The Battle of Paris IV (Halo short story), a change in direction...and a possible return to "glory" Options

[Agent Griff]

It's a story placed in the Halo universe. I hope you'll enjoy my atempt to expand on a lesser known battle in the Human-Covenant war, the siege of Paris IV. Some of the better known participants in the battle were Sgt. Avery Johnson and Admiral Harper.

~~~
The year was 2549, 24 years after the war with the Covenant had started and the Covenant alliance was slowly, but surely, making its towards the Inner Colonies and, ultimately, Earth. The last battles had been in their majority Covenant victories. The Outer Colonies fell one after the other. First Harvest, then Jericho VII, afterwards the conquest of New Harmony and New Constantinople, then Miridem.

Thus, the war finally came to the peaceful planet of Paris IV. It first started harmlessly. One of the UNSC remote scanning outposts detected a large silhouette in Slipspace traveling towards the system. Because of the flawed mechanics of scanners, this silhouette could be anything from a very large asteroid to a Covenant Invasion Fleet. The information is however transmitted to Paris IV to prepare the planet in case of an imminent Covenant invasion.

Shortly enough, an UNSC ship appears in the system on patrol. It receives the information as well, and enters combat readiness. The ship, the frigate UNSC Pann, arms its Archer missile pods and prepares its MAC gun for possible combat. The threat is confirmed as a Covenant battlegroup emerges from slipspace. The UNSC Pann however only has time to send out a distress signal to other UNSC ships in the area before it is destroyed by a salvo of Plasma torpedoes launched by the Covenant ships. The distress call however is still sent out and all nearby UNSC ships receive and head towards the system.

As the UNSC desperately tries to send its ships to the Paris IV system to counter the Covenant invasion force, the battle group, composed of 9 Covenant ships: 3 CCS Battlecruisers, 4 Destroyers, 1 Carrier and 1 Supercruiser, starts preparations to glass the surface of the planet, rendering its surface to a form of molten glass.

Before the preparations could be completed, an UNSC battle-group appears in the system. The Covenant find themselves widely outnumbered as the UNSC prepare to fire coordinated MAC gun shots at the Covenant capital ships. The UNSC forces, led by Commander Harper, also send ships to the surface of Paris IV so they can deploy defense troops to counter a potential Covenant land assault. The Covenant soon do the same, sending 2 of the Destroyers to the planet's surface.

As the two fleets battle each other, the two frigates sent by Commander Harper to Paris IV's surface eventually reach their destination and start deploying troops. Scores of Pelican and Albatross dropships are sent to ferry troops. As the UNSC marines start forming fire-teams of 6 individuals, the Covenant also start deploying their legions on the planet's surface. Hundreds of Phantom dropships unleash hordes of Covenant warriors. Soon enough, the marines sent by Harper link up with the Paris IV garrison.

"You can't imagine how glad we are to see you, marines." the leading captain of the Paris IV defense force said. "Where's the rest of you?"

"Ask the Covenant." a Sergeant Major leading one of the fire-teams said.

"Cut the back-talk Johnson!" the commanding officer of the relief forces said harshly. "Have the Covenant already begun attacking the city?"

"Yes, they have. They already control most of the outskirts, except for a few areas where our troops have been surrounded and are holding out inside the rubble. As you can see, those Destroyers are bombarding the city with all they got. We've got to send our troops to the sectors nearest to the outskirts, where our troops are requesting back-up." the Paris IV captain said.

"You heard the man, let's haul boat marines!" the commanding officer of the relief forces said.

As the marines began boarding Pelican dropships and Warthog buggies to reach the designated sectors, the space battle was going from bad to worse for the UNSC fleet. From an initial fleet numbering 27 ships, the UNSC numbers had fallen to only 18 ships. Some of the Covenant ships had also been destroyed, 1 of the Destroyers had been blown apart by MAC guns and two of the CCS Battlecruisers had been badly damaged. The Covenant Supercruiser was resisting all atempts by the UNSC ships to overload its shields. It had destroyed 6 UNSC ships since the battle had started and it was still raining Plasma upon the remaining UNSC vessels.

As the UNSC ships were getting blasted more and more Commander Harper, aboard his ship the Marathon-Class cruiser "Venturer", gave the order for all UNSC ships to focus fire on the Covenant Supercruiser. The rest of the fleet complied and started bombarding the Supercruiser with MAC rounds and Archer misiles. Eventually, the Supercruiser's shields are overloaded and its hull is then torn apart by misiles and MAC rounds. Despite this heavy pounding, the Supercruiser's weapon systems are mostly active and are still damaging the UNSC ships.

As the UNSC ships tried to intensify the bombardment to finally destroy the Supercruiser, it fired its Energy Projector one last time. The ray of pure super-heated energy penetrated the main fusion reactors of an UNSC Halcyon-class cruiser, destroying it. After this final volley of fire, the Supercruiser finally exploded in a colourful blast of plasma. 5 Covenant ships remained and 2 of them were badly damaged. The UNSC seemed to have won the battle. Heavily outnumbered and outguned, the remaining Covenant ships retreated into slipspace, leaving only the two Destroyers sent to Paris IV's surface. The battle on the ground wasn't going as well however.

The Covenant had overwhelmed the outskirts of the city with sheer numbers. Wave after wave of Grunts, Jackals and Elites drove the Marines out of the outskirsts and into the inner sectors of the city. The Covenant dropships had never stopped ferrying troops between the Destroyers and the ground as the battle raged on. Covenant numbers had steadily grown from little over a thousand to 30 000 troops ready to take over the city.

Sergeant Avery Johnson was retreating together with his fire-team from a ruined apartment building which they were holding against the Covenant. Mortar fire unleashed by Wraith tanks had all but destroyed the building and Elites had almost surrounded it. As the Marines started boarding their Warthog buggies which were parked behind the apartment building they were surprised to see an immense Covenant Scarab assault walker being deployed right outside the city. The Covenant meant business!

The commanding officer of the relief force had decided to have his troops hold the sectors furthest from the city center, to give the civilians time to evacuate. Sgt. Johnson's fire-team is ordered to hold a bridge over a small river which leads to the center of the city. As the Marines start deploying turrets to guard the area, a group of 10 Elites leading a larger group of Grunts wildly attack the area.

The Marines, surprised by the attack, quickly take cover and end up fully deploying only one turret. Bullets and plasma start flying in almost all directions. As the firefight cools down, the Covenant suffer heavy cassualties, most of the Grunts being either dead or badly wounded. The only thing stopping them from retreating is the presence of the Elites. Despite Covenant losses, the Marines also suffered a few cassualties, 2 members of the fire-team being killed and 1 being badly wounded.

Sgt. Johnson takes advantage of the stalemate and quickly mans the turret, spraying the Covenant troops with lead. Under heavy fire, the Covenant start retreating and calling for back-up. Johnson orders his troops to advance and counter-attack. In the counter strike, all of the remaining Grunts are killed and most of the Elites as well. The Marines also capture a crate full of plasma grenades.

"A fine catch for the day, don't you think Marines?" Johnson said to his troops.

"Yes sir!" they all answered.

"Today this crate of grenades, tomorrow the rest of their raggedy-boat fleet. Deploy the rest of the turrets Marines!" Johnson said with authority.

The squad's radio started calling. Johnson answered. It was a message from the HQ set up in the city center.

"Johnson here. Over." Johnson said.

"Gamma team, this is HQ! The...Covenant have...started bombing the...center. Colonel....dead. Do you copy...Gamma?" HQ asked.

"Yes I copy, what are my orders. Over." Johnson said with a slightly bewildered voice. Just when he thought that the UNSC had gained the upper hand, the Covenant attacked.

"Retreat back to city center and prepare for evac. I repeat...withdraw and prepare for evac. We have to save all the lives we can. Over." HQ said.

Johnson acknowledged the order and prepared his men for leaving the area. As they were all preparing to head to the Warthogs parked nearby, the Covenant struck again. One of the surviving Elites from the previous wave came back with an even greater number of Covenant warriors. The Marines were heavilly outnumbered, almost 8 to 1.

"Retreat back to the Warthogs! Lay down supressing..." Johnson shouted as plasma started roaring in all directions. Before he could finish his sentence, he was hit by a plasma bolt in his left hand. His armor took most of the hit but Johnson dived to the ground to take cover. As he checked his injury he watched as his Marines fired away at the Covenant horde. The only thing Johnson had around him was the crate of plasma grenades.

"Don't you alien bastards ever give up? Well, good old Avery will give you a bit of your own medicine. Eat plasma squid face!" Johnson shouted as he threw a plasma grenade right on the chest of an Elite. The blast blew the Elite to pieces, and tore apart 5 Grunts which were beside him.

Johnson continued throwing grenades at the Covenant, killing a great number of them. As he was flinging grenades, his Marines kept on keeping supressing fire on the Covenant, giving them no chance to fire back. As the Covenant took cover, Johnson looked back at his troops and saw them sitting idly and staring at him in awe.

"Stop staring at me like I'm some kind of Spartan! Haul your miserable asses to the Warthogs! Move it Marines!" Johnson shouted as he threw his last grenade. He then quickly sprinted to the Warthogs and left the area together with his troops.

Meanwhile, the Covenant fleet had returned, this time in greater numbers. 5 CCS Battlecruisers, 2 Reverence-class Cruisers and 1 Assault Carrier returned alongside with the previous 5 Covenant ships which had retreated after the battle with the UNSC fleet. This time, the UNSC fleet, which had dwindled to only 17 ships after the prolonged battle with the Supercruiser, had no chance of winning the battle. Their only hope was to save as many ships and evacuate as many troops and civilians as possible.

As the planet was being glassed by the Covenant ships, the UNSC fleet retreated, carrying on-board the only survivors of Paris IV. One of them was Sergeant Major Avery J. Johnson, one who would live on to witness the final stages of the Human-Covenant war, including the Fall of Reach and the First Battle of Earth.

This post has been edited by Agent Griff: May 10 2007, 07:14 PM

[jack cloudy]

It's nice to see you're back. You've probably noticed that the forum has kept busy, with quite a few new writers joining our ranks. You'll have a long time ahead if you plan to read all of it.

As for the story, it feels like a documentary which is quite neat in its own right. The only critic I can place (being a Halo noob.) is that you switched from past to present tense a few times, for example during the defeat of the supercruiser.

All in all, a nice come-back.

[Agent Griff]

Yeah, I know there were a few awkward changes of tense. I think I could consider myself a Halo know-it-all. You can ask me almost anything, from the length of a CCS Battlecruiser to what a NOVA is and I'll know how to answer it.

I've also noticed that there are a lot of other new stories here. There's even another Halo story! It seems to feature the SPARTAN II program, the one which created the Spartan super-soldiers. I've read its premise and it is certainly interesting. I will watch its progression with interest.

Coming back to my plans, I plan to make a Halo story with several chapters, in the style of my first story which I shudder to mention. I will also get up to date with your wonderful stories Jack. I'm sure you've written a myriad of brilliant stories while I was away.

[jack cloudy]

It's good to here that you're back and plan to stay.

And I assume you're talking about fallout. It's a good story, though it hasn't been updated in a while which is a bit of a shame. We have a lot of those unfortunately, great stories which were dropped.

And yes, I have been busy. Here's a quick rundown of my latest works.

The temple of Lore (Several short stories, including teasers for Corrupted Heart. This thread also gave us our first glimps of Always-He-Lingers-in-the-Sun, the Argonian assassin, one of my favourite assassins on the board.)

Agent (Set during the events of Oasis with a new main character, now nearing its completion.)

Oasis 2 (The continuation of Luper's story, currently on hold because of spoilers regarding Agent.)

Corrupted Heart (the big work where I'm pulling out all the stops. This one is my favourite piece so far. Jagar Tharn, murderous Khajiit, rough Dunmer, annoying Bosmer, Argonian 'Heyat' freak and a battlemage in training.)

Man, I need a vacation.


PS, what is the length of a CCS Battlecruiser and what is a NOVA?

This post has been edited by jack cloudy: May 10 2007, 09:03 PM

[Agent Griff]

Well, since you asked, the length of a CCS Battlecruiser is approximatively 1782.2 meters long and a NOVA is an extremely powerful nuclear bomb which has the power of a Neutron star (ex. the capacity to completely destroy half a planet).

Good luck on your many works. I can't wait to make a new villain which I've been planning for some time. I've been studying the nature of villains. I think I've found the perfect combination. We'll wait and see.

Goodnight!

[The Metal Mallet]

Welcome back Agent. It's great to see you writing on these forums again. While I might not be a Halo freak, I found this short story to be quite easy to follow. The desperation of the situation was conveyed well.

Don't go missing again!

And Jack! You showing favouritism to Al over Simion!? Blasphemy!

Just kidding, it's hard to not like Al. Simion is a character you should love to hate or pity, depending on how you see him.

[Agent Griff]

Well, I don't know if I'll be as active as I'd like this month and the month after it, since I have 3 very important exams in June. I'll have to study hard since it's make or break when it comes to these exams.

But I'll try to be active here as well.

[Dire Cheesecake]

Hm, nice writing. Though the lack of Spartans made the ending kind of predictable. Marines always lose.

This post has been edited by Dire Cheesecake: May 11 2007, 07:02 AM