UNSC Tactical Command / Operation: GLASS HOUSE
Combat Drop, New Tripoli — Circinius IV / 2526.04.17
Spartan Team Alpha deployed to urban combat zone, low visibility, high Covenant activity...
(David Pov)
"ETA to New Tripoli City 3 Mikes. Are you sure you still wanna do this? Sky's clear over here, but I cannot say the same for the city," the voice of the pilot filled my helmet.
"Get us as close to the fighting as you can, pilot. We'll take it from there," I replied seriously
"Roger, you're the boss," he answered as the comms went quiet
I shifted my weapon beside me, glancing at the rest of my team. Everyone knew the general plan, or rather the lack thereof. We didn't know the situation on the ground, and our prowler, the UNSC Hush-Hush, was staying away from the fight.
We were there to fight and defend, and that was exactly what we were gonna do.
"Bay doors opening. I won't lie to you, Captain, it looks bad from up here. I doubt any civilians or transports are still intact. Last chance to bail," he said
I didn't respond; I had already made my thoughts known. I shifted in my seat, looking toward the now open bay doors, and watched buildings flash by.
A few moments passed, and the comms cued up again, "Heh, well I'll take that as a no then," I heard the voice say as I felt our craft begin to descend. In sync, the five of us stood up, putting firm grips on our ordinance as we approached the bay door.
"This is your floor, then," we quickly hopped out of the Pelican and began securing the area, fanned out and in formation. "Good luck! Don't get yourself killed, I prefer repeat customers," the Pelican began to ascend, the bay door closing before it accelerated before disappearing from sight.
"We'll head due north, towards the heart of the city. Once we are within the range of the Spaceport at the center, we'll hail the ground command and go from there, understood?" I calmly ordered, glancing at the other figures behind me.
"Got it," Daisy replied
"Yes," there was Sheila
"Understood," Jorge said calmly with his thick accent
"Affirmative," lastly came Cal's cool voice.
"Then let's move," I heaved my M68 Gauss Cannon forward and broke into a brisk jog, leading the team.
Beside me was Jorge running at the same pace with an M41 Rotary cannon, his "preference," or so he said. Immediately behind us, Sheila had a belt-fed M460 Automatic grenade launcher, and to her right was Daisy with a M41 SPNKr and a large bag on her back filled with extra rockets. Finally, Cal pulled up the rear with a M99 Stanchion Gauss rifle.
To say that we had enough ordinance to level the city ourselves was an understatement.
*BANG*
We were unable to make it halfway down the street before we heard an explosion from around the corner of a junction. My eyes darted over, and I reacted quickly as two purple shapes glided out from around the corner of a ruined building and perpendicular street.
They were purple, fast-moving recon vehicles that floated above the ground. They had two fins like fish that seemed to maneuver depending on the direction the vehicle was turning or heading. And from the side I had seen earlier in the open pilot seat was two Grunts, the cone-headed aliens, as they were designated for simplicity.
I recognized the two light crafts from John's reports during Operation: SILENT STORM. They were armed with two light plasma repeating plasma cannons that could cut a man in half.
SNAP
A high-pitched snap echoed behind me as I watched a round from Cal's Stanchion, traveling at a speed imperceptible for normal men, knock out one of the grunts from its seat. At the same time, I had lined up my shot on the lead vehicle.
I pulled the trigger, and a jolt of recoil was sent through my armor as a round teleported from the barrel of my gun into one of the fins of the purple thing. The loss of the stabilizer forced the Grunt's vehicle to swerve to the left. I saw it with a look of panic before my next round erased it from its seat. Only bits were left, as even the seat was scorched from the round.
Slowly, the superheated blue arc of my rounds faded into the wind, and the coast was clear.
"Sheila, take care of the other vehicle," I said, and a green check mark lit up informing me that Sheila understood what I said.
A few moments later, we moved up, and a crackling sound erupted behind us, the sign that Sheila had detonated a thermite grenade in the control panel. We couldn't use it ourselves, and so we deny the enemy any and all resources, including our own.
It was Scorched Earth and part of the response to the WINTER CONTINGENCY Protocol.
Before we could leave the area of the destroyed light hover vehicles, we paused, hearing a low thrum coming from the tops of the buildings around us. We paused, looking up, waiting for what was coming next.
Quickly, 5 similarly purple gliders with green canopies dove down toward us from the rooftops, "Scatter," I ordered as 5 green radioactive bombs were released from the bottom of the gliders' chassis.
FWOOOSH
Daisy released a rocket before sprinting away. One of the gliders sped up quickly, releasing some type of blue light similar to an afterburner, but the rocket followed, already locked on. It did a barrel roll maneuver before getting smashed by the missile. It erupted into purple fire before crashing through a window of an apartment complex.
With the five of us spaced out, evading the green shells that now seemed to burn into the pavement of the road. The other four of us focused on the remaining flying vehicles. Blue arcs from my Gauss cannon glowed with the path traveled by my rounds as my glider flew in a circle above me.
At the same time, another was swooping low for another pass, blue plasma bolts erupted from the front plasma cannons, paving a path into the asphalt approaching Sheila.
In the next instant, my Gauss cannon finally found its mark, tunneling through the canopy instantly killing the pilot. Similarly, a 40 mm grenade from Sheila blew off a pylon of another glider, sending it spinning into the glider I'd destroyed. The two exploded into purple flames before the wreckage fell onto a street corner.
Another high-pitched scream, followed by a snap and a smaller blue arc from behind me, led to a small hole through the canopy of another flying machine. The operator must have died from the shot as it smacked head-on into another building. Leaving only one remaining.
I turned to the incessant barking of a machine gun, seeing Jorge had been putting his target through a storm of shrapnel. It was littered with bullet holes; both pylons seemed to have been blown off, and fire had erupted from the rear. I swung my cannon, letting out one round, folding the glider in on itself as it exploded in the air before pieces.
Before I could say anything, I heard a ghostly howl coming from down the street behind us, "Dropship incoming," Cal informed me through my helmet.
"They're trying to stall us. Keep moving and don't stop," I said, keeping it short as we broke out into another jog
…
..
.
"Brutes," Sheila called out before I heard a series of fwooomps, the sound of her automatic grenade launcher.
"RAHHHH" A pack of four or five 1200-pound apes taller than us came climbing out of a storefront. Their armor was tribal and exactly what you would expect from a bunch of savages.
One of them fell over as grenades exploded, being blown apart the moment his shield shattered into motes of light. The others were enraged as I saw one draw a weapon that looked more knife than a weapon, a Spiker. It fired superheated metal fragments, effectively a shrapnel rifle, but for Brutes that were inconceivably strong, they were able to fire it using one hand with ease.
[LOG ENTRY 2: Author's Commentary: Considering that the M68 Gauss Cannon fires a round similar to a Bradley's M242 Bush Master Autocannon but at roughly 12 times the speed… Using the formula KE = 1/2Mv^2 it would approximately produce 42 MJ of energy. Capable of punching through any IFV or APC armor and most main battle tank's rear and top armor.]
I took note instantly and blasted the hand that was raised while still running. Like a laser, one moment the weapon and arm were there, and the next, they were gone. The Brute screamed before I slammed another through its gullet, hole punching it as if I wanted to put him on a key ring. Cal and Jorge finished off the other two without even pausing our sprint.
Daisy, meanwhile, kept silent, following close behind me. We were trying to conserve her rockets; they were the best for dealing with flying vehicles since you could lock on, then fire and forget.
We ran another 2 miles without seeing other human life… We had run across some more unsavory scenes, however. Corners where soldiers from the army had been cut down… civilian bodies mixed in among them. Tanks and Warthogs burning in heaps, a sign of convoys that had failed in their journey.
Finally, after half an hour of running from our drop off and 15 miles of streets, we made it to the edge of the center of the city. We stopped, not out of breath, not tired, but looking to our next set of orders.
My armor tuned into local channels, already reading my intentions. But I cued into already cued-up chatter, and I paused listening to the situation.
"Olympia Stadium has been cleared out. We managed to get an Egret out from there. We're falling back to the west gate of the starport. Can I get a sitrep on those evacuations over?"
"Stalled Major, we've been given intel that the enemy has caught onto our evacuations and has set up anti-aircraft equipment, over."
"Shit, any idea where they are, Colonel? Over,"
"A few, but we've lost all contact with the teams that have been sent out to take care of -"
"THIS IS WEST GATE. WE ARE COVERED IN CONTACTS. THEY BROUGHT MORE TANKS. WE NEED ASSISTANCE ASAP,"
"Roger that, west gate! I will….damn it. Major double time it, help those soldiers-"
Having heard enough, I spoke u,p cutting the Colonel off at the end.
"This is Sierra-Zero-Zero-Three. Spartan team Alpha is on the ground and ready to assist. Where do you need us?"
"The hell's a Spartan?" I heard the female voice of the Major ask
"I don't care! Uh, Spartan team Alpha, get your asses over to the west gate," The Colonel seemed to have been caught off guard.
"Understood, on our way, over." I looked over, getting some thumbs up indicating the team heard our orders, "We are 3 miles out, we are sprinting the rest of the way." I got no argument as we rushed over.
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(3rd Pov)
"Colonel, we need help! We're covered in those gorilla fuckers, and they are chewing through the barricades!" a marine seemed to shout into his radio as his hands shook, holding it.
FWOOSH….BOOM
Another massive glob of glowing superheated vapors slammed down across from him, slinging rock into the man's face as he brought a hand to block it. A chunk of concrete bounced up, striking him in the cheek, almost knocking him out, causing him to fall back into the outcropping he had been defending from.
He looked around his eyes unfocused from the concussing blow. He glanced to his right across the open at the pile of other wounded UNSC personnel. They had been defending this spot since the moment the attack began the night before last, and now it was just him and four others.
'Mom, I am sorry but I ain't making it out of this one,' he accepted quietly before throwing his radio down beside himself.
"Fuck it," he whispered to himself, picking up his MA37 in a rage and standing up.
"FUCK YOUUUU," he shouted. He popped out of cover, spraying his rifle, he took out a grunt that had advanced too far. The cone-headed alien tumbling over himself, dying as splatters of blue blood flew out from his body.
Moments later, a Brute let out a spray of molten tungsten spikes, and one found its mark. In one single second, a ten-inch spike punctured through the marine's skull from his forehead before mounting him to the stone wall behind him. He didn't feel any pain, just one second he was fighting a firefight and the next… he wasn't.
The remaining marines watched their comrade's lifeless corpse hang from the tungsten slug. Similarly, making peace that it was their time. Resigning themselves to at least taking a few of them out with them.
FWOOP-FWOOP-FWOOP
Numerous grenades exploded, tearing apart Covenant forces that began to advance. The Marines looked around, trying to find the source, hoping it was reinforcements and that they were saved. Meanwhile, the purple mortar tank turned as it hovered a foot above the ground; the remaining Brutes and grunts did the same.
FWINK
A tungsten slug travelling at 15,000 m/s instantly passed through the tank's gunner, killing them instantly. The tank fired another globule of plasma before beginning to reverse quickly as if it were beginning to be chased.
And that's when the Marines saw it.
5 figures in army green, nearly as tall as the gorilla aliens they had been fighting, appeared carrying heavy weapons. The details of their armors were different, but the core remained the same; a few of them had painted insignias on their armor showcasing a bold blue A, the Greek capital Alpha, on their pauldrons and shoulder armor pieces.
They moved with precision and as if they were linked to a hive mind. One with a Warthog's chain gun and another with a Falcon's grenade launcher engaged the infantry, mowing them down and blowing them to bits respectively. Whatever they missed, they seemed not to pay attention to, as another with a sniper rifle the marines had never seen before blew heads off before the aliens could do anything.
A low rumble filled the air as, from the city, a purple flying vehicle appeared only to be instantly struck down by a rocket. They traced a smoke line in the air back to another green machine casually reloading a rocket launcher before standing back up and proceeding.
But the one that stood out the most was the automaton leading the other four. It held a Gauss Cannon and was single-handedly attacking the tank that had blown apart Warthogs and melted their friends.
He moved with surprising agility, running with speed far above any human while carrying an over 200-pound weapon in his hands. More plasma mortars were fired, but none even seemed to singe his armor. He got within range and fired the cannon, putting deep dents into the tank's armor, but none seemed to be lethal.
Some of the marines had gotten a second wind with the new sight, but before any of them could stand up, they seemed to gape in awe. The thing with the Gauss Cannon, after evading countless plasma mortars had finally caught up to the tank.
He leapt up onto the front slope of the armor, seemingly finding grip on nothing, as besides the dents from his weapon, the purple armor was completely smooth. He paused before he lowered his weapon and leveled it at what appeared to be a hatch. If it were a human, then his hands and the trigger assembly of the weapon were just in front of his chest, a remarkably uncomfortable position. Then he began to fire.
Blue glow after blue glow was injected into one spot in the tank until it was clear that he had weakened the purple panel, all the while his arms betrayed little to no sign of recoil from firing the weapon that was typically mounted on vehicles. He reached down, plucking the panel off the tank and tossing it behind him. The marines could make out another of the apes, the tank's pilot. It panicked as it was now exposed, but before it could retaliate it immediately took a point-blank tungsten round. Then the thing readjusted the cannon slightly and fired one into what appeared to be the controls of the tank.
The tank that was hovering fell to the asphalt with a dull clank. The green humanoid machine hopped off the tank before turning and seemingly locking eyes with the marines, but none could tell with the orange visor. He took a few steps, and the tank exploded into purple and white flames smoke rising into the sky from the burning plasma.
None knew what to say; they had been blown away and were left in a state of shock, which was only amplified as the green robot approached them. By now, he was facing them, and they could make out a white 003 on his armor. They looked around and sure enough found similar numbers on the rest's armors, 141, 023, 065, and 052.
Once the green machine reached their barricade, it spoke in a human voice, one with calmness that was in stark contrast to the actions it had just performed, and one paired with youth and sternness that was out of place.
"Area secured. Where do you need us to go next?"
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Based on stuff like Halo: Oblivion and Halo Wars (Arcadia Missions). This was most likely how the QRT teams were moving in lore. Basically, "give the Spartans ordinance and let them loose."
Anyway hope you enjoyed it. See you again soon.