Spartan-185
Chapter 4
*Authors notes* my fellow readers, my apologize for the extremely long wait for this next chapter. I honestly don't have an excuse for the wait. I was lazy and on summer break and didn't have the motivation to actually write this. But I did play some halo 3 so at least I did something to contribute to this work. Anyways, I hope that those who have followed me up until this point are still doing so and any new readers to this fic just ignore this because this is pretty much just an apology for the long wait. Anyways, I won't make you wait any longer so here it is chapter 4.
The Shadow of Intent flew overhead towards the ark control room intent on destroying it with its excavation beam. Just as they were about to turn around and head for the elevator a slip space portal opened up with a flash of purple. What remained of High Charity flew emerged from the portal at a faster than safe speed. However that wasn't the most interesting thing about it. Covering the entire the hull of the massive covenant city were flood spores. Following the ship through the portal were large amounts of debris, some of which impacted with the hull of The Shadow of Intent. The covenant city flew overhead and out of site impacting somewhere else while The Shadow of Intent was forced to set down due to the hull breaches from the debris. Some of the debris impacted with other chunks of debris sending some through the glass window wall. The large chunk of debris landed at the back of the room next to the elevator platform. We raised our weapons to fight off the impending flood infection forms that were brought by the debris. I had my flamethrower at the ready scanning the room for any signs of movement. The Arbiter was at on my left side with his energy sword active. Chief and James took up positions against the left wall, James bracing himself against the wall in a crouched stance to counter balance his rifles weight. Moon Knight took up a position on the opposite wall with his mauler at the ready.
No one dared to move. Then there was an inhuman sound coming from the back of the room. Flood infection spores swarmed out from behind the debris with combat forms following close behind. James opened fire on the combat forms concentrating fire on the limbs. Chief and Moon Knight where providing crowd control firing off into the horde without pause except to reload. The Arbiter let loose a battle cry and moved in for close combat slicing his way through the combat forms with discipline and furry. I let loose with the flamethrower, burning anything that got past them to a crispy resemblance of what it once was. The fight was short but intense. There were a few occasions that an infection form got too close when we were reloading but when they tried to attach itself but our shield would flare up and the infection form would burst from the sudden shock. After the fight was over, the bodies burned, and weapons reloaded, silenced rained again. After a few minutes of silence, waiting for another onslaught, the coms came to life again. Miranda spoke over the coms to the shipmaster, "Shipmaster, are you alright?" "I am fine, but how did the parasite get here?" He asked obviously holding back anger about being denied a swift victory. "It doesn't matter; the flood will only cause Truth to accelerate his plans. Chief, get there and stop Truth. We can't let him fire the rings." She responded. The coms went silent once again. "You heard the lady. Let's move." Chief spoke up. We all jogged over to the platform and took up defensive positions on the platform. Moon Knight stood on the left side with the Arbiter who was now using his plasma rifles. James crouched on the middle of the platform to fire down into the main atrium when the elevator descended. I stood on the right side of the elevator flamethrower at the ready. Chief stood at the console already pressing the holographic interface. With a jolt the elevator started its smooth descent. When the elevator descended out of the shaft and slowed to a stop they were greeted with the site of Elites standing off against flood combat forms. The corridors to the left and right were clear. The elites had apparently been holding the position since the flood infestation happened and hadn't let anything through. They wouldn't last much longer however; they were starting to get over run. "James, give them some support. Epsilon, Moon Knight, get down there." Chief ordered. James began to fire down into the horde of flood using the door like a choke point stemming but not stopping the amount of flood that were pouring in through the door. Chief and I moved down the right side corridor while Moon knight and the Arbiter moved down the left side corridor. With the added support of the squad they managed to push back the flood to the door. After a little while though the flood stopped coming. "Epsilon, Moon Knight, check the hallway." Chief ordered. I moved forward from the right side and braced against the right side of the door. Moon Knight did the same and gave a nod. I moved in front of the door triggering the automatic sensor. The door opened with a silent hydraulic hiss and I moved into the hallway with my flamethrower at the ready. Moon Knight followed right at my heels with his mauler loaded and held at the ready. The hallway was littered with flood combat form corpses, some of which were human in at one point. "Clear left." Moon knight called out. "Clear right." I called out. Chief and the others filed through the door. We moved outside expecting more flood contacts but were instead greeted by marine forces. They had set up a checkpoint at the third tower. Pelicans were dropping off marine forces and vehicles. A single phantom sat hovering with its troop bays open and waiting. I moved over to the marines prepping the vehicles for combat, loading the 50 cal. on the warthogs and performing diagnostic checks on the scorpion tanks. "Orders?" I asked one of the marines. "Assist in the assault on the control room. Take the hog and the scorpion and punch a hole through the covenant defenses." The marine replied without looking up from his tac-pad. I walked back over to the rest of the squad. The Arbiter was just finishing up his conversation with the Master Chief before he hopped up into the troop bay of the singular phantom with the Oracle in tow. Chief turned to Moon Knight and James and said, "Get weapons and ammo, we might not have another chance to restock for a while." James and Moon knight nodded before heading off to restock weapons and ammo. He turned to me and asked, "Orders?" "Assist in the assault on the control room. The hog and the scorpion are all the support we have." I responded. "Alright, the Arbiter is providing air support with his phantoms to support the hornet squads. Get restocked then mount up, I want you on the fifty. I'll punch through with the scorpion then you follow through and mop up anything that I miss." I nodded and went over to the stack of crates that were being loaded off the pelicans. "I need flamethrower fuel tanks and battle rifle ammo." I stated to the requisitions officer. The marine took one look at me and pointed to one of the crates that were already loaded off the pelican. "Battle rifle ammo over there, flamethrower fuel is getting loaded off now." He stated. I walked over to the crate and opened the crate. Inside it was filled to the brim with ammo boxes and smaller crates with 9.5x40mm written in yellow bold letters across the casings. On the right side of the crate was a box that had ammo magazines written in yellow bold. I grabbed one of the ammo boxes by the handle, and opened up the box on the right side and grabbed a few of the clips placing them in their respective pockets. Walking away back to the pelican were they just finished off loading the crates containing flamethrower fuel tanks, I opened up one of the lids and grabbed one of the tanks from its cushioned place in the crate. I set the ammo crate down and pulled my flamethrower off my back, and switched the shut off valve to the on position. I disconnect the fuel line from the tank and slid it out of its cradle and replaced it with the new tank. After connecting the fuel line, switching the shut off valve to its off position, made sure that the fuel gage read full, and grabbed a spare tank from the crate, I grabbed the ammo crate off the ground and went back to the warthog and sat down in the bed of it with my back against the mounted 50. I placed my flamethrower down in the bed beside me and opened up the ammo case. Taking out the spare clips from the various pockets on my person I began to slide the bullets into the magazine one at a time with such skill that only comes from years of practice. Looking up from my work I saw James approaching me with his own battle rifle held by the tactical rail that the scope sat on. He grabbed a handful of bullets from the ammo box and started to load his own magazine with skill that was common to a Spartan. "Looks like I'm driving the hog. Moon Knight's got the 50 on the scorpion." He stated. I nodded and response still loading the magazine. I finished the mag and moved on to an empty one. One, two, three, four, five, and I continued to countas I loaded the bullets into the magazine one at a time. I kept loading the magazines one at a time until I had loaded the last clip and I just stared at it lost in thought. "To think that we could all die, everyone in the galaxy. It all comes down to this, one way or the other, it ends here." I thought. I was broken from my thoughts as James nudged my arm. "You good?" He asked. I only nodded in response. "Good, were mounting up for the attack." He stated. I replaced the clips into their respective places. A marine came by and grabbed the ammo box and took it away to where ever they were stockpiling the ammo. I stood up and grabbed hold of the trigger handles, locking my shoulders into the braces. James got into the driver's seat and started the engine, the warthogrumbling to life. Looking over at the scorpion tank, I saw Moon Knight climbing into the gunner's mount with a shiny new battle rifle and magnum strapped to his person. Chief finished his talk with one of the marine and climbed into the scorpion tank and sliding the protective driver's canopy back into place. "Task Force First Decent, our orders are to push through the covenant defensive line and stop Truth from firing the Halo rings. Move out." Chief ordered over the com.
The scorpion tank slowly rolled forward and begun its slow trek through the canyon. James drove the warthog at a safe distance from the tank but still close enough to provide fire support in necessary. The canyon stated to bend to the right as we progressed further in. As we rolled past the bend we were met with covenant forces, a single shade turret and a few brutes to go with it. "Targets twelve 'o clock." Moon Knight called out. "I see them." Chief responded as he fired the main cannon. Moon Knight fired a hail of lead from the mounted fifty. The shade exploded into a show of brilliant purple flames and warped alien metals as the brutes were mowed down by the shower of gunfire coming from the fifty. A short ways past that the canyon spilled out into a large boxed in area. To the left the path dropped off dangerously, to the right the path continued into what looks like a complex set of homecoming path ways, and right in the center was a giant structure that didn't seem to belong there, that had to be the control room. Chief directed the scorpion tank to follow the path as it snaked its way to the right. "More targets, they've got vehicles!" Moon Knight called out. "I see them!" Chief responded. Without stopping the tank's main cannon fired, causing a deafening boom and the tank to shudder. The 90mm tungsten round impacted with one of the wingtips of a ghost, sending it spiraling through the air, one side of the vehicle completely destroyed, and throwing the occupant free of the vehicle at unsafe computer automatically started the reload process, ejecting the spent shell and loading a fresh one in its place. The tank fired again, this time the 90mm tungsten round impacting dead center with a prowler, splitting the vehicle at a fragile point in its structure in a shower of sparks and shrapnel. The tank finally reached the point where the path stems off to the left and the right, the left side riding the canyon wall, the right path going up and over to the right. "James, Epsilon, flank right while we take the left." Chief ordered. James pulled up past the tank and drove up the path on the right; there were more brutes and a ghost up top. "Focus fire on the ghost." James called out. The hog began to swerve and veer left and right as James took evasive maneuvers. I pulled back on the charging bolt loading the first of many bullets and pulled the dual triggers. The gun came to life, humming electrically; as the barrel spun for a half second before it roared as it spit hot lead at lethal speeds. The ghost was ripped apart by the 12.7x99mm high velocity explosive rounds as they impacted with its armor. The ghost lasted for a split second before the occupant, a brute, tried to turn around and regroup with his fellow units, but was caught in the lead storm in mid turn. The driver fell out of the seat and the ghost powered down, without thinking I immediately switched targets, firing at the infantry as they tried to find cover in the snow covered rocks. One of the brutes were caught by the hail of bullets, he was dead before he hit the ground, gurgling and spurting blood from multiple places on his body. The rest, a couple of brutes, took cover in a grouping of rocks occasionally poking their guns out of the rocks to fire off a few rounds. "James bring us around, I can't get a clear shot from this angle! I called out over the roar of the machine gun as I hadn't stopped firing to keep them pinned. "Hang on!" James yelled back. He hopped out of the driver's seat and sprinted over to the rock grouping. I started to swivel the turret a little bit to increase the spread of the suppressive fire, but not enough to hit James. He slide on his knees the last couple of feet and braced his back against one of the boulders. He pulled the pins on his grenades and tossed them over the top of the rocks. One of the brutes yelled out something about a grenade, but it was too late. The frags went off taking the brutes with them. I depressed the triggers and the triple barrel slowed to a stop, the tips of it were glowing red hot from being fired for so long. James jogged back to the hog and hopped into the driver's seat continuing down the path. I flipped open the top of the gun and ejected the belt and kicked the drum out of its cradle and over the side of the hog were it fell down into the snow. I pulled out a fresh drum out from its holding place in the bed of the hog and slapped it into its loading cradle, pulled out the belt from the new drum and placed it into the feeder in the top of the gun, flipped the top down and slapped it for good measure to make sure it was locked into place, pulled back on the charging bolt, and placed my shoulders back into the braces. James drove down the path where it met up with the path from the left, and right there, waiting for us, was Chief and Moon Knight with the tank too. "What took you so long; we've been waiting for a couple minutes now." Moon Knight called out. "You give us the tank next time and we'll see who's waiting on whom!" James yelled out. Moon Knight was just about to retort when the coms crackled to life once again. "Hornets inbound Spartans, ETA now!" Called out a pilot. Sure enough when they looked up they saw two hornets descend from the air battle over head. They skidded to a stop in the snow and the pilots jumped out. Chief pointed at me and James with two fingers and then pointed to one of the hornets, "Mount up!" He ordered. Me and James ran over to the hornet. I hopped into the pilots seat while James locked himself into one of the skids. We looked over to the other hornet and saw Chief and Moon Knight doing the same. He gave me the thumbs up and I returned the gesture before starting up the hornets engines and taking off. As soon as we were in the air there was a flash of light in the sky as two large objects broke through the Halo Ring's simulated atmosphere with a gut clenching screech as the two objects impacted with the snow covered valley floor below. The entire battle seemed to cease to witness the objects entry. When the snow cleared and settled, the two objects unfurled and lit up in a brilliant purple. Legs emerged from them and locked into place. Plates slide back and locked into place and weapons emerged from the newly created space. Lights came blinking into existence with vibrant purple light. Finally, the object's head emerged and then stood on its legs. "Scarabs!" The coms came to life and the only discernable thing that could be made out of the jumbled screaming and static was scarab. And right in front of them, only a hundred feet down below sat two of the covenant war machines. The battle renewed with increased vigor as the brutes pressed the attack with the aid of the war machines. The marines were panicking, they were desperate now not only in their fight for the battle but for their very lives. Chief called over the coms, "Take care of the brutes, leave the scarabs to us!" The marines seemed to get the message because squad leaders began barking out orders to their squads. Epsilon, James, take the one on the left, well take the right." Chief ordered. "Roger that." I stated. "Clear the deck and I can get inside and disable it that way." James stated over the coms. I flew down to about forty feet above the scarab deck. Brutes stood at the ready across the deck with spikers and brute shots at the ready and turrets manned all trained at the hornet. The started letting off rounds, all of them missing, but a few of them came a little too close. I fired rockets from the dual chaff pods mounted on top of the hornet, the ANVIL Rockets impacted with the deck of the scarab not affecting the scarab itself at all but taking a few of the brutes with it but ultimately scattering the rest. I opened up with the GUA-23/A Heavy Autocannons, the rounds rending flesh and limbs from bodies turned hunks of flesh and blood. The deck was cleared but there were obviously more inside. I flyby over the deck to make sure it was clear. "Get yourself sorted for a hard drop." I called out over the team com after determining that the deck was clear. I heard two bangs on the side of hornet's hull, the signal. I flew in low over the deck slower than last time and James jumped off the hornet, tucking and rolling as he hit the deck. I circled the deck once to make sure he landed safely; he gave me a thumbs up. I pulled back a safe distance and waited for him to signal for pick up. He entered the scarab which was still moving around and trying to land a lucky shot on the hornets in the dog fight above but not having much luck. "James status?" I asked through the com. "I'm setting the explosives now. It's on a timer so I'm going to need pick ASAP." He answered back. "Alright I'm moving in for extraction now; get yourself top side on the double." I ordered. I may not have been team leader but the current circumstances made you forget about stuff like that. James emerged from the interior of the scarab, climbing the ramp to the deck while taking fire from the crew. James began sprinting across the deck, plasma bolts and spiker rounds whizzing past him. "James, get down!" I ordered. He complied without hesitation, dolphin diving onto the deck and skidding a few feet. I flew the hornet down to about five feet from the deck and fired rockets from both chaff pods down the ramp and into the interior of the scarab. Whoever was firing their weapons at us is either dead or realized that they're going to need a bigger gun. I lowered the hornet down the rest of the way to the deck as James picked himself off of said deck. He took his place back on the hornet and I piloted us a safe distance away from the scarab. The scarab suddenly shuddered and alarms started to go off as it lowered itself to the ground, a vibrant explosion following suit. "Chief, the scarab is down, what's your status?" James asked while he watched the other scarab continue to try and shoot them out of the sky. "I'm moving to extract Moon Knight from the scarab now, standby." He stated. Sure enough, one of the hornets moved in close to the scarab and you could see Moon Knight climbing aboard it. They flew back to a safe distance to watch the explosion. Once that was over the banshee fighters were quickly taken care of due to their demoralization at the loss of two of their war machines. "Let's get down there and regroup with the Arbiter and kill ourselves a profit." Chief ordered. We flew our respective hornets down to the base of the ramp that led into the Ark's control room. We hoped off the hornets and two pilots hoped into them to take them to where ever they needed to, I didn't really care. We started up the ramp with weapons drawn, clips loaded, and the intention to kill a profit on every one's mind. At the top of the ramp, the Arbiter jumped out of a phantom with weapon drawn and a steely look in his alien eyes. "It ends here and now. The profit will die by my hand and mine alone. Are you with me?" He asked. "We've got your back. Now let's get in there." Chief replied. I didn't care who killed the profit as long as the bastard died and the universe didn't get obliterated. Spark, as we have taken to calling him much to his annoyance, activated the hard light bridge that lead into the control room. We began our walk across the bridge, each with thoughts on what was about to happen. The Arbiter obviously wanted revenge for the betrayal to the elites, but it seemed to be almost personal to him. Maybe they did something to him in the past. James I think just wanted this to end so that he could get some R and R after this was all over. I think we've all earned that much at least. Moon Knight was still too new to the team so I haven't gotten a chance to find out about his stance on this whole thing. Chief I honestly couldn't tell, the Spartan II's were always a tuff book to read, anybody could tell you that provided they've met one, but Chief was almost completely emotionless more so than most Spartan II's are. I was indifferent to the whole situation. The way I figured it, by the end of the day it was going to be over one way or another. If that means that we lost then we lost, at least you can't remember that you lost if you're dead, right? This may seem like a lousy thing to say but it wasn't wrong either. Sure I wanted to win, wanted to live, I mean who wouldn't. But even after this, if we win, what's next? Another mission, more training! I may be a Spartan, but that doesn't mean I like what I do. The point is, is either way, I don't have anything to look forward to after this, and that's why I'm indifferent to the whole situation. We finally reached the end of the bridge, it seems like it took forever to walk across it. The door opened up with a pneumatic hiss and we entered with our guns raised at eyed level scanning the room for any hostiles. Instead of being met with weapons fire we were only greeted by the empty silence that encompassed the room. We lowered out weapons but did not put them away completely in case of a brute stealth unit hiding out of sight. As we walked through the large room, monitors came to life and all around us was the profit's ugly alien face. "How could I know that the parasite would follow us hear. No matter, fear not my brothers and sisters for we walk the holy path to enlightenment." Up until now his face was the only thing that occupied the monitor's view screen, but he backed up and revealed Sergeant Major Johnson looking like he had been pummeled by giant ape(which was more than likely what had happened) sporting a black eye and more bruises to go with. We ran over to the elevator that would take us up to the control room's level and looked up the elevators shaft, it seemed to go on for a few miles straight up. "Chief, how close are you." Miranda called over the coms. "Chief looked up the shaft another time. "Not close enough." He stated bluntly. We began our ascent up the elevator shaft, checking over weapons and equipment one more time. We all knew that our equipment was in order and our weapons were loaded and ready but we still did it, Arbiter excluded,(he seemed to have enough discipline to keep his mind focused without methodically checking his gear) anyways to keep our minds from asking the what if questions. When the elevator reached the top of the shaft after what seemed like forever we walked off and looked out into the distance. About two miles or so, at the end of a walkway that doubled as a holographic display for the halo rings, was the control room. The Arbiter and Chief took a step forward but stopped suddenly when a large amount of flood jumped down from somewhere above. One of the forms, Tank, I think it was called started to speak to us. "Do not shoot but listen. Let me lead you safely to our foe. Only you can stop what he has set in motion." It said. Flood infection forms moved around our feet and out onto the walkway attacking the brutes and grunts. The tank form lumbered off to the fight and started to slaughter brutes and grunts with its massive arms. We all glanced at Chief. He looked at us and shrugged. "Let's just get to the control room.
After fighting through three sections of walkway we finally made it to the end. At the other end of a hard light bridge was the control room's firing console. The Profit of Truth lay slumped against it, not dead but close to. On the left side of the platform was a pelican that Miranda had crash landed into the control room in an effort to at least delay truth from firing the rings. Miranda herself however was cradled in the arms of Johnson who looked beaten and…broken? Not in a physical sense but emotionally. Miranda's death must have taken a serious toll on him. "Stop the rings, save the rest." He said as we walked past him. Chief and the Arbiter stepped up onto the platform, the Arbiter immediately seizing the profit by the throat and Chief training his gun on him. "Can't you see Arbiter, the moment of salvation is at hand." He tried. "It will not last." The Arbiter threatened. "Your kind never believed in the promise of the sacred rings." He continued, not fazed by the Arbiter's hostility. "Lies for the weak, beacons for the diluted. The profit stated in a voice that didn't belong to him. "I will have my revenge on a profit, not a plaque." The Arbiter stated while moving his energy sword closer to the profit's throat. "My feet tread the path. I shall become a god!" He yelled. "You will be fooled, nothing more." The other voice continued. Chief walked over to the control consol and pressed the button on it, deactivating it and the rings. "No!" The profit screamed trying to reach out in vain. "I AM TRUTH, VOICE OF THE COVEANANT. The Arbiter leaned in close and spoke in a low menacing tone that would scare the piss out of anyone. "And so, you must be silenced." He ran his energy sword through the profit's back and the double bladed sword tip emerged through his chest. With one dying yell, the Profit of Truth finally died, and by the Arbiters hand no less. He removed his sword from Truth, who slumped over dead, and let out a victorious yell that his kind was known for. We could hear the pelican's engines begin to start up. Just then the voice that spoke through Truth returned, but when he spoke the entire room seemed to shade. "Finally." It said. The pelican began to lift up into the air and circle the platform. "Chief, grab on!" Johnson ordered. The Arbiter and I grabbed onto one of the landing gear supports while Chief, James, and Moon knight grabbed onto the other. Just as we were about to fly through the hole in the glass wall, giant tentacles came up from somewhere under the platform and tried to swat the pelican out of the air. All they succeeded in doing was jostling the pelican causing Chief, James, and Moon Knight to fall back to the platform below. The Arbiter and I managed to keep out hold on the pelican's support strut. The Arbiter hauled himself into the pelican's interior and offered me a hand which I gladly accepted. Once he pulled me into the pelican we headed to the front to see Johnson struggling to maintain the pelican's altitude and slowly loosing. "Chief", he spoke into the com, "I can't hold her, I have to set her down." "We'll find our own way out." Chief stated. The pelican started to pitch forward heading out and away from the control room. Johnson managed to direct it towards the UNSC forces outside of the control room; however the pelican began to lose altitude before it could make it all the way. We landed about mile short of the UNSC forces, and by landed I mean crashed. We were all uninjured from the crash thankfully. We clambered out of the battered pelican's troop bay, the Arbiter going first, then me, and then Johnson with Miranda's body carried bridal style in his arms. The Arbiter and Johnson took seats on pieces of the pelican's wreckage while I walked about ten feet away from it. I took a flare from a pocket on my chest piece and flicked the top of it, activating the flare, and threw it away from the pelican. Hopefully, someone would be along shortly and pick us up. All we could do was sit and wait.
*Authors notes*
Sorry for the long wait, but I did hurry up and type this chapter in about a week or so. Lately my xbox has been acting up and school started up so there is that but it's not really a reason for me to not post stuff over the summer. Anyways, the offer to put your OC in this fic still stands, just PM me a bio through fanfiction or Email me at demonicalfox777 . As always reviews are welcomed and flames slightly less welcomed but welcomed all the same. This is DemonicalFox777 signing off.
