Oma Ker. John-117.
Interesting data on the colony on the tactical screen of the stealth Frigate. The Covenant is acting rather non-standardly on this planet.
The first situation in my memory where a world of a third race is subject to a Covenant siege. This means, on one hand, one can act without looking back at civilians and Humans in general; on the other, one can still ruin the Covenant's life. Especially since we won't have to answer for the consequences; the victims don't matter. But the Covies are being cautious.
The differences in Covie tactics toward Humans and these Turians are clearly visible. The Covenant fleet acts more carefully, doesn't conduct Glassing on everything in its path, and large ships aren't hitting the surface yet.
Despite this, scouts speak of serious difficulties for their troops in the ground operation. Though the Turians had no orbital battle stations, they turned out to have a very decent anti-aircraft system and a mobile fleet trying to play from a distance. And the ground troops are holding back the attackers quite successfully. Echeloned, multi-level defense that cannot be breached immediately.
Smaller ships providing support to ground forces are taking hits from the defenders' numerous weapons. Both from small and massive large-caliber anti-ship turrets. From ground troops and vehicles.
Apparently, the Covies have already taken notice. At least one of their ships is currently falling uncontrollably toward the planet, leaving a trail of purple flame and debris. There are several other Covenant ship crash sites on the maps. Not only theirs, of course. But it is an indicator that the planet is resisting.
With the fleet, the Covenant had an interesting result. They swept away the primary defense and began landing. But now the Council Races forces are circling around, delivering harassing strikes and retreating into FTL when necessary. They've given the Covenant a full-scale maneuver war in space. Something Humans couldn't do. It would be good if command did something with this. The tactics, judging by the reports, are working.
Of course, there are losses on both sides, but it seems the Citadel forces are not experiencing a shortage of ammunition and are simply covering the Covie ships from maximum distance with high rates of fire, forcing them to maneuver and break formation. And in the case of pursuit and destruction (or retreat) of one group, others conduct the shelling. They were even conducting rotation until a certain point. Did something happen? Unknown.
A Covie Supercarrier entered the atmosphere, judging by the location, right over the colony's capital. It suppressed the artillery with its own. And since then, fighting has continued in the capital. But there are enough other cities around, and by all indications, they are holding. And the capital clearly shows signs of explosions, even days later. They are resisting to the end.
"Such tenacity is worthy of respect," remarked his comrade, Kurt, also a Spartan from Blue Team.
Kelly-087 nodded, checking her weapon.
"They'll hold for a couple of months. There's just more of the Covenant. Vehicles, ships. If they get tired of it, they'll suppress it from orbit. By the way, what exactly are we supposed to find there," the girl pointed at the burning colony, "find?"
An interesting question, certainly.
"Information. Command itself doesn't know exactly what we'll find, but the Covies are there and they're busy. We can look for points of interest while they're distracted by these Turians. Whatever we find, we'll show it all to command, and they'll decide what to do with it."
At this, Kelly approached the projector, examining the map of the colony. It's clear what she's thinking.
The Covenant certainly wasn't rushing the assault. At the moment, there are three attack vectors. A Supercarrier hangs over the capital and tries to suppress the city's defense with a landing force. In the northwest and south, there are two fronts moving from the outskirts toward the center. According to available maps, the Covies managed to take several cities but got bogged down.
The enemy uses maneuver war techniques and deep entrenchment, anti-aircraft towers of various calibers. With proper concentration of fire, they are enough to bring down even relatively large ships. From time to time, ships with supplies and reinforcements try to break through to the besieged. Some make it, so both sides are receiving reinforcements.
And the Covenant isn't managing to finally take space; an attempt to block the Mass Relay ended with ships carrying warheads on board. Now those Covie ships are undergoing repairs in the comms jamming zone. Hmmm. Why not strike there? Among the Covenant, such labor and its protection, especially in battle, doesn't seem to be particularly valued. The ships won't be left without protection, but the most combat-ready units won't be there.
On the other hand, we could enter a Turian city; we have problems with intelligence. Connect a quantum transmitter, and only then break through to the Covenant. This is necessary in any case, but approaching by air will be harder; the Covenant actively patrols the territory, interfering with the Turians' supply and fire support.
Besides, according to intelligence, the Turians have already tried to break into the jamming zone, and there should be significant forces there. A blind landing is definitely a bad idea.
So starting with the Turians would be more sensible. At the same time, we'll look at their defense; such data will also be useful to command.
***
Problem one: getting to the surface. The Covenants hid their ships in the atmosphere somewhere in the landing zone. "Somewhere" because there's a jammer there and nothing can be seen. And they patrol the territory. The Covenant guaranteed to have anti-aircraft systems too. This is a blind spot for us, not for the Covies.
This is the main argument for deploying on the Turian part of the territory. We'll be safer, and in general, the landing will attract less attention. If the Covenant finds "demons," they might even fire from orbit. Just in case. There are ships there.
"By the way, the two largest carriers and the Supercarrier left the system less than a day ago. And about a third of the fleet," Solomon, the Frigate's AI, noted, "another third of the fleet left two days ago. And the Covenant received reinforcements, presumably additional ground forces."
The Spartans tensed. This was unexpected. If the fleet left somewhere during a siege, something is happening. Where and what is the question. It's clear the Covies got more ground forces, but that's no reason to remove the fleet when the Citadel fleet hasn't been suppressed yet.
"Do we know where?"
Solomon's hologram just spread its hands.
"No. But they left, first, as one group, and second, not toward our part of the galaxy. Perhaps they are attacking somewhere else. Or other options. Insufficient data."
In any case, fewer enemies is good. Both for us and for the defenders. Although for the latter, not necessarily, if the Covies strike somewhere else. And this will also facilitate further penetration for Blue Team into their territory, which is also good.
In the process of preparing for the mission, Blue Team was given exhaustive information even back at the base, including about the Mass Relays. With comments from analysts who almost spat at these "galactic monorails" on the verge of profanity. Building colonies around Mass Relays might be convenient, but in the case of war, tracking targets for strikes is even too easy. In the case of war with superior enemy forces... You are doomed to problems.
And yet they already had a major conflict, the Krogan, Rachni wars. With high losses. But the Council Races didn't learn lessons about the inaccessibility of inhabited worlds, or at least protecting them with powerful stationary defense. And now they have problems again. Not our problems, which is already good. Maybe it will be a bit easier for Humans.
"So, reconnaissance then. Well, not bad," Kelly smirked, "these xenos should write us a thank-you note."
That's for sure. Of course, if necessary, we will destroy the defenders too. But the Covenant is an unambiguous enemy, while the defenders, though non-human, are not to the same extent. And fighting together against the Covenant blurs this line even more. If they don't start shooting first.
As for the fact that we intend to listen to them, it's military necessity. We are still in a state of war with them for it to be in any way immoral. And it's not for Spartans to talk about immorality. Humans might not remember why we were created. But we remember.
We'll set up the transmitter and get to our usual business, sabotage in the Covenant ranks. And now it's time.
For the landing, they used capsules. Using the ship or Pelicans is simply too risky when both the Covenant and the Turian Hierarchy forces can shoot you down. Only from orbit in capsules. On the downside: you can't carry much with you. On the upside: the Turian Hierarchy weapons can quite easily be used by a Human. Or the Covenant's. We'll break through.
***
The four-meter metal drops of the landing capsules hurtled toward the planet's surface. From above, the city could even be called beautiful. Like Humans, the locals like light-colored buildings, but the similarity ends there.
Turian buildings are divided into two groups. Tall, pointed towers dozens of stories high, sometimes resembling flowers or nests in the upper part, structures made of planes. From the air, the city looks like a forest of blades, or spikes, glowing in the sun. Practically no rounded edges, sharp angles in everything.
And the city was noticeably burning. Unlike the capital, over which the Covenant flagship hung, and from whose gravity lifts waves of Covie assault teams radiated, here the city is being attacked along the surface. Including the use of artillery.
Plasma ignites such buildings perfectly; without the help of fire crews, they turn into huge torches. Mostly the burning buildings are along the perimeter of the city, making it look like burning grass, a single front.
And no, judging by the Banshees and Spirits flying here and there, the city's anti-aircraft system is at least partially knocked out; the Covenant can break through by air. Just what we need for our breakthrough into the city. Here and there, flashes of skirmishes are visible. Mostly on the outskirts for now, but there are some within the city limits too. And in one place, clearly something large, possibly a Scarab. And over there, to the north, a second one. And a dogfight over the city.
Banshees, rounded single-seat machines with short wings, against machines resembling an ice axe. Neither had heard of aerodynamics, but the Turian Hierarchy planes clearly move more classically, on rear-directed engines. Killing power against speed and mobility. Unfortunately, there was little time to evaluate before the capsule descended to the level of the buildings.
The capsules weren't noticed; after all, they are coated with a radiation-scattering compound. Even during braking, there was no shelling, a good sign.
With a clang, three slugs slammed into some park chosen by the AI as the drop target. They are quite large, resembling a metal drop. At the top, there is a guide parachute to keep it from tumbling, and braking engines. Upon landing, the door opens or is blown off, releasing the trooper.
The capsule opened, revealing its insides: a seat for the pilot and crates for gear and ammo. Kelly and Kurt landed a couple of dozen meters to the side. We aren't being attacked, which is good, and the landing was tight. And anything can happen, especially in combat conditions.
The world filled with a roar and the sounds of shooting. Council Races weapons, the pops of artillery. Not right here, but audible. And locals running away.
"Seems we've spooked the aborigines."
Indeed, a group of civilians who were going somewhere, seeing us, immediately bolted toward the nearest building. Tall, with long three-fingered hands, a broad chest, and a narrow stomach. Hips like bones covered in skin, and spikes visible on the elbows. Head without hair, also covered in bony growths or something like that. Among those running away are children too.
"They sure dove for cover fast. Our civilians would have dithered longer," Kurt confirmed the obvious.
Kelly nodded, looking around.
"Universal ten-year military service. I suggest changing position; the locals, if our data is correct, are bound to call in a sweep team."
And that's also true. Universal ten-to-twenty-year military service without exceptions is a diagnosis, as Mother Halsey would say. The locals scattered into cover almost instantly, clearly showing greater agility and speed than Humans.
And they move nothing like Humans. Like in bursts, transitioning to a smooth run only after accelerating. Hitting such a twitching target should be quite difficult. It's not required for now, but it should be taken into account in case of an encounter.
Having reached the nearest building, the squad didn't stop but moved further. The civilians will almost certainly report where they ran. No need to make the locals' task easier. Right now, all the armor has an optical camouflage module.
Thanks to the scientists, several different devices can be installed in the armor, for example, a small liquid shield on the arm. Though small, it deploys quickly and holds a few hits, almost like the Jackals'. Or camouflage. Unfortunately, the suit's reactor cannot sustain more than one active system, and space is limited. One has to choose.
The local soldiers, just as tall and thin, but now in gray-blue armor hiding their thin and tall three-fingered bodies, organized a real, professional search. They cordoned off building after building, checked, moving in groups and covering each other. Any movement was immediately covered with fire; apparently, they are already familiar with Covenant camouflage or have similar systems.
"I'm listening to their local comms through your armor," the Frigate's AI reported. For this mission, command installed a full Smart AI, Solomon, into the Frigate.
"And what's there, Solomon?" Kelly asked.
"Well, you've made a lot of noise. The locals are already familiar with Covenant drops descending in capsules. I blew yours up, but the locals still deployed search parties with light vehicles. It seems it was really hot here in the first two days."
They can be understood. One of the dangers of the Covenant, besides orbital bombardments, is constant drops by Spirits, Phantoms, and in capsules. Even a small squad of Elites can cause serious damage, blowing up vehicles with Plasma Grenades. A Human commander would have done exactly the same. And if the enemy successfully evades you, that's a reason not to stop the search, as in a stupid movie, but to intensify it. Since professionals are working against you.
Or assemble a mobile group that will quickly deploy to the attack site, for example, on helicopters or Pelicans. On local equivalents, naturally. Which means one needs to get out of the encirclement quietly and, if possible, unnoticed.
"We leave quietly; no need to attract attention. Avoid combat if possible."
"Copy."
Moving under camouflage has its own specifics. The cloaking field doesn't work constantly and requires a little time to cool down and recharge. Which means most of the time you are quietly and unnoticed creeping along, turning on the camouflage when necessary. The armor's own shields are turned off, and it will take time to launch them in case of an attack. One needs to be very careful.
It helps a bit that the enemy simply doesn't expect your appearance. Now, do you expect a two-and-a-half-meter super-soldier in heavy armor to be hiding in your toilet, having quietly crept in there? Exactly. And there were three of us there.
"Comms tower, comms tower. Where is the comms tower here," Kurt muttered over the radio.
Yes, we decided not to storm the Turian headquarters but to carefully connect the beacon to their communication systems, attracting as little attention as possible. Especially since another attack had begun.
Over the city, glowing with a blue anti-gravity system, Covenant escorts hovered, shelling the city. Precise enough to carefully destroy firing points without collapsing blocks with every shot.
In response, missiles and shells flew, making the ships' protection flare up. A bit weak, though with proper concentration of fire, they'll be shot down.
And already under the cover of the ships, a wave of Banshees and Spirits descended on the city. It is these U-shaped transports that are suitable for dropping troops onto the floors of buildings, in conditions where there are simply no ordinary horizontal roofs.
In response, the shelling from the surface became even denser. Even ordinary soldiers moved so as to watch the air. From what is known, their weapons consume tungsten slugs, providing hundreds of shots. They can afford not to save ammunition. But, importantly, attention to the surface will be lower if everyone is looking up. One just needs to be careful.
"Move, this is an opportunity."
There was an idea to get into a truck and do part of the way by air, but the Banshees are too active in mowing down flying targets. Especially since most of the local cars are unarmored and ignite from plasma charges in a matter of hits. We have to go along the surface, on foot.
"They shot it down," Kelly noted with slight surprise, looking up.
A Covenant escort began to roll onto its side, blinking its engines and anti-gravs. Debris poured down. Finally, the ship blinked one last time and fell like a stone vertically down. Judging by the blue flash, it exploded. Possibly covering the buildings. Excellent.
We, too, found our target. A comms tower on top of a skyscraper.
"Well camouflaged, but it works as a communication relay, very active signal exchange," Solomon immediately explained, "connect the beacon and we'll find out many interesting things. I'll find out and tell you."
"Only it's better not to attract attention," Kurt said, "we are definitely not welcome here."
There are no vehicles around the required building, but infantry patrols are present. A checkpoint at the entrance, patrols visible on the floors. And we need to get inside, and then quietly climb up to the communication systems. And around the building is open space, a line of fire. And patrolmen.
"Solomon, look for the building plans. Are there technical tunnels?"
The AI replied quite quickly.
"There are. According to the regulations, there is a technical floor under the building. It can be accessed through tunnels as well."
"Oh, galactic sewers. I understand," Kurt snorted. As if in armor that's such a problem.
The AI objected.
"Not sewers, technical tunnels. It turns out there is a logistics network under the city in case of a partial collapse of the metropolis. Found it on local evacuation maps. Loading the three-dimensional model."
Excellent. Let's see, four-lane tunnels at a depth of forty meters. Under the whole city, a dense web. And surely they are full of civilians.
Not necessarily a better solution than crawling under bullets, but it's worth checking. Especially since the tunnels are protected from light aircraft fire and have many exits to the surface. If the Covenant wants to, they'll dig down to them, but right now they don't know or it's not a priority. For now.
"Scarab," Kelly said unexpectedly.
What? Listening closely, one can distinguish a rhythmic stomping. Indeed, a Scarab. A super-heavy four-legged walking Covenant robot, on long metal legs capable of destroying vehicles by stepping on them, or climbing onto three-story buildings simply due to size and leg length.
A plasma cannon capable of smashing any wall or vehicle, burning a hole down to the tunnels, rapid-fire plasma machine guns, an artillery mount. Seems we've found our distraction.
Of course, if Humans were in the locals' place, the machine should be destroyed and the civilians protected. But they are not Humans. And they fought us in the Contact system. Just military necessity. No more than with the rebels.
"Let's show the Scarab the tunnels. Solomon, where is the nearest entrance to the underground? We need to program the cars to fly in there. The Covenant will want to know why."
Finding the cars was easy. Not all cars were used during the evacuation; there are enough unused and undestroyed ones right along the streets and in special parking lots. Solomon helped with the programming and the map. During this time, Kelly made sure that the nearest passage to the tunnels was not blocked.
Of course, it was closed, but Spartans are trained in hacking with the help of an AI. And after that, directing the dim cyber-brains of the cars into the tunnels was easy. The Turians quickly discovered the breach and stood at the passage, forming a checkpoint, but did not destroy the cars. What's worse for them, the Covenant took notice.
First, a trio of Banshees tried to fly inside but ran into dense fire from grenade launchers and small arms. After a couple of runs and five or six dead defenders, the last Banshee retreated, smoking from damaged engines.
And the Scarab reacted to that, rhythmically stepping toward the enemy. The four-legged mech unhurriedly came around the corner, drenching the Turians in the buildings along the way with plasma beam emitters. Unhurriedly turning its massive head, it opened like a flower. And a green beam, several meters in diameter, erased both the Turians and the door closing behind them, leaving a small trickle of boiling coolant under the machine.
Interestingly, the mech didn't stop there. Having reached the end of the street, it pointed its head down and the green beam began to drill the rock. When it finished, it unhurriedly moved on, and Covenant soldiers rushed into the burned-through armored door and the hole. The nearest Turian posts were destroyed by the mech's fire and several more arriving Banshees. Or at least suppressed.
A skirmish began; it seems the Covies rushed into the tunnels, and the locals realized the Scarab's role. A pair of tanks drove out from around the corner and began shooting at the mech's rear. It unhurriedly turned around and fired a salvo from its green beam. One tank managed to hide; the second was vaporized, erased down to the chassis. The mech didn't stop there; it pointed its "head" at a building. The green beam pierced several skyscrapers right through, and about two minutes of unhurried cutting later, the buildings began to fall one by one. Having made sure they wouldn't be attacked from the rear, the mech moved along the street.
The Scarab also received a mass of holes in its hull in the process; a couple of the main weapon's petals were torn off, but the mech, as usual, shows simply indecent survivability.
This mech doesn't always have shields, but this is compensated for by practically ship-grade armor. It is very thick, and light infantry weapons can at most damage the limbs, and then one needs to board and destroy the machine. But the Turians don't know this.
And without that, even an externally damaged, torn mech will continue stubbornly destroying the enemy. And in an extreme case, it will also successfully retreat if all its weapons are knocked out. The armor is truly thick.
"Well, I hope this helps," Kelly noted.
It seems she doesn't particularly enjoy this.
"These are not Humans. And they attacked us."
Kelly snorted.
"I know. Но sending civilians to the slaughter is still unpleasant."
Perhaps. Но we need to act covertly; besides, the Covenant didn't bring large forces here anyway; the attack is gradually bogging down. Likely, the Scarab won't go far. There will be losses, but not that large. Especially since the distraction succeeded.
Most of the Turians immediately left their positions and rushed to plug the hole in the defense. Less than half remained guarding the tower. And that can already be worked with. Especially since those remaining need time to prepare, and Spartans are capable of running across the street under camouflage if they act quickly. Of course, the post at the entrance is in for a surprise, but that's their problem.
"Ready!" the other Spartans tensed.
"I'll try to jam the radios for a bit," Solomon put in, "done."
"Go!"
Three blurred shadows rushed across the street. A pair of Turians at the entrance might have noticed them, but the Spartans specifically ran not to the entrance, but to the side, toward the parked vehicles. And the enemy soldiers were watching the air more, looking for Banshees.
And when the Spartans had almost reached them, a grenade flew toward the Turians.
They turned at the sound; one tried to scream into his radio when the explosion occurred. One was killed on the spot; the second flew against the wall. When he stopped shaking his head, an armored boot flew into it. A few seconds later, everything...
The text ended abruptly.
A couple more turians ran out at the sound. As soon as they reached the door and saw what had happened to their colleagues, they found themselves in close combat with the Spartans hiding on both sides of the door. There were more Spartans, and in their exoskeletons, they were simply stronger. Within eight seconds, the number of turian bodies rose to four.
"Inside, fast!"
The squad ducked into the room, taking cover near a counter, likely a reception desk. Now, they just had to wait for the cloaking to recharge and move on.
"Clear," Kelly peeked out cautiously.
I nodded.
"Solomon, where to?"
The AI answered calmly:
"I don't have an exact floor plan of the building; connect to the computer at the desk."
The necessary connectors had been prepared in advance, so Kurt carefully plugged in the cable.
"Done."
Solomon waited for about a minute and responded.
"Uploading the map. Fourteenth floor, marker on the map."
By this time, the cloaking was ready. Another pair of turians walked past but didn't notice them. Though if they had come closer...
"Forward!"
The squad moved deeper into the building, letting four enemy soldiers running toward the exit pass by. The cloaking protected them, and the Spartans moved on, despite the turians running literally three meters away from them.
They decided to take the stairs; it was much safer than the elevators. Especially since there was no guarantee an elevator would react properly to fifteen hundred kilograms of weight. Or the local cyber-brain. Humans in cities often have their infrastructure managed by Dumb AIs, and quite advanced ones at that. They would have noticed such a thing and raised the alarm; one should not underestimate the enemy.
On the stairs, they found another pair of guards, whom they had to sneak up on using cloaking and moving along the walls. Especially since the communications jamming had already been bypassed.
"Fourteen floors. Fantastic," Kurt groaned.
"We're almost there. So shut up and move your tail."
On the communications floor, there wasn't much security, but even at the entrance, it became clear that the walls were thick and obviously shielded. We were in the right place.
And here again, they had to sneak past turian soldiers, listening to conversations through a translation program, thanks to intelligence.
"It's getting worse in the capital. And reinforcements are delayed..." one said.
The second remarked:
"There's a ship hanging over the capital, blotting out the sky. Literally. What chance do they even have? I heard they dropped a dreadnought on it, and the ship's shields didn't even drop."
The first snorted.
"A fairy tale. Dreadnoughts don't get that close; there's a screen in orbit. But you're right, how do you even defeat THAT..."
It's difficult. Try to knock down the shields, then focus on the engines and anti-gravs to drop the Supercarrier onto the city. If it works, the fall of such a carcass would shatter it, and at the very least require long repairs. And then continue bombing until the victorious end.
Finally, avoiding patrols, they managed to reach the consoles and carefully connect the Quantum Beacon. Solomon went to work.
"Alright, connection... established! Connecting. Bypassing security. Hmmm. Done. Let's see what interesting things you have here. Whoa!"
The last part was uttered in surprise.
"What happened, Solomon?" the ship's captain chimed in, having listened the whole time without interfering.
The AI replied:
"You heard about the delay in reinforcements? A message just came in; the Covenant reached their capital. Palaven. Two hours ago. The local group has been ordered to manage on their own. The Covenant flagship took off; in its place, a five-kilometer Supercarrier descended upon the city. It seems the locals have much bigger problems than we thought. Without reinforcements, it'll be hard for them."
Fantastic. It seems all the squids' cursing at the Mass Relays was justified. Let's hope Earth doesn't have any of those.
"I'll report to Reach," the captain said.
Yes, command needs to know about this.
***
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