The Spartan Military

Epsilon Eridani System, planet Ogtanus. July 8, 2563. 0350. Opperation: ColdSnap. “Alright Spartans, begin Phase 3.” Marak clicked his com channel off and stared out of the window of the Longsword he was stuck in. Since his last promotion, he hadn’t seen much combat, except when those Brutes found them in the mountains. His com channel clicked once, Alpha squads signal that all was clear. He signaled to the pilot, and the Longsword began its ascent. “Bravo squad reporting, we are inbound to rally point Tango.” “Roger that 059, we have your tail.” Marak looked out of the window, noting the oppresive openess between them and their targets. He imagined he could see them, but shook it off quickly. “024, report your status.” “Sir, this is Romeo Padraig" reporting. "We are roughly 3km from rally point Tango, and Romeo Inu is about 250 meters behind me.”  Padraig always liked to give distances, and he was damn near always accurate. Marak still thought he would make a better sniper then a Pelican pilot, but he wasn’t arguing. Padraig could land a Pelican on a meter of ground and still have manuevering room. “Copy, keep on your course." Alpha squad, commence formations.”                “Yessir,” Alpha 074 reported.  “Changing vectors to target.  Breaking now.”                Marak watched as two of the Jets broke formation, and went towards the bridge.  They quickly entered a Delta formation, and with precision, dropped into the canyon to head to targets Yankee and Whiskey.  Lucky bastards….                “Bravo squad reporting, target 1km and closing.”                “This is 024 reporting, we are at the site and setting up for liftoff.  Inu, get on that damn gun al-“                He shook his head behind his helmet.  Those two never stopped arguing.  “Bravo squad, use formation Bravo Base Defense until Romeo squad can get off the ground.   Alpha squad, stay on my wing until ordered.”                “Roger sir,” the remaining Jet pilots replied over the com channel.                The pilot of his Longsword swung the vehicle around, hovering just behind the Pelican landing pad. Whoever had dropped them had been a little vicious…. 3.5km just to get a damn mission started was ridiculous. “Alpha squad, commence mission.” As soon as he finished, the reamaining pilots took off in the same direction as the other two. Bravo squad surrounded the Pelican in their formation as Padraig and Inu set up a RAIL Warthog up to move. “Alright buddies, time to go,” Padraig said over the intercome as the Pelicans engines roared to life. He held it down just long enough for three of the Bravo squad members to get in, then took off to his target. The reamaining three Bravo sqaud men get into their warthog and went towards the bridge. And that was all there was for Marak. Now all he could do was wait as the reported in. It just wasn’t fair for a Spartan to be unaible to fight. Padraig whistled to himself as he piloted the Pelican over the terrain. He felt bad for the guys he had to leave behind there, but they were trained well enough to handle it. “Alrighty boys, five minutes till drop off. We go in 5x5, so get ready. He kept an eye on his target, and aknowledged the jet pilots over head. They were posted to keep him covered as he dropped his load and picked up his next. Just a few short minutes later, he was over his target. He dropped to just about five feet, and dropped the Warthog, his shipments signal to hop out. He gave them five seconds, then accelerated to his next targe, rally point Sierra. He was due t meet the other Bravo squad members there in minutes. “Hey Inu, how you holding up?” Inu was his gunner, and a damn good one at that. He never missed what he was aiming at, and was always aiming. “Oh, getting dizzy from your second-rate piloting, but other then that.” He chuckled over the intercom. “Well, if you would actually hit what you aimed at, I wouldn’ t have to swerve.” He laughed back at him, dropping at the rally point. “Now, 3…. 2.… 1….” And right on cue, there was a tremndous explosion from the target he had just dropped at. “Music to my ears.” “Hows this tune?” came a voice over the intercom, followed by a tap on his shoulder. “Let’s smoke the other one now.” “Roger that 059, now sit your ass down.” He smirked, and did the Spartan hand signal for smiling, pressing his fingers to Alex’s helmet and sliding it up at and angle. Alex moved to the back and sat down, tapping the barrier three times to signal Padraig. He lifted off and moved back to target Whiskey to pick up the other members of Bravo squad. As they piled in, he began to power the thrusters needed to avoid the cuncussion from the next bomb. “Get ready, we aren’t gonna land for this one.” He flipped the Pelican around, pointing the back at a series of tubes that led inside of a hangar bay. Faint shouting and barking could be heard within. He heard the clanging as two HAVOK tactical nukes were thrown inside, then punched the accelarators back to the rally point Zulu. Marak sighed as he watched out of the ramp towards the bridge. A final target, just in case the Covenant survived the blast from the nukes. They wouldn’t make it far without air support, which was being taken out as he sat there. His com channel clicked once, and he looke dup in time to see four plumes of jet smoke pass overhead, followed by the glow of a Pelican dropship coming in hot. He saw, just before he heard, the soundwave from the combined HAVOK nukes. He smiled slightly, feeling a little left out that he couldn’t have caused the damage, but hauled ass back inside of the Longsword as everyone, Alpha, Bravo, and Romeo alike landed and ran towards the Longsword. He strapped himself into the Co-pilot seat, and watched the onboard cameras till he was sure everyone was onboard and accounted for, then nodded to Jake to start the ship up. He armed to timed nuke, and prepped it to drop as Jake-064 began lifting the ship. “Alright everyone, hold on tight,” Marak called out over the com, just as Jake tilted the ship up towards the atmosphere and began the rise. Marak smirked and launched to nuke, and sent all power to engines to get them out of the planets gravity. That plume alone would be enough to fry them. He couldn’t help but laugh. The starboard camera showed swarms of Covenant heading to the bridge in their vehicles. All that would be left when that baby blew would be dust. His smile slipped as the bomb detonated, with them still in the planets gravity. Operation ColdSnap apparently would not end well.