawing the attention of the Wraith and one of the Shadows. Lee and Gab concentrated on taking out the vehicle support for the Infantry while Yui and Alan supported the Marines.
Caesar and Will taking cover behind their ATVs "Nice to see you could make it ma'am." Caesar laughed as he chucked a grenade at the Shadow that was still firing at the Marines. Four Elites started to get a little to close for comfort; Will started taking the clothed weapon off his ATV "Can you cover me Caesar?" Caesar nodded, dropped his MA5C and pulled out two sub-machine guns "I think so." Caesar opened fire on any thing that had blue skin. Will unwrapped the cloth and readied the shiny brand spanking new flamethrower that he held. Will turned towards the Elites that seemed to be violating the Marines personal bubble as it were "Hey bright eyes!" the Elites all turned to face Will "Tag! You're it." The flamethrower spewed Napalm on the four Covenant as they tried to squeeze a few rounds off at him.
The Covenant started to fall back after the Wraith blew up and the gunner in the Shadow found a bullet hole in his head. Will fire one or two more flames at some Covenant to make sure they weren't coming back. Yui sat down in the Warthog and leaned her head back "That almost seemed too easy." Alan nodded as he jumped off the back off the Warthog "Well it wasn't a big strike group; they thought they were just taking out a few Marines." Miguel nodded in agreement as he cut the engine of the vehicle "He has a point ya know." The rest of Fire Team Sierra came over to their leader "So what now?" Lee asked as he leaned against the jeep.
Yui shrugged "I guess we just have to....." a crackle over all channels interrupted her "This is Captain McCleis to all teams; we just received word from Reach. They are under attack and request immediate assistants. All Covenant forces have pulled back and are preparing to destroy the world then head for Reach by the looks of things. All teams and any personnel still left on the planet are to return to the Osiris ASAP. That is all." a crackle ended the transmission and left Fire Team Sierra scrambling for their vehicles.
"The good news is we were able to make it off the planet before the Covenant bombed the crap out of it, the bad news was waiting for us on Reach. I can safely say we'll make it to Reach, but I can't say it'll still be there..........."
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