Knock, Knock

“This is Hotel 1-1 we are in position and ready to breach”

“Copy Hotel 1-1 standby for signal”

The Marine returned his radio to its pouch as he took position with his shotgun alongside the two other Marines stacked up behind him both wielding SMGs while the breacher and point man took their positions at the door.

This was the final Insurrectionist Stronghold on Tribute and was the launch point for many large scale bombings on Casbah which had racked up death tolls in the hundreds. But now the Insurrectionists were on the receiving end, with several hidden bases being wiped out by the UNSC Marine Corps 8th Battalion, Stryker Company who now descended upon their final base of operations.

They had approached the building in the middle of the night and had teams of five at all four entrances ready to breach the building from the bottom floor and top floor to ensure they wouldn’t escape.

“All call signs this is Hotel Actual you are clear to breach, I repeat clear to breach”

As the order was given all breachers activated their charges causing the explosions to resonate through the building and stunning anyone near them.

Hotel 1-1 pushed in with the pointman and following marine dispatching two insurrectionists with their shotguns sending their bodies careening backwards as the remaining Innies took up defensive positions farther down the hall and in the adjacent rooms.

Meanwhile upstairs Hotel 1-2 and 1-3 had entered through the rooftop stairwells at each end of the top floor and thrown flashbangs to disorient the defenders as they pushed into the floor. However they were unprepared for just how well defended the location was. As Hotel 1-2 descended their pointman and following marine were torn apart by a mounted turret which had a polarized viewport making flasbangs all but a nuisance to the gunner.

“This is Hotel 1-2 we are two men down and pinned by heavy machine gun fire, requesting support, over”

Unknown to them the other teams had little else in the way of luck as back on the ground floor Hotel 1-4 was pinned down at the end of a long hallway by three Innies with DMR’s, one of which managed to dismember one of the marines as he rounded the corner and had his arm shot off at the shoulder, he lost blood profusely and they couldn’t even get him out as the rooms they had entered only had single exits which crossed the main hall.

“Hotel 1-4 here, we have a one seriously injured and cannot, repeat, cannot evacuate”

As the situation grew worse on the ground floor the only upside was that with a good portion of the defenders pushing towards the pinned down teams Hotel 1-3 quietly advanced down the stairs across the floor from Hotel 1-2, they could hear the exchanged gunfire as the Insurrectionists pushed their advantage and advanced from behind the mounted turret.

They waited for what they believed were the last of the Innies to move to positions flanking the turret before throwing a flashbang at the group of enemies and frag grenades into the rooms flanking the turret to flush out any hidden defenders. As the grenades went off both Hotel 1-2 and 1-3 took advantage of the disoriented defenders to gun down several of them with shotguns and SMGs, the cross firing causing a visceral splattering of blood across the floor and walls, however unknown to those above an explosion shook the building but was lost in the constant gunfire as the retreating Innies blindly returned fire as several ran down the stairs to the second floor.

“This is Hotel 1-3 we have cleared-kzzzzz”

The update is abruptly interrupted as Hotel 1-3’s pointman was shot in the upper back from behind a fake wall by an Insurrectionist with a shotgun, the spray of pellets blew a massive chunk of flesh, bone and armor off the back of the Marine killing him instantly and covering the others in pieces of their teammate.

The nearest marine to the fake wall watched as his teammate was gunned down and could feel the pieces hitting his helmet as he turned in a fit of rage and tacked the Insurrectionist through the wall before the Innie could pump the shotgun.

“You fucking bastard!” he cried as he unloaded an entire SMG mag into the Innies chest leaving nothing but a crater in his chest containing his shredded organs and flesh.

“Rob, Rob!” a Marine of Hotel 1-2 called as he pulled the enraged marine off of the mutilated corpse.

“He’s dead, there’s nothing more we can do but make sure none of them make it out”

Rob looked at his friend with a very clearly enraged expression and held his gaze for a moment before picking up his fallen teammates shotgun and taking up position at the top of the next flight of stairs leading down along with the other six marines.

On the ground floor Hotel 1-1 had made decent progress and had reached the stairway at the end of the entry hall but had since moved to the opposing end of the floor in an effort to relieve pressure on Hotel 1-4 after they had heard a large explosion from their end of the building.

“This is Hotel 1-1, Hotel 1-4 what’s your status”

After a brief pause a raspy, exhausted voice responded

“T-This is Hotel 1-4, we are three men down, and one heavily injured, bastards sent a suicide bomber after us, Hernandez and Wilson tried to gun em down but he blew himself up in the doorway, they’re both dead, Victor bled out long before, now its just me and Riley although, ugh, I’m not sure how much i got left with all the shrapnel from covering him”

“Copy Hotel 1-4, Sam, keep it together, we have a medic and are on our way”

Hotel 1-1’s pointman didn’t wait for a response as his team moved with renewed purpose towards their injured teammates

Unbeknownst to any of them however was that they were being watched, hidden in a within a small, old television ,which was displaying static, was a tiny camera observing the group moving down the hall and next to it lay a 3 kilogram IED with a remote activation trigger.

As Hotel 1-1 moved down the hall towards Hotel 1-4’s position the defending Insurrectionists took up new defensive positions to pin down the next team.

As Hotel 1-1’s pointman and one following marine rounded the corner they narrowly avoided gunfire from the defenders as they scrambled back around the corner with the following marine knocking over the TV revealing the blinking light of the explosive.

“Bomb! Get the fuck ba-”

The IED detonated blowing the unfortunate marine apart and sending his three following teammates flying backwards and sending the pointman into the hall falling victim to the waiting Innies as they riddled his body with rounds, his screams being cut off immediately.

Pressing their advantage the three Innies pushed toward what remained of Hotel 1-1, however unknown to them was Sam, Hotel 1-4’s last surviving members had stumbled a little ways down the hall, two blood coated SMGs in hand as they waited for them to pass.

As the Innies moved toward the hall where Hotel 1-1 was they passed the hall where Hotel 1-4 was only to for the two leading ones to be shred by the barrage of SMG fire while the third managed to turn and let off one shot which clipped Sam’s abdomen as Riley took the momentary lapse to tackle the Innie and attempt to stab him in the chest. However as Sam stood, clutching his side, he noticed the Innie reaching for a grenade by his hip, in the midst of the fighting the Innie managed to land a solid strike on Riley stunning him and allowing the Innie to sit up and grab the grenade.

With his bleeding side and shrapnel ridden back forgotten Sam made a desperate attempt to protect the last of his team, he tackled the Innie, the two rolling and colliding with a weapons locker under the stairs as they both wrestled for control of the grenade. Sam managed one look back as he saw the remaining three of Hotel 1-1 heading toward Riley and himself, but feeling his strength failing he gave Riley a small smile as he mustered whatever strength he had to force the Innie to the ground as he managed to get a tentative grip on the grenade as it was sandwiched between them, closing his eyes in a final moment of surrender, knowing he had done all he could, he activated the grenade the explosion being dampened by their bodies as they both were killed instantly.

The remaining men of Hotel 1-1 reached Riley as Sam set off the grenade the explosion causing a dull thud to resonate through the floor as they watched not knowing what to say. Riley’s face conveyed no emotion, as if he was broken, in dead silence he grabbed his SMG and gave a nod toward the stairs, rather than object Hotel 1-1’s pointman went on the comms to contact the other teams.

“This is Hotel 1-1, ground floor cleared, we are two men down, Hotel 1-4 is four men down, ready to proceed to second floor”

After a moment of silence the comms came alive.

“Hotel 1-1 this is Hotel 1-3, we are one man down, Hotel 1-2 is two men down, Our men and Hotel 1-3 are in position at the east and west stairs ready to advance on objective”

“Copy Hotel 1-3, we are advancing from west-side staircase”

As the remnants of the teams cautiously moved down the stairs they could hear the Innies scrambling to prepare for them, however this time capturing was the farthest thing from their minds.

As they held positions just at the edge of the stairs a single order was given.

“Shock and Awe”

All Hotel callsigns threw several flashbangs, frag grenades and concussion grenades, and despite what they would say later, they revelled in the pained screams erupting from the floor. All teams slowly advanced concentrating their fire at the stumbling and injured Insurrectionists, no mercy, no more tacit observations, they simply unloaded rounds into them watching them fall.

As they pushed towards the last room in the center of the floor they noticed it’s significantly better defended metal doors and metal reinforced walls.

For the last time the remaining eleven marines stacked up on the two doors, the same way they had before everything had gone to shit, as the charges went off and the doors were sent careening in the first two marines in fell to a combination of bullets from the six Innies inside and trip mines on the doors.

Knowing any they made would be costly the team leaders of Hotel 1-1 and 1-2 recognized their teammates as with curt, respectful nods knowing that this may well be the last time they see them before they threw in their last two flashbangs briefly stunning the defenders giving them a chance to push in and open fire.

But that chance disappeared as fast as it came, they managed to kill three Innies before the Innies began to erratically return fire which struck four of the the charging marines in their chests and necks killing them, as the remaining few pushed in they finally managed to gun down the last three of the Innies in a spray of SMG and shotgun fire.

As confirmations of ‘Clear’ rung through the silence they took a good look at what was in front of them, several crates of UNSC gear and a myriad of camera feeds watching all the entrances and halls and most notably a jammer, blocking all comms out of the building.

“They knew…” was all Riley could say as he watched the elaborate set up finally feeling the weight of all that had happened, he and several other marines collapsed to the floor and quietly wept at their loss but also at their success, their sobs rung out through the building past the blood, bullets and bodies, the wrenching sobs being broken only by the sound of a marine finally contacting command after disabling the jammer.

“Dammit, where the hell have you been!, what happened!, any callsigns this net respond”

“Sir, this is Hotel 1-1, Mission was a Success, all hostiles eliminated, send medevac and a bus” was all that the breacher of Hotel 1-1 said in an emotionless, unfeeling voice as he dropped his radio and fell to the floor, the sun shone through the windows bathing what had been hell in an almost peaceful, warm silence.