Chapter 2
Date: February 4th, 2531
System: Epsilon Indi
Planet: Harvest
Location: Quadrant 4, deep within Forerunner ruin
Objective: Determine reason for covenant interest in the "Relic"
The all to familiar smell of burnt metal and expired plasma flooded Forge's nose as he helped a marine pull an Elite corpse off of the pathway. The fight for the control room, which is what Forge assumed it to be, had been short but brutal. A dozen marines had been cut down by the Covenants lethal weaponry and Pad had taken a glancing round to the shoulder, searing his flesh but otherwise leaving him unharmed.
Forge and the marine dropped the corpse with an oomph, and Forge stretched his back with a sigh.
"Damn aliens weigh a ton." He grunted, as the marine moved off to cart more bodies out of huge path.
The control room was subject to the same architectural designs as most other Forerunner buildings, with semi transparent floors and semi diamond shaped arches and doors. Its lighting systems had long since expired and so they relied on the left over plasma lights to see.
"Sergeant!" Pad called, leading a group of four marines and Anders over towards him.
Pad's face was flushed with excitement, the battle was over but the thrill still lingered on for the young marine. Anders' face of the other hand was slack with awe as she stared around at the thousand year old building.
"Give me a run down Pad," Forge said, as he began leading them towards the central platform "and make sure the bad news comes first."
"Most of our men are down or injured sir," Pad began, taking off his helmet "everyone whose able to fight is in this room and the reinforcements haven't been mobilised yet."
"Sergeant, is this what the aliens were after?" Anders cut in, voicing her question over an annoyed Pad.
"Seems so ma'am," Forge replied as they reached the platform "they sure paid a price trying to defend it, all quiet now."
Forge held up a closed fist and the squad behind him came to a halt, save for Anders who continued forwards.
She crossed to the panel that occupied the platforms centre and to her surprise a small sphere, slightly smaller then a basket ball, slid out of the panel to meet her. After a moments hesitation she reached out to touch it, only to be stopped by Forge as he grasped her wrist.
"Hey!" He exclaimed, pulling her back "What do you think you're doing?"
The marines behind him had ventured closer as well, cautious but curios none the less.
"Nothing ventured," Anders began, shaking her hand free "nothing gained."
She placed her hand on the sphere's cool surface and sections of its surface began to light up. Several of them held their breath as the sphere began to spin and all of them jumped backwards as light exploded forth from the small object.
"Whoa!" Forge yelled, as a holographic planet whizzed past his head.
Anders raised her head to find it surrounded by a strange star system, its planets and orbit lines flickering as the ancient power source struggled to complete its duty.
"Now that's..." Anders began, at a loss for words "not what I expected."
"What system is that?" Pad asked, his eyes wide.
"I've got no idea." Forge replied.
Psew-thunk!
Forge spun to face the source of the sound and saw one of his marines fall face first onto the floor, a pink need sticking out of his back.
"Take cover!" Pad yelled, as more Elites materialised out of thin air, their active camouflage melting off of their skin.
Forge dragged Anders down behind a railing as bullets and plasma began to fly around the room.
"Stay down!" He said, as a marine adjacent to him threw him his shotgun "These guys just don't know when to quit!"
He leant out from behind the railing and fired a shot towards a grunt, eviscerating its upper body, then ducked down behind the railing again a the marine who had tossed him his shotgun took a bolt to the chest.
"Uh, Spirit?" He radioed, as several more marines were shot dead "Forge here, we're gonna need a little backup."
Captain Cutter gripped the edged of the holographic display table as Forge's static and combat filled message came through.
"This is Forge, we've been ambushed at the Relic site! I'm pinned down with Anders, we're taking heavy losses, we need reinforcements now!" Forge demanded, his voice was hard to hear.
"Sergeant, Alpha Base won't be able to respond in time," Cutter replied, his breath coming in fast short bursts "we've got Grizzlies inbound from Spirit of Fire, hold on down there."
Serina, the Spirit Of Fire's AI materialised next to Cutter, casting her low, blue glow over his face.
"Ah, Grizzly tanks." She said in her sarcastic tone "Forge's pet project."
"Carmine let's go!" Sergeant Holland yelled, motioning for the private to get inside the grizzly.
"On my way sir!" Carmine replied "Here we go Brutus, time for your christening!"
Carmine climbed up onto Brutus' massive form and dropped down through the hatch. He took his position at the controls while Holland sealed the hatch shut behind him.
"Ready to Rock sarge?" Asked the eager marine, keying the tank's ignition into life.
"Focus private." Holland growled, as the deck staff outside finished attaching the Grizzly to the Pelican.
The Grizzly Brutus and its twin Caesar hit the ground running, their spiked treads tearing into the ice and dragging them forwards with incredible speed. They raced over the icy wasteland, smashing through chunks of frozen water and throwing up a wake of hale and icy slate behind them.
Inside the tanks the occupants were bounced and jiggled up and down by the rough movement and they almost missed Forge's messages.
"This is Forge," came his voice, struggling to be heard over the noise inside the tank "we're under heavy fire!"
"We're on out way sir!" Holland replied, almost having to yell into his headset to be heard.
The Grizzlies reached the entrance to the Forerunner structure, which was swarming with Grunt's and their Elite handlers.
"Hoo Hoo Hoo! Here we go!" Carmine hollered, as he swung the turret to bear on the alien swarm
Ka-Boom!
The grunts exploded into a airborne sea of blood and bone as twin tank shells detonated amongst their midst. The Elites fared no better and their shield proved to be utterly ineffective against the Grizzly's power. Holland pushed Brutus onwards, through the soupy alien remains and down into the Forerunner structure.
Sam, a young, blonde marine was thrown violently backwards as a blue plasma bolt slammed into his throat, killing him instantly. Forge shied away from the sight and shoved another round into his shotgun.
"I've got men down," he radioed, for the third time "where are those reinforcements!?"
As if on cue two massive Grizzly Tanks, which Forge instantly recognised as Caesar and Brutus came roaring into the chamber. Their mounted machine gun turrets made quick work of the Covenant forces and it wasn't long before all of the aliens lay dead on the floor.
The turrets ceased firing and the whole thing ended just as quickly as it had began.
"About time!" Forge yelled with relief, standing up "I was down to my last clip!"
"Sorry we're late sir, had quite a bit of ground to cover." Said one of the tank's operators.
"Brutus and Caesar," Forge continued as Anders struggled to her feet "the two meanest tanks to ever grace this planet with their treads."
"Grizzlies," Anders muttered, slightly shell shocked "well at least I know how to repair them."
"I made a few improvements," Forge boasted, obviously proud "my own special upgrades."
He turned to face his remaining marines, which were six in total.
"Alright marines we're getting out of here," he yelled "stick behind the Grizzlies and let them clear the way, we're moving fast and hasty. Don't get pinned down."
The Grizzlies trundled off back the way they had come and Forge, Anders and the marines raced off after them, sticking close behind them at all times.
"Sergeant Forge," Brutus' officer radioed "our evac point is at the ruin's entrance, we've got three heavy duty Pelicans ready for pickup, but the Covenant's closing in fast."
"Got it," Forge replied, then "DOUBLE TIME IT MARINES!"
The soldiers picked up the pace, with Forge carrying Anders along by the arm.
They reached the entrance in just under two minutes, their breath coming in ragged gasps. Three Pelicans came swooping down to meet them, their jets counteracting their fall to bring them to a smooth halt.
The Pelicans were just about to touch down when a roiling green ball of plasma came screaming out of nowhere, straight into Brutus' side. The Grizzly exploded sideways, as the metal of its hull melted away. Whoever had been inside at the time had died screaming and Caesar quickly brought its turret round to bear on the offenders as Forge and his marines scrambled for the Pelicans.
"We need to get the hell out of here now!" Forge yelled, as Covenant vehicles came gliding over the icy dunes towards them.
The Pelicans lowered their rear doors and Forge's marines began piling in. Forge helped Anders into one of the Pelican's when another was struck by a Hunter's cannon. It veered sideways, its engine smoking, but otherwise remained flying.
Forge hoisted himself up into Anders Pelican just as the Covenant vehicles entered firing range. Four Ghosts began to strafe around Caesar, firing round after round of plasma into its side and rear sections. The third Pelican managed to lock its loading gear onto Caesar's frame amidst the chaos and it immediately put all of its energy into heading straight up.
The three Pelicans, one of which was smoking, took off into the sky, leaving behind both the Forerunner ruins and Brutus' smoking wreck. The Covenant continued to fire at them until they were out of range, scoring many hits on the retreating Pelicans heavy armour.
Inside his Pelican, Forge dropped his weapon and sighed with relief, as the turbulence outside jostled him up and down in his seat.
"This is Forge here," he said, radioing Captain Cutter "we made it. We made it."
"Good work." The Captain replied, relief evident in his voice "Professor, I want to be briefed on your findings as soon as you're on board."
"You got it captain." Anders said, what she really wanted was rest but at least it was better then being shot at.
