Sierra

***Sierra*** is a short story written by KingOfYou115, set during the events of Operation: TORPEDO. It is told from the point of view of Spartan-III Kyle-B115, the scout-sniper of his four-man Beta team, Team Sierra.

## Cast

* Team Bravo (Mentioned Only)
	+ Marcella-B029 (Indirect Mention)
	+ Cody-B042 (Indirect Mention)
	+ Detrick-B204 (Indirect Mention)
	+ Abdul-B213 (Indirect Mention)
* Team Echo
* Team Foxtrot
	+ Adam-B004 (Indirectly)
	+ Lucy-B091 (Indirectly)
	+ Min-B174 (Indirectly)
	+ Tom-B292 (Indirectly)
* Team Kilo (First Appearance)
* Team Oscar (First Mentioned)
* Team Romeo
* Team Sierra
	+ Veronika-B008 (First Appearance)
	+ Kyle-B115
	+ Bryanna-B226 (First Appearance)
	+ Delroy-B327 (First Appearance)

**Location:** Target Area Apache, Pegasi Delta

«Impact in 3!»

«2!»

«1!»

Kyle’s ears rang as the door of his pod popped off with the assistance of miniature explosive charges. He gripped the rifle stored to his side and climbed out of the pod, surrounded by other Spartans of teams Foxtrot, Echo, and Kilo. His teammates were not located within the crowd.

His NAV display engaged, marking the locations and distances Team Sierra. “BREE-B226” and “VERO-B008” were a few thousand meters to his left, and “DLRY-B327” was not far to his front.

«Comm check, everyone okay?» It was Bryanna over TEAMCOM. At the same time, one of the members of Kilo was doing a headcount.

«Delroy here. Landing was... a bit rough, missed the landing site slightly, but… I'll be fine,» It sounded like he was struggling to reach something. «Kyle… you're close, can you meet up on me?»

“I'll be right there.” Kyle gave a childish, friendly salute to the Spartans and headed towards Delroy’s NAV marker.

«This is Veronika. I'll regroup with Bree and then we'll pick a rally point.»

«Veronika, Bree. Sounds like a plan.»

A satellite view of the battlefield appeared on Kyle’s VISR. They were quite far away from the refinery, but he could see that some of the frontline Betas were already engaged in combat. At least that explained why Bree was so quick to break radio silence. He tabbed the feed between “MISSION” and “DRONECAM.”

*Looks like Bree’s already got Milo up in the air.*

As the distance to the DLRY marker neared zero meters, the acronym and marker disappeared so Kyle could see the boy. He was crouched next to his pod, one arm reaching deep into the back.

“Roy?”

“My mag-holster broke in the drop. Trying to fish my six-gee out from behind the seat.”

“Do you need it? You could always take mine.” Kyle grabbed the sidearm from his hip.

“Not necessary…” he grunted as he tried to force the handgun out. “I think I got—”

He suddenly fell backwards as the gun slid out from the seat, his back hitting the dirt with a satisfying thud. He had no words. The Beta simply raised the gun up to the sky in victory.

“Bree, Kyle. Where are we meeting up?”

«Take a look at the Milo-cam, there's a ridge overlooking a straight path to the refinery.»

The tab titled “DRONECAM” opened, revealing a small Covenant force mobilizing to investigate the hundreds of drop pods. He could see the cliff in the background.

Checking the satellite feed, he could pinpoint where the cliff was, a few hundred meters between his location and Bree's. He placed a waypoint and shared it with Roy.

“Got it, we’ll see you there.”

Milo was a small, twin-rotor recon drone Bree used quite extensively, named after the puppy she had as a kid before it died in the glassing. It was portable, fast, quiet, and intelligent, being able to control itself with a basic automated UGPS system if Bree had her hands full.

Kyle tabbed both screens and looked back to Roy, who was tying his handgun to his thigh with pieces of the pod’s harness system. Satisfied with his makeshift holster, he looked up and in the direction of the waypoint.

“We should probably move, the battle’s already started.”

“There you are!”

Kyle looked up from the scope of his rifle and turned around. If it wasn't for Delroy calling them out, he would have never heard the two ladies walking up behind him.

“How long were you waiting for us?” Veronika asked through her helmet’s speakers.

“You didn't miss much. I took a few potshots at some jackal snipers, but then that thing showed up.” He turned back to the battlefield below and pointed at a Revenant keeping team Romeo pinned. It was moving sporadically, avoiding the gunfire originating from Kilo not too far away.

“Can you take out the driver?” Bree suggested.

“I can probably make that shot, just be ready to use the SPNKr if things go south.”

Kyle could hear Veronika grabbing the rocket launcher off her back as he activated his VISR’s rudimentary smart scope system.

Suddenly, across his entire vision was the feed from his rifle’s built in camera. He repositioned the rifle until he could see the Revenant in the center of his screen, where a crosshair marked the projectile’s predicted impact location.

It was quite disorientating, having his vision be controlled by his hands rather than his eyes and head. But he was quick to adjust to it, and slowly pulled the trigger.

The round ricocheted off of the Revenant’s frontal armor and embedded itself in the dirt to its left. Kyle muttered some choice words under his breath.

As the Revenant turned to fire on the new threat, a rocket from Veronika’s SPNKr impacted the ground beneath it. The flaming remains of the vehicle scattered across the open area.

“Oh look, Romeo wishes to thank us,” Veronika said, jokingly. Before anyone could respond, she vaulted over the edge of the cliff before letting a controlled slide bring her down to the team below. Bree quickly followed without saying a word.

Kyle opened the STARS tab on his VISR, revealing the live feed from the baseball sized satellite in orbit.

He could see three-hundred small, blue markers, scattered across the battlefield, grouped into five dozen teams each marked with a letter. He could see the small explosions from grenades, rockets, and mortars, kicking up clouds of dust and smoke. He could see the tiny, multicolored rivers forming throughout the battlefield.

Apache was a bloodbath, and they were stuck in the middle of it.

Kyle wasn't prepared for it; None of the Betas were. The closest mission to TORPEDO’s extent was CARTWHEEL, and it didn’t help prepare at all for what was happening now. The Betas were fighting over open ground, hoping that one of them can get close enough to plant the explosives.

«Kyle, Delroy, its Bree. Regroup on me; We’re pushing up with Romeo and Kilo.»

“Stop lagging behind!” VERO-B008 called out as the sniper-spotter team reached the bottom of the ridge line. Bryanna was behind her, speaking with Kilo’s squad leader.

“We took the safe way down,” Roy replied as he got closer. “Didn't want to lose my magnum again.”

“Don't trust your own craftsmanship?”

“The holster will hold under normal conditions. I don't consider being shredded by six-foot, razor-sharp rocks a normal condition.”

“Guys,” Bree interrupted, turning away from Kilo, “there isn't much between us and that refinery. We'd be crossing vast ranges of open ground. However, Romeo noticed a thin canyon to the south of the refinery we can use as cover. Kilo’s going to cover us as we and Romeo make a break for it.”

“What about the rest of the company? Any other teams in the area we should know about?”

“Echo’ll be distracting most of the Covies, and the rest of the company are too far north to have any effect on the plan. I've also got word that the split-lips deployed Seraphs, so stick in the shadows and watch the skies.”

The feed from Milo assured Kyle that the last member of Romeo had made it to the canyon safely. Bree wasn't lying when she said it was thin; It was just wide enough for a single file line, if they walked in sidesteps.

“Alright, Veronika’s up next!”

The Seraphim made another pass. The moment the fighters were beyond the team, Veronika sprinted out from behind her cover and headed towards the canyon.

“Delroy, you're with me. Kyle, you okay with going last?”

“I'll be fine.”

He heard an explosion in the distance.

“Oscar’s shot down another Seraph. Now’s our opening!”

Just like Veronika had, the pair darted off and disappeared behind the objective marker. Kyle would have been alone if Kilo wasn't practically standing on his head.

Another explosion. His opening.

*Guess my opening was closer than I thought.*

Just two meters from Kyle’s feet were the remains of the Seraph that Oscar had just shot down. The smoldering metal had just narrowly avoided hitting the Beta, who was now prone on the ground, using Milo to locate another route. The wreckage was drawing too much attention.

He spotted a relatively calm path along the ocean’s coast. Milo’s feed showed that the route was clear, but he’d have to scale a cliff-face as he would approach the NAV marker.

*I've had to climb worse.*

As plasma fire continued to fly over his head, Kyle crawled towards the beach and into defilade. The plasma fire eventually stopped, giving Kyle a moment to breathe in relative silence.

*Just* a moment.

Over all comm channels, the voice of Kilo’s squad leader echoed the one thing no soldier ever wanted to hear.

«Omega-three. Execute now! NOW!»

*Omega-Three? The “every man for himself” panic code?*

«Hell!» It was Bree over TEAMCOM. «Omega-Three? Why would they—»

Bree’s question was answered before it could finish being asked. The clouds above the refinery sank as the bulbous heads of seven ORS-class heavy cruisers emerged from the sky. Suddenly, the high concentration of Covenant and their use of Seraphs made sense.

«I just got word that Bravo and Foxtrot are still going in. Kyle, if you’re still listening, get up here. I don’t care that the panic code was called, we’re finishing this mission.»

The landscape slipped into nighttime-levels of darkness as the cruisers moved into position above the Betas’ heads. The feed from STARS became useless as the cruisers blocked out the surface below, but Milo was still able to see the Covenant grav-dropping more troops right on top of his comrades.

The MISSION tab blinked three times, indicating an update to the primary objective. Kyle didn't bother to open it, he already knew what it said.