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The War of Rage, Ch. 3
Posted By: Das Krueg<st.krueger@comcast.net>
Date: 6 January 2006, 7:44 pm
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Chapter 3: Massacre at Omicron Ossirus
Omicron Ossirus I, Puerto de Oro
71st Cycle, 3rd Division, 48th Stage, 8th Age of Reclamation (Covenant Holy Calendar)
1645 hours, August 5th, 2547 (UNSC Military Calendar)
"Hold warriors!" Kado 'Toromee held his arm up behind him as his company of 15 Sangheili Covert Operatives stopped dead in their tracks. "The artifact the Prophets want is inside this building and into the ground quite a ways. The Humans have a formidable defense set up inside. We will split up once inside and work our way down. Kaz 'Istrazee, you will lead one half, while I take the other. Once down to the bottom work your way towards the artifact signal. We will meet you there. Eliminate any threats you encounter, and remain hidden until we are together." Eight of the black armored Sangheili disappeared as they activated their camouflage generators. "The rest of you, come with me."
The first group went through the back entrance of the building, while 'Toromee's group went around to the front. They met no resistance as they traveled down the many flights of stairs, but the Field Master knew that once they reached the bottom, a large group of Humans would be waiting for them.
The group had gone through several rooms at the bottom level of the building and had finally seen the Humans fortifying a central room. 'Toromee was thankful for his camouflage; otherwise the Humans would easily have seen him as he looked through the glass door. He saw a faint glimmer of light in the glass door across the room and knew that 'Istrazee's group was waiting for the order to attack. Suddenly, the Field Master burst through the glass door and ran towards the Humans.
Guenther-126 stood at the rear of the lab. The Marines had set up to machine gun turrets behind barricades and had overturned several metal tables on their sides to act as shields also. Everyone had their eyes on the two glass doors on either side of the front of the lab. Behind Guenther was a solid Titanium-A door, which must have led to the Forerunner artifact that ONI wanted to protect.
This is hopeless, he thought. These Marines can't hold this position against wave after wave of Covenant. If only Ronny and Pete were still here, then we might stand a chance. Twenty-six Marines ain't gonna cut it.
Only about half an hour earlier, on the surface of Omicron Ossirus I, a battle had been fought and lost within three hours. The attack had come so suddenly that the group of six Covenant ships consisting of 3 frigates, two destroyers, and an assault carrier had met no resistance above the planet and had immediately launched scores of Phantoms toward the planet. Minutes after the Covenant's arrival, ten UNSC cruisers entered the space around Omicron Ossirus I and engaged the Covenant. Unfortunately, the Covenant were expecting the UNSC's arrival and had fired on them less than two minutes after the UNSC ships appeared. The UNSC was expecting a tough fight, but what became of that battle was a slaughter.
The UNSC immediately lost four of its cruisers to the Covenant's plasma torpedoes making the sides "even". Luckily they were in such loose formation that the demolished ships didn't drift into the live ones. The captains of the remaining ships tried to calm the calamity on their bridges down and managed to fire a volley of MAC rounds at the Covenant. Twelve white-hot bolts streaked across the blackness of space towards Covenant ships. Four of the heavy rounds completely missed, while the remaining eight impacted their targets. The two destroyers were hit first. They took two rounds each before their shields flickered out, and a third round to each turned out to be fatal. The assault carrier was able to withstand the two rounds that hit it.
Shortly after the MAC volley had hit, the Covenant launched their torpedoes again. As the red balls of energy sped towards the UNSC vessel, they were able to attempt evasive maneuvers. The reaction of the UNSC captains proved to be too slow, as the plasma torpedoes impacted another four cruisers.
"Shit!" Captain Joseph Sorenson cursed as he saw the other cruisers ignite into balls of plasma and flame. His ship, the Alexander, was lucky enough to have evaded two of the plasma torpedoes that had targeted it, but once the torpedoes passed they veered away and struck the Bismarck, which was about fifty kilometers off the port side of the Alexander. The crew seems relatively calm considering our current situation, thought the Captain. "Lieutenant Crane, make your heading one-eight-five degrees."
"Aye, sir," replied Crane. "Heading one-eight-five degrees."
"Lieutenant Simmons," Sorenson turned to around, "Give me one hundred twenty-five percent on the reactors."
"Reactors at one-two-five percent, sir," answered Simmons.
"We need to drop off the Spartans before the Covenant can get at us." There was obvious tension in the Captain's voice. "Apollo, give me a firing solution for the closest frigate."
"Yes, sir." A small figure appeared on a podium in the bridge. He wore a full set of ancient Greek armor with a plumed helmet and holding a long spear. He had a yellowish tint to him. "Firing solution calculated."
"Lieutenant Brown, ready the MAC cannons and Archer pods S through GG. Fire at will."
"Aye, sir," Lieutenant Brown's hands danced across the keyboard. "MAC guns are hot, firing Archer missiles."
Rapid-fire thumps echoed through the hull of the Alexander as over four hundred Archer missiles were launched towards their target. Seconds later, the bridge rumbled as the two MAC cannons spit out their six hundred ton rounds. The crew of the Alexander watched the center viewscreen as the MAC rounds passed the missiles and impacted the Covenant frigate. It took both rounds to take out the shields, but the second round struck the bow of the frigate causing it to start spinning. Soon after, all four hundred fifty Archers hit their target. The lights on the frigate flickered and then went out. There was a loud cheer on the bridge of the Alexander, but it didn't last long when they saw motes of red light collecting along the sides of the remaining Covenant ships.
"Spartan-126, this is Captain Sorenson," the Captain yelled over the comm. system. "I want you and your team in Pelicans, ready to leave for the surface fifteen minutes ago!"
"Aye aye, Captain," Guenther's deep voice replied over the comm. link. "We're on our way."
"Good. Leave as soon as you're ready. They need you on the surface as soon as possible."
"Aye, sir"
The six Pelicans landed on a landing pad in the middle of Puerto de Oro, the capital city of Omicron Ossirus, and three Spartans and seventy-two Marines jumped out. Guenther-126 addressed the entire company.
"There is an ONI facility in this city that contains something that cannot fall into the hands of the Covenant. We've been ordered to protect that facility at all costs. When we get there, we will establish a defensive perimeter around the building. It's all up to us to protect this ONI thing and thousands of Covenant are gonna be after us. I know it's a shitty deal, but we got it until reinforcements arrive. I'll brief you more when we get there, now MOVE OUT!"
The company jogged through the streets of Puerto de Oro with Guenther-126 and Peter-073 at the head of the company, and Ronald-022 watching the rear. The building was in the outskirts of the city and surrounded by residential homes and small office buildings. A street ran east to west across the front of the building and another extended north from a T intersection in front of the main entrance. The facility only rose one story above ground level and looked like a huge concrete bunker. Since it was ONI it obviously went down into the earth at least a kilometer as to protect itself from aerial bombardments.
"OK Marines," Guenther's deep voice came from the external speakers on his helmet. "We need two machine gun turrets set up at each corner of the building, rocket jockeys need to get inside and shoot from the windows, and snipers get up on the roof. There should Titanium-A portable barricades inside the facility. We need those on the roof for the snipers, in front of the turrets, and all around the building for cover for the rest of us. I know this position is terrible, but we gotta make the best out of it. Reinforcements should be here within two hours. And if need be, we will retreat into the interior of the building."
Marines ran around frantically setting up equipment. Guenther walked around the facility and helped move heavy objects wherever needed. Pete had gotten up on the roof with the snipers and kept watch for any Covenant activity. Ronny had to move most of the Titanium-A barricades because it took at least ten Marines to move one.
"Guenther!" Pete's voice sounded inside Guenther's helmet. "Covenant coming the street from the north. Incoming Ghosts three kilometers away. At least twenty of them."
"Let's go Marines. It's time for action," Guenther's voice boomed again. "We got twenty Ghosts inbound from the north. All jockeys get to the North side of the building and fire when they get in range." Good, he thought, the narrow streets should keep them tightly packed making them better targets for the rocket jockeys.
A couple minutes later, twenty rockets erupted from the northern windows of the ONI facility and streaked down the street. Pete watched through his sniper scope as sixteen Ghosts exploded and sent the remaining ones into the buildings on either side of the road. Another wave of Ghosts followed close behind the first and then the infantry came. He looked to either side of the east/west road and saw legions of Covenant infantry marching towards the facility.
"Snipers," Pete said through his external speakers, "watch the east and west sides. The jockeys will cover the north."
Another volley of twenty rockets flew down from north side of the building. Shortly after, twenty white streaks came from the roof and went towards either side of the cross street. Guenther was crouched behind on of the barricades directly in front of the main entrance of the facility so he could see the whole battle.
"Shit!" Pete swore as a purple beam of light passed through the head of the Marine next to him. He looked around and saw several Jackal snipers positioned on rooftops in the distance. "We got snipers on the rooftops! Watch yourselves and take them out!"
Everyone on the rooftop ducked just in time as eight beams passed overhead. Pete got back up and spotted a Jackal through his scope and fired taking it out. He looked around once more and didn't see a single Jackal left on the rooftops.
Ronny was behind the building in case an attack came from the alleyways between the office buildings. He didn't know what was going on in front of the building but it sounded pretty bad. Then he heard Guenther over the radio calling him to the front.
The Covenant had gotten close enough for the turrets to open fire. No matter how many of those bastards they mowed down, more seemed to replace the fallen ones. It reminded Guenther of the time he learned about the battle of Thermopylae between the three hundred Spartan warriors and the ten thousand Persian Immortals. They were called Immortals for a reason: when one of the numerous warriors died, the warrior behind took his place and it continued like that until they had exhausted their supply of warriors or had overwhelmed the enemy.
Ronny ran up next to Guenther and let out a long low whistle, "This can't be good, man."
"No, it's not," replied Guenther. "Get behind a barrier and help those Marines."
Ronny ran over to a barricade facing west down the cross street. As soon as he had gotten there, the Covenant had gotten close enough to open fire. Plasma started to melt away at the street and the barricade as if they were butter. The Marines had strategically placed the barriers so that retreat to the next barriers if the first ones had been destroyed.
"Fall back!" yelled Ronny. The Marines ran back to the second set of barricades and opened fire again.
Guenther looked around. This was getting chaotic. Rockets exploded everywhere at random while the streaks of sniper rounds were scattered in all directions. He crouched behind his barricade, scouted out some targets with his MA5B Assault Rifle, and proceeded to mow them down.
The battle raged on for another thirty minutes when the Marine forces had started to wear thin. The snipers were down from the roof and carried MA5B's, as did the rocket jockeys. They were starting to retreat inside the building when they realized that the Covenant forces were also depleting. However, when they had just gotten their hopes up, two pairs of Hunters came from either side of the cross street.
"GET INSIDE NOW!" screamed Guenther at the Marines. They obliged and retreated to the interior while Guenther, Pete, and Ronny provided covering fire against the Hunters. It proved useless as the Hunters did not even budge and returned fire.
The yellow-green blobs of light sped towards the Spartans as they tried to cover the Marines' retreat. Ronny and Pete both took two hits in the chest and flew back into the side of the concrete building. Guenther looked back and saw that both men had gaping holes in their chests. Instinct told him to turn around and fire again, but those Hunters were just too damn powerful. He ran towards the door of the building and realized the Marines were in the windows firing at the Hunters.
Guenther may have been fast, but not quite fast enough. When the Hunters fired again, one of the shots grazed his back right before he dove inside the door. The annoying beep of his low shield warning blared in his helmet as he rolled across the lobby of the facility. He heard four thumps as he got up and saw four Marines holding Jackhammer rocket launchers out the window. He walked up to the window and saw nothing but immobile bodies of Covenant and Humans alike. He turned around and looked at the Marines in the lobby.
Twenty-six, he thought. Twenty-six is all that's left? If they come back, it's gonna be with even more. It'll be a massacre. He walked towards a large service elevator in one corner of the lobby. "Marines," he announced, "the Covenant will be back, and madder than ever. Whatever it is that they want here, they want it bad. But we won't let them have it, will we Marines?!"
A resounding "No, sir!" was heard in the lobby as the Marines replied in unison.
"What we need to do is descend to the bottom floor of this facility where this thing is kept and set up another defense. We can hold out there until help arrives."
[indent[But what Guenther didn't know, was that the reinforcements would never come. They had arrived in the system an hour after the Covenant's reinforcements arrived. And instead of fighting their way to the planet's surface, the UNSC fleet of twenty ships initiated the Cole Protocol and jumped out of the system. Twenty UNSC ships never would have stood a chance against the thirty plus Covenant ships that orbited Omicron Ossirus I.
Spartan-126 started to wonder what was going on above them on the surface. It had been half an hour since they descended into the ONI facility. Either the Covenant should have attacked again by now, or the UNSC reinforcements should have arrived and rescued them. But neither has happened, and that worried Guenther.
Suddenly, the glass on the doors of either side of the room shattered and the marines opened fire on what seemed to be nothing. Guenther then saw the faint blurs coming into the room from the door. A blue flash appeared from one of the blurs and formed into the shape of a sword. Bursts of superheated plasma came from nowhere and started to melt the barricades and tables.
"Elites!" Guenther shouted. One by one, the forms of Elites coalesced from the blurs as their camouflage generators overloaded. "Pick your targets and fire at will." He then looked around the room and realized that half of the Marines had been taken out already.
All of a sudden, Guenther saw the energy sword coming at him, raised and ready to strike. He raised his Assault Rifle and pressed the trigger, but the Elite was too close so he only got a few rounds off before he bashed the side of the Elites head with the butt of his rifle. The Elite materialized in front his face and swiped the sword down, but the Spartan was faster and he grabbed the Elite's wrist in the air. Guenther dropped his rifle and grabbed the Elite's shoulder with his right hand, spun him around, and pinned him against the door behind them.
The Demon is faster and stronger than I expected, thought Kado 'Toromee as he was spun around and smashed against the door. He barely dodged his head out of the way when the Demon tried to smash his helmet into 'Toromee's. He was suddenly thrown to the right and hit the wall with so much force that he dropped his sword. The glowing blue blade disappeared before it hit the ground. The Field Master didn't have enough time to pick his sword up, because as soon as he looked up the Demon was upon him. The Demon swung his fist at 'Toromee's face and hit with so much force that his shield drained immediately and the two mandibles on his left jaw completely broke off and flew across the room. The force of the punch surprised him so much that he rolled to the side, which happened to be to his advantage because when the Demon swung again, the lack of resistance threw him off balance. This gave 'Toromee enough time to regain his composure and tackle the already off balance Demon.
The Field Master was caught by surprise again. He did not expect the Demon's armor to weigh a full unit (half ton). But he was successful in tackling it. They rolled on the floor together once before 'Toromee threw the Demon against the wall. He saw the hilt of his energy sword on the ground, picked it up, and squeezed it. A blue flash erupted from the hilt as the sword came to life again. The Demon had gotten up and started to run at 'Toromee, and vice versa. The Field Master lifted his sword in the air to strike, but the Demon grabbed onto his wrist again and looked like he was about to throw another punch. But 'Toromee was more alert this time and grabbed the fist with his free hand. The two of them stood there for a while with each other's arms in a vise, trying to wrestle each other to the ground.
After a minute or so, 'Toromee started to feel weak. He wondered how this particular Human was so strong. Or if it was even Human. Suddenly, 'Toromee stopped his struggle and ducked. The Demon was taken by surprise again and flipped head over heels over the Field Master. He landed on his back and absent-mindedly let go of 'Toromee's arms. The Field Master spun around, but the Demon was already up. This time he decided to go in low. He lunged forward with his sword and succeeded in plunging it into the Demon's stomach. The Demon didn't even flinch as the sword impaled him and he slammed his fist against 'Toromee's shoulder, sending him flying against the wall. The Demon kept on running and swung another fist at 'Toromee but only hit the wall. The Field master had ducked again and sliced at the Demons legs, severing them at the knees. He rolled out of the way as the Demon's body crashed to the floor in a heap.
'Toromee stood up and looked around. The battle was already over. Human bodies were strewn all over the floor. He counted the remaining Sangheili. There were twelve left, including himself. It was a successful battle, but he would have liked to win the battle without any Sangheili casualties. And that struggle with the Demon was too close. He would remember that encounter for many ages.
"That was exhilarating, was it not?" one of the Sangheili said to another.
"Indeed!" the other replied. "How many did you kill?"
"I killed three. What about you?
"Ha! I outdid you with four."
"Silence, warriors," the Field Master announced. "We were victorious, yes. But four of our brethren are dead. This is no time to celebrate, especially when we haven't completed our mission yet. Let us continue on and retrieve the artifact for the Prophets."
He turned, opened the Titanium-A door, and walked through. The other Sangheili followed behind him as they walked the dark corridor silently and invisibly.
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