Halo: Retribution
(Note: blog is gay and won't let me indent paragraphs, hence the spaces between them)
Prologue
“Come in, does anyone read?” Master Chief radioed again. Once more, only static filled the emergency frequency. He was about to give up when suddenly a voice burst through the static.
This is Admiral Hood, who am I speaking with?”
"This is Spartan-117 sir; my team and I are inbound awaiting orders.”
“How many of there are you?”
“Twelve of us sir.”
“You are to immediately land here in Sydney and help secure High COM Bravo-6. More orders will be issued at that time. Hood out.”
John killed the radio and turned to address his team. “All right squad you heard the Admiral. Our ETA to Sydney is 30 minutes. Unfortunately, we have no accurate Intel on the landing area or the status of the situation planet-side. So we are gonna go down there and do what we do best…kill anything not human. I expect it to be hell down there when we arrive, so load up and get ready for anything.”
The Pelican entered the atmosphere somewhere over the south pacific and sped towards it’s destination, flying low and fast in hopes of avoiding detection. The ship landed near the outskirts of the city and the team began the short hike to the High COM headquarters, meeting no resistance. Apparently, the Covenant hadn’t made it to this remote location yet. As they approached the entrance, John split off eight Spartans to form a perimeter around the complex and to shore up and improve the defenses while they still had time. John and the remaining three Spartans went inside to find Admiral Hood and get their new orders, which he hoped involved killing Covenant.
John and his team were lead to an elevator and began their decent to the security conference room which lay some 3 kilometers below the surface, encased in many layers of concrete and Titanium-A plating. John could hear the buzz of activity before they opened the doors to the conference room. Upon entering the room most of that buzz halted as everyone became somewhat awestruck by the sight of four fully armored and armed Spartans.
“Sir, Spartan-117 reporting as ordered.”
“At ease soldiers; I’m Fleet Admiral Terrance Hood. I have assumed tactical control of the situation here on Earth in light of Admiral Whitcomb’s untimely and tragic, though heroic death. If you will please come this way, we will update you on the condition of the battle. Lieutenant you may commence the briefing.”
A young woman stepped up towards the giant holo-map that was portrayed over the large table. “As you can see the Covenant made several major landings all over the planet, mainly at the locations of the power generators for the orbital MAC guns. We took out as many ships as we could before the reactors were compromised but it was only a matter of time, the numbers were completely against us. Once the reactors went down and the MAC’s were offline the Covenant began moving in more ships and landing more troops around the globe. Most of our surviving ships fled to a safe distance to regroup and come up with a new plan. They are being held out of combat for now as we try to resupply them. The Covenant are not searching for them so we felt it would be best to not risk them at this time. Our ground troops have taken up defensive positions around all major military instillations, important economic centers and some major cities. Covenant forces are currently holding position and setting up camps, preparing for what can only be assumed as a major globally coordinated assault on our forces. Normally they just glass a planet, but much like Reach, it appears the rules are different this time around. We have something they want, but what we do not know.
John assessed the map and ran the numbers. They were outnumbered, had no air support and were running out of time. Seemed like another typical Spartan mission, though this time the stakes were much greater; the survival of the planet and maybe the human race itself at stake. “What do you need us to do?”
The Admiral spoke up, “Chief, we need you and your Spartans to go out and bleed the Covenant. Our bases are well defended and should be able to hold out against several assaults. We need you to hit the Covenant before they can mount their attacks. That way they will only be at 75-50% strength when the do finally assault our cities and bases. That will buy us time to figure out a way to destroy their ships in orbit and hopefully we can eventually defeat the Covenant ground forces.”
Inside his helmet, John frowned. This was maybe the worst plan he had ever heard. Nevertheless, the Admiral was a superior officer and was issuing a direct order. He needed to try to change the Admiral’s mind. “Sir, with all due respect, I would need a hundred Spartans or more to accomplish that goal.”
“We have 12 divisions of Hell Jumpers and transportation awaiting your command to assist you and your team. We also have some new weapons and armor upgrades.”
John paused and thought for a moment. With the support and new gear the Admiral was promising they might be able to pull off this mission. They would be fighting a hit and run guerrilla style of warfare, harassing the Covenant enough to do moderate damage yet not risk their lives in large-scale engagements. The very same thing that happened a century ago in a place called Vietnam. Those tactics dragged that conflict out over a decade and eventually led to a victory for the guerillas. As long as nothing changed orbit-side, they had a slim chance, and that was all he and his Spartans needed. “OK Admiral, where do we start?
