User:Hollywood101x/Broken Crystals

BROKEN CRYSTALS

First Wave
October 17, 2549

Corporal Pierce Hae-jin Hayase didn’t like what was coming. He along with his squad had been briefed by his company commander about the operation they would take part in. First his battalion aboard the UNSC Frigate Kaze, an undermanned and under armed ship would retake the captured Crystal City on the colony planet Hera. First five Landing Zones would be taken around the edge of the city where there were less defenses and more space. Then as the LZ was being held reinforcements would be sent in to push their way to the center of the city where they would meet up. At first the plan seemed sound, simple and basic, hard to screw with. But Pierce realized something, onboard the Kaze was only a squadron of Pelicans and another of Hornets, not the best air-cover, also which meant longer waits between each round of reinforcements. And to top it all off the battalion was mostly inexperienced and only had one tank platoon, one Scorpion for each LZ.

Pierce cursed as the Pelican shook from AA fire as they approached their LZ. Unfortunately for him his platoon was the first wave of the company on LZ Black. Each LZ had been given a color, Black, Blue, Green, Red, and Purple. The crew chief of the Pelican walked from the end of the carrier bay to the compartment door, he opened it with a slide and entered halfway tapping the shoulder of the copilot. The copilot looked at him and gave him a hand signal, two fingers raised in a V. The crew chief mimicked the signal then turned away closing the door. The crew chief looked at Pierce’s sergeant and gave him the signal as well. The sergeant then gave the signal to the rest of the squad and yelled “TWO MINUTES!” over the roar of the Pelican’s engines and the dull explosions outside. “Check equipment!” He yelled as the marines check first their gear then the gear of the men sitting beside them, they gave each other a thumbs up for approval.

Pierce checked his sniper rifle then his M7 submachinegun he had stolen before boarding the Pelican. He wanted more firepower then his sidearm pistol and tried to take an assault rifle but the combined weight of the sniper rifle, assault rifle, and ammunition for the two would have been too much. So he went for the M7. The crew chief then gave the sergeant another hand signal, this time with only one finger.

“ONE MINUTE! STAND UP!” the sergeant yelled as he pumped his shotgun and chambered a round. Everyone else stood in two lines, Pierce was right in the middle on the right side, they all watched as the crew chief manned the turret at the edge of the Pelican bay, he swept it from side to side and fired a small burst making sure it was operational.

“THIRTY SECONDS!”

Looking out of the carrier bay Pierce saw blue streaks pass by as they took anti-aircraft fire. As the Pelican passed over a building rooftop the crew chief opened fire with a loud rattle, four Grunts and a Jackal were torn to pierces as they had tried to set up a Shade. The crew chief stopped for a moment then opened fire again at a mass of Covenant as they moved across open streets, but after only a few moments of firing the Pelican moved away. The Pelican then hovered over an open square surrounded by two story buildings, at the north end was a larger three story building, they began taking more fire.

“GO! GO! GO!” The sergeant yelled as he was the first to exit and sprint for cover as plasma rounds hit the ground around them. The rest of the marines piled out and searched for cover, Pierce saw as two other Pelicans touched down and let the rest of the platoon out.

Pierce felt himself move slower with fear, plasma was raining down around them as they ran into an open square with only planters for cover. He stopped just short of a planter and tried to raise his sniper rifle to fire, he hesitated to pull the trigger and stood frozen. He didn’t move until someone in his squad had tackled him down to the cover. “You fucking idiot!” He yelled as he fired an assault rifle at a building topped with Grunts and an Elite.

“PLASMA MORTAR!” The sergeant yelled as he watched a large blue sun make a gentle arc then begin to fall towards them. Everyone saw it and sprinted away, finding new cover inside a two story building, they saw it impact with the Pelican they had been a moment ago. The mortar round had hit the right wing as the Pelican was rising to exit the LZ. With the impact the Pelican dropped fifty feet, the right side scraped against the ground then it rose again twenty feet and made a flat spin until crashing to a halt in the center of the square.

“Shit!” Someone yelled as they fired through a window to an opposite building. After witnessing the crash Pierce snapped back into reality and leveled his sniper rifle, he put the barrel on the window frame stabling it and aimed through the sites. He fired and an Elite’s head snapped back and fell dead. He fired three more rounds with great accuracy bringing down another Elite and two Grunts as they tried to set up a plasma turret. As he reloaded he listened to his sergeant make a report on his radio, “…this is 2nd platoon, Charlie Company we’ve got a Pelican down on the LZ! LZ is hot, we’re closing off the North end! Repeat do not touch down on the Northern end!”

“We gotta check for survivors!” Pierce yelled as he fired another round, he turned his head to his sergeant who nodded to him. So far the Pelican was silent, a large fire had started on the side of the impact and sent a thick black column of smoke into the air. Then from the cockpit they saw two flashes, muzzle flashes. “Small arms firing coming from the cockpit Sarge!” Pierce yelled as he fired another round killing a Jackal.

“First squad, this is second, we’ve got survivors on the cockpit, provide cover firing and I’ll send half of my chalk to retrieve em!” The sergeant yelled into his radio.

“Copy that Second, be aware that we’ve also spotted the crew chief in the carrier bay. Damn he’s still in this fight!” The staff sergeant of First squad said, “He’s manning the turret, be ready Second we’re cover you in fifteen seconds.”

“Pierce, Mike, Jimmy, Bryan! With me we’re getting’ those guys!” The sergeant said, they all get ready to sprint for the Pelican. A rocket flew overhead and into a building as First squad opened fire on mass. “GO!”

Pierce sprinted for the Pelican but saw something in the corner of his eye, another plasma mortar. “COVER! PLASMA MORTAR!” he yelled as he dove behind a planter and watched the plasma round land to their right. After it detonated they got up and ran again. Pierce saw that the Pilot was firing an M7 with his right arm as he tried to move his left, it was either stuck or broken. The Copilot fired a pistol as he was able to pull himself out of his seat, he then tried to help move his friend but failed, he was too busy firing.

They reached the Pelican and took up positions around it; Pierce aimed and fired blowing away the back of an Elite’s skull. The skull exploded and showered cowering Grunts in a mist of blood and gore. “Pierce grab the pilots and get em in the bay!” His sergeant yelled. Pierce looked at the cockpit, he didn’t want to go but he went, pumping his legs as hard as he could he climbed part of the hull to the cockpit and fired another two rounds before continuing.

“YO!” Pierce yelled just outside of the broken windshield, he didn’t want to risk getting shot by his own guys. “I’m comin’ in!” He yelled then jumped inside breaking pieces of the control panel. The Co-pilot reloaded his weapon as the Pilot struggled to free his legs from underneath the panel. Pierce dropped his rifle for a moment and tried to push the panel up, slowly it lifted and the Pilot dragged his legs out. “Get to the bay now!” Pierce yelled as he fired his last round in his magazine and reloaded. The Covenant were pounding them hard, they had set up multiple shades and seemed to be getting reinforcements quickly. As the pilots made their way to the back Pierce watched as a fuel rod round came barreling towards him. “Shit…” he threw himself backwards and with one motion closed the compartment door. He landed on his stomach when the round impacted inside the cockpit. The door blew off its slide and landed flat on his back.

“Pierce!” A marine yelled, they grabbed the door and pulled it off him as he shook away the dizziness in his head. He looked back at the cockpit, the interior had melted away.

“Second we’ve got the pilots and crew chief! Provide covering fire we’re gonna make a run for it!” The sergeant yelled.

“Negative area is too hot, stay put for a second two Hornets are inbound along with half of First platoon!”

“They’re hitting us with fuel rods!” A marine yelled as he ducked for cover as a green explosion splashed over the hull. Another mortar round hit close by followed by a second hit by a fuel rod round.

“Damnit Pierce try and take out the fuel rods!” the sergeant yelled to him, the interior of the Pelican shook after each hit, soon the hull would melt away. Pierce moved towards the exit and under a wing, he took aim at a target, no fuel rod but he still fired blowing away an Elite’s chest. He continued to search and found a black clad Grunt trying to reload the weapon; he shouldered the weapon and was about to fire when Pierce sent his round into the green munitions. The weapon exploded in a large green explosion that melted away the roof of a building. He looked for a second target, he felt strong in his area. The rifle felt like it was part of him and he felt relieved every time he fired and felt the weapon’s kick on his shoulder then see an enemy go down.

“He’s hitting em hard!” A marine yelled as he fired his assault rifle. Pierce fired again knocking down a Jackal, the round had been lucky it had went through the dent blowing away the Jackal’s left arm then through a Grunt’s head and into the chest of an Elite. He reloaded and got up, he wanted to get to a new position, it was bad enough that he had fired so many rounds in one area but now there’s wasn’t many places to go. Running to the other side he threw himself in a small hole between a wing and the hull, from the inside it looked like it was hit with a shade. He looked through his sites again, he magnified the zoom and saw the Elite’s mandibles move as it barked out commands. Pierce took in a breath and let half of it out then held, he steadied his aim and fired. The Elite went down then another and another.

“Hornets inbound!” Someone yelled as a series of rockets knifed overhead and made contact with Covenant on the rooftops. Then the loud roar of their machineguns went off and Pierce could see large towers of dust shoot up then fall as the rounds lanced through walls and rooftops. Behind the Hornets were the Pelicans carrying half of First platoon. The Pelicans touched down and two squads ran for cover as they exited.

“Everybody we’re walking the crew to those Pelicans!” The sergeant yelled. But walk was an understatement, everybody sprinted for their lives as they crossed the open square towards the two adjacent Pelicans. Pierce dropped to a knee and turned around, a beam rifle had fired and missed the crew chief. He zoomed in on the general location and saw the target, a Jackal using two other Jackal’s shields as cover. He aimed quickly and fired blowing the sniper’s head off. Pierce got up and ran again as the crew of the downed Pelican entered the carrier bay. The sergeant turned to everyone and yelled to get to the buildings.

Pierce sprinted and jumped on top of a planter and kept running then jumped down as another plasma mortar hit nearby. The violent shake of the ground caused him to fall, two other marines had seen him and thinking he was injured ran to him and lifted him up. “I’m good get going!” He yelled waving them off, he could taste blood in his mouth. The two marines still helped him up then all three made it to a building’s entrance.

Pierce went straight up to the roof and went prone. He leveled his sniper rifle and fired at a red clad Elite but missed, cursing he tried to fire again but found he was empty and needed to reload. After what felt like an eternity to replenish his weapon he scoped in again to see the Elite was gone.

“Anybody see the Wraith!?” his headset yelled, he recognized the voice of his platoon leader; First platoon’s lieutenant could be heard in the background trying to direct the Hornets.

“Roger I got visual!” Pierce yelled, he dropped his weapon for a moment and took a pair of binoculars. He looked through to see the blue Wraith in a parking lot. It would fire a round then move into the ruins of a building that still held its roof for cover. “Coordinates are 112785, he’ll pop out of the building on the left in just a sec!” He said to his headset that would transmit to his platoon leader who would then talk to First platoon’s leader. Then the Hornets turned their attention for a moment, they fired in and he watched as the four rockets impacted against the Wraith as it was about to leave the building to fire. A brilliant blue flash appeared followed by another from what he would guess where battery packs that were used to help power the Wraiths. “Good hits!”

All around the battle continued, more and more Pelicans came to bring in reinforcements and slowly the forces in the LZ broke free. Of the one hundred and thirty-four men and women of his company thirty-one were dead and another twenty-six wounded. The Scorpion that had been brought in took heavy fire and took damage to one of the boogies rendering it immobile for the time being. Luckily though another frigate, the Endurance, had recently arrived and was able to bring support to each LZ including a company of ODSTs dropped into the center of the city where the other forces were to meet. To LZ Black a recon platoon of three Warthogs was dropped along with three transports and another platoon of marines.

Ambushed
Pierce rode shotgun in one of the Warthogs, his sergeant drove while a squadmate manned the turret. There had been given reports from patrols that most of their area was clear of resistance. Either the Covenant had taken a heavy lose at the LZ or they were using their forces elsewhere. Six Warthogs made its way across a large four lane street, they traveled with a turret mounted Warthog on point followed by a transport. The six kept rolling forward with turrets scanning the area however all in all things seemed pretty relaxed with no troubles. “Alright Recon 2 and 3 we’re at Rally Point A; we’re splitting up now and meet back at Rally Point B. Report anything you see.” Pierce’s sergeant said to a communication device on the dashboard.

“Got it.”

“Will do.”

The six Warthogs split into three groups of two, one Warthog with a turret and one transport. Pierce looked to his right as one of the Warthogs pulled next to them; he tipped the edge of his helmet to the other marines than watched as they went in three different directions.

Ten minutes went by with no incident. Pierce sighed and kept watch, nothing. He bobbed up and down as the Warthog went over rubble. Pierce looked ahead and saw two hunks of metal clumber their way into the middle of the street, their arms glowed bight green. “SHIT HUNTERS!” Pierce yelled.

The sergeant saw them but they didn’t have much time to react. “JUMP!” He yelled than dove from his seat and rolled across the pavement.

“FUCK THIS!” Pierce heard his squadmate yell then toss himself from the turret position and rolled away, Pierce jumped as well. He brought his arms to his chest and landed on his side, the impacted already made himself roll; he would just let himself slow instead of trying to stop himself abruptly. When he did stop he put a hand up to a curb of a sidewalk to see the Hunters fire at the Warthog.

The Warthog took the two hits and exploded in a flash, a fireball engulfed the vehicle. The transport behind it didn’t have time to react; it slammed into the wreck and jumped into the air slowly turning on its side. The marines onboard let themselves fall from the vehicle except for one who let himself ride it out until the transport slide to a stop on its side. The first Warthog finally stopped, after it had plummeted into one of the Hunters and pinned it against a wall.

Pierce heard gunfire as the marines unloaded on the remaining Hunter. He looked around for his rifle but came to a sad realization that he had left it in the Warthog. Pierce rolled to his left and sprung to his feet and sprinted towards a small shop where a large opening was that had once been a glass wall. “Pierce put some rounds downrange damnit!” His sergeant yelled as he fired a shotgun.

Pierce came in behind him. Mockingly Pierce took up a small piece of debris and threw with all his strength. “No weapon!” His sergeant gave him a look and handed him his pistol. “Thanks Sarge!” Pierce fired the pistol than went upstairs; he had to push over charred pieces of furniture until he finally made it to the roof. He looked across to the adjacent building; a ten foot space separated the two. Cursing to himself Pierce sprinted from one end to the other and leapt.

He made it across; let himself roll when he touched down than sprang back up. Pierced over the edge, twenty feet down was the Hunter. Pierced tried to get an angle but couldn’t. He’d have to jump on more building. Cursing he sprinted but than stopped himself at the edge, it was over twenty feet. He’d never be able to make it. Cursing again he looked at the Hunter below once more. “Damnit.” Pierce said, took a grenade and pulled the pin than let it drop.

The Hunter kept his shield over him and fired another green blob destroying the transport Warthog. Hunter readied himself to fire again when it felt something drop on his back, it turned its head to look behind himself and saw the grenade. As quickly as it could he turned himself around and shielded himself from the blast, but at the same time exposed its back to the marines who put stitched the area with rounds.

Pierce watched the Hunter fall forward, its back oozed orange blood and small pieces of worms fell. It had looked like something had taken a large bite from its back. Pierce saw his sergeant walk into the street, look up at him than give him a thumbs up. Pierce did the same when he heard a loud screech.

A Warthog was thrown into the air and crashed on its side; the second Hunter appeared from the cloud of dust and fired. His sergeant was thrown into the air and fell on his back. The fuel rod had hit just at his feet; his whole front side was covered in third degree burns. Dead.

Pierce fired with his pistol but saw a fuel rod round heading his way. He simply ran to the side having enough time to dodge the weapon. He could hear as the other marines opened fire. He went back to the edge and saw the Hunter rush forward. It swept its massive shield across and made contact with a marine who went flying into the air as his bones broke all along his body. Another marine screamed in horror as he saw the Hunter coming towards him. He fired until his weapon was empty, a few rounds had hit the orange flesh but it was too late. The Hunter brought the shield down on the marine and crushed him to a pulp before falling dead itself.

Pierce ran down to the street where the rest of the marines were gathering. He was handed the sergeant’s shotgun which miraculously survived the blast. He looked around and cursed, he had highest rank. “Alright, um, Travis get the company on the radio we’re not going to keep moving through the city by ourselves like this.” There were only eight of them now with no transportation and probably low ammunition. “We’ll hold position here. Grab any supplies you can from the dead, move the bodies to the side and get me their dog tags.”

“What about Michael?”

Pierce looked at the bloody pulp that was once Michael. They all looked at it. “We can’t really move him now can we, I’ll get the tags.” They all went to do their jobs. Pierce walked to the pulp and knelt down beside it. Immediately he was hit with the stench of gore, he gagged than tried to cover his mouth with his hand. Already flies were buzzing around the pulp. He saw the helmet; it had been completely crushed flat along with the skull inside. Hesitantly Pierce pushed the head aside with the back of his hand, it slide off extremely easily but filled Pierce with a kind of horror. There underneath the head was the small metal necklace dog tags, unable to bare much more Pierce quickly took them in his hands and disgustedly peeled a piece of flesh off of it. He went to a nearby faucet and thank God it still worked. He washed his hands first than the dog tags and his hands once more. He ran the tags under running water and grimaced when a piece of flesh wouldn’t wash away, clutching his teeth Pierce took it and threw it to the side and saw way it still held on. A small golden band had kept the flesh on.

“Pierce you alright?” A marine asked. It was enough to bring Pierce back into reality, and away from the thoughts of the now widow. They would end up waiting half an hour until they were finally met with friendly forces but not from their company but from part of the ODST unit that had been dropped into the center of the city.

“Were you Recon Group 1?” One of the ODSTs asked as the two groups met each other.

Pierce shook hands with one of the ODSTs than answered. “Yeah, Hunter’s ambushed us. We’ve been waiting for our company.”

“You’re company has been given orders to head straight for the center, we’re here to help bring you guys back. Let’s get a moving already.” The ODST answered clearly wanting to return to his unit. Pierce motioned for everyone to move and soon the marines and ODSTs were making their way through the city on foot.

One Last Stand
It had taken them half an hour but the marines and ODSTs had finally reached the city center after moving at a tiring speed. Pierce breathed heavy, the heat had gotten to him and he desperately wanted some water. He put his hands on his knees and bent over for a moment to rest, looking around he saw the ODST perimeter. The ODSTs had taken one of the landmarks of Crystal City, simply known as the Gardens. The landmark consisted of a pyramid like structure with six levels each one with stepped landscape that led to the next level. Each level held an extravagant variety of flowerbeds and plants. The top level was surrounded by pillars that supported a roof made of crystal slabs. The Gardens were once a popular tourist attraction, now it was the center of a battlefield. The once beautiful gardens had been burned away, covered in ash and bloodstains. The ODSTs had been dropped around the edge of the Garden and fought their way up to the top, created defensive positions, and held off wave after wave of Covenant.

Pierce had watched as the ODSTs had moved their dead to the center of the platform while kept the Covenant dead in place making natural obstacles for any attacker. Pairs of ODSTs had moved around the lower levels placing claymores, booby traps, and mines to dwindle the next attacks. An ODST approached Pierce, his helmet in one hand and a canteen in the other. He tossed the canteen to Pierce who thanked him and took a swig of the cool water. He held it in his mouth for a while before swallowing. “Hell of a fight you guys had at the LZ.” The ODST said with a friendly smile, he had a mess of short blonde hair.

Pierce looked around again, saw the area was scattered with spent shell casings. “Not as bad as you guys.”

The ODST changed the subject, he needed to find someone. “You boys have a sniper with you? Most of ours are KIA.”

Pierce looked at him for a moment, “I’m a sniper, no rifle though. Lost it in an ambush.”

Another smile broke on the ODSTs face. “That’s no problem. Follow me.” The ODST said than turned around to make a slow jog towards a few weapons crates near the center of the platform. Pierce didn’t want to run but he had no choice. He made it to the crates and saw the ODST grabbing a rifle a bandoliers of ammunition. “We’re heading to the roof, I’ll be your spotter.”

They went up a small ladder into the inside of the roof than moved to a crater, a plasma mortar had struck there and burned a hole giving the two snipers a perfect firing position. As Pierce went to the position he had to cover his eyes from the glare he got from the surrounding crystals. The ODST handed him a pair of glasses that darkened with the light. Much better. “It might seem to be a hassle but the glare from the crystals will help cover our position as well.” The ODST said than laid out an olive drab blanket, he put the ammunition, rifles, and binoculars down than laid out. Pierce did the same and the ODST covered him and Pierce with the ends. “This’ll cover our heat signatures.” Pierce thought it would only cause him to feel more of the heat but was surprised to feel that the blanket was cool, and stayed at the cool temperature.

“When the Covenant attack again aim for the Elites, high rankers, and heavy weapons.” The ODST said. “Oh yeah, I’m John.”

“Pierce,” he looked through the scope of his rifle and scanned the streets below them. “When you expecting an attack?”

“We’re not to sure, they come at random.” The ODST said as he grabbed his binoculars and kept his own sniper rifle by his side.

“Well there’s a scout party making their way towards the first level.” Pierce said calmly as he tried to enter a state that would help him when he opened fire. “Can I fire?”

“Go ahead, let me get a fix on em first.” John said as he raised his rifle and spotted them. Mostly Elites and a few Jackals. They had moved in slowly, using the dead bodies as cover even going to the lengths of smearing their armor with blood to blend in. How Pierce had spotted them he wasn’t sure.

“Hit the guys in the rear first than work your way up.” Pierce said the John without taking his eyes off of the scope. John grinned as he was about to tell the same thing to Pierce. “I’ve got the last Elite.”

“Gotcha.” John said as zoomed in on the second to last Elite who ever so slowly crawled forward. “Now.” He whispered, the two snipers fired as one. Two white contrails knifed forward from their position. The two rounds caught the two Elites both in the head. Their bodies went limp as their heads were caved in and leaked blood and brain matter. The scout party hadn’t heard the ring of the shots yet and kept moving forward even after the two Elites were dead. It wasn’t until another two Elites were killed in the same manner that they heard the first shots ring out.

The scout party wasn’t sure of what to do. Should they hold still in hopes of keeping their cover as mere bodies? Or should they rise up to fall back only to have the rest of the defenses open fire on them? Their pause was enough to have another two Elite’s killed followed by a pair of Jackals. It was clear that their cover was blown, the three remaining Elites and five Jackals got up and turned back. Other snipers had come in now and within a matter of seconds the scout party was gone.

“That ought to give us some more breathing room.” John said as he brought his eyes away from his scope. As if on cue three suns appeared on the horizon, they shined brightly and arced high into the sky than gently came down impacting on one of the lower levels. More came down on them followed by another volley from a different direction. “Spoke too soon.”

“You got that right.” Pierce said scanning for any infantry, none. Pre-bombardment. More and more plasma mortars rained down among them to little effect. The roof provided overhead cover for the ODSTs and marines. There must have been a spotter somewhere among the buildings that realized the same thing because soon the mortars stopped and was followed by a squadron of Banshees.

They came in low, plasma weapons firing, and strafed the defenses. Only a few of the marines were hit but with a second run more men and women full under the barrage of plasma. One of the small bunkers was blown away by a fuel rod round. Marines and ODSTs with rockets went to work while others fired with assault rifles and any other weapon. Three Banshees were taken out with the rockets while another two fell from small arms fire. Soon after the Banshee’s turned tail.

“Not much of a fight.” Pierce said.

“We gotta stop speaking too soon.” John said as he fired his sniper rifle downrange. Pierce looked through his scope to see what John had fired at when his heart skipped a beat.

The Gardens was surrounded by legions of Covenant forces. Wraiths had moved closer to the edge and gotten better firing positions while Ghosts readied to go up the two large ramps that lead to the top level. Five lines of Jackals made up the first wave with their shields raised upwards creating a protective formation for the Elites and Grunts. Hunters stood by their pairs and lumbered forward.

Pierce emptied his clip taking down four Elites. Than quickly reloaded. John did the same, they fired almost nonstop never having to look long for a target. Rockets were fired towards the Wraiths but made little effect against them. The Wraiths had time to simple move away while the explosive sailed across to detonate and kill nearby infantry. Machineguns rattled as the Covenant made their way up the first level. The claymores went into effect taking down a good portion of the force but the casualties were only replaced by new ones. The structure was alive with gunfire. Machine gunners rattled off round and round, belt after belt of munitions in an attempt to slow the advance.

The Ghosts went for the ramps, fifteen for each one. However the ODSTs had predicted this and set up mines which detonated when something tripped its detector. Rockets and machinegun fire cut down the rest as they neared the top. The Ghosts were stopped easily, but that was the only good side. The Wraiths opened fire, they were closer and had a better angle of fire. Their plasma mortars slammed against the defenses and burned lives away. Pierce kept firing, a round blew a fist size exit wound on the back of a red clad Elite. Another ‘s head simply exploded as the round paced through and into the chest of a Jackal. One more dropped and tripped two Elites as they moved forward.

The sound of gunfire was continuous, marines and ODSTs threw packs of grenades one after the other. Each explosion brought down Covenant casualties but it wasn’t enough to slow them down. Everyone did their part to put rounds downrange, even the wounded stayed on the line firing as best as they could while trying to ignore the pain.

“Jesus they ain’t stopping!” Pierce said as he fired, the weapon jammed and he worked to fix it.

John looked over the edge and watched the Covenant advance. “Don’t worry we got one more surprise for em.” He saw Pierce look at him confused. “We’ve got napalm traps buried underneath the fourth level.” John thought back to earlier that morning when he had helped bury the large mines, they were mostly used as a way to force an enemy into a certain direction.

Pierce looked out; the Covenant assault was in the middle of the third level. Behind them were lines after line of reinforcements. They all fired en mass with plasma and needles, Pierce watched as one position holding two machineguns was completely burned away by the mass firing. They kept moving forward. Pierce leveled his sniper rifle again and spotted a gold clad Elite in the rear, other Elites gathered around him. Pierce had learned about the ranking system of the Elites, right now he had a prime target. He held part of his breath and kept the rifle level, zoomed in to 10x and could see the individual mandibles. He switched in between targets to practice his timing. Than with another breath he pulled the trigger, gently moved the rifle to the right than fired again, moved once more and fired. He pulled the trigger one more time to empty his clip than watched the rounds hit home.

The golden Elite pointed in the direction of the structure when the back of his head exploded as the sabot round entered through his mouth. His body fell limp and buckled underneath him. The white Ultra beside him barely had enough time to react when his head snapped back with such force that he broke his own neck. The third Ultra tried to turn when the round entered the side of his head effectively turning the elongated head into a cloud of blood and brain matter. The fourth, a red clad Major tried to drop to the ground, but Pierce knowing the Elite would have more time to react aimed not at his head but at his chest. So as the Elite dropped down the bullet entered through the neck and blew a portion of his back off. The four bodies laid there in a line, their blood gathered into a large pool of blood and gore.

Pierce looked down as he reloaded; he had taken a bit of time to fire the four rounds at the prime targets. Now the assault was at the fourth level, already across the whole thing. “Hey why haven’t the napalm gone off yet!?”

“Wait!” John said firing four rounds than reloading as well. At the same time he switched barrels, a decision that proved right, he could feel the heat through his glove. As he attached the second barrel he watched as the first line of Covenant climbed to the fifth level. Than the inferno came. The ground erupted in flames, the assault stopped in its tracks as all those on the fourth level were engulfed by flames. All around the structure the flames came across. The marines cheered and grinned and fought with more vigor as they heard the Covenant screams and watched the charred bodies turn to ash. There were more explosions, Grunt methane tanks erupting from the heat, plasma grenades detonating.

The line of Covenant that had made it to the fifth level paused to look behind them, some of the Grunts exploded as their methane tanks were heated past their warning levels. The rest watched as they were left alone, unable to retreat without running through the fire, only able to go forward. However the ODSTs wouldn’t have any of that. They opened fire mowing down the line within seconds.

The rest of the assault waited, unable to advance. Though the fire died down there were still flames burning making it difficult to move forward. Another moment in which the humans took to their advantage. “Keep up the fire!” comes from the background of a radio as an ODST calls in for air support. “Infantry in the open! You wont need fucking coordinates just go to the city’s center and look for the big fucking fire! …Yeah that’s us!” the radio booms as the frustrated ODST tried to coordinate the air strikes.

Soon two F-417 Nighthawks knifed past them, they were followed by four explosions of napalm. On the other side of the structure came four Hornets, their machineguns blazing, rockets raced forward. Covenant forces fell with each hit, the Nighthawks and Hornets made multiple passes drastically lowering the number of Covenant.

“Yeah get em! Alright bring in the Pelicans and be ready to take on our wounded!” The radio barked. John and Pierce looked out, they held their fire, there was no need. The air support was devastating.

The infantry was done for, the Covenant knew that, soon plasma mortars filled the air as it all came crashing down on the structure. In the distance John spotted a Scarab moving through the city streets. “Oh fuck…” John grabbed the radio and reported it in. “Scarab coming from the East we’ve got two minutes!”

Pierce looked through his scope and saw the massive vehicle coming closer. It rocked to the sides as it’s four legs moved it forward. “We don’t have anything to bring that down.”

“There’s always one option.” John said as he packed his gear. He went to the exit and Pierce followed leaving his things with the exception of his rifle. “We were afraid of this, so we’ve got three spots where we can ambush and board it.”

“I want in than.” Pierce said as they came to the level and headed for a weapons cache. He looked around and saw how badly things were for the ODSTs and marines. It seemed over half of the men and women were wounded or killed. Overhead plasma mortars impacted against the roof. John looked at him for a moment than nodded.

“Alright grab a weapon. Let’s go!”

Pierce looked across the small cache, most of the weapons were from the dead, noticing the blood around some of the weapons. He took a shotgun and over fifty rounds on his harness. They moved to a spot were a squad of ODSTs and marines had gathered to attack the Scarab. Then quickly they made it to a Pelican that hovered at the edge. They took off for a short ride and made it to an intersection that the Scarab would have to pass soon.

Pierce followed the makeshift squad into a nearby building. The lead ODST kicked the door in and motioned for everyone to get in, the fifteen men ran in and looked at the empty lobby. “Get to the roof!” an ODST yelled as he ran for the stairs after a failed attempt at the elevator. Pierce watched the men head for the stairs, they had to go up four flights.

The run up the stairwell had made Pierce come to his senses, he was plain wiped out. He had barely gotten any rest since he landed on the LZ and each step he took started to give him pain. “Halfway up let’s hustle!” the lead ODST said. John was behind him feeling just as tired but kept pushing forward.

“Come on man let’s go!” John said with a breath of air than increased his pace up the stairs.

“Damnit.” Pierce said and followed. One of the marines looked behind him and saw the two moving forward, he placed the weapon in his other hand and followed suit.

When they finally came to the roof they all fanned out, they spotted the Scarab as it closed in. No time to rest. “Get the lines ready!” one of the ODSTs said as he went to the building’s edge. There four grappling hooks were placed. “Everyone ready you’re grenades. We’ll clear the top than go down. Move fast and hard.” The ODST said again. Everyone lined the edge, the Scarab approached already firing on of its turrets at a Pelican in the distance. The Pelican took a hit and started to arc until it exploded against the side of a skyscraper. Pierce looked down, they were a story higher than the Scarab.

“Wait for it.” The ODST said as they all knelt behind the small cover of the rooftop. The Scarab was almost right next to them. “NOW!” He yelled than they all threw grenades. Fifteen grenades descended on the walking platform where Grunts and Jackals kept watched looking down on the streets below. The Grunts turned to see what had dropped near them when they panicked. They saw the explosives and tried to run for cover only to discover more grenades around them. Some of the Jackals tried to raise their shields towards the explosives in hopes to deflect the blast. Fifteen explosions covered the platform. Most of the bodies simply disappeared or were torn to shreds while others were thrown off of the Scarab and fell to the street below.

The ODSTs fired the grappling hooks at the platform below, feeling it was secured they immediately slid down and were followed by the others. Pierce was the second group down, his gloves were hot from sliding down the steel line. He leveled his shotgun and saw an Elite walking up the platform to investigate the noise. As it came up and saw the humans it tried to raise a plasma rifle but was thrown back as Pierce jammed the barrel to its chest and fired. Two ODSTs waited by the ramp, rolled down grenades, felt the explosions than went down soon followed by the others. Pierce and another marine went down the ramp, threw two grenades each across the large control room. John and another ODST did the same. The explosions rattled the room. The ODSTs and marines charged forward with guns blazing. Pierce fired a shotgun into a wounded Elite’s chest than pumped the weapon to fire at his next target. A dazed Elite, he fired and saw the body take the hit. But before the body hit the ground it shook violently as three others fired on him. The grenades had done most of the work, the room was clear of any Covenant. “Okay set satchel charges here, here, and here. Give it three minutes and let’s get outa here.” The ODST said.

Pierce and the others ran across the street, they had reused the grappling hooks to get down, they had another minute left before the charges were set to go. They were far enough now, they turned around to watch. Thirty more seconds. They took cover just in case of falling debris than waited. The ODSTs timer went to zero but the Scarab showed no signs of detonation. It stood there motionless for a moment, but then the sound came, it took a few seconds but they all heard the distinct sounds of the charges going off. The Scarab still stood there, almost menacingly until its legs buckled underneath it. The front end went forward and dug itself into the street as the rest came down as well. Soon small secondary explosions followed. The rear end exploded in a flash of blue and caused the rest of the vehicle to catch fire.

They all cheered as if each explosion was a fireworks show. Pierce smiled and raised his hands in the air in victory. He was proud. John slapped his back and came beside him. “You did good man.”

“You to.” Pierce said still watching the fire before him.

“I’m serious, you ought to think about becoming an ODST.”

Pierce looked at him and smiled ”I’ll think about it.”

‘’’END’’’