Halo: Fireteam
"Step on it, Jackson! You got a death wish, Marine?!"
"Hell no, sir!" Jackson gunned the M12 LRV down the dirt path.
In the backseat, Cole revved the chaingun up and let off a sustained burst into the sky. Bright red tracers tore through the thick jungle haze, and one of the two pursuing Banshees peeled off, but not before launching another fuel rod blast.
A bright green blob of plasma thudded into the ground off to the right of the Warthog, forcing the M12 onto two wheels for several seconds before Jackson twisted the wheel to the left, bringing the 'Hog back onto all fours.
In the passenger's seat, Sergeant Lanning disengaged the spent magazine from his MA5 assault rifle, slapped a new one in, and racked a round into the chamber, sweeping the jungle in front of them for movement.
"Cole, eyes front! Movement two o' clock!" Lanning ordered. Cole immediately broke off firing at the Banshees and swung the barrel of the Light Anti-Aircraft Gun around, hit the triggers, and tore the foliage to shreds.
As the 'Hog whipped by at 70 miles an hour, Lanning caught a glimpse of phosphorescent blue - Grunt blood. What the hell were Covenant infantry doing on Cote d' Azur?
"Jackson, swing left! Get us off the path." Jackson yanked the steering wheel around and sent the LRV into the uncleared jungle, letting the massive tires chew up the brush in their way.
Another fuel rod projectile arced after them, but the Banshees were having a harder time tracking the Hog off of the cleared trail, so the deadly plasma landed a safe-ish 50 feet away.
Lanning looked around wildly for targets, and finding none, looked back to check on Rose. The only female member of their squad, Corporal Rose had taken a needle shard to the shoulder when they were ambushed by a Grunt patrol while searching their grid. Suppressive fire, then a mad dash back to the Hog before they were careening along in this nightmare back to base. Lanning and his men had taken out around eight of the diminutive alien dogs with a ragged volley and managed to patch Rose up with Biofoam, but if they didn't make it back to camp soon and get her medical attention, she might bleed out.
Twin lines of fire shot through the jungle foliage, igniting a hundred small brushfires. Jackson jerked the Hog sideways and cut off along a narrow embankment.
"Hold on - it's gonna get rough!" Jackson shouted, gunned the engine again, and sent the M12 down the embankment and into a wide stream. The Hog bounced on its frame, the tires compensating for the rocky terrain. Lanning registered an Elite's throaty howl from up on the ridge and loosed several bursts. A lucky string hit dead-on and the Elite's shield flared, struggling to maintain integrity. Now highlighted in a shimmering field, the Elite was completely exposed. Cole brought the big gun to bare and cut the Elite in half with the LAAG's 12.7mm rounds.
Lanning rose in his seat, craning his neck to see in front of the Hog. Shouting a curse, Lanning reached over Jackson's chest and pulled the emergency brake, fishtaling the LRV. The vehicle came to a stop feet away from an 100-foot waterfall.
Jackson put the LRV in reverse and tried to crawl up one side of the embankment. The tires spun dangerously with no traction, instead shooting up streams of soft mud. Undeterred, Jackson rammed the gear back into drive and let the Hog shoot up the other side, the powerful engine cutting its way out through sheer force.
Jackson paused at the top of the embankment, listening for the sound of the Banshees. "Shut her down - I think we've lost them." Lanning said softly.
Jackson pulled the electronic starter chip from the dash and the Hog's displays faded off. The deep purr of the engine slowed, then stopped, and everything was quiet except for the four Marines' heavy breathing.
"They're gone." Cole slumped against the chest plate of the chaingun, suddenly exhausted.
Lanning tried the Hog's radio. "Firebase Bravo, this is Sergeant Lanning. Come in, Firebase Bravo."
A few seconds of empty static, then, "Roger, Sergeant. Your signal is weak, but we have you."
"Bravo, we were just ambushed by Covenant forces. Looked to be a recon element - Grunts and Elites, with two fliers overhead."
"Acknowledged, Sergeant. Can you RTB?"
"Roger, Bravo. Our M-one-two sustained damage but is still running. We escaped with one major casualty."
"I'll alert triage to prepare for your wounded. What is your ETA?"
Lanning and Jackson consulted the GPS built into the Hog. "Ten minutes, give or take five. We are offroad and have to find the path back to camp."
"Good work, Sergeant. We are standing by to receive you. Bravo out."
Lanning replaced the radio and looked at his squad. Rose was getting paler by the second, and the sterile bandages Cole had wrapped her in were rapidly becoming stained with red.
"Hit it, Jackson."
The team pulled in to the firebase seven minutes later. As soon as the Hog had rolled to an abrupt stop, a medical team was offloading Rose onto a stretcher and carting her to the field hospital. Lanning went with her, leaving Jackson and Cole to unload the equipment.
After pulling the beaten-up M12 into the base's service bay, Jackson cycled the bolt on the chain gun and pulled the belt of ammunition from the receiver, set the ammo box aside, and loaded a fresh belt in. A crew of mechanics combed over the vehicle and made note of what needed to be repaired or replaced as Cole swept the seats clean of glass. Then the two of them hopped out and headed for the showers.
Cole ducked as plasma fire washed over his cover, melting into the titanium-reinforced concrete. A Covenant fireteam, four grunts led by an Elite, was just a hundred yards out. Beyond them was the rest of the massed Covenant assault force.
A 105mm base defense cannon thundered from somewhere within the compound, absolutely obliterating everything in the blast radius of its powerful shell. Cole poked his head up to look; Three of the grunts were shredded pieces of meat, and the Elite had lost both its right limbs. Cole raised his MA5B and finished off the two remaining aliens with one quick burst.
Lanning was at the controls of a M41 chaingun, keeping the aliens suppressed. As Cole watched, Lanning walked the 12.7mm rounds across a fetid pond and tore apart another Covenant infantry squad.
A beam of superheated plasma melted into the faceplate of the chaingun, scalding Lanning's hands. He ducked and presented as little a target as possible for the Jackal sniper while blind-firing with the big gun, until further behind him Rose's sniper rifle boomed. "Scratch one jackal, Sarge."
Cole glanced at Jackson, who was crouched next to him. Jackson raised a frag grenade and signaled on three. Cole nodded.
On three, both Marines stood, Cole laying down a withering barrage of covering fire, Jackson priming and throwing the frag. Cole's ammunition counter rapidly dwindled as the bulky assault rifle chewed through its extended clip, and the grenade bounced to a stop at an Elite's foot.
