Thriller Halo TODAY: Crossroads of America

"Hmmmmmm...Let's see if we have something bigger available to smack that nest of flies with," said Red aloud. "Hutchinson. see if we have any artillary units of our own to the east that are within range of taking out these abomonations from hell."

"Aye-aye sir," responded Hutchison. "Sir, Fort Sills has sent their Paladins over to Fort Knox and from there they've headed up towards Wright Patterson. They are currently on US 27 southeast of Richmond, Indiana. They are within range of Cambridge, Indiana. Red smiled a ***t eating grin. Give 'em my fire command code and the coordinates, private. We got ourselves a fly swatter now. Hutchenson typed in the information and sent it in. To the south and east on US Highway 27 a little north of Kitchell a Battalian of Paladins set up for a fire barrage and turned their turrets towards the ruins of Cambridge, Indiana...and fired. "Gentlemen. Feel free to paint those Wraithes with spotter lasers." Everyone that had one complied and spotted them with a laser spotter. "Gunners take out the anti-aircraft turrets, Shades and any other types mounted on their hulls. Captain, Araavi, sir feel free to cap those wraiths in their weakest spots that you can capitalize on."

In came the Excaliber rounds fresh from the Paladin's throats. As the AAs began busying themselves the Spirit's Shades began eliminating the AAs. More and more Excalibers began finding their mark and hitting Wraiths in earnest. Finally the last AA rack was eliminated and the Excalibers were virtually unopposed as they slammed into laser painted hull after laser painted hull.

"Trouble from top side, Sir!" called Hutcheson. Red slammed the yoke foreward and hit the throttle full. The Spirit sped foreward and accelerated towards Wright Patterson.

"Guns up at those Banshees," he called over the combat channel. the Shades reoriantated and opened up on the pursueing Banshees. There were seven in all to start and three were dusted by surprise not expecting a rack of three Shade turrets being held in place between the fork tines. The four remaining ones fanned out and began dodging and weaving while maintaining plasma fire. Red started dodging and weaving himself in order to survive.

"Sir! Head for the Artillary Battalian near Kitchel. They got anti aircraft protection including stingers!"

"Yes there is a Santa Claus!" yelled Red and promptly vectored towards southeast. The Banshees promptly changed coarse and resumed their harrasment of of the renegade Spirit.

"Get ready for a sudden stop gang!" he yelled.

Suddenly the shuttle decelerated hard and the pursueing Banshees sped past. The gunners anticipating this swung and fired at them as they passed. Two more were eliminated from the chase. Red accelerated hard again as the remaining two swung around to come in from cross fire angles. The gunners were on their game and kept them at bay once again. Though only two of them were firing now.

"Hutchenson! Give the artillary battalian my pass word and tell them I'm coming in hot with two banshees on my tail and that I'm flying a stolen Spirit Shuttle. Ask them to please take out the Banshees when we pass and hurry!"

"Aye-aye, sir," answered Hutchenson and relayed the earnest request. The Banshees were trying a new tactic to confuse the Shade gunners. Counter rotating and firing short controled bursts. Red had to dive in order to keep them from gutting his stolen shuttle from underneath.

A Battalian of M109 A6 Paladins with their accompanying reloading vehicles and air cover vehicles were just finishing from their first successful attack against a Covenant position, when they got a call to assist by using their anti aircraft vehicles. The pass word was good so they complied. In they came and the anti aircraft batteries locked on and shot them down. The men cheered. It was turning out to be a good day for target practise.
Red smelled feasies. Oh well, small price to pay in the long run.

"Tell'em thanks Hutchenson"

"Aye-aye, sir! hollard Hutchenson, with a S*

 

In Game: Time twenty minutes after the attempted elimination of the Wraiths at Cambridge, IN.

Meanwhile back at the clutch of Wraiths there was movement as twenty four wraith crews realized they may well have missed their ordered window of barrage opportunity against the human opposition at Greenfield. As for the Wraiths...they had dents here and there but none were out of commission. Simply any fixtures of a more delicate nature had to be replaced but not the main cannons. Still the crews had something to talk about after it was over.

Tag: Guys.

OCC: Ah well it was a bloody good try!

 

3-9-09


Fourteen MV-22B Ospreys from VMM-268 were on final approach to their drop off point in Greenfield. Major Connecky could see activity in Riley to the east as ships came down from orbit with God only knew what on board them.

The 1st Marine Division's 1st Tank Battalian was on sight with thirsty Abram M1A2s lined up for fuel. A packed vacant field was cleared and lightly watered down so as to prevent dust damage to their turbo shafts. Somebody was thinking at least, he thought. This trip was 80 % fuel with a remainder being track tread for those tanks that were in need. The next run would be a balance of fuel, ammo and track treads, if they were able to hold the Covenant off long enough for that. Connecky felt badly for the tankers as they must have been pushing hard to get this far this fast. He knew from the looks of things that it wouldn't be long before they knew if they would be up for the fight or not. The Valkries landed and lowered their ramps to unload. Lines started forming to supplies along to their most needed locations amongst the Tanks of the Fighting 1st. Connecky stepped out with his four new Squadron members formerly from VMM-266. Captains Fitzgerald, Mitchel, Sweeney and Reinhart. As soon as the replacement Ospreys from Texas arrived they'd be getting them and fresh cargo crews to fly and break in. Now however they were helping with the unloading same as the cargo crews. Men scurried about to get as much done as possible. This included the loading of wounded from the earlier detonation of a fusion reactor on board one of the Covenant Scarabs right in the midst of the Covenant's first wave just when it was forming up. Word had it that it was a sacrifice manuevere by three National Guardsmen with some help from Marine Force Recon, to delay the Covenant's inevetable attack on Greenfield.

The enemy was moving again as the power generators of the electromagnetic repulsor lifts could be heard in the distance winding up. Fuel was being poured into the M1A2s as fast and as safely as possible. They in turn were winding up for the coming onslaught too. From out of the south on route 9 more M1A2s were fast approaching that had been delayed due to track being thrown or bottle necking resulting from refuges snarling traffic. The earlier landings along the route had paid off with many of the stranded Abrams being able to pull through and make it here now.

"Major!" It's a wrap here. "We're empty of cargo and loaded with wounded!" called his cargo chief, Petri.

"Everyone back onboard. We're in the hot zone as of now!" he yelled. Everybody from VMM-268 began trotting up their respective ramps and soon afterwards they raised. Connecky and his co-pilot went to the front section to start the departure procedure. Within record time VMM-268 was airborne and enroute to Fort Knox with those who were wounded and could no longer carry on with the fight themselves.

Tag: Deiskrad, Sanctimoniously, Master_Dmentae, and Great_Divide.

 

IC:Second Lieutenant John Fort.Force REcon,USMC.Inside Evac bird




As John laid on the floor of the bird,his body finally frozen from the morphine and extent of his injuries.He looked up at the many faces peering down at him: The corpsmen that were operating on him,as well as other marines from different units and other servicemen.

His vision swirled around the room. "You let your unit, your country, and THE CORPS down by being weak" A small voice whispered to him.
"No...I didn't...I couldn't" "I didn't"

"What?" asked the Corpsman, before putting a bandage around john's hand
"I DIDNT" yelled John, attempted to sit up.
In an instant marines hopped up from their seats to force him to sit back down



Tag:anyone

OOC:dammit, couldn't do much with this situation lol

 

"It's OK Lieutenant...Fort. We're enroute to Wright Patterson to get you and some of your comrades in arms here patched up. Your a Marine and Marines never let their comrades down. We had to stop temporarily in order for me to bring in one of our gunners. He was wounded by a Banshee after we went and took a dump on some Wraith tanks back at what was left of Cambridge IN. Sorry if the landing and switch out was a little rough but he was hurt kind of bad too, so I had to hustle. I'll be taking off in a minute so just try and relax a bit and God willing and if it don't drop in, we'll get out of this one in pretty good shape."

Red stood back up from kneeling next to Lieutenant Fort and help with his wounded gunner who had been laid out on a make shift stretcher and was now getting tended to.

"Woody listen to me. We're heading over to Wright Patterson still. Chuck's taking your spot topside so you can rest up for the remainder of the flight, so lighten up and stand down so these medics can poke you with some happy juice."

The Marine settled back and closed his eyes as the Navy corpmen ministered to his wounds. Lieutenant Bastin stood back up again and started walking back towards the front of the shuttle. Within minutes the shuttle lifted gently then turned, after which it backed, then lifted up in earnest as it began to accelerate and head foreward to the north east and Wright Patterson AFB.

Tag: Deiskrad and others.

 

Overview: Greenfield Indiana, POV Character: Staff Sgt. Jerome Metcalf

Plasma comets, needles, and Fuel rods smashed again into Greenfield. The Covenant vehicles whooshed to attack speed, and disgorged their infantry at the outskirts of the city. They advanced: skirmish lines of Unggoy, followed by Kig-Yar and Sangheili bringing up the rear. They blazed suppressing fire and rushed forward.

Tracer rounds from SAW's and M3's flogged at the aliens from buildings, piles of rubble, and entrenchments. The Covenant continued to advance anyway, matching the humans shot for shot. Flashes from shade turrets far in the rear snapped forth, obliterating about half of a barrage of mortars fired from Riley park. The remainder of the rounds plopped down on target, shredding a file of Grunts and jarring the rest of their lance out of formation. But other lances reached their initial waypoints and threw themselves into cover behind half-shattered buildings, or dove into dead ground.

************

"Reloading!" the Specialist cried. He slithered back from the firing port in their fighting position, a loophole knocked out of the wall of a house at the edge of town. Staff Sgt. Jerome Metcalf stepped forward as the specialist dropped away to recharge his M3. Jerome hefted his SAW onto the lip of the loophole and blazed away into the acrid smoke. The Covenant attempted to rush again, He held down the trigger, screaming in terror and rage, scything down a couple of the monkey-like aliens. One of the dinosaurish aliens hefted its hoplon-like shield and deflected the incoming stream of lead for a moment. But the impacts forced the creature off balance, and it tumbled, the bullets spasming the alien, rolling it over and over on the ground until Metcalf let his cramped trigger-finger relax. That seemed to convince the Aliens. As they stayed under cover then.

Green blasts quested forth: picked fire. the bolts burst around the firing port, bringing dazzling flashes to the mens' eyes. Metcalf blinked back the floating blobs in his cornea and fired back. By this time, the specialist was back up and manning his position as well, sending three-round bursts downrange.

Just then one of the Covenant vehicles appeared. Its gun twisted on its mount, and blazed at them. Metcalf hit the dirt, but the specialist was just a hair slower. The thermal bloom from the plasma fire caught the specialist, enveloping him in an awful embrace of ionized deuterium. He fell back, ablaze, but his training remained for a moment and he rolled, dousing the fire. Then he began to scream.

The specialists face was a mass of black crust, his features melted and blurred. No eyes were visible, and his nose was but a charred lump. His white teeth stood out starkly against this blackness, and from this grim reaper visage, a continual wail of panic and excruciating pain keened.

Metcalf crawled to his comrade, trying to move him, but he was so badly burned that his seared flesh was the consistency of yogurt. He bellowed for a medic into his radio link, but it didn't matter. At that moment, the file of grunts had run up, and one tossed a plasma grenade into the firing position. Blue energy cracked from the hole, followed by foul smoke. The grunt waved its hands in the air, signaling that the threat was neutralized, and the Lance continued to advance.

TAG: All

 

Sixteen Modified CV-22Cs raced in from out of the south from Fort Knox, Kentucky. Major Kelsey Russell radioed in his approach security code. They were on their third run to Greenfield. The first one was to bring in DEVGRU/ST6, fuel and spare M1 Abrams tracks and other types of spare tracks. The second was to bring in AT-4CSs, Stingers and M32 six packs with Mercury rounds. This, the third trip, included Seal Team 8 from Virginia Beach Virginia plus a load of small arms ammo in 5.56, 7.62 and 50 caliber with spare M4s, MK 417s, M110s and M107 Barrettes. Also law rockets, SAWs amd AAS-12s with Frag 12 ammunition.

"Blackbirds 1-16 you are cleared to approach rear landing zone on grid area 1552. Watchout for small arms plasma fire. We've got reenforcements rolling in up highway 9. They'll be mighty happy to see that spare ammo, track and fuel you're bringing in."

"Thanks for the update on the small arms fire, Tip. We'll be giving 'em pay back if their game." Russell switched to command frequency and addressed his squadron. We are cleared for set down at west end. Follow my lead to grid area 1552. They'll give us some clearing to land in. Side gunners keep it frosty as we've been told there's small arms plasma fire to watchout for."

He adjusted his night vision and switched to vertical mode. As they approached the western landing zone, a barrage of artillary fire came in from somewhere far to the west of Greenfield. Fifty percent of the tsuenami of 155mm Excaliber rounds slammed into every painted Shade turret they could hit, as Greywolf 3's Paladins responded to artillary fire commands from Commander Estiphon's Two platoons from DEVGRU. Once the Shades were eliminated the next barrage was called in on painted Spirits and Phantoms and Shadows still with their troops on board before they could dissembark. This and any Ghosts and Spectres that were engaged in the attack against the National Guardsmen, U.S. Marines and U.S. Army troops defending Greenfield. Russell's Blackbirds were on the ground now.

"Ramps down!" he bellowed. "Get this stuff off! We got men dying out there because they don't have ammo or guns big enough to kill cuvvies with! Move it!"

The Cargo handlers leaped at the roar of his voice and snapped to it. Fork lifts raced up the ramps and hauled pallets down at near break neck speeds only to be replaced by yet another forklift hell bent on doing it all over again. In fifteen minutes all of the Osprey's cargo bays were empty and their turboshafts were winding up for departure and another load ASAP. They would be bound for Fort Knox , a refueling and a fresh load of pain for the Covenant...he hoped!

Tag: Sanctimoniously, Master_Dmentae, Great_Divide and Deiskrad. Hey Rally_Fan_84...We need a Man's Man here to kick some cuvvy butt! C'mon down and bring that bad butt Super Cobra with ya!!

 

Before they got Ten feet off the ground a message came through from command.

"Major, Russell. You are to take 8th SOS to these issued coordinates in Moline, Illinois. There's a change in the game plan. Greenfield is just too small to waste men and arms over. You are to pick up Arms and Supplies and transfer them to Indianapolis International Airport. Repeat until told otherwise."

8th SOS complied.

Red and company were in communication with Wright Patterson AFB as they approached it from out of the south. The pass code was accepted and they landed with three Shade turrets in fully functional condition. The Shades were turned over to the United States Air Force Laboratory were they were to be reverse engineered and investigated for their weeknesses. The wounded were taken in to the base's underground hospital.

Valkrey Squadron...what remained of it was beyond range of the Shade turrets that had ravaged their numbers down from fourteen to ten in numbers. They maintained their heading towards Fort Knox and reached it shortly there after. Two new MV-22Bs were sitting on pads reserved for them while they waited for the squadron's new members from VMM-266 to man them.

Palastine, Indiana: A Battalian of MLRSs unleashed all of their missles at once on the approaching Covenant Attack Force. By the time the Missles would have reached their highest point of ark, they were no more. The Shades were responsible for more damage to American military assets than the Banshees had been earlier and they were standing still! Command made special note of that fact and recalled the MLRS back to Camp Attabury.

Tag: Sanctimouniously, Great_Divide, Master_Dmentae and Deiskrad.

 

OOC: I promise a post tomorrow. Fight on people! Wade into him! Spill THEIR blood, shoot THEM in the belly!

 

Greenfield

The sergeant ran into the Command Stryker. The Commanding officer turned to him, moving his headset off one ear to listen both to the sergeant and to the smattering of reports coming in.

"We just lost the first line, sir! They're pulling back to the secondary right now. The mortars had to relocate. We lost Riley park. They're setting up in the High School football field."

"You came over here to report that?! Why didn't you use the Net?" The commander snapped.

"Sir, the ionized plasma is playing hell with communications. We didn't know if you got it or not."

The commander pushed the headphone back over his ears. A Mark-19 grenade launcher burped five rounds downrange. Nobody would've paid it any mind, but that it was far closer than the action ought to be.

"Return to your post Sergeant."

The sergeant fled without a word.

The commander could feel it. The cold pit of defeat. Many units were calling over the net, sporadically, for Final Protective Fires so they could withdraw to their secondary positions. Last he heard, there was still resistance at the shattered Hancock Memorial Hospital, and the jail was built like a bunker, the surrounded troops there were putting up a fight. However, it looked like most of the west side of Greenfield was in enemy hands, and they were pushing on the center. His counterstroke, the MLRS battery in New Palestine, hadn't got their rockets even past the boosting phase before those blasted alien plasma turrets tore them out of the sky. It was all up to the mortars and paladins who had 50% effectiveness anyway, and whose ammo stores were being depleted at an alarming rate.

Armies train to fight the last war more effectively...

He decided to commit his reserve. Two companies of straight-leg infantry. Marines. He'd gotten word that the trickle of new units was turning to a stream. Soon a flood. if he could hold out by the night, several divisions could be in place. Divisions stationed in Michigan, Illinois, and Kentucky were all on their way, if his Guardsmen could hold out, they could save Indianapolis. He'd commit the Marines and stiffen the lines. Maybe counterattack where possible.

***********

A pair of strykers rolled up to their fighting positions. Their cal fifty's and Mark 19's chattered away. For several seconds they lay into enemy positions: blowing down the walls of houses, garages, throwing up columns of dirt ten feet high at every grenade burst. Then they backed out of their fighting holes as a volley of plasma and needle return fire stitched the berm at the front of their positions. They downshifted and roared away to their alternate positions in case the enemy air units or an artillery barrage was called in. So far they were doing quite well. The dismounted enemy infantry was being kept back by the Stryker teams fire, and the accompanying infantry did their part to make sure none of aliens got close enough to use those hideous sticky plasma grenades.

The displacement proved sensible. A moment later, the earth shook and blackened by three cyan comets striking home where they'd just been. Close. The aliens tried to take advantage. A file leapt from the house they took shelter in and rushed forward, but the guardsmen were ready. They rose up out of their foxholes and into the ozone mist, firing a merciless barrage into the Covenant soldiers. They bucked and fell. A few tried to scurry back to their positions, but only delayed their fate a few seconds.

The file never even made it halfway across the street.

TAG: All (come on! fight!)

 

Evening, 3-9-09, Greenfield, IN.
Location: East side of White River, south of Old US 40 and a stand of trees inside the Greenfield Gulf course.

IC: PC LT. Commander, Anthony Raymone Estiphon(DEVGRU); LPC LT. Commander, Dale Curtis Andrews(ST8); LPC Lieutenant Sutton(DEVGRU 2nd Platoon LDR.) and other assorted members of both teams.


Eight Armored Stryker HUMVEEs sat in the Greenfield gulf course, south of the tree line and south of Old US 40. Their crews watched as a lance of Spectres and Ghosts with Shadows bringing up the rear, skimmed by on US 40 heading west to capitalize on their breakthrough after having breached the first line of defence towards the center of town. Now it was DEVGRU's turn to cut off the stream of incoming Covenant combat vehicles. Seal Team Eight worked in conjunction with DEVGRU by setting up IEDs made of specially prepared Claymores with remote radio controled detonators. A trick they learned the hard way from the insurgents while in Irag. Well if it was good enough for the 'F'ing, it was good enough for us to use against the 'F'ing Covenant. It was easy to set into position and it acted as a lure for enemy vehicles to enter into their fire trap. Wreckage of combat vehicles both American and Covenant blocked Main Street. The Covenant Lance slowed and prepared to fire upon the pile of wreckage to clear it out. Commander Andrews popped the safety cover over the detonation switch and thumbed it. The line of claymores blew into the stalled lance tossing it into the northern curb and whatever there was in the way of trees and parked or abandoned vehicles along Boulevard. DEVGRU and ST8 jumped on it and closed to within firing range and opened up with their latest suprise. Newly implimented M307 Grenade Launchers with reduced recoil and greater accuracy. Paired up with Mercury rounds, the combination proved very lethal to the lance. Some of the Covenant troops bailed out of their hammered Shadows and began taking cover behind some of the abadoned vehicles. Return fire soon followed. Sharp shooters from both Teams made relatively short work of them. The Spectres and Ghosts being made of smaller frames, meeted out less trouble with the side cover being more easily overwhelmed. Those that were able to bail soon died from the cross fire.

"Fire Teams one and two go in and mop up. Fire Team three cover them," Ordered Estiphon

Those still breathing were dispatched to the the great beyond. Finally the 'clear' call was given. Both groups moved onward towards where the Covenant Forces had penetrated deepest. It was time to encircle and eliminate. They would close with them from behind but always with hit and run tactics, so as to wear them down.

***********************************
Evening, 3-9-09, Moline, IL.
Location: South end of Moline, IL.
IC: Major, Kelsey Conrad Russell. Flight Leader of 8th SOS.


8th SOS Blackbirds, Moline, IL. near the American Recreation Manufacturing Factory, near the south end of Moline, IL.

Sixteen CV-22Cs had landed in the Factory parking lot of American Recreational Manufacturing's only Factory in Moline, IL. With their ramps lowered and forklifts running out with AAS-12s along with Frag12 ammo loaded in 32 round drum magazines, the cargo handlers kept themselves busy counting and securing the loads of weapons and ammo. Where they lacked in Fork lifts they made up for with employees and rolling pallet jacks from the factory. This was sufficient enough to get the Blackbirds loaded and ready to go within 45 minutes. Not bad for civilians, he thought. Soon enough they were on there way and stopping in at Indianapolis International Airport. He had no sooner landed when new orders came in from command. The load was to be forwarded to the east side of Indianapolis where it would be trucked to Greenfield, IN. Well Hells Bells. It looks like old Tip's still putting up a fight afterall, thought Kelsey. He smiled.

****************************************

Evening, 3-9-09, Wright Patterson AFB, OH.
Locati

 

LPC: Iu'Shee Tambra, Sangheili Minor-Domo, in cover with unit at City Hall, Greenfield.

"Bring it in close!" Tambra bawled into his comlink. Out of nowhere, Human warriors had appeared, causing sudden terror and panic and confusion. They rushed out of side-streets, bellowing and firing their chemical rifles. Suddenly the attackers had become prey themselves. Such is war.

Tambra blazed with his plasma rifle at a shape visible in his infra-vision. The human twitched and detached as the plasma found him, and did not rise.

"They're right on top of us, do it now!" he yelled again, slapping a grunt with his free hand to get him firing again. His lance was close to breaking, he needed that artillery...

*****************

Covenant Artillery Park, Cambridge City


Four Wraiths adjusted their azimuth and fired enormous plasma toroids out of their turret-mounted Plasma Mortars. The flight time would be less than a minute. Though they had fire missions stacked high, Final Protective Fire gets priority. A number of units were calling for it in the Human city being contested. Each Wraith fired three more rounds for their FPF mission before returning to their other assignments.

*****************

LPC: Iu'Shee Tambra

"Down! Get down!"
Tambra hugged the earth as the plasma artillery shrieked in. The miniature comets blasted buildings. The surface shook fit to shatter. A wash of heat and expanding air washed over Tambra and his lance. The other lances in his cohort ceased fire and dropped down as more protective fire screamed down. Seeing their chance to regroup, several Spectre's and Shadows ceased their withdrawal and turned to begin firing again. The humans scuttled back along their axis of advance.

But there was no time for elation. From the front of the salient, other humans began to attack. They were taking their chance with the Cohort distracted by the other human warriors' flanking attempt. Needles and plasma fire pinned them, but they continued to crawl forward, firing. Human mortars began getting through the Shadescreen and started plopping amongst the lances.

"We are cut off!" Tambra roared into his comlink as he tossed a plasma grenade. "We need Banshee cover at this grid reference..."

Minutes later, banshees, barely floating above 300 feet, made an attack run, 6 of them sprayed plasma and fuel rods at human emplacements, slowing the primates, but not stopping them. Despite their casualties, the humans did not abandon the attack.

*COM*"All units of Cohort 4, we understand your situation. You will continue to receive priority on Artillery and air power. A relief force is being assembled. In the meanwhile, hold your position until relieved."

TAG: All

 

DEVGRU withdrew south towards the jogging and bike path which ran by the Greenfield Gulf Course and the breadth of Greenfield, parallel to old US 40. From there they traveled west along to a local junkyard. They made quick work on the fence and set up a temporary base of operations. In the mean time SEAL TEAM 8 withdrew from old US 40 north ward by way of the White river. They then moved parallel with DEVGRU towards downtown, crossing park grounds off of West Dr. An intervening wall was little more than rubble, possibly due to an insertion attempt. With this in mind Andrew's Team crept through and leap frogged westward along North Street until they came upon a Home with a Wooded lot on the north west corner of Prat and North. SEAL TEAM 8 moved towards the darkened dwelling and set up spotters from on top of the abandoned house's roof. Click code was used to communicate with DEVGRU that they had a temporary stop spot.

"Skipper, we've got movement west up the street," called his spotter's voice in his left ear.

"Number and direction?" asked Andrews.

Scouting Lance by the looks of it sir, heading south on Spring Street according to the map. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight...ten total, sir."

"Get ready to move. Xmen this is Avengers Heads up you got a column heading south towards you along Spring Street. Ten vehicles counted. Spectres and Ghosts. No troop carriers spotted."

Estiphon double clicked in response and signaled his men to get into position for a pounce on the Covenant Lance's rear should they turn north. Both Teams moved to new positions and watched the Covenant column continue on its journey south towards Main street and past it to South street. From there the column turned west and headed for the downtown City government's dwellings. A pair of National Guard Humvee Strykers either fired a M-19 grenade launcher or a M-307 grenade launcher with a five round burst and a fifty cal. Machine Gun (M-2 or M-312). The first three lead Covenant combat vehicles errupted into flame and explosions. Estiphon's TEAM jumped at the opportunity and rounded out of the junk yard's front entrance behind the enemy column's rear with weapons blazing. The last three vehicles in the enemy column errupted in flames and began exploding, thus effectively blocking them in a fire sack. Estiphon gave his fire command code and called in an artillary strike and quickly pulled back to stay clear of the in coming barrage. A green flash errupted from up Spring Street as his Stryker sped by in reverse. His front bumper caught the plasma blossom and the Humvee spun counter clockwise sending the Stryker carreening off course and into the parking lot of a junkyard on the north side of South Street. The Stryker slammed into an abandoned pickup truck. The hunter was being turned into the hunted. Another lance was racing south down Spring Street towards them, undoubtedly coming to the aid of the first Covenant column now caught in the fire sack. Estiphon saw after image spots which effectively dulled his vision. He attempted to blink out the temporary blindness. Suttons Humvees raced up Swope Street to counter a flanking manuever. Others from Estiphon's unit came up to his Humvee and helped him and his driver out of it. Someone manned the M-307 and began firing five round bursts. An incoming barrage was approaching fast. He could hear Sutton's Strykers opening up with their 307s and 312s at the approaching Covenant Lance. Explosions started flashing and thundering along South Street, towards the west end of the block, near American Legion Place. Other explosions could be heard north around Main Street with Green flashes and 50 Caliber Machine Gun fire. There was quite a commotion happening on Main Street.

"Status!" called Estiphon.

"Got lucky, Skipper. Guard's got the west end of the fight we got east and south. Eight's got the north side of the fire trap sealed shut. We got 'em boxed in and mopping the floor with them."

"Blow 'em away, then get clear of there before the Banshe

 

In Game: Unit USMC VMM-266 Fighting Griffens


Sixteen Osprey tiltrotors from VMM-266 were in bound by a circuitous route to the M-109's of Greywolf 3. They were stuffed with a precious cargo. Badly needed 155mm Excaliber rounds for Greywolf 3's Paladins, were starting to run dangerously low and had to be replenished fast. It was the only artillary round that was making a difference against all of the ground vehicles that the Covenant could throw against Americans, save one. The Fighting Griffins received clearance to land and began transition to verticle mode. As they approached the pilots were amazed at the signs of warfare even this far from the front lines. There had been attempts to quiet the guns of Greywolf 3 permenently. Thus far those attempts had failed, as the artillary units had moved out from the battered grounds of Camp Attabury and brought their Howitzers, even closer to the front where there was more room to shoot and scoot. VMM-266 touched down. National Guardsmen with trucks and forklifts began helping the Marine crewmen offload the ammunition for Greywolf 3. Trucks were loaded and more ammunition was sent towards the loading point for the Paladin's loaders. The Griffens raised ramps and left for another critical load.

Tag: Everyone! Come on!

 

LPC: Iu?Shee Tambra, Sangheili Minor Defending Salient, Greenfield Indiana

Roaring hoarsely, Tambra slashed down another human soldier with a burst of his plasma rifle. The human burst and immolated. Tambra ducked down as a fusillade of human projectiles sliced the air where he had been. He wheeled and sprinted, diving through a window as bullets began plinking off his shield. He rose up and there were a few cowering humans in the room, they wailed and clung to each other.

Pathetic. He thought. I will not waste any time on them.

He went back out in the same fashion. He crossed the structure and smashed through a door on the opposite side. He was in a small passage between buildings. He crept forward slowly, his shield recharging. Most of his file was wounded or dead, but it never occurred to him to attempt to give up.

He peered around the edge of a building and saw what appeared to be a lance of humans and a war vehicle of some kind assembling behind a large structure. He checked his weapon, and then drew back, touching his Comlink instead. He called in artillery.

Suddenly a human was there. Forerunners only knew why he left his lance, but there he was standing there, mouth open and eyes bulging as he beheld the alien.

Tambra reacted first. With a bellow of terror, he hosed the human with his plasma rifle. The soldier flamed and flew backwards, clothes and flesh turning to ash and steam. In his panic, Tambra held the burst on the dead human longer than necessary, tumbling him across the street.

Instantly a hail of fire from the humans sought him. Tambra took off not a moment too soon as explosive projectiles from the war vehicles laced the mouth of the alley. Pounding the ground, he ran to the opposite end of the alley, took cover and ripped another burst of cyan plasma.

Tambra did not think of making peace with his journey. He was too busy firing, moving, firing some more, taking cover and allowing his shield to recharge. But he knew it was probably coming.

A massive toroid of neon plasma dropped from the sky. It hit home, turning the human infantry to ash and turning the war vehicle to slag. Tambra relaxed fractionally, then spun at a sound and nearly shot a file of friendlies as they approached.

?Peace, brother.? Said the Sangheili ?Where is your unit.?

?On their journey.? He replied. ?I?ve been calling in artillery, and??

?Keep doing that.? The Sangheili said. ?It?s keeping us alive. The relief column will be here. The battle net shows that they are assembling just outside the population center. They?ll be here in a cycle or less.?


*****************************

LPC: Zogar Gaharkee, commanding 8th Legion of Sacrosanct Meditation, Greenfield Indiana

?Execute now.? Gaharkee rumbled as he surveyed the battlefield Holo. ?they are now completely committed to holding the center. Start rolling and do not stop until the envelopment is complete.?

He switched the commlink to his driver?s headset.

?Take me to this sector.? He highlighted a point on the battlemap, a sector of residential structures, away from the fighting in the center of town.

TAG: All

 

Greenfield, IN. Early Evening 3-9-09

After ten minutes of seeing the futility of communicating strictly by voice outside of three blocks distance. Colonel 'Tip' O'brien switched to Morse Code for those outside of voice range. It was a little slower than by digitally enhanced voice, but ultimately faster due to the plasma interference issue.

"Commander Estiphon. I'm getting reports of plasma artillary being called in on my secondary line. I've commited two Companies to bolster the secondary line and stop the advance. Unfortunately the enemy is making excellent use of its plasma artillary at the cost of my companies. Unless we can get this thing turned around, I'll have to order a relocation back to the final third of Greenfield not yet taken. By then Greenfield will effectively be lost. I want you to take out who ever is calling in the plasma artillary, be it one or several Covenant Spotters. If the Artillary can be made less effective, then we can keep our companies retively intact and functional."

"Where have the strikes taken place so far?" asked Estiphon.

"Mostly downtown within tight pockets near city center."

"Colonel, I'm thinking that a more fluid approach with traps and swift relocation will win this battle. Greenfield has buildings and streets that can be used for that. This way you won't need to worry so much about running after Cuvvy Spotters. Hit then relocate. Rinse and repeat. A sustained stand up fight won't cut it unless you have overwhelming firepower. Pair up your Hummers like a later day Rat Patrol. That and set traps with laws and clamors. Look, it's worked for us so far up until now. It can't hurt if you try applying this strategy, besides your Strykers might get lucky and take out the spotters too."

"I'm already doing just that Commander Estiphon. You do your part. Out."

Colonel O'brien started issuing new orders from his Command Stryker. Even more Stryker Humvees-recently arrived-started forming up and began relocating to new sites, to set up fire traps against the Covenant's advancing cohorts.

DEVGRU and ST8 did like wise as they worked there way towards the residential area east ward.

"Fire Teams 3, 5 and 7. Set up for a infrared overhead reconisense view with four video rounds with illuminators. I need to see what's happening, where it's happening and who's making it happen," said Estiphon.

Thirty seconds later, four video rounds streaked skyward as artillary from Greywolf 3 and mortars from Riley Park's mortars simultaneously struck covenant targets spied by the National Guard's Artillary Spotter. Illuminators brought light to the war torn tableau as the videos observed, recorded and relayed the information to DEVGRU and ST8.

Estiphon spied the handy work of the Plasma Artillary. A trashed Bradley M-2 melted down to slag. D***. What a waste. Slow isn't working in this fight. while fast moving Strykers were doing much better at avoidance of plasma artillary, not that Bradleys were slow to speak of in the first place.

Estiphon spotted a group of Cuvvies a block over to the north from the wasted M-2's remains. Sure enough there was plasma artillary arcing in from the west and hitting a line of Guardsmen that were engaging the Cuvvies. Bingo.

"Harris. Call in both Artillary from Graywolf 3 and Mortars from Riley Park, now! While your at it paint that bunch of Covenant ****s with the illuminators for guidance to the Excalibers from."

"Aye, Sir." said Harris in complians.

Excaliber rounds came rolling in as the Cuvvies began scrambling for cover. Some but not all were shot out of the sky by Shade turrets. The Excalibers overwhelmed the Covenant Elite's personal body shields. When it was over there wasn't enough left of them to fill a thimble.

"Relocate north of Main street," he said into his mic on command frequency.

The Strykers moved the two teams out in haste. Plasma rounds came in from high up and out of the east and hit very close to where they had been. Someo

 

Date: 3-9-09 22:33

Location: Aboard the Captured Spirit Shuttle, Enroute from Fort Knox, KY. to Gem, IN.

Lt. 'Red' Bastin's Marine 3rd Force Recon Company 1st Platoon,(now up to full strength instead of a team) was clear of Fort Knox and nearly finished with a circuitous route to Gem, IN. Force Recon had been joined by 1/9/2 The "Walking Dead". Red was pleased to be part of such a lively lot. They were heading in country to the new drop off point in Gem, IN. There was a big scramble to Greenfield, IN by as many fighting units in the United States Armed Forces as could be sent. A lot was at stake. They even had a warehead for a GBU-28, a 'Deep Throat'. This was for a parting shot against the Covenant should things get too out of hand, even for them. Mike sighed. Those aliens must breed like flies. One thermonuclear core overload and they just keep coming back for more. We gotta get a bigger fly swatter. The Dead's weapons company was going to plant this one in a drain just under the old US 40 highway about half way between Philidelphia and Greenfield. This was to 'share the love' with our new neighbors who'd recently moved into the neighborhood and desided to demonstrate their idea of what love was, with the rest of us folks here on planet earth. With the Walking Dead as company the old phrase of Tango Down was getting replaced with Cuvvy Down. Small Wonder. Mike felt the tilt of the wings gradually come up towards verticle. He started feeling that familiar adrenal rush begin to tickle him with that almost giddy sensation in the pit of his stomach. He welcomed it as the flow coursed through his circulatory system. Six Osprey Squadrons approached Gem, IN., including the recovering VMM-268 Valkries with their 12 birds. The rest of the 'Dead' were heading to the front in Greenfield immediately. Red and his Platoon were going too. They wouldn't be going on foot but rather, they'd be driving in with newly equiped Marine Strykers armed with M-307s, M-312s and even M-134Ds. Mike could hardly wait. He'd had enough of the Covenant. It was about time they 'shared the Love'.

Tag: Deiskrad, others.

 

Location:Greenfield, IN

Time and Date: 06:00, 3-10-09



They'd been working from the evening throughout the night. The sewage tunnels had been opened for transfer purposes in the event of emergency evacuation or just plain relocation under cover. Other measures included the acquiring of junked vehicles destined to the scrap metal compactors at the two city junkyards. They provided the building blocks needed to build street fortifications necessary for the obstruction of Covenant troops and vehicles. Trenches were dug both for the Claymore mines and the reenforcement of the foundational Scrapped and Compacted metal bales. These were imbedded into the second line of trenches placed behind the first. If hit they would hold fast. Yes theyed melt, but that was the whole idea because they'd also fuse and solidify. Everyone knew that the Covenant was massing for a strike, so time was truly of the essence. The one saving grace was the sheer numbers of personnel that stepped up to volunteer with whatever they had that could be of help. When word got out that the Guard needed help, those who had been caught still in town brought there equipment and supplies that were needed to reenforce Greenfield from certain over run and doom, at the hands of the Covenant. Back hoes, flatbed trucks, Dump trucks, large and small fork lifts, mobile shovels, front end loaders, medium sized cranes. You name it, the town of Greenfield had it somewhere and made use of it for readiness. When the junkyards ran out of junk cars and trucks for metel bales, the city's populace volunteered its own cars and trucks for bale duty. City bull dozers were tracked up to build ramps with dirt to reenforce the steel baled barriers. Dump trucks from local companies brought dirt. Cement trucks brought in cement from a local Ready Mix Batch Plant and pored quick setting cement where needed to fill the gapes. Citizen worked beside soldier shoulder to shoulder in order to prepare Greenfield for its unwelcomed and unwanted would be conquerers. All the while more and more units began streaming in. These at first were Special Forces of one kind or another, but when the Marine's 1st Battalion of the 9th Regiment of the 2nd Marine Division arrived. That's when people began to take hope that maybe, just maybe there has something besides a snow ball's chance in Hell of coming out of this alive, if not quite victorious. Even Tip O'Brien stood and gave a speech to encourage everyone and thanking the good folks of Greenfield for helping America's armed forces at their hour of need. Everyone was motivated to do their part to help. More people, more work accomplished in less time. Colonel O'brian put them to work right away. Thanks to the combined efforts of the Navy SEALs, Marine Force Recon and the 1/9 Marine Battalion, Covenant Forces were promptly kicked eastward clear of Swoop Street from Memorial Hospital down to South Street. From there it cut west to Meek Street, then south to Forest Avenue, then on to south East Street. From there it cut across privately owned property to where it merged with State Street. This line was where the fortifications were placed and dug in. State Street became the second line of defense. The area between was effectively laced with walls, fire traps and Claymore mine traps. Added to this was roaming armored Strykers with M312 50 cals and M307 40mm automatic grenade launchers using the new Mercury Rounds for greater distance and more lethality. Still others were armed with M134D mini guns. All were positioned for ambush along McKenzie Rd., Ricks Ave., Ellis Dr., Allen Lane, Walker St., Douglas St., E. Lincoln St., Grant St., E. North St., Main St. and E. South St. Ambush spots were even setup for the Town's jogging path that traveled from the east end of town to the west end. Particular attention was placed on Davis rd. to the south as a likely candidate for a flanking manuver's path or just plain, a by-pass route if they couldn't break through in the town itself. They setup a trap there as well with clay

 

Regional Situation:

Elements of 1st marine Division (specifically Marine Recon) engaged in Greenfield Indiana.

101st Airborne en route from Fort Campbell Kentucky. Ordered to assume blocking positions in the Northwest Quadrant of the Oval in an axis stretching from Muncie to Noblesville.

1 Infantry Brigade Combat Team from 1st Infantry Division stationed at Ft. Knox en route to assume blocking positions In southwestern Quadrant.

82nd Airborne en route from Ft. Bragg North Carolina to assume blocking positions in Michigan and western Ohio,

10th Mountain Division en route with Three Brigade Combat teams from Ft. Drum New York to assume blocking positions in western Ohio.

1 battalion of 1st Tank battalion, 1st Marine Division on the march in Southern Indiana.

Covenant: Four legions landed. A fifth Legion is being ferried to the surface. Three legions forward, one in reserve.

Elements of Indiana National Guard 7 Ohio National guard hastily building defensive positions, or engaging the enemy in the Greenfield area.


Global Situation:

Covenant landings: United States Midwest, Siberia, West Africa, Southern China.

Organized resistance to Covenant landings in United States, Russia, and China. Guerilla warfare in Africa. Unknown number of Covenant units remain undeployed.


OOC: I will post more tomorrow.

 

LPC: Zogar Gaharkee, Sangheili Zealot commanding 8th Legion of Sacrosanct meditation. Greenfield, Indiana

Gaharkee stepped from his command Spectre and walked along burning and shattered structures of the human city. Some support section Unggoy were gathering bodies. Many were human, but there were a lot of Covenant bodies as well.

What was wrong with his soldiers? They had trained for this! The humans were proving to be tiresomely difficult to intimidate. Much of the Prophet of Hope?s battle plan was predicated on the humans being struck a deep and unshakable terror at the raw power and technological superiority of the covenant. Instead, these human warriors were proving quite steady, making the best of their limited technology and had contested nearly every domestic structure in this quadrant of the settlement. He crossed a street with his escort, heading in the direction of the sounds of fighting. Gaharkee saw an understrength lance cowering miserably in the stone ruins of a structure. Across the street, winks of light flickered in the windows and doorways of a building across the street. Human projectiles kicked up dust and dirt around the pinned lance.

Gaharkee stepped forward in full view of the cowed lance. He stood, rather than crouch, to emphasize his lack of fear.

?Who is in charge here?? he asked.

?I am, Honored Elder.? Said a Sangheili minor. He informed Gaharkee that the Sangheili Major-domo was wounded and out of the fight. A Kig-yar physician attended him in the field hospital.

?Why have you not taken that structure?? ?Gaharkee pointed at the building where the humans shot at them.

?Honored Elder, they are firing at us.?

?Gaharkee looked at him darkly for a moment, this cringing Sangheili with his lance. He considered executing the warrior on the spot in disgrace, but then something occurred to him?

Lead by example?

Zogar Gaharkee hefted his carbine and flicked the safety off. He then reached out his taloned hand.

?Grenades.?

Reluctantly the Sangheili minor and several grunts handed over three grenades.

?I am taking one of your files. Lay down covering fire. I will show you how to take a structure with humans in it.?

Gaharkee loped off with the file and his bodyguard in tow. The rest of the lance began firing on the house, plasma and needles responding to the bursts of human projectiles. Gaharkee took the file back and then drifted right, around two bends in the human street, and then came in on the flank of the house. The firefight was hot and masking by now, and the humans did not know of his approach.

When in position, he took the grenades, primed them, and tossed them through each of the lower windows of the structure. There were shouts of alarm, and then the grenades snapped cyan and blew out the walls. Gaharkee rushed in, spraying the room with his carbine, pencil-thin green beams crackling against the smoke. The rest of the file followed suit, bursting in and spraying the rooms.

There was a brief answering roar from a human weapon, but was muzzled by a volley of needles. A single human warrior broke from cover, and ran from the back. Gaharkee swept the carbine across his fleeing form, the carbine projectiles raking him and tearing through his armor and flesh alike. He dropped down, twitching. Gaharkee stepped over to him, putting a final round into the back of the primitive warrior?s head.

Gaharkee stood in the doorway of the now neutralized human position and signaled the rest of the Lance to move ahead. As they rose up, Gaharkee went over to the Sangheili minor and placed a hand upon his soldier.

?That is how you take a structure with humans in it. Now, teach others.?

Gaharkee set off for his command Spectre. As he did, he received a priority communication, informing him that his designated taskforce was in position.

?Execute.? He said simply, and boarded his vehicle.

TAG: All

 

GM Approved:

Name: Terry Ronald "T-Rex" Hunter

Age: 35.

Service Branch: United States Marine Corps.

Rank: Lieutenant Colonel, O5.

MOS: Infantry Battalion Commanding Officer.

Weapons & Equipment: FN M-16 A4 w NV/IR Optics, 8 x 30 rnd Mags.,5.56 x 45, M203 GL 40mm 6 x Mercury rounds. Handgun (Custom) LAR "Grizzly" 1911 Colt style, chambered in .50 cal. Rhino ammo. 12 x 7 round Mags., Hand thrown HE Grenades x 6, Marine Combat Knife. Stryker's main Weapon Dillan M-134D. Defensive: Dragon Skin II, Silica Nitrate Ceramic and Titanium over lapping scales, NV/IR goggles 3rd Gen.

Company Weapons: Companies A, B and C FN M-16 A4s w NV/IR Optics, M-203 Grenades Launchers,
6 x 40mm Mercury rounds, 800 meter range, HE Hand grenades x 6, Combat knives.

Company D/Anti-Armor Company, Stingers, AT4CSs, LAWS, TOWs, Claymores, M32 Six Packs w Mercury Rounds, M-307s w Mercury Rounds and M-312 50 caliber Machine gun.

Scouts/Snipers NV/IR goggles, M-107 Barretts AMRs, M-110 Knight Arms SARs, both w NV/IR Optics. Painted Lead in the fabric of the Gilee Suits to resist Covenant Scanning.

Bio: N/A

Name: Dale Curtis Andrews.

Age: 30.

Service Branch: United States Navy.

Rank: Lieutenant Commander O4.

MOS: United States Navy SEAL, O4.

Weapons Same as Estiphon.

Defensive Armor: Dragon Skin II.

ST8's Weapons: Same as DEVGRU.

BIO: N/A

Slogan: Cuvvy Down!

 

Situational Overview: Greenfield, Indiana. Late night/Early Morning of the first day

After scouting the human defensive positions himself in-depth. Field Master Gaharkee was satisfied that he could, in fact beat the human in their city.

He?d decided now that it was good for morale for his legion to actually win this fight by force. He?d had a cohort that was briefly cut off by a determined human counterattack near the settlement?s center. They had pushed through and relieved the lost cohort. Gaharkee could easily have responded in kind, and cut off this city and force it?s defenders to exfiltrate or dig in further --allowing hunger and low ammunition do the job? but what kind of warrior can take pride in that? No, these simians had to be BEATEN.

Therefore, he?d called a lull to the attack to prepare. His Kig-Yar scouts had quested forward, patrolling and gathering intelligence on the disposition of the human defenses. After they returned, he?d sent out cloaked Sangheili to infiltrate. This they had done, slipping behind the human lines to mark specific targets for air and artillery. They had noted the directional mines in the anti-vehicle ditches, and the stacked cubes of crushed hydrocarbon vehicles that made up the berm blocking much of the city?s streets.

Gaharkee summoned his staff and planned the attack carefully. He?d allowed his emotions regarding the loss of much of his forward maniple to dictate his actions for several hours. Now he was calm and thinking clearly.

Now it was time.

?Gaharkee slid into his command spectre as the first moans of nearly a hundred Banshees and another thirty Vampires slashed across the sky above his position. They spun and dove, jinking to avoid anti-aircraft missiles and cannon. The Banshees spit fuel rods, green shells of tremendous explosive firepower. They did not target the suspected and identified human emplacements. They targeted instead the improvised wall.

The fuel rods smashed into the wall, blasting crushed car cubes in every direction. The massivle metal boxes rolled and bounced aside, sometimes skipping a hundred yards before their kinetic energy played out.

The Banshees rose again, and returned for another attack run, swooping like birds of prey, slashing more fuel rods to the earth, spattering and blasting the compacted cars out, clearing a path for the assault forces.

The Vampires, meanwhile, hunted deep. They swarmed forth across central Indiana, seeking targets, looking to hamer reinforcement. Two Vampires overflew a Spirit dropship that was out of place at a place the humans called ?Gem?. Upon hailing, the shuttle responded with its transponder code. When asked for it?s situation, it did not respond. After checking with Central Command, they were informed that the transponder code that the Spirit was emitting was believed to be compromised. Central authorized the Vampire pair to attack.

The Vampires came about and accelerated to attack speed. They came in low, and once the target was in view, they sprayed heavy needles at the ship and the scattering figures below. As they overflew, their rear plasma guns delivered another burst into the targets.

Banking and coming around for another pass, the Vampires swooped in at a different angle, and came in more slowly for a sustained cannonade. The heavy needles stitched up the spirit dropsip and the cowering figures nearby. The dropship was on fire now, so they banked away, questing for more targets.

Back in Greenfield, the Banshees continued their work, They had lost some of their number to anti-aircraft fire, but there were still enough to finish the job. They made high-angle attack runs, turning their planes almost completely nose-down to lay plasma into the belts of directional mines that the humans had laid. Many of them chain-fired due to the intense heat, and popped like Chinese lady-fingers or popcorn.

Now the banshees withdrew, their magazines depleted. They vectored away from the incoming plasma artillery.

The artillery was timed to hit all at once in a Time on Target fashion. It pretty much did. The

 

Lt. Colonel Terry Ronald Hunter didn't like what he was starting to hear. Cuvvies were starting to take the initiative in the residential regions to the east and north of Government Center. One house that had been taken back from the Covenant Cohorts near E. north St. and Pratt Street was once again back in Covenant control. The National Guard Squad had reported hard contact and had the cuvvies at bay. Then a last second call for FPF. Before a grid reference could be called in there was the sound of plasma grenades going off then silence. KIA. This was starting to become a repeated occurence with an increasing tendency. They were learning how to fight urban warfare or somehow they were being taught how to fight in an urban combat environment. Reports were coming in from his companies that the Covenant cohorts were beginning to excercise improved squad tactics. This was including flanking manuvers with cover fire as a distraction. So far his Marines were prepared well in advance in part due to some of them having been in Iraq and due to all of them having been trained for urban combat. To help in discerning between Friend and Foe both the Guardsmen and the Marines started using colored smoke grenades, a tactic invented in Iraq and used against insurgents. Word was getting out to the National Guard Troops to switch to a more fluid response mixed with a more aggressive approach, like using the new Mercury grenades when returning fire. He knew this wasn't the main assault in itself that was surely coming. It was most likely serving as a convenient distraction for more troops to be drawn off that would surely be needed to repell the real thrust that they were all waiting for. Company D (his anti-armor company) was being held in reserve for the big assault. His troops that were on station were being supplied a new Machine Shot Gun that fired a shotgun shell sized High Explosive grenade. It had just been brought in from a factory in Moline, Illinois and had recently passed it's evaluation tests within the past month. Designated the MAS-12, the automatic shot gun would prove a remarkable urban warefare weapon. Company comanders were told to start using ambush tactics when Covenant lances were encountered, but reframed from commiting more men to be spread away from his main objective, protecting the city's governmant center.

********************************************************

Red saw the handy work done by the Covenant cohorts up close. His jaw muscles tightened as his nostrils flared with anger. He ordered the dogtags collected just in time before a suprise attack came. A Lance of Covenant cohorts had been hiding behind a wall in an alley and had snuck towards their position until they were close enough to engage. Having stepped back into his Stryker before the attack, had saved his life. His gunner, on top side felt something hit his helmet and pulled it off to see what happened. Stuck to the helmet was a Covenant sticky plasma grenade. It was the last thing he'd ever see again. The grenade flashed and the gunner died. The only thing preventing the Stryker from going up in flames right then and there was his helmet shunting the plasma blosom up and back towards the vehicle's gunner. Red having seen movement in the rear view mirror following the blast, called, "Contact rear! Contact rear!"

The driver did a very unusual thing. He put the gear in reverse and stomped the pedal sending the armored hummer shooting backwards at speed into the lance as they began firing. An Elite and two Jackels were smashed into the brick wall they had just jumped over into the alley. Four Grunts jumped clear and retreated up the alley. Red opened the passenger door, tumbled out, falling prone on the ground, he took aim and fired at the Covenant Grunts with a three round burst of Frag-12s from his MAS-12. When the smoke cleared it was apparent they had started their Great Journey. His three other Strykers sped around and covered, M-307s and M-134Ds at the ready. Red got up and reentered his S

 

OOC:

OK, I have to clear something up. Here is the breakdown of covenant forces and their approximate Human equivalents

File= Squad/Section

Lance= Company

Cohort= Battalion

Maniple= Regiment/Brigade

Legion= Division

Learn it. Remember it.

 

Date: 3/10/09 Meer minutes after the new thrust by the Covenant.

IC as: Lt. Colonel Terrance Ronald "T-Rex" Hunter.


Field Commander of the National Guard, Colonel Timithoy P. "Tip" O'Brien, was KIA in the "first thirty seconds," of the savage thrust. Terrance Ronald "T-Rex" Hunter was now acting Field Commander of the combined National Guard Battalian "A" and Marine's 1st Battalian, of the 9th Regiment, 2nd Division now currently engaged in combat with Covenant Forces, attacking Greenfield City, IN. Time to turn my lemons into lemonad or die trying, thought Hunter.

"Marine Company A and National Guard Companies 1 and 2 you are to press foreward With your Humvees and Strykers on the Northern front. Artillary will be called in as you progress in order to lead the way and suppress Covenant Spotters calling Artillary of their own. You will then circle southward and hit into the flank of the Covenant's Lance's and attack all out. Marine Comapnies B and C, along with National Guard Company 3: You will withdraw from engaging the Covenant thrust and lead them into an ambush from National Guard's anti-armor Company 4. Marine Company D: We've lost contact with our Stryker's and Humvees south at Davis road and State road. Our southern Mortar team reports Covenant activity with attack vehicles and transport vehicles HEADING WEST ON DAVIS ROAD. I anticipate an attempt at cutting off and encircling Green field in order to isolate us from Indianapolis, with the option of hitting us from the west very possibly along Main Street. You are to set up ambush positions for them coming in out of the west along Main street or for that matter any route from the west in general," said Lt. Colonel Hunter. He paused then continued. "I may give the order to withdraw northwards towards Memorial Hospital where DEVGRU is holding things down. If this happens we will perform an artillary and mortar covered withdrawal. National Guard Company 5. This will give you oppurtunity to withdraw north out of the City Jail to rejoin with National Guard lines North of Main Street. South end Mortar team you are to withdraw and join up with Marine Anti-armor Company D in preparation for a possible engagement from the west. Marine Scouts and Sniper Team: You are to descretely scout the west end of Green Field soonest but do not engage them. We've got a laser signal sender and receiver set up on the roof of Memorial Hospital. Signal them first and then We'll know. Once you've confirmed the cut off, feel free to put a few rounds into those B*****ds,".

Fluid. He had to be fluid. His opponent was a firm believer in the hard style of Marshal Arts. Not a bad style in itself but very rigid and unyielding. He'd have to change style in order to survive and just maybe give that Covenant ***t another bloody nose for his trouble. Were the ******g H*** was that 1st Tank Battalian from the 1st Marine Division? Forget them. Stuck in traffic, maybe or worse. Oh well, at least they'd have a little suprise for the Covenant should they press on towards Indianapolis, at Gem, that and the new MAS-12s they'd just received for field use. He was going to make D**** well good and sure those new weapons were put to good use with their High Explosive rounds.

The battle continued for Greenfield and a scout team was stationed in hiding well west of Greenfield. They hid well north of US 40 and Gem, Indiana. They watched and waited on station ready to find just the right target that would surely come rolling along west towards Indianapolis, Indiana on old US 40. It had to be a HIGH VALUE TARGET, NOT JUST ANYONE.

OOC: Sorry for the delay. Been busy with other stuff going on. Will do a follow up post on a more tactical level complete with 'in your face' combat scenes, as the week progresses.

Tag: Guys. Yipee ty yo! Let's Go!