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Huddled behind the parabola of techs, the soldiers had only traveled twenty-two meters from the insertion point. The 50 caliber rounds from the Hewlett door gunners reduced the number of casualties upon exit, but an innumerable amount of energy bolts riddled the bodies of many. The canines were by now dead, but had saved the lives of countless riflemen as they fearlessly sprinted towards the base of the canyon to maw the limbs of Covenant units. They had taken down few enemies but threw the aliens into disarray and allowed most men to land unscathed. Immense alien fire reduced the company of seventy-two to twenty-six with eight critically wounded, as the soldiers ran for the rallying point. The Covenant by now regained their defensive potential yet both sides had lost equal amounts of troops during the firefight. Needles slithered towards the crowd of riflemen and their android defenders, harmlessly rippling shields. But despite the small haven, the soldiers were isolated and desperate for assistance. The injured were dragged behind boulders where they were drugged and bandaged to await cell regeneration from Terran medics. The plasma fire had stopped for several minutes. Apparently the aliens had decided to change tactics, making them even more unpredictable. Somewhere behind the concrete emplacements hid enemies, ready to strike. The techs moving to stand abreast, began a steady march towards the Forerunner structure where the Covenant resided. With rifles aimed from behind small cavities between the shields, the humans stood ready to mutilate Covenant flesh. The vibrating bayonets broke the methodical silence with a humming similar to an electric razor. Seventy meters from the structure, an elite followed by three grunts appeared from behind a fallen tree and charged towards the mobile barricade with weapons rapidly firing. Within seconds, near-silent swooshing sounds came from the techs as two airfoils ripped through the chest of the elite; blue blood spurted from the perfectly circular cavities. Rifles released single-shot rounds into the grunts, instantly killing the small aliens. Moments later, a glowing grenade was noticed clinging to a shield but exploded before anything could be done, ejecting all cybernetic and several organic bodies above the pack. A few marines grasped their scarlet faces and shrieked. 'My eyes! I'm gonna die!' The healthy marines panicked and jumped for cover behind the boulders. Moments after diving, a young marine realized he abandoned his brothers and left them to die. Plasma bolts rang from innumerable positions and silenced the young soldier who dashed back. He slowly collapsed and lay in the blood of his mortally wounded comrades, his eyes coldly peering sideways at the boulders. Another grenade exploded a few meters back, shattering the rock where the injured leaned and silenced them. The Covenant had slaughtered cherished comrades before their eyes, and the handful of soldiers that remained regained their combat mentality and flew into a rage. They rushed out and leaped from their safety with guns aimlessly pumping. Sprinting with blind ferocity towards the aliens, not one ounce of humanity resided in the sincere minds of the young men. They need not express any towards human-killers. No man succumbed to surrender or call for evac, despite knowing this was a battle destined to be lost if continued. The elites, always fearless and honorable, took the opportunity to fight close up and stopped firing. A transparent ripple accompanied by energy blade charged with a dozen other elites. Both crowds became increasingly closer to contact, neither side slowing down or retreating. The muzzles of rifles continued to blaze as the riflemen dashed forward, occasionally tearing a limb off or slowing down a closing aggressor. The pack of screaming humans rapidly exhausted their magazines and leveled their rifles for the final twelve meters. Upon collision, a few men did not get up. The cloaked leader was the first to kill and the first to be bayoneted. He slashed down a man seconds before being viciously gutted by several blades. Some other elites swung rifles and knocked down two men before turning to face four soldiers who had circled around to reach more targets. Of the two men, one was saved by his helmet and unsheathed a knife from his calf. After crawling to his feet, he jumped up and swung his blade around the head of the busy elite who knocked him down and sliced a gaping hole in its throat. Another elite pulled the soldier off and slammed the butt of a plasma rifle down into his skull, adding more red to the pool of blood that saturated the grass. This elite was in turn gutted by three of the four men on the other side of the chaos. More soldiers fell with bashed arms and heads and yet those still standing stabbed more aliens. The men forgot everything about combat tactics and avenged their losses up close and raging. After twenty-eight seconds of barbaric combat, two heavily bleeding soldiers fell to their knees, just after carving holes into the last elite. They lay above the bodies of the honorable, they rested above a pool of blood that was too large for the earth to absorb. Grunts were nowhere to be seen, only human cheers echoed from an opening on the other side of the small canyon. Never before had any humans attacked with such odds and accomplished their objective. This handful turned the battle around and did what they came to do, prolong the lives of the Terran marines trapped within the canyon walls. They charged knowing they were going to die and took down as many aliens as possible, pushing human potential to the limit. Several more isolated battles took place between other humans and Covenant on this day in pockets all over the ring, losing many brothers yet saving more. On this day, the brethren and their fallen comrades forced the Covenant to recalculate the human race. On this day, they proved their abilities to the Terrans, fighting fiercely and unceasingly. On this day, they defended their honor and reputation. On this day, the Brethren represented the fury of Saturn. |
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