Snippet #2203821

The Major slouched behind the wall of frozen Earth, taking a moment to place fresh shells in his shotgun. His only comfort being that anti-armor finally woke the hell up and got off their asses about those damn Rev's. A torrent of pink glowing shards reigned over his head as one of his troopers approached him. "How bad is it, sir?" "Nothing to worry about, Marine, just keep your skirt on and your head down." He was lying, but he couldn't worry his troops. This wasn't normal, and the possibilities twisted a knot in his stomach. Braxx glanced over and noticed that Dalton seemed to be enjoying his new upgrade, as Braxx must have counted eight kills in just a few moments of the Captain getting his mitts on that rifle. "I don't remember these aliens using such tactics under Brute command, sir." Conway said, pausing to swap out a fresh magazine. "Whatever this implies, I don't like it one bit."

The Major paused a moment, fingers still clinched tight on a shell of buckshot. His brow lowered as he looked at Conway. "Yeah, that makes two of us. These assholes are taking orders from up the chain, and whoever, or whatever it is, is smarter than a god damn Bru-" he was cut off, instinctively ducking at the screech of rapidly combusting air and the roar of rising flames. Oh, and the screaming of a lot of burning Grunts. The little aliens squealed and yelled, as they ran around trying to outrun the pain and fire. It really just made it worse. Eventually, their methane tanks ruptured one by one, launching the flaming midgets airborne before exploding, shooting flames and bright blue gore everywhere. It looked like we had our own artillery, as the mini explosions filled the air. The confusion must've been a bitch, and that's just what Braxx wanted. He looked over to the Captain with his renowned "shit-eating" grin. "Yeah, Carter may be a pain in the ass, but you gotta give him this...... That soldier knows how to make one hell of an entrance."

---

Jean struggled against the winds for control. Being forced this high up by the plasma artillery, the blizzard became the worst enemy yet. Slowly she managed to peak below the clouds, using the mountain ridge as shelter from the storm winds. This, however, was as low as she'd go. Things were getting way too crazy on the ground for any swoops, as fun as it was to watch Jackals crap themselves. Her targeting systems blinked to life, taking note of each sizable target on her screen. Prioritizing the Revenant's, the Lieutenant grinned as one by one little red boxes formed over four of them. Weapons Lock: Confirmed. Her wry smile only grew as she spoke the words she'd waited to say all day.

"Hornet 1, Fox 3!" Her payload of ordinance dead-dropped from the Hornet's wings for a moment, before ignition guided them with lethal accuracy towards the doomed vehicles. The bright flashes of plasma fire marked each one's utter destruction, being rivaled only by the flames that slowly crawled across the ground below. "The boys are having fun, I see." Her eyes spotted a group of tangos flanking around the hellfire, making a mad dash..... err..... "waddle" for the trench. From this altitude kills would be nearly impossible to confirm, but a nice spritz of chaingun fire might be enough to scatter the little bastards.... she thought as she reigned lead down on the little specks on the ground below. Some ran, some exploded, some just dropped. Either way, job well done.

---

Within the East and West sniper's dens, men scrambled to mount the large railguns at the embrasures in the wall. The order had been given for advanced anti-armor, and the Wolf Teams were eager to comply. The large cannons clicked and hissed as they locked into place, humming to life for the very first time. The imaging scoped blinked on, showing the many possible targets in the field. Slate took up position behind the weapon as it's gunner, and somehow he knew Waddell had done the same. His first target came into his crosshairs, as his finger gently eased on the trigger. The Revenant's mortar cannon warmed up, preparing to launch it's deadly plasma at the base. Slater never gave it the chance, as the magnetically-launched projectile tore right through it's weapon. The power overload caused the plasma fuel-core of the vehicle to surge and burst, exploding and sending shrapnel and fire everywhere. Alex had chose to aim for the pilot, as his round all-but obliterated both driver and passenger. On both sides, their men opened fire with 50. cal rounds, picking targets and popping heads at their leisure.

One particular Rev seemed to have been frowned upon by what ever cosmic power ran the universe, as it entered the sights of both cannons. The resulting sandwich of faster-than-light rounds caused the fuel core to launch out the front of the vehicle like a bottle-rocket. it skimmed across the field, ricocheting off of the fort itself, sending it airborne back the way it came and finally exploding in the sky over the Covenant's heads. The brilliantly colored energized plasma fire left pinks trails to drift through the sky. It's bright, celestial, almost Heavenly color standing in magnificent contrast to the raging Hell of flames that consumed the Earth below. Ed couldn't help but admire the beautiful sight, birthed by none-other but the carnage of war. That, and the source of said flames. Jack Carter. To Slater, this was a man worthy of respect. Jack was like him, a single man capable of inflicting so much death to the enemy. One soldier, who claimed hundreds if not thousands of Covenant lives, this is the kind of person who would win the game. One soldier, an average soldier. Not some damn Spartan. If the Covenant held higher numbers than humanity, then these would be the men who would even the odds.

---

Valerie stood, in the embrace of the various orchestra of the battle. The barks of shotguns, the booming roars of grenades, the chattering of assault rifles, but all of this only aided in clouding her focus. She knelt beside a man, writhing in pain and struggling to suppress his own screams. A large, bright red blister covered his face where he'd been struck by a large chunk of flash-boiled ice. His agony-induced spasms making it that much harder to tend to his wounds. Valerie held him down to better inspect the injury, and determined that all she could do was numb the pain. With a bit of a struggle, she removed the stopper from a field syringe, pinning the soldiers arm so she could deliver the sedative. The marine's rapidly beating heart raced the agent through his vein, which slowly alleviated his pain. As his breathing stabilized, Val could see that he was in no shape to continue fighting. with one hand motion, a fellow marine came over to cart the young man off. The red cross on his shoulder marked that he carried the same burden as her. To tend to the wounded and dying. And as one medic dragged a body that seemed a bit too lifeless, she was reminded that it wasn't always just the dying they had to care for.

A stream of bright green projectiles darted past her head, as she gripped her rifle and took up cover. Her entire outlook flipping like a switch, and she threw lead and curses at the opposition. "Hey, I'm trying to work, you little micro-midget pains in my ass! I'll put an extra couple of holes in all your asses, you pint-sized sons-a-bitches!" The marine next to her couldn't help but snicker and giggle, hearing the woman that had been described to him as "like an angel" swear so profusely. He just shook his head and looked over at her with a friendly smile. "You must be Valerie, right? Sergeant Valerie Mallard? I'm Jacob" he said, snickering a little more. Val looked him over, with a smirk of her own, before finally asking "So, Jacob, what's so funny about me?" With another shake of his head, Jacob just looked at her. "I'm sorry, but hearing you like that...... I's just that, you know, I heard you were an ang-" he gagged as three needles traced up his chest, a fourth buried in his shoulder. Very close to his throat.

He fell backwards, with Val scrambling to catch him. He laid on his back, his body twitching uncontrollably. A clear sign that he was going into shock. She yelled at him to try and keep him focused. To try and keep him here. "Jacob! Jacob, stay here, stay awake! Come on damn it, just stay awake!" She gripped his hand tightly, hoping to reassure him that she was there. In reality, there was nothing should could do. The bleeding was so severe, he could have been on the table with surgeons at the ready, and he would still be gone. Her warm brown eyes must of reflected that cold truth as he gazed up dazedly into them, smiling at what he beheld as the fire from the battlefield bathed a warm glow over her. It's gentle light accentuating her soft features, making her almost appear to have a halo. "Heh....... you are...... an angel......." Jacob trailed off. His eyes lifting from hers and glazing over, as his grip loosened and his hand thudded against the ground. A single tickle of blood inched it's way from the corner of his mouth to mingle and mix with the rest on the muddy dirt. Watching this, Val felt as if a piece of him would now forever be trapped on this cold, abysmal hell of a planet. As if he could never leave. That thought made her heart sink deep in her chest, but she had to suppress that feeling. Now was not the time for mourning, it was time for revenge.

---

Braxx couldn't grin, seeing casualties in the trenches. He could only grit his teeth as he pumped more rounds through the flames. He could see the Grunts retreating, but wasn't sure if that was a given order. The wind barreled over the fort, pushing the flames forward and chasing the aliens as they ran. "Good, I hope those bastards all get their asses scorched. Give 'em a good taste of the hell from my religion" he grumbled at a rather audible volume. The Major couldn't help but notice that there wasn't a mass retreat, as the grunt would pause every so often to return fire. Odd, but not particularly note-worthy. However, the green streaks whizzing past Carter and his men was. It was green, but not as Illumines as normal energy pistols, and it definitely didn't streak the same way. These were Covenant Combines. Jackals. They're trying to snipe their tanks! "Carter! Get Your Asses Back Here, Now! They're Aiming For Your Tanks!" the Major didn't like this. Not at all. He turned his attention to Conway.


"The Covy's aren't retreating, they're stalling. For what, for who, I don't know. What I do know is we have to break their foothold before whatever it is gets here. Prepare the men, as soon as Carter's boys are back we have to make a push. I don't like it any more than you do, but we have to break them here and now."