Chapter 4
Date: August 14th, 2552
Time: 01:10 hours
Planet: Reach
Location: ONI Tower Base
Mission: Reach the Armoury and escape Tower Base
The three Elites that Tie had stunned with his flashbang yelled in panic as the Spartans crashed into them.
Tie latched onto the closest Elite, a purple zealot, and began raining blows down upon the alien, eliciting growls of pain from its split mouth. But it wasn't to last. The zealot twisted out from under Tie and came up swinging.
Tie swayed backwards and the Elite's giant fist swung through the space where his head had been not a second ago. The second punch however, caught Tie full in the stomach, doubling him over and sending him backwards into a wall. The zealot roared a battle cry as the plasma blades on its wrists flared to life and charged towards Tie.
Past the Elite's menacing form Tie could see that Ben and Kora were still wrestling with their own enemies, though it was obvious who was winning.
Kora spun out of the way of the blue Elite whom was trying to impale her on a plasma sword, and sent a devastating sidekick crashing into its left knee. A sickening crunch sounded throughout the room as the Elite roared in pain and fury, only to be silenced when Kora twisted its neck savagely to the side.
Ben on the other hand had taken a more direct approach. As his Elite came charging towards him he grabbed its wrist and, using its own momentum against it, sent it crashing into the wall behind him. Then he simply pinned it in place and began punching its head until the life left its body.
"Why do I always get the hard ones?" Tie grumbled, as the zealot charged towards him.
Tie dodged several swings of the Zealot's plasma blades, twisting and turning to avoid the white hot blades, and sent a fist darting out towards the Zealot's head. The Zealot jumped backwards, avoiding the strike, and then yelped in surprise as Ben's arms rapped around its midsection.
"Ugh!" Ben grunted, as the Zealot whipped its elbow back into his face.
Sean released his grip and stumbled away whilst Tie took his chance and charged the Zealot from behind. The alien must have heard him coming though because it dived to the side just in time, rolled and came up facing three angry, annoyed Spartans.
"Never known an Elite to get the best of you Tie." Ben teased, as they stood down the final alien warrior.
"Hey," Tie replied, his hand creeping towards his holstered pistol "I just got thrown against a wall, you're the one who copped an elbow to the face."
"Shut it! Both of you!" Kora ordered, as Ben let out a chuckle.
A second of tense silence dragged by as both parties waited for the other to make a move. And then all of a sudden it was over. The Elite let out a roar and three pistols began to bark, sending lead bullets whizz ing towards the alien's chest and head.
The Zealot dived backwards, through a door and closed it behind it. Tie charged over to the pad on the wall beside and began frantically pushing buttons.
"Dammit!" He yelled, punching the pad and breaking it "The damn thing sealed the door!"
"Then we have to move." Kora said, picking her rifle off of her back "Time to go loud. We get to that armoury and we get the hell out of here. Let's move!"
Voro studied the Prophet's Eye with a worried furrow to his brow. His brothers squad member's vitals had flatlined several minutes ago and Rha's had simply vanished from sight. He had already tried hailing his brother on comms but he hadn't picked up.
A full ten panic filled minutes later Rha came stumbling into the courtyard that served as Voro's HQ.
"Brother!" Voro exclaimed, relief evident in his voice "What happened to you?"
Rha's purple armour was dented and cracked in several places and his posture was stooped with pain. Rha held a hand up to stall Voro's questions, took a moment to catch his breath, and spoke.
"Demons." He gasped "Demons are here."
Voro spat out a curse and glanced back at the Prophet's eye.
"Nihai and Jaya?" Voro asked, though he already knew the answer.
"Dead." Rha confirmed.
Voro growled in anger and turned back to the Prophet's Eye. The death of Nihai was a mixed blessing. On one hand a serious thorn in his side was gone, on the other a good warrior was dead. And someone had to pay for that.
A rectangular blue box on the Eye's display signalled the location of the Armoury, the demons' likely destination. Regular soldiers wouldn't be able to stop the demons, they would need someone strong, fast and smart if they were to stand toe to toe with them. Voro took a moment to consider his options before speaking them aloud.
"Garrak!" Voro ordered, summoning a grizzled old warrior to his side.
Garrak' Montrakea was the former commander of Dagger company. A maroon clad Sangheli with many, many years of experience under his belt. He was a hulking figure with hundreds of battle scars covering his form and speed that defied his size.
"Sir," he growled, in a deep voice "what's the plan?"
"You and I are going to lead two squads towards the armoury and catch the demons by surprise in a pincer movement." Voro replied, as Grunts brought weapons and ammunition over to them "Pick your men, Rha, until we return you have command."
"Of course brother." Rha said, waking over to the Prophet's Eye "I will make you proud."
"Be better if you made us win." Garrak grunted, grinning as he checked his weapons "Don't let pride and honour cloud your judgment, that craps useless if you're dead."
"Of... Course." Rha replied, uncertain.
When it came to things like tradition and honour Garrak was even worse then Rha's brother. He told superiors what he thought, questioned orders and had a total disregard for Sangheli customs.
Rha shook his head, wondering how in the hell Garrak had ever managed to become at one point in time Dagger company's leader.
The doors to the armoury, which were in fact bus sized slabs of steel, were covered in scorch marks and dried blood. A plasma shell from what Tie presumed to be a Wraith had melted away a good portion of the doors and the smell of burnt steel and flesh hung in the air.
The doors were accessible via a large courtyard which at one point in time had been bright, decorated and maintained, yet was now desolate and destroyed. Charred bones and chunks of flesh littered the ground leading to the Armoury.
"Rest easy boys." Ben muttered, stepping over corpses.
"They will when we win this war." Kora replied grimly.
Kora and Ben took up positions just outside the mangled doors, scanning the courtyard with their rifles as Tie entered the Armoury. A tense few moments passed before he reemerged.
"Looks like we're good." Tie announced "There are a few Warthogs in there that look good... Couple of bodies too."
"Good," Kora said, referring to the Warthogs "Ben and I will do a sweep for good measure, you pick us out a ride."
"Something with flames?" Ben asked, smiling as he and Kora ventured into the Armoury.
The interior of the Armoury was cluttered with wrecked vehicles and debris, creating a forest of twisted metal between the Spartans and the working vehicles at the back of the armoury.
The Armoury itself was more akin to a hanger, with a high, concave ceiling and an unsteady looking walkway running along its upper level. Towards the rear of the Armoury were four raised platforms, two of which contained Scorpion class tanks that had never been taken for a maiden voyage. And resting on the last two pads were Warthogs.
Ben, Kora and Tie picked their way cautiously through the metal forest, guns ready and eyes and ears alert. Thirty seconds later they were through.
"Get one of those ready." Kora ordered, gesturing towards the Warthogs with her rifle.
"Which one?" Ben asked, walking over to the vehicles and holsters his rifle "Gauss or chaingun?"
"Gauss," Kora replied, aiming her rifle back down the way they had come "Covenant may try to run us down on our way out."
"On it." Ben said, kneeling down beside the closest Warthog's wheels.
The Gauss Hog had been secured to the raised platform by a series of wheel locks, each one anchoring one of the four wheels to the ground. Ben began fiddling with the locks on each one, removing pins and throwing latches open in an attempt to unlock the heavy duty wheel locks.
Clang!
The sound of falling metal rang out across the hanger, piercing the heavy silence that hung across the room. In under a second three M8A2 assault rifles were pointed towards the source of the sound.
"Tie," kora grunted, keeping her voice low "you're up."
Tie nodded his assent and began to stealthily approach the source of the sound. To get to it he had to take the stairs up to the catwalk that covered the Armoury's upper level. The catwalk itself was cluttered with metallic debris and chunks of roof that had fallen in.
Despite his size and the armour he was wearing, Tie managed to make very little noise, reaching the top of the catwalk without incident. Once there he quickly located the cause of the noise.
A small, rectangular piece of metal, that looked like it had once belong in a car engine, had slid off of a larger piece of debris.
"Got it," Tie called out, scooping up the offending piece "just a carburettor... Or something like that."
"Okay, we're clear then?" Kora asked, not putting her rifle away.
"Yeah, just-" Tie broke off as a shiver crept down his back.
An easy feeling washed over him as he turned on the spot, scanning the walkways for movement.
"First lock is done!" Ben called out, only to be hushed by Kora.
"What is it Tie?" She asked, growing nervous.
"I don't know." Tie replied.
He looked back along his own walkway, paying special attention to the floor. The entire walkway was littered with bits of debris, metal shavings and dust. All except one spot, right next to the stairs where the ground was devoid of all of those things.
Tie had seen horror movies before and so had the good sense to avoid walking up to the anomaly. Instead he levelled his rifle at the spot, dropping the engine piece in the process. He sent a heads up to Kora and Ben's HUD, and they sent back their acknowledgement, appearing as small green flashes in his own HUD.
Tie slowed his breathing, narrowed his eyes and pulled the trigger.
Blam blam blam!
Tie's shots went wide as a huge, three-fingered hand grabbed him from behind, pulling him backwards and throwing him against the catwalk's rails. An inhuman battle cry rang out across the Armoury as Elites fizzled into existence throughout the forest of wreckage.
Ben and Kora's response was swift, immediate and brutal. More shots rang out across the Armoury as their rifles barked fire and death. Two Elites were caught in the open, their shields flaring as they dove for cover. One was lucky and made it, the other wasn't.
Tie turned his attention back to the Maroon clad Elite whom had thrown his aim wide. The thing was a hulking beast of an Elite, at least a head taller then most. And it was coming right at him.
Tie ducked down and slid to the side as the warrior came towards him, hoping to slip around behind it and get the upper hand. But the Elite was experienced and as Tie move, it growled and turned to face him, keeping him front of it the whole time.
"At least it's cornered now." Tie thought, smiling beneath his helmet.
That smile disappeared when he realised that there was another Elite behind him. He threw a quick glance over his shoulder and was horrified to see the patch of air above the clean part of the walkway shimmer and give way to yet another, even meaner looking Elite.
"I know I like challenges but this is just ridiculous." Tie said aloud.
One of the Elites roared and Tie grinned, his horror turning into determination as the Elites charged him.
