Chapter 1: The Rescue
Date: August 13th, 2552
Time: 26:00 hours
Planet: Reach
Location: ONI Tower Base
Mission: Recover Tier 1 Military Asset
Lieutenant Greaves teeth rattled as he hurtled towards the ground at hundreds of kilometers an hour. His drop pod jerked and jumped, jostling him in his seat as it hit turbulence and dodged stray plasma shots.
He checked his descent, saw that he only had a few hundred kilometers to fall and engaged his reverse thrusters. He closed his eyes and grunted as his descent slowed from hundreds of kilometers to about twenty in under five seconds. His drop pod slammed, with tremendous force, into the black asphalt road below him which surrounded a small fountain.
He looked out of the thin window in front of him and saw five other drop pods slam into the dark, courtyard which was lit only by the light of the moon, scattering asphalt and concrete everywhere.
Greaves pressed the release buttons on the inside of his pod and the front of it exploded outwards. It cartwheeled across the courtyard and crashed through the window of a shop.
Greaves groaned and practically fell out of his seat. He righted himself, swayed and looked about him. He had landed on the south side of a large, war torn, courtyard surrounded on all sides by various shops with a large road leading out of it by its north side.
There was a small fountain in the centre of the courtyard that was surrounded by a large road and a smaller circle of dirt. The fountain had been shattered when a second drop pod, belonging to one of Greaves squad mates, had slammed into it.
Greaves removed his helmet, revealing a strong face with a square jaw, grey eyes, a short black beard and a black buzz cut. He turned around and pulled his SMG out of its holding spot in the pod. He checked it's ammo counter and flicked it off safe.
There was a loud bang and Greaves looked behind him to see the door of the drop pod in the fountain burst off outwards. A black ODST fell out of the pod and scrambled up onto its hands and knees.
Greaves scooped up his helmet and jogged over to it.
"Taylor." he said in his gruff voice, offering his hand to the figure.
Taylor ignored the hand got up. He removed his helmet, taking a few deep baths and fixed his brown eyes on Greaves.
"That was a good jump." he said as several more pod doors burst open about them.
"Yeah, we're lucky that ONI let us drop here, away from the main covenant force." Greaves replied.
"ON ME!" he shouted and the four other ODST's scattered around the courtyard jogged over to him. They removed their helmets, revealing two male faces and two female faces.
"Jones, Simon." Greaves said, motioning to the men with short blonde hair and no hair respectively.
"Sir!" they said in unison, crouching down and checking their weapons.
"How was your first jump?" Taylor asked, running his hand through his short brown hair and nodding towards Mary and Bright.
"Shaky." Bright replied, shaking her short, blonde haired head.
"Fine." Mary replied, the squad had quickly learned that she never spoke much, she had brown hair and a short buzz cut.
"So what's our next move? We gonna fight some covenant? Rescue some civies?" Bright said, the squad had quickly learned that she spoke to much.
"Keep it in check Bright!" Greaves said, motioning for everyone to gather around "All right this is the situation, our squad has been charged by ONI with the recovery of a tier one military asset, don't ask Bright because I don't know." he finished anticipating Bright's question before she could ask it.
"So where's this asset stored?" Simon asked.
Greaves used the muzzle of his SMG and drew a sideways capitol T in the dirt by the fountain. He indicated the left side of the sideways T, pointing towards the left end of the horizontal line.
"We're here," he said "and the asset is stored in a facility over here." he finished, indicating the top of T's vertical line.
Jones whistled.
"That's one hell of a walk Lieutenant." he said.
"It don't seem that long," Bright replied "I wonder what the asset is? Maybe its a bunch of new experimental weapons. Or some kind of mech warrior or-"
"That's enough Bright," Greaves commanded "all right people, helmets on and weapons loaded, lets move out... And keep it quiet!" he added as an after thought.
The six black clad ODST's moved silently though the rubble of the UNSC compound, their weapons at the ready. The sounds of people fighting and dying ahead of them kept them all on edge.
They reached the intersection of the T where the two lines intersected and stopped. They had been traveling down a long straight road with burn marks, craters and the occasional body scattered through out it for an hour and a half when it came to a sudden stop. At its end stood a large, square building made out of concrete that was badly damaged.
The area in front of it was littered with bodies. There were at least five UNSC marines lying out the front of the building. Three of them were on the ground surrounded by blood and burn marks while the other two were propped up against the building, also surrounded by blood and scorch marks.
Greaves made a few hand signs and the squad of ODST's began to creep forward. They made it to the door of the building and stacked up, three on each side, with Greaves and Taylor at the front of each line.
Greaves slowly pushed open the door of the building with his gun and entered. The interior was dark, dirty and blood stained and there were two more bodies on the floor. Greaves motioned towards them and Bright crouched down next to them, checking them for signs of life while Greaves and Taylor covered her.
She raised her head and shook it. Greaves nodded and moved to the far wall where there was a doorway without a door. He pressed his back against the wall next to the doorway and waited for the rest of the squad to enter.
Taylor pulled Jones and Simon aside and brought them to a doorway on the left wall where they stacked up while Bright and Mary joined Greaves by the open doorway.
Greaves nodded at Taylor and they each led their respective teams through the doorways. Greaves and his half of the squad entered through into a large and empty room with a badly damaged right wall and a lone marine lying dead, propped against the wall, with horrible burns covering most of his body. There was a large hole blown through the back wall and there were screams and the sounds of gunfire coming through it.
Taylor entered the room from a door in the left wall with the rest of the squad. Greaves saw Taylor shake his head and knew that he was thinking that it was all a senseless waste of life.
Greaves motioned towards the hole in the far wall and they stacked up in the same lines as when they entered the building. Taylor and Greaves nodded at one another and they vaulted the remains of the wall and landed in a large room with a massive hole blown in the back wall. Rubble and concrete chunks were scattered throughout the room and there were five UNSC marines cowering behind the remains of the far wall.
Greaves and Taylor both dived to the floor as a hail of blue plasma streamed towards them. Bright and Simon, whom had been behind them in the stack up lines, ducked back behind the wall.
Greaves and Taylor crawled up towards the marines and raised themselves into a crouch next to them. The middle marine looked at them with a relieved expression.
"Thank god you guys are here!" he yelled "we could really use the support!"
"What the hell happened here soldier?!" Greaves yelled as both Bright and Simon joined them "How did you get pinned down here?!"
"Sir! We were getting pushed back by the covenant and we retreated into this building just as the heavenly angles," the soldier motioned upwards "started a bombing run!"
"Who were those guys out the back?!" Bright asked, yelling over Greaves's shoulder "How did they die?! Did the bombing run get them?! Or was it-"
"That's enough private!" Greaves shouted, peeking over the remainder of the wall in front of him and spying three Grunts and two Elites. The three Grunts were firing mounted plasma canons towards them and Greaves ducked down as another hail of plasma was fired towards him.
"Hows the rest of the squad doing?!" Taylor asked.
"We're fine, a bit shaken maybe but he's..." the soldier motioned towards the far left marine sitting against the wall with a large whole blown through his side "Not going to make it."
Jones and Mary came running into the room and took cover by Taylor.
"You sit tight," Greaves said, squeezing the soldiers shoulder and turning to address his squad "all right this is the situation!" he said.
"We've got five bogeys, two Elites and three Grunts on mounted plasma canons. They're positioned on the top of a bridge that goes from one side of the road to the other and is linked by two buildings." he continued.
"So how do we get past that?" Simon yelled.
"You've got grenades haven't you?" Greaves asked, smiling under his helmet "As soon as you chuck a grenade at them Jones and I will move up the right side of the road and enter the buildings while Taylor and Mary mirror us up the left side of the road."
"What about me Lieu?" Bright asked, glancing over the wall.
"I need you to stay here and support these marines private." Greaves replied.
"Can do!" she replied.
"All right let's move!" Greaves shouted.
Simon slung his assault rifle, he was the only squad member who didn't carry an SMG, over his shoulder and pulled a grenade from his belt. He peeked over the wall, pulled the pin and through the grenade over the wall. The grenade landed with a bounce and a thunk in between the two elites.
They dived to the side as the grenade exploded. Two of the grunts were blown apart in an explosion of blue blood and guts while the third had managed to avoid the explosion all together.
Greaves and Jones vaulted the wall and sprinted up the right side of the road, entering the building that the bridge was connected to, while Taylor and Mary mirrored them up the left side of the road.
The grunt that had survived ran back to the middle plasma cannon, mounted it and began firing again, not noticing the four ODST's that had slipped by.
Greaves and Jones made their way up the inside of the building, cautiously checking every corridor and room for covenant forces. They travelled up two flights of stairs and emerged on the buildings third floor. They made their way towards the side of the building that faced the road and found the shattered door that lead to the bridge.
Jones and Greaves took up positions on either side of the door and Greaves used his radio to contact Taylor.
"You in position yet Taylor?" he asked, keeping his voice down in fear of being overheard.
"Yeah, we're in position," he replied "just say the word."
"Bright," Greaves said, changing frequencies "I need to know where these guys are, what can you see?"
They waited in silence for a few tense moments as Bright observed the bridge.
"There's one grunt up there giving us hell with his plasma canon and the two elites are standing on either side of him." She said.
"All right," Greaves said, changing frequencies again "we go on three. One, two, THREE!"
Greaves and Jones charged onto the bridge and both brought their guns to bear on the blue elite closest to them. They squeezed their triggers in unison and sent ninety-six bullets into the elites chest.
The elites shield exploded in a shower of bright blue shards before its chest followed suit and disappeared in a mist of purple blood. The second elite met a similar end and Bright, not wanting to miss out on the action popped her head up and fired off five quick shots towards the grunt, one of which found its mark and felled the small orange alien.
Taylor and Mary jogged over to the center of the bridge, as did Greaves and Jones, reloading their weapons once they got there. Greaves took some time to look around a little. The bridge was made out of a long, flat steel floor with a domed flexi glass roof that was shattered where the three plasma canons were standing.
The road beneath them was littered with crashed vehicles and rubble from buildings and about a hundred and fifty meters down the road was a T-intersection.
The group of ODST's were congratulating each other in the center of the bridge when a Covenant Wraith glided around the T intersection, followed by a group of six Brutes. One of the Brutes fired a Spiker at the ODST's, spraying golden-brown spikes towards him while the Wraith fired a massive plasma shot towards them.
"Shit!" Greaves yelled.
He dived back the way he had come just as the huge ball of plasma slammed into the bridge. There was a tremendous crash and the sound of breaking glass and sizzling metal filled Greaves ears as shards of glass cascaded over his head and shoulders.
Greaves blinked twice, slowly and shook his head to clear it. He raised himself up and almost slipped off of the bridge which was now blown in two with both halves hanging downwards at a precarious angle.
Greaves blinked again and looked to his left where he saw Mary leaning against the angled floor of the bridge. He looked down at her side and was shocked to see a large brown spike lodged in the left side of her stomach.
He slowly raised himself up and called out to her.
"Mary!" he said in a hushed but urgent voice.
He swore when she didn't respond and began to slowly make his way towards her.
"Hey Mary! Come on!" He said.
Mary stirred and lifted her hands to her cracked visor. The Wraith fired another shot, this time aiming for somewhere behind Greaves. The impact shook the bridge and caused a few shards of glass to slide to ground below.
The bridge was shook a second time as the Wraith fired another shot and Mary began to slide slowly down the bridge, gaining speed as she did so.
"No!" Greaves yelled as he scrambled after her.
He followed her as she slid down the bridge, made a grab for her outstretched hand and missed. She slid off of the broken edge of the bridge and tumbled five meters to ground below where she landed with a sickening thud behind a large truck.
"Dammit!" Greaves yelled, pulling himself back up the bridge and sprinting back into the building.
"Taylor, Bright!" Greaves said, switching to the squad frequency "Regroup at the burnt out truck beneath the bridge. Now!"
He turned his radio off and made his way down to the street level. He looked out onto the street and made sure that none of the Covenant were advancing before running, in a crouched position, over towards the truck.
He arrived at the same time as Taylor and Jones and they all looked down at the broken and bloodied body before them. Mary's helmet had come loose as she had fallen and there was a massive gash across her forehead. Her head was lying in a pool of red blood, which had originated from the gash in her had and there was a second pool of blood trickling out of her stomach.
"Ahh, fuck." Taylor said, turning away from the body.
Simon and Bright came jogging towards them.
"Hey guys!" Bright said, not noticing Mary's body "I saw that Wraith bullet and thought you guys were done for. Me and Simon were all ready to- "
She stopped as she saw Mary's broken body lying on the ground before them and was silent, for once in her life.
"I... Wh... But..." she stuttered.
"Hey, Bright, look at me," Greaves said, gaining her attention "look we can't stay here, we have to move. Come on." he said grabbing her shoulder and leading the squad to a building on the left side of the road.
They sheltered inside the building and took stock of their situation. They were all silent, even Bright. They had barely known Mary and had hardly ever talked to her but her death had hit them hard nonetheless. She was like the silent guardian, the warrior who could take anything and just keep going. But now she was dead. They pushed their doubts and their grief to the back of their minds and soldiered on. They had all lost squad mates before and they knew that nothing good would come from dwelling on it.
"Whats out next move Liuetenant?" Taylor asked checking his gun.
"We need to find a way around those Covenant at the end of the road." Greaves replied, leaning back against one of the walls.
"Simon and Bright," he continued "you two take point and scout ahead, look for anything you can that will help us neutralize those Covenant."
The two soldiers gave Greaves a quick salute before trudging out of the room.
"What about us sir?" Jones asked, from his position by the front door.
"We," Greaves said, motioning towards the three remaining ODST's "are going to scout out the top floors and see if we can get a good vantage point on those Brutes."
Greaves peeked over the top of the window sill and observed the three Brutes three stories below him. He watched as they worked together to move a car down the road. They pushed it down the road, towards the bridge and positioned it a few meters in front of the Wraith.
"This would be so much easier if we had those marines." he thought.
Bright had told them all, after finding her voice again, that two of the marines had been killed by the grunt after Simon had thrown the grenade, one more had been seriously injured and the wounded member had died. The last able bodied marine had stayed behind to care for his injured squad mate.
"Looks like they're making a barricade." Greaves muttered.
"With cars and rubble?" Taylor said, sitting down next to Greaves "They must be pretty confident that they've won if they're not using plasma tech."
"Yeah, that or they're just killing time."
Greaves, Taylor and Jones had spent thirty minutes traveling through the large concrete complex that ran up the left side of the road. They had made their way up three flights of stairs and were now sitting on the third floor at the corner of the T-intersection,
"Jones," Greaves said, speaking into his radio "report."
"Sir," came Jones's voice, crackling over the static of the radio "I've got myself a good vantage point opposite you, I can see three Brutes from my position."
Greaves scanned the buildings opposite him and spotted Jones, who gave him a small wave, in one of the windows overlooking the T intersection.
"Bright, Simon, found anything that might help us smoke these monkeys?" Greaves asked, speaking into his helmet radio again.
"Sure did Lieutenant," said Bright "about 10 meters behind the Wraith, on the right corner of the T-intersection there's a crashed Rocket hog. Can you believe that?! A Rocket hog, I mean talk about good luck."
Greaves rotated his gaze until he located Bright and Simon. They were crouching down behind a damaged Rocket hog that was propped up on two wheels and leaning against a building. Bright stood up and waved at Greaves and Simon grabbed her by her back and pulled her behind the Rocket hog as a Brute trudged past them.
"Careful Bright!" Greaves hissed "The last thing I need is for you two to get spotted."
"Sorry Liue," Bright chuckled "guess I got a bit carried away."
"Yeah no kidding." Simon said, joining the conversation.
"Cut the chatter," Greaves replied "is the turret operational."
"Uhh," said Simon as he quietly investigated the turret "it can be if you give me a minute."
"You've got thirty seconds," Greaves said "after that get ready to fire on my signal."
"You done yet?" Bright asked for the third time.
"I told you before," Simon replied, in a hushed voice "you can't rush this kind of stuff. One wrong move and the firing mechanism will fry or it'll trigger the explosives stored in the tube."
"Okay, okay, I get it," Bright said "rushing equals death."
Simon climbed onto the back of the Rocket hog amd pried a damaged panel off of the stem of the turret and took a look inside it. Almost all of the wires and cables inside of it were fried and burnt. Simon removed a pair of pliers and a set of specially, sharpened scissors. He followed the wires and cables down until he reached an area where they were no longer burnt.
He cut the burnt sections of the wires and cables out and removed them from the stem. He then peeled back the plastic coverings on them, revealing the copper wires beneath them and pulled a small, rectangular wire case from the small of his back.
"Hey, psst!" Bright hissed, leaning away from the side of the hog "We go three Brutes incoming."
Simon rushed to stuff his pliers back into his belt and dropped them in his hurry.
"Shit!" he swore in a quiet voice.
"Forget them!" Bright whispered in an urgent voice "Just get ack here before you're spotted."
Simon lowered himself, quickly and quietly, off of the back of the hog. He crouched down next to Bright and the two of them held their breath as the heavy-set Brutes passed by.
The Brutes lumbered by the Rocket hog, passing within inches of it before turning around and back towards the Wraith.
Simon and Bright breathed out in relief.
"Whew that was a close one," Bright said "when those Brutes came around the Wraith I thought that they would spot you for sure."
"Hey Bright anyone ever tell you that you talk to much?" Simon asked "Are they coming back?"
Bright peeked around the corner of the Rocket hog. She turned back to Simon and gave him the thumbs up. He clambered back up onto the hogs turret platform and retrieved his pliers.
He found his wire case where he had left it. He flicked it open and selected a few lengths of categorized wires from within. He twisted the wires into the freshly cut wires and cables of the turrets stem, reconnecting the ones that had been damaged by plasma.
"You nearly done Corporal?" Greaves asked.
"Just about sir." Simon replied, twisting the last two segments of wire together.
"Done." he said, to both Greaves and Bright.
"Good," Greaves replied "Now wait for me and Taylor to fire, we'll target the three Brutes in our side and Jones and Bright will target the three Brutes on patrol. Simon, as soon as we open fire I want you to fire the Rocket hogs turret at the Wraith."
"Yes sir!" Simon replied, settling himself into an awkward half stand, half crouch so that he could aim the slanted Rocket hog.
"Right then," Greaves said "everyone acquire your targets, we shoot on my go."
Bright readied her SMG and peered around the corner of the hog, she leveled her guns sights on one of the Brutes, that had circled the Wraith and we're heading back around towards the hog.
"Ready." she said at the same one as Jones.
"NOW!" Greaves yelled.
He and Taylor fired their guns at the three Brutes below them. One of the Brutes was hit four times in the chest, spraying purple blood every where and another Brute was hit twice in arm and once in the neck, both of them dropped to ground with purple blood trickling out of their wounds. The other Brute disappeared into the building below them.
Simon pulled the trigger of the turret and sent six small rockets racing towards the back of the Wraith. Each one found its mark and the Wraith exploded in a brilliant array of purple fire and smoking wreckage. The explosion knocked the three patrolling Brutes on its left side into the wall of the building next to them.
Simon hopped off of the turret and joined Bright as she advanced towards the shell shocked Brutes. She fired off five quick shots and one of the Brutes fell back with three bullet holes in its chest. Simon slung his assault rifle off of his shoulder and unleashed half the clip into a second Brutes chest, turning it into a purple pulp.
The third Brute had been killed by the initial explosion and was missing half of its torso.
"Shit!" Bright yelled as a hail of spikes narrowly missed her body.
Bright and Simon quickly took cover behind a smoking pile of purple wreckage as the last remaining Brute fired at them from inside Greaves and Taylor's building.
"He's mine." said Jones.
Jones stood up and aimed his gun at the Brute. He took a few a seconds to make sure that he was on target before pulling the trigger twice. Six bullets whistled out of the third story window and towards the Brute. Three of them missed, slamming into the furniture of the store front while the other three hit the Brute.
The Brute was hit twice in the chest and once in the neck, it fell to its knees, gurgled and collapsed sideways.
"Thanks Jones!" Simon called out, standing up and rolling his shoulders.
"Regroup on Simon and Bright." Greaves said, transmitting his voice to all of their headsets.
Five minutes later the entire squad was assembled in a circle by the Rocket Hog.
"You two," Greaves said, motioning towards Simon and Bright "get this thing on its wheels and fix it up." he finished, indicating the Rocket hog with his head.
"Taylor, you take Jones and scout ahead try and find another vehicle we can use, I'm going to sift through this wreckage for anything useful.
"Come on Bright!" Simon grunted, gritting his teeth and pushing the underside of the Rocket hog "Put your back into it!"
"Not. That. Easy!" Bright replied, also gritting her teeth.
They gave the hog one final push. It slid sideways on its two grounded wheels before falling to the ground and landing on all four wheels. Simon jumped into the drivers seat and popped the bottom panel off of the steering column. He pulled out his pliers, scissors and wire box and set to work on the steering columns inner workings.
Bright leaned over to him and muttered a question.
"Simon says its gonna take at least ten minutes to fix this." she called out to Greaves.
"Make it five!" Greaves called back.
"Got it!" Simon yelled.
He pressed the ignition button and the Rocket hog sputtered to life just as Jones and Taylor came into the T-intersection, driving a damaged Warthog.
"Good job squad!" Greaves called "Pick a hog and let's get going!"
Greaves jumped into the passenger seat of the Rocket hog as Bright climbed up onto the turret. Simon reversed the hog out onto the road and threw it into drive.
"Wanna race?" Jones asked, smiling under his helmet from the turret position as Taylor revved the second Warthog's engine.
The two Warthogs drove forwards and turned left at the T-intersection. They sped up the road, swerving around crashed cars and craters and drifting around the few small bends in the road.
The road rose up at a sharp angle and the two Warthogs came to a breaking halt at the top of the rise. They surveyed the scene below them with shocked and worried expressions.
The road continued in a straight line, passing through two smoking walls, which were once gates and continued on into a large, semi circular compound which, if viewed from a Birdseye view, would look like a C that had been rotated ninety degrees to the right. There was a wide catwalk running around the the interior length of the compound about four meters off of the ground which over looked a large courtyard. There was a large downwards leading ramp set in the center of the compounds ninety-degree C shape.
At the either end of the compounds C lines, near the ruined gate, were two tall, solid concrete watch towers. There was a pile of rubble in the center of the courtyard and all around the courtyard bullets were flying. A few squads of brave marines had managed to make it onto the catwalk, which was lined with regular protrusions for cover and were desperately trying to stave off the massive force of attacking Covenant. There must have been at least a hundred Elites and even more Grunts advancing towards the marines.
"We need to get inside that compound," Greaves said, pointing towards a large reinforced loading door set in the center of the catwalk "thats were this asset of ours is stored."
"Any ideas on how to get through all of that?" Jones asked, indicating the large force of Elites, Grunts and now Brutes as well.
"We've got the element of surprise," Taylor said "I reckon we could drive over to that ramp on the left there," he indicated a thin metal ramp that led up to the catwalk "hop out and run up it before the Covenant get a bead on us."
"That's one hell of a chance." Jones said, studying the layout of the area below.
"Well at least they've got snipers in those towers." Simon said, pointing towards a marine that had just taken a shot from one of the towers "that should give us some cover."
"All right, let's do this." Greaves said.
"Woooo!" Bright yelled as they accelerated down the hill.
They reached the bottom of the hill, passed a group of three Grunts and drove on towards the gates. Bright ducked as a bolt of plasma seared over her head and returned in kind. She pulled the trigger of the turret and sent six rockets flying in the direction of her attacker.
They pushed on, speeding past dozens of Covenant troops and taking a few glancing shots to the chassis of their Warthogs. Greaves fired a few shots, which bounced off of an Elites shield, from his position in the passenger seat.
Simon swerved to avoid a slow going Ghost and yelled as a plasma grenade landed on the road in front of him. It exploded and sent the Warthog head first into the ruins of the gate. Taylor had swerved to avoid the grenade and had ended up flipping his Warthog.
Greaves leaped out of the passenger seat, closely followed by Bright and Simon.
"Move it! Quadruple time!" he screamed as Taylor and Jones pulled themselves from the wreckage of their Warthog.
The squad sprinted through the destroyed gate, hearts pounding in their ears as plasma, bullets and everything in between whizzed by their faces. They sprinted into the courtyard and headed for the left ramp as a marine stationed there yelled at them.
"Hey!" he yelled "Over here!" he ducked behind the protrusion next to him as a hail of plasma slammed into it.
The squad sprinted up the ramp, pumping their legs as hard as they could. Greaves skidded to a halt behind the large protrusion, followed closely by Simon, Taylor and Bright. He looked back towards the ramp just in time to see a Brute, whom had moved behind them, fire his Spiker at Jones.
The Brute didn't know how to fire in short controlled bursts and he emptied his clip in Jones's direction. Nine spikes slammed into Jones's back, slicing through his armor and sliding into his flesh. Jones uttered a short cry, stumbled once and fell face first onto the surface of the ramp. He didn't move.
Greaves and Simon fired at the Brute, dropping him like a stone while Bright ran, in a crouched position as Taylor covered her, and retrieved Jones's body. She dragged him back behind the safety of the large protrusion.
She checked his pulse and slumped her shoulders.
"He's gone..." she said in a quiet voice.
"Dammit!" Greaves said.
He straightened up, forcing Jones's death out of his mind.
"Come on," he said "almost there."
Taylor gripped Brights shoulder, squeezed it once and walked off after Greaves. The squad darted between the protrusions, waiting for breaks in the enemies fire and slowly making their way towards the large reinforced door.
Greaves reached the protrusion that overlooked the door and saw that the control pad next to it was fried. The area in front of the door was a large square platform, about three times the length and width of the walkway and there were three protective protrusions rising out of the side that faced the courtyard.
"Simon!" he yelled "Get up here!"
"Here sir!" Simon said, jogging up from his position at the rear of the squad.
"I need that door opened now! Well cover you." Greaves yelled.
Greaves, Bright and Taylor ran out onto the platform and took cover behind the protrusions while Simon crouched down by the keypad and pulled a dead marine off of it.
"Oh, that's encouraging." he said, as the body fell to the ground with a thump.
He got his tools out, popped the panel off and set to work on the wires.
Greaves leaned out from behind the protrusion and noticed, for the first time, that the ramp underneath the platform was barricaded and filled with at least eight marines. He out the thought out of his mind and fired off six shots at a blue Elite that was hiding behind a chunk of rubble. Three of his shots hit the Elite and bounced off of his shimmering blue shield while the others thunked harmlessly into the ground.
The Elite popped out for behind the rubble and fired a stream of blue plasma at Greaves. Greaves ducked his head behind the protrusion and swore. He hoped Bright and Taylor were having better luck.
"Shit!" Bright yelled as she missed her target again.
She glanced out from behind her cover and saw the maroon colored Elite that she had been firing at run from his original cover, a burnt out Warthog, to a pile of rubble. She reloaded her SMG and took aim but was forced to take cover again as squad of five jackals with shields came marching through the ruined gates. They opened fire at her and she cowered behind the protrusion.
The hail of green plasma ceased for a moment and Bright looked out in time to see a marine from the left watch tower fire a rocket at the tightly grouped Jackals. The rocket landed in the middle of the Jackals and blew them apart in an explosion of yellow flames and purple blood.
Bright smiled and pointed her gun at her original target, he was busy attacking some marines on the right walkway. She pulled the trigger twice and was surprised to see three of her shots make contact.
"Someone must have taken down his shields." she thought.
She smiled and glanced over a Taylor.
Taylor fired his SMG and swing it between the four Grunts. Their small orange chests exploded in spurts of bright blue blood and they dropped to the ground, dead. He sat down behind the protrusion, reloaded his weapon and tossed an armed grenade over his shoulder. The grenade exploded near two blue Elites and sent them both running for cover.
"Hurry it up Simon!" he yelled.
"Got it!" Simon yelled, scrambling away from the door as it slowly opened.
"Finally," Greaves muttered "everybody in! Simon, close the door!"
Simon scrambled inside the door and took cover behind closed section. Greaves and Taylor followed him, firing their weapons form the hip. They made it inside the door and looked back to see Bright still shooting.
"Hurry it up private!" Taylor shouted.
Bright glanced over her shoulder and nodded. She fired a few more shots off and turned around. She sprinted towards the door as a group of Brutes for their Spikers at her. She was able to dodge the first hail of spikes but the second lot of spikes slammed into her back. She fell forward, lay still for a moment and slowly began to crawl forwards.
"Fuck!" Greaves yelled "Cover me!"
Taylor and Simon nodded and began firing out towards the Brute squad. Greaves ran out onto the platform, dodging a deadly hail of golden-brown spikes. He grabbed Bright under one of her arms and dragged her back into the compound just as the door closed.
The sounds of gunfire and explosions were instantly muffled as the large loading bay door closed. Greaves dragged Bright over to the far right wall and crouched down next to her. He gripped her hand and squeezed it.
"Come on Bright!" he said "I'm not going to lose another team mate today!"
He straightened up and walked over to Taylor.
"Do what you can for her." he said.
Taylor nodded and walked over to Bright. He removed the cans of Biofoam that she, as the squads medic, kept strapped to the small of her back.
"This is going to hurt." he said, gripping one of the spikes.
He pulled the spike out as quickly as he could and grimaced as Bright screamed.
"Just four more." he said in a grim voice.
"Come on, lets find the command center," Greaves said to Simon "we don't need to see this."
Greaves led Simon down the hallway while Taylor removed the last few spikes. He lay them by his side, picked up a can of Biofoam and inserted the nozzle into one of Brights numerous wounds. He pressed the spray button and Bright groaned as a thick white foam entered her wound, sealing it from the outside world. He repeated the process four more times, emptying two cans of Biofoam.
When he was done he propped Bright up against the walls and motioned towards the spikes.
"You're lucky to be alive." he said, letting out a small chuckle.
"They'll... They'll make, good souvenirs." Bright said, smiling weakly.
"Is there anything that can stop you from talking?" Taylor replied, laughing as he did so.
"Nothing human nor alien will stop me from talking." Bright muttered.
"We found the command center," Greaves said trudging back towards Taylor and Bright "good to see you alive private. Come on, we have to move. We saw a group of Brutes on the security cams while we were there."
"And they looked pissed!" Simon said.
Taylor hoisted Bright up, placed an arm around her waist and helped her walk down the corridor. Greaves led the way, checking each corner before moving forwards. They came to a wide, straight corridor and Greaves led them down it, while Simon stayed at the end of it and kept a lookout for any Covenant forces.
Greaves punched a code into the panel by the door and waited for it to slide open. Taylor entered with Bright and Greaves followed.
"Brutes!" Simon yelled, from his position at the end of the corridor.
He fired his assault rifle towards the incoming Brutes and ran down the corridor as hey returned fire.
"Run Simon!" Bright yelled, from her position by Taylor as a Brute skidded around the corner of the corridor.
The Brute raised his Spiker and fired, but Greaves was quicker and had already sent three shots towards the Brute. The bullets struck it in the stomach just as it pulled the trigger. It jerked it's arm downwards, firing as it did so, as three lead bullets buried themselves in its stomach. One of the stray bullets struck Simon in the back of his calf.
Simon yelled in pain as the spike pierced his left calf and buried itself, with it's ends sticking out of the front of his shin and the back of his calf.
He hopped forwards on his right foot four times before lunging towards the door. He landed safely on the other side of the door as Greaves hit the button to close it and shot the panel.
The four ODST's waited in silence, listening for any noises outside the door. After five minutes of silence Greaves gave the all clear and crouched down next to Simon.
"You all right?" he asked.
Simon pulled his helmet off and nodded, gritting his teeth.
"I should probably leave this in," he said, motioning towards the spike "it's pierced the bone and it's the only thing keeping the blood in."
Greaves nodded and stood up. The command center was a thin, rectangular room with a door set in both of it's shorter walls. Running along the left wall, which was also one of the long walls, was a row of computers and electronic readouts. Behind all of the computers were large, bullet proof windows with steel shutters pulled over them.
Taylor sat Bright down and asked her a few questions, mainly to keep her morale up. They all murmured amongst themselves for a few minutes and came a sudden abrupt stop as something heavy thumped against the door.
BANG! It went.
"Shit!" Greaves swore "Simon, open that door," he ordered pointing at the far door "Taylor, get Bright on her feet."
BANG!... BANG!
A growl sounded from the other side of the door as Simon punched in the correct code for the far door. It slid open and Greaves aimed his SMG at the closed door as Taylor helped Bright limp through the open one before coming back and helping Simon through the door as well.
"All clear!" he yelled from the next room.
Greaves spun on the spot and jogged through the door. Taylor closed the door and stacked a few heavy, metal boxes, which he had found lying next to the door. This new room ran parallel, sharing the windowed wall, to the command center. It was slightly wider though it still retained a rectangular shape.
The wall opposite the one with the shuttered windows was lined by six large tubes, covered in metal shutters. Taylor propped Bright up against the wall with the windows and sat down next to her. He pulled out a pack of cards, pulled his helmet off and started to deal the cards out between them.
Simon had limped over to a small, raised panel next to the tubes by the far wall and was busy tapping away at it while Greaves had removed his own helmet and sat back against the base of one of the tubes.
They had been sitting in silence for about ten minutes when the metal panels on the tubes retracted, revealing their gleaming white interiors.
"Holy shit!" Simon exclaimed.
"Language langu-" Bright began, stopping as she saw the tubes "Bullshit!" she breathed.
Greaves said nothing, he just stared at the tubes and their armored contents.
"They're Spartans," he whispered "they're fucking Spartans!" he yelled.
