Chapter One: Vanish
"Vale!" Buck called. "Catch!"
It was Vale's SMG. She spent hours in the armory modifying it so it was her gun. Offering a "thanks" in return, she ducked behind cover and pulled out her plasma pistol. She squeezed and held the trigger, feeling the gun vibrate and glow green with superheated plasma. She let go of the trigger and watched the green liquid fly towards an Elite, hitting it square in the chest. Before she could even react, the Elite was dead on the ground. She heard a laugh. Glancing over, she saw Buck sheathing his Whispered Truth.
It was a routine cleanse. Osiris had to clear out hostiles from a data storage. To be truthful, Vale enjoyed them. It was good practice and gave her more opportunity to practice.
"Let's pick it up, Vale!" Tanaka called back at her. Vale noticed she had started to lag behind. To think she was supposed to be the fast one. She picked up the pace and was soon leading them.
"Data storage building's just on the right!" Locke said to all of them. "Do it fast and clean, Osiris. Move!"
Buck ran towards the stairs. Vale saw him charge straight through the door and kill two Elites in the blink of an eye. Tanaka stayed back, firing stray shots with her DMR to try and lure out any foolish Grunts, or even an Elite.
"Vale, I want you with me! We take the ridge and surprise them from up top!" Locke said.
"Yes sir!" she responded. She followed Locke up a narrow ridgeline to the right and broke into a full sprint. The gap between the building and the ridge was a far one. She saw Locke to her right, as he seemed to hover in mid-air, then came slamming down with massive acceleration onto the building's roof. Vale jumped, and immediately knew she wasn't going to make it. She hit her thrusters, and felt her fingertips grasping for some kind of a surface. She felt her hands make contact with the wall, but they were slipping. Locke's hand seemed to appear, and pulled her up onto the roof.
"On your feet, Vale. You alright?" Locke asked, before proceeding to viciously hit a Grunt that ran past him. Vale nodded and they headed down into the basement. They entered a room with highly valuable tech, only to find that most of it was smashed to bits or had plasma damage. Buck had caught up with them, having cleared out most of the Elites in the first floor.
"Where's Tanaka?" Vale asked. She got her answer with a reply of "Take that!" She turned around to see Tanaka standing next to an Elite corpse. A dent in the wall showed that Tanaka had just charged the Elite clear into the next world.
"Look at all this tech!" Tanaka exclaimed. "Pity the Covies had to have damaged them so much. We could've used these." Tanaka seemed to mourn the computers.
"I think that's all of them, Locke," Buck said.
"Not yet. There's still a staircase leading to the subbasement."
"The Hive," Buck breathed. He always referred to the data storage rooms as The Hive. It was a subtle reference to when he was still an ODST on New Mombasa. The Rookie was one of the most resourceful guys he had ever met. It was a shame he was dead. His inner reverie was interrupted by Vale yelling, "You should really come and see this!"
In the subbasement was a bunch of data terminals. There was a secure research room at the far end, blocked by an almost unbreakable window. Two dead Elites lay at the foot of the door to the research room. Close to ten scientists were all gathered by the window. Two of them held their hands up, revealing that they were holding pistols.
"Did you… kill those Elites?" Locke asked. A frightened nod was the response he got.
"It's okay. You're alright," Vale said. "The Covenant here are dead. Open the door." The door opened and the scientists filed out.
"Thank God," one said. "They just burst down here. We all rushed into the research room before they could get us. They started to try and break down the window, so we had to do something. Allen over here rushed out and started shooting at one of them. I grabbed the other pistol and emptied the clip into it. It just kinda dropped. We thought it was over, when another one came down and we had to do it again. I've never been so scared in my entire life."
"Evac's coming soon," Tanaka said. "You people will be fine."
Vale headed up the stairs to the roof. She saw the Pelican flying in. She noticed the forward autocannons, the two side turrets, and the cannon on top. "Why would the UNSC send an assault variant for an evac? The UNSC shouldn't be expecting confrontation way out here."
The four of them stood slightly on guard as the Pelican descended. They advanced slowly towards the craft, waiting for the hatch to open. When it did, they were more than surprised to see six armed Spartans jump to the ground. 3 of them immediately managed to subdue Buck, Tanaka, and Vale using the element of surprise. Vale struggled under the Spartan's grasp. She felt a pistol press against her helmet.
"Don't struggle."
The remaining three had proceeded to knock Locke unconscious and drag him into the Pelican. A Spartan who seemed to be the leader of the group stepped forward.
"No hard feelings, but we need him. Sorry," he said with mock cheerfulness.
"Who-who are you guys!" Vale shouted under the hold of the Spartan.
In a chilling voice, the leader responded with, "Venatores." With a final shove to the ground, the remaining Spartans hopped into the Pelican. They were all gone before the rest of Osiris could stand up.
"How?" Vale asked.
"Why?" Buck said.
"Hunters," said Tanaka.
"Hunters?" Buck and Vale said in unison.
"Venatores," explained Tanaka. "That's Old Latin for hunters. Why'd they take Locke?"
Her question was met with shrugs. "Great," said Buck. "Our commander's been kidnapped."
"We're going to find him." Vale's voice was firm. "We are NOT letting those hunter-whatevers take him. He's our captain. We have to track them down."
"We're not accomplishing anything here," said Tanaka. "The Pelican's here. We'll brief with Lasky back on the Infinity."
Vale felt a deep uncertainty, close to fear, wash over her.
"Why?" she asked herself repeatedly on the ride back.