Halo: Frontlines--First Contact

"Nah I was thinking of letting you carry him," Bryan joked. It was a poor attempt at diffusing the tension, which still clung to him and made him feel like an attack was on its way any second. He helped Rose out with Hollander while the Pelican grew larger and came in low, now hovering over the ground and the gangplank lowering for them.

Normally, traveling down in the elevator from the top floor would've taken 5-7 minutes. Every other floor, a person rung the elevator, got on, and then got off on the next lower floor. This greatly slowed down their progress.

"I told you we should've had a helicopter take us back to base." One of the marines moaned.
"And what, let everyone know we just picked up a VIP?" Shot another.
"Using a helicopter would just make us more vulnerable to attacks, and we're less likely to survive if the helicopter gets hit than if the jeep got hit." Said N. Jins, the 2nd in command in the squad.

The marine that complained groaned and leaned against the elevator. He didn't like elevators. Every other floor it seemed, an employee in some hurry would get in and get out carrying papers or a box full of things. One of the men whistled. "Damn, did you see that lady? She had a fine piece of a-" "Shut up Becket." "Yeah, nobody wants to hear you talk about that nice ass from that secretary lady upstairs." The elevator was awkwardly silent. "You are such a dumb-fuck." One of them whispered.

The elevator ride seemed to go on for ever. Lights on the side panel would light up, indicating someone summed the elevator, and they would stop, the person would get in and then get off. When they were about half way down the building, their ear-pieces crackled. "...We have problems down here... Cov...n...sma...Elit...enroute to yo..." The transmission died out. The ground didn't shake, nobody screamed. Things seemed to be alright. For now.

Some time passed. More people got in the elevator, and some of them had to pushed out - they didn't want the mission to be compromised. On the 7th floor they heard it. The sound of people screaming, gun shots, rifle blasts.

(I need to stop writing when I'm tired)

"I would drop him if that happened." Lily replied back as they lifted him off and made it to the gangplank. She gestured to the seat to put him down on and started to move to it.

Bryan strapped Hollander in, the rest of the squad joining them in their own seats. The gangplank rose up and sealed behind them as the Pelican rose and flew off. "Pilot," Donovan said over the comm, "what's our destination?" The call came back over the speakers, a female voice saying "Bringing you back to Fort Gladius. Whole planet's on alert now."

So that was that. The entire UNSC military stationed around Scipio was in an uproar. As far as I could guess, we'd be deployed within a few hours, once we had a clear target, while Marines were already being packed into Pelicans and shipped off to Scipio's surface.

--August 13th 2532/0600 Hours--

In the early morning of Scipio, the soft light of dawn came in from the west, peeking between the cracks of clouds on the horizon. From the east came several dozen small dots, aircraft launched by the UNSC. An assortment of Pelicans and Albatrosses, Nomad squad sat in the troop carrying deck of one of the Pelicans, though minus one member. Bryan sat there, deep in thought as he dwelt on what the doctors back at Gladius said.

"The short version? Your private will never walk again. The plasma damage he received wasn't limited to his skin, it burnt all the way through his bone. Along the way it cauterized blood veins and arteries, completely destroyed the nerves around the point of impact and even melted the ends of the bone. I'm amazed he didn't die of shock......" the doctor said, Sergeant Donovan gravely listening. As they walked off, he took a few steps before driving his fist through the hallway wall. Or at least doing his best to. Bryan, Pasternak and Lily had been listening quietly, before Donovan said in a low voice "Get some food and rest, then get ready to go back out there. Command is mounting an operation to dig in and get ready for a fight."

After that conversation, Nomad had mounted up and reported to the airfield, joining up with the other troops being sent out. They gained a new squadmate, transferred in to replace the loss of Hollander. Lance Corporal Martinez served as the designated marksman for the squad and came equipped with a sniper rifle. He sat across from Bryan in the troop bay of the pelican, silent for the most part as they were ferried to the drop zone. It was a crowded space, the Pelican mounted with a troop deployment pod to allow for the full platoon she carried. At the rear of the bay near the cockpit, the lieutenant in charge of the platoon was busy informing the squad leaders of their task at hand.

"Alright boys and girls, here's the skinny on this operation," he said. "Albatrosses are carrying supplies and materials to set up a forward operating base. Our mission is to redirect enemy fire and attention away from the FOB while it gets set up." One of the sergeants spoke and said "Sorry sir, maybe I misheard you but did you just say we're the fucking rabbits?" A few of the other sergeants grumbled and the lieutenant grimaced as they said "Sadly yes. Command wants us to draw the Covenant's attention away long enough for the FOB to be set up so they can have a tactical position in this territory, though I've been told we'll have support--or maybe it's the other way around and we're the support--in the form of Helljumpers being dropped in." Donovan decided to ask "Besides the Heljumpers, what other assets do we have? Any air-support or artillery?"

"Limited air support, it's being focused up north to deal with Covie air forces trying to get to the city of Illipia. So we make do with what we've got Marines."

Lily sat their Sticking close to her squad, listening to every tidbit of information she could. She didn't want to walk into a hot zone half blind.

"Now quit your bellyaching," the lieutenant yelled, "because we are gonna kick those alien bastards off our colony. Am I right Marines?!" he shouted, to which everyone, including Nomad, responded with a booming "Ooorah!"



Splitting off from the Albatrosses, the Pelicans headed for the red zone, the area that, an hour previously, had been marked by F-99 Wombat's as containing advancing Covenant units. So that was where they were being dropped off, a collection of large boulders and rocky crags that jutted out from the desert. Bryan stood up, getting ready as the signal alarm began to blare, telling the Marines to go guns blazing. As the Pelican set down, the bay doors dropped open and Nomad led the charge out. The rear of the Pelican faced away from the Covenant, enemy fire flying by outside while Marines ran around. "Take cover Marines!" Donovan barked, waving at some rocks that stuck out, ample cover for the squad. As Bryan ran he saw one of his fellow Marines go down, an all too familiar pink spike puncturing their eye and exploding a heartbeat later, a shower of bone, blood and brain scattering.

And still they ran, some even firing at the Covenant who had taken position ahead in the rocks and boulders. More of those raptor things could be seen, holding up those rifles and firing at the advancing humans. Martinez got down on one knee, rifle going to his shoulder as he squeezed off a shot, hitting one of the aliens in the head as if avenging the fallen marine. He broke into a run again to join Nomad while other Marines opened fire on other aliens. There were those humpacked midget things Bryan saw, along with some alien that held a shield made of light, firing one of those pistol things. The midgets fired an SMG like weapon, spraying out a hail of those pink needles. A dozen of his allies died screaming as the needles pierced them before exploding, the ground becoming covered in gore. "Pasternak, use a grenade!" Donovan shouted. Nodding, Pasternak loaded up a round and fired before quickly returning to cover. It hit the group of alien midgets and they were sent flying by the explosion, an odd, high-pitched yelp coming from them as they died.

Ping went the elevator. The Marines arrived in a parking structure built beneath the building they were in. They had their weapons out, ready to engage anything not-human. They moved their VIP to a civilian-class vehicle. "What is this?" One of the marines asked. "It's some civilian-class car. It can fit us all in, that's all that matters now." One of the others replied. They piled into the vehicle, and the driver, Jins, started out of the parking structure. They were beneath layers of steel and concrete, so the radio was as good as dead until they get close to the exit.

"What did you think about that transmission earlier?"

"Probably some insurgent attack. They won't attack a civilian vehicle, so we should be safe if they're attacking the building because of UNSC presence."

When they got to the exit, the transmission from base came in loud and clear. They were under attack by the Covenant. N. Jins put the petal to the metal and sped onto the streets of Zuma - speeding towards the base. People were panicked. Jins had to weave in and out of traffic and dodge cars, he drove on sidewalks and down alleys to avoid traffic where he could.

The firefight was becoming a massacre for both sides. Several of the Marines there were green enough to have never seen real combat, soon panicking at the way their comrades died, either from horrific plasma burns or crystalline shards that tore them apart. Though the Covenant suffered their own casualties, another group of the midget aliens being taken out by a lobbed grenade. The shield bearing bird aliens huddled up behind their shields, the barriers deflecting bullets with ease. Donovan noticed the small gap in their shields where they would fire those pistols, and said to Martinez "Private! Use that rifle and take them out though the gaps!"

Nodding, Martinez called back "Give me some cover!" He then perched his rifle on a rock, the legs sticking down to stabilize it. Nomad popped up from behind the rocks, guns burping out rounds to cover their sniper as he took aim and fired, the first round bouncing off a shield. The second round went through, killing the bearer and making a gap in the phalanx. Pasternak switched to his grenade launcher and fired another shell to the gap and sent the buzzards flying in pieces. From one of the Pelicans emerged the machine gunners, two Marines hefting a machine gun between them while the third carried the turret legs. Another squad aid down suppression fire while the team got the gun set up, mounting the turret on its legs. "Ready!" one of them shouted, and Bryan cast a glance their way to see a marine stand behind the gun, thumbs on the trigger as they began to open fire. Tracer rounds began tearing into the Covenant troops that tried charging the frontline, giving some breathing room but only in a small area. There were still more coming in.

Gyözö stayed calm, quiet, as he ran his crosshairs over the heads of a few of the aliens down in a large park. An Elite, three Brutes, and a whole plethora of Grunts and Jackals. By the looks of things they were trying to set up one of their anti-gravity platforms, probably to give themselves a better view and an ability to maintain the area. He remained calm, watching them wander around in the ruined area. Smoking cars and burning debris surrounded them, and he was fortunate to not be in the area.

Andris, the CO of Gyözö and his squad, held in his hands a massive M6 G/GNR - the greatest laser weapon available to humanity. He, much like Gyözö and the rest of the squad, was a specialist in anti-infantry and anti-vehicular, and with his laser rifle in hand he watched the far off Covenant forces.

"Gyözö, do not fire. We will wait for support. Once it had arrived, or once the Covenant have started combat, then you may begin."

A pelican that finished its deployment rose up in the air, the pilot given orders to target and fire upon the Covenant ground forces. ANVIL missiles and heavy auto cannon rounds were unleashed on the Covenant ground forces, plumes of smoke and blinding fire rising from the impact points of the missiles while the auto cannon fire simply turned ground troops into confetti. For a moment things seemed to be going well, before Donovan spotted something, cresting over a hill to the north-west. Three rapidly approaching shapes closed in, clearly airborne and very familiar to Nomad squad, especially the sound they emitted. Despite someone shouting, the pelican was too slow to dodge as the lead ship fired a green bolt of energy, splashing over the right wing of the dropship and reducing it and the engine to slag. "I'm hit!" the pilot screamed over the radio, descending in a corkscrew spin towards the ground. Bryan watched in horror as the dropship crash-landed on a squad of marines, running to escape the fiery heap of metal.

Even as that went on, the other two bug-like ships began firing a rapid stream of blue plasma, cutting down marines on the ground. "Take cover!" Pasternak cried out, Nomad moving behind their rock and huddling close as the screaming ships made their pass. "Mayday mayday mayday!" Donovan shouted into his radio. "Covenant air support encountered, pelican down and our ground troops are being slaughtered, need immediate air support!" Two more pelican dropships were gunned down while a fourth rose up to start firing, tracking the two circling banshees before firing a salvo of its ANVILs. One hit, sending the alien craft spiraling down to the ground in flames while the other craft rolled out of the way then back-flipped, moving to take down the pelican with another of those green bolts of energy.

"Scratch that last remark, open fire on Covenant ground forces. Air support has arrived, we don't have time to let them establish a base of operations."

It was all Gyözö needed to hear. Pulling his trigger hard and fast and letting out four loud blasts of sound, he popped off the caps of three Grunts and one of the Brutes, prompting the entire battalion to turn in his direction. As great as these races thought themselves, even the Jackals would have difficult spotting Gyözö and his team atop the apartment complex. Andris nodded to the four other men nearby, and they each fired off their own weapons.

A hail of bullets peppered the Covenant, forcing many of them into cover, as two 102mm anti-tank charges rocketed towards them and exploded, sending Jackals and Grunts flying into the air. Then, right behind them, came an SGM-151 round, slamming itself into one of the Covenant covers and utterly obliterating it, leaving the enemies numbers drastically reduced - but not enough to break their morale. Plasma bolts swarmed around the building, and quickly the entire Marine squad got down, crawling away as their cover slowly began to melt. Judging by the colours, it seemed that the Covenant group was relying almost entirely on pistols now.

"We move down to the fifth floor. From there, we strike again, and this time make sure we take out that Elite. Reports say that Grunts break formation the second they lose command, and that'll spell disarray for the battalion. Then we finish them off, and if we're lucky, manage to secure that area as an LZ for any UNSC support in the area."

"Does anyone have a guided rocket?" someone yelled over the radio. "We need to take those fliers out now before they cut us down!" Sadly, Nomad had no such weapons though Donovan decided to try something else. The machine gunners managed to cut down several other ground forces though another of the crystal shard weapons hit the gunner. They didn't die yet, the impact sending them down as the spike stuck out of their shoulder. Nomad made a break for the gun and the Sergeant said "Rose see what you can do. Bryan get on that gun and take out those fliers!"

They were just halfway down the building when everything exploded.

Whatever it was that had hit, it tore a hole straight through the side of the old building, melting it in a hideous green plasmatic goop. The stench was unbearable, and quickly the squad moved on; it'd be best to not let a building collapse on them.

*"I just got a broadcast - Lance Corporal Kelemen, escort Private Kolchak to a nearby battlezone, it seems the Covenant air support is proving too much, they'll need to rely on his LAU-65 to make it out of the area they're stuck in. Keep him alive, and once you have been given the clear, regroup at the base of this tower. Fall out."*

Gyözö watched as Kolchak made his way down the building, and followed close behind, sighing softly. Overwatch was never as fun as marksman duty. Oh well. By the time they'd made it to the bottom of the building, Gyözö could see the plumes of smoke around the city in a different light, and had to admit, it made the air forces a lot more terrifying. Almost instantly, a Banshee came swooping down at them, and only thanks to Kolchak's ability with a missile pod did they survive, as the debris of the eviscerated machine scattered around them.

Running for the turret, Bryan managed to get behind the turret, hands on the handlebar as he thumbed the trigger. "Just keep the enemy off me so I can shoot those things!" he screamed, ducking fast as a needle round bounced off the shield on the gun. "Fuck!" he yelled, before swiveling the gun to track the enemy aircraft. Instead of going full auto, he fired quick bursts, leading his aim ahead of the aircraft. A few rounds peppered the hull of one before they turned to make another strafing run. With the pair on a fixed path Bryan fired again, this time managing to send one down. "Got one!" he shouted triumphantly.

"Good job private but don't get cocky, we've got ground forces to deal with," Donovan shouted. Said ground forces were sticking to their cover, though the raptor things and buzzards were taking pot-shots at the entrenched marines. "Dammit, what's the status on the FOB?" Donovan barked into the radio. "Ground and air-defenses are complete," someone said in response. "Can you hold off the Covenant?" Before he could respond, an explosion rocked the ground as the passing banshee fired its fuel rod cannon, the round vaporizing a group of marines. "That's a negative! Repeat: negative! Need immediate reinforcements now!"

Lily moved to the downed gunners side and went to move the pinkish shard out. Her hand clasped around the bladed spike but pulled back as the sharp shard cat her hand. Moments later as she was about to use her leather covered hand the pink shard exploded as blood and bone fragments landed on her, the downed gunner screaming as his shoulder had been blown apart. She momentarily froze for a few seconds, the shock hitting her before her mind started to work again and she applied Biofoam but would that even work. A question that was starting to plague her mind.

While the banshee moved for another pass, Martinez spotted a new vehicle coming from the same general area as the banshee trio. Aerial like the banshees though larger and of a different shape, it looked like a tuning fork and between the prongs something floated there that Martinez did not recognize at all. A turret was mounted on the underbelly though at the moment it wasn't being used as the ship came in low and settled down at the Marine's flank, two small vehicles being deployed that hovered a few feet off the ground. Plasma cannons began firing, churning out a rapid stream of blue bolts that cut down an exposed squad of Marines. When the doors on the ship opened, something new appeared, a new type of alien leading a squad of the chittering midgets and buzzards. They were bipedal and tall as hell, reptilian in appearance with their jaws split down the middle and open in bloodlust. "Oh did we ever draw the short stick," Pasternak muttered. The lead alien roared, and he and his fellows charged.

--Gyözö's Position--

While the marine group fell back, the Covenant began deploying more of their troops. A spirit-troop transport swooped in from above a building, settling down in an open space as the doors opened. Another squad of Covenant troops jumped out, Grunts and a pair of Elites.

Lily was lost in her thoughts for a second with the downed gunner, biofoam to fill an entire shoulder seemed illogical but it was in front of her. She turned to the sergeant, not knowing if he knew about the crystal shards and their explosive tendencies. "Sergeant those crystals explode." She said to him and hoped he would use the information, returning to the downed gunners side.

Alarms sounded throughout our deck of the UNSC Unwavering, a Phoenix-class ship refurbished for war-time. Around me in the armoury, members of squads Alpha, Delta, Foxtrot and Echo grabbed and checked their gear, preparing for the combat drop that had just been ordered, while the ship's AI repeated our orders, drop into a hostile environment, and save the battle. I lost sight of the other squads as I ran into our own bay, strapping my gear into my SOEIV as my teammates did the same. I strapped myself in, the door closing in front of me. Our pod's comms came online.
"Let's do this!" Jones shouted over the comms as the lights went green.

The sudden lurch as I was thrown from the ship made my stomach lift, and the feeling of plummeting towards the surface of the planet did nothing to lessen that. As I broke atmosphere, my pod was engulfed in flames, the interior becoming unbearably hot, followed by the sudden lurch of my parachute opening. A few more seconds, and my pod crashed into the ground, the door shooting off and throwing me onto the front line of a warzone.

As one of the new split-jawed aliens came running at them, Martinez ducked into a crouch, his sniper rifle at his shoulder and ready to fire. He took aim, going for the center of their chest and fired. The armor piercing round hit directly with full force.......though he blinked in stunned surprise as instead of piercing through armor and flesh the round bounced off a previously unseen layer of flickering energy. "What the fuck...?" he breathed out. Bryan would have turned the gun on them bbut it would have left him exposed on the other side. Then he heard a sound from on high and looked up.

It was like God himself was answering the unspoken prayers of the Marines there, as several dozen objects could be seen falling from the sky in formation. "Helljumpers!" one of the Marines shouted, eliciting a cry of hope from the still fighting but struggling Marines. Even Bryan cried out as those pods, carrying what may very well have been a platoon of angels, came crashing down near the battlezone. The new aliens, who up close made Donovan think of old vids about dinosaurs, even stopped to look for a brief moment before growling, and running back towards the Marines. Their shields flickered as more rounds bounced off them, and the weapons in their hands flared as rapid bursts of plasma bored holes through Marines.

I jumped out, my MA5 raised and pressed deep into my shoulder. There was a big one in front of me, and it saw me, raising its weapon to shoot. I opened fire, squeezing the trigger and letting a wall of lead fly. Another ODST joined me in the attack, and the squid's armour sparked, purple blood now coming out of the wounds where our bullets struck. It fell, and we moved into cover, focusing fire on groups of the little monkey-things and on any squid we saw.

"We need to take out those vehicles!" Donovan shouted. "Pasternak, use your grenade launcher on them, try and flip them!" Pasternak nodded, loading another round into the weapon though he was running low with only three shots left. As the hovering bikes moved in closer to unleash another hail of plasma, he fired a grenade, the round exploding a foot away from one of the hover-bikes. Shrapnel tore into the driver, killing them while the force of the explosion took advantage of the hovering ability of the vehicle and easily flipped it and sent her flying into a rock.

It was a different case for the new aliens, the tall creatures easily overpowering the first of the Marines they came upon. One of them grabbed a Marine in their free hand, an iron grip around her throat as she was lifted into the air. A powerful squeeze was delivered, crushing her windpipe before snapping her neck and it tossed her like a rag doll into her fellow Marines, sending them down like bowling pins. Another Marine opened fire with their shotgun at pointblank, the shot actually managing to drop the shields on the alien before it kicked him in the chest, the kick sending him flying back into a boulder. His head snapped back and he slumped to the ground, unmoving as more death followed.

"Dammit, focus fire on the......split-jaws!" Donovan shouted, firing his assault rifle in short bursts at the deadly new enemy.

delete pls

I heard a scream to my right, echoed through my comms and I felt sick; one of my friends was hit. I knew that even before the shouts of "Man down." I moved towards Archer, writhing on the ground next to me, keeping my rifle raised as I took shots at any alien I saw. I grabbed one of his arms, and saw another ODST do the same with his other shoulder. Together, we dragged him backwards towards the nearest cover. I looked down at my friend, pushing him to the ground so that I could check for injury, though I didn't have to look far; both of his legs were gone.

One of the split-jaws went down finally, their shields collapsing and shredder rounds ripping them apart. As they went down one of their comrades roared in rage and grabbed something from their belt, a spherical object that soon gained an ethereal, blue aura. Bryan suddenly became very fearful of whatever that was and shouted "Watch out!" The alien threw it, the object blazing a path through the air like some flare before it hit a nearby Marine, clinging to their body like a leech. He screamed, trying to tear it off but it was too late--a thundering detonation, a blinding flash of light, and all that was left was barely recognizable burning pieces of the Marine and a scorched, almost glassy earth.

"Mother fuckers!" someone shouted and more assault rifle fire followed, the humans there angry as they were gunned down. Donovan kept barking into his radio to get some more backup: airpower, and vehicles, something to turn the tide or get his comrades out of there.

Lily was couched with her squad, her Side arm in her hands which were steady and still unless she chose to move them. Each bullet was aimed with precision from years of training yet the smaller targets were hard to hit. Three small creatures down and another injured resulting in her hearing the click of a gun and she had to reload. Please send backup god damn it.Was all she thought as a second clip was loaded into her pistol and she began to fire once more.

Backup finally arrived though, Donovan's radio crackling as a voice came through. "First Company," the voice said, "this is the 42nd Mechanized Infantry, reporting in." Donovan looked to the east, and saw the cloud of dust kicked up in the wake of the 42nd's arrival. A line of Warthogs was driving in at full speed, some with mounted machine gun turrets, others with rocket pods, and even the troop transport variants. "We've got reinforcements," Donovan shouted, and returned fire to the Covenant, doing his best to hold them off as the vehicles drew closer.

"Thank the boss." Lily said as she looked at the line of vehicles that were incoming.

As the 42nd came within range, the warthog turrets opened fire, gunners taking aim at the Covenant troops. Machine gun fire ripped the infantry to shreds while the rocket pods took out the hoverbike things. The troop carriers parked and their passengers jumped out, rushing in to join the fight and aid the wounded. "First Company," one of the soldiers barked towards Donovan--his implant marking him as the nearest ranking officer to the Marine on his HUD--"our hog's can evac wounded while we help reinforce the line here." Nodding, Donovan began barking into his radio, "Medics, tend to the wounded where you can but don't expose yourselves, we can't afford to lose you. Wait for cover and get our boys out of here."

As soon as Lily heard the order for medics to get the wounded, Lily placed her handgun to her side until it clipped and moved to a wounded solider that was nearby, his leg was like their last team members. She pulled out a biofoam canister seeing as they were behide cover and treated his wound, resulting in pained yelling. She then got to his shoulders and tried to drag him to the troop warthog, his size and weight making it a work out for her.

The skirmish was....well, starting to go in favor of the humans. With the arrival of the warthogs and their armaments, the Covenant foot-soldiers were quickly mopped up, many of them retreating. It was a hollow victory though, as First Company lost nearly three quarters of their fighting force in the attack. Whoever had planned this stalling tactic deserved a court martial for their stupidity. With the wounded loaded up, the survivors were ordered to remain, much to their grudging anger, while resources were delivered from the air, Pelicans coming in and unloading some basics: machine gun turrets and sandbags to form gun emplacements, though even that......Bryan doubted it would stop plasma fire.

After Lily moved from the injured she moved to hunt down her squad, she held her gun tight to stop any sign of shaking but somehow she didn't know if it helped or not. She looked at their new cover and sighed, thinking about more casualties and wounds that may never heal. She shook her head as if it would rid her of her thoughts but sadly that never worked, one thing that worked was seeing her squad and that made her smile.

--August 13th, 2532/0800 Hours--

Code:

--UNSC STATUS REPORT--

--COVENANT FORCES IN FOLLOWING TERRITORIES:

-AIRBORNE UNITS IN THE ARAR TERRITORY (NORTHERN HEMISPHERE)
-MECHANIZED INFANTRY ENCROACHING ON TYRRHENIAN TERRITORY (COASTAL, CAPITAL ZAMA)
-COVENANT BEACHHEAD ESTABLISHED WITHIN AREIS TERRITORY (WESTERN, UNINHABITED)

<<EMERGENCY UPDATE>>

--INCREASED COVENANT PRESENCE DETECTED. BATTLEGROUP DETECTED IN CARTHAGE SYSTEM.

>>TWELVE MEDIUM TONNAGE VESSELS DETECTED NEAR GAS GIANT 'HYPERION', LIKELY USING THE JOVIAN PLANET'S MAGNETIC FIELDS TO MASK SIGNATURES.

>>REINFORCEMENTS REQUESTED. ETA: 12 HOURS

Their short reprieve from the battle had been just that: short. Bryan and the rest of Nomad barely had an hour to catch their breath before the Covenant returned in greater numbers. Their ground forces were spotted coming in courtesy of the Wombat drones that patrolled ahead, being ferried in on odd looking vehicles that were escorted by more of those purple hover bike things. In addition to that, Bryan overheard that there were more deployments of Covie forces up north at the second city of Illia and at Zama. Air-defenses were doing their best but many of the bastards were breaking through into the cities.

First Company and the 42nd were stationed here since it was the main route ground forces from the Covenant beachhead would need to take, and those would have been the most numerous. More of the 42nd's vehicles had come in, including Scorpions and at least the one Elephant--a useless vehicle really in a fight but it helped serve as a mobile command center. The FOB was up though it and those like it were receiving a lot of wounded. Not as many as expected though.....which said either there just weren't that many, or the Covies got more kills than wounded.

Tyler was sitting in the bar on his stationed ship that was heading to the colony world under siege by apparently the Covenant. Tyler wasn't bying it though. I mean what would the Covenant want with humans anyways we are relatively new to space traveling to other worlds. "Hmm I wander what the Covenant look like anyways.. Maybe we can make peace with them.." Tyler had mumbled to himself. "Tyler what are you mumbling now! Enjoy yourself instead of worring of what's going on down on Scipio. They'll be fine, besides we are 8 hours away so there is nothing we can do." "Yea your right. Like always." Tyler summitted and then yelled "cheers!" And downed the remains of his whiskey in his shot glass. "Alright guys I'm gonna hit the Cryo Tubes and sleep the remaining time off. I'll see you guys in 8 hours!" Tyler walked out the bar and passed a window that showed the stars moving at incredible speed and then kept walking. He passed many other marines that were headed to the same destination as him. Tyler looked around the cornor he came up to and saw the words "Cryo Sleep" on a sign and walked to the entrance and peaked around the cornor and saw a few pods left. As he walked by the tubes he saw all sorts of characters and all looked dead, but he knew they weren't. I mean it was a social norm to see these tubes on a ship and people in them so it couldn't have bugged him that bad. Besides he's already seen death and despair by the Rebels. Tyler punched a few buttons then the Cryo tube hissed open and he stepped inside and again punched a few more buttons. Tyler heard a hiss then a click with another pssss sound making him fall into a deep sleep and was set to awake for seven and a half hours.

"Nomad Squad!" Donovan shouted, "get ready for enemy assault. Our job is to take out enemy infantry, artillery will take care of their vehicles." Nodding, Bryan sat with his back to the sandbags, gun clutched to his chest. Pasternak said a quiet prayer, while Martinez set his rifle up, the legs resting on the sandbags while he loaded in a fresh clip of armor piercing rounds.

Lily loaded a clip into both her new battle rifle and pistol. Her SMG was just not good enough for long range but still held it's weight on her side. "Alright boys, lets try and have some fun. you know keep moral up, laugh though the pain." Lily called out to her squad as she tested the scope on her weapon.

"Not sure," Bryan said, "how we're gonna manage that." He rested his assault rifle on the sandbags as the Covies began to close in. Artillery was the first to strike, the screaming sound of falling shells ringing in the air. When they hit the ground shook like in an earthquake, plumes of dust rising in the sky and fire and smoke joining it as the targeted vehicles were reduced to smoldering wrecks. Whatever wasn't hit stopped, the troops deploying early and running towards the frontlines in a desperate dash to reach their target while more shells came falling down. The snipers andd long-distance shooters took pot-shots at the charging aliens, taking them out one at a time.

"You're no fun." Lily finished as she aimed her SMG towards the lines where covvies would start marching. Today was going to be hell.

As the the fighting continued below Heavy strapped himself into his drop pod and pressed the release button, as the shipped shot him out towards the planet. Heavy looked out the window as he saw covenant ships sending more troops planet side. Entering the atmosphere he started singing War while he deployed his shoot to slow himself down, he dropped down behind a squad as he kicked his door open holding his DMR, " Sargent Heavy, lone dropper here to lend support, whos in charge here?" he looked at the marines.