Halsey honestly thought she was going to die.
That may have had something to do with how the old scientist was currently strapped into the copilot's seat of a Pelican, rocketing and careening through Sunanion's twilight skies. Skies that were lit by countless, crisscrossing bolts of white hot plasma and energy discharges that seemed to come close enough to them to boil the Pelican's jade green paint. It was an absolute wall of flak and crossfire that seemed ready to swallow them at any moment.
To make it all even more unpleasant, the pilot was a total madwoman ! She jinked and bobbed the dropship like it was made of plastic, and not several tons of metal. The horizon rolled and tumbled as they bobbed and weaved through the incoming didn't spend more than 2 seconds in level flight before she'd take some kind of violent evasive action. Halsey's crash harness was doing its best to hold her in place, but she was still being jounced with bone-cracking intensity.
Also, that miserable stomach-in-mouth feeling. It was akin to riding on the most supercharged roller coaster ever made, on a track with more coils, loops and twists than a crazy straw, and being shot at from all directions.
Halsey tightened her grip on the straps, her fingers aching from the effort of holding on for dear life.
Its definitely time I retired..!
" Hey, Catherine ! Stop sleeping through all the fun ! "
Sarah Palmer, the madwoman in question. Her ever relaxed voice, with that slight drawl to it, couldn't have been more at odds with all the chaos outside, as she recklessly maneuvered the Pelican. It reminded Halsey once again than the younger woman loved this kind of adrenaline rush.
Unbelievable.
" Spartan Palmer…I can safely say I am not enjoying myself ! "
" That's what they all say…"
Intolerable. Even more than Halsey herself had been at that age..
A bolt of energy hit the side of the Pelican, rattling it from nose to tail and causing red lights to flare on the instrument panel.. Sarah swore, yanking back on the control yokes. They bucked backwards, pushing Halsey harder into her seat back. The Pelican's nose was tipped up sharply now, and they seemed to be climbing straight up..
More fire flew around them, and then….
….There it is..!
Right there, in fact. The Guardian. The gargantuan Forerunner constructs build eons ago to serve as the Forerunners' enforcers of entire star systems. It loomed hundreds of feet over them,with great hawk-like wings that stretched out as long as football fields out to each side, a massive head that roughly resembled an owl, and a body made of gleaming sheets of Forerunner armor. It presided over the city of Sunaion, an impassive, dominating giant of a machine.
It was equal parts spectacular and terrifying. Not for the first time, Halsey fond herself marveling at the engineering brilliance of the Forerunners. If the Flood had never come along….!
" Locke ! " Sarah was shouting behind her now, into the Pelican's troop compartment. " Its go time ! Ready back there ?! "
" Oh, that's right, " Halsey thought, twisting slightly in a vain attempt to look behind her. " I nearly forgot: an entire team of Spartans as mad as Sarah is are riding with us. And they're going to try and board the Guardian…"
" Is borderline insanity a prerequisite to becoming a Spartan 4 ?!
The old scientist's thoughts were interrupted by another trilling alarm. More plasma had struck them, and the Pelican's armor plates sizzled in protest…
" Waiting on your go, Commander ! " Locke responded. " But hurry up ! I'm trying to keep Buck from falling to his doom right now…again! "
" Running out of Guardian here, Locke ! "
By now, they'd climbed halfway up the Guardian's total height; roughly at chest level. Set dead center in it was a brightly glowing aqua blue sphere, and from what she'd learned about the Guardians, Halsey knew this was the entry point into the actual interior of the Guardian itself. If Locke's team was going to attempt their recklessly dangerous move, it would have to be now.
Besides, The Pelican was still on fire.
Any time now….
" Go, go, go ! "
Palmer yelled the command as she continued grappling with the wounded Pelican. It was getting harder to get the controls to respond now, and the status lights on the panel were now almost all red. How it was still flying was beyond her. It likely wouldn't keep flying for much longer..
But, it didn't need to, she thought. Just long enough for:
" We're out ! Good drop, Commander ! '"
There was a triumphant exclamation from Sarah as she hit the switch to close the bay door, and Halsey was left amazed.
They made it. That's proof right there: They are mad. Halsey shook her head. She realized then that she still had a death grip on the harness. The dropship accelerated, began to angle away from the Guardian..
And then it hit them.
Suddenly, a wave of purple-blue energy exploded outward from the core of the Guardian's torso. It washed over and the Pelican like a sandstorm, nearly upending it. Lights in the cockpit flared red all at once, as the roar of the engines suddenly died away. Palmer swore again, and wrenched at the controls, but the Pelican did not respond.
It was painfully obvious what had happened.
" EMP.." Halsey didn't know why she'd said it out loud; Palmer had already stopped trying to control the fatally wounded Pelican, as it entered a flat spin .
Outside the windows, the world was again spinning and tumbling past them….
" Halsey..! "
" I know.. "
" Brace ! "
They were going down…
It hurts all over…
Those were Sarah Palmer's first thoughts as she slowly crawled back to full awareness.
That, and how irritating those baying alarms were.
Pain flared in several places under the MJOLINIR's plates as she slowly reached out to shut them off.
Damn, thought this armor was tougher than this…
Palmer undid the last straps, trying to push past the powerfully unpleasant shiver than ran down her spine.
Not having her helmet on had left her being knocked semiconscious when the Pelican had slammed into the frigid waters surrounding Sunaion. The impact had been brutal, to say the least. They'd come in fast, spinning on their axis, trailing thick heavy smoke from the fires licking the engines. Palmer vaguely remembered hollering to Halsey about making sure her harness was secure..seconds before the mangled dropship had hit the waves in an explosion of water, accompanied by the din of wrenching metal.
It wasn't the first Pelican crash Palmer had been in, but it was definitely the worst.
She'd never crashed on water before.
And the Pelican was not a boat. Already, water was beginning to seep in around her boots through the cracked and holed hull.
" Oh…"
We're sinking…and by ' we '', that's-
She's not wearing MJOLINIR !
Without thinking any further , Palmer sprang up from the pilot's chair. Pain flared again, in all its usual places, but Palmer forced it out of her mind. She turned around…
Halsey…
Her crash harness was still on, but the old scientist's head was hanging forward. A thin trail of blood ran from her nose, and her white hair was badly mussed.
She lay there, deathly still.
"No, no, no…" Palmer cried, lungeing in. Her experienced fingers grabbed at the harness, undid it…
Come on, we're both getting out..!
..And Halsey limply slid out. She'd have fallen all the way if the Spartan 4 hadn't caught her.
Another uncomfortable shiver shot though Palmer as she gently lifted Halsey up and out. More water had seeped into the cockpit now, through the cracked and broken windows. The Pelican wouldn't float forever..
" I've got you, Catherine.."
I've got you.
.