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Battle of Croton


It had been approximately three days and still there had been no major covenant counter attack, some believe it would never come. The marines had been dumped on this god forsaken planet a month ago, but something was strange about the battle the covenant task force was well...small, only two frigates. The UNSC had shown up with three destroyers and five frigates. During the course of the battle thousands of covenant troops invaded the planet, but hundreds of thousands of marines were dropped in, and for once the UNSC had won in space. Now all they had to deal with was the ground troops...well at least they weren't going to get glassed. After two days of intense ground fighting the ships were called away on some priority alpha 'bull crap', every thing was priority alpha now. Anyway neither covenant nor human vessel had returned in over a month and it seemed that the marines would be stuck on this planet forever. Well at least the covenant seemed to be beaten on the ground, but who could say for sure, this whole campaign had been bizarre right off the bat.
Rennerd was quickly thrown out of thought quit literally "INCOMING!" is all he heard and then was thrown into the air like a toy. He landed unceremoniously on the ground.Crap, he thought, how did the zero in our position so quickly, and where did they get the mortar tank. They should have all been destroyed in the last battle. He stood up got over to Shandor, his radioman, and screamed over the com. "Get me some air support over here, all hell is breaking loose!" Just then five ghosts, accompanied by a whole fucking army of grunts and three banshees attacked his small encampment. He heard a pilot's voice come over the COM, "We'll be there in ten minutes. Over." "You've got three, anymore than that and we'll all be dead." Renner retorted, "Well see what we can do, no promises." Incompetent pilots Renner thought to himself, well he had more important things to worry about, like...staying alive. He looked to Carl "Get a squad equipped with M 19 SSM rocket launchers. We need to take out those banshees, they're tearing us apart." "Already on it" Carl said, "and you Gearhart you get your team equipped with MA2B rifles, pistols, and whatever...just set them up and keep those rocket crews safe, no matter what" "Yes sir!" Gearhart immediately jumped to his task. Renner looked around the encampment had noticed he only had two warthogs to work with, "Man, why do I always get stuck it the boonies? Smitty, Grater you man the warthogs. Take full crews with you, I need you to distract those ghosts so the don't wreck havoc with our lines." "What are you going to do?" Smitty asked. "Me?" Renner said, "I'm leading the counter attack"

At the command base a private came running threw the door, "Sir," he yelled to lieutenant Jamison "recon base Dealey is getting hit hard. They say they can only hold out for maybe five minutes at the most, they need support." Jamison went over to his maps he looked tired and aged beyond his years, the war had certainly taken it's toll on him. "There's a narrow canyon pass about five clicks south of their base tell, them to double-time-it back to that position and we'll give them all the support they need." "Yes sir" the private ran to his task. "Do really think they can make it?" sergeant McIggerd asked. "For their sake I hope they can but I wouldn't count on it." Jamison said. "So should we send the reinforcements, they could be used other places." McIggerd asked, "I don't see why not. All of the other fronts are quiet and have been for three days, this is probably the Covenant's last-ditch effort." Jamison then sent out the order with another private. The private began handing out the orders and hear the radioman yell, "We've got a problem, we've confirmed attacks on five different bases." The private ran back to the lieutenant, 'well' he thought 'Jamison got one thing right this is the Covenant's last-ditch effort, but now non of the fronts are quiet."
Back at recon base Dealey the battle had gone completely south, out of the fifty marines Renner had started with only thirteen were still able to fight. The counter attack he was to lead never even happened, one warthog had been destroyed but the covenant had lost three ghosts and a fair number of infantry, but most importantly they had lost all of their air support. The marines had lost a rocket squad right off the bat and they were attempting to take down a banshee but it fired its fuel rod cannon killing most of them just before it burst into flames and those that had survived were crushed under its falling wreckage. The other two banshees had gone down with relative ease but the counter attack had to be canceled to make up for the loss of the rocket squad. After that it all went to hell they had to repel attack after attack after attack after attack after a brief 5-minute break followed by another attack. The remaining warthog had to be pulled back to help support what was left of the marines. Shandor ran over to Renner "SIR ORDERS FROM HQ WE ARE TO PULL BACK TO A NARROW CANYON PASS ABOUT FIVE CLICKS SOUTH OF HERE!!" "What the hell, we finally get dug in and we have to pull back this is such a load of bullshit, tell them we will be there ASAP and redirect that air support" Renner said. "I'LL DO MY BEST!!" Shandor said "MOVE OUT" Renner yelled. He ran to the warthog and jumped in the now empty gunner seat, he notice Grater was driving given he had only one arm but Grater didn't even seem to notice, that means Smittys dead Renner thought, good riddance to the stupid bastard. Just then the two remaining ghosts gave chase and they were all dented as hell, just like my warthog Renner thought. They must be having a pretty ruff time also. Renner aimed at the more damaged of the two and sent a steady stream of lead death its way. The bullets impacted denting the front of the ghost over and over and over and...never-mind, finally the armor gave way and the nose of the ghost collapsed like Michael Jackson's nose and BOOM! the ghost exploded causing a thundering echo through the narrow canyon they had just entered. "And for my next trick" Renner yelled to the passenger over the whine of the engine, Renner pulled out a grenade pulled the pin and just dropped it behind the warthog. "One, two, three" BOOM! "their goes the last of the ghosts" Renner allowed himself a small smirk. They cleared the canyon "We'll set up here" Renner said, "we'll use the canyon exit as a choke point and wait for reinforcements." They formed a small semicircle around the canyon exit with the warthog in the center and waited.
Ten minutes latter the covenant came barreling around the corner elites and grunts engaged the small band of marines, the shear amount of fire was causing the ground to distort from the heat. Renner looked at his men and thought this is were I die. "Ahhh" he grasped his ear as a rocket went screaming passed his head "Watch your fire marine!" Renner yelled. "Sorry, my bad!" Carl said through blood soaked lips, KA..BOOM! the elites at the front of the advancing formation were blow into oblivion, "Wrrrrrrraaaaaaaaa" their finale cries echoed through the canyon. Then Renner saw something that put the fear of God into him, around the corner came ten hunters and what appeared to be two ghosts poorly welded together, and mounted on the back was a plasma mortar off of one of the covenants tanks. Then the hunters and the "ghost-tank" for lack of a better word, began powering up. NO Renner thought they're going to wipe us out with one gigantic salvo and there is nothing we can do about it. Then thud thud the sound of rolling thunder two high velocity shells impacted on the covenant lines, blood, death and the smell of burning flesh filled Renner's nose. Then three longsword interceptors went screaming over the "ghost-tank" and a majority of it hunter support was obliterated. Support was finally there ten warthogs most of them customized out of necessity came to support Renner's recon team, accompanied by sixty marines. "Oooorahh" the hole squad yelled. Renner looked for a good warthog to man, He finally decided on the one that had two mounted M 19 SSM rocket launchers were the chain gun had been. He surveyed the seen and it looked like something out of "Road Warrior©", each warthog was different some had almost nothing except for maybe a mortar or a grenade launcher others were armed to the teeth like the "Stinging Pig", which was basically a warthog chasse with tank treads for its rear wheels, and the main gun attached were the chain gun used to be, it was also covered head to wheel with hunter arm shields that had been 'liberated' after numerous battles. It also came equipped with two anvil missiles. The "Stinging Pig" could take a huge amount of damage and dish out some major pain. "Okay," Renner said "we're going to chase done those covie basters and kill them all. Do you get me?!" "SIR YES SIR" they shouted in unison.
They quickly reached what was left of recon base Dealey, "Air support must have followed them for a while" Private Hillock said (that was Renner's new driver he liked the kid, he had some serious skills) " There are way to many dead for you men to have pulled that off." "You'd think that wouldn't you marine" Renner spat. Let's keep moving the Covenant aren't going to wait for us. The first trouble they ran into was a squad of jackals, a dozen thuds echoed through the lines, man wailed. The passenger in Renners hog was hit twice his flesh melted as did the metal around him and he was fused to the inside of the warthog. "Gaaahhh" Hillock said, "that smells horrible." Renner just aimed his rocket launches and compressed one of the triggers whoosh a missile streaked towards a pair of jackals they put up their shields to deflect the blast but it was all in vain, the missile slammed home and the jackals were vaporized all that remained was an arm and a few bits of burnt flesh. Then all the marines opened up on the jackals. The battle lasted all of two minutes, tops, but now they had wounded which would slow them down. Renner whistled to two snowmobile like vehicles which immediately came up beside him "We're going to go ahead everybody else go back to recon base Dealey and see what you can salvage, Hillock your driving." "Yes sir" Hillock said.
They reached a small Covenant base about ten minutes latter. "Give me you sniper scope" Renner yelled to Andrea "Yes sir" she huffed. He looked through the scope the place looked horrible, in the center seemed to be some crashed covenant ship maybe a stealth class it was to small to be anything else. The troops posted around the base looked half dead under nourished and tired. There were broken plasma conduits everywhere and it seemed like the Covenant were using it for warmth and to cook there food...or something. Their dead were in a large pile next to what seemed to be a med tent. "This is pathetic" Renner whispered to his team "this place is badly demoralized and low on supplies with just a little more support I think we can take them." Just as if on cue ten marine came over the ridge, it was everybody that was left of his old squad, Renner couldn't help but crack a smile. "Okay were going to divide into two teams a pincer move them, Andrea you command team two I'll take my own squad, remember attack quickly and without mercy if you want to win this one." Five minutes latter they were in position "CHARGE!!!" Renner yelled everybody started yelling it sounded like a whole battalion was coming down the hill. And elite jumped from behind a rock aimed his plasma rife right a Renners head and pulled the trigger, PFHT, PFHT, PFHT...groan, the elite just dropped his gun a put up his hands. What's going on here Renner thought Covenant never surrender, the elite just sat down and put his hands on his head, "I will be hear when you return" it said in a voice low enough to vibrate the ground under Renner's feet, it was strange there was no menace to the voice just sadness and no will to fight at all.
About half an hour latter the covenant forces were all detained in there own downed ship, lucky for the marines the ship's brig still worked. "Try to fix this ship and scavenge anything you can, we'll also have to find away to either secure this area or transport the prisoners. I'm up for any suggestions." "Well," Grater said "we could bring in engineers and see if we can fix this thing, or try to air lift it out." "Do you honestly think our engineers can repair this ship when the Covenant couldn't" Renner asked, "Hey you just asked us for suggestions you didn't say they had to be good ones" "Touché" Renner admitted. "The air lift idea actually has some merit to it, what do you think the vessel weighs?" Renner asked. "You're asking the wrong man I'm just a grunt," Grater said. "Well get me a damn engineer then" Renner yelled, "Yes sir" Grater went running.
An hour passed and finally an engineer came up to Renner, "What do you need?" a slightly disgruntled engineer asked. Renner just glared at him "How much do you think this Covenant vessel weighs in at?" "Well since I have no idea what materials were used to build it, what it uses for reactor fuel, or how many people are on it...but given this planet has approximately earth's gravity I'd say 100 to 120 tons easy." "Well how many longsword interceptors would it take to move this beast?" Renner asked. "Well given that an interceptor has about (he begins mumbling to himself and starts counting on his fingers....after about 90 minutes he seems to have an answer, a good answer, I didn't say that) well if I'm right and this is a big IF, it should take about fifteen longsword interceptors give or take a bit." The engineer shrugged. "Well thank you" Renner looks for an identification tag, "Privet...(not really sure what it says he mumbled something barely audible)." "Not a problem but don't thank me yet," the engineer walked away. "Shandor," "Yes sir!" he came running "Get me fifteen longswords over here ASAP, and calm down" The longswords, who were supposed to be there in ten minutes took five hours, mostly because they were engaging covenant forces and getting lost. The marines were now mopping up most of the Covenant that had been defeated.
The longswords finally arrived and they dropped thick heavy lift cables down and, engineers quickly began attaching them to the downed covenant stealth ship. "Okay, let's move this beast" Renner shouted over the COM. The longswords lifted it the air, the cables went taught there was a long groan then the ship just lurched of the ground, "Let's get it up high and back to HQ" an engineer yelled over the COM. The longswords moved off with the vessel at a pretty good clip. "Sir!" Shandor said "the are requesting you at HQ for a debriefing on this battle!" "Well lets not keep them waiting, saddle up boys were moving out. Oh and Shandor, CALM DOWN!!!"
They arrived at HQ in half an hour. Renner stepped up to the gate and looked around, the place more resembled a junkyard than a command post, every thing that had been scavenged was now in large piles. Looks can be deceiving if you looked long enough and hard enough you would find this place was a formidable fortress. The whole surrounding area was a network of lotus mines, and automated guns, the inner circle was nothing but bunkers, trenches, mini-guns, rocket launchers, even a few shade turrets that had been captured. It was also the only base with true artillery, which was a big ass gun that fired 180mm high velocity rounds, air support and functioning scorpion tanks. If you didn't spend the better part of a day that was required to see that it was a formidable fortress it looked just like a junkyard and didn't smell much better, but neither did the private that had just saluted him. He walked down to the command shuttle, which was basically an over sized pelican that couldn't fly or defend it's self, what a piece of garbage Renner though to himself, well at least it fits the surroundings. He entered through the broken and permanently open. Jamison returned Renner salute, "you pulled of a real piece of work out there today so were promoting you to sergeant first class." "Thank you sir" was all that Renner could reply. "Now on to a more pressing matter, come over here and look at this VID screen, it shows a large vessel of unknown origin." "So what does this have to do with me why should I even care?" Renner sat staring at the screen like a frog caught in a hailstorm. " Because we're and by we're I mean myself, are going to send your sorry ass out to blow that thing to hell and back!" "Okay?" Renner now was thoroughly confused, "what if it's a friendly ship?." "I'll have non of your lip solider unless you want to be up on charges of insubordination." Jamison shot. "Oh no nothing but that" Renner said as mockingly as possible. "Just assemble a team you'll be moving out at ohhhh 600 lets say." What ever you say you stupid monkey turd" Renner growled "WHAT" Jamison roared. "Um ahh er a um nothing sir" Renner just slinked away.
He found his squad out side drunker the hell, Hillock was with them. He was being initiated by having everybody else in the squad punch him five times. What a bunch of retards Renner thought, but they are my retards guess I have to deal with it. The rest of the night was a blurr of drunken stupors. They went around setting of false alarms and even stole a warthog and went jumping of the junk heaps, Leo and Carl both got injured when the warthog did a barrel roll and landed upside down. Shandor was screaming like and idiot, Renner, Grater, and Duke almost beat him into unconsciousness. The next morning they mounted up and three warthogs went flying into the horizon. Hillock who was only twenty was still a little bit buzzed he couldn't drive worth shit and repeatedly crashed into just about everything humanly possible. "Stop" Renner yelled "Hillock I'm driving now." "Fine sure just take away my glory Hillock," Hillock slurred and fell out of the warthog. They crammed him into the passenger seat and strapped him in, "just don't puke every were okay" Hillock gave the thumbs up and the sped of to the crash site.
They arrived about five minutes latter. "What the hell is it?" Andrea looked to Renner for an answer. "Does it really matter were just going to blow it all to hell, do you have that nuke with you Grater." Grater sat holding the thermonuclear device as if it were a baby, "Yes I do all 150 megatons worth." "Isn't that just a little over kill?" Hillock urped. "Hell no if your going to do something you best do it right." Grater responded. Hillock cocked his head "but what the hell does that have to do with my question I asked if it was over kill not if we were doing it right?" "Shutup you stupid piece of sperm jerky," was Graters only response. "Well let's get this over with." Andrea spat. They quickly sped to the crash site. Renner looked around for an opening, "What the hell is wrong with this picture?....Can anybody tell me?" All the marines just shrugged. Click click, "what the hell was that?" Duke asked Renner "Well probable just a ...... Wait a minute this is going to be bad." Blam, blam blam three warthogs rocketed into the sky from high explosive plasma charges.
"Everybody okay?" Renner yelled, "were fine all except Durger he bit it big time." "What the fuck is that?" Andrea yelled. She tossed Renner the scope. "Oh shit on me shit on me." Renner gasped "WELL IF YOU REALLY WANT ME TO SIR." Shandor attempted to be funny. "Can it you moron." Grater shot, "Well what do you see boss?"
"A whole lot of trouble, their covenant alright but there some special unit, there wearing black armor rimmed with gold, they are all elites... no wait there are two hunters really big ones and a third who is about 16 foot tall he's dwarfing everybody out there..." Renner was cut short, ten Elites formed out of thin air around him. "Oh shit Renner yelped.

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