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Battle of New Alexandria by Matt Mills
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Battle for New Alexandria Part 1
Date: 29 May 2012, 6:49 pm
Sergeant Jack Robins stepped out from HEV and surveyed the area around him. Mostly grassland with a city in the distance. Corvettes loomed in the sky. The grass around him stretched to his eyes at highest. It could obscure and camouflage anything. He flicked on his VISR. He saw only outlines of green. He nodded and turned back to his pod. He wrenched the MA5B assault rifle from it mounting and pulled the bolt.
"This is Robins, reporting," He said.
"Robins?" said a voice a few meters away.
"Yeah?"
"Get over here."
Jack brushed the grass away and saw his friend, Jordan Smith.
"What is it, Jordan?" He asked.
"Covies are jamming our comms, I think," He said, "No one else has reported in."
"I guess we'll find out," Jack said. They carefully trudged through the field and rounded up their squad mates. They came to an HEV that hadn't opened yet.
"It's Cap's pod," Jordan said. Jack nodded and knocked on the windscreen. He saw their platoon leader, Captain Thom "Cap" Willis. He saw Cap's helmeted head, and he motioned with one finger, signaling "just a minute". He reached down drew his pistol, pointing it at the glass. Jack quickly moved away from the glass as he fired the M6C/S and shattered the windscreen.
"The pod is too deep down in the dirt. The door won't open," He said, "Here goes nothing." He dove through the shattered windscreen, his BDU nearly getting stuck in the narrow hole. He pulled himself up, and put his arm back in the pod and retrieved his Battle Rifle.
"Status report, Robins," Cap ordered.
"The entire platoon is accounted for, sir," Jack informed, "Objective is an estimated two and a half kilometers north, with a believed heavy enemy presence." Cap nodded and goaded his men on. They reached the boundaries of the city. Cap held his hand up, and the platoon came to a stop. The grass still covered them, and guarding the city limits was a Covenant blockade, complete with plasma cannons and Shade turrets. "Grunts on cannons and turrets, Jackals up high," Cap said. Jack looked up at the blockade. There were vivid purple overhangs with Jackal snipers toting deadly focus rifles.
"Sync attacks. Robins, Smith, you take down those snipers. Everyone else, take aim at those gunners. Synced?" Cap asked. Everyone whispered an assent. Jack and Jordan drew their M6Cs, complete with smart-linked scopes. "Everyone ready?" Another murmur of agreement, and Cap gestured for them to open fire. Fourteen guns opened up, and with purple and bright blue blood blasting over the barriers. Cap dashed forward, followed by the others. They climbed over the triple barriers set up by the Covenant and fired at the cannon fodder throwing themselves at them. Jack stepped over the corpses of Grunts and Jackals, and yelled out,
"Engineer, up high!"
An engineer had taken up post above them, fiddling with a Needler. Suddenly, it gave a cry of pain, and burst apart, lit plasma grenades falling to the ground.
"Get out of there!" someone yelled. Two unlucky ODSTs were caught in the blast radius, and were completely boiled inside their red-hot armor.
"Men down, Miller and Johnson KIA!" Cap yelled, unsuccessfully attempting to retrieve their dogtags, which had welded to their armor. They left the smoldering hunks of metal behind and continued on. Cap signaled for the men to crouch low as a Spirit droned above them. The gunner didn't spot them, and it flew on.
"Mitchell, you're up," Cap said. Corporal Mitchell ran up beside Cap, and hefted his rocket launcher.
"Locked, firing," He said, and a high explosive shell exploded from the barrel. It found its way from the launcher to the back end of the Spirit. He fired again, and the drop ship fell to the ground with a violet explosion. The platoon sprinted up to the crash site, where a small group of injured Elites attempted to pick themselves up. Electricity crackled up and down their armor, giving the signal their shields were down. With a second collective burst, the Sangheili fell with roars of pain.
"Enemies down, at ease," Cap said. Jack sighed in relief and sat down on a piece of wreckage. Cap began a long and winded status report to command, and Jordan joined Jack. They depolarized their visors, and momentarily put down their weapons.
"So, Miller and Johnson, eh?" He asked.
"Yeah. They were good guys," Jack said solemnly, "But Miller was always a little slow, and Johnson happened to be beside of him." They laughed uneasily, but it was short lived as Cap suddenly stopped his comm stream.
"Get down!" He yelled, jumping to the ground. Jack and Jordan both dove into the dirt, as explosions rained around them, and the heat of plasma crystallizing the ground singed their armor. Jack chanced a look up, and spotted the Banshees strafing the platoon pull up and over for another pass.
Battle for New Alexandria Part 2
Date: 5 June 2012, 2:15 am
In the short lull before the plasma started falling again, the two quickly dashed to better cover, beside Cap.
"Frigate Redemption, this is 5th platoon. We're being strafed heavily, two Banshees. Requesting Longsword strike ASAP," Cap said, "Stay low." Jack and Jordan nodded as the Banshees passed over again. During the second pass, two missiles streaked out of the sky. One impacted a Banshee, while the other exploded near the second and brought is out of the sky.
"Confirm kill on enemy birds. We need medi-evac, there are wounded, repeat, we have wounded!" Cap said. Jack waited as a Pelican slowly lowered from the sky, the back hatch opening up.
"Help the wounded," Cap ordered them. Jack hurried over to the guys who had been hit, and picked them up. A nurse, backed up by marine medics shepherded them towards the dropship, until the three wounded ODSTs had been loaded on. The hatch closed and the Pelican rose off the ground.
"Move up, we have to secure Traxus Tower, it gives us a great view of New Alexandria," Cap ordered.
"5th platoon, expect heavy Brute presence in the city. Two Brute regiments are estimated to be present inside the city, though it could be more," Command warned them. "Switch to shredder rounds, we'll need the stopping power," Cap advised. Jack took the clip in his gun out and loaded another, labeled with a large S. They reached the streets, and the shotgunners (including Jordan) took up the front.
"ETA on Traxus, 3 minutes, sir," Jack said. Abandoned cars were strewn about on the highway, dead civilians littering the sidewalk, seven inch long spikes embedded in their bodies.
"Those animals," Someone said.
"Covenant knows no bounds, soldier," Cap reminded him, "Stay on your guard, you could be next." They entered the lobby, and loaded on to two elevators.
"Expect heavy resistance. There won't be any hostages," Cap assured them. The elevator opened, and the platoon was stricken with the fact that they still had the element of surprise. Cap pointed at several muscular, gray masses hunched over civilian corpses. Jack drew his combat knife, and Cap stuck up three fingers. Two. One. Jack plunged the blade into the Brute's neck, silently killing it. He struggled to put the gorilla sized body onto the ground quietly. He was about to move on to the next one before he heard a loud thud. Mitchell had dropped his Brute on the ground. The others roared and opened up with their Spikers. Jack, Jordan, and several others dropped to the ground. Thompson fell to the ground, three spikes in his abdomen. He yelped in pain, writhing on the ground. The spikes were still red hot. A Brute Captain walked over and ended Thompson's life with his Mauler. However, he had made the mistake of forgetting about Thompson's squad. All nine of them lit him up, red blood spurting all over the ground. The Brute minors backing him up were caught off guard, and fell as well.
"Command, this is the 5th. We've secured the atrium for now. Awaiting further orders, over," Cap said, "Ok, brass says army troopers are coming to take over for us. They want us up on an upper level to protect the evac birds from Banshees." They once again loaded up the elevators. When they reached the 70th floor, the elevator stopped and they entered into a hallway filled with wounded civilians.
"Comfort them," Cap ordered, "I'll get a medi-evac in here." Jack knelt down beside one and consoled her, when Cap retorted, "Well, great. This area's too hot for medi-evac. Once the Banshees are out of the sky, they'll evac us. Come on!" At the end of the hallway, it looked as if a plasma torpedo had exploded, as most of the walls at the end of the hall had melted away, and the outside of it looked even worse.
"Mitchell, take the rockets and bring those Banshees down. Jack, search the area, try to find anything of interest," Cap said. "Yes sir," Jack said, turning around on the still-smoldering balcony and entered a small storage area. There was a crate full of DMR and shotgun ammunition, a case of ODST grade jetpacks, and spare rockets.
"Jordan, come over here, help me lift this crate!" Jack exclaimed. Jordan hurried over and took one side of the crate. They heaved it out to where the rest of the platoon waited.
"Merry Christmas, guys," Jordan panted, "there's still more stuff back there. Rockets and jetpacks."
"Get the rockets, leave the packs," Cap said, "We're staying here until further notice." At that moment, Cap put his finger to his radio.
"Speaking of further notice," Jordan whispered.
"Change of plans," Cap said, "We've got whatever a 'Sierra B312' coming our way. Take up defensive positions." The platoon watched the skies, looking for whatever was coming towards them. Jack heard the elevator arrive behind them, and turned around. The soldier who walked in was clad in completely gray armor, face hidden behind a yellow visor, bristling with weapons, and was unmistakable. He was a SPARTAN.
Battle of New Alexandria Part 3
Date: 8 June 2012, 7:59 pm
For once, Cap seemed speechless. The Spartan took some rifle ammo from the crate, and turned to Cap, dwarfing him.
"Um, what can I call you?" Cap asked.
"Lieutenant," He said bluntly. At that point, Jack noticed B-312 engraved on his shoulder pad. "How can I help?"
"Well, we have this area pretty much locked down," Cap answered, gathering himself, "But over the gap, the Covies will pin down any evac bird that tries to airlift those civilians." He acknowledged the dug in Covenant on the far side of the blast zone. A Brute Captain wielding a hammer roared challenges from a high point at them.
"I think we've found a use for those jetpacks, sir," Jordan piped up.
"I believe we have. Spartan, you, me, Robins, and Smith will take out those Covies, Mitchell, stay here with the rest of the squad and continue to shoot down Banshees. Robins, Smith, Bullfrog Protocol." ODSTs were trained in the "Bullfrog Protocol", basically, jetpack training. ODSTs using jetpacks were subsequently called Bullfrogs. Jack took one jetpack and magnetized it to his back. He linked it to his helmet and tested it. The jets deployed fired, lifting him several feet off the ground. Cap and Jordan had also done it. The Spartan didn't hesitate at all, hooking up the jetpack and linking it to his own helmet.
"Welcome to the Bullfrogs," Jordan said to the Spartan, "Try to keep up." The Spartan nodded, and sped off. The ODSTs took off behind him. When they were halfway across the gap, the super soldier had already engaged the Covenant on the service landing. Jack landed on the lower level, passing three slain Grunts. A stairwell led up to the second floor. He could hear the sounds of battle (slaughter seemed to be a more acceptable word) above him. Up top, Jack finally caught up to the Spartan, who was engaging the Captain. The Brute swung his gravity hammer, sending a shockwave through the air that Jack felt, several meters away. As the Brute heaved the hammer back up, B-312 slammed his rifle butt into the alien's face, causing it to recoil. Jack opened fire, five shots finding their way into the Brute's torso. He doubled over, giving the Spartan the chance to deliver the killing blow to the back of the head with his Magnum. The lieutenant nodded as he continued on. Cap and Jordan had also caught up, but there was only a short lull as Brute reinforcements charged towards them. The Spartan chucked a grenade, fragmenting (literally) the charge and sending chunks of Brute flying.
"Come on, move up!" Cap exclaimed, "What's your objective, Spartan?"
"The service pad on Traxus Tower. Fuel Rod Shades are picking off evac birds. Wouldn't mind taking down that Corvette, either." Cap looked up at the ship orbiting above the city, raining plasma torpedoes on the skyscrapers.
"You say it like it's an easy thing," Jordan said.
"I've taken down two so far, Marine. It's not as hard as it looks," He snapped back.
"Says the seven foot tall walking tank."
"Can it, Marine!" Cap yelled, "Now, we're going to the service pad!" The trio met relatively light Covenant resistance up until they reached the concourse, where they linked up with a squad of Army troopers.
"You headed for the service pad?" The sergeant in charge asked. The Spartan nodded, and once again threw himself at the Covenant defending the pad. Jack looked up, and saw huge fuel rods flying towards a Pelican from an overhang.
"There's the pad!" He said, pointing it out. The Spartan saw it too, killed the Jackal he had engaged, and rocketed upwards towards the pad.
"Uh, meet us up there, I guess," Jordan said to the ground-bound army troopers. The ODSTs joined the super soldier up top, fighting even more Brutes. Cap pointed towards two landings above the main atrium, and prompted the two to go up. Jack took up a position above the fighting, and picked a Brute. Cap ran to join the Spartan, and planted a hard kick in a Brute's side. Merely annoyed, the Brute backhanded Cap and sent him flying. However, the Spartan planted his knife into the Brute's stomach, bringing him down and crushing his neck with his boot. The Spartan continued without pausing to the pad, while Jordan and Jack attended to Cap. Distant explosions signaled the destruction of the Shades. Cap's visor had been shattered, and his face punctured by the glass. He had also received head trauma, and was unconscious.
"Evac Pelican, we're ready for dust-off," The Spartan said to his radio. Within seconds, a dropship arrived. Civilians loaded it, and they barely made enough room to fit Cap on. He finally came to, and muttered, "Robins, take over for me until I come back." Jack nodded and turned to the Spartan. Two Falcons had arrived to support the evac, and he had taken up the left gunner's position on one. Jack saluted him, and said, "Thanks for the assist, Spartan. We'll stay to secure this area. Go do what you have to do." The Spartan simply nodded as the Falcon flew away.
"You think he'll actually take down that Corvette?" Jordan asked. Jack shrugged and said, "Guess we'll find out." Half an hour later, Jack's attention was drawn to lights in the sky. Missiles were streaking towards the Corvette, impacting and exploding on the surface of it. It quickly drew back, listing severely to the left. The two barely had time to celebrate when they received word from Command.
"Captain Willis has received a severe concussion. We think he'll return to active duty in two weeks. In the meantime, a Pelican carrying your squad will pick you up and take you to HQ." In no time at all, a Pelican arrived, the six others in their squad waiting in the back.
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