Thu Aug 19, 2021 9:07 pm
Fireteam Glory Part 143
The evacuation of both the Greensboro and Afternoon’s entire crews had been swift, with multiple Pelicans and Albatrosses docking and launching at the same time. Delilah watched as the last Pelican disembarked for the surface, satisfied knowing her crew was out of the Covenant’s reach. Jules came to her side, smiling like he usually did.
“That was great work,” he said proudy, “c’mon, our transport is on its way to take us down to the surface as well.”
The alarms onboard the orbital defense platform continued to blare, but so far ships from the Second Fleet had been able to stave off the Covenant’s reinforcement fleet. Delilah started to walk with Jules to the docking bay where their ship would land when the entire station began to quake.
“All hands brace for impact!” the commanding officer’s voice shouted over the PA system. “Covenant boarding craft attempting to lock with the station. I need security teams in Hangar A-02 now!”
“We’re in A-01,” Delilah thought to herself, “the Covenant will be in the hangar right next to us!” She looked over at the bulkhead leading to A-02, just in time it began to glow a fiery orange as sparks leapt onto the floor of the hangar.
Several of the marines nearby began to get into a defensive formation, aiming their weapons at the door. Delilah saw a weapon rack in the wall nearby and directed Jules’s attention to it. There were several M7 submachine guns mounted on the rack, and as they approached the safety bar lifted. The light on the bar shifted to green, signalling that the locks had disengaged. They both quickly grabbed a weapon, along with a spare clip. Quickly readying her gun, Delilah looked up at the bulkhead again. The orange spot had grown and there were even more sparks, that meant the boarders were almost through.
“Over there.” Jules said, bringing Delilah’s gaze to several stacks of cargo crates. “We should take cover over there, quickly.” As they both hunkered down behind the crates, Jules chuckled a little. “Hopefully we won’t have to use these too much, I’m a lousy shot.”
Delilah appreciated the joke. “I think we can trust the leathernecks with most of the shooting, just keep your head low!”
Without any warning, there was a deafening blast as the bulkhead was blown away at last. In an instant, the hangar erupted into a symphony of gunfire and alien screams. Delilah looked to the bulkhead and examined the aliens now attempting to enter. Similar to the reports from the Cairo, Athens, and Malta, the Covenant forces were sending in Grunts first. The marines, though fewer in number, were taking the Grunts down in seconds with quick trigger fingers and fast reflexes. Unlike the previous boarding attacks, it was not well-disciplined Elites who followed the cannon fodder. Several gigantic Brutes charged into the room, backed up by Jackals holding energy shields. The marines began to pull back as red-hot metal spikes and crimson plasma began to fly, cutting down two of their number in the process. The surviving marines ran to new positions, with one leaping over the crates Delilah and Jules were hiding behind. He landed in front of them and immediately got on his radio.
“This is security team Beta, Covenant boarding parties have breached Hangar A-02 and are pushing us back!” He quickly looked up, seeing several Jackals approaching rapidly. “We have the captains from the Afternoon and Greensboro with us, requesting back-up!” He stood up and let loose several bursts from his battle rifle, killing one Jackal and sending the others scrambling for cover, before ducking back down. He pointed at Delilah and Jules. “Are either of you hurt at all?”
Delilah shook her head. “We’re fine, we were waiting for our transport to arrive when the attack started. How’s the situation across the rest of the station?”
“And do you know if all of the medical transports got away safely?” Jules added.
“That’ll have to wait!” the marine shouted. “Covenant’s bearing down on us, we’re going to have to pull back to a better position. By the way, it’s Dorji. Sergeant Ken Dorji. Hope you two are ready for this!”
Flicking the safety on her SMG, Delilah looked at Jules and nodded. “Ready for your call, sergeant.”
Dorji peeked around the crates and unleashed another series of precision bursts into the Covenant troops while shouting orders. “Corhall, cover the hangar door, try to keep extra Covenant reinforcements out of the hangar! Lamosa, I need you to put some suppressive fire on those Brutes while Chalk gets Kaye and the captains to safety! I’ll cover them, now let’s move!” He rolled from his position behind the crates, expertly dropping a Brute and Jackal while Delilah and Jules ran to group up with Chalk and Kaye.
Chalk was wearing a uniform marked with symbols that denoted him as a hospital corpsman, carrying the man Delilah deduced to be Kaye. Kaye wore a regular Marine uniform and had a metal spike embedded in their shoulder. Interestingly, there wasn’t any sign of blood where the spike had hit.
“Sergeant Dorji is quite the shot,” Jules said in awe before turning his attention to Chalk, “do you need help getting Kaye out of here?”
Chalk shook his head. “They’ll be fine, the spike hit their prosthetic arm.”
Kaye, though seeming to be disorientated from the injury, managed to speak up. “They just had to shoot me in the arm again, didn’t they?”
One of the other doors in the hangar exploded, near where Delilah and Jules were running. Jackals and Grunts swarmed in, forcing Delilah and Jules to go on the defensive.
“Keep going, Chalk!” Delilah shouted as she dropped to a firing position and let loose with her SMG. “I’ll keep you covered!”
Jules leapt to the side as plasma flew in their direction, putting several shots into a Jackal that had lunged towards Delilah. “And I’ll keep you covered, keep moving!”
Delivering a powerful kick right to the center of a Grunt’s face that had gotten too close, Delilah jumped backwards and followed Jules to the last door out of the hangar. Dorji and his troops were following right behind them, cutting down Covenant as they ran. Clearing the bulkhead, Delilah spun around and looked back into the hangar, just in time to see several Grunts in the boarding party activate plasma grenades and toss them at Dorji’s group. She shouted for them to look out, prompting them all to see the airborne explosives and leap for the bulkhead. Corhall and Lamosa cleared the bulkhead while Delilah grabbed Dorji’s hand and pulled him in as he leapt. Both she and Dorji stumbled into the corridor as the bulkhead slammed shut, leaving the sounds of plasma fire and explosions muffled under the roar of the sirens.
Getting back to his feet, Dorji offered a hand to Delilah as she stood up. “Thanks for the save, Captain.” Something violently impacted with the bulkhead. “We had better fall back to a better position before the Covenant breaks through.”
“We should either head for the security station nearby or the command center.” Lamosa said.
“We should also see how the rest of the security teams are faring.” Delilah added. “Check to see if anyone has spotted a Covenant bomb onboard.”
Jules nodded in agreement. “If there is a bomb onboard, we’ll have to disable it somehow.”
“For now,” Dorji said as he reloaded his battle rifle, “we head for the security station. We’ll link up with the teams there and get resupplied. Let’s move.”