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There were cheers on the bridge on the Maw as the last Covenant ship faded from the tactical viewscreen. Congratulations were given across the COM channels as they rejoiced in victory. Everyone settled back. The danger of a serious Covenant attack was not gone, but they had stalled their attempts, at least for the time being. They relaxed, readying for the mission they had first embarked on. *** The mission had to be delayed as ships were repaired in the Mars shipyard. Another orbital gun was being constructed to replace the destroyed one. In the shipyard, two new ships were being constructed. They both were destroyers and were also completely outfitted with two meters of protitanium, heavy shields and twin plasma-MAC guns. They also had 30 Archer missile pods, each with a dozen missiles. The new destroyers would accompany the original striketeam that would attack the homeworld. It would take another two weeks to finish them, so the elite ground force, which included the veteran Marines and the two SPARTANs, continued to train. Morale was higher than ever after the recent victory. The fleet patrolled the area in case the Covenant struck again. "Sir, our scanners are indicating 20,000 small objects on approach in Slipstream space, heading towards this system," the officer at the scanner station yelled to the Admiral. "What the hell? Can you identify them?" asked the confused Admiral. "No, sir. If they're Covenant, it's probably dropships, because of their size. But I doubt it can be 20,000 dropships," the officer replied. "I don't think anything that numerous would enter Slipstream space if it was natural," said the nav officer, who had been listening in. "Who asked you, now get back to-" the Admiral stopped as motes of green light appeared near Mars. Thousands of the familiar purple Covenant dropships emerged from Slipspace. "They're going to invade Mars. That's one of our last shipyards! Havoc, get firing solutions for the orbital and lunar guns, on the double!" ordered the Admiral after he recovered from the shock of seeing so many dropships. Sir, they're too close to the planet. We can't afford to fire; the chance of hitting Mars is too great. "Well then, get us there as fast as you can! At least we can shoot down some of them!" The Maw's engines rumbled to life, as did the other ships'. They watched as about half of the dropships broke off from the main group and headed towards the lunar guns. The plasma-MAC guns of the fleet tore through a thousand-odd of them. Salvos of Archer missiles brought down another 500, but it was not enough. The rest continued on towards their designated targets. "They're going to take out our major defenses and one of our last shipyards, just like Reach-it CAN'T happen again! Send in the Marines, pronto! Break out the vacuum-sealed suits for Green team, James's Marines. They'll protect the lunar base. Tell the Master Chief to get here with the Marines on the Aurora. That group will protect Mars with the Marines from the Maw. They'll be Blue team. Hurry!" the Admiral hurriedly rapped out orders through the COM channels. Inside the captured Covenant cruiser, the Chief departed with Cortana in his Longsword, heading for the Maw. James handed out the vacuum-sealed suits. The Marines put them on, checking weapons at the same time. "Oh man, this suit is even heavier than before!" grumbled one Marine. "Would you rather die of suffocation?" replied James calmly. The Marines stopped complaining and each grabbed a MA5BP assault rifle and M6DP pistol. Some hefted the M19P SSM rocket launcher. James chose the M19P, his own customized MA5BP and a long glittering combat sword. Everyone raided the crates of grenades and stuffed them in their suit pockets. They grabbed extra clips and battery pack and stood to attention. James briefed them on their mission. Inside the shuttle bay, there were Pelicans everywhere. Most of them had attached Warthogs that had their guns upgraded with the plasma charge. There were also two Scorpion tanks, also with the plasma upgrade. The Pelicans also had added shields. "Men, we've been assigned to protect the lunar base and guns. Without those, our defensive capabilities will be severely impeded. Those vacuum suits will protect you if those Covenant landers in destroy the artificial atmosphere. We'll be outnumbered maybe 100 to 1, so we'll need to use our brains more than raw power. Don't overestimate your suit's defensive capabilities, either. Keep under cover whenever possible. Only get damaged when there's no other choice. Well, are you all ready for this?" "Sir, yes sir!" Meanwhile, in the Maw, the Master Chief was addressing his group of Marines. They were more numerous than James's group, since the Marines were from both the Maw and Aurora. The Chief's group did not have the vacuum suits, either. After he finished briefing them, they piled into their dropships. The Chief sat with the commanding officers of the Marine squad. They watched in silence as their dropship descended down towards Mars. As they got closer, he could see Covenant dropships unloading huge groups of Elites. The forward plasma-chain guns shredded many of them, sending bluish-purple blood flying everywhere. More aliens piled out of the dropships. The Pelicans, numbering 50 in all, searched for a safer LZ. Four were shot down by the sheer amount of plasma fire from the Elites, Grunts, Jackals, and Covenant dropships. About four kilometers away, they found a relatively quiet spot, with about a hundred Grunts standing around. Plasma-chain guns ripped them apart, and the Pelicans began dropping Warthogs, Scorpions and Marines. The Chief climbed out along with the officers. They had heavy weapons like snipers and shotguns. Then he noticed a Warthog dropped from the dropship he had just exited from. It had a strange gun mounted where the plasma-chain gun usually would be. "What is that?" he asked the pilot of the dropship, a Lieutenant. "That's a new experimental type of gun. It's a mini-MAC gun. It doesn't have the plasma upgrade, but still, it's very, very powerful. Try it out!" he replied before lifting off. Suddenly, two giant plasma balls blew a Warthog apart. A Marine standing on top of a hill ran back down as another bolt disintegrated the area where he just stood. "Enemy has armor support! We better get moving!" he panted through the COM system. The 1,000 Marines scattered to avoid being hit. They started climbed in Warthogs and Scorpions. The Chief decided to test the mini-MAC gun. He got in the gunner's seat while a Sergeant with a sniper rifle climbed in the passenger seat. MC read the nametag on the Marine's uniform: Sgt. Andrews. Private Johnson climbed into the drivers seat, and they sped off, over the scorched hill. The Chief saw the four Wraith mortar tanks first. Taking careful aim, he fired the gun. The recoil almost flung him off of the vehicle, but one of the Wraiths had become a smoking, useless wreck. While his gun recharged, the Sergeant threw a grenade, straight into a Wraith's engine. It exploded in a huge plume of smoke. "Two down, two to go!" yelled Johnson over the noise of the engine. He turned to avoid a huge plasma shot. By now, a Scorpion had rumbled over the hill, with four Marines sitting on it. Its plasma-charged cannon destroyed another tank. The one remaining Wraith fired at a bunch of Marines before being hit by the mini-MAC gun. The Marines, despite their shields, were killed. MC sized up his force: 15 Warthogs, 10 Scorpions, and many other Marines still on foot. He had the more heavily armed Marines go on foot while the others would ride on vehicles to maximize their firepower. "All right, three Warthogs will go scout over that valley up ahead," the Chief pointed to a deep depression in the earth before continuing. "I will lead them. The rest, hold positions but be wary. I don't know what that huge group of Covenant we saw earlier is up to." As he finished talking, the growls of Elites and the high-pitched squeal of Grunts could be heard. A Marine holding binoculars pointed over to the right of the group. "Look at that!" he yelled. Thousands of aliens were storming directly for them! On the Moon- James and his group landed without any trouble. Walking cautiously forward, they relied on COM systems to communicate. "Marines, hold position here. I'll take a small group to investigate up ahead. I think I saw a Covenant dropship landing there," the SPARTAN told his squad. With three others, he crept silently over large craters to the spot. He found nothing there. As he was turning to go back, a voice broke through the COM channel. "Sir, we're under attack! There's so many of them! I think we found that group you were looking for!" He rushed back to the Marines. Elites that also had vacuum-suits had surrounded them. James snuck up behind a Commander who was about to skewer a Marine with a plasma sword and stabbed him in the back with his own sword, taking out its shields. The alien turned to face him. It brought down its sword with frightening speed. However, the special composition of metals in James's sword allowed him to block the Commander's sword. The confused Elite hesitated, giving the SPARTAN time to stab it. It crumbled to the ground with a huge gash in its side. The other Elites turned to face him. He pulled out his oversized MA5BP and fired. The plasma-charged bullets took down two Elites before he had to reload. The Marines opened fire, bringing down some more. They ran out through the gap in the Elite circle to join James and his three scouts. A sniper put holes in four Elite's suits. They fell, writhing and screeching noiselessly in the vacuum before the airless environment claimed them. A few Marines also threw grenades. Due to the difference between the Moon's and a Earth-like planet's gravity, most missed, but two plunked down in the group of charging aliens. They detonated, sending blood and body parts flying. A rocket killed the rest. James counted; he had lost seven Marines. Since he only had a hundred under his command, it was pretty bad. As they rested after the furious fight, a thousand Grunts popped out from various craters and attacked. The group leapt up, firing. Fifty Grunts fell. This caused the lower-ranking Minors to run around in fear. They were screaming for the Elites to come help them, but upon seeing the bodies of their fallen Elite comrades, even the Majors resumed in a state of mass panic. James and his group would have laughed, but this was war. Grenades, rockets, sniper rounds and plasma slashed through the air. Panicking and scattering did help the Grunts in a way, because they were not all in a big group any more. This made heavy explosives like rockets less effective. Even so, the once mighty Grunt army was now down to about 300. They realized that running around in circles would not save their lives, so they regrouped and opened fire, some throwing grenades. "Ahhh!" a Marine ran around with a plasma grenade stuck to him. He ran straight into the Grunt ranks, taking down a few with him. The angry Marines blasted the Grunts to pieces. James counted his group's losses. Only 83 left. He continued on to the lunar base, hoping it had not yet been overrun. Back on Mars- The Chief ordered the Warthog and Scorpion drivers to run straight into the mass of aliens and to fire as they charged. The massive Scorpion's 90mm plasma-charged rounds wreaked havoc. Its secondary plasma-machine gun was firing constantly. The speedy Warthogs had already reached the cluster of Covenant and squashed many of them flat on the ground. The Scorpion's main guns were forced stop firing because of the risk of hitting their own. Seven grenades landed on a tank. The driver and passengers leapt out before the three-second fuses ran out, but the Scorpion was reduced to slag. Plasma from both the Covenant and Marines was flying everywhere. Shields flickered and went out. Many of the Covenant were just smeared flat by the 66-ton Scorpions or 3.25 ton Warthogs. Before long, it was over. The Chief noted that he had lost 57 troops. He continued on with the remaining Marines, hoping that the Covenant had not yet reached the main shipyard. Admiral Stanforth stood in bridge of the Maw, listening to the reports coming in grimly. "Green team advancing. They had lost 17 men." "Blue team also advancing. Lost 57 Marines." "Lunar base under heavy assault. They can't hold out much longer!" "Mars shipyard sections E-G have been destroyed. They're in a tight spot!" "Send the Pelicans back in. They have get there in time!" |
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