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End Game: Chapter Two
Posted By: Anthony Coronado
Date: 7 April 2003, 2:00 AM
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Hundreds of warships littered the area between Saturn and it's four moons. Many of them drifted barren, derelict, manned by a ghost crew. Not a single human craft lay undamaged, or destroy, nor did any rescue vessels arrive at the scene to search for survivors. The Covenant had landed on the moons of Saturn, and knocked out the Super MAC nuclear generators. Covenant and human ships alike drifted aimlessly on an eternal patrol. The remnants of a battered Covenant moved on, intent on taking Jupiter, Mars, and ultimately, Earth. Roughly 1300 enemy craft were operational, and were steadily heading towards the gas giant Jupiter. A similar cobalt-green rift appeared in space, just outside the Covenant formation. Additional fleets of over 500 man-of-wars were jumping in-system. When the additional fleet entered the Milky Way, the armada of vessels bypassed Jupiter and Mars, and entered into orbit above Earth.
The human fleet in orbit above Earth totaled around 900 ships, many ill equipped and poorly manned. The Admiralty opened up an unsecured frequency and transmitted a distress signal to all UNSC warships in system. Apparently, there wasn't time to secure a frequency. The Covenant fleet was unfortunate enough to jump right between Earth and her moon, a fatal mistake. In between Earth, the moon, and the Covenant fleet hibernated the human fleet. Twelve orbit docking bays above Earth scrambled their fighters, and the shipboard fighters added to the masses. Literally tens of thousands of fighters and interceptors engaged an impervious fleet. The hundred or so small and large Covenant carriers released their Seraph fighters. Over a million independent fighters skirmished between the enemy lines in orbit.
Human and Covenant point defense weapons engaged the enemy fighters. A bright silver streak of light appeared on each of the Covenant ships midsection. The dozen repair vessels maneuvered into position, shielding the rest of the fleet and buying precise time. The first devastating salvo of Super MAC rounds fired, knocking out close to eighty vessels and paralyzing another thirty. The human fighters were at a staggering disadvantage and were loosing numbers fast. At a range of over 100000 kilometers, the Covenant fleet opened fire on the human lines. It was odd, instead of ignoring them and glassing the planet, the deliberately attacked the human fleet. The second volley of Super MAC rounds lanced towards their targets and destroyed another couple dozen vessels. The super heated plasma torpedoes were approaching fast, and struck the repair vessels.
The human fleet began to return fire as the repair vessels vaporized. Thousands of MAC projectiles, and Archer missiles raced towards the Covenant fleet. By the time the third salvo of Super MAC rounds were fired, only 11 had been damaged or destroyed. The Covenant had sustained heavy loses early in the battle, and were quick to return the favor. They returned fire at the human fleet, and they scattered like rats being chased by a cat. They broke formation, and independently attacked individual targets. Another barrage of cold tungsten steel was fired, and then another.
A giant rift began to overlap the obsidian black of space. Another Covenant fleet jumped into the system behind the human forces. Two dozen Super MAC guns and a contingent of human vessels turned to meet the new fleet head-to-head. The spearhead of the fleet hadn't cleared the rift of space before Super MAC rounds chopped it down. Another vessel subsequently collided with the destroyed vessel, and was engulfed in fire. The human fleet began suffering staggering loses. To make matters worse, they couldn't defend themselves because they had been ordered to destroy the invasion fleet of dropships. The battle over Earth hellishly raged, and it wasn't going to let up anytime soon.
Fire Base Zulu knew there was war raging above their heads. They just didn't know when it would make it's way to them, and they hoped it wouldn't. When the Covenant fleet entered the system, the whole base was put on alert. The AA battery personnel and Intel officers in the HQ had already been pulling double shifts. Now they were expected to pull triple. Deep within the confines of Fire Base Zulu, below 500 feet of reinforced concrete, lay 36 nuclear generators that powered the orbit MAC guns. Of course, however, there were other complexes were auxiliary generators were housed so no one assault could leave the Earth defenseless. Fire Base Zulu was located in the derelict deserts of Arizona, and was manned by two whole divisions; 32000 combat-ready Marine and Naval personnel.
Lt. Riley gazed into the blue sky in the early afternoon light. His high powered binoculars picked up a contrail of black smoke. That's when he saw the first hint of an invasion. The Longsword interceptors must have engaged the enemy dropships when they entered the atmosphere. The trail of smoke lead Riley to see the invasion fleet closely followed by the Longsword interceptors, which were followed by a massive squadron of Seraph fighters. Riley radioed back to Fire Base Zulu, "Fire Base Zulu, this is Fire Team Stryker. Over."
"Roger that, Fire Team Stryker. Go ahead, over."
"I have visual confirmation of large force of enemy bogies heading to your location. Repeat visual confirmation of a large force of enemy bogies heading in your direction. There is a large fleet of dropships being trailed by some of our Longswords. Seraph fighters harassing the Longswords. Over."
"Roger that, Fire Team Stryker. Good work, return home. Over." Lt. Riley set his binoculars the glove compartment, and hopped into the passenger seat. "Let's roll," was all he said as his driver slammed his foot to the floor. The rear tires of the ATV kicked up dirt and sand as it tried to grip the loose soil. The Warthog eventually fishtailed, turned 180 degrees, and headed back to Fire Base Zulu, trailed by three other Warthogs. After a good two minutes of undisturbed driving, Lt. Riley caught site of the fire base on the horizon. They had a good lead on the invasion force, but they were gaining quickly. They were now close enough to see the low-lying pillboxes in front of the base, the guard/AA towers, and the twenty-meter high steel wall that protected the outside of the base.
The first of the AA batteries began to target the inbound invasion fleet. There was over 200 Covenant dropships, all carrying well over 30 combatant each. The batteries fired a salvo of Anvil III SAM missiles. Eight of the dropships were taken out before they even got within one thousand meters of the fire base. Each battery was complimented with a pair of 50mm autocannons. The column of `Hogs was still well over six meters out when the four gunners opened up on the fleet. The small 30mm rounds were too weak to significantly damage the dropships but it certainly got their attention. A pair of dropships began to fire back at the column. The dropships were in range now and the autocannons began decimating the airborne forces. Within seconds, four other dropships went drop from the autocannons alone, and another dozen from the AA batteries.
The Longsword formation broke off the assault on the dropships and averted their attention to their assailants. The Seraph fighters were sneaky little bastards, but they were lured close to the fire base and attacked by the AA batteries. The AA batteries tore them to shreds and two dozen rocket jockeys opened up on the fighters with M19 SMMs. Half of the invasion force landed outside the gates and most were immediately cut down by heavy machinegun fire. A half-dozen snipers from inside the base began picking off targets of opportunity with their S2 AM sniper rifle. The first to fall was usually the Elite, who commanded the enemy units. A pair of dropships got too close to the base perimeter, unloaded its cargo, and was struck with AA fire from a couple autocannons.
A squadron of Seraph began trying to draw AA fire while strafing, giving the dropships a chance to breath. Lt. Riley's fire team was now safely inside the perimeter of the fire base. His twelve men charge a ramp that led to the top of one of the walls. From their perch, they would have a vantage point to attack the invaders. Most, if not all, of the dropships were destroyed either in the insertion or the takeoff after the drop off. The smoldering hulks of the dropships provided ample cover for the Covenant forces. However, behind their cover they were sitting ducks for sniper and SSM fire. The Seraph fighters hauled ass out of the combat zone, and the stragglers that stayed behind were obliterated.
Lt. Riley slung his Battle Rifle, and pulled out his M6D pistol. He activated his scope, and looked for a target. A clutch of Grunts waddled forward, and was cut down by a pillbox. He searched for another target, and saw an Elite. He squeezed the trigger gently, and squelched the semi-armor piercing round out of the barrel. The Elite's shield absorbed the brunt of the attack, and Riley pulled the trigger again. The enemies shield flickered, and faded. Riley fired two more rounds into the enemy's skull, effectively ending his life. Riley began to reload his pistol when he realized it was too easy. He had expected a lot more opposition that had actually arrived. He heard the whoosh! of an SSM as the 102mm round raced past his ear towards an embedded group of Covenant soldiers.
The reverberating sound of fragmentation grenades was deafening, and the familiar staccato of Battle and Assault Rifle fire added to the effect. Riley's demolitions expert, Pfc. Fitzgerald, primed a fragmentation and dropped it on the unsuspecting head of an enemy directly below the 20-meter high wall. The frag detonated, plastering the Elite's guts on the wall. Seemingly all of the defenders of the base were on the walls, repelling borders. As Riley kneeled down to reload his depleted Battle Rifle magazine, he witnessed the soldier next to him get hit with red-hot plasma. The soldier feel to the deck, half of his molten face gone. The cried in agony, and begged for his mother. Riley pulled out a morphine syringe and administered first aid. The only thing to do to the mortally wounded soldier was to comfort him.
Riley looked over the barricade to see a blue orb of plasma pass right in front of his face. He pulled the trigger, and put a three round burst into the skull of a hapless Grunt below. He pulled a grenade off his bandoleer, pulled the pin yelled "Fire in the hole!" and threw it over the wall. A gout of fire kicked up dust and debris as the grenade exploded. The Covenant eventually got enough grenades in one area to blow a hole through the wall, and in streamed the entire Covenant army. The soldiers on top of the wall fired desperately into the mass of bodies flooding into the compound. They dropped grenades into the opening and decimated dozens of enemy troops.
A couple of troops were armed with shotguns and SSMs. They emptied their racks and switched to their shotguns, pelting the enemy combatants with shotgun slugs. A third soldier was able to get to a Warthog's M41 LAAG and fired into the masses. By that time, however, enough Covenant troops had poured into the compound to make it virtually useless. The Marines were gradually withdrawing from their perches on the walls, and into the pit of the fire base. Riley was fortunate enough to regroup with his fire team and coordinate effective resistance. His men were moving from building to building, gradually withdrawing, killing as many of the bastards as possible. Riley had lost two of his infantrymen, and his wasn't going to let the rest of the Marines die.
By now, the ground was littered with thousand of died and dying, both human and Covenant. The Covenant force had taken approximately a third of the compound, but the Marines were able to get to the vehicle bays to grab some heavy weaponry. Riley's fire team was able to grab a hold of a pair of Scorpion tanks, and began shelling the hell out of the Covenant forces taking refuge in some of the barracks. Fortunately, the Pelican dropships, all 144 of them, were on their side of the base, so an emergency evac was a possibility. They had also placed four thirty-megaton nuclear warheads inside the base. They were set to detonate if the nuclear generators were compromised. But Riley and his squad were determined not to let that happen. Besides, over 1000 Marines had withdrawn into the command and control facilities, and the only way to get to the generators was through their.
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