I go to start uploading and then boom I am sick.
My honest reaction:
Anyway I am back hopefully for good now
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(David Pov)
"Please wait here for a moment," a marine said, carefully keeping his eyes locked onto my visor. I stared at him for a brief moment, and he added after swallowing hard, "T-the Colonel wants to talk to you."
Hearing that, I turned to the surroundings, scanning them slowly. The tanks still burned with mixed colorful flames from their destroyed plasma ammunition. My team was doing the same on guard in case we were going to have an interruption.
"Any idea what the Colonel wants?" Jorge asked through the team com channel.
Daisy snorted, her head kicked back subtly as she kicked a corpse, making sure it was dead, "Probably to tell us something in person that he could've over the comms," she answered.
"Play nice, Daisy," I said, still holding my Gauss cannon in a comfortable position in line with my waist.
A few minutes passed as we just waited, and even I couldn't help but get impatient. 'We are here to save as many lives as we can. But right now all that we are doing is being the world's most expensive bouncers,' I couldn't help but feel a bit on edge, as by now we could probably have already been halfway to the next objective.
Eventually, I heard the clomping of boots coming from the entrance of a doorway. They were walking on a tile floor, which, though I could not see it, I certainly heard. A moment passed as I stood staring through the doorway waiting, and finally I saw what I assumed to be the Colonel in charge.
He stood in light green camouflage clothing, showing that he was part of the UNSC Army, which stood out among the dark green Marines. His armor showed no signs of damage, appearing fresh, as if it had only been worn for trivial tasks. He was an older man from the wrinkles on his face; I'd put him in the age range of 60-70. His face lacked any scars and was devoid of any dark circles around it. Based on the way he walked almost weightlessly, he seemed well rested.
He stood out, as even the two army soldiers who walked behind him as guards were covered in dirt and sweat. The survivors at the gate looked almost deathly, pale with sunken faces. Eyes that bounced around with paranoia and a silent twitch that reminded them they hadn't slept for more than a couple of hours in the past few days.
As he approached, I turned and looked down at him, speaking when he was finally close, "Colonel," I acknowledged him, speaking through my helmet's speaker.
"Captain…" he began, brushing at imaginary dust on his pristine sleeve. "I, ah-haven't been briefed on… on your arrival." His eyes flicked to my teammates, visibly rattled. "What exactly am I supposed to call you?"
"Rank or number, sir," I said quickly, hoping to push the conversation along.
He looked disturbed for a moment, "Number?" he repeated. "Is that… standard for you? Because my men need to know what to put on their reports,"
I paused and barely refrained from glancing around, 'We are currently fighting off an alien invasion, and you are worried about reports?'
"Reports can wait, sir, we have only been dispatched for a limited amount of time," I said, trying to steer the conversation, "Right now, all that matters is securing the evacuation flights,"
"Yes, well. We still need proper documentation. I'll… I'll sort that out later." He gestured vaguely toward the battlefield as if that solved something.
Behind him, I saw the Marines watching, clearly tired, bloodied, barely standing, and I saw how their eyes narrowed at the pristine officer giving pointless instructions.
The Colonel turned back to me.
He tried to sound authoritative, "Now then, Captain Zero-Zero-Three… ah… what's the, um… designation of your unit?"
I kept my voice even, despite the fact I had already said this when we first moved to assist, "Spartan team Alpha,"
"What's a Spartan?"
"Dear God, and this guy's a Colonel," I heard Daisy groan over the team comms.
"I personally think that this has been a wonderful and productive conversation," Sheila spoke sarcastically.
"Classified, and I'm afraid I have nowhere near enough time to explain, sir," I attempted to be diplomatic
"Well, regardless," he said, waving his hand as if dismissing the most advanced soldiers in human history, "I have a situation developing at the shopping district. The 5th armored division is scattered, half has been destroyed, and the rest have fallen back to the officer's academy deep into the outskirts. But reports have given me enough confidence that my men can reclaim that portion of the city. With you here, based on the damage you've been able to do, I can begin to push back these aliens."
I paused, saying nothing. Inwardly, I was in disbelief, and Jorge spoke up as if reading my mind, "Did he seriously suggest that he could repel this invasion?" he asked, even through his thick accent, I could tell his surprise.
"Colonel, we lost the ability to hold the planet the moment the Covenant invaded," I said seriously, "The only thing we can do is to get as many people out as possible, before they begin glassing the planet from orbit."
His jaw tightened. The insecurity behind his eyes flickered like a faulty light, "I will decide where my soldiers go, Captain. Besides, if they can simply glass the planet from orbit, then why haven't they done so? They could have skipped the invasion entirely."
Before I could respond, he instantly shifted, pivoting to salvage his moment, "Regardless… I assume your team of 'Spartans' is effective even in high hostile density zones?" he asked.
Finally, we were getting somewhere, "Our specialty, sir,"
He brought out a folded map of the city from a pocket on his uniform. He unfolded it, and I looked down to see multiple red circles scattered in a larger circular formation, with the space port at the center. "Each of these red circles is an AA-gun. According to the superintendent, before it went offline, they fired some type of plasma round that knocks out just about anything that gets airborne in a single shot. I want you and your team to eliminate them."
"Is this some kind of joke to him?" Even Cal couldn't help but comment as I shared an image of the map through the armor. And based on the reactions of my other teammates, they shared her opinion.
The map showed ten guns on the outer edge of a 30-mile diameter circle. Simple math told each of us that we would have to cover approximately 90 miles just to reach every weapon site. Each gun was bound to have defenses, and with each gun we destroy, the defenses of the rest would be increased.
That wasn't a problem; what was a problem, however, was the fact that we had only a couple of days before we were due back to the fleet.
But I wasn't going to argue, "We'll get it done," I said, simply turning around.
I looked at Sheila, still speaking through the speakers in my helmet so everyone could hear, "Sheila, stay here and guard the gate. The Marines will assist you, but there aren't many of them left."
Sheila didn't hesitate to respond, "Roger," she said, and I noticed some Marines perk up a bit out of my peripheral vision after hearing her say that she would be backing them up.
The next thing I said, I made sure to speak through the team comms, "Don't let him make you do anything I wouldn't," I spoke as we walked past each other. To the onlookers, it didn't appear that anything was said.
"Aye Aye, Skipper," she said, lugging her belt-fed grenade launcher onto her shoulder.
I brought up my Gauss cannon, and we began to run down the street out of sight of the gate. We turned down a street as I guided us to the pair of AA guns directly south of the Spaceport. If we wanted any ships to be able to get out of the atmosphere, we needed to clear a sector and grant them a window. Opening up directly south would allow for the ships that were not Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) capable to get room to climb.
After a moment, Jorge beside me spoke up, "So what's the actual plan, David?"
Daisy spoke up, amused, "You catch on quickly."
"We are gonna do what he asked. Take out a couple of AA guns," I replied
"And what else?" Cal asked, knowing that I was going to do more than I would let on.
"Not sure," I answered, "But if there were any 'jammers' that restricted communication. Then I would be forced to take command and focus on civilian evacuations as a priority one under planetary invasion doctrine,"
"I see. We'll take out the AA guns and accomplish our own objectives after," Cal spoke with perfect calm understanding, "Then I'll follow you as usual, David."
Jorge, however, spoke up with a hint of uncertainty, "Are you sure, sir? Isn't that against protocol?"
Daisy sighed loudly through the coms, "Jorge, you have to cut that protocol shit out."
"And that bit with the sir, call me David or nothing at all. As for your other question, the only protocols we follow are the ones handed out by ONI, and the last I checked, civilian evacuations are at the top of the list of priorities besides the destruction of sensitive data. Mendez taught us to distinguish between bad orders and good orders, too. Don't forget that,"
"Understood,"
"Good," I said before pausing in my tracks, feeling the ground shake as loud booms seemed to echo and shake the city blocks around us, "Eyes up, we have to be close to the first AA gun." Each of my team's postures seemed to brace hearing my words.
Slowly, we inched through the streets, making our way into an alleyway in a single file line with me at the front. In the shadow of the buildings, we kept our eyes on both ends of the alleyways, but more importantly, on the roofs above us.
If I were an alien bent on genocide and needed to defend an objective. Then the roofs would be exactly the position I would spring an ambush. Especially if I had loaded up on plasma grenades.
My grip instinctively tightened at the thought of those blue balls of death, but as I reached the end of the alley, my fears did not come true. Yet I still had a bad taste in my mouth as I looked at the scene in front of me.
In the center of what appeared to be a city park was a massive brown weapon implantation that was easily three times the size of normal mass drivers. Despite the small forest that was around the base, it was the size of an apartment building. It stood on three legs like a tripod for a sniper rifle, and resembled a praying mantis with a massive cannon barrel nearly the length of the base's height.
BZZZT
The building-sized gun rumbled as it seemed to shake before a white light glowed at the bottom of the weapon's barrel.
BOOM
I was unable to track what happened next, but based on the white glow, I could only assume that the gun shot a plasma bolt at speeds faster than even my enhanced reflexes could react to. But I did notice that as soon as it finished its shot, a large glowing white orb seemed to pop out below the base, a triangular platform that the legs attached to and that held up the main weapon assembly for the AA gun.
"What's the plan?" I stopped observing our objective as I heard Daisy speak up from behind me. I turned around and crouched down as my team did the same.
"We're in the dark on that thing and its capabilities," I jabbed a thumb over my shoulder, "But that doesn't mean we have no options when it comes to putting it out of commission."
"Before that, we need to secure the area around it. We are a Hatchet force. Move through the tree line and kill everything that's guarding the gun. We'll encircle the opening below it and strike simultaneously, watch the crossfire," three green check marks lit up, and the plan was set.
I turned back around and stood up with my Gauss cannon. Quietly, I crept out of the alleyway and made my way onto the freshly cut lawn of the park with urgency. The rest of the team began to fan out into a circle made up of four quadrants.
In the shade of the trees, I headed in the direction of a marker my armor had placed based on the reference point of where the gun would approximately be. Leaves and twigs snapped under my metal boots, but the sound was masked by the intermittent shots that shook the trees around me. Branches scraped against my armor as I did little to avoid them, instead keeping my eyes on the light coming in from the clearing dead ahead.
I stopped and crouched down, waiting for the indicator on my HUD to alert me that my team was in place. That was until something reflecting in a stray beam of sunlight caught my eye as it shone to the right of my golden visor.
I quickly glanced in its direction and paused.
My posture didn't change, nor did my heartbeat change rhythm. I remained calm and composed, but internally I was surprised to find myself staring into the tired eyes of a marine's corpse.
My eyes had been tipped off by the reflection of the woman's dog tags, and I brought myself a bit closer to analyze. I didn't try to perform any form of aid, not because the body had any visible signs of rot, but because there was a crater in the center of her chest.
A substance consistent with slag had hardened onto the remnants of her uniform creating a dark stream that went from the crater to the ground beside her. It was some mixture of fibers from her uniform, metal from armor, and flesh that melted from the plasma.
It didn't seem she suffered much from the injury. Her nerves most likely melted away before they could send any form of pain message to her brain. Even now, she looks as if she were boredly watching birds in the park on a bench.
Without disturbing her body, I reached up, finding the dog tags that had attracted me, and pulled them, breaking the bead around her neck. I placed it in an arbitrary pouch before I turned and glanced around at my surroundings. Upon further inspection, I noticed another five bodies in the vicinity, all marines, probably members of her team.
"I found the first team the Colonel sent out to deal with this AA gun," I spoke into the comms, moving back to my position.
"Status?" Cal asked with her usual professional tone.
"K.I.A. I count six, but there could be more. We'll finish the objective, then grab their tags and ammo on our way out," I said, giving them a heads up.
"I agree, it's the least we can do," Cal responded.
A few more minutes passed, and under the haunting noise of gases venting somewhere above me, I double-checked we were ready. Hearing three confirmations, we began our attack.