Chapter 2
Knock Knock
"Welcome home boys and girls!" said the pilot as they descended into the air base.
The team of Spartans grabbed their gear and jumped off the Pelican. They were now at one of Earth's finest, and last, massively secure base. The base was located in Africa, underground the city of Voi. The Citadel, in which it was named, was the only base that could hold up to the Covenant onslaught. If the Citadel fell, Earth and all of her colonies would be lost.
The Spartans marched through the base, helmets clutched to their sides, to General Hollister's office. As they passed, people in the corridors was jump back trying to avoid the walking tanks. The office doors slid open as Thomas approached them.
"Delta! Good to see you're all in one piece!" said Hollister cheerfully as he rose from behind his desk.
Hollister was a middle aged man. In his late forties, nothing slowed Hollister down. His uniform was decorated with ribbons and metals from when he fought on the front lines. Hollister was a brave soldier, and a legend among the UNSC marines. He was tall with broad shoulders and dark wavy brown hair. Along with his hair, Hollister also had a thick brown beard and bright green eyes that looked as if they could see right into your soul.
"General." said Thomas saluting, "Good to see you too."
"Yes, well good work defusing the warheads. You and your squad did an outstanding job." praised Hollister cupping his hands together.
"Sir, permission to speak freely?" asked Thomas.
"Permission granted. What do you have on your mind son?" he replied
"Do you have any idea what the Covenant were planning on doing with those warheads?" inquired Thomas, placing his helmet on Hollister's desk.
"Hmm." Hollister sighed, "Sadly I do not. It is frightening to see that much power in the Covenants hands. But that is where you come in Delta."
"Us, General?" asked Chris
"Yes Delta. You all are going on a confidential mission. You must assassinate an Elite Ship Commander." Hollister turned and brought up a video file of the Elite in question on a large computer screen. "The target goes by the name of Valisco Saygen. This Elite is a ruthless Covenant Commander who played a key role in the destruction of Reach. We believe that Valisco has gained access to a large number of security codes."
"What were the codes used for General?" asked Daisy
"Well from what we can gather, I believe they are security codes to the Citadel." Hollister replied, as his eyes dropped to the ground.
"How the hell did he get the codes?! Let alone hack into the Citadel's system!" exclaimed Cowboy.
"I know Spartans, I know." Hollister said, "We don't know how he did it but one thing is for sure. And that is we want him dead and the codes back in our hands."
"When do we leave?" asked Thomas
"Immediately." replied Hollister, "Do not let anyone know the details of this mission. Only a few officials know about it and besides, your squad officially does not exist."
Thomas nodded and he and his team exited the office. Delta marched into the armory and retrieved their gear from the weapons locker.
"Too bad there will be no need for a sniper." complained Daisy pulling a battle rifle off of one of the shelves.
They loaded up their gear and once again seated themselves into the Pelican.
"Where ya'll going so soon?" asked the Pilot.
"Here." said Thomas roughly as he tossed him coordinate chip.
"Alright then. Well saddle up!"
They slowly exited the loading bay and gracefully lifted into the darkness of the night sky. The Spartans passed the time by cleaning the guns, and checking them for ammo. After about an hour, the Pelican rose about a large mountain, and their destination came into view. The Covenant outpost was clearly crawling with hostile forces. Elites walked back and forth around the small base camp and a few guarded the entrance from unwanted visitors.
"Okay Delta! We're coming in a little hot!" said the pilot, "Touchdown to LZ in five!"
"Let me here it Spartans!" yelled Thomas
"Going in alive! Coming out the same way!" all four chanted as they cocked their guns.
"Lock and load baby!" shouted Cowboy
The Spartans leapt off the Pelican and into the darkness of the jungle.
"Okay Delta, we're going in deep and we're going in hard. Lets do this fast and smoothly. We only have about an hour of night left." preached Thomas walking back and forth in front of the squad. "Move out!"
They quickly jumped from shadow to shadow. With each step bringing them closer to the Elite camp. The fire was now in view. It was strange, the Elites did not seem to be on the alert. Thomas and his squad placed themselves on the back wall of a neighboring building in the camp. Daisy scouted ahead, blending in with the orange glow of jungle leaves from the fire.
"Okay lets see…" she said through her COM Link, "I see about six or seven Elite soldiers outside the main entrance."
"Hmm. Not as many as I expected." replied Thomas. "Chris, place yourself on the north wall behind the Elites, and Cowboy, you cover the west. Daisy stay where you are and wait for my signal."
The team only took about five minutes to get into their flanking positions. Green acknowledgement lights filled Thomas' helmet.
"Alright…smok'em." he commanded calmly.
At that moment, all four Spartan's leapt into action. One by one, the squad came into the Elite's view, but only for a second. The Elites were killed before they could even reach for their guns. Short rifle burst filled the night air and light blue blood flooded the ground.
"Good job Delta. Let's get inside." praised Thomas
"I'm gonna have to blow the door Thomas." said Chris reaching for the explosives out of his bag.
"Set the charges then. This seems all to easy." he replied.
"Prepare to breach!" yelled Chris.
The explosives fired, and the Spartans were covered with dust and showered with rubble from the door. Cowboy threw a flash bang grenade into the adjacent room. Elite screams filled their ears.
"Move up!" barked Thomas.
Cowboy quickly executed two Elites with well placed head shots with a battle rifle. Thomas rushed the remaining two with a fierce blow to the skull with his combat knife.
"Okay, lets go." he said, wiping the pale blue blood off his knife.
They marched down the hall, making sure that they would not get flanked. The base was a lot larger then they expected. The what seemed to be a fairly small base, reached five levels underground.
"Contact!" yelled Daisy.
Three Elite guards rushed the Spartans, firing their plasma rifles.
"Shit, I'm hi!" yelled Cowboy. His armor was smoking as the plasma ate its way through.
Thomas threw a fragmentation grenade and a moment or so later, the hallway was cleared and blood covering the walls.
"Are you alright?" he asked bending over Cowboy.
"Yeah." he replied, "Just got a little nicked….bleeding a little though. Chris, toss me the bio-foam."
Chris rummaged around in his medical bag until he found the foam.
"Here, I'll do it." Chris said.
He moved Cowboy's hand from the wound. The plasma ate through a small layer of armor on Cowboy's left side. Chris inserted the nozzle of the canister into the bleeding wound.
"Aaahhh!" screamed Cowboy in pain. His grip tightened as he held onto his helmet.
The white liquid oozed into the wound. It quickly stretched and expanded to fit the wound. A second later, the bleeding stopped.
"Thanks man. Now help me up." praised Cowboy as he extended his hand.
"Don't worry about it." replied Chris, lifting Cowboy up.
The remainder of the base was relatively empty. Only a few patrol men were wandering around the hallways. The Spartans quickly silenced them.
"Alright Delta." said Thomas as they approached a large metal door. "Valisco is right through this door. Let's get what we need, take him out, and go home."