HALO GHOST WAR Ch. 13

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Fog of War


   Kelsey's drop pod hit the ground with a loud thud. She clambered out when three plasma bolts landed just above her head. She fired back with an assault rifle, quickly killing the Jackal that fired at her. She called out over the com.
   "This is Alpha-Leader to Golf-Leader, where are you?"
   A few seconds of silence and then Alex-416's voice came, "I managed to get my team to a vantage point on the mountain. We're getting more marines as they come down in pelicans. All of Alpha's here, too."
   "Good, I need you to get a warthog out here for a pick up. Sending coordinates," Kelsey replied and ran to their position. "Tango-, Bravo-, and Gamma-Teams rally at Golf-Team's position on the double!"
   Several 'yes sir's and 'right's came over the radio as the marines acknowledged her.

   Hamilton touched his temple and then looked at his hand. It was red from his cut. "Alright, Everyone off the ship ASAP. We're done here," he said to his bridge crew, the only people left on board. They managed to regain control of the system and vent the atmosphere where the enemy was. He was the last to get to the bay, not leaving anyone behind. He stepped onto the pelican as the troop bay door closed.
   "Go!" He said to Kati who was the pilot.

   Hute Nateroromi looked at the falling burning wreckage of the human's ship. Surely they are all dead, the brute chieftain thought. She shook her head.
   "Yagger, send out six banshees to look for survivors and have them terminated."
Yagger, her grunt assistant, ran off hurriedly.

   Kelsey gathered all the team leaders and ODST advisors inside a circle of pelicans. She outlined a plan to them.
   "Alright, Cartographer's Castle is not the only thing under their control. The entire planet has been taken. We'll be taking this..." A hologram of a newly constructed covenant base appeared. "... We'll have a better position to operate out of if we take it."
   Six banshees screamed over head and sent them running for cover. Ike took down two with his SPNKr missiles as they flew past them, and Tori jumped on one and planted some C-7 foaming explosive on it. They crashed into the ground and exploded in big blue balls of plasma. Two more went down from sniper fire. The last banshee flew in circles, waiting for them to come out. It was about to dive when it was it with .50 Caliber machine gun fire from a fresh pelican.
   "Pilot, Identify yourself. This is Kelsey-418."
   "Told you we'd be coming," Captain Hamilton said.

   Kelsey stood in the covenant base overlooking the valley Cartographer's Castle was in. It took them less then an hour to capture the base. Seven Brutes had been captured, and they were being interrogated. She had her team on the jobs of fixing the place and organizing a raid crew for their ship, which crashed down three days ago. One last time.