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Smoke. Acrid plumes of wafting smoke rose from the multiple breaches in Jacinto's Titanium-A bunker walls. Insurgents poured through the cracks, a population in revolt taking action to topple an authority that only wanted to protect. The armored convoy, now safely out of the hangar area, was speeding away towards the marathon hotel: the ODSTs would be back shortly.

Lower underground, far beneath the surface of the once-pristine but now war-torn landscape, Illisium HQ's remaining staff was readying itself for combat. Controllers continued their invaluable task of providing real-time updates to those on the field while everybody else suited up. One of those now in full marine ballistic armor was Major Lee, his unimposing size hiding the incredible combat expertise that had kept him alive through his many life-or-death experiences. The situation had escalated past the point when he could command from a chair, and now every able-bodied staff member was forced to become a combatant. In orbit, Captain Jacobs would be receiving a message asking for help in a few seconds. Illisium's transformation into a rebel stronghold was something that had to be avoided at all costs.

In Jacinto's bunker, marine forces began to organize themselves at choke points, setting anti-personnel traps and establishing defensive positions. Soon, death would overwhelm the long white corridors of Illisium and paint them a bloody red.

Jacobs, Omar C. | UNSC NAVY O-6

Jacobs stared at the holographic representation of Illisium City and massaged his furrowed brow. The communications suite in Jacinto had been crippled, and all transmissions coming from the base had been severely weakened. Backup stations were online and holding, but for how much longer? The Captain understood that he had to act now, or risk loosing the colony. Beside him were holographic representations of the Commanding officers of the other two UNSCDF vessels in orbit above New Harmony. Walter Gaines and Toby Bucknell stood with hunched shoulders. Ever since the war with the Covenant ended, human technology had been vastly improved by what little the Elites gave them. Holographic projection was one such modified tech. The three Captains stood about their respective situation tables and observed the situation played out in miniature before them. Orders be damned. The situation was getting out of hand. Once Lee's request for aid reached the Prayer, Jacobs snapped into action and took command of the situation. He had all orbital defense platforms put on alert, and all non-UNSC personnel confined for the duration of hostilities. All slipspace privileges had been denied and any NAVCOM that attempted to leave the system would be locked down by Sherman, the Colony's master AI, on the Oasis Orbital station. The ODPs would also fire on any ship that attempted to enter slipspace without authorization from the UNSC. They had the space above New Harmony secured, now all they had to do was defuse the situation on the surface.

"Baldur, Get me a firing solution for an orbital bombardment. Helm, Make sure we have a clean line of fire."

The Captain turned his attention to his fellow commanders and straightened his posture.

"Walter, I need you to disable civilian COM stations. Toby, I need you to disable the starport. We can't let any insurrectionist personnel or ideas leave this planet. It's critical that we can contain the outbreak until the UNSC can send reinforcements. Get every Pelican you've got fueled and ready to pick up survivors. The Prayer will move in atmosphere after we've disabled the base's air defense stations with an orbital barrage. The Ready Made and the Sigmund will follow us in and move to your assigned locations. Be ready to take on refugees. Baldur, get in touch with Sherman and arrange living quarters for any civilian refugees around the Oasis. Shipping containers, life pods, I don't care. As long as they're safe and not in a place where they can disrupt military operations."

The two COs nodded and turned to their crews. Baldur took control of the MASER in the Armored Prayer's COM array and relayed his commands to Sherman. Jacobs turned and took sat in the command chair. He leaned back and activated the arm-mounted holotank which displayed a smaller representation of the situation table image. He leaned forward on one arm and propped his head on his hand. He inhaled deeply through his nose before issuing any further orders.

"Firing control, slave MAC control from the Ready Made and the Sigmund to your station. Pick your targets and fire on my mark."

"Aye sir. Targets are locked, Firing solutions confirmed. MAC ready."

Jacobs waited for a few moments. He was about to unleash hell on anything above the surface in the target zones. The MAC rounds would punch right into the ground with the force of a small nuclear weapon. Of course, Jacinto command could stand it. But anything above ground would be vaporized. On its own a MAC round wasn't enough to do all that much damage, but the combined fire from the Armored Prayer, the Ready Made, and the Sigmund would be more than enough to get the job done.

"Fire."

The hull shuddered as the MAC fired an enormous slug through its superconductive coils. The metal slug travelled at hypersonic speeds towards the surface of the planet. Its entry vector and flight path were perfect. Four streaks of lightning erupted from the bows of the three warships. One from the Prayer and the Ready Made and two from the Sigmund. Destroyers in her class were armed with two MAC guns. Five seconds later the ground that had been Jacinto's anti-air facility and a large gathering of Insurrectionists bloomed into a fireball that was visible from orbit. Jacobs exhaled and spoke again.

"Helm. Take us down."

The Corporal was standing at the roadblock near Marathon Hotel "Jesus..." Darian never thought those words would ever come out of his mouth, but after all the effort from the UNSC we were shot down again. There were a few moments of awe for him but yet he was still focussed on the current objective. The damage to Jacinto was devastating to Darian.

After a few moments the man reloading and checked his weapons "Rather be safe than sorry..." he mumbled to himself. He watched the other Marines prepare themselve's, some were still in awe from the event cause by the MAC guns "How's everyone holdin' up?!" Darian yelled across the roadblock, he felt this was all his fault for some reason.

Illisium, New Harmony
Marathon Hotel
2nd Floor Garage Complex

The sudden impact of four MAC rounds just a few hundred clicks away from their current position shook the infrastructure of the garage, the buildings around them and Compton's skeletal frame. The supersonic slugs left a ringing in his head so violent that if he wasn't used to a temporary loss of hearing now and again would have driven him insane. Smoke and dust clouds shook loose from the ceiling and the windows of the buildings lining the downtown area shattered outward due to the violent vibrations that occurred following the impact of the rounds.

"Is that all?" one of the team's rookies yelled out over the echoing crashes and sonic boom. The arrogant little b*****d apparently had never been part of an orbital bombardment in his life. Compton merely shook his head and looked over to Mitchell who had his hand out, counting down, and of course, Compton counted in his head, like Mitchell's own echo.

"Four, three, two..." and as Mitchell closed his hand the loudest rumble imaginable roared through the city. The shock wave following the impact had finally reached the city. Even the largest and best engineered buildings shook and swayed with the abruptness of the quakes. Buildings that were less fortunate and not as structurally sound collapsed dramatically to the ground, adding to the chaos that surrounded the team. Luckily, the parking complex was designed to weather almost any storm, meteorologic, tectonic or otherwise.

After a few moments the shaking stopped, the sound eventually died and the team was left to cough through the smoke and dust. "Yeah rookie, that's it!"

Mitchell, Scott P. | UNSC MARINES E-9

The MAC rounds cut through the sky like bolts of lightning. Mitchell could see billowing explosions in the distance, and was forced back by the overpressure wave. Dirt flew into the exposed sections of the parking structure and clouded his vision momentarily. He dug in behind the concrete wall and waited for the maelstrom to subside. As the wave of pressure moved beyond their position, the ODSTs recovered. Mitchell poked his head out of cover and observed a distinct lack of fighting. Perhaps everyone was still in slight shock because of the surprise orbital strike, or maybe it was the trio of UNSC warships that had entered the atmosphere. The warships unleashed a barrage of auto-cannon fire into known insurrectionist hot-spots. The air support was a welcome change, and the flight of Pelicans coming from the largest of the three ships was a god send. He felt a surge of joy deep in his chest, and turned to his men.

"OK. It looks like the Navy just got involved. We've got evac birds enroute to our location. Echo Two, secure the roof of the parking garage. Everyone else, secure the targets and move to the roof once we get the OK from Echo two."
_____________________________________________________________________

Jacobs, Omar C. | UNSC NAVY O-6

Jacobs was observing the ground battle from the bridge of the Prayer. The Marines were putting up a stiff defense, but the Insurrectionists simply outnumbered them. He had personally dispatched a flight of Pelicans and Hornets to the Jacinto Command bunker. He wanted to get as many people out of danger as he could. For the time being, they had air superiority. They also controlled the flow of information. The only way to send messages from the colony was to attach the message to one of the many freighters that were now dead in the water. Their NAVCOMs had been purged through a remote application of the Cole Protocol thanks to the AI Sherman. The only thing that concerned him now were the non-combatants. There were still civilians on the planet's surface who had nothing to do with the Insurrection. The problems came in trying to identify them and ensure that they weren't hostiles hiding behind a banner of innocence.

He turned to face the holographic representation of Baldur and spoke with a calm, authoritative tone. The hologram perked up at the sound of his voice.

"Get me in touch with Major Lee."

"I have a backup communications channel already working. We're waiting for him Sir."

Baldur's voice was calm, perhaps too calm given the situation. Regardless, Jacobs welcomed the news. He had half a mind to go down and pull Lee on to a Pelican himself, however that would be a serious breach in military protocol. Not to mention being generally stupid. The Insurrectionists had already shown that they were well armed and well informed. He was taking a risk bringing his ship into the atmosphere, but he didn't want to risk prolonging the Pelican flights. The Ready Made was picking apart every Civilian COM tower and Maser dish on the planet's surface while the Sigmund disabled every space-worthy vessel at the Illisium spaceport. Jacobs stood up and walked back to the situation table, wishing for a downward facing viewport. The holographic projectors hummed softly and a three dimensional representation of the city flickered into view. He leaned on the edge of the table and stared intently at the action unfolding beneath his ship.

O'Connol lowered his rifle steadily and turned his head just as the shock wave hit the parking complex, completely unprepared and surprised by the wall of dust. The vortex of pressurized air that pushed itself into the parking garage shoved Andrew off his feet and sent him tumbling down the ramp he had been guarding, first landing on his back and then rolling like a ball the rest of the way down.

Dazed and confused, the Private nonchalantly stood, wobbling like a drunkard after one too many drinks. His vision was blurry, and the infrared filter had been triggered accidentally. A sharp pain resonated inside his skull, a small blood vessel rupturing. Great, a migraine he thought. When his vision came back to normal, and he turned off the blinding filter what he found nearly made him s**t his pants.

Thirty insurrectionist soldiers with a mix of automatic, heavy, and energy weapons stood facing him with scowls of deep disgust plastered on their weathered faces. "Oh <********> muttered the Shock Trooper, taking a reflexive step back. That was all that was needed. One of them shouted something unintelligible. O'Connol didn't need a formal invitation; he turned tail and sprinted as fast as he could up the ramp.

"Sarge; hostiles!!!" he called over the COM as a hail of '********' flew past his medium frame.

The entire world was ringing.

A dull, painful throb emanated from both of Major Lee's eardrums. The MAC round had impacted right above Jacinto HQ, causing an intense wave of force to travel through the base's reinforced underground structure. Every wall, every surface shook with a mighty jolt as the air temperature rose several degrees, the intense heat of the MAC round instantly vaporizing fifty meters of dirt and warping the top level of titanium-A bulkhead. Only barely conscious in front of his seat, arms spread over the now unusable tactical display, he noticed through his now flickering vision that a few cables in the ceiling had been torn asunder by the blast and were now shooting sparks into the red-tinted room.

Lee felt a wetness in his right ear. Propping himself up with his left arm, he groggily lifted his right to check the wound. His hand came back slick with red blood, his index and middle finger looking as if they had been dipped in red paint. Knowing that the wound would close within moments, he wiped the blood against his face like warpaint and decisively stood up. Taking in the view, he realized that the impact hadn't been kind on most of his command staff, who now lied incapacitated on the floor clutching their ears. The marines who had been guarding the entrance were already taking initiative, helping up the slightly conscious and removing harmful debris. Their helmets had blocked out the worst of the impact.

The Major's personal COM beeped, the high-grade hand-held unit indicating a waiting channel with the Navy Captain above. As he was about to answer, the world shook once more.

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

Corporal Steeles had been helping up one of the many dazed controller's for the last 30 seconds. The kid was obviously shitting his pants, even though everyone in the room knew what must have happened. Steeles simply tucked away his irritation, and kept on empathizing with the ensign as the kid coughed up some mucus. s**t. Not only was this kid a p***y, he was an asthmatic p***y. As soon as he was done getting on his feet, Steeles would be able to go help someone else, maybe one of the hot controller chicks he'd been staring at all day. Hell, if he was going to pull guard duty, at least he was going to enjoy it.

Then the door exploded.

The massively heavy door flew through the room, tearing the head off a lieutenant who had finally recovered from the impact and proceeded to crush anything in it's path, bouncing once against the heavy metal floor before scraping a two long streaks into the bulkhead and landing on another half-conscious staff member and a sitting woman's leg. Her scream echoed through the room right before gunshots began to pour through the entrance. A plasma bolt hit the kid that Steeles had been helping, and the kid fell, a burning crater where his face had once been. Steeles stared incredulously for two seconds before he snapped.

Last. ********. Straw.

SMG in one hand, primed fragmentation grenade in the other, Steeles sprang forwards, past the Major who had dropped his COM, past the controllers who were still getting up, and past his fellow marines who were turning and getting ready to return fire. Screaming the entire time, he began to shoot blindly at the door awning and screamed as he threw his nade. "******** YOU COCKSUCKING INNIES! HERE'S TO YOU!"

The fragmentation nade spiraled through the airs, headed towards the insurgent forces concealed by fire and smoke, and detonated in the air.

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