With Emile manning the MAC gun up top, it was Six's job to keep the Covenant ground off him as well as clear an LZ for Keyes' Pelican that was going to be landing within the next ten minutes. That may as well have the next ten years with the way the alien craft kept crowding the sky. Even with Emile on the big gun, the Covenant weren't going down easy. They rarely ever did.
"Hey, Six," said Emile.
"Go ahead," Six replied.
"Got a visual on the Captain's bird. Probably about three minutes out."
"Roger that."
"Just need to keep at it a little longer."
COMMs cut off and more of the little alien bastards piled out of their Phantoms. Six was grateful that she kept the jump pack since she was able to fly out of reach of a few plasma bullets to recharge her shields. We might actually make it out of here, she thought with a sad note. Her, Jun (if he was still alive that is), and Emile were all that was left of NOBLE team.
She returned her focus back on a group of Elites that stupidly put themselves in range of her assault rifle. Static crackled over her radio.
"Six, behind you!" Emile yelled.
The Spartan barely had time to react as soon as she heard Emile. There was a rush of air behind her and suddenly she was airborne. Immediately, she reached behind her back and grabbed the little silver and blue container that held the AI that Halsey entrusted her with and cradled it in her arms as she fell back away from the Brute that launched her with his gravity hammer. She engaged her jump pack to stabilize herself so she didn't fall off the landing pad she was on.
Once her feet were back on solid ground, she set the AI back onto her armor where it was magnetically held in place. She pulled out her battle rifle and was back in business. At last, Keyes' pelican arrived.
The back door opened and Six hurriedly walked over to the bird. Keyes stood there waiting patiently, surrounded by several marines. She handed him the AI and one of marines turned to her. Just then a phantom flew, lobbed several bullets in their direction causing the pelican and Six to go for cover. The phantom continued to make its way over to Emile's position.
Cold dread wrapped itself around Six's heart as she watched Elites drop down onto the MAC gun. An Elite was thrown back and sound of a shotgun echoed back to Six. "Alright, who's next?!" Emile yelled.
Then, with horror, Six saw a Zealot grab Emile and plunge an energy sword into his back. She could still hear him over the COMMs. "I'm ready! How 'bout you?" he yelled and plunged his kurki into the side of the Elite's head.
The pelican drifted back to the LZ and a marine called out, "Come on, Lieutenant. Get aboard!" Suddenly, Six took off in the gun's direction saying over her radio, "You'll get your window, sir." She bypassed the alien troops that were just deployed and once she was within thirty feet of the wall that led up to the gun, she took three bounding strides and jumped. She quickly engaged her jump pack and prayed it held up just long enough for her to reach the railing. She was about a foot away from it when her jump pack gave out. Without thinking, Six grabbed onto whatever handholds were available and launched herself up over the railing. There were two Elites loitering nearby. She grabbed the nearest one, climbed onto his back, and snapped his neck before shock registered on his face.
The other one had a couple more seconds to react, more so than his buddy who lay crumpled on the ground.
The second Elite raised his plasma rifle in Six's direction and prepared to lob a volley of super charged bullets at her -
Only to be launched head over heels from a shotgun blast. Six spun around to see Emile laying in a puddle of his own blood. Turning her head back, Six scanned the area to make sure it was free of hostiles. That condition was only temporary. With that, the Spartan moved quickly to her teammate and pulled out a med kit she had stored in the back compartment of her armor and began treating him. "Six, don't," Emile coughed out. He was fading fast. Six didn't answer him as she worked to heal him. She pulled out a small beige-gold cylinder from another armor pocket and tapped the top once to activate it. The device resembled the bubble shields they were issued from ONI only this one was much smaller, about half the size of the original device.
A light gold shield surrounded the two Spartans. White dust motes began to fall down from the shield and collected around the damaged parts of Emile's armor. They instantly blended into him. Emile looked up at Six who had pulled out a small data pad and was looking at the shield's status. "A pilot, medic, and an engineer. You are full of surprises today, Six," Emile announced weakly.
"It's a prototype regeneration shield. I was tinkering around with the bubble shield and was eventually able to get this," Six replied, "How are you feeling?"
Emile gave a hoarse laugh. "I've felt better," he replied. Despite his best efforts, Six could hear the pain in his voice. She took a bottle of biofoam out of the kit and was about administer it when static crackles over their radios.
"Noble Six?" The captain was hailing her. She keyed her COMM. "Go," she said.
"This is the Autumn. It's starting to get a bit crowded up here. I need you on that gun now."
"Right away, sir."
"And your teammate?" the captain asked. Six turned her helmet ever so slightly to glance at Emile.
"Doing just fine, sir," Emile answered.
"Good," Keyes replied, "Get me that window, Six."
"Yessir!" Six replied.
"Good luck Spartans. Keyes out."
COMMs went dead. Six quickly went back to her downed teammate and was about to pump the biofoam into his wounds when Emile stopped her. Six looked at him.
"Six, I'm expendable. Keyes and that AI aren't," he said.
"Bullshit," Six growled and pressed the nozzle lightly. White foam issued out from the bottle and into Emile's body, temporarily sealing the wrist of his wounds. Emile clenched his hands until Six gently pulled out the used bottle.
Leaving the med kit as shield to Emile, Six clambered up into the gunner's seat and set to work. Covenant aircraft littered the sky which didn't make it too hard on Six to find a target. She set her sights on a phantom that was hanging a little to close to Keyes' bird. The gun locked onto the craft and fell out of the sky not long after. Five more spiraled down out of the sky in quick succession.
Six didn't hear any static over her COMMs when Jorge's voice sounded. "Six o'clock, Spartan!" he yelled. But Jorge couldn't have said that. He was dead. Six spun around either way in her seat to spot a golden armored Zealot edge near the shield with a file rod launcher resting on his shoulder.
One blast from that gun would collapse the shield that was help keeping Emile alive and another shot would finish off the last Spartans of NOBLE team. Six cautiously edged herself out of her seat and stepped down to stand next to Emile.
He shakily stood up and handed her his kurki. She gripped the hilt and Emile climbed back into the MAC gun. The shield was still able to cover him.
The zealot looked as if he was smiling at the odds: bringing a knife to a gun fight didn't seem at all smart for the human, he thought. Faster than he blink, Six ran outside the shield and was behind him. The Elite spun around and fired. Six skipped around the bouncing green bullet and lunged forward. She had to roll out of the way as Elite fired another rod. She landed on her feet. It was the Zealot's turn to rush her. The alien rammed right into her waist and knocked the kurki out of her hand. It clattered about fifty feet away from her. Her shields took most of the damage but it still hurt being thrown around like that. She was no more than thirty feet away from the Elite who closed that distance in two strides. He picked her up by her throat and wrapped his fingers around her neck, tightening his hold quickly.
Stars exploded behind Six's eyes as she struggled against his grip. Don't panic! she yelled at herself in her mind. Then her forearm bumped up against the hilt of her own dagger sticking out from the side of her chest plate. Her numb fingers scrambled over it as her lungs screamed for air. She finally grasped it, pulled it out, and jammed the six inch knife into the Zealot's hinged jaw. Purple blood splashed across her visor as the Elite released the Spartan and stumbled back, grabbing at the dagger. He roared in anger as he tried to pull it out. Six got up to her feet as quickly as she could, her neck hurting badly despite the armor. She watched the Elite yank the knife out of his jaw and he clamped a hand over the wound. Gore spilled over his hand as he clenched the human's weapon in hand.
Six shifted her gaze just slightly behind the wounded alien to spot Emile's knife a few feet near it. Without allowing her opponent any more recovery time, Six launched herself at the Elite who prepared to grab her again only for the Spartan to dive below him and go for the kurki.
Six grabbed the knife and plunged it into the Elite's chest as he spun around to face the Spartan. Anger and shock danced across the Elite's face as he fell back, dead. Six pulled the kurki out and picked up her own, which she slammed home in her armor.
She hurried back over to the shield to see Emile working the gun controls, his wounds still bleeding despite the biofoam. Six briskly walked over to him and tapped the glass that surrounded him and said, "I got it from here." Noble four gave her a long look but eventually clambered back down to where he was safely within the shield. Six hopped back up into the gun and fired like a mad woman to clear the skies. She looked up once and saw a Covenant vessel priming its main plasma weapon. She swiveled the gun in its direction and locked on the ship despite the banshees and the few phantoms lingering around and taking pot shots at her. The MAC gun fired and hit the alien ship in the belly causing it to collapse in on itself as the bullet ripped through its decks.
Then the ship began to fall towards the Spartans. Six shot out of the gunner's position, grabbed Emile and the regen shield, and hauled ass out of the building. Everything around them began to collapse as the two hurried outside. Seeing a railing that would lead down to the LZ, Six and Emile jumped over it just as a geyser of fire shot out from the now vacated building. Their armor shields flared as the flames licked the armor as they ran for cover. They took shelter inside one of the bunkers and waited for everything to die down. Static crackled over the COMMs. Six pressed the receiver and waited.
"Spartans, this is the Pillar of Autumn. We are cleared to leave. Thanks for the help you provided," said the captain.
The Autumn's engines ignited with the boosters and was propelled into the sky. The mission was a success.
Emile sent out a distress beacon to see if there were any friendly forces left in the immediate area while Six continued to work on him. Six glanced up to the sky and saw several of the smaller Covenant vessels were vacating the area. Emile looked up as well. "This doesn't look good," he muttered. Six nodded mutely. Each colony world the Spartans had been on where the Covenant had set residence and then suddenly began to leave always meant they were preparing to glass the world.
"Jorge would be pissed," Emile commented. Six let out a forced laugh. "Yeah, he would, but we need to move now," she replied. Six stood and hauled a still weak Emile to his feet and began to run. They kept close to any of the debris that had rained down onto Reach from destroyed ships, enemy or friendly provided them cover from alien patrols that were heading back to their ships.
They soon reached a bunker that had taken a brutal beating from plasma cannons. Bodies of marines lay strewn about the area, along with the enemy's. There were more human casualties than alien. They paused inside a gutted out building when several red dots popped up in their radars. Six laid Emile carefully down by a reenforced wall and took a quick look around the area. Her scouting discovered several groups of Elites, Grunts, and Jackals roaming around what was left of the encampment. There was even a Wraith or two hovering just out of range.
Cursing their luck, Six stealthily walked back hunched over at the waist to Emile. He looked up at her and asked, "What's the verdict?"
"Neighbors will be coming to visit us soon," Six replied and checked the gauze she had fitted into his armor. She heard Emile sigh and Six wasn't sure from what, be it the pressure of the gauze or the pain, and applied gentler pressure to his wounds to soak up any blood the biofoam wasn't able to seal off.
He placed a hand on her arm; Six froze and looked up at him. She knew what he was going to say.
"Emile, no," she said firmly without looking up at him.
"Six-" Emile started but was cut off.
"No. I know what you're going to say but it's not going to happen." She leaned back on her haunches.
Emile readjusted his position against the wall.
"Hear me out, Lieutenant," he began and held up a hand to stave off Six's protests.
"Leave me here. I'll distract the bastards, keep them off you. I remember Dot telling us that there was an air field not too far from here. There's bound to be someone still there. You'll go faster without me weighing you down. You'll make it." He stopped.
Six eyed him for a moment. "You think that's the best plan, Noble Four?" He nodded once. "To die fighting, alone, against the enemy in a weakened state?"
"Six, you were a lone wolf before you joined NOBLE team. You were up against the enemy alone every second of every day. This is just like that," Emile explained.
"No... Maybe. God, I don't know." Six threw her hands up in exasperation. She sighed and looked at her comrade. "Before I joined up I was never really part of team. Not like this. Sure in training we had to be in groups to learn how to work together but it was never like this. I was mostly on my own whenever I was sent out. Always having to look over my shoulder in enemy territory to avoid getting stabbed in the back. Not that I didn't enjoy my work... Having a team, forging bonds, and then to have those members taken away from you while you watch on helpless to stop it is... not something I had to deal with. Which is why I'm getting you out alive, come hell or high water!"
Emile moved to say something but the two were interrupted by a pinging sound that grew louder by the minute. Six immediately jumped to her and grabbed her gun in case any Covenant came snooping into their bunker to investigate the sound. "Answer it!" she hissed to Emile who was in the process of hooking the distress beacon up to his COMMs channel. Six was instantly connected as well. There was static and then, "To whoever activated the beacon, this is the UNSC Ghost Ship requesting an ID. Please respond." Relief flooded through the Spartans.
"This is Spartan A239 and Spartan B312, Ghost," Emile replied.
"Roger that, Spartans," replied the COMMs officer, "Bird's en route to your location as we speak."
"Careful where you place it, Ghost. Got company down here," Emile said.
"Solid copy. We'll see you aboard." COMMs shut off.
"At least we got a ride out of here," Emile said, relief tinging his voice. Six nodded and turned her attention to the outside. Covenant troopers were attracted to the sound of chatter and were heading over to investigate.
"You don't think if we asked them nicely they'd leave us to go on our merry way?" Six asked softly with a nodded to the approaching aliens.
"If they haven't now, I doubt it," Emile replied checking his shotgun's ammo counter.
"I've got fourteen shells. You?" He asked.
"Three clips," Six replied, "and a pistol." She handed it butt first to Emile who took it. He checked the clip. "There's only one clip left," Six said grimly.
"It'll do the job," Emile replied, clipping it to his belt.
"Hope we are."
"We are and we'll get outta here in one piece."
Six smiled behind her helmet and peered around the corner where it promptly fell off. She held up four fingers to indicate the number of hostiles that were approaching so far. Emile nodded once and shifted into a more comfortable position to fire from.
The aliens rounded the corner and the Spartans hosed them down as sparingly as they could. Ammo counters steadily dropped as the fight for their lives continued.
Six withdrew from her firing position to cover; her shield meter was down and its alarm was wailing itself hoarse in her ear.
"God damn it! Where the hell is evac?" she yelled to Emile as she slammed her knife into the head of an unlucky Jackal.
Emile activated his COMMs and relayed the question to the COMMs officer. Six exchanged gunfire with the aliens who were right around the corner from their bunker.
"They'll be here in about three minutes. Max is five," Emile called out. Six nodded once. The next few minutes were the longest ever. Over the retort of plasma and bullets, the sound of thrusters flew over the Spartans hideout.
"NOBLE? This is Ghost. You have evac inbound," announced the COMMs officer. The pelican's chain gun sputtered and cut the rest of the covies down. Six hurried over to Emile, slung his arm over her shoulders, grabbed their gear, and hauled ass to the pelican.
They got on and the pelican bugged out. The drop bay doors sealed shut. Six keyed her COMMs.
"Ghost? This is NOBLE Six. We have a Spartan here in need of medical attention ASAP," she said.
"Roger that, Six. We have a medical team standing by now." COMMs cut off and Six turned her attention to Emile. She sat down next him.
"Well, we made it," she said softly.
"Yeah, that we did," Emile replied and leaned his head back.
Six held her helmet in her hands and her eyes suddenly stung. She blinked for a moment as her vision blurred and realized that her equipment wasn't malfunctioning; she was crying. Six hadn't felt that kind of emotion in a long time. She obviously felt sadness whenever a teammate died in combat but she had never this many comrades in such a short time. And then to lose a planet like Reach?
Her shoulders shook slightly as she held back the tears as best she could. The traitorous tears fell despite her protests.
Emile glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw Six shaking. He sat up and tapped her slightly on her shoulder. Six shook her head; she felt as if she had failed somehow.
"No matter what we do, the Covenant always find a way past our defenses and glass us," Six croaked out, "What can we do?"
"We keep fighting," Emile replied.
"And what do you do if the fight's been kicked out of you?"Six looked at Emile.
"You don't give can't, I can't, not with so many people relying on us. If we stop, who will be left to fight them?"
"The UNSC. Death can be an interesting inspiration," Six said faintly, "But I know... we can't quit now."
The pelican shook as turbulence hit it. Six grabbed onto a railing to balance herself as the pelican stabilized. Static buzzed overehead as the pilot keyed the internal COMMs.
"Spartans, we'll be boarding Ghost Ship in about fifteen minutes. It... looks like they're going to be... glassing Reach," the pilot announced.
"Thanks... for the update," Six replied. COMMs clicked off.
It was another few minutes before either Spartan spoke.
"You know what's funny?" Six began. Emile looked at her.
"What?"
"When we were... back on Reach and fighting that Elite, just before I turned around, I could have sworn I heard Jorge yelling at me to watch my back. Like he just keyed his COMMs and... talked. Which is highly improbable since he died back aboard that Corvette. I don't know. Maybe I've finally lost it." A small laughed bubbled up and escaped Six before she could stop it.
"Yeah. I wish the big guy made it," Emile replied and sighed, "He'd probably be down there kicking those covies off the planet right now if he could."
"He died thinking he saved Reach," Six said, a little disbelief creeping into her voice.
"He would be pretty pissed," Emile repeated from his previous statement back out in the field. Six nodded and sat down, drawing one knee up. She leaned her head back and let the traitorous tears leak out quietly. Emile knocked a fist against her knee. Six opened one eye and returned the smile that beneath Emile's helmet.
Five minutes later, the pelican docked in the frigate's cargo bay. The dropship's bay doors slid open and there waited the medical team.
The two Spartans from NOBLE team limped out. Six glanced up against the glare of the lights and spotted the outline of three people standing in the back, two male and one female. They wore Spartan armor and had their helmets off. Six squinted against the glare, wishing she hadn't taken her helmet off in the pelican. She could just barely make out their facial expressions. It looked like they were... smiling. Her eyes widened as she recognized their fading faces. The last one, the tallest, grinned at her and saluted before fading completely. Tears brimmed in her eyes and threatened to spill over. Emile glanced at her, his head tilted in a questioning way. Six shook her head and smiled.
They were home.