This fanfiction article, Halo: Heart of Darkness/Chapter 9, was written by ONI recon 111. Please do not edit this fiction without the writer's permission.
This article, Halo: Heart of Darkness/Chapter 9, is currently under active construction.
This is humanities final stand, here, at Earth. If we go we risk everything, every last man women and child"
Chapter 9: Abandoned[]
1455, Day 1, Operation: NEW HOME LOST
Vladmire IV, South Sea coast
The smell of the sea filled the air as the huge convoy of warthogs, scorpions, transports and even mobile command posts, barrelled down the coastal road, alongside the South Sea. The convoy was headed for an area of large seismic activity, suspected to be something to do with these new aliens they had come across. Longswords and hornets flew overhead, all heading off in different directions, with different tasks assigned. It was like Harvest all over again; a huge, yet hastily organised, military force, with no idea what they were up against.
Sergeant Obwell had no idea what could be causing the seismic activity, but he knew it could only be bad. The rest of his squad, however, seemed more interested in the scale of the operation. "Just look at all those warships! reminds me of those old pictures in the history books" shouted Wells, who had mounted the LRV's mounted machine gun.
"Hell yeah, couldn't be better" said Stevens, whose love for a sniper rifle can only be overthrown by scenes of military excellence.
Suddenly, there were huge booms, that rumbled across the ocean, making the road shake slightly. The convoy slowed to a halt, some marines panicing, before somebody realised that it was the naval artillery.
The lieutenant burst out laughing."and you guys call yourselves marines?! scared of a couple of artillery shells. Hell, i wouldn't be scared if they were aiming right for us." Others began laughing too, before the convoy continued on. The Naval artillery was being given targets that were relatively close to the capital but were too hot for troop deployment.
"Softens up the enemy before the marines roll in" said Obwell to Wells, who was wondering whether the artillery was actually aiming for someone, or was just the navy showing off.
Stevens was tapping along with the naval 'war drums', when the Lieutenant recieved a transmission from one of the hidden submarines that were along the coast. "Warning, you have movement, i repeat, you have heavy movement directly below the road and cliffs. Suggest you gear up and move as fast as you can and exit the road, gunboats and air support have you covered."
The Lieutenant was swift and acted decisively. "All UNSC forces along the South Sea coastal road, move as fast as possible towards the nearest exits. We have hostiles beneath our position, prepare to fire whenever necessary. The air support and navy have our backs, so just move inland and regroup."
Obwell looked to Stevens, then to Wells, both understood the look, and prepared their weapons. Suddenly, there was a huge explosion, and cracks rippled through the road. Well's turned around, and watched as several warthogs and a scorpion plunged into the ocean through a huge gap in the road. However, the warthogs came fying upwards, back from the hole, as one of the large alien walkers clambered up onto the road. A few seconds later, five gunboats opened up onto the walker, as a longsword launched a volley of missiles and machinegun fire into the metallic beast. It stumbled, and collapsed into the ocean, before a submarine finished it with torpedo fire.
"Get us the fuck outta here!" Shouted Steven's to the sergeant, who was already trying his best to drive as fast as he could. He looked fowards as many of the warthogs had managed to get off the highway already, but the mobile command post had already gone down, leaving a gap in the road.
"Awww shit..." said Well's, watching as the gap got close and close to their warthog. The hog hit part of the broken road, and was launched through the air, over the gap, and down onto the other side with a rough landing. The continued down the battered road, with more and more walkers cropping up over the edge of the cliff, some being taken down by the friendly support. They finally reached the turnoff point, and followed the small road to where they would regroup. As they looked back, only one more warthog followed them; the other half of their squad. Soon, warthogs came into view, followed by scorpions. Wells counted them as he saw them. 21 warthogs, all full of marines, 4 scorpions, and two transports. Everyone else was gone.
The lieutenant rounded up all the marines, and began to speak his plan. "Men, we're going to follow the inland roads towards the objective point, but first we're recieving Sangheili support in the form of dropships and a couple of tanks. I'm unsure when they will arrive but..." The lieutenant stopped talking, as he noticed most of the marines' heads were looking upwards towards the sky. He glanced upwards, expecting the dropships to be coming in, when instead, all he saw was darkness and flashes of light, before hundreds of silver streaks glided gracefully over the planet, followed by a huge battlestation. Some marines were wondering if it was more Sangheili reinforcements, but shortly after, two Phantom dropships flew overhead, and a voice came over a loudspeaker "Human's, run. The brutes have arrived, get to your destination, and hurry. We will hold them off as long as we can."
Lieutenant Merki was in shock. How was this possible? How have they produced a fleet this large? he could have asked himself questions all day, but these mens' lives depended on his decisions, and his actions. "Everyone, do as the elites said, we have to get out of here right away."
Marines scattered in all different directions, back to their vehicles. The ODST's continued to look up at the ships, before a radio call came from the UNSC fleet. "UNSC Mivon to all UNSC forces, we leaving the system. All those who are near dropships, return to them now, if you cannot, then we are sorry. There is nothing we can do, we can't hold off Covenant forces of this magnitude, but we will return ASAP; may god have mercy upon you all."
The faces of the marines dropped. Some were shocked, others convinced they were going to die here. It certainly looked like it.
*Admiral Terrance Hood, 2553*
"A hero may die, Worlds may fall, but humanity will live on"
