Chapter 4

The sound of plasma, a very distinct sound, could be heard from far off. It seemed to fill the air, even over the other oppressive sound of the 'Hog's engine. Or, worse, the oppressive silence. Matthew didn't show any outward signs of his feelings, a cocktail of worry, excitement and every feeling in between. On the surface: nothing. Not even Seraphim noticed the way his eyes constantly flickered over the horizon, even more than they should have been. The Banshees, or even Spirits, would give the Covenant forces away long before Matthew and Lynch got close.

"There." The word, coming suddenly from the soft-spoken technician, almost startled Matthew. He glanced up sharply, cursing himself for allowing him to lose focus. It hadn't been long, not long at all, and yet, here he was, losing control. If he was completely honest with himself, his control had been slipping for years, ever since his mission on the UNSC Artemis. Well, that was history, and he had to get his mind in the now.

Now that Matt was looking, however, he could see the flashes of blue light that could only mean one thing. Matt leaned harder on the gas, cast a glance down at the fuel gage, and readied himself for the fight to come. He had to be prepared, be the SPARTAN that he was. Think, SPARTAN. "Lynch, take the wheel," Matt ordered, not even waiting for her to answer before stopping the Warthog and sliding out, quickly climbing up behind the large gun loaded with the scarce supply of ammunition. He knew that they wouldn't have much ammo left, and with the fuel level, this was going to be the 'Hog's last ride. At least it would go down in glory.

After Lynch had begun their approach, Matt could better see the structure. It was a tall building, thick near the bottom but thin near the top. The building had the shape of a square horseshoe, like a rectangle missing one end, from this angle, he could only partially see the open end, but it seemed to him that the only way into the building had to be from that direction, which explained why that was the direction of the Covenant's attack. A ledge did run all the way around the building, but too high to be accessible. It was the perfect fortress.

There, now he could see better the enemy vehicles, and the small streaks of light that represented UNSC return fire. That was good; it meant the group hadn't yet died. On the other hand, a pair of banshees, three ghosts, and a wraith still stood between Matt and the marines. With amazing accuracy, he opened up the LAAG chaingun on the banshees, the biggest threat that he could actually do something about. Not that the wraith wasn't a threat, but by the time he destroyed the thing with his machine gun, those flyers would have his 'Hog torn to shreds.

One went down quickly, even from the range of about three hundred meters, but the second one saw his partner drop and began avoiding the shots, spinning so that it was facing the jeep. Because most of the armor was located on the front, his attack was a lot less effective, giving the banshee time to fire. And it did. He was jerked to the side as Lynch sweved, avoiding the hail of plasma fire that had begun. Only a corner of his mind registered that the wraith had turned, and was now settling its sights on the warthog.

With his target aligned again, he pulled the trigger, the shower of bullets finally inflicting critical damage. The small purple vehicle spiraled out of the sky, but Matt didn't have time to enjoy the view, as he was once again thrown to the side from Lynch's wild maneuvers. She acted just in time, as a large blob of plasma crashed down behind them, close enough for Matt's shields to flare for a moment. The warthog pitched up on to the front two wheels, then crashed back to the ground. No time to be thankful, though, as the three ghosts now vectored toward the incoming warthog.

From the structure a single spot of light emerged, trailing lazily in the direction of the Covenant forces. It intersected with the trailing Ghost, its operator never even seeing what hit him. An explosion marked the moment of impact, and Matt almost smiled under his helmet. Sometimes, marines weren't a burden. Only sometimes. Lynch swerved again, a habit that was getting on Matt's nerves.

The so far long range battle turned short range, as the two ghosts opened up on the jeep, forcing Lynch to duck as plasma melted the window shield. Matt quickly fired on the ghosts, causing them to scatter, and he turned right to track the leader. The alien was good, though, skillfully avoiding his shots. With nothing to warn him, there was an explosion to his left, loud but distant. It wasn't enough to distract the SPARTAN, but it was enough to distract his alien foe, who went down after only a moment of hesitation.

Before he could orient himself to the last Ghost's location, three flashed lit up his shielding. A soft beeping erupted in his head as his shield reported that it was low, dangerously low. As fast at the gun swiveled, Matt turned, pulling the trigger long before he was even aligned with the alien. Two more shots of plasma, but both of those hit the shield mounted on the turret, and his gun finally aligned on the target. Bullets plowed into the front of the Ghost, but he was running low on ammunition and the thing was armored.

Matt trained his weapon on one of the little wings the purple hovercraft had, blowing it off quickly. The craft swerved as one of its stabilizers suddenly stopped working, enough so that Matt could actually see the pilot. The alien was only a grunt, and it took three rounds to kill off the little alien. It would have been more, but at that moment, his gun stopped firing. Without bothering to rotate the turret, he turned to see if the Wraith was still attacking. It was a shock to see that the Wraith was so much scrap; a pleasing shock.

Though all the enemies in the area had been eliminated, he still didn't relax.