On October 20th of 2552, an orbital attack was launched on the planet Earth by extraterrestrial forces known as the Covenant. An effort to stop the attack was made as several teams of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers were deployed to intercept a super carrier at a low airspace. This attempt was failed as the carrier in question made an emergency escape attempt and launched a slip-space portal, vanishing and leaving the ODST insertion vehicles unable to follow. As the assault was in progress a small special weapons ship was found in orbit. UNSC forces feared this was supplying the carrier with WMD's. The ship in question was hit by high velocity explosives and destroyed. Upon impact with Earth it unknowingly released an extremely deadly parasite. This story is of how it was dealt with. This operation saved Earth and helped win the war with the covenant in 2551.
It had been over four years since spartan S-238 had been deployed for a November black secrecy mission. The briefing had said it was an emergency response to unknown foreign material. He didn't like the sound of that at all. Chase still remembered the days of the flood, a covenant super parasite. He also didn't like his call sign. Chase disagreed strongly with any secret government action, and he hated not being able to tell people who he was. He was a spartan to protect and support the people, not slip actions under their noses. So he hated that the government didn't tell the public things to avoid a panic. The people should be able to handle it, he could. Some people treated spartans like super heroes, but Chase truly thought they could do anything he could. The people were running the world,well, they should have been. Just because he carried a gun didn't make him any different. The only thing that was different about him was his altered spartan body and half a ton of shield conductive metal armor.
He thought about it all on the drop ship. How people looked at him, and how he looked at the world. That, however, wasn't his focus on the ride out. He really was going through countless notes, extracting clues from his mission briefing, and creating a strategy that would suit the land he was viewing on his Military Information Tablet, or MIT. He had learned that, to ensure a successful mission, you had to lay out a route and ensure you had the proper ordinance. He had already selected a handful of UNSC grade hand grenades, a large combat magnum, a burst action battle rifle, and a military style pump action-shotgun. He had also made arrangements for orbital supply drops, and had permission to designate an orbital bombing strike at his command.
This would all help ensure mission success and his own safety. It fit perfectly with his objective order. He had been designated to identify or capture evidence of any threat, wait for further orders, and with luck be able to eliminate the threat's source. After that It was up to a squadron of UNSC marines to clean up the remaining threat. For the first time in a while, Chase felt confident in his mission. This was probably a low-threat situation, not tricky like the covenant, and he had already selected extraction points, weapons, strategies and fighting styles for every area and known threat. Then if all failed, he had permission to call for an extremely powerful air fighter assault, which guarded a pelican ready for emergency extraction. He had worked hard to plan this on short notice, and had gained the UNSC's special help because it was an unknown threat. Chase thought this would be a hole-in-one, but he was wrong.
Z'ek Taei was a Zealot class special forces soldier. He now had been employed by the Covenant to search the destroyed special weapons ship that had been shot down in orbit. Taei knew this was an important mission because of what was aboard the ship. As he was beamed up by a reverse-ion particle ray into the phantom drop ship, he thought of the five specimens of highly deadly xenomorph parasites, or as the elite species of the inter-species Covenant army called them, Life Feasters, loaded aboard the crashed weapons ship. He was told by the Elite Arbiter himself that they needed to be removed if the Covenant wished to use Earth as a base, and that they could be used as a deadly weapon, akin to that of the flood. This would be an important mission in the successful capture of Earth, though not as important as the direct assault being launched by a full armada of orbital carriers and corvettes. Now as he thought of his mission, his captain, a field Marshall of the second highest class, planned the mission through to the smallest details. They were going to be deployed in a small area mashed aside a hill at raised elevation. From there the Marshall would lead Taei and two other zealot class elites into the experimental section of the ship. The Marshall, who's name was Senyetey, had already selected a full set of arms as well, and the phantom was full of high power special ordinance. Taei, however, hardly thought it was necessary. He had been given the gift of being in Senyetey's team. Senyetey was an honorable fighter, known widely throughout the elites for his great deeds. Senyetey had also been given credit for the downing of countless humans, and the destruction of several spartan demons. He was the best fighter alive next to the Arbiter himself, who was a brother to Senyetey. Taei looked up to his great leader, and believed that, while he was in command, there was no enemy that could best them.
" All right 238, keep frosty down there, we don't know what were dealing with yet, but based on the marines transmission, it's definitely a foreign organism."
"Roger that command. I'll keep you posted, S-238, over and out," Chase said in a low voice. The pelican was nearing the drop zone, and he had already re-engaged his habit of spec. Ops silence. Five minutes later, they flew eastbound over a mountain to behold an amazing site. On their current heading was a pillar of smoke rising up from a mass of purple metal jammed into jagged hills. The area was home to a dense forest, and small fires had erupted in several places from the lush growth. Half a mile north lay a town where firefights lit the air. As the pelican set down the voice of his pilot crackled to life over the silent intercom," All right S-238, don't disappoint the colonel. Bring us back those samples and waste any hostels you find."
"Keep my seat warm, Jack."
"You have my word on it," Jack laughed over the intercom. Chase grabbed his battle rifle from the seat next to him and hopped off the pelican. Seconds after his feet hit the ground dust rose around him as the pelican flew away to a safer airspace. The first thing Chase did was take a holographic mapping of his surroundings. He pulled the geographic mapper out of a pack on his recon style chest attachment, which he had always preferred all the way since the days of Reach.
Chase had always preferred the old armor types since they were changeable in so many ways, though he had the base armor type upgraded to the newer spartan III model. He also had a recon headpiece, a wrist com, a tactical hardcase which hung from his hip, and ODST style shoulder pieces. With all this armor secure on his body, he began the mapping process. He scanned for half a mile in each direction, which gave him holographic image access to the entire corvette and then some. He had been set down about six-hundred feet from the corvette, and he could tell by the area scan that there was a hull rupture about a hundred feet more northeast of the crash from his first objective point that would allow him access to a hallway that would give him full maneuverability around the ship entire ship.
His first objective, however, was to make contact with the marine squad doing recon on the ship. He could do this by using the warthog parked outside the corvette to check the communication line of the marines in the ship. He took several minutes surveying the area with his in helmet zoom feature, and then advanced to the parked warthog. Chase first saw that the warthog was vacant. This was odd because one of the most common marine tactics was to send several men to investigate while the other stood and served as a leader and base near their transport. It was possible, however, that they deemed little threat and decided to go in casually, for recon operations weren't usually very eventful. Nevertheless, he linked in to the warthog and tapped into the com line. " Hello this is sierra 238, do you copy me charlie-7? I repeat charlie-7, do you copy," he waited silently for a response, but all he received was static. Now things got interesting.
Senyetey was silent and remained grim during the phantom trip. His comrades, young and anxious, talked excitedly with hearty, rumbling chuckles. He remembered the incident on a planet named Vey'teronot, however. This was a planet the downed science ship had once visited in the years before. The planet was being settled by humans, already proud and living well, when the corvette tested the very parasite they were now attempting to retrieve.
After several months of planning, the corvette was able to insert the parasite, known to the covenant as Life Feasters, into the sewer systems of a major city trading center. Two and a half weeks later the entire planet was evacuated and the human cruisers in orbit were forced to leave due to a well coordinated corvette strike. Once the humans were forced away from the star system and surrounding area, the current Marshall had ordered a cleansing strike on the planet. The cleansing beams soon eliminated all threats on the surface, but to be habitable, the vents and pipes the pitiful men used had to be rid of the beasts as well.
Countless Sangheili were sent into the bowels of the ugly planet. Together they worked through the tunnels and killed the beasts queens. This took over three months to accomplish, and Senyetey lost many a brother. He, now, was angry. To take revenge over the evil Life Feasters would be to restore a lost part of the Sangheili bloodline, and to bring peace to the resting souls of his brothers. Senyetey feared, too. It would be a curse to lose his new comrades, for him to aimlessly lead them away from the light the forerunners had bestowed upon them.
He also feared was the size of the disgrace laying in the crippled ship. He could still see them all, running through the dark pipes, the way they would attempt to take the life from you. These creatures would not stop, nor were they afraid to lose their brethren. They would slip into battle unseen with sheer determination to fulfill the duties they had been appointed. The life suckers failed to understand the timeless gift of life, and would not fear death. He thought of this now. He took all the precautions needed, but now made the choice of heart. He now decided that his life would go before those of his comrades.
The interior hallways of the purple corvette lay in ruins. Wires hung out of odd places, smoke billowed out of broken pipes, and fires lie waiting at the heart of twisted debris. After walking no less than a minute, he saw the covenant casualties. Grunts sat still, crushed in rubble and smashed against walls. Elites lay curled in pools of purple blood, armor twisted and scorched, while jackals lie crushed with their mouths open.
As Chase walked past the bloody corpses, moving from hall to hall with purpose and speed, something erupted in sound nearby. With a snap like lightning he turned, his weapon frozen at shoulder height. With watching eyes he peered around the narrow tunnel. His eyes came to rest on a bloody elite propped up against a twisted piped. He coughed once more and raised his head, only to stare straight at the spartan. His helmet removed, the creature flashed a pair of angry yellow eyes. Chase was sad now, for he new what he had to do. This elite, a major in orange armor, was healing. In time, he could kill him from behind as chase busied himself searching for his next objective.
With remorse, he pulled his battle rifle from his back, letting his other weapon swing in his left hand. He alined the weapon with the elites unshielded head, watching its eyes smear with sadness. With a small tug on the trigger, a flash and a sharp bang engulf the small corridor. Chase walked away with a hole in his stomach, a pity incredibly strong. Now, though, there was a mission. There were missing marines, those he fought with and shared a common goal. So he set about to finding them. With new found energy, he opened a flap on one of his pockets. From inside he grasped a small object, the geographic mapper which gave him 3-D imaging of his surroundings. From a second patch he retrieved his military information tablet.
First he set about connecting the marines signal to the MIT, then he linked the tablet to his geographic mapper. On the MIT appeared a window asking for program set-up permission. He pressed down on the touch screen where it read "continue," and it began to link the two systems. He continued to instruct the tablet, commanding it to pinpoint the marines signal as a beacon in the geo mapper. Once this procedure was complete he confirmed that the marines where in the engine system, close to the cooling units. They did not appear to move, however, and they did not respond when he attempted to contact them via com-link, so there was still work to be done. Once again he began to work through the twisted tunnels.
The drop-off was smooth and simple. Senyetey jumped from the open left hatch of the phantom's side, landing gracefully in a clump of African brush flowers. Upon his landing fell three elites, his fellow comrades. Together, they stood their, looking upon the mountain of twisted purple metal far down the cliff side. " Today will be well my brothers," Senyetey said proudly,"for it is today that we will stop the Humans from taking our technology once more. It will not be again that this planet, Earth, home of the dirty Humans, will harness something as well as the power of a Halo or a plague as is the flood. Today we will go to meet our fallen brothers in our burning corvette, and retrieve the spores of the Life Feasters. It is also today, that in space, our fellows will bring the bright light of cleansing down upon the last of the disgusting men. Now, we must go. Now, we must take...this...day!" A fountain of courage now flowing in the roaring Elites, they set off down the steep mountain side, jumping and rolling as they're seven-foot-tall, yet nimble, bodies allowed.
It took several minutes to reach the bottom and by then the Elites excitement was hidden away, for then it was time to complete their mission. The corvette now much clearer, Senyetey order his men to take different positions. First, he ordered for Z'ek to go far ahead and take point behind a large boulder. He then ordered the other two, Brutok and Veskov, to walk forward up to another hidden spot as he climbed up a rock ledge, making the best of the terrain he found ahead. After several minutes darting from place to place, barely visible due to their dexterity and arcane stealth, they reached a place where the trees gave away to smaller brush, the larger trees smashed and burned from the violent crash of the corvette, where Senyetey order everyone to reform behind him.
As he walked up to the corvette he searched intently for an entrance, scanning left and right for a broken door or open hatch. Far to the right he spotted one. It was a small maintenance hatch that worked throughout the engineering sector of the ship, which would take them through the engines, ventilation, and pipe service routes of the ships. Since the science wing required great amounts of plasma, electricity, and chemicals, the pipe route could take them to the bio-research holds in minutes. The day was becoming theirs.
"Command do you read? Command," Chase asked quietly to the small brace on his wrist, which now failed to force signals through the thick, purple walls and dense pipes of the corvette. He attempted to contact command then, because of the scene in front of his polarized spartan visor. He had been walking through an access hall when he came across the bloody picture in wing distribution hall three, an area that broke off into hallways leading to different areas as a cargo train might encounter in the form of a track. He had come to this particular spot because, not only had the marines signal emitted here, but it was directly on the path to the science branch. The science branch left his mind though, as here he found a room full of slaughter.
With four halls leading out and a pillar in the middle, the room would have also been geometric if not for the bodies leaned against walls, the blood and scratches, and the holes of bullets strewn across the room. He surveyed the area closely, the wounds of the marines; all cuts and punctures, yet no plasma damage, nor the marks left by the covenants feared hammers or swords. The damage was that of an animal, brutal and careless, with an equal amount of damage done to the ship as to the marines themselves. Remembering his briefing, he quickly switched on his helmet camera, which he had foolishly left off; a mistake that could have lowered his status with his superiors, which was uncommon for a spartan.
Pushing his fears to the back of his mind, he began the standard military casualties procedure, which started with removing the tags of the marines and ended with the recordings of their deaths; most of which were standard stab and slashing wounds, but which two of were different.
The first was interesting, it was a hole. A simple hole. Straight through the middle of a marines head. Straight through the helmet. Straight through the skull. Leaving no flesh behind. It was the strangest, scariest thing Chase had ever seen. The marines eyes still stared, the blow having to have been so fast it had stopped his nervous system before he could even show his fear. This mans name was Donnovan. Donnovan Brellton. A name now engraved in Chase's mind from the mere sight of his body.
The next body was paralyzing. It was not scary, but terrifying. When chase peered over this man's body, the first thing he noticed was not the blood or his mangled chest, but the body next to it. This body was a small body about the size of a cat, but stranger yet, not human. It had no eyes or mouth, but eight arachnid like legs and a long twisted tail, supporting a body of which hung, humorously, two large sacks and a long, phallic tube. The second thing he saw was the man's chest, which bore a massive hole. This hole was not deep but wide, the organs around it pushed away to make a perfect cavity. The rib cage, mangled and busted, was not cut, but smashed; broken from the inside. " My god...," he said slowly," we have a problem.
The ship's interior was an erie place, fit for only something from the depths of Hell, a place Z'ek and Senyetey alike thought suitable for such a creature. They were closing in on the science wing, slipping through the engineering sector's service tunnel. This, however, was a scary place to be, for the evil they sought preferred the dark chutes they now traveled in. Proof was right before their eyes as they rounded a corner. What they saw was darkness. Not, black as dark, but simply and incredibly dark. This was due to the crunchy black resin coating the hallway, a perfect camouflage for the beasts. Some of the hallway still was wet, coated in a wet slime which would soon blend to be part of the hellish black coating. Through this vortex of evil they traveled, rounding corners and passing broken pipes bursting various chemicals. After nearly five minutes, something moved.
Through the dark they saw a lithe, bony, humanoid shape detach itself straight from the wall, where they would have otherwise never saw it. The beast possessed a massive, ridged crest, and bore four twisted pylons from it's back. It looked at them, though with no eyes on it's large head, sporting a look of pure hatred, and gave a menacing hiss. It was no ordinary sound though. This was not only a hiss of anger and a sign it was to attack, but a call that echoed in ways no other sound could.
While it hissed, spitting the curious white goo from it's mouth, something inside it's mouth moved. Where a normal animal would have had a tongue or even, where the Elites came from, two within it's jaw, it extended another mouth. Covered in white resin and supported by a long and straight stem, this puppet of the monsters face opened, showing where the horrible sound emitted from. Overcoming his fear and filled with determination to beat this foul creature, Z'ek opened wide the four peals of his maw and roared a roar of honor.
Raising their weapons, the four elites opened fire. Lit by the the light of plasma, the small corridor became a battle scene. The beast lunged as red and blue bolts flew past it, landing right atop Veskov. Roaring as he went down, the Elite was pinned, unable to get up as the beast was as large as he was and stronger than even a Zealot. Opening it's jaws, it prepared to let Veskov taste the puppet of a mouth that rest inside it's evil face.
Just as it was ready to end his life, however, it was blasted off of Veskov from the green light of Senyetey's plasma carbine. The creature was not so easily killed though. A glowing puncture in the side of it's hard exoskeleton, it hissed once more and readied to pounce, only to be stopped by the red and blue barrage of Z'ek and Brutok's plasma rifle's. It screeched as it was thrown against the crusty black wall, bleeding heavily and badly injured, it's tail writhing in the air. Now, before it could prepare another assault, all three of the standing Elites released the deadly bolts waiting inside their weapons, extinguishing the last of the light within this dark creature. Brutok let out a triumphant roar and walked up to the body of the dead monster, examining it with interest, while the other two walked up to the moaning form of Veskov.
While not a single cut or scratch was visible on him, his helmet was melting ever faster with the help of a dark green liquid. Puzzled, Z'ek looked for the source, scanning his head around the room, while Senyetey ripped off Veskov's helm, using the but of his gun to flick away even the smallest traces that had managed, for he new that this corrosive substance was but the blood of the Life Feasters. While doing as they were, a new trouble arose. From far down the dark, crusty corridor, came a chorus of hissing and screeches. This would be far more of a mission than the younger Elites had anticipated.
He was pretty damn scared now. Suspension set in from the sight of the blood bathed room he had crossed earlier. Now, as Chase made his way to the science wing, traveling through the cooling units of the engine branch. Stopping briefly, he pulled out his MIT, head twitching in every direction, sweating as he waited for it to load. Spartans were good with fear, a friend that preferred visiting them over others, yet now Chase had a hard time controlling it.
Now emitting a plasma screen showing the menu, he pulled out his geographic mapper, linked it up and selected " MAP: MISSION 133." The image rose off the screen morphing from a plasma image to a holographic diagram. Checking his position, and careful to keep his gun ready, he saw that a breach had occurred in the hallway he was traveling, one that he had not seen before. The breach in particular blocked his current path with debris, making his only traversable option a route that passed through the emergency impact chamber; a place where the ships personnel were to go in the event of a crash. This was fine, however, as any occupants that had managed to make it there in time to save themselves would have been long evacuated.
Reaching out and touching the image with his finger, he dragged out a new route from his current position to a twist left seventy-five feet ahead. He then dragged up and left through the one remaining emergency impact room and through the engine room as well, all leading up to the bio-experiments housing of the science wing. Using his nuero-enhanced spartan brain to memorize his route near instantly, he unclipped the devices from each other and slipped them into their respective pouches.
After completing a brief check of his unused inventory, he trudged down the hall and took a sharp left. Upon doing this, he was surprised by an ink-black substance coating the wall. Sticking forward the barrel of his gun he gave the substance a sharp jab and found it to be surprisingly hard. He had finally found part of his objective: to investigate suspicious material. Linking up his MIT and Substance Analyzer, he stuck the SA's material identifier directly into the black resin, synching the two devices he held all the while. He waited a moment, and the screen lit up with the words: NO MATCH FOUND. Perfect, Chase thought, first objective complete.
This time using the up-link in his helmet, he timidly contacted command, prepared to report his findings. Once again, however, he received only static. Shrugging, he slipped the equipment back into his pockets, making sure to save the organic analysis of the black resin to the impact resistant SA. He was about to continue on, though hesitantly, through the guck covered tunnels, when he heard something. It was not the creak of metal or the crackle of a long fed fire, but the screech of...something. Something that gave him a bad feeling.
Flipping on his night vision, he peered down the dark tunnel. He noticed that the interesting substance covered the walls as far as he could see, and that he would soon be accompanied by a dead Grunt and Jackal, but he also saw something move. Something move! Far down the corridor, clinging to a wall was a humanoid shape with an elongated, ridged, head. It was looking at him and when he looked at it, it snarled and jumped into another corridor. Though he had only glimpsed it for an instant, he knew it's color was black. Black as a midnight with no stars, inky black and with the right body to blend seamlessly into the walls. He could tell this was a predator, the top of the food chain from wherever it came from, and that it was not alone. Chase started to wish he was outside...so he could use that bombing strike.
Kicking out the access panel, Senyetey and his comrades dropped from the confines of the tunnel into the science wing, the acidic blood trickling out behind them from the leagues of slain Life Feasters. "Finally my brothers, we are here. It is apparent, however, that one of the creatures have escaped, as a hive has already seeded. Now, it is that we must find the queen of the beasts and slay it, finishing by destroying this ship," Senyetey said, finding no trace of resin nor beast in the room.
"Perhaps the engine wing, their Mothers prefer the heat," he said taking off down the hallway to the left. " Wait my brothers," he said, stopping in the middle of the broken purple hallway.
"What is it," asked Brutok.
"I know of something strong enough to destroy both the ship," he replied.
"What is this," Z'ek asked.
"The fuel core of course," he said with a smile," but seeing as it is close to the engine it may be use as an egg chamber."
"An egg chamber," Veskov said, puzzled," you never did explain to us their life cycle, Senyetey."
"Ah, of course. Perhaps of told," he said with a far of look, the peals of his maw parting slightly," Well, a drone, a smaller and weaker caste of their social structure, also acts as the base. See my brothers, the ship held a chamber of human subjects simply for the bio-expirements, the surviving of which I fear were infected with a parasite you have not been told of; a Body Buster, as we call them. This Burster, which the Humans call a Chest Burster, is implanted within the host by a small arachnid like creature. This creature, which is spawned from a queen produced egg, uses a long tail to attach itself to a host targeting any opening on the body to inject the fetus. Though it usually targets the face, I have seen clasp to any opening it can find on my day Vey'teronot. After grabbing you, it targets the respiratory system, knocking out it's victims and injects a small egg like organism, which contains all the things necessary to mix it's DNA with the hosts, often resulting in a similar appearance to the host as well. As far as their queens go my brother, they are either designated at birth, as a Burster, to morph into one, or morph into one later as a drone. This is what makes them so versatile.
"Sir," Veskov said," if the arachnid creature's are so small, than why is it that we do not kill them, plowing a path to the fuel core?"
"This Veskov, is because the infection of a host is the only goal of the small beast. It can not eat, sleep or think it's own thoughts. When it's egg detects a being of a different species, It uses all it's speed, strength, and will power to attach to it's host. Making only the strongest of machines tear their grip on you. Going through a chamber of them so blindly would quite likely spell death. Their eggs, however can be destroyed from a distance, killing their occupants as well. This is how we will make the way to our destination brothers." He stated firmly.
"I see..." Veskov said, trailing off.
" Now, we must be on the move if we want to stop these creatures," He said flatly, peering out into the darkness of the corridors around them," we are lucky enough none have already decided to leave already... very lucky. Perhaps this ship has a larger supply of hosts then we thought.
"Dammit!" Chase growled, finding the clip in his gun had jammed, for it was not a good time. He was in the emergency impact chamber, a room filled with chest-holed bodies and black monsters as far as the eye could see, all topped off with pitch black resin and broken lighting.
The room was a tall long cylinder, large enough to make a small physical difference on the outside of the hull. The walls were lined from top to bottom with seats with bars, resembling those of a roller coaster, with ladders up in between each column. Within the room their countless beasts, some climbing on the wall as he shot at them with the rifle, some charging only to be stopped by the shotgun, and others slipping out of cocoon like indentations in the resin that blended perfectly with the twisted and rugged black guck surrounding it.
The creatures,along with the humanoid ones he had seen earlier, were of many different shapes and sizes. Some were much smaller and weaker, with a stouter body and small round face eerily similar to that of grunt, with a long fin protruding back to make up for the head space the normal banana shape would take. Others were skinnier and quicker, with a strange black frill and a nastily sharp beak where the normal set of silver teeth and quivering lips would have rested. Yet even more were like that of an elite, twice as large, twice as strong, twice as mean as the others. These ones bore a somewhat fatter head, though possessing the normal banana shape, and had four teeth bearing flaps, giving way to and extra,extra-large second mouth.
Yay, Chase thought as another one of the massive ones jumped for him from above. Flipping his shotgun up and around, underneath his arm and catching the butt of his gun under it's chin as it dive-bombed him from a forty-five degree angle above. Leaning back and swinging the gun hard behind him, he twisted in this position and stood back up, watching the beast fly into a corner. Flipping the shotgun back up to the firing position, he gave the beast a few hip fired bursts from the rifle, pumped the shotgun and with a hearty " Happy Halloween," fed him a round from the already smoking barrel. Now facing where he had entered he did a quick up and down survey, to make sure no one decided to try and sneak up on him, and turned around to face the horde.
Easily letting a burst from the rifle crunch through the skull of grunt-like head, he turned to face his opponents, all fifty or sixty of them, and asked one simple question,"More?" He was answered with a hearty, gut wrenching hiss. "Damn," he said aloud," these guys are hungry."
Since he was such a familiar acquaintance with the beasts, he decided to name them, doing this as he fought the monsters. The easiest way to do this was to do that was to name them by look. He named the quick, frilled ones jackal heads, the ones so similar to an elite dark elites, and those that looked liked grunts grunt faces. As he battled the creatures, casually blasting skulls apart, sending acid blood flying, and delivering exoskeleton crunching kicks, he could only come to the conclusion that the accumulation of dead covenant and similar body shapes and sizes he battled had to be related. Coming out of his reprieve, he began to work faster. Smashing grunt faces, nailing jackal heads, blasting dark elites, and out thinking the tricky, strategic hordes of the humanoid, hive defending warriors, he was soon left no enemy to fight.
Looking around at his handy-work, he was stunned. Bodies covered the floor, acid blood melting away their acid effected body parts, and working through the hull turning into deep craters in the earth. Shells were also common among the bodies, and after a minute pictures with his in helmet cam, he realized he was free to go.