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Shadows of an Empire: Chapter 5
Posted By: tsukahara10
Date: 29 November 2006, 5:32 pm
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Chapter 5: The Taste of Defeat
2016 Hours, March 31st, 2561 (UNSC Military Calendar)
Delta Base, Beta Cassiopeia III
"Open fire!" Major Gundersen's shout could barely be heard as the rebels blew open the hangar door. The rebels flowed into the hangar like water. Using anything they could find for cover, the Marines stayed well hidden and easily picked off the tightly packed rebels as they came through the door. But the rebels' vast numbers allowed them to quickly overwhelm the firing capacity of the Marines and they pushed through into the hangar. The situation swiftly turned into a firefight seen in the old Western style movies, but on a much larger scale. The Marines were on the catwalks and on top of docked Pelicans using the high ground to their advantage. Some were on the floor of the hangar hiding behind supply boxes and barrels. The rebels tried to find cover for themselves while being shot at from the ground and from above. Markus fired several bursts down from the catwalks. There were so many rebel soldiers he didn't even have to bother aiming, because he was guaranteed to hit at least one of them if he shot towards the ground. No matter how many the Marines shot down, the rebels just kept coming.
Markus primed several grenades and tossed them into the fray. They landed in the middle of the rebel ranks and exploded tossing several of them through the air. Shrapnel from the grenades cut down even more soldiers. Several other Marines followed suit and tossed grenades at the rebels. The gunfire and explosions continued as the rebel body count continued to rise. Markus felt his catwalk shake for a moment and quickly looked for the cause. An injured rebel soldier had been tossed up onto the catwalk from an explosion. The rebel slowly got to his feet and aimed at Markus. Markus quickly rolled towards the rebel to avoid his fire. Standing up, Markus jabbed with the butt of his rifle and caught the rebel hard in the stomach. The rebel doubled over and Markus brought his rifle down on the rebels head, quickly incapacitating him. As the rebel laying bleeding from the back of his head, Markus quickly dismissed the distraction and continued to fire down below. Several times he had to quickly duck down or roll to the side to avoid returning fire. Never letting up the pressure, the Marines valiantly defended the hangar, and despite being outnumbered, the Marines seemed to be winning. Organization, proper training, and experience worked to their advantage.
But soon the rebels covered the hangar like termites. Markus had no choice but to order a retreat into the hallways. The Marines on the catwalks quickly ran to the back of the hangar and down the stairs to the ground level, but the Marines already on the ground weren't as lucky to get away. They were quickly engulfed by the rebels and couldn't retreat fast enough. The majority of the Marines under Markus's command perished before they could make it to the back of the hangar.
As Markus's group of about a hundred fifty Marines started to make their defense in the hallway, O'Brian gave him more orders over the radio. "Major, we are getting out of here. Get your Marines to Hangar A. I don't care what the UNSC says. There's no possible way we can hold them off any longer. There are over a hundred thousand still outside."
"Change of plans, men," Markus yelled. "We're getting out of here."
The Marines in front of him charged forwards towards the inner hangar. Behind him the rear guard Marines kept firing back at the rebels, but were quickly getting cut down themselves.
"Pick up the pace, Marines!" Markus wanted to get as many of them out of there as possible. With the rebels right behind them, that would be a hard task.
They entered the huge hangar and O'Brian was there to greet them. "Everyone else is already on board their Pelicans. Let's get you guys onboard fast."
Markus's Marines sprinted past O'Brian and to the last six docked Pelicans. Over a hundred Marines scrambled to get inside and crammed in because technically there wasn't enough room for all of them to fit, but they weren't going to leave anyone behind.
As the rebels entered the hangar, the Pelican pilots opened fire with the Gatling guns on their noses. The forty millimeter rounds tore through the rebel soldiers as they tried to get through the small doorway.
Once Markus gave the "all clear" signal to O'Brian, all twenty Pelicans lifted off and flew straight up through the large circular opening in the ceiling led by the forty Longsword fighters that were also docked in the hangar. Markus looked out the back of his Pelican and saw that the rebels had already filled the hangar. They all would've been dead if they had stayed and fought any longer.
Once they were clear of the hangar, the Marines thought they were home free. But as soon as they rose above the horizon, the rebels still outside the base fired anti-air rockets at them. As soon as their sensors picked up the rockets, the UNSC ships spread out, dodged and weaved, and sprayed chaff into the air in order to confuse the rockets. Hundreds of rockets exploded in mid-air, but some made contact with the UNSC ships. Major Gundersen's Pelican shook violently as one right beside it exploded. It wasn't long before they were out of range of the rebels' anti-air weapons. Markus looked back towards the ground and saw the burning carcasses of three Pelicans spiraling towards the ground.
After several minutes of silence, the rear hatch of Markus's Pelican closed and the cabin pressurized as they passed into the vacuum of space. At last, Markus could relax, but he didn't. He knew they weren't out of it yet, not until they were picked up by a UNSC frigate. And it would take at least a day for the nearest UNSC ship to get here. So while they waited to be rescued, there was still potential for a rebel attack above the planet.
"I've contacted HIGHCOM on Earth and told them to send a vessel to come pick us up," O'Brian said over the radio from her Pelican. "They said the destroyer Falcon will be here in a couple days."
"So we're getting picked up in a week?" Markus replied sarcastically.
"Basically," O'Brian sighed. She switched over to the battalion's main frequency. "We will be sitting ducks out here until the UNSC arrives. Our fuel will only last us 36 hours. After that we will basically be floating dead in space. We just need to set an outbound vector to get as far away from here as possible and avoid any enemy contact. Once we've got a straight heading we can shut our engines down to conserve our fuel so our electronics and life support don't die."
The rear cabin of the Pelican went silent save for the gentle hum of the engines. The Marines were eerily quiet. Not even the slightest discussion about the failure on Beta Cassiopeia III came from them. Markus enjoyed the silence. He knew he and Lieutenant Colonel O'Brian would get royally chewed out by the Colonial Defense Committee for losing the planet, and he didn't want to hear anything about it from the Marines. He thought for a while about what he was going to tell the Committee. They left pretty quickly without putting up much of a fight, and that wouldn't go well with the brass. But then again, what were they going to do against five hundred to one odds? They weren't Spartans. They weren't invincible.
"Major, we've got incoming enemy contacts," the pilot interrupted his thoughts.
Markus walked into the cockpit and glanced at the radar. Sure enough, there were several red splotches incoming port side. He looked out the wraparound windshield to the left and saw a large ship way off in the distance. It was about the size of a UNSC destroyer, but it looked nothing like one. It was a very simple and crude design, and it resembled a flying, elongated box. It was obviously of Human design, so the Covenant weren't back, but the rebels didn't have control of any vessels that big. Then he remembered about the pirates inhabiting the moons of Beta Cassiopeia II. Who knew how long they had been festering there? Apparently long enough to make a destroyer sized vessel out of scrap metal. Markus was curious as to what armaments that ragtag ship had, but not curious enough to take a closer look. Unfortunately, there was no easy escape for the Marines this time. They would have to engage the pirates.
Markus watched as the Longswords veered off to port. The Pelicans followed a few hundred meters behind. As they approached the large ship Markus could see several smaller ones surrounding it. The pirates broke formation and engaged the Longswords. Again, the Marines were outnumbered, but they had superior tactics and technology. The pirates had apparently attained nearly a hundred old Tempest tactical fighters that had decommissioned by the UNSC over fifty years before.
"All Pelicans, engage the destroyer," O'Brian announced. "The Longswords will handle the single ships."
The Longswords moved into an attack formation. Five inverted V's of eight fighters each flew directly towards the mass of Tempests. The first wave fired a volley of missiles at the pirates and split to the sides so the second wave could have a clear shot. The pirates returned fire all at once as the third wave of Longswords launched their missiles. Hundreds of missiles passed each other in space, swerving and dodging, following the heat signatures of the fighters. Explosions erupted as several missiles collided with each other. The Longsword pilots used their 120 millimeter cannons to try to take out the missiles as they came closer. Several more exploded without hitting a target while the Longswords began to take evasive action.
Meanwhile, the Pelicans flew straight towards the large destroyer-like ship. At once, all twenty Pelicans emptied their missile pods of high explosive Anvil II missiles. Over six hundred Anvil's launched their two thousand pound explosive payload straight into the ship. Flame and smoke covered the port side of the ship completely disintegrating the weak armor plating. A UNSC ship of that size would have enough armor to withstand an attack like that, but the crudely constructed pirate ship was no match for the UNSC arsenal. When the smoke cleared, the entire port side of the ship was exposed. Pieces of equipment escaped from the compartments now open to space. The Pelicans flew close to the exposed side of the ship, dodging the debris, and fired their chin mounted chain guns. The forty millimeter rounds tore through the inner walls of the vessel like tissue paper. Turning away from the ship the Pelicans flew around to make another pass.
The captain of the ship must have noticed his lack of armor on the port side, because the large vessel starting to rotate. Now out of missiles, the Pelicans would have to try to make it around the armored hull to attack the exposed port side and hopefully puncture the reactor enough times to cause it to fail. As the Pelicans came at the ship once again, they were alarmed to find the ship firing back. Hundreds of defensive autocannons covered the starboard hull. The ones on the port side must have been destroyed by the missiles. The pilots should've known that was going to happen.
The Pelicans dodged the incoming fire as best they could, but some weren't as lucky as others. The Pelicans had thick armor, but if hit enough times, the armor would fail and the entire crew would be exposed to the vacuum of space. Despite the fact that Pelicans were made to endure space flight, no vacuum environment suits were stored on the Marines' Pelicans because those Pelicans were not expected to engage in battle in space. So one well placed round could incapacitate the entire crew of a Pelican if it penetrated the armor.
Markus heard several rounds ricochet off his Pelican's armor plating. With each ping he became more anxious. The Pelican in front of his suddenly dove and turned to starboard. He saw three geysers of white mist erupt from the side of the Pelican as the air inside rushed out. Another crashed into the side of the large vessel after being punctured. It was a good tactic. If you and your crew was going to die indefinitely, you may as well take some of those rebel bastards out with you. As much as Markus wished they could get out of there, they couldn't. They had nowhere to go, so they had to stay and fight. But they were losing too many Marines.
The Pelicans soon flew over the top of the pirate's vessel away from their autocannons. Markus glanced at the radar in the cockpit. They had already lost half their Pelicans. He hoped they would survive this attack. Turning back around, the Pelicans fired at the exposed side of the ship. Unfortunately, they had no luck finding what they wanted to.
"Shiva warhead is active and approaching the destroyer!" one of the Longsword pilots announced on the radio. "Get to minimum safe distance!"
"Push us to full throttle towards the Longswords," Markus told the pilot. He had to hold on to the pilot's seat as they accelerated forwards. He saw the large Shiva warhead pass underneath them. They were too close…
Markus could hear the Pelican's engines strain as they pushed two thousand kilometers per hour. Nearly a minute passed before Markus saw the nuclear explosion on the rearview camera. The hundred megaton warhead disintegrated the pirate vessel in a matter of seconds. Markus quickly grabbed onto a handhold at the back of the cockpit and braced himself. The Pelican shook violently as the EMP passed them.
Markus slammed hard into the bulkhead. He heard a loud snap as his arm broke. The pain caused him to let go and he hit the bulkhead again. The taste of blood filled his mouth. He reached up with his good arm and wiped his forehead. More blood. When the shaking stopped, he cradled his broken arm and went to the rear compartment. The Pelican's electronic systems were dead. The ten remaining Pelicans were floating dead in space. Markus hoped they had enough food onboard to last them several days.
2nd Lieutenant Eric Langly pushed his throttle to the max and quickly dove downwards in his Longsword. Rather than following his maneuver, the missile that had locked onto him slammed into the Tempest that Eric narrowly missed. Seeing the "Locked" warning light flash off, Eric turned around to find another target.
"I've got a bogey on my tail!" shouted 2nd Lieutenant Luke Podschwitt. "I can't shake him!"
Lieutenant Langly saw Podschwitt's Longsword pass in front of him closely followed by a Tempest. "I'm on it, Blue Five," he responded.
Eric sharply turned to follow the pair. Luke was weaving back and forth to dodge the Tempest, which made Eric's job harder. It took a little patience and some tricky maneuvering, but Eric was able to get his crosshairs over the Tempest. He fired a few rounds from his 120 millimeter cannon at the tail saving his three remaining missiles for better targets. The large rounds hit dead center in the single circular engine in the back and the Tempest exploded in a ball of fire.
"Thanks, Blue Three," Luke said.
"You owe me," Eric joked as he turned his fighter around. A burning Longsword spiraled out of control only a few meters in front of him. As the dorsal side passed in front of him, he could see the serial number. It was his childhood friend Chris Wilson.
"Red Two!" he yelled as Chris's Longsword passed. Static was the only reply. A twinge of sadness hit Eric as the Longsword continued to spiral away in what seemed like slow motion
Several loud pings from bullets ricocheting off his Longsword's armor plating snapped Langly back to reality. A Tempest was heading straight towards him. With the extra rage from his closest friend's death, Eric opened up on the Tempest with his main cannon. Hundreds of high caliber rounds riddled the Tempest with holes. Several must have punctured the engine because the fighter exploded as Eric pulled up to avoid the crash.
Eric turned around and took a moment to survey the battle. They were losing. They thought superior tactics would win, but there were just too many pirates. Eric was sick of being outnumbered. He cursed the brass and dove back into the fray.
"Blue Four and Blue Five, on me!" Eric ordered when he saw a group of three Tempests taking out Longswords one at a time.
In a matter of seconds, Langly had Blues Four and Five at his flanks. He led them around and maneuvered them behind the group of Tempests. Quickly locking on, Eric fired one of his last remaining missiles. It streaked towards the middle Tempest and exploded on contact. The two flanking Tempests veered off to either side when the center one erupted in flames. Eric's wingmen followed them as they split away. Eric followed Blue Five and turned to the right. He helped Luke finish off the Tempest and surveyed the battle again. The numbers were almost even now. Only about ten from each side remained.
But Eric just wanted this all to end. He armed the Shiva nuclear warhead he had onboard and targeted the large destroyer-like ship several hundred kilometers away. Setting it for contact fuse, he fired it and announced on the USNC broadcast channel, "Shiva warhead is active and approaching the destroyer! Get to minimum safe distance!"
He then turned around and pushed his throttle to full. The rest of the Longswords were following him. The pirates in the Tempests tried to keep up, but the Longswords had superior speed. When the warhead exploded about a minute later, Langly expected his electronics to fry from the EMP, but he realized that he must have been far enough away for it not to affect the Longswords. He checked his radar and saw the red blips that were following them go dead. The Tempests had almost made it out of the blast radius, but luckily for the Marines, the pirates were now floating dead in space.
"Is everybody ok?" asked Blue Leader, 1st Lieutenant Nikolai Kryukhov.
Eric clicked the acknowledgement button on his control panel in response.
"Let's go back and get the Pelicans," Blue Leader ordered. "They've probably lost power."
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