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Hard day in Boston
Posted By: Hawkeye<natham.mccall@hotmail.com>
Date: 13 November 2007, 3:05 am


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UNSC military calendar September 9, 2552
Boston, Massachusetts. Earth, Sol System
"God Damnit", exclaimed Lieutenant Mark Harris as another of the M831 TT Warthogs he and his squad were escorting was blown to pieces as the covenant Banshees strafed the convoy again. There were now five warthog's left out of the original twelve. All had been carrying ammunition, reinforcements and wounded to the new resistance base just out of Boston. The covenant has landed a small expeditionary force five klicks out of Boston. They are massing for an attack on the city and seem to be unloading digging, and excavation equipment. That was what the squads briefing officer had told them before they headed out as a recon force. Small expeditionary force my ass, eight covenant brigades and four armour battalions is not a small expeditionary force, it's a bloody invasion army for Christ sakes thought Harris.
Harris' Helljumper squad had scouted the Covenant landfall area and had seen the vast amount of armour and equipment the Covenant was unloading from the cruiser stationed above the landfall site. They squad had been forced to withdraw when Covenant banshees threatened to give away their position. After returning to the Boston outskirts, they were ordered to rendezvous with a convoy of Warthogs that were making there way toward the new UNSC resistance base. The squad had successfully made the rendezvous with the convoy but found that it was already under attack by Covenant air support. The lead warthog, an armoured vehicle equipped with a .50 anti-aircraft chain gun mounted on the back, stopped in front of the ODSTs. The driver stood in his seat and called for the squad to mount up. Harris had immediately jumped onto the chain gun and swung round as the banshees made another pass.
Now, the convoy contained only five warthog's and the banshees were circling round for another pass. Harris pulled back on the chaingun's slide and cycled another of the .50 rounds into the chamber. The distinctive sound of the Covenant banshees filled the air as the purple fliers screamed overhead. Harris jammed his fingers down on the chaingun's trigger button and sent a hail of bullets towards the nearest banshee. The chaingun shook violently as the weapon spewed round after round at the alien fighter. Bullets pinged off of the undercarriage and finally hit something. The banshee trailed smoke and began to nose dive toward the ground. The flier slammed into a building and crumpled, killing the pilot.
The other banshee swung round, looking for the source of fire that had destroyed its wingman. Harris fired again and the weapon exploded with vibration as the rounds tore through the air. The Banshee turned towards him and fired its plasma cannons at him. Heat washed over Harris and blisters prickled on his arms as the plasma missed him by centimetres. Harris screamed as the he fired, the chaingun's handles grew hot in his hands but he did not dare to stop firing. The banshee fired again, the blue plasma hit the front of the warthog, killing the driver and passenger and sending heat over Harris again. He kept firing until his rounds tore through the front armour of the banshee, killing its pilot and causing the banshee to veer into a building and explode. Harris, dripping in sweat, let go of the chaingun's grip, the skin on his peeled away as well. He jumped down from the warthog and slumped against the rear wheel. The other warthogs pulled to a stop and his squad jumped out, his medic, corporal Reece running toward him, pulling out the small first aid kit he carried.
"Sir, are you hit, are you all right" asked Reece.
Harris could do nothing more then proffer his hands towards the medic. Reece looked at the officer's hands and pulled out a can of biofoam from the kit. He lightly applied the antibacterial healing agent then wrapped Harris' hands in bandages.
"Just wrap the palms corporal, leave the fingers so I can still fire my rifle," said Harris.
Reece nodded and completed Harris' treatment. Another member of Harris' squad, sergeant Danielles, appeared behind Reece.
"Sir, HQ radioed, they have a Pelican Dropship inbound to pick us up. Seems the Covenant have started their push and we're needed on the other side of the city to hold them back" reported Danielles.
Harris could already hear the sound of the Pelican approaching. He hauled himself onto his feet as the Pelican touched down in the middle of the road.
"All right people, hop in, seems the covenant want a piece of Massachusetts real estate, well, we don't take to kindly to squatters in these parts, so let's go chase 'em outta town" called Harris. The remaining warthogs peeled off and Harris climbed into the back of the Pelican. He lightly banged on the cockpit door and the Pelican immediately began lifting off the ground. His squad had been in the lucky warthogs, he thought, no one got killed in my stick. He turned and entered the cockpit, closing the door behind him.
"So what's happening across town?" asked Harris.
"Covenant in force, the garrison on the edge of town and withdrew and are hold up in two warehouse. Command says you have to help them out and kick any Covenant bastard from here to Reach" replied the pilot.
The flight took five minutes and soon, Harris could see flashes of plasma fire and explosions in the streets ahead. He opened his squad's COM channel. "Marines, we're landing under fire, lock and load people lets go" he ordered. Someone, probably Reece or Makincta activated their MP9 and the Helljumper anthem blared through the squad's COM. Harris was about to reprimand them when the Pelican shook violently. The pilot swung the dropship round and activated the chin-mounted chaingun. The .50 rounds tore through the covenant forces on the street. Brutes, Jackals and Grunts spewed blood and slumped; their only movement was caused by the machine gun rounds still tearing into them. Harris left the cockpit and pulled the slide back on his BR55 Battle Rifle. He leapt out of the Pelican followed by his squad and brought his rifle to bare on a group of Grunts. Three quick squeezes of the trigger and the Grunts were down. His squad took up positions on either side of the street and slowly made their way toward the warehouse where the marine garrison was hold up.
The squad turned a corner into an alleyway. Makincta, the squads' sniper, shouldered his weapon and drew a bead on a Brute Chieftain standing in the road. Two quick shots and the Brute was dead. Makincta suddenly whirled around and slumped to the ground.
"SNIPER! DOWN, GET DOWN NOW!" roared Harris into his COM.
The squad hit the ground but Reece crept forward, set on checking Makincta. Harris grabbed his ankle and pulled him back without a word. Two other squad members came forward, one wielding a Rocket Launcher. The other marine leapt from cover, a thin beam of purple plasma streamed past him and as it did, the marine with the launcher jumped out of cover and fired the weapon at the Jackal's position. The window shattered and crater appeared in the side of the building as the shaped charge detonated. The squad continued towards the warehouses, above, UNSC Hornets fought Covenant banshees and Longsword interceptors chased and got chased by Covenant Seraph fighters. Harris' squad reached the warehouse. They found it guarded by no less then a wraith tank and two Hunter pairs. Harris activated his COM again. "Tango Alpha, this Echo Nine, I need a low level strike at these coordinates, Charlie Nineteen by Roger Eleven. Do not, I repeat, do not hit the buildings. Over" Thirty seconds later, four Longsword interceptors roared across the sky. They swung round and sped along the street. The Longswords discharged their payload and roared into the sky. The wraith and Hunters were engulfed in fire as the bombs detonated on them. Harris led his squad into the warehouse to be greeted by a Captain in the Marine Corps.
"Thank you, getting us out Lieutenant, we lost our radio and heavy weapons when the Covenant attacked" said the marine Captain, shaking Harris' hand.
"Don't thank me yet captain, where not out of this until all the Covenant are dead".





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