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Over The Line by AmokTheClown
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Over The Line; Part 1
Date: 10 December 2003, 4:14 AM
'Trenchcoat this is Nighteyes, Contact, enemy contact my position'
Sergeant Chilsa swore under his breath. He'd anticipated this move by the covenant. No, he'd expected this move. One does not simply wipe out and enemy stronghold and hold it without retaliation.
'Copy that Nighteyes, fall back to this Loc."
Sergeant Chilsa moved through the confined headquarters area to the radio operator stationed across from him.
'Wake them up, private, switch all broadcasts to the open channel, then go out there and join your squad.'
Private 'Stan' Stanascovich gave a slight nod before he opened the Comm channels.
"All units, this is phone booth. Enemy contact, delta quadrant, stand too. All units stand too."
Stan didn't need to be told twice. He switched the broadcast mode to automatic and grabbed his rifle, sprinting out of the HQ area. A quick glance over his shoulder saw the Sergeant preparing his gear for the ensuring battle that was fast approaching. Stan tilted his rifle to the side, grabbed the cocking handle and reefed the working parts back, then, with a satisfying KERCHACK-released them, cocking the weapon. It always surprised him how quick his weapons drills were in situations like this.
Overlooking a white-gray desert somewhere in delta quadrant, Corporal Streep watched a mixed unit of covenant ground troops advance through 'The Gauntlet'-a valley that ran straight up to the front steps of their main position.
Even with the night vision scope of his S2 AM Sniper Rifle he had trouble making out the exact size and numbers of the enemy units. Snow fall had increased over the last twenty minutes and reports from Tactical Land Command indicated that a storm front was headed their way. Something that they really didn't need, now that the Covenant had assembled a force big enough to take back their stronghold.
The prized piece of real estate, unofficially called 'Munin', was the UNSC's former forward base of operations. Established at the site due to a structure that was built into a cliff wall. The hallways of the structure travel deep into a series of catacombs and chambers. But that wasn't the only reason the area was heavily fortified. Deep inside the stronghold, throughout a series of heavily guarded rooms were devices that had been uncovered-The Covenant had been studying these devices up until UNSC forces overran the site.
All but one artifact had been ferried to the UNSC cruiser 'Archeron' that was in geo-synchronous orbit. Priorities had changed with the discovery and after a few weeks into the operation all ground forces deployed had began a steady withdrawal off the planet, destroying installations as they went. This was their last foothold on the planet, only needing to repel attackers until the remaining artifacts were removed. A hard thing to do when undermanned.
Sergeant Chilsa knew this all to well as he moved to Munin's upper rampart that overlooked The Gauntlet. But on the other hand, his idea of manpower was a battalion positioned at the front steps each manning their own M41 LAAG. Its not as though he was naked-two Scorpion MBT's dug in with a clear line of sight down the Gauntlet. Two more on either side of the valley walls ready for tank hunting. On the ramparts and covering the main entrances were Shade gun emplacements and at ground zero were five Warthogs. But for all this awesome firepower, Chilsa knew the firefight would be short and brutal. Estimates on the Covenant strength was in excess of five times they're own excluding air and fire support.
It almost seemed to Chilsa that everything that could have gone wrong had. The Acheron had sustained heavy damage to its pelican launch bays; emergency repairs were in place to reactivate them. The ten craft that actually remained fully functional were practically sealed in the hangers. Soon, the Covenant would have air supremacy. Only one item remained to be transported, but it was not moving from its bunker until the dropships arrived from the Acheron.
A voice exploded over the Comm-net.
"Trenchcoat this is Nighteyes, contact. Enemy contact in a big way over"
Chilsa hit the transmit panel on his headset.
"This is Trenchcoat, report"
The transmission dropped out for a few moments, the background pockmarked with plasma fire.
"Main force is maneuvering up the gauntlet. Huge amounts of fire support. Sensors are off the scale. Can't hold out sir. We're being overrun... I'm... I'm about to gift wrap it sir. Streep out"
Earlier that morning, Corporal Streep's men had buried a series of demolition charges into the valley wall at a crucial bottleneck that would bring enemy forces into a tight formation. The charges we supposed to be remote detonated, but the counter attack had been orchestrated relatively quickly, not giving the demolition experts time to complete the task.
Moments later a huge rumble cascaded down the valley. A huge bass tone shook Munin to its foundations. Sergeant Chilsa looked desperately out into the impenetrable white wall that enveloped his position. Looking for a fireball, looking for something. Something to show that Corporal Streep's sacrifice hadn't been in vain.
Looking for a miracle.
Chilsa's heart sank, though the image was grainy and distorted by the amount of snow falling, through the eyes of his range finder, he could make out the covenant force moving over the rubble of the landslide. At least a quarter of their force was buried under their feet.
Not even a dent thought Chilsa.
The Covenant advance continued.
"Alright" Chilsa spoke gruffly into his helmet mike "lets give this scum something to remember us by, alpha and bravo guns, online, I want a wall of lead coming down on these Covenant bastards. Shell any dense concentrations you see. Charlie and Delta guns, keep that fire support off of us, once the main body comes under your guns, move to a new position, maintain hull down"
A chorus of acknowledgements strolled across the Comm-net.
"Fire team Charlie, stamp out their officers. Anything less then chaos is not acceptable. Fire team Zulu... you know what to do."
Chilsa nodded to Lieutenant Turley and jogged down to his warthog, jumping up onto the LAAG. He hit the cocking mechanism, listening to the autoloaders cycle through their checklist. A green button light flashed; indicating the weapon was armed.
Satisfied, he opened up the Comm-net again.
"We hold them off long enough for the drop ships, then we get the hell out"
Chilsa swatted the driver on his shoulder and the warthog lurched forward, taking up position with the rest of the troop. Running over in his mind the brief he'd been given by Lieutenant Turley- ten minutes, they were expected to last ten minutes against a covenant force of this size.
He needed twenty.
The dropships that were inbound were on approach vectors from halfway across the planet. The Acheron had to maintain its position, hidden from the covenant destroyers in the planet's shadow, keeping it relatively safe. But that relative safety had crippled the flight decks for many hours, forcing the crew to jerry-rig a fuel point outside of the cruiser just to maintain the few craft that were airborne.
"And another thing marines, if those sons-of-bitches breach the inner sanctum, our man inside gonna light this firecracker. And ain't none of you be waiting for any dropship."
His voice became a low growl.
"Do you get me?"
The Master Sergeant didn't need his headset to hear the reply that boomed out from the myriad of gun pits and concealed positions. He nodded smartly to no one in particular.
"Damn right you do."
Private Jessop was situated in fighting pit alpha. From where he was positioned, he felt that the only other situation that had ever matched this one was...
Christmas shopping.
The amount of targets that we strolling across the sights of his S2 AM Sniper Rifle; he was almost giggling with excitement. Nearly all of the other snipers felt the same. All twenty of them had their weapons trained on the Elite officers that were advancing towards them along the gauntlet. Hidden in their concealed positions, they were impossible to detect, with the added advantage of snow falling, thermal sensors would be useless.
The Covenant were walking into a fire alley.
The worst possible kind of fire alley too. Land Command had left a large contingent of snipers to deal with the covenant in a way that the despised, and suffered greatly under. Covenant forces always fought at relative close range, engaging enemies with energy weapons at range proved to be ineffective, due to the speed of their projectiles. The UNSC didn't have this problem, due to the fact that the majority of their weapons were supersonic. Human warfare had evolved in a way that didn't have the moral indignity of ground warfare at long range.
"Marking" Jessop whispered into his headset.
The Sniper element also had the advantage of digital markers they could place on their targets. These markers were assigned, then relayed to the other members of the squad, stopping them from wasting rounds on the same target.
Twenty shots rang out in quick unison like a western rodeo whip cracking convention. Supersonic rounds screaming through the air like hyperactive swallows at mach seven. But no vapor trails this time, further adding to the snipers advantage, the snowfall was concealing it.
Nineteen bloodied, dead Elite's dropped.
Then a second, lone shot slit the air with a CRACK.
Twenty Elite's lay dead on the ground.
Another volley of sniper fire filled the air. Tendrils of smoke quickly fading into the snow.
Twenty more targets hit the ground, spewing purple blood from horrible wounds. Many of them were headless.
The Covenant responded quickly to this unexpected threat, hordes of Jackals activated their energy shields and formed a protective wall in front of the Elite's, who were now marshaling the grunts into a wall of canon-fodder at the foremost of the advancing force. The Grunts moved quickly, fearing the wrath of their masters more then the humans. This effectively blocked Fire Team Charlie's line of fire, they would have to wait.
The Elite officers couldn't have picked a worse response.
Lieutenant Turley had briefed the gun crews on this maneuver Elite officers used regularly. Two M808B Scorpion Main Battle Tank Turrets swiveled into position, barrels dipping. Crew Commander Corporal 'Flex' Jones smiled curtly as he pulled the trigger.
At least three of the Elite's got their own up-close-and-personal slice of Armageddon down on the valley floor. Two huge explosions rocked the earth beneath the feat of the hapless aliens, shattering the air around them. The shells detonating with in all their glory hurling hunks of flesh and armor into the air. Their personal bodyguard didn't have it any better either. Pieces of them rained down on the surrounding area.
A few seconds later, Alpha and Bravo guns joined the fray, hurling 90mm High Velocity shells downrange. Two fireballs blossomed up from amid the Covenant ranks, Bodies following shortly afterwards. Four 7.62mm coaxial guns ignited the air with tracer, creating something akin to special effects from a science fiction film. The four Scorpion tanks shook with vibrations from the amount of fire they rained down on the enemy.
A voice exploded over the Comm-net.
"Enemy air, inbound. Three flights of banshee's approaching at speed. ETA 30 seconds, look alive. Get that anti-air mobile"
Sergeant Chilsa slapped his driver's helmet.
"FIRE TEAM ZULU, MOUNT UP!"
Five Warthogs exploded from their concealed positions, engines screaming. Snow spitting from the wheels as they tried to grab traction. The rear gunners traversing the guns to track the aircraft as they started they're attack run. The three barreled machine guns spun at an incredible rate as they spat shells into the air. Three Banshee's went down in a huge explosion; they're destroyed chassis' tumbling end over end into the ground.
Corporal Jones swiveled the turret of his MBT, searching for the fire support that was supposedly tailing the main force of Covenant. He was about to choose a more opportune target when his targeting lens flared blue then white. He followed the fluorescent blue plasma projectile for a moment before speaking into his headset.
"All units, incoming enemy fire support" just as he finished, five more plasma mortar rounds shot into the sky.
"Six incoming, I say again, six incoming bombs, logging trajectories, wait, over"
Jones started punching buttons furiously, trying to persuade the Scorpion's fire control computer to give him the grid co-ordinates of the incoming plasma bombs. A small loading bar appeared on the screen, changing colors as it filled. A split second later, figures and diagrams flashed on the screen, then a 3-D representation of the Gauntlet, small indicators flashing where the bombs were predicted to land.
"Oh, no"
Over The Line; Part 2
Date: 10 December 2003, 4:18 AM
The snipers on the valley floor, however, didn't need a fire control computer to estimate where the projectiles were going to land.
"Oh shit!" Private Jessop screamed, "we got incoming, Charlie, get your asses out of here, fall back and regroup, NOW!"
The Covenant had been waiting for the indirect fire support to find its mark. And as the incoming bombs flushed out their unseen attackers, they launched a brutal counter attack. A Storm of plasma fire buffeted the retreating marines.
It was a bloodbath.
Private Jessop ran for all he was worth, plasma fire screaming all around him, he turned to tell the man next to him to pick up the pace, but he was no longer there, he lay face down in the snow, slowly staining it with his lifeblood. Something snapped inside Jessop, something he'd been trained to do so that he would survive.
"Fuck it"
He wasn't going to survive, he knew it.
"Charlie, continue to fall back, I'll cover"
There were no acknowledgments, either no one replied, or no one was left alive. It didn't matter. Jessop dropped to one knee and took up a firing position; he dropped all of his magazines in front of him and chose a target.
CRACK
A Jackal fell, vomiting blood from its headless torso.
CRACK
Three grunts that were standing behind one another doubled over.
CRACK
An Elite's chest exploded, spitting purple blood and bone behind it.
CRACK
A Hunter's shot went wide as the anti-material round hit his fuel rod gun, jolting it to the right. Five Jackals disintegrated where the round struck.
CLICK
The empty magazine slid from the rifle, a fresh one replaced it moments later. Jessop didn't skip a beat, firing four times, four more targets fell. Another empty magazine fell from the rifle. He grabbed a new one, four more targets.
Reload.
He lined up a hunter and in quick succession pumped four rounds into its head and neck. Bright orange blood sprayed from it neck. It slumped over and collapsed, twitching twice, then it lay still.
Jessop was about to reload, and would have if a Plasma bomb hadn't landed two feet where was kneeling. The heat from the detonating projectile enveloped his body, instantly vaporizing him.
"Hit that Fucking fire support" Sergeant Chilsa yelled into helmet as he shot down another Banshee, there weren't many of them now, but they still proved to be dangerous as hell. Two of the MBT lay smoldering wrecks because of them, one on the valley floor, one on the walls.
"Flex, incoming!"
"Copy that" Jones replied as he elevated the turret of his tank, tracking a Banshee that was homing in on his position. A shell marked 'Postage Paid' slid into the Barrel, breechblock closing behind it. The tank rumbled as the charge detonated, gases created with explosive force propelling the shell out of the barrel at high velocity. The round struck the Banshee, detonating, causing its speed to drop significantly, also causing the Banshee itself to drop significantly, straight into the ground.
Jones re-aligned his turret downrange and handed it over to the fire control computer. The computer picked the best area for a hit and fired. Bravo gun, on the valley floor did the same. Two shells hurtled down the Gauntlet, detonating on a Wraith that had ventured out of its safe area. The Wraith exploded in a shower of debris, then crashed into the ground.
The Wraiths now targeted the Scorpion tank on the valley floor. The MBT wearing the designator of 'Alpha Gun' and Jones' Tank managed to destroy three of the Covenant Indirect Fire Support Tanks before the first Bombs struck. Two of them slammed into the ground near Alpha gun, the other two fell right on it, killing the crew instantly and turning the tank into a pile of molten slag.
Chilsa's voice came over on the Comm-net.
"Move to a new position Flex, we can't loose all of our MBT's. Leave it to us, we've got these bastards"
And with that, Fire Team Zulu tore off in the direction of the Wraith's that were mingling about at the rear of the enemy column, the few remaining Banshee's following close behind. The two rearmost Warthogs took up the role of anti-aircraft fire, while the other three dealt with the swarm of troops that was moving towards them at speed. The drivers, for their part, forgot everything they had ever learnt on defensive driving and braved the storm of fire, aiming for the largest masses of troops, mowing them down with diligent efficiency.
The Grunts at the front of the Covenant formation broke and ran and died as Fire Team Zulu plowed through them. Brass fell from the M41 LAAG's like rain as the gunners strafed the entire area as they punched through, heading for Wraith's. Plasma fire zinged through the air all around the vehicles, scorching the paint and armor. Surprisingly though, none of the crew were hit, they were traveling too fast for the Covenant to hit and cleared the mass of troops with no major casualties.
The first Warthog to move into the open disappeared in a flash of blue. The Mortar bomb had detonated right at its wheels, leaving a huge smoking crater, the destroyed vehicle sliding back into it. The rest of the Fire Team began evasive maneuvers, trying to dodge the fire from the three remaining Wraith's. The closest Tank, which was already damaged, blossomed into a massive fireball as a 102mm shaped charge HE Rocket struck it from behind. The door gunner quickly reloaded his M19 SSM Rocket Launcher and lined up the next Wraith. He pulled the trigger.
Miss.
The Wraith skimmed to the left of it, only to be blown apart from the combined fire of four LAAG's, its armored shell bearing striking resemblance so Swiss cheese. The last Wraith reversed quickly back towards the area where the landslide had been triggered earlier, trying to put some distance between it and the Warthogs so it could use its main weapon more effectively.
Chilsa's 'Hog threw a huge fishtail and took chase, pursuing the Deadly opponent. He jammed his thumbs down on the dual triggers and aimed the LAAG at the Tank. Tracer rounds pinged off some of the more heavily armed portions, ricocheting into the air. A Plasma Bomb exploded from the barrel of the Wraith, heading straight for the speeding Warthog; it was traveling too fast and was too close to disengage. The driver could do nothing but watch as the blue projectile arched toward him...
And detonate just before the front wheels.
If it hadn't been for the snow and subzero temperatures, the armored tires probably would have melted, instead the force of the explosion threw the vehicle into the air. The 3.25-ton vehicle flew through the air, landing on the Wraith. The force of the impact drove the tank straight into the snow, landing on what appeared to be a rock.
It wasn't a rock.
Earlier, when the demolition charges that had been spider webbed across the valley were triggered by remote, some had failed to detonate. Most, if not all of them, carried a secondary trigger mechanism. These mechanisms are pressure sensitive.
The demolition charge exploded, shredding the tank, engulfing it in a mighty fireball. The explosion, however, did not consume the Warthog. The Hog's forward momentum carried it clear of the blast, landing awkwardly in the snow. Chilsa slapped the drivers helmet.
"YEAH-HOO" He screamed out loud.
"Pulled that one right out of your ass didn't you private?"
"Didn't even know it was there, sir!"
The celebration didn't last long, the 'Hog next to Chilsa's disappeared in a fluorescent green explosion. As the remainder of the Warthogs pulled away, Chilsa found the source of the shot. A new wave of Banshee's had arrived, too many for Fire Team Zulu to handle.
Lieutenant Turley's voice came through Chilsa's headset.
"Fallback to HQ Sergeant, we need your men here, there is nothing else you can do out in the open" The sound of an explosion cut the transmission short.
"Copy that sir, on our way"
The three remaining vehicles in Fire Team Zulu speed off towards Munin, leaving plumes of heavenly white snow in they're wake. The snow was falling thick and fast now, Covenant troops seemed to appear as if from nowhere, the pristine white revealing them only as the vehicles passed a few meters away. A storm of Plasma fire lashed at the vehicles as they ran another gauntlet through the enemy troops. This time they weren't so lucky, another Warthog was destroyed, hit buy a blast from a Fuel Rod gun, the crew were killed instantly. The Marine riding shotgun on Chilsa's 'Hog was killed by a plasma blast to the face.
Two badly damaged, smoking Warthog's blasted out the other side of the Covenant formation. The distance between the installation and the enemy had shortened significantly now, leaving Sergeant Chilsa and the surviving men of Fire Team Zulu barely enough time to dismount and take cover in the main entrance. There were two marines manning Shade Stationary Gun emplacements outside. As Chilsa passed, one of the Marines stopped firing and gave him a slight nod.
Chilsa stopped.
"Good luck son" he said as he saluted him.
"Thank you sir, now, get inside... sir"
Chilsa smiled. He saluted the private again and ran inside, taking up his position near the Artifact, and the now armed HAVOK tactical nuclear mine. Corporal Jones stood over the mine, his finger extended, ready to press a luminous blue button, one that would start the countdown timer.
***Countdown Sequence***
***00:05***
***Accept?***
"Where is Lieutenant Turley, Corporal?"
"Dead sir, and incase your wondering, I'm under orders to hit this button if I see anything resembling Covenant walk around that corner, sir"
"Carry on"
Jones heard two muffled explosions and the firing from the Shade's stopped.
"Here they come" One of the Marines whispered.
The few remaining marines that had defensive positions up on the top floor opened fire, thick at first, then slowly it slackened to sporadic bursts, then stopped. The Marines on the second floor began firing as the Covenant continued their relentless push down into Munin. They're superior size had finally taken their toll on the woefully outnumbered Marine force. Even though massive casualties had been inflicted on the Covenant, they moved deeper into the installation.
There were a series of explosions, and the staccato roar of machinegun fire stopped. From where Sergeant Chilsa and the remaining rearguard stood, they could hear the alien laughter...
And the screams of their comrades.
All of the defenders had been killed. Except for what appeared to be a lone Marine. His rifle never stopped firing, every few seconds there would was a burst of rifle fire and something screaming. Grenades could be heard exploding, Fragmentation and Plasma. Sergeant Chilsa whispered to himself.
"Go down fighting son, go down like a Marine"
His impromptu prayer was cut short by the voices of Elite's just around the corner. Chilsa and the other men brought up their rifles and sighted down the hallway. Ready to sell their lives dearly for the prize that the Covenant sought. There were more voices too, what sounded like Grunts and Jackals.
Jones moved his finger a little closer to the 'Activate' button.
The defenders heard an intense fire fight break out in the next room, heard an MA5B Assault Rifle bark, a grenade explode, an Elite scream. A massive boom of a shotgun reverberated through the hallway and more Grunts screamed, two more blasts, a Jackal screeched. Moments later there was a long burst of automatic Plasma fire and an Elite laughed.
Chilsa cursed to himself.
"Get ready Marines, this is it. Make 'em pay"
There was a long, long silence. A slight whistling could be heard from a cold breeze that was blowing through the complex. Except from that, it was quieter then a tomb. One of the Marines began to shake a little in fear, his rifle rattling. Sergeant Chilsa shot him a deathly stare, the shaking stopped.
Something stepped out into the open down the far end of the corridor. The light that glinted off the armor had a green hue. Where its face should have was an emotionless gold reflective visor. In one hand it held a shotgun, the other clenched an MA5B.
"Hold your fire!" Chilsa yelled at his men.
The figure slung the shotgun and strolled down the hallway, its heavy footfalls echoing off the walls interlaced with the distant sounds of a Dropship idling. The man stopped a few meters from the remaining Marines who just stood there, dumbstruck.
Up close the armored figure was absolutely terrifying, standing eight feet tall and dripping with purple, alien blood, it just stood there for a long moment, unmoving like a statue from hell. After he had looked over what remained of the Marine Rearguard, the Master Chief's eyes fixed on Jones.
"You can remove you finger from that button, Corporal"
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