Through the last 12 years of the human-covenant war, several fire-team sized groups of Spartan III's were brought together to be sent out on missions that were suicidal and required more than one head-hunter team to accomplish. The Spartan teams were issued some of the best armor and equipment the Office of Naval Intelligence could offer and were placed under command of veteran Officers in the United Nations Space Command.
Spartan Team Eclipse was formed in 2545, comprised of four former Head-hunter Spartan members; the team is a formidable force. The team has been on many missions together, all ending in complete or at least semi success, with each member to return alive. Recognizing Eclipses prowess in battle, ONI issued the team MJOLNIR MK.V power armor in 2551. Their armor was tailored to them by being painted black and silver, the team's colors. Eclipse's armor is also specially designed to fit the team's specifications. Along with standard generator and shielding capabilities, their MK.V armor is also fitted with an enhanced active camouflage system originally used in their former Semi-Powered-Infiltration armor.
The year is now 2552, this is their story…
Prologue
1130 hours, April 19, 2552 (Military Calendar)/
UNSC Frigate Shadow of Light en route to unknown location
On board the UNSC stealth Frigate Shadow of Light, Colonel Freeman stands at the head of the large holo-map sitting in the center of the bridge. Standing at attention adjacent of him is a team four Spartan III super soldiers. From Right to left they stand; Spartan Leah-513, the team's explosives and heavy weapons expert, and known as Eclipse 4. Next to her is Spartan Joshua-532, the team's recon specialist and Eclipse 3. Standing next to him is Spartan Kayla-405, as Eclipse 2 she is the team's second in command. Last is Team Eclipse leader Spartan Devin-479. Eclipse 1 or Eclipse lead is commander over the squad and only answers to Colonel Freeman. Through his leadership skills his team is as successful or "lucky" as they are today.
Colonel Freeman taps a series of buttons on the holo-map just before beginning briefing the team. The neon blue holographic panels shine as they project a 3 dimensional model of the UNSC Shadow of Light. Floating several inches away from the frigate model is a model of the UNSC Destroyer Wasps Nest colored in red.
"Spartans," Freeman began, "The Wasps Nest is sunk, as far as we've known the vessel fell under a covenant surprise attack… All crew members lost."
"All except for the Captain and bridge crew." Spartan 479 adds.
"Correct. But we have found what I believe is a lead." The Freeman taps the holo-map.
The map zooms out from their Frigate's location, showing a broad view of the star system, highlighting major stars and planets. The map zooms back in to a solar system close to the one they're currently in on the holo-map a nav point appears in the orbit of a planet. Freeman points to the panel.
"We've picked up a EVAC request on our long range sensors coming from this location."
"The missing crew?" Eclipse 2 asks.
"We believe so."
"What brings you to believe this? If they were captured they wouldn't have a chance to contact anyone. If they did escape but are still trapped on a covy ship, whatever signal they send would be shown as covenant."
"It's not covenant." Colonel Freeman speaks authoritatively to her.
She relaxes her shoulders to a less assertive posture.
The Colonel continues, "The evac request is UNSC, and not only that but it's coming from a Spartan team."
Leah lifts her head from the Holo-map, now very interested. "So the Wasps Nest had a few stingers on board." She says with a slight chuckle at her comment.
Devin turns his focus to the Colonel, "Our mission?"
"Your mission Spartans is to infiltrate the covenant vessel or structure and find that Spartan team and the remaining crew of the Wasps Nest. You will be dropped off via transport and search for the source of the call. Most important of all is finding the captain. You know the dangers the captain's neuro-implants holds when in the hands of the covenant. Once you find the Spartan's and crew notify us your situation and your EVAC plan."
"Understood sir."
Colonel Freeman taps the holo-map once more and the 3D images lower back into the shining panels as they dim out.
"As usual Spartans I'm counting on you to succeed. You will be the only ones sent in there. No other back up except for whomever you find in there. We'll be entering slip space momentarily, be ready to deploy once we arrive."
"Yes sir!" the team says in unison.
Colonel Freeman give his Spartans a salute, they return the honorable gesture and leave the bridge to ready themselves for their upcoming mission.
2010 hours, April 19, 2552 (Military Calendar)/
Modified Pelican drop ship en route to Covenant Carrier
Once the Shadow of Light exited out of slip space it maneuvered itself into a nearby asteroid field for cover. As expected the call is coming from the inside of a Covenant vessel. A Covenant Carrier in fact. The massive ship holds in orbit around the giant blue planet. Currently Spartan team Eclipse is checking their ammo and equipment in the bay of their specialized pelican.
Even though the team's armor is specialized for the missions they are regularly required to accomplish, each of them have personalized them to their own tastes.
Commander Devin-479's armor consists of an up-armored variant of the MK.V helmet, the with black visor. On his shoulders is a set of standard ODST shoulder armor. His chest armor is also upgraded with slightly extra armor for a little more protection, including a 40mm grenade belt around his waist, which he currently has empty for the mission at hand.
Major Kayla-405 wears her own UA variant security helmet, black visor, equipped with an External Hardened uplink or HUL. On her right shoulder she keeps her MK.V piece her armor came with but on her left it's replaced with thicker shield shaped armor component. She also wears a black a grey scarf around her neck that Devin had given to her. Only he and she know the reason behind the gift.
Sergeant Leah-513 wears the heaviest set of armor on the team. Equipped with heavier but more protective shoulder armor and a heavily UA chest piece made to withstand some of the most powerful explosions, she is prepared for the day she crosses the wrong wire. Seemingly opposite from her heavy armor pieces she wears a UA ODST helmet with silver visor.
Sergeant Joshua-532 on the other hand moves light. He has a light armor shoulder piece and a bandoleer to hold anti-material rounds. On his chest armor he has equipped several pouches for anything he may need on the field. For his helmet he wears a customized Commando helmet, Silver visor, equipped with long range scanner and abilities.
The team equips themselves with the weaponry they feel they need for the operation. Devin wields a suppressed carbine version of the MA5B assault rifle and the M6C silenced magnum. Kayla is bringing a M7S suppressed sub-machine gun and M6C magnum. Josh currently loads his BR55 battle rifle, equipped with a suppresser and 6x scope. He too is also bringing a M6C magnum. Leah brings with her a M90 shotgun, just in case they need to go loud. A M7 sub-machine gun; and a couple frag grenades when things need to get real loud.
Soon a voice crackles over the sound system inside the pelican. Ensign Sam, pilot transporting the team, comes through.
"Eclipse, were heading at a steady pace. ETA 11 minutes." He informs them.
Devin moves from the rear up into the cockpit of the ship, he rests a hand on the back of Sam's chair and gazes out at the Covenant carrier they are to board.
"Looks like the ships shields are down." Devin states.
"Are you sure?" Sam asks, "How can you tell?"
"I've seen enough covie ships to know when the shields are up or not. The ship probably stopped here for a rest. I don't think there's anything important to the covenant in this sector."
"Well in that case I'll engage stealth systems and drop you off at the front door."
"No, I don't want to risk them picking you up on their sensors and shooting you down before you can get away."
"You and me both…"
"Stick with my plan. Go to stealth mode and stop us a click away from the ship and we'll use jet packs to make it to their door step."
Sam nods, "No problem. Now if you guys need EVAC from me remember don't be in a gunfight when I get there. I don't want a repeat of what happened on Yellow 2."
Kayla's voice is suddenly heard from the back, "I thought we were to forget that ever happened?"
"You were…"
"I still remember it." Josh says.
"I don't know what the big deal was." Leah says, "We only got shot dow…"
"Don't even finish it!" Sam cuts her off.
"It was your fault you didn't dodge the AA fire." Josh adds.
"I wouldn't have had to dodge any if you did your jobs."
"We did do our job," Devin begins, "It didn't evolve taking out their AA guns."
As the argument escalates Kayla shakes her head. "This is why we should forget about it," she says under her breath.
They reach their desired travel point, just under a click of the starboard side of the carrier. Sam turns the pelican showing its tail to the enemy ship. Inside the bay of the pelican, Eclipse stands waiting to launch. With jetpacks and weapons ready and checked they start the operation.
Kayla pulls down the leaver that manually opens the bay door. Instantly all the air inside the bay rushes out into the vacuum. The team holds tightly on to welded bars so they too aren't violently sucked out into space. All is silent now. Devin raises his right arm and gives to commands through hand sign. "Move out" and "Stay together". Kayla suggested earlier they keep radio silence until they entered the ship. Four green lights ping on his HUD radar, the team acknowledging his orders. The team gives them a quick and easy thrust with their low gravity jet packs.
They approach the carrier, aiming to land in the launch bay closes to the ship's brig. As they get closer, the team activates their signature ability. Like a smooth magic trick the team fades out into nothing, as if they melted into thin air.
Inside of the covenant launching bay all is quite. An eerie silence shrouds the area. The only noise that is heard in the area is the forgetful ambient noise of the ship's generators.
"We enter the ship expecting a fight…" Josh begins to say as the team reappears on the lower floor of the soulless bay.
"…Looks like the crew is out for the night."
Devin makes one more glance to his motion tracker, again nothing. His muscles relax and he lowers his rifle.
"Alright, continue with the plan. Let's move to the holding cells. Be light on your feet. If we run into any patrols I want them to be the ones surprised."
Three acknowledgement lights wink on and the team swiftly moves across the deck and into the winding hallways. Through each lit door they pass through and every colorful corridor they go down all show the same… empty.
"Commander," Kayla says.
"Yes?"
"This is too odd. Even if most of the ship's crew were asleep they'd still have guards patrolling the hallways."
Devin agreed, he was thinking the same. In fact it sort of frightened him. He won't show it though. He can't, especially not to his team.
"Just focus on the mission. We're bound to find…"
The lights on door at the end of the hall they were heading towards suddenly flicker. The team stops in their tracks and aim down the sights of their weapons. The door splits and swishes open.
Running through the doors gasping on methane, with arms flailing in the air comes one of the covenants cannon fodder. A grunt... The defenseless four foot tall alien freezes with his arms still reaching to whatever prophet he believes in. Its eyes filled with terror staring down the four barrels that may end him.
The door the grunt passed through quietly shuts behind him and not a moment later a muffled pop is heard. One magnum round pierces the grunt's head and it drops heavily to the metallic floor.
"Enemy neutralized." Kayla says coldly.
"Kay! It was unarmed." Leah says, not really concerned for the creatures well being. But it just didn't seem fair to her.
"Hey, if she didn't pull the trigger I was gonna' drop it." Josh says.
Devin begins to move forward to the door, everyone follows behind. When they reach the door it beeps as it lights up and opens for them to reveal what it was almost caught in.
The new corridor they enter goes for a short bit until it turns into a four way intersection. The intersection looks like the inside of a slaughter house. Bodies of elite minors, grunts and jackals clutter the floor. Neon blue, green and purple blood pools under the bodies and is splattered on the walls. Devin takes a few more steps forward and stops next to an elite corpse, his boots standing in its blood. On the floor besides plasma weaponry lays dozens of UNSC shell casings. Clearly someone on their side has done this.
"The other Spartans did this didn't they?" Leah assumes.
"Definitely, but this didn't just happen." Kayla says, "The blood on the walls are mostly dry and the smell of gunpowder has diminished greatly, judging by the amount of ammo used here. They most likely killed this bunch hours ago."
Josh shrugs, "If they didn't just come through here what was that grunt running from?"
Devin turns to josh, "Unggoy aren't the most intelligent creature the covies got. It may have run from a firefight somewhere else on the ship. We don't even know how long it was running for."
"True… Hey K, how go interrogate your most recent victim?" Josh jokingly asks.
Kayla tills her head at him, her visor clears showing her face. She was giving him her look, 'the look'. Josh knew she was sending her glare at him. She didn't even need to show her face for him to know. He hates the feeling but he loves messing with her.
Josh averts his eyes and Kayla's visor fills back to its ebony tint.
"How close are we to the holding cells Leah?" Devin asks.
"Just about 300 meters from our current position I'd say. We just need to turn left here then turn right two corridors down and go up till we reach them."
"Good."
"Um commander? We are also pretty close to the ships control room. We could split up…"
"No." Devin cuts her off.
"But…"
"Stick to the plan. And we stay together. There are too many unknowns here for us to be safely splitting up."
Leah stops herself and nods, respecting the commanders concerns. Kayla wanted to speak up and support Leah's suggestion. Unfortunately she and the rest knew that to the commander safety for them came first. Not that that is an issue, but it sometimes made missions more difficult. When more than one thing needed to be done, or if they could do something while in two teams that could put them in a better position against their enemies. Though he would allow them to split up on some missions, but it normally won't happen unless he's absolutely sure they will be fine.
They continue their jog to the holding rooms. Along the way they pass by more spots groups of covies were slain by the Spartans. Finally they reach the main hall for the brig. The ships brig is simply a long corridor that has many rooms attached to it on either side. The team begins searching the rooms. Each room is a large space with a half a dozen cells along the walls. At the far end of each room is the holographic control panel that controls the energy shields for the cells.
They begin searching room by room, each one they enter appears empty. Normally a pair of guards would patrol the holding blocks. But of course that's not the only abnormal thing on this ship. After searching the 5th room they hear the sound of a plasma cutter a few doors down. Their first reaction is raising their weapons, reflexes from years of training.
"I've got three targets ten meters away." Kayla whispers through her comm.
Devin holds up his hand and gives the sign to move quietly.
The team moves silently to the section the enemy is located. There at a T-intersection, the hall to the right only goes for a couple meters until it gets to the holding room doors. Once closer the team picks up not one but two friendly yellow tags on their motion sensors, coming from inside the room. Muffled gunfire can be heard inside. At the doors using the plasma cutters is a group of elites. Two of them, elite minors clad in blue armor, are right at the door trying to cut through. The other elite wearing red-orange officer armor stands behind them cursing in their native tongue. Clearly they're locked out and for some reason they had to resort to this to try and get through.
Suddenly the Elite officer grunts. It sniffs the air, it feels something's wrong. The two low class elites pause from cutting and turn to their higher up.
"Rehtorb gnorw gnihtemos?" one sanghelli asks…
Just before his shields burst and a long deep cut appears across his waist. Simultaneously the second minor's shields pop as well, a gash appears on his neck and purple blood gushes from its neck. Both elites clutch their deathly wounds and collapse to the ground. The officer stands shocked and quickly reaches for his holstered plasma rifle. But before he can lay an alien finger on it he's struck in the back of his legs and drops to his knees and his neck turns a gruesome 180 degrees with a sickening crack.
The team shuts off their active camouflage and they 'rematerialize' around their kills. Josh and Kayla standing next to the minors with their combat knifes in hand. Devin and Leah stand on either side of the officer. Once knifes are sheathed and guns come back out. The team form in front of the door. By this time the gunfire inside has stopped, they aren't sure what the outcome was. But they could guess.
"So how do we open the door?" Josh asks.
Devin walks up to the door and amplifies the speakers in his helmet.
"This is Spartan Devin-479, leader of team Eclipse! If you're human we're here to help you! If you can open up these doors…"
Suddenly the red lights on the door changes to blue, beeps, and lights up. The door swishes open.
Upon walking in the team is greeted by the sight of what remain of the covenant guards in the room. In the middle of the room is a Spartan pulling his knife out from an elite's mouth. He wears MJOLNIR MK. V power armor colored black and crimson. Through their helmets they see the name Gabe floating above his head, his call tag.
"So you found us. Honestly I was expecting you to arrive days from now." The lone Spartan says as he sheaths his blade.
Devin walks to the Spartan, giving him a salute after stating his name and rank. The Spartan returns the salute and the two shake hands. Standing face to face Devin sees that this Spartan isn't as large as he expected. For a Spartan that is. Devin isn't the largest Spartan on the field either but still he stands an easy several inches over the Spartan.
"What is your unit and rank?" Devin asks.
"Warrant officer Spartan Gabriel-0610, squad leader of Spartan team Outsider." He says with a hint of cockiness.
Kayla turns her head away with a little disgust. Leah and Josh notice, she does not like this new Spartan.
"Where is the rest of your squad?" Devin asks.
"Dead," Kayla says being more of a statement than a guess.
"We ain't dead," comes another voice from inside the room.
Everyone looks to direction the voice came from. Back over by the control panel in the room a Spartan materializes as his active camouflage disengages. He carries the identical color scheme as his squad leader except his armor is the original Spartan-III Semi-Powered Infiltration armor. Just what eclipse used to suit up in.
"Yeah, we ain't dead," Gabe says mocking his squad mate's southern accent. He gestures to his friend, "he's Tyler and he's right were all still alive."
Leah speaks up, "Including your Captain and Crew?" getting a little excited about the possibility of good news.
"Nope, they dead." Tyler says without a drop of mourning.
Leah slumps down a little as her excitement is taken from her.
"Where's the bodies?" Devin asks softly mindful of their loss of servicemen.
Kayla over by the last cell on the right answers, "They're all here, about two to a cage… all executed."
"Yeah, Captn' over there," Tyler say pointing to the cell with his thumb.
Josh walks over to the cell and takes a look. Inside he sees the body of a white haired captain slumped down on the floor with his head propped up against the wall. Josh moves closer and carefully examines the cell. A volley of plasma rounds is what killed him, apparently from the plasma rifle lying in the middle of the cell. Funny… normally elites execute prisoners with their swords. Examining the body the only blood there is a small pool on the floor that came from a wound on the back of his head.
"You guys already grabbed his neuro-implants?" Josh comments on the wound.
"Yeah," Gabe replies and taps the side of his MK.V helmet.
Josh looks a little more before he exits and looks around the room. What catches his eye is that the closest elite body to the captain's cell is lying by the control panel several meters away.
"Something doesn't smell right." He says to he thought was himself, until Gabe responds.
"Dead bodies, they never smell good. Just breathe your suit's recycled air."
Josh says nothing back only nods his head and goes on looking around.
"Where is the rest of your squad? And what was your plan?" Devin asks Gabe.
"Ray and Heather are holding up in the control room. We basically have full control of the ship."
"You killed all of the enemy forces on the ship?" Leah asks.
"No only a handful. Heather and Ray have been locking down sections of the ship keeping the covies stuck wherever they're at. They must have been opening the gates for you guys since you arrived on the ship."
"If you have control of the ship why don't you take it home instead of call for rescue?" Kayla asks in a strong tone.
Tyler turns to her, "we don't wanna' take the damn ship home, girl. We gonna' blow it up." He says almost challenging her.
"We planned on setting some of the covies own bombs off inside the armory of the ship before we left. Only thing is we don't have any covie explosive experts in our squad." Gabe says.
Leah instantly raises her hand, "I can help you with that!"
"Wait a sec." Josh starts, "now you guys shouldn't just blow up a ship because you want to avenge your CO."
"That's not it," Gabe counters, "Avenging our crew doesn't mean anything to us. Fact is this ship is important to the covenant. This is the Covenant super carrier Testament. Our original mission with Hornet Nest was to attack this ship and have our team sneak in and assassinate a covenant prophet. What happened in short is covies found us before we even began the operation. Crew was captured including ourselves. We escape, they were executed, we call for EVAC and basically take over the ship."
"You didn't mention killing the prophet in that summery." Devin says.
"He's still alive and we can't get to him."
"But you control the ship."
"Yes we do but he's too heavily guarded for us to get to him safely. They got half of their forces cutting trough doors and walls trying to get to us and the other half just guarding the prophet, including his special elite honor guard."
"So it just easier to blow the whole ship to shit." Tyler adds.
Just then Gabe holds up two fingers and presses them to the side of his helmet. He starts having a closed communication talk with one of his other squad mates. Devin then turns to Leah and points to her.
"You and Josh go for the armory, don't set a bomb until I tell you the ETA for pick up."
"Yes sir!" The two Spartans reply.
"Hey, Ray and Heather say they need help in the command center." Gabe tells them.
"Alright, I'll go…" Devin begins but is soon cut off by Gabe.
"No were fine. Tyler and I will go help them. You just call in our EVAC bird and go keep the launch bay clear. Where is your ship located anyway?"
"It's hidden in the nearby asteroid field. I estimate pickup will take about 15-20 minutes."
"Alright, we'll catch you guys later then." Gabe says, as he and Tyler head out the room behind Leah and Josh.
Now alone in the violet colored room, Kayla walks over to her commander. Devin turns to her. "What do you want to say?" he knows she has something she wants to tell him.
"I don't like them, don't trust them either."
"But you never like to make new friends." Devin says humorously.
"But I can tell if I can get along with someone if they have a good attitude. Not just that but they seemed odd…"
"How so?"
"You know they were. The way they acted. How one of them talked down to me. Plus they didn't sound that old. Almost sounded like they were still teenagers. They just seem too different…"
"I agree, I would defend them by saying they're just from a different S-III class and that's just how they are. But no matter what class you trained in we all generally act the same and show equal respect." He then brings his hand up to the side of his helmet preparing to call for EVAC.
"Honestly," he continues, "I don't trust them either."
2035 hours. April 19th, 2552 (Military Calendar)/
On board Covenant Carrier Testament,
EVAC e.t.a. 9 minutes…
"Spartan! Spartan 479 respond! Devin!"
Sam yells over his comm. system trying to reach Devin again. A moment ago the radio suddenly went dead in the middle of their conversation. Sam becomes worried for the Spartans, from the chaos he heard in the background he could tell they were caught in a serious firefight.
Suddenly his radio begins to crackle again and the sound of muffled gunfire and plasma explosions is once again heard. Including a voice,
"Shadow zero, zero, twelve! Are you still there?" Spartan 479's voice comes through.
"Yeah I'm still here," Sam breathes a sigh of relief, "I'm double timing it! Say again, what's the situation there?!"
On the second floor of one of the ship's storage bays is Spartan 479 and 405. The room's second floor is simply a three meter wide walkway which encircles the outside of the room, 14 meters above the floor. They have made themselves some cover by turning over covenant crates to better shield themselves from the bidirectional plasma fire. Kayla reloads yet another 60-round clip into her SMG, peeks out around a crate and opens fire on the force of grunts and jackals firing back at them.
"Kayla and I are currently… Occupied in a storage room on the ships middle deck. We plan on regrouping with the others at the EVAC point."
Devin primes a plasma grenade and tosses it at a group of jackals. One jackal brings its back to the wall and holds up his shield. One runs away towards the door they came through while the others try to avoid it by jumping off the path itself hoping to survive their 14 meter drop to the lower deck. The grenade detonates with a wild blue flame killing the jackals and grunts unfortunate to be close enough.
"We've lost contact with Spartan team Outsider, presumed… MIA" Devin had to catch himself before he broke the code of the Spartans.
"I think they already escaped." Sam guesses.
Kayla ducks back into cover and says, "What!? Why do you think that?" genuinely surprised.
"A Spirit drop ship flew by me a moment ago flashing friendly IFF's. I thought it was you guys, until you radioed me."
"Those little…" Kayla growls under her breath.
Devin ignores the idea that their newfound 'friends' had abandoned them and focuses on the problem at hand, getting out alive.
"We'll see you at the EVAC point Sam, 479 out." Devin says and cuts comm.
Kayla reloads and turns to Devin. "What are we going to do? I'm out of nades." Barely concerned, but she likes to know what she needs to do next.
They were surrounded from the only two directions they could go. They could either go forward to the corridor blocked by many squads of covenant. Or try to go back to the corridor the came out of that is blocked by the many squads of covenant that chased them there. Then there was jumping. They could jump off the path they're on down to the floor below. Devin takes a look over the edge, the jackals that jumped weren't too lucky. He didn't think they, in half ton armor, would be either.
Before Devin makes a decision on what to do, they pick up two targets coming from the forward corridor, two very big targets. The Spartans peek over their cover and see the enemies they were hoping to not run into. Coming through the doors is a pair of twelve foot tall Mgalekgolo soldiers, each with a massive two ton shield attached to their left arms and a powerful fuel rod cannon attached to their right.
Seeing the juggernaut hunters level their fuel rod cannons at them, helped Spartan 479 makes his decision.
"JUMP!"
He and Kayla bolt from cover and leap off the edge just as the cannons fire. Not a moment later the cover they just used to protect themselves is obliterated in a large emerald explosion. The Spartans drop aiming to land on an unmanned wraith hover tank to shorten the distance and activate their jet packs to soften the landing. Landing still didn't feel good. Their shields pop on impact and Kayla slides off the tank landing hard onto her back.
Devin gets up and gets off the tank to check Kayla. He gets to her just as her shields recharge and asks, "Are you injured!?"
Kayla slowly gets to her feet and shakes it off, "I can walk… we better move." She suggests.
As they start moving out, Devin calls Leah and Josh.
"Eclipse 3, 4 what's your position?"
In another corridor, Leah and Josh seem to be having an easier time of escaping than their fellow squad mates.
"We're moving down..." Leah pauses, not actually sure where they are, "We're in a corridor heading for the EVAC point. Be there in a couple minutes."
"Good, Sam said he'd be here in less than 10."
"That's good. The bomb will go off about 5 minutes after we go. By the way, after we lost communication with team Outsider, we headed for the ships bridge to try and find them. There were way too many forces that way so we turned back."
"That's fine."
"Huh? Why?" Leah asks confused.
"Is a possibility they already left without us."
"Left without us? Like they took a covie ship and left?" Josh asks trying to understand.
Josh and Leah then hear Kayla and Devin firing their weapons.
"Explain later! Just meet us at the EVAC, and be careful." Devin orders as the comm. cuts out.
Leah and Josh soon enter one of the ships lifts. As Leah tries to figure out the controls Josh says aloud.
"So they can control a covenant ship but they don't know how to arm a covenant bomb?"
Leah shrugs, "Maybe they really don't. They did say they didn't have an explosives expert. Maybe they have a piloting expert. They did lockdown most of the ship." She finds the right control for the lift and they begin going down.
"Eh, there's just so much that seems off about them. I can't prove or can't ask them about anything until we see them again." Josh too shrugs, "At the moment, I'd rather not care. Just wanna' get off this ride before it blows."
As the lift slows to a stop some floors down, they pick up several red dots roughly ten meters ahead. The two Spartans activate their camouflage knowing whoever it is on the other side would notice them. The lift doors ring and slide open revealing a decently large room. With some sets of panels, probably one of the minor control rooms for the air conditioning or simple weapon systems.
The group of enemies they caught on their sensors was an escort. A good half dozen jackals carrying beam rifles. Five elites, four of them are of the covenant honor guard wearing Red-orange armor and wielding energy staves. The other elite leading the group is intimidating to say the least, most likely the shipmaster. He wears his own custom armor, similar to an Ultra elite's but with angled fins on his shoulder gear and protruding from the back of his helmet. His armor shines metallic silver with golden trimming, all together looking both aggressive yet elegant.
The escort that this group of covenant soldiers is taking, surprises both Josh and Leah. It's their high value target, the covenant prophet. Both sides stand motionless not sure of what to do. As far as they know, the covies are staring at what they think is a vacant lift. But if Josh didn't know any better he'd say the lead Elite is starring right at them. Then again, he very well could be, their camouflage is just that, camouflage, they are never perfectly invisible. If someone was to look close enough they would see the minor distortion of light around their silhouettes.
Before long the supposed shipmaster gives a command in his native language. The escort including the prophet all turn and head for the nearest door out of the room. Only two of the honor guards stay with the shipmaster. As soon as the group exits the room the shipmaster begins to make his way to the lift.
"Let's move out of here before he gets to us." Josh whispers.
"We should flank, I'll take out the silver one and you take out the two guards." Leah suggests.
The Spartans silently move out from the lift and split up moving around their prey. Once out of range of the lift its doors ring again and close shut. It causes the ship master to stop in his tracks. He begins to turn his head from one side to the other, searching for something. As Leah approaches the nearly 8 foot tall elite she prepares her combat knife. She sees Josh's tag over behind the two guards, he's in position.
The ship master reaches for the plasma pistol attached to his thigh armor, he grabs it and holds down the trigger. After a few seconds a glowing green orb is charged at the tip. Leah freezes, does he know? Should she attack? He's not looking at either of them, it's the perfect time. He may know they are in the room with him but he couldn't possibly know where. Leah moves in to strike.
The elite spins around, raises his pistol, and let's go of the trigger. The green orb is sent flying in the direction of his guards until it collides. The shot hits Josh square in the chest knocking him out of camouflage and disrupting his energy shields. The surprise and concussion from the shot knocks him to the ground. Leah acts with lightning fast reflexes and goes for the Elite's neck but hesitated too long. The elite turns and reaches for the air, his hand latches onto something solid.
Leah's active camouflage shuts off as well as the elite tightens his grip around her neck and lifts her up to his helmet covered face. Through his glowing orange eye slots he stares into her visor. Leah quickly attempts to stab him in the neck, bringing her arm up and thrusts at his jugular. He effortlessly blocks with his free arm and tosses her several feet away causing her to slam into one of the control panels.
As the Spartans lay stunned and embarrassed at the powerful shipmaster that just turned the tables on them, he speaks in a near demonic tone.
"Kill the demons!"
As ordered, the honor guards ignite their energy staves and charge for Josh. Josh quickly rolls backwards and to his feet, he brings his BR to bear and fires several three round bursts. Two bursts hit the closest elite and his blue shields flare up. The elites both jump to either side to avoid the incoming fire. Josh starts running in reverse and readjusts his aim on the first elite he hit. Its powerful legs launch himself at the Spartan. Josh gets out three more bursts that connect with the elite's shields causing them to fall. Before he can deliver the kill shot, the elite reaches it's striking distance and thrusts his stave at Josh's chest. Josh ducks and rolls under the stave and rises next to the elite.
With his magnum in one hand he fires three shots into the alien's under protected stomach. The elite wretches from the wound and swings his stave at the demon's side. Josh drops his BR to catch the pole section of the stave. With his forearm he drives it into the stave breaking it in half, and before the elite can react again, he drives the bladed end into its neck. One down.
The shipmaster starts moving in for Leah until a clicking noise catches his attention. A primed fragmentation grenade from his adversary skips across the floor to his feet. He evades the explosion by only seconds. The concussive force still caused his shields to flare from minor damage.
Leah gets up to her feet, grabs her M90 shotgun from her back, dashes over the holographic consoles and the silver elite. The elite catches sight of her coming at him, pumping her shotgun in midair. The elite starts to back away from her as she lands. She starts walking toward the elite and giving him a dose of some eight gauge rounds. Boom! Ku-chunk, Boom! Ku-chunk, Boom! Each round of scattered shrapnel weakens the elite's shields more and more. There's too much distance between them for her shots to do maximum damage.
After her third Ku-chunk, the fierce elite charges at her. She pulls the trigger just as the elite grabs the gun and aims it towards the ceiling. She then instinctively releases her hold of the shotgun and with incredible agility moves behind the elite and jumps onto its back. Leah unsheathes her combat knife once again, flips it in her hand and goes for the kill. The elite swings his head back and strikes her hard with his helmet. The hit knocks her loose and to the ground.
Josh's first kill collapses to the floor he see's Leah fall from the shipmaster's back. The second honor guard swings his stave and Josh. The stave only collides with the metallic floor as Josh evades and grabs his BR.
Leah shakes her head trying to bring her eyesight back to focus. Still with her vision blurred she can see the tall silver elite turn to face her. He tosses away her shotgun and his plasma pistol then reaches for something on his other thigh. It becomes frighteningly clear the weapon he chooses to use. The elite grabs the hilt to his personal energy sword. He activates it with an energetic crackle and its two sided blades of white light extend from the hilt.
Before the shipmaster could raise his sword, several rounds of bullets pellet his shields from behind. Just before they break he jumps away taking cover behind some control panels. Leah turns her attention to Josh who is now in a duck and dodge ballet with the honor guard. Instead of going for the shipmaster Leah goes for her shotgun, picks it up and sprints over to help Josh.
The guard swings his stave again determined to end the fight. Josh parries the swing with the side of his BR and counters with driving his rifle's butt stock into the elite's face. Its energy shields burst and it stagers back, into the barrel of a M90. Leah doesn't hesitate to pump two shotgun rounds into the alien's back dropping it instantly.
"You alright?" Leah asks.
"I'm good, now we just have that big bastard to… GRENADE!"
Leah spins around just before a live plasma grenade hits her. It lands directly on her shotgun. Reactively, she tosses the shotgun away into the air and rolls away along with Josh. The M90 explodes harmlessly in midair, engulfed in a violent blue explosion.
"My shotgun…" Leah says mournfully.
"Ok, on second thought I'd rather get to the EVAC point than deal with THAT Elite."
The ship master runs for where the demons once were only to find after the explosion, they ran. He deactivates his energy sword and slings it to his thigh armor. He wastes no more time here. He's now dead set on hunting down those demons, determined to not have them leave his ship alive.
2042 hours. April 19th, 2552 (Military Calendar)/
Onboard Covenant Carrier Testament,
EVAC e.t.a. Immanent…
"Uh, Spartans?" Sam calls over the radio. "The LZ is not clear. I repeat, NOT CLEAR." Sam was holding the pelican at a safe distance outside of the covenant hanger bay which he was to pick the team up at. The transparent blue shields to the bay were up and what Sam saw was a small army of covenant troops occupying each level of the area. Somehow someone knew that it was going to be the Spartan's final destination.
"Doesn't matter!" Kayla yells as she leads the charge down the corridor which herself and Devin knew lead to the large covenant force and their exit. "We got a bomb about to blow and I for one don't want to die with a ship full of covies today!"
"Don't enter the hanger Sam." Devin advises. "Wait for us to clear the area before you enter. You'll get shot down before we can take off."
"You can bet your ass I'm keeping mine out here." Sam replies with a witty remark.
Devin loads a fresh and last clip into his MA5B carbine gives Kayla a thumb up to keep pressing forward when she looks back at him. As they approach the last door between them and their destination, Kayla levels her SMG and the plasma rifle she picked up a few moments ago. The doors ring and flicker with light as they reached them. It splits into its three triangular pieces and slide out into the walls. Immediately entering the bottom floor of the bay, Devin and Kayla are met with a large force made up of Grunts, jackals and low ranking elites. Spartan 479 didn't have to give his team mate the order. They both knew instantly that they need to go loud and take cover.
Four grunts drop including one of their Elite minors before any of them could shout enemy in one of their alien dialects. And line fireworks sitting on a campfire, the room lights up with blue plasma bolts, green streaks of light and florescent pink needles. Devin jumps to the right and Kayla rolls to the left behind the violet colored pillars which connect to the upper level above them. Each of them begun taking turns popping in and out of cover to take out one or two covies.
"Josh! Leah! Where are you!?" Devin yells into his comm. He had to dive out from his pillar over to a nearby covey weapons crate to avoid a plasma grenade that landed next to his foot.
"We're here now commander!" Leah replied as she and Josh enter the bay on the top floor, several levels above their partners.
"Holy…" Josh gasped when they both saw the literal firing line if jackals and grunts which were all firing down over the ledge of the level at the other Spartans. He immediately level his suppressed BR and delivers a tree round burst to the back of Jackal's heads. Their bodies collapse and roll off the edge, creating a sickening splat against the floor so many meters below.
Leah runs up behind two grunts and push them over the edge. They scream through their masks before hitting the ground with a similar sound, barely heard over the copious amounts of gunfire. Her and Eclipse 3 quickly got to work on clearing out the upper floor and firing down upon the enemies which were pinning the others down.
Devin slings his MA5B carbine to his back once his clip ran dry. He pulls a loaded covenant carbine from the crate he has his back against and opens fire again. Gunfire from 3 and 4 on the upper levels catches his eye and he calls out the final orders to hopefully get them out of there.
"Everyone listen up!" He shouts as if he was trying to reach everyone with his voice alone. "Leah, how much time do we have before the bomb blows?"
"Enough if we go now, like right now." She answered as she snaps a grunts neck.
"Alright, you and Josh get down here ASAP. Jump if you have to." Devin spins back into cover and reloads his carbine. He spots Kayla as she dives for more cover, she gets hit in the leg by a charged plasma pistol round which sends her flinging just behind the cover she dived for. "KAY!" Devin shouts for her.
"I'm fine!" She yells back as she sits up against a crate. She took a deep breath, the first in awhile. "We gotta' clear a path right?"
"Yes, for only a second. Right up the middle!" Devin confirms. "Get ready to unload everything you have on the center of the room. Sprint for the bay doors… We're jumping out."
The team all flashed their green conformation lights which appear on Devin's sensors, he nods knowing that they were ready. "You got that Sam?" He asks over comms.
"Yeah I got it. Moving into position outside the carrier now." Sam acknowledges as he moves the pelican in closer. "Y'all better not freakin' miss."
Josh empties his last rounds into an Elite minor's neck causing it to drop to its knees and quickly bleed to death. Leah picks up five plasma grenades off of the bodies of recently disposed of covies. She primes them and throws them down to the 2nd floor below them to clear a landing for Josh and her. They plan to jump diagonally to the 2nd floor then again to the bottom to regroup. Likelihood of surviving the two lesser drops was much higher than leaping strait from the top.
The bombardment of her plasma grenades blow away and melt the bodies of a good dozen or more covies below them. "All clear-let's go!" Leah yells, probably more excited than she should be. She runs and jumps down to the level below, safely tucking unto a roll upon landing.
Josh watches her land safely and slings his BR to his back as he prepares to jump. But he hesitates once he notices a red dot on his motion sensor quickly approaches him from behind. His instincts tell him to draw his suppressed magnum, spin around, and fire at whatever was planning to kill him.
In half a second he goes through the movement and raises his handgun to the face of the approaching target. "Oh… SHIT!" Is an appropriate response for the sight of a large, pissed, Elite shipmaster charging at him with its energy sword. Josh leaps backwards off the ledge and is able to fire off four rounds which impact the shipmaster's shields but doesn't stop him. The Elite slashes at Josh just as his feet left the floor and feel back towards the lower floor.
Josh crashes down onto the lower level successfully, along with getting the wind knocked out of him on impact. He quickly stumbles back to his feet and see's Leah firing down on covenant below them.
"Leah… Leah! We got to jump!" He shouts to reach her over the gunfire.
"Yeah I kno…!"
"No I mean we have to jump NOW!"
Leah turned to Josh but a large object clad in shining armor catches her attention as it comes down at them. Leah reacted by raising her SMG and firing at the incoming Elite. Josh too fired everything his has left in his clip but proves not enough as the Elite's shields only flickered as it lands with a heavy thud right in front of them.
"JOSH!" Leah screams as her clip runs dry and see's the Elite slash at Josh again. This time, he didn't miss.
Josh lets out an ear-piercing scream as the energy blade struck him, cutting a long deep gash along his chest, and more importantly, successfully lopping of his left arm at the elbow. His severed limb lands several feet away from him and lands at the same time he falls onto his back. The Elite was far from showing any mercy as it walks forward and stomps one of its massive boots onto Josh's chest. The sound of his armor bending and his ribs breaking one by one could be heard over the comms. Josh refused to scream again, but he knew there was not much he can do in this position. The Elite's shielded orange eye's glared down at him as it steadied its sword to finish it.
"NO!" Leah shouts out as she drops her SMG and charges the Elite. Her battle cry barely got the Elite to look at her, but once she grabbed the towering alien by the waist, it growled with intense anger. Leah uses all of the strength in her legs to lift the Elite off of Josh and then thrust her and the angry split jaw off of the second level. They crash down unto the Bay's lower floor hard. The Elite's shields pop and loses his sword from the fall, now open for attack. And Leah did just that, attacked.
Leah lets loose with a fury of punches across the Shipmaster's helmet. Each punch with her gauntleted hands drives a new dent into its armor, knocking its head repeatedly from left to right. In a blind rage, Leah keeps punching, completely ignoring the firefight she had landed in the middle of. All she could think, all her body and mind was telling her to do was protect her team.
"Leah! Move!" Kayla orders to her as she aims to get a clear shot of the downed Elite.
Leah relaxes enough to follow her order and stands but is kicked nearly 10 feet away by the Shipmaster. Kayla opens fire at the Elite. Plasma rounds splash against its unshielded armor. The shipmaster wastes no time to roll and dive behind his comrades for cover.
"Eclipse 3, are you alright!?" Devin calls. He calls again as two seconds with no response was too long for a response. "JOSH!"
"I'm fine commander… Raggh!" Josh groans on the upper level as he seals the last sections of his armor and wounds. He figured her was lucky that the energy sword cauterized his arm and practically melted his armor to the scorched flesh. At least he wouldn't have to deal with it until after they make it off this ship. "I'm ready to jump when you are commander."
"Alright. We all go on my mark." Devin reconfirms. Leah rolls into cover near him and looks through her cleared visor. She was requesting a weapon. Devin tosses her two needlers which she can't help grinning at the idea of the damage they can do.
Josh suddenly lands on the lower floor close to Kayla who hurries to get him back into cover with her. "Your arm!" She couldn't help noticing.
"That Elite bastard gave me the honor to leave a part of me behind." Josh shakes his head at his own dry humor. "Give me a weapon." Kayla hands him a plasma rifle and wraps an arm around him to help him move.
"Ready everyone!?" Devin calls out.
"READY!" The team responds in unison. Each of their visors dim to their team's jet black hue. Call it coincidence, but it's become a little team habit whenever they were going into action.
"CLEAR A PATH!"
The four Spartans burst from cover and sprint for the massive glowing gate on the opposite end of the bay. They fire their weapons at any and every enemy in their path as the charge together up the middle like an unstoppable covenant killing wrecking ball. Jackal's shields burst and are quickly downed with headshots from Devin. Kayla and Josh focus fire on one target at a time, filling grunt after grunt with enough plasma to drop a Brute. And Leah concentrates on firing her needlers in 3 to 5 round bursts on any unshielded target she has in her sights, their bodies disappearing in a pink mist of shards just before sprinting through the pink clouds.
The gunfire all around them was deafening being in such close proximity to the enemies they are gunning down. But all they had the same objective in their minds, jump off that ship. Their 50 yard run felt like a mile as they approached the threshold in their blistering spint until finally they leaped.
And then silence.
They enter the vacuum of space. Almost instantly, they all felt as if a weight lifted off of them, both literally and figuratively. With the pelican in site, and the covenant shield door between them and the hostile enemies, this all feels like a victory.
Devin looks to his left and his right just to recheck that he had everyone. His team all there, together and safe.
"Landing in three… two… one…" Leah counts down as they approach the open bay of the pelican. "Touchdown!"
"Sam!" Devin calls as he runs up to the cockpit.
"Yes commander?" Sam responds.
"Punch it."
"Don't have to tell me twice." He grins as he shuts the pelican bay doors and goes straight to full throatle.
The pelican speeds away from the covenant carrier and soon disappears from sight as the active camouflage is activated. Just a moment later, the bomb goes off inside the belly of the massive ship. Its center is torn in half by an immense blew explosion which travels through every floor of the ship. The pelican trembles harshly for several seconds as the shockwave past by, but no damage was done to cause any worry.
The cabin finished filling with oxygen a few minutes later. The Spartans all took off their helmets. Leah rushes over to Josh's side to help him get his helmet off and properly survey and tend to his wounds.
Leah smiles warmly at Josh, more particularly his arm wound.
"What are you grinning about?" He questions her.
"I'm just waiting for what you'll say." Her smile grows.
Josh raises an eyebrow at her but quickly caught what she meant. She was waiting for his dry humorous statement.
"Well… I'm glad I'm a righty." He doesn't think it was that great. But it did get a little laugh out of Leah.
Towards the front of the bay, Devin watches his team wind down. Except for Kayla that was. He was preparing himself to walk over to her and ask what the stern glare was for. But she is the one who stands and approaches him first.
She stopped in front of him and looks into his eyes. He could tell\ she wanted to say something, something she felt important or was taking personally.
"Speak freely Kay." Devin authorizes. Kayla averts her glare to the metal floor between them and takes a deep breath.
"Speaking freely sir… about Spartan Team Outsider…"
"Is this about them leaving us on the ship?"
"Not just that sir. But you know we all feel like those Spartan's aren't…"
Devin stops her by placing a hand on her shoulder. He looks down at her with an intense but gentle expression. "They are Spartan's just like us. Don't get concerned about how they carried themselves and just focus on what you should do. They are our allies as we are theirs."
"If you say so commander… If YOU say so…"