The Ark

by Cossacks250

The Covenant controls Earth, the UNSC is scattered and almost completely annihilated and the Flood is preparing to spread outwards. Our only hope to save us and the galaxy is Eve. It's time to finish to the fight! Some OC's.

4. Crow's Nest

The pelican flew over the trees with ease. They had passed out of the area they knew was crawling with Covenant and were heading to the base known as 'Crow's Nest'.

They had only left the dam about four minutes ago but throughout the entire journey, the Arbiter had noticed Eve had been very quiet. He was thinking it was because she was still shocked because he saved her from being killed by a phantom's turret that exploded on the dam.

However, the Arbiter had gotten it wrong. Eve was quiet because of Auto. The last time she was on a pelican was he was still with here. Eve stared out at the passing jungle, taking in It's beauty. She just prayed that Auto would suddenly show up and come back to here, but she knew it was never going to be that simple. He was stuck on High Charity that was… God knows how far away and now most likely a dwelling for the almighty Flood. Who knows what he must be going through right now.

"Alright, we're coming into the base now," came John's voice from the cog pit.

A few seconds later, the pelican descended towards the jungle. Eve watched the scenery change from tree tops and a blue sky to green everywhere she looked. The pelican descended through a large opening, that was just big enough to allow the pelican to fit between it, cut out into a small rock hill. What made the gap slightly smaller was a small building the shape of a parallelogram's side. There was a large window on the front and on the sides of the building. Two workers were visible standing behind a control panel inside the building along the front window.

"Sorry for the tight squeeze," a voice said from the pelican's radio, which Eve could also hear from her ear radio.

"Commander, your ace is in the hole,"

"Perfect," came a woman's voice.

It was Mary. So she had survived Tartarus as well, but how did she, along with John and the Arbiter, get back to Earth?

The pelican descended further into the base until it was hovering above a large square shaped platform with four pathways leading off from the four corners of the platform. The landing gears unfolded themselves and touched down on the platform, bringing the craft to a halt. The engines shut off immediately.

The marines of the pelican stepped down onto the platform. Two marines rushed out from one of the corridors with a gurney. John and one of the marines that had just got off the pelican placed the injured marine on the gurney. The two marines then wheeled him off back into the corridor they had just come from.

Eve and the Arbiter stepped off of the pelican onto the platform. Eve looked around and saw several marines in groups of two to four sitting on or leaning against some large crates. Some marines had blood stained bandages on their arms, legs or heads. One had a bandage round his chest and over the whole left side of his head. Probably a plasma grenade.

A group of marines, who were wrapping a bandage round a comrade's arm whilst he was lying down on a large box after having another bandage, that was also blood stained, wrapped around his eyes, nearby noticed Eve.

"Hey, check it out," one of them said, nodding his head over to Eve.

The second marine looked to where his friend gestured and saw Eve.

"No way!" he exclaimed. "It's Eve!"

"For real?" the wounded marine piped up all of a sudden, shooting up on the crate as if he had received an electric shock. "You better not be kidding me,"

"No, man," the second marine said. "She's here! We're gonna be alright,"

Eve and the Arbiter joined the squad as they walked over to the pathway leading off from the top right corner of the platform that went past the parallelogram's side shaped structure built into the rock wall of the pit. A small pathway came off the right side of the one the squad was on and went towards a small doorway on the side of the parallelogram structure.

"Where did you find her?" came a woman's voice from their right.

Eve and the Arbiter looked and saw a young woman with brown hair, brown eyes and looked to be in her mid twenties walking towards them from the pathway that led from the parallelogram structure. It was Mary.

"We found her napping out back," John replied as Mary approached them.

"I'll bet," Mary said, holding up her hand. "It's good to have you back, Eve,"

"Likewise, Ma'am," Eve replied, shaking Mary's hand.

The four joined the squad as they walked into a small tunnel and through a doorway into a metal corridor with smaller corridors leading off both left and right. Wounded marines and medics lined the corridor. The squad split up into different corridors, leaving the four alone.

Eve looked helplessly at these soldiers. They had been fighting hard and she had not been here to help them. She felt really guilty. She should not have left Earth. Then again, she had been launched into slip space rupture with Regret's ship, which she knew was not her fault but still… She just still felt really guilty for not being here to help her fellow comrades when they need her.

"So what's happened while I've been gone?" she asked, hoping to take her mind off the marines but it was hard to do so.

"The prophet of Truth's ships breached the Lunar perimeter." Mary explained. "Smashed what was left of the Home Fleet. Only the Cairo and about seven other ships are all that's left of Earth's space defences."

"What about the casualties?" Eve asked.

"The casualties in both UNSC marines and civilians were…"

Mary was suddenly cut off when two marines rushed by with another gurney. The squad moved aside to allow the gurney to pass. Eve only managed to catch a glimpse of a wounded marine with a heavily blood stained bandage around his chest and neck before the gurney turned left into another corridor and disappeared from sight. Again, another wave of guilt swept over her. That was another marine that had been wounded and that Eve was not around to help.

"Extreme," Mary continued as the group moved on down the corridor. "Truth could have landed anywhere but instead of attacking separate landing zones like Regret did, he committed all his forces here. East Africa. They glassed New Mombassa. And then, they started digging,"

"What about Halo?" Eve asked as the squad turned right towards a flight of stairs.

"We stopped it, but only temporarily," Mary answered.

The squad walked up the flight of stairs into a large half circular, half rectangular shaped room with a large computer screen the size of a pelican's resting area on the stone wall of the room. Scattered around the room were several control panels and holographic screens. A few marines were working on portable computers placed on a few large crates. Behind the four was a raised section of the room that led to a doorway on the back wall of the room. Several wounded marines were lined up along the walls of this room as well. The room was lit up by a series of large lights hanging from the ceiling and walls.

"Now the Prophet of Truth is looking for something called 'The Ark'. From there, he'll be able to fire all the Halo rings. If he succeeds, Humanity, the Covenant, every being in the Galaxy…"

"The rings will kill us all," Eve finished the sentence.

"Ma'am, I have Lord Hood," a nearby worker on a control panel said.

"Patch him through," Mary ordered.

The worker nodded and pressed a button on the control panel. The enormous computer screen lit up with a large platform with a control panel in the background. A tall elderly man, in his late 50's/early 60's was standing in the middle of the computer screen. He was dressed in a white high ranking UNSC navy uniform. It was Lord Hood.

"Good news, Commander McCrea?" he asked.

"As good as it gets, sir," Mary replied. "We've managed to get Eve back,"

"That's excellent." Hood said. "We're not out of the game yet. You okay, Eve?" he asked her.

"Yes sir," Eve answered.

"Good," Hood said. "Now, Eve, the commander's come up with a good plan. But without your help, I wasn't sure we were going to be able to pull it off,"

"Truth's ship's are clustered over the excavation site," Mary explained to Eve. "His infantry have deployed anti-air batteries around the perimeter. But if we can destroy at least one of the batteries, punch a hole in Truth's defences…"

"I'll initiate a low-level strike," Hood took over the explaining. "I only have four ships left, Eve. And one of them is needed to defend the Cairo. It's a big risk, but I'm confident-"

Suddenly, the whole room went pitch black. The lights and the computer screen had shut off.

"Ah, hell! Not again!" Eve heard a worker growl.

"Get the emergency generators up and running," Mary ordered.

"Hang on, ma'am, I can't see," another worker's voice said. "Shielding failed. They're down and charging,"

"As soon as the generators are up, re-establish contact with Lord Hood." Mary ordered. "Tell him that-"

Suddenly, the room lit up again, only this time it came from the large computer screen. Eve could see the silhouette's of the Arbiter, John, Mary and few other workers and marines around the room. However, on the computer screen, it was not Lord Hood. It was an alien dressed in robes, had a crown on his head and was sitting in a hover chair.

It was Truth.

"You are, all of you, vermin!" he said. His voice was really hoarse, probably because Eve had kicked him in the throat when she was on his ship. "Cowering in the dirt, thinking what, I wonder? That you might escape the coming fire? No. Your world will burn until It's surface is but glass and not even your demon will live to creep, blackened from It's hole to mar the reflection of our passage… the culmination of our Great Journey. And I intend to do so with the keys of the Journey. For example, this."

Truth lowered his robed arm and an object slid down from underneath the robe into his hand. He held it up to show the people in the base. It was a light blue diamond shaped crystal.

Eve gasped and squeezed her shoulder. She waited but nothing came up.

"That son of a bitch!" she exclaimed, causing everyone in the room to look at her. "He took from the crystal from me!"

"As I was saying, your destruction is the will of the Gods!" Truth continued. "And I? I am their instrument!"

As soon as Truth finished speaking, the computer screen shut off, darkening the room once again. A second later, the lights turned back on, lighting up the room again.

"Bastard," John said, shaking his head slightly. "Just loves to run his mouth,"

"I take it he usually mentions me," Eve said to Mary, who replied with a nod.

"Why does his voice sound hoarse?" the Arbiter asked.

"Let's just say I stowed away on his ship and my foot had a word with his throat," Eve answered.

"Alert the base, " she said to a nearby worker. "We're evacuating,"

"Why, what's going to happen, Ma'am?" another nearby worker asked.

"We're about to get hit," Mary answered. "All wounded, get them to the hanger and get them out of here,"

All the workers in the room looked up at Mary. They could not believe she had ordered the evacuation they never thought would happen. I mean, they knew the base would be found but… the amount of personal wounded and killed… they had not been expecting it.

"What are waiting for?" Mary half-shouted at the workers. "Put the base on alert and get everyone out of here,"

"You heard her, marines," a nearby squad captain said.

The workers immediately got back to working on their control panels or portable computers. They were given their orders and they were going to follow them if it was to bring humanity one step closer to defeating the Covenant or save the lives of their comrades.

"Looks like you'll be fighting our friends again, Eve," Mary said to her.

"Nothing new there," Eve replied.

"Ma'am," a nearby worker said. Mary looked at him. "Our squad leaders are requesting a rallying point. Where should they go?"

Mary reached onto the side of the belt and took out a M6C pistol. She cocked it, allowing the ammunition inside to click into place.

"To war," Mary said, gazing down her pistol.

A nearby worker slammed the control panel he was working at. He was working on was a small computer screen built into the control panel. The image had a CCTV camera's view of a corridor with a steel door at the end. It was starting to go fuzzy.

"We might lose the security camera's in sector 4, ma'am," the worker said to Mary as she walked over.

BOOM! An explosion was heard from the screen. The worker and Mary looked and saw that the steel door was now engulfed in a cloud of smoke. Then, a light blue blast shot out of the cloud of smoke down the corridor. A second later, a large figure wearing teal green armour ran into the corridor. A Brute. The Brute looked up at the camera, growled and fired a shot at the camera's screen. The image went fuzzy and then turned black. In red letters the words Connection lost appeared across the screen.

The worker swore under his breath and pounded the control panel with his fist.

"The Covenant have entered the base," he said. "At this rate, we'll have a few minutes unless we can hold 'em off,"

"Ma'am, we've got reports of Covenant forces entering in the warthog bay," another nearby worker warned.

"Alright," Mary announced, turning to Eve. "Eve, I need you to help the marines in the warthog bay,"

"What about John and the Arbiter?" Eve asked.

"We'll be alright, Eve," John answered. "Me and the Arbiter will guard the Ops centre. The entrance to the warthog bay is downstairs,"

Eve nodded and ran towards the staircase. A marine holding an assault rifle was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs in the corridor Eve ran down the stairs to the bottom.

"Follow me, Eve," he said.

The marine ran right down the corridor; Eve followed. The two ran down the corridor and turned left through a doorway into a large square shaped room with weapons placed on a few boxes and stood up in weapon racks scattered around the room. Another steel door was on the opposite wall of the room. Eve ran over to a nearby crate and picked up a battle rifle. The marine ran over to the other end of the door and opened it; Eve followed.

The two found themselves in a large dug out cave-like room with several rock pillars going up from a raised section of the ground to the ceiling. A few small metal pathways were leading up from the ground in front of Eve to the raised section of the dug out room. At the back of the room, also at the highest point of the raised section of the dug out room, was a small concrete bunker which was shaped like a half-hexagon. A small doorway was in the middle of the front of the bunker. Two long windows ran went along the middle of the bunker to the ends where the concrete of the bunker met the stone of the wall.

Several marines were scattered around the room. Two were working on setting up a deployable machine gun on the ground next to one of the rock pillars that perfectly overlooked the doorway into the dug out room.

"Get those turrets up," a nearby sergeant commanded to a group of marines. "Watch your field of fire,"

Eve and the marine ran up the pathway past the marines.

"How do you think they found the base?" a nearby marine asked.

"Probably smelled you, man," another marine suggested.

"Hey, bite me. I'm sick of hiding anyways," the first marine said.

Suddenly, the cave shook slightly, causing a small cloud of dust to fall from the ceiling. One of the marines breathed in deeply as if praying the ceiling would not collapse. If it did, then everyone in this cave would be dead.

Eve and the marine ran through the doorway into the bunker. At the end on the back wall of the building was another steel door. The two ran towards the door. It opened as they approached it, revealing a metal circle shaped room with some kind of fan-like surfaced floor and a huge pillar going through the middle of the room. Another corridor led off to the right. Eve and the marine ran down the corridor. When they were half-way down it, Eve's ear radio crackled to life, causing her and the marine to stop.

"Eve?" came Mary's voice. "Good this channel is clear," she continued before Eve could reply. "My fire teams are spread thin. We can't hold out forever. We've got reports of Covenant in the hanger. I need you to clear it for evac,"

Eve placed a finger on the radio in her ear.

"Roger that, Mary," she said.

Suddenly, a loud noise filled the corridor. Eve lowered her hand and raised her battle rifle. She cautiously walked down the corridor towards another smaller corridor that led off left from the one she and the marine were in. As she got closer to the smaller corridor, she could hear the same noise again, only this time it was slightly louder and seemed continuous. What the hell was it?

"What the hell is that?" the marine asked as he peeked his head out from behind the side of the corner of the wall to look down the corridor.

At the end of the smaller corridor was another steel door. The marine raised his weapon and walked down the corridor towards the end. Eve followed him. As the two came closer to the door, they could now hear voices shouting and screams that did not sound Human.

"Get ready," the marine said to Eve, looking over his shoulder at her. "They're most likely on the other side of this door."

Eve nodded and gripped her battle rifle tighter. The marine stepped closer to the door and reached out to press a button on the wall that would open it. Eve breathed in. What she or the marine did know was how many Covenant were on the other side of the door and what type they were? Hopefully, they were not anything like Brutes or Drones.

The marine pressed the button on the wall. A loud unlocking-like sound filled the corridor. The door swung open.

As soon as the door had opened, Eve and the marine were hit with a wave of destruction. A warthog with a machine gun was been parked a few metres in front of the door in a long tunnel that was well over a hundred feet long and turned left at the end. There was a marine manning the turret of the warthog and he was firing away down the tunnel. Another marine was sitting in the passenger seat of the warthog and was firing bursts of ammo from his battle rifle down the tunnel. Eve and the marine ran into the tunnel.

BOOM! An explosion threw the two to the floor. Eve groaned as she got up to see the warthog remains crash into the wall a few metres behind where it had just been. Whatever that was, it must have been powerful. The marine lying on the floor in front of her groaned as he lifted himself up.

"Thanks, Eve," he said as she helped him up.

"There she is! Kill the demon!" a deep voice shouted.

Eve and the marine looked down the tunnel. Apart from the many barricades, piles of boxes and large trucks that had their wheels and parts of their vehicle missing, there was a squad of seven Grunts running up the tunnel. Leading them was a Brute wearing teal green armour. In his hand was the deadly spiker weapon.

The Brute raised his weapon and fired a barrage of orange spikes down the tunnel towards the two Humans. Eve dived to the floor, pulling the marine down with her. Both narrowly missed the spikes as they flew over their heads and hit the back wall of the tunnel. Eve quickly fired a burst of ammo at the Brute. The creature roared in pain as the bullets broke through his armour, causing small sparks of electricity to crackle across his skin as if he were a robot being short-circuited.

"Die bad guys!" one of the Grunts shouted.

One of the grunts took out a plasma grenade, lit it and threw it down the tunnel towards Eve and the marine. Eve saw it coming swung her battle rifle at the device as it was just inches away. The grenade soared through the air back towards the Covenant squad.

"RUN AWAY! SAVE YOURELVES!" one of the Grunts screamed as it turned and ran up the tunnel waving It's arms in the air in terror.

The grenade landed on the Brute as it was trying to recover from the damage done by the bullets on his armour. The brute screamed and tried to pull the plasma grenade off him. BOOM! The plasma grenade exploded, killing the Brute.

"They got leader!" another of the grunts squeaked. "Run away!"

The remaining Grunts turned and ran down the tunnel. Eve and the marine ran down the tunnel after them. When the two were about half-way down the tunnel, they saw the Grunts run through a doorway on the left wall of the tunnel about ten feet ahead. Eve raised her battle rifle and ran over to the doorway, pressing her back up against the wall. The marine did the same next to her.

Eve stepped closer to the doorway so she was now literally on the corner of the wall. She peeked her head out from behind the wall to see a long steel corridor about thirty feet long with a corridor leading both left and right at the end, but there was one thing that concerned Eve. Where were the Grunt?

"Whoa!" Eve exclaimed as she moved her head back behind the wall.

That was close. She had just narrowly avoided a purple laser that had shot down the corridor towards her. It was only her quick reactions that had saved her from being severely injured, even with her suit's shield, or worse… she could have died.

"Great," she growled. "Now there's a Jackal down there with a beam rifle."

A loud screech erupted from the corridor. A second later, Eve heard light footfalls gradually getting louder. The Grunts.

Then, an idea popped into Eve's head.

"Quick, behind the barricade," Eve ordered.

The marine ran over to the barricade with Eve and hid behind it. Eve quickly peeked her head out from behind the barricade just in time to see the first few Grunts run out of the corridor into the tunnel. One of them looked around, searching for the two.

"Bad guys disappeared," it squeaked to It's comrades.

Perfect! They had lost sight of them. Now Eve and the marine had to strike quickly. Hopefully, the Grunts being slaughtered would cause the Jackals to run up the corridor. They would be easy targets. All Eve had to worry about her idea going wrong.

As the last of the Grunts ran out of the corridor, Eve and the marine aimed their weapons out from behind the barricade and fired. The tunnel was filled with the screams of dying Grunts as they fell one after the other. Within a few seconds, all seven Grunts were lying dead on the floor.

Eve ran out from behind the barricade towards the doorway. As she reached it, two Jackals suddenly ran out from the corridor into the tunnel. They screeched as they saw Eve and the marine but before they could react, Eve and the marine fired at the two creatures, killing them both.

"Let's hope that's the last of them," Eve said.

Eve ran over to the doorway and peeked her head out from behind the wall to look down the corridor. It was clear but that was on first sight. There were probably more Covenant waiting at the other end. Eve raised her battle rifle and stepped into the corridor. The marine followed her in, his weapon also raised. The two had their fingers resting on the triggers of their weapons. If any Covenant tired to ambush them, then they would be able to kill them.

After a few tense seconds, Eve and the marine reached the end of the corridor. Now which way where they to go? One of these ways must lead to the hanger but which one? Eve looked right but saw the way blocked by a pile of rubble that had once been the ceiling and side walls of the corridor. So left it was.

Eve and the marine ran left down the corridor towards another large circular shaped room with a fan-like surfaced floor and a tall pillar sticking up to the ceiling in the middle of the room. When Eve and the marine reached the room, they saw another corridor leading off to right. The two ran down this corridor towards the end.

Suddenly, Eve skidded to a halt. She held out an arm, stopping the marine as well.

"What is it?" the marine asked her.

"Listen," Eve said, raising her finger as if she could summon what she had just heard. "There's something going on up ahead,"

The two kept quiet like statues. A second later, a loud faint boom filled the corridor. Even though it was faint, it was loud enough to raise suspicion. What was it?

"Are the hangers nearby?" Eve asked the marine, who replied with a nod.

"Up ahead," he said. "Follow me,"

The marine ran past Eve down the corridor; Eve followed. When they reached the end, they turned left into another smaller corridor. The noise came again, stopping Eve and the marine, only this time it was louder. They must be getting closer to the hanger. The marine continued on down the corridor with Eve behind him. They turned right into another small corridor. They stopped dead.

Ahead of them was a doorway that led into a large room. However, a large wall blocked most of the view of the room. All the two could see was a small stairway on the left leading up onto the wall.

Suddenly, a loud high-pitched scream erupted from the room. It sounded like a Grunt. No sooner than a second passed before a deep voice shouted out, followed by the sound of plasma firing. A man from somewhere in the room shouted and the sound of gunfire erupted, filling the corridor with noise like thunder.

Eve ran past the marine towards the room; the marine followed. When the two entered the room, they found themselves on a small raised floor of concrete about ten feet above the main metal floor of a large hanger that was about one hundred feet long and about fifty feet high. The wall next to the two was actually the bottom wall of a large command centre-like building with a glass window along the front and sides of the building. The stairwell led up to a doorway on the side of the building. Two stairwells led down to the metal floor from the raised sections of floor. Next to them was a small sandbag wall a deployable machine gun turret sticking out over the top. For the top twenty feet of the right wall of the hanger was a large dug out hole with metallic hooks holding onto the flying vehicles known as pelicans. Along the concrete pathways that ran along both sides of the metal floor to the end of the hanger were several openings that led underneath the metal floor.

Another loud scream caught the two's attention. Suddenly, a Grunt came running out from behind the wall, waving It's arms around in terror. Then, a burst of gunfire filled the hanger, followed by a scream. The Grunt fell forward onto the floor, dead. Two marines ran out from behind the wall. They stopped when they saw Eve.

"Oh, Eve," one of them said as she and the marine ran over to them. "Thank God you're here,"

"Are you guys okay?" she asked the marine.

"Just barely," he answered. "We've only been able to hold them off. For the moment, they're outta here but they keep coming from the battle cruiser,"

The marine pointed out of the hanger entrance ahead of them. Eve walked past the marine, who along with comrades, ran up the stairwell into the building. Eve walked down he stairwell that led from the raised concrete floor to the metal floor. She passed several bodies of dead Covenant and marines. The fighting here must have been quick but brutal.

As Eve walked across the metal floor towards the end of the hanger, a large shape slowly became visible. It was two spires connected to a large craft of some kind. As Eve got closer to the hanger entrance, the craft came into full view. It was a Covenant CCS Battle cruiser. In the air not far from the ship, about halfway between it and the hanger were large numbers of Covenant fighters engaged in dogfights with a group of UNSC craft Eve had never seen before. So the carrier was most likely where the Covenant were coming from. At least the UNSC fighters were keeping the banshees at bay, otherwise this evacuation could quickly turn into a disaster.

"EVE WATCH OUT!"

Suddenly, a large shape blocked out Eve's peripheral vision. Whilst she had been looking at the carrier and the dogfight raging in the sky, a phantom had flown into the hanger. The three enormous canons aimed at Eve as if they had eyes. Eve ran back towards the raised concrete floor at the other end of the hanger. A barrage of red blasts flew at her. One narrowly missed her as it flew in front of her and hit the hanger wall.

"AAAAHHH!"

Eve fell to the floor as a blast hit her in the back. Her suit's shield lit up and disappeared. Eve groaned as she got up. Her suit's holographic meter appeared above her wrist. The level was in the bar was empty and blinking red. The sound of metal moving drew Eve's attention, she turned over to see one of the turret's aiming down at her. Oh no. Her shield was still empty. One more blast was all that was needed to finish her off for good now.

Suddenly, a barrage of gunfire exploded in the room. The turret aimed up towards the other end of the hanger and fired another barrage of blasts. Eve quickly got up and ran back up the stairwell and dived behind one of the sandbag walls, narrowly avoiding hitting her head on the turret that was placed behind the sandbag wall. She saw the other marines, two of who were hiding behind the other sandbag wall next to the other stairwell and the third using the doorway of the building as cover, firing at the phantom. Their weapons would not be enough to destroy the craft's turrets. She was going to have to help them, but how?

Wait! The deployable turret's. Eve was right next to one. Surely it would be enough to destroy the turrets. Hopefully they would.

Eve moved behind the turret, setting her own weapon down, and placed one hand on the turret's trigger and the main section of the turret. She aimed the weapon over at the nearest turret, the one that had almost killed her, and pressed down on the trigger.

A barrage of bullets flew out at the phantom's turrets. They pounded hard on the armour. Sparks flew from the turret as the barrage finally broke through and hit the internal wiring and power cores inside the turret. The enormous gun aimed over at her but as another blast quickly formed up, which Eve could see happening through the hole she had made…

BOOM! The turret exploded and broke into large chunks as it fell off the turret onto the floor. The phantom immediately reared backwards like a creature being struck a terrible blow. However, it showed no sign of flying out of the hanger. Then, the sides of the phantom opened up and squad of Grunts jumped out of both sides of the craft onto the floor. Following close behind both squads were two Brutes wearing teal green armour and armed with plasma rifles.

"Kill them!" one of the Brutes shouted as it landed on the metal floor of the hanger.

The Covenant squad opened fire on the marines and Eve. The phantom reared backwards towards the hanger entrance. When it was outside the hanger, the craft turned and flew off into the sky, disappearing from sight.

Eve pressed down on the deployable machine gun's trigger, causing another barrage of bullets to fly at the Covenant squad. Two of the Grunts were hit and yelled loudly as they flipped backwards onto their stomachs, dead. One of the Brutes growled and fired a barrage of light blue blasts at Eve. However, the sandbag wall protected her from most of the blasts. Those that did manage to get past the sandbags either hit the wall or the turret. Eve aimed the turret at the Brute and fired. The bullets easily broke through the little armour the Brute was wearing and, after a few seconds, he fell backwards onto the floor, dead.

"THEY GOT LEADER!" one of the Grunts screamed. "RUN AWAY!"

The Grunt turned and ran towards the entrance of the hanger. However, the other Brute grabbed the Grunt by the throat and growled something before he threw him into one of the hanger walls. The Grunt slid down onto the floor and lay still.

"Kill them you whelps!" the Brute commanded to the remaining Grunts.

The Grunts obeyed and fired a barrage of blasts from their weapon at the marines and Eve. The Brute took out a small plasma grenade and pressed down on the orange thunderbolt. The device lit up in the Brute's hand. He threw it into the air straight towards Eve. She saw it coming and dived away from the turret.

BOOM! The plasma grenade landed on the turret and exploded. Eve looked back and saw the turret, along with her weapon, was now completely destroyed. Well that was great! She had no weapon-

Wait a minute! There was the other turret next to the other stairwell. She could use that to fight the Covenant. Eve stood up and ran off the stairwell and across the raised concrete floor towards the other stairwell. The Covenant squad fired on her. Thankfully, the blasts missed her and hit the wall.

Finally, Eve reached the turret, which she dived the last few feet to. She manned the turret, aimed it and fired. Another barrage of bullets flew out at the Covenant squad. She hit and killed two Grunts. The Brute growled and fired up at Eve. She ducked, narrowly missing the blasts as they flew over her head and hit the wall behind her. However, the marines saw the Brute had been distracted. They fired a barrage of bullets at him. They easily broke through his armour and embedded themselves in his skin. The brute roared loudly before he fell backwards onto the floor, dead.

"LEADER DEAD!" one of the remaining Grunts screamed. "RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"

The Grunts turned and ran towards the hanger entrance. The marines raised their weapons and fired at the fleeing Grunts. Four loud screams filled the air. All the Grunts had been hit and now lay on the floor, dead.

"Is that the last of them?" Eve asked herself as she stood up and scanned the hanger.

She got her answer when her hearing picked up a familiar whirring noise. Oh no! There were more of them coming, and judging by the defeat of the first drop of Covenant troops, there was going to be more than one coming this time.

"More of them are coming," she shouted to the marines.

"Oh great," one of the marines replied, groaning. "We were only just able to hold one wave off,"

Eve sighed. He was right. They had almost lost this battle with the Covenant, and that was only with two squads of Grunts and both being led by a Brute. Who knows what was coming this time.

Eve shook her head. Oh come on! She had been through worse and so had the marines… However, there was a big difference. She had a bodysuit with a shield. The marines did not, and because of that whenever they were in really bad situations when fighting the Covenant they were the ones that were getting hurt or killed, not her.

"Here they come!" one of the marines shouted all of a sudden.

Eve snapped back into reality and looked back towards the hanger entrance. Another phantom was hovering inside the hanger, and it was not alone. Behind it was another. Both were probably full to bursting with Covenant troops. This was not good at all.

Eve quickly manned the turret and fired a barrage of bullets at the two enormous craft as they hovered closer. One of the turrets on the first phantom aimed towards Eve but the constant barrage broke through the weapon's armour and caused it to fall off the craft. The craft reared back slightly and ended up hitting the front of the phantom behind it. Eve smiled. Maybe this was not going to be too bad.

That thought was quickly put out of her mind when the sides of the two crafts opened up. However, this time it was not Grunts or Brutes that left the crafts to fight. It was two enormous aliens Eve and the marines knew very well. They were Hunters.

The Hunter from the second phantom ran over to It's partner as the two phantom reared backwards towards the hanger entrance and flew off into the sky when they were outside.

The two Hunters aimed their cannons at their enemies ahead of them. Eve saw what was coming.

"GET DOWN!" she screamed.

The next thing she knew, the room seemed to explode all around her as two enormous green lasers flew out of the Hunters' cannons towards her and the marines. Eve dived to the floor. Loud crashing and explosions filled the room. It looked as though the Hunters were preparing to cave in the hanger regardless that they could be killed as well.

After a few seconds, the lasers stopped. Eve groaned as she looked up at the Hunters through a gap in the sandbag wall caused by one of the lasers. She saw the two enormous creatures standing there with their laser still aimed at where they had just been firing. Eve looked at where the turret was and, miraculously, saw it was still intact.

Eve quickly and quietly, pulled herself over to the turret, keeping an eye on the Hunters, who, for the moment, had not spotted her. When Eve reached the turret, she used it to help lift herself onto her knees and then aimed it at the Hunters. Her finger on the trigger, she press down.

A barrage of gunfire exploded in the room. One of the Hunters was hit repeatedly in the face and the stomach weak spot in the gap between the chest and groin armour pieces until it fell to the floor, dead. The other Hunter growled. Eve went wide-eyed and gulped. It was good she had killed one of the Hunters, but she knew it was bad killing one Hunter when there was a pair of them. The other Hunter suddenly charged towards Eve. Eve panicked and dived away from the turret as the Hunter swung It's enormous metal sword at where she had just been. The sword easily broke through the sandbag wall and tore apart the turret as if it were paper. The Hunter growled again at missing It's enemy and charged up the staircase. Eve saw the incoming threat and dived off the stairwell onto the concrete floor, narrowly missing another swipe by the Hunter's metal sword.

Eve got up from the floor and ran across the concrete floor to the stairwell that led up to the hanger's building. However, when she reached it, she saw the entire stairwell had been blown apart and the remains were lying in a pile on the floor below where the stairwell would have been. On the top of the pile of rubble were the bodies of three dead marines. Next to them were their weapons. Eve sighed sadly. Like always in war, survivors of near death causes feel guilty for those who were not as lucky as they were.

A loud growl attracted Eve's attention. The Hunter! Eve grabbed hold of the battle rifle of one of the marines and ran down the stairwell to the metal floor. The Hunter saw her and charged full speed towards her, raising It's metal sword. Eve saw the coming danger and sprinted along the concrete pathway that went along the side of the metal floor. The Hunter chased after her. Eve looked over her shoulder and saw the creature chasing after her. She had to do something or she was as good as dead.

Then an idea popped into her head. It was dangerous and had a very little chance of working but it was better than running around.

When Eve was about half-way down the concrete pathway, with the Hunter literally a few feet behind her, Eve dived through one of the openings that led underneath the metal floor, narrowly missing another swipe from the Hunter's metal sword. Eve breathed a sigh of relief as she stood up. The gap was too small for the Hunter to fit through so, for the moment, was safe. Eve looked up and watched the enormous figure of the Hunter run across the metal floor as if it were trying to find Eve. All Eve had to do was wait by one of the gaps and then when the Hunter had It's back facing her, she could fire on the weak spot and kill it- Wait a minute. The Hunter had stopped just a few feet from being directly above her. What was it doing?

CRASH! The metal sword of the creature suddenly broke through the metal floor before being pulled out, leaving an enormous hole Eve could easily pull herself up through. Eve watched as the Hunter raised It's arm cannon. A green colour began to charge up inside it. Eve ran from the hole as the sound of a laser firing filled the room. The hole where the Hunter stuck It's metal sword was suddenly made bigger as the laser cut through the metal and even left a scorch mark on the floor below. Eve ran towards one of the openings. The Hunter was distracted, though it had not worked in the way she had suspected. Never mind that now. She had to kill I-

BANG! A barrage of gunfire exploded in the room, followed by a loud growl and then a thud. What the hell had happened? Eve ran out from underneath the metal floor to see a group of marines standing on the concrete floor. One of them noticed Eve.

"You okay, Eve?" he shouted over to her.

"Yeah, thanks," Eve replied.

A large shape suddenly hovered out from the opening in the right wall above Eve. She looked up and saw it was one of the pelicans. The craft hovered out of the opening before turning so the front was facing the hanger entrance. The craft lowered down towards the metal floor. The landing gears unfolded themselves and touched down, bringing the craft's descent to a halt.

"Command centre, this is private Thompson," one of the marines said as he ran towards the pelican with his comrades. "The hanger has been cleared, over,"

"Roger," came John's voice, which Eve also heard in her ear radio. "Eve, we need you back at the command centre, ASAP,"

Eve placed a finger on the radio in her ear.

"Roger that," she said. "I'm on my way back,"

Eve lowered her hand and ran along the concrete pathway towards the concrete level at the back of the hanger. She ran up the stairwell onto the top of the concrete raised floor and across it to the hanger's exit. As she ran down the corridor, another group of marines passed her. Two of them were carrying a wounded marine with a bandage around his stomach and arm. Eve ran left down the next corridor and then right into the next that led to the large circular shaped room with a fan-like surfaced floor and a large pillar sticking up to the ceiling in the middle of the room. Eve ran down to the room and turned left into the next corridor.

"Attention! Hostiles reported outside the barracks!" came Mary's voice from the base's built in loudspeaker.

Looks like the Covenant were increasing the strength of their forces. If they got further into the base, they would reach the command centre.

For once, I hope I'm not thrown right into their advancing units. Eve thought as she turned right into the corridor that led back out into the tunnel. When Eve reached the end of the tunnel, she saw two marines standing there waiting for her.

"Good to see you, Eve," one of them said as she came out of the tunnel. "Commander wants us to take you back to the command centre,"

Eve nodded and ran right down the tunnel with the two marines. Suddenly, one of the marines skidded to a halt. Eve and the other marine stopped next to him as well.

"What is it?" Eve asked.

Before the marine could answer, a loud muffled/metallic droning-like noise filled the air. The marine pointed his weapon at a large grey pipe on the wall about fifteen feet above them. Eve looked at the pipe. That was where the noise was coming from… but what the hell was it? No man could fit inside that pipe, neither could any Covenant get-

Covenant! It sounded impossible but that had to be the source of the noise. Eve searched her thoughts for what the noise could be. If it was Covenant the types that were going to be thin and agile enough to fit into the pipe were… Drones. So it was pretty obvious that they were going to start charging out of the vents at some point. Hopefully that would be when everyone was out of the base.

"We better hurry and get back to the command centre," one of the marines said.

The three ran on down the tunnel towards the end. They turned right through the doorway Eve came through earlier and ran down the corridor towards the main corridor.

"The barracks are under attack!" came Mary's voice over the base's built in intercom again. "All available combat teams, respond!"

When they reached it, they turned right and ran down the corridor into the large fan-like surfaced room with an open doorway on the left wall. The three ran through the open doorway into the large bunker in the dug out cave.

"Hey guys," a marine at the bunker's entrance shouted to them. "Glad you could join u-AAAAH!"

The marine was suddenly lifted off his feet into the air. A second later, loud shouts and screeches filled the cave. Eve and the marines ran down the bunker into the cave. They went wide-eyed at the sight they saw.

The Drones they had heard in the pipe in the tunnel were in the cave, but there was not five or ten like there was in a normal swarm. There must have been at least thirty! One of the Drones threw a ventilator door, from a nearby ventilating system along the wall of the cave about twenty feet above the door leading into the cave, at a marine that was running up the metal steps that led up to the ground in front of the bunker. It hit the marine in the head, throwing him onto the railing and knocking him out cold. The Drone that had grabbed the marine at the bunker's entrance threw him at one of the rock pillars head first. The marine fell to the ground, dead, leaving a small blood mark on the rock pillar.

"What the hell are those things?" a marine near the left side of the cave shouted.

"Drones!" another marine on the other side of the cave shouted back. "It's a whole swarm!"

"We have to help them!" Eve exclaimed.

Eve raised her battle rifle and fired at one of the Drones as it flew towards another marine taking cover behind one of the rock pillars. The Drone screeched loudly as it was hit and fell to the ground, scraping across it until a small boulder brought it to a halt. Suddenly, a barrage of green blasts flew at Eve and the marines. The two marines ran right towards one of the rock pillars. Eve dived to the ground near the edge of the raise section of the ground. She raised her battle rifle and fired a burst of ammo at a Drone as it clung itself to the wall. The bullets hit the creature in the face and easily broke through the armour around It's chest. The Drone screeched loudly and fell to the ground, dead.

Another barrage of green blasts flew at Eve. She saw them coming and ran over towards a nearby boulder. Most of them, however, managed to hit her. Her holographic meter appeared above her wrist, showing the level in the bar at the red zone. Eve dived behind the boulder. She breathed a sigh of relief as she rested against it. That was lucky. A swarm of Drones, especially one with more than twenty was, more than dangerous. She was lucky enough not to be killed.

The level in the holographic meter rose up to the top of the bar, turning from red to yellow to green. When it hit the top of the bar, the holographic meter disappeared.

"Eve!" a marine hiding behind a rock pillar nearby shouted, causing her to look over at him. "There's a turret over here! I'll cover you!"

The marine stood out from behind the rock pillar and fired a barrage of bullets at the Drones. The other three marines on the other side of the cave did the same. The cave was filled with loud screeches as Drone after Drone was hit and fell to the ground, dead.

Eve ran out from behind the boulder towards the rock pillar. The marine that shouted over to her fired another burst of ammo at the Drones before hiding behind the rock pillar again, narrowly missing another set of blasts. Eve dived the last few feet to the rock pillar. The marine helped her up.

"Thanks," Eve said. "Where the turret?" she asked the marine.

"Over there," the marine answered, pointing over to a deployable turret perched on a small chunk of rock that came off the side of the rock pillar.

Eve ran over to the turret and knelt down behind it. She rested a hand on the weapon's trigger and pressed down. A barrage of bullets flew out of the turret at the Drones. Before they could react, they were quickly cut down one by one. The Drones fired back but most of the blasts either hit the turret or the ground it was perched on.

Suddenly, one of the Drones dived towards Eve. Eve saw the threat coming towards her but before she could react, the Drone swung It's clawed fists at her. One hit Eve in the chest, the other hit her in the side. Eve flew through the air and landed painfully on the ground a few feet behind where she had been kneeling. The Drone then grabbed hold of the turret and with one powerful yank it tore the main section of the weapon off the stand it was on and threw it to the ground. Eve groaned as she lifted herself up from the ground. Big mistake. Her groan attracted the attention of the Drone. The creature jumped over to her and clutched a hand with one of It's hands. The Drone placed It's clawed feet over her hands. Eve gasped for breath, only making the Drone clutch down tighter.

"GET OFF HER!" the marine that was standing behind the rock pillar yelled, raising his weapon.

The marine went to fire his weapon but another Drone grabbed hold of him from behind and drove It's claws deep into him. It was a good thing Eve could not see what was going on. The Drone jumped off the marine after a few seconds and flew to join the rest of the swarm in attacking the other three marines. It's hand was covered in blood.

It looked as though it was over for Eve. The marine that was with her was dead and the other three could not help her because of the other Drones. It looked like it really was over for her.

The Drone pinning her down raised It's other clawed hand. Eve went wide-eyed through whatever little vision she had left. It was going to slash her face but she could not do anything about it! Eve closed her eyes and waited for the pain to be inflicted upon her.

BANG! A loud burst of ammo exploded in the cave, followed by a loud screech. Eve, suddenly, felt the loss for breath go like the wind. She could move her hands. Eve slowly opened her eyes and saw the Drone was gone. The sound of marching feet filled the cave.

"Everyone alright?" a man's vice shouted.

Eve lifted herself up from the ground, picking up her weapon which the Drone had knock out of her hand when it pinned her to the ground, to see the door into the cave wide open and three marines firing on the last few Drones which fled into the ventilation system. One of them saw Eve and ran over to her.

"You okay Eve?" he asked her.

"Yeah," Eve replied. "Looks like you got here just in time,"

"Yeah," the marine replied. "John's waiting for you upstairs."

Eve nodded and ran past the marine and down the metal staircase towards the cave door. When she reached it, the ran down the corridor and turned left, passing another two marines who had set up another deployable machine gun, and ran up the staircase.

"If I try hook up a timer, it might just go off itself," a voice said, which Eve instantly recognized as John's.

"I hope your not willing to try and do a last stand motion," came Mary's voice.

Mary was still here. She would have evacuated by now, and what were she and John talking about?As Eve reached the top of the staircase, she saw Mary on the large computer screen. Oh she had evacuated. She was sending a transmission like lord Hood and Truth had done earlier. The Arbiter was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh, Eve," Mary said, looking at her. "It's good to see you. Nice work in clearing out the hanger,"

"Thanks," Eve replied.

Then, her eyes rested on a huge silver object that was placed on the floor next to John. It was about twelve feet long and almost eight feet tall. The object had a large oval-like middle shape with two huge square ends with small girder lines going from one diagonal corner to the one opposite them. On the side of the object, that was facing the computer screen, was a small control panel. A few small square shaped devices were scattered across the top of the object. Coming out of them were a few small wires that led to separate computers on the nearby crates and control panels. A few marines were still working on them.

"It's a little going away gift for the Covenant," Mary explained to Eve. "We've linked it to smaller charges throughout the base so when it goes off, any Covenant in the base will be obliterated along with it. John, as soon as the evacuation is complete, start the timer,"

"Understood," John replied.

"Good luck everyone," Mary said. "See you on the last pelican out," The computer screen turned off.

"This way, Eve," John said.

John ran towards the back of the room where the raised section of the floor was; Eve followed. They came to a halt outside the door on the back wall.

"We've got a problem, Eve," John said. "The Brutes have taken the barracks. There's marines trapped inside,"

Eve went wide eyed when John told her this. She was worried for them because even though she had never been taken prisoner and neither had John, they both knew what the Covenant, especially Brutes, did to prisoners.

"We need you to get there and free them and then escort them to the landing pad we arrived in earlier on," John went on. "Do whatever you can, Eve,"

Eve nodded. John pressed a button on the wall next to the door, causing it to open. A long, dimly lit corridor led to another door about forty feet away. Eve walked through the doorway into the corridor.

"Good luck, Eve," John said to her before closing the door.

Good luck. That was something that had only saved Eve but not anyone else she had known. As far as she was concerned, luck only saved those it was attached to. Eve walked down the corridor towards the end. A feeling of guilt swept over her. Just moments ago, she just wanted to leave and help those who had already managed to escape the base. Now there were marines in the barracks, trapped by the Brutes. Who knows what must be going on there right now. She had to save them! Too many other marines had been wounded or killed because she had not been here to help, well this time she was going to stay and help everyone, even if they were trapped in a place that was crawling with Brutes.

The door at the end of the corridor opened as Eve approached it. She walked through into a large room with two pathways attached to the walls going all the way to the other end of the room. The floor of the room descended about ten feet like a ramp before it rose up, again by about another ten feet, to a raised section of floor at the other end of the room. About half-way down the pathways, directly below them, were two large walls with a gap large enough for a warthog to fit into. Next to it was another gap that went down at a twenty degree angle towards a large door on the wall. A small truck had been turned on It's side near the right gap below the pathway. A large blast door was on the back wall. A smaller door was on the right wall near the corner onto the back wall.

As Eve walked into the room, her eyes rested on several large shapes near where the floor on the other side of the room was level with the floor she was standing on. There was about five of them. Brutes. Two of them were wearing teal green armour and were armed with spikers. Another two was wearing dark blue armour that covered It's chest, stomach, knees, arms, legs and a small helmet that covered the head, leaving the face exposed. they too was holding a spiker. The last Brute was wearing red/black armour on his knees, chest, stomach, back and had a large red/black crown that looked like the face of a creature, apart from having a 'mouth'. In It's hands was the one weapon Eve really hated. The gravity hammer.

Eve quickly ran forward and ran into the gap that led to the door. A large crate was placed about five feet in front of the door. Eve ran behind it and breathed in, hoping that the Brutes had and could not hear her.

"This base will soon be ours," Eve heard one of the Brutes say.

"I could care less for this cesspool," another Brute replied. "All I care about is becoming a God in the Great Journey!"

"We all do," another Brute piped up. "Our holy prophet Truth will guide us to the divine bey-wait a moment,"

Eve heard the Brute sniff loudly, which sounded like a hover being turned on. The Brute growled.

"A fresh scent!" the Brute growled.

"I smell it too!" another Brute said. "It must be close! Track it down!"

Eve went wide-eyed with panic. The Brutes had smelt her and were now going to start looking for her! Surely they would search where she was hiding. She had to find somewhere else to hide or she was as good as dead. Eve frantically looked around her, hoping to find a place to hide. She found it.

On the wall leading into the small gap below the pathway was a small hole. Eve could see a few racks of working equipment placed along the far wall of the gap. It may not be the best place but it was most likely going to be a better place for her to hide.

Eve ran out from behind the rock towards the hole. When she reached it, she pulled herself up through it into the gap and crawled over to the far wall and crouched next to one of the racks. She was only just in time. Not even a second passed before two of the Brutes ran past the entrance to the gap, their weapons raised. Eve breathed a quiet sigh of relief. She had evaded them for now, but it was obvious she was going to have to kill them to get through here.

Eve slowly stood up and raised her battle rifle. She had to be ready to fight off the Brutes if they saw her. She slowly, cautiously, stepped towards the entrance to the gap, bringing her closer to the Brutes. Eve's heart pounded like mad against her chest. If she was seen by them, she was dead.

"Have you found anything?" one of the Brutes that had ran past asked.

"Nothing," the other Brute answered.

"Keep looking!" a voice barked from the direction of where the squad had been standing. "We must find the intruder and kill it!"

After a few seconds, Eve reached the gap entrance. She looked back in the direction of the door to the command centre. One of the Brutes was searching behind the truck. She could not see the other one though! That was not good. He could be walking up towards her or walking up to the small side hole that led into the gap. It was now or never. She had to get out of her-

"DEMON!"

The next thing Eve knew, a barrage of orange spikes were flying towards her. Eve dived backwards into the gap, narrowly missing the spikes as they hit the wall. Eve stood up and hid behind one of the racks. This was not going to protect her but it was better than completely exposing herself and end up getting killed.

A large figure appeared in the gap's entrance. It was one of the Brutes. The creature raised his spiker, aiming at Eve. However, she was too quick for him. Eve fired a burst of ammo out from behind the rack at the Brute. The bullets easily broke through the armour on the creature's chest and embedded themselves in his side. The Brute roared with pain and grabbed his side with both hands, dropping his weapon. Purple blood began to seep out through the gaps between his fingers. Eve fired another burst of ammo at the creature. It hit him in the head, killing him.

A second later, another Brute appeared in the gap entrance. Only this time, it was the Brute with the gravity hammer.

"You shall pay for your insolence, demon!" the alien growled at her.

The Brute charged towards Eve. Eve screamed and dived towards the hole and pulled herself through it. Behind her, the air seemed to explode in a crackle of electricity as the brute swung his gravity hammer at her. The Brute growled at missing her. Eve quickly crawled away from the hole behind the large crate, breathing a sigh of relief. That was close. She almost been killed.

"Get around that crate and kill her!" Eve heard the Brute in the gap shout.

Eve's eyes went wide once again. She had not seen the other Brute that had ran past the gap to find her. He, probably along with the other Brutes, was most likely running towards her now. If all of them were coming, they were going to trap her by coming around both sides of the crate. There was only one place Eve could hide now.

The other Brute wearing teal green armour and one of the Brutes wearing dark blue armour charged out from behind the sides of the crates, their weapons raised ready to fire on Ev-huh? Where in Forerunner's name was she? "Where is she?" the teal green armoured Brute asked, aiming his weapon around as if it were some type of radar.

He got his answer when a burst of ammo exploded in the room. The Brute roared loudly before he fell backwards onto the floor, dead. The other Brute looked up, only to be met with the butt of Eve's rifle. The Brute roared in pain as he was hit smack right in the face. A burst of ammo followed. The bullets broke through the Brute's armour and hit him in the chest and stomach, killing him.

Eve breathed a sigh of relief as she jumped down from the top of the crate. She had managed to lift herself up onto it at the last moment. That was two more Brutes dead. Just two more to g-

CRASH! The crate was suddenly smashed apart as the air seemed to explode around it. Huge chunks were sent flying in every direction. Before Eve could react, a large chunk hit her in the back of the head, sending her to the floor. Eve groaned as she placed a hand on the back of her head and tried to lift herself up from the floor.

A deep laugh caught her attention. It was coming from behind. Eve turned over and saw the Brute with the gravity hammer standing there, a menacing look of evil stretched across It's face.

"It is time for you to die, demon!" the Brute laughed.

The Brute, suddenly, jumped towards Eve, bringing the gravity hammer back as if it were preparing to swing a baseball bat. Eve dived away from the creature, almost hitting her head on the side wall but at least she escape another swipe of the gravity hammer as it hit where she had just been sitting. Eve scrambled to her feet and sprinted out from the large gap into the pathway that led to the back of the room. She skidded to a halt. The other Brute wearing dark blue armour was standing head of her.

"See how long you will last with this, demon!" the creature said to her.

Before Eve could blink, the Brute threw something at her. It landed on the floor in front of her. It was a ball shaped device about the size of Eve's head. It had a glowing light blue mark on the front of it, that looked like the eye of some creature, in the middle of a diamond shaped engraved mark that was also glowing blue.

Eve scoffed at the object as it just sat there.

"Is that it?" she asked the Brute sarcastically.

She should not have said that.

All of a sudden, the ball seemed to explode. A crackle of electricity shot out in every direction from the device. A light blue haze spread out and filled the air around it. A charging sound followed, making it sound like as if the device was suddenly going to explode.

Eve gasped. Not at what the device was doing, but at what it was doing to her. As soon as the object sprang to life, her holographic meter appeared above her wrist. The level in the bar was going down rapidly! It was draining her suit's shield!

"Even your suit cannot withstand the effectiveness of a power drain!" the Brute wearing dark blue armour said, smiling evilly at her.

"You can also be thankful this will be a quick death!" another dark voice from behind her shouted.

Eve knew what was coming and, instantly, dived sideway backwards away from the power drain. The air exploded behind her before even a second had passed. A loud roar filled the room once again. Eve quickly shot up from the floor. The Brute with the gravity hammer was standing where she had just been. The other Brute had a hand placed over It's face and was cursing loudly. The Brute holding the gravity hammer growled.

"What will it take to kill you?" he shouted, wheeling round to face Eve.

However, before the Brute could charge towards Eve with his deadly weapon, the other Bute growled and, blinded by so much anger, threw something else at Eve. Eve saw the object coming but it was not another power drain or a plasma grenade. It was a spherical object with three legs sticking out of the bottom The object landed on the floor next to Eve. Immediately, it sprang to life.

"NO!" the Brute with the gravity hammer yelled. "THAT WAS THE WRONG POWER, YOU FOOL!"

A green haze spread out from the object. Eve felt this charging sensation run through her. Her holographic meter appeared above her wrist. Eve watched in amazement as the level in the bar suddenly shot up to the top. Wow! This object was useful.

Suddenly, a large figure caught Eve's attention. The Brute with the gravity hammer charged towards her. Eve raised her battle rifle but it felt lighter. It was then she discovered that she was holding only the front half of her weapon, or what had been her weapon. When the Brute was a few feet from her, it swung It's gravity hammer at Eve. Eve dived out of the way, narrowly avoiding the blast radius of the weapon. Eve quickly got up just in time to see the Brute swing the weapon at her again. However, Eve did not run or dive out of the way. She felt something in her arms grow stronger as if it were telling her you can stop it. You do not need to run.

As the weapon was just inches from her, Eve ducked and swung her fists up at the brute, hitting him in the jaw. In fact, the blow was so powerful that not only did she cause the gravity hammer to go flying through the air and get stuck in the wall next to her by the metal piece, but she also lifted the Brute several feet into the air before it landed on the floor about a metre away. Eve then grabbed the gravity hammer and easily pulled it out. It felt lighter. Maybe this object was also granting anyone within It's radius some kind of superhuman-like strength. Eve then swung the weapon at the Brute as he was standing up from the floor. The creature roared loudly as he was thrown against the blast door in the other gap opposite Eve. He hit the door and slid down onto the ground, dead.

The last Brute growled as it fell over, It's hand, now almost completely purple, onto the floor in a pool of It's own blood. The brute carried on groaning and growling before it went quiet and lay still. Eve dropped the gravity hammer on the floor and ran over to the body of the first Brute she had killed. She picked up his spiker and ran up the pathway past the body of the Brute, trying her best not to look at it. Eve ran to the end of the room and turned right towards the doorway.

When Eve ran through the doorway, she found herself in a long corridor with grey concrete walls and a few wires going along the side of the walls near the ceiling. Eve looked left and saw a dead end. She looked right but that was no better. The corridor was blocked with fallen concrete from the walls and the ceiling. A dead marine lay on the floor in front of it, most likely having been killed by the corridor's collapse. Damn! So which way was she to go now? There was no other way to get to the bara-Wait a minute.

Eve took a closer look down the corridor and saw something… odd about the floor. She ran down the corridor towards the wall of rubble. As she got closer, she saw the reason whay the floor looked a bit odd. It had a hole inside it. Eve stopped next to the hole and peered in. The hole led down to a metal floor about twenty feet away. Whatever it was thst came through the floor, it must have been powerful because the concrete as well as the steel reinforced girders as been riped apart and bent as if they were plastic. There was no time to worry about that now. There were marines that needed saving.

Eve breathed in and jumped. For a few seconds, she fell through the air. Earth's gravity was pulling her closer to the metal floor. She just hoped that she would not end up breaking a leg or foot when she landed.

Eve's feet thudded loudly as they hit the metal floor. A jolting sensation ran up through her body. Eve opened her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. Other than a quick sharp pain that cma before the jolting sensation, she was okay. Eve looked up and saw she was in some kind of lmetal corridor with large circular holes along the walls. At the end, the wall seemed to stretch out further than where the floor ended. Probably another hole leading down to another corridor or metal floor. Eve ran down the corridor towards the end.

Suddenly, she skidded to a halt. She kept as quiet as a mouse and listened carefully like a antelope being aware of a nearby predator. Some kind of droning noise was coming from somewhere. Eve raised her spiker and placed her finger on the trigger. If whatever was making the droning noise came out and attacked her, she would be ready to kill it.

"AHHHH!"

Eve fell to the floor as a large gren insect suddenly shot out from one of the holes and flew into the her and pinned her to the floor. Eve looked up and saw that the insect was a Drone. The creature's large yellow eyes narrowed as they looked down on Eve. Eve grabbed the creatures arms to sop the creature from flying away and brought both of her feet in. She kicked the Drone in the stomach. The creature screeched loudly as it flew through the air and landed on the right wall of the corridor. Eve quickly raised her spiker and fired a few spikes at the creature. The Drone let out another screech before it fell to the floor and lay still.

Eve picked herself up from the floor, her weapon at the ready in case another Drone came out of the holes. Eventually, another did a few seconds later. Luckily, Eve managed to take care of this one as well. She then ran to the end of the corridor, stopping at the edge of the floor. It stopped at a side entrance to another hole. Eve peered into the hole and saw another opening on the opposite wall at the bottom of the hole about fifteen feet away.

"You are fools for trusting the prophet!" a deep voice shouted, followed by a burst of plasma fire.

That voice sounded familiar. The Arbiter! He was down there, and by the sound of it, he was in trouble. She had to get down there and help him.

Eve jumped off the floor into the hole. She was not woried about this one as it was shorter than the last hole. Eve's feet pounded loudly as they hit the metal floor. The opening on the opposite wall was directly in front of her. Eve could see a large platform with a concrete floor in a large dug out cave with the side of a building sticking out from the left rock wall of the cave. A large pool of water was separating the platform the Arbiter was on and another platform about fifty feet away. On the other platform was the end of the large building and a few metres from that was a large red tower-like building that was about thirty feet tall and went up to another platform that was not far from a large entrance at the top of the cave that led back outside.

Standing on the platform was the Arbiter. He was holding two plasma rifles. He fired another burst of ammo at a group of three Drones as they flew about in the air above him.

"You are half-wit insects!" he was shouting. "The prophet will use you like they use me! Reject their lies or all your hives will perish!"

The Drones responded by screeching loudly and firing a few blasts from their plasma pistols down at the Elite, causing his shield to light up. The Arbiter growled and fired a burst of plasma fire from both plasma rifles up at the Drones. Two of them were hit and screeched loudly as they fell to the floor, dead.

The Arbiter went to fire on the last Drone when a wave of orange spikes flew at the creature. They hit the Drone in the chest and head and it fell to the floor, dead. The Arbiter turned and saw Eve jumped down from the opening in the wall onto the floor.

"Thought you might need some help," Eve said to the Elite.

The Arbiter nodded.

"They have taken your soldiers," he explained to Eve as he walked up to her. "As prisoners or meat for their bellies, I do not know. Some of them may still be alive but we must be quick if we are to save them,"

Eve nodded.

"Where's the way into the barracks?" she asked.

The Arbiter answered by pointing over to the wall of the building that was on the platform. A small button was on the wall next to the door. Eve ran over to the door and pressed the button, causing it to open. The Arbiter followed Eve as they ran through the doorway into a large room with bare concrete walls. The room continued on right. Two small walkways were built onto the sides of the wall. A ladder was connected to the end of the pathway. Along the walls below the pathways were several lockers and racks with weapons. They were in the barracks

As Eve and the Arbiter walked into the room, they saw the bodies of dead marines lined up against the walls. Above some of them on the wall were large spots of blood. It was obvious the Brutes were slaughtering every marine in here, even is they had surrendered.

Eve felt horrible. She should have been here to save them. There was no way thatall the marines here could have defeated the Brutes alone. Guilt filled her again. Sometimes, she just wondered was she helping the UNSC in saving lives? Was she really saving her own life rather than others?

The Arbiter sensed what Eve was thinking. He placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I know how you feel, Evelyn," he said to her. "These warriors may have been slaughtered mercilessly and needed help, but you were needed elsewhere. But I do see how close you soldiers can come to bond with one another like brothers. I have the same type of bond with others of my kind,"

Eve went to reply when…

"NOO-AAAHHHH!"

THUD! Eve and the Arbiter looked ahead. The body of another UNSC marine was now up against the wall. Blood poured from his nose, which now looked as though it had been smashed. A loud growl from around the corner filled the room, folowed by a shout.

"C'mon," Eve said to the Arbiter.

The two ran around the corner into a long wide section of the barracks that had both walkways continue on and then turn left into another long section of the barracks. Along the walls under both walkways were more lockers and weapons racks and more dead UNSC marines. In the middle of the floor at the end of the long corridor section was a stone pillar that rose up from the floor to the ceiling.

"NOO! PLEASE!" a voice from the end of the corridor shouted.

Eve and the Arbiter looked towards the end and saw a large figure wearing teal green armour standing there. It was a Brute. He had a plasma rifle attached to a belt around his waist. In his hand was something that he was holding above the floor. It was a marine! The Brute was holding him like a rag doll.

"HA!" the Brute said, laughing. "I am not very keen on mercy, you whelp!"

The Brute rose his hand higher until the struggling marine was high above his head. He then grabbed hold of the marine's feet and moved him sideways so the marine's head was now facing down towards the Brute. By the looks of it, the Brute was going to break the marine's spine!

"Evelyn," the Arbiter said. "We must be quick but also qui-"

The Arbiter was cut off when he noticed Eve charging towards the Brute. When she was a few feet behind the creature, just as he was about to bring the marine down onto his armoured knee, Eve swung her spiker at the creature. The Brute roared in pain as the spiker hit his back. A loud crack followed and the creature fell to the floor, dead. The marine fell to the floor. He groaned as he lifted his head up from the floor.

"Are you okay?" Eve asked him, kneeling down beside him.

"Yeah, thanks," the marine replied.

Eve helped the marine to his feet. The marine grabbed the plasma rifle on the brute's belt and pulled it off.

"What happened?" the Arbiter asked as he reached the two.

"They ambushed us," the marine replied. "They came in from both entrances. We were cut down and… everyone was killed. They've got more prisoners up ahead."

"Then we have to hurry and free them," Eve piped up.

She ran left down the next long corridor section, which had another stone pillar ascending from the floor to the ceiling about half-way down the corridor. Several smaller walkways connected the two main ones going along both walls. At the end of the corridor was a rasied section of concrete floor with a stone wall across it. In the middle of the wall was a doorway. Eve could only see white coloured walls in the room on the other side.

When Eve was about half-way down the corridor, a large figure ran out from the small room at the end. It was another Brute, only this time it was wearing a golden coloured armour that covered almost all of It's body. On the creature's head was a large golden helmet with two flat topped horns sticking out of the sides. In his arms, placed on his shoulder, was an enormous weapon Eve had seen before. It was a large gold weapon with a circular trigger on the bottom of the weapon near the front. On the back of the weapon were several large silos that were a light green colour. It was a fuel rod cannon.

The Brute roared at Eve as he emerged from the room.

"You will die with your comrades, demon!" the Brute shouted at her.

A large green blast flew out of the fuel rod cannon towards Eve. She dived right past the stone pillar, narrowly getting out of the blast radius as the blast exploded on the floor. The Brute aimed the weapon at Eve again, which he knew would be hit as she had to get up from the floor. He placed his hands on the trigger and went to push down.

Suddenly, a barrage of plasma blasts flew at the Brute. They hit his armour, causing it to light up. The Brute growled and aimed his weapon down the corridor at the Arbiter and the marine. He fired another shot at them. Thankfully both dived out of the way as the blast hit the floor and exploded, lighting up the entire corridor. The Brute laughed at his two enemies.

"You are a bigger coward than I thought you were, Arbiter!" he shouted as he loaded another silo into the cannon.

The Brute went to turn his weapon back towards Eve. Suddenly, he was struck in the face with the butt of a spiker. The Brute roared in pain and fell backwards onto the floor, dropping his weapon and placing a hand over his face where the spiker hit him. Standing over him was Eve. The Brute moved his hand and, before Eve could react, swung his foot over the floor and hit Eve's leg. Eve fell to the floor, landing painfully on her arm. The Brute laughed as it stood up. Eve raised her spiker but the Brute kicked the weapon out of her hand. Eve went to move away but the Brute stopped her by placing a foot on her chest.

"You will pay for that, demon!" the Brute growled at her.

The Brute raised It's other foot over Eve's head. It was going to crush her! She was doomed!Suddenly, another barrage of blasts flew at the Brute. They hit his armour and easily penetrated it. Puprle blood flowed from the wounds. The Brute roared in pain and fell backwards onto the floor, where it went quiet and lay still.

The Arbiter ran over to Eve and helped her up whilst the marine ran past them into the room.

"Thanks," Eve said to the Arbiter.

"Thanks, man," a voice from the room on the other side of the doorway said.

The marine emerged from the room, only this time he had two other marines with him. Both were holding MA5B assault rifles.

"It's pay back time," one of them said as he placed a clip into his assault rifle.

"We need to rescue anyone else," Eve said to the two marines that emerged from the room. "Then we need to find a way of getting out of here,"

"THERE THEY ARE!" a deep voice yelled.

The squad dived for cover as a barrage of blasts flew at the squad. The marines hid behind the left wall near the corner into the next corridor section of the barracks whilst Eve, who had grabbed her weapon the Brute knocked out of her hand, and the Arbiter hid behind the right wall near the corner that led into the next corridor section. Eve peeked her head out from behind the wall. Down the corridor, which was also covered with smaller pathways going across to and from the main ones and had many lockers and weapons racks and even a few bunk beds underneath the walkways and more dead UNSC soldiers, were three Brutes wearing teal green armour. The end of the corridor turned diagonally left upwards. Hopefully to the way out of the barracks.

"Kill them!" one of the Brutes shouted as it fired a wave of orange spikes down the corridor at Eve and the Arbiter, which hit the wall just inches from them.

"Is that the way out of the barracks?" Eve shouted to the marines.

"Yeah," one of the marines shouted back as he fired a burst of ammo down the corridor at the Brutes. A roar erupted down the corridor. "After that, there's an elevator that'll lead up to the landing pad,"

"We must hurry," the Arbiter said to Eve. "The Brutes will have more troops converging on this base very soon."

"Probalem is; how the hell do we through these guys?" Eve asked the Elite as she fired a few spikes down the corridor at the Brutes, causing another roar to fill the corridor.

She was right. How were they to get past them? The Arbiter was right as well. The Brutes would, no doubt, have more troops heading towards the base right now. If they were still here when they arrived well then they could say their prayers.

Then, Eve saw one of the Brutes take out something from the back of It's belt around It's waist. The Brute pressed down on whatever was in It's hand. The object lit up a bright blue flame colour. It was a plasma grenade. The Brute threw the device down the corridor toards the group. It was head straight for the marines, who had not seen it coming.

Eve ran out from behind the wall and swung her spiker at the grenade. The plasma grenade flew back towards the Brutes, one of who immediately yelled something to his comrades. The plasma grenade landed on the chest armour of one of the Brutes. The creature roared in panic and grabbed the grenade to pull it off him.

BOOM! The grenade exploded. A loud chorus or roars filled the air. Eve, the Arbiter and the marines looked down the corridor and saw all three of the Brutes lying dead on the floor. Now they could get out of the barracks, if they way up ahead led out of it of course.

Eve ran down the corridor towards the end. The Arbiter and the marines followed. When they reached the end, they ran down a short corridor that led to a steel door with a button on the wall next to it. One of the marines ran over to the button and pressed it. The door swung open, revealing the tother platform and the large red tower that led up to the top of the cave.

The marines ran onto the platform; the Arbiter followed. However, he stopped and looked over his shoulder to notice Eve looking back at the barracks, staying silent as if she were in a kind of trance. The bodies of the marines. She was still feeling guilty for them. The Arbiter walked over to Eve.

"Evelyn," he said. "We have done all we could. We must get these men out of here before more Brutes arrive,"

Eve looked on at the barracks for a few more seconds before she turned and walked past the Arbiter out of the barracks; the Arbiter followed. As the two walked out of the barracks, they saw that the marines had opened a small square shaped door on the side of the tower. Behind it was a small metal floor. On the wall inside the tower was a small button.

"This elevator will take us up to the landing pad," one of the marines said to the two as they walked over to them.

The marines ran into the tower. Eve and the Arbiter followed them. When everyone was on the elevator, one of the marines pressed the button on the wall. A large door lowered down over the hole. The floor jolted slightly before rising through the tower. As the elevator got closer to the top of the tower, Eve's ear radio crackled to life.

"Commander," came John's voice. "I've got bad news,"

"What is it?" came Mary's voice, which was slightly muffled because of some noises in the background, which sounded like pelicans.

"We lost the command centre," John explained. "The Brutes attacked in force. We couldn't hold 'em off,"

"What should I do, ma'am?" came another woman's voice.

"Hold position!" Mary ordered. "I'm not leaving without him!"

A few moments later, the elevator jolted again. A door on the opposite end of the elevator rose, leaving another large square shaped hole. The squad were revealed with a small platform that led to a tunnel. At the end of the tunnel, the squad could see a large platform with what looked like sunlight shining down upon it.

"There's the landing pad," one of the marines said. "Let's hope there's a pelican there waiting for us,"

The squad ran down the tunnel towards the landing pad. When theyr eached it, Eve and the Arbiter found themselves back on the landing pad their pelican landed on when they arrived at the base. Eve looked up through the gap that led outside. They had made it.

A large shape flew over the hole and stopped. It was a pelican. The craft descended into the gap that was just wide enough for the craft to fit into. The door to the resting area of the pelican opened up when the craft was about ten feet above the landing pad. A marine walked over to the edge of the resting area, ready to help everyone onto the pelican.

"Ma'am," came the pilot's voice, which was the woman Mary was speaking to just moments ago, as the pelican stopped above the platform. "I've got movement. Above and below,"

As soon as the woman finished speaking, a large figure suddenly flew up from underneath the landing pad. It was a Brute wearing light blue armour. However, this one had a large square shaped bject with two huge spire shaped silos sticking out of the bottom placed on It's back. The Brute raised his weapon and fired a burst of light blue blasts at the marines. The squad dived for cover.

"Brutes!" the pilot exclaimed. "They got jump packs!"

"They're going after the thrusters!" came Mary's voice. "Shake them off!"

"Roger that," came the pilot's voice. "I'm gonna have to take off guys. Get rid of those Brutes,"

The pelican rose into the air towards the gap that led into the cave. The first Brute with the jump pack fired on the craft. The marine in the resting area grabbed his weapon and fired down at the Brute. The bullets broke through the creature's armour and embedded themselves in his chest, killing him.

"Is that the last of them?" one of the marines asked as he stood up from behind a nearby crate.

He got his answer when another Brute shot up from under the landing pad, only this time he was not alone. Two more quickly followed. The first of the three Brutes shouted something at the squad and a barrage of blasts at the marines. One of them hit a marine in the shoulder. The marine yelled in pain and fell backwards onto the floor. His two buddies pulled him behind a nearby crate to shield him from any other blasts.

Eve, who had taken cover behind an overturned gurney next to another crate, stood up and fired a burst of ammo at one of the Brutes as it jumped over the Arbiter, who was hiding behind a large weapons crate. The bullets hit one of the silos. The Brute screamed as he suddenly flew off into the air. His screams stopped abruptly as he hit the bottom of the building that was attached to the side of the cave's wall above the landing pad.

"YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT, DEMON!" one of the other Brutes roared.

The Brute activated his jump pack and hovered over the platform towards Eve. She saw him coming and fire another burst of ammo at the Brute. Some of the bullets missed their target. Those that did hit the Brute only dented his armour. The Brute responded by firing a few blasts at Eve. Some hit her suit, causing her shield to light up. Eve dived to the floor, narrowly avoiding another set of blasts that whizzed over her head and hit the floor.

Just as Eve lifted her head up from the floor, a large hand grabbed her and threw her over the gurney onto the floor. Eve groaned as she sat up. She placed a hand on her head, which had hit the side of the gurney when she was thrown through the air. Suddenly, a large hand flew towards her. Agony and pain flared up Eve's stomach as she was hit. The wind was knocked out of her. Eve flew back onto the floor. The Brute stood over her and grabbed her by the neck and held her above the floor. Eve gasped for breath, only to make the Brute clutch down harder. The Brute laughed at her.

"You will not stop our Great Journey, demon!" he said to her. "Neither will your troops or the Arbiter, no matter how bravely they fight!"

Eve's vision was fading fast. She could barely see anything. It was over for her. All the fighting she had donw had been for nothing.

"ROOOOAAARR!"

Eve was suddenly dropped back onto the floor of the landing pad once again. She gasped for breath and massaged her nexk with one hand as she looked up. The Brute that had thrown her her over the gurney was lying dead on the floor. The Arbiter ran over to her and held out a hand to Eve.

"Thanks, Arbiter," Eve said as he helped her up.

A large shadow spread over the surface of the landing pad. Eve and the Arbiter looked up and saw the pelican descending back towards the landing pad. When it was about ten feet above the landing pad, the resting area's door opened up. The three marines ran over to the pelican and climbed onboard. Eve and the Arbiter ran over to the pelican and were about to climb onboard when…

"AHHH! HELP!"

Eve and the Arbiter shot round to see a group of marines run out from one of the corner tunnels towards the pelican. Following behind was John, who was armed with a battle rifle. Behind him were a group of Drones, who quickly shot out of the tunnel and began firing on John and the marines.

"Drones!" John exclaimed, skidding to a halt and turning round. "You guys go on! I'll cover you!" he shouted to the marines.

John raised his battle rifle and fired at the Drones. One was hit and screeched loudly as it fell past the landing pad. A loud splash followed a second later. Another Drone dived down towards John but he swung his fist at the creature and sent that one crashing to the floor head first, killing it. John fired again at the last few Drones, hitting and killing them.

With the Drones dead, he and the marines were safe, for now at least. John turned and ran onto the landing pad. The other marines had already boarded the pelican. John skidded to a halt next to the craft, breathing heavily from running.

"Brutes…" he managed to say. He took a deep breath. "In the command centre… They disarmed the bomb. Sorry, commander, there were too many. Even for me,"

"Damn!" came Mary's voice, which Eve heard through her ear radio. "We'll have to leave. We can't go back now,"

John sighed and climbed onto the pelican. The Arbiter walked past Eve and climbed on as well. Eve, however, stayed where she was. The Brutes had disarmed the bomb. If that bomb did not go off, then nothing would slow down the Covenant advance. Everything the marines would have fought to defend had been lost. All those killed here had died for nothing.

No! That was not going to happen. A lot had been sacrificed to set that bomb to blow up the base and it was not going to be in vain.

"Are you coming, Eve?" John asked as he held out a hand to help her on the pelican.

Eve shook her head. "No," she replied. "I'm going to stay behind and rearm the bomb,"

John went wide-eyed. The Arbiter and the marines in the resting area looked at her, also with wide eyes. She was staying behind? She was crazy, suicidal even!

"Eve!" John whispered. "Your crazy!"

"If Auto was here, he would tell me that I'm suicidal," Eve replied. "No, you guys go on. I'll find another way out of here when I've rearmed the bomb,"

Eve went to run towards the tunnel John and the marines came out of but John stopped her.

"Eve," he called, stopping her and drawing her gaze. "Good luck,"Eve nodded and ran on towards the tunnel. Behind her, the pelican ascended through the gap into the air. The craft flew off into the sky and out of sight.

Eve ran into the tunnel and down the metal corridor. As she passed where the wounded marines had been sitting earlier on when she arrived, she saw a few blood stains on the walls and the floor, along with a few blood stained bandages and empty syringes and boxes that had contained medical equipment.

As Eve ran through the doorway that led to the flight of stairs, a loud deep voice stopped her. It was no doubt going to be a Brute; but was he alone? Eve crept over to the stairs and listened. She could hear another voice. It sounded hoarse.

Truth!

"We have taken their command centre," came the Brute's voice. "We have also stopped their attempt to destroy this base,"

Eve silently crept up the stairs towards the command centre. As she neared the top, she could see the large computer screen was on, only this time Truth was sitting on his hover chair in the screen. Standing in front of the screen was a Brute wearing gold armour with a gold helmet and two flat topped horns sticking out of the sides. A few feet behind him was the bomb.

"Have you discovered how they plan to stop me?" Truth asked.

"No-… Not just yet, Noble Prophet," the Brute replied nervously.

"Find out what I need to know!" Truth ordered in a sten voice. "Or your place in the Great Journey is forfeit! Tell me you understand!" Truth added a dangerous sounding tone on the last four words.

"Y… yes, Holy One," the Brute replied, again with an easily noticeable nervous voice. "It shall be done,"

As soon as the Brute finished speaking, Eve saw the computer screen turn off. The Brute turned so he was facing towards the right wall of the room.

"Alert the Drones!" he ordered to an unseen figure. "Have them scour these machines! Find out what these heathens know about the Ark!"

A small high pitched squeak filled the air. Definitely a Grunt. The shadow of another large figure moved over Eve. She looked up and saw the top of a dark blue helmet disappear behind the side of the floor. So there were three Covenant in the command centre so far. Were there any more?

Eve quickly glanced around to make sure there were no other Covenant standing at the top of the floor above the stairwell entrance. She slowly lifted her head up from the stairs to see the Brute with golden armour walking over to the control panel on the bomb. Eve's eyes went wide. By the looks of it, the Brute was going to try and disable the bomb! She had to stop him.

As Eve went to sit up to get a better view, the end of her spiker tapped loudly as it hit one of the stairs.

The Brute standing next to the bomb suddenly jolted as if he were had become aware of something. Eve went wide-eyed and ducked down behind the stairs. Hopefully, that was the only Covenant soldier that had heard the noise. Let's just also hope he was not going to walk over to try and find the source of the noise-

"AHHHH!"

Eve was pushed against the wall of the stairs as a large figure landed next to her. Eve looked up and saw it was the Brute wearing the dark blue helmet. In his hand was a plasma rifle.

"It is time for you to die!" the Brute growled at her as he reaised his plasma rifle.

Before the Brute could fire his weapon…

"What's going on?" a high pitched voice squeaked.

The Brute was suddenly thrown onto the stairs as a small figure landed on top of him. It was the Grunt. Eve quickly seized the opportunity and ran up the stairs into the room.

"Get off me, you whelp!" the Brute shouted at the Grunt as he tried to push the alien off him.

Eve ran from the stairs. That was two down. Just one more to g-

Pain flared up and down her body. Eve fell to ther floor, groaning. She placed a hand on her head as she lifted herself up from the floor. Suddenly, a large hand covered with gold armour and grabbed Eve by the neck and lifted her up a few feet from the floor. The Brute with the golden armour laughed at Eve.

"You shall no longer threaten the Great Journey, demon!" he said to her.

Eve's vision was fading quickly. She had to do something! If she died then the war was pretty much over for mankind. She would let everyone down. No! That was not going to happen! She was not going to let everyone down. Over her dead body.

Eve brought her foot back and launched a kick at the Brute, hitting him in the chest. The Brute roared in pain, feeling a burning pain run up and down his torso even with his protective armour, and dropped Eve onto the floor. Eve then swung her weapon into the Brute's leg, causing him to fell face first onto the floor. Eve then hit the Brute over the head with her spiker, knocking him out cold.

Now I can actuivate the bomb she thought as she ran over to the enormous device.

Eve rested a hand on the scanning device on the control panel. A small green light lit up on the side of the control panel. Then, in red, a holographic timer appeared. It was on 06:12. She had only a few minutes to get out of the base before it was blown to hell.

Eve ran back towards the stairwell, jumping over the knocked out Brute. When she reached the stairwell, she ran down the steps, passing the Grunt and Brute as they were stil trying to stand up. Eve ran right down the corridor as fast as she could. When she was about half-way down the corridor, her ear radio crackled to life.

"Well done, Eve," came Mary's voice. "Now get out of there,"How the hell am I supposed to get out of here? Eve thought.

"There's a service elevator on the other side of the wall in the hanger," came John's voice. There was her answer. "We'll open the blast door and the elevator door for you, Eve. Get there, hurry,"

Eve ran left through the barracks into the large cave. A few Grunts that were searching through the dead Drones screamed as she appeared. Eve ignored them and ran up the metal staircase, having to push one of the Grunts out of the way as it ran towards the metal staircase. Eve ran through across the raised concrete into the bunker. The door at the end of the bunker was still open. She ran towards it.

BOOM! The bunker shook violently as a faint booming sound filled the air. had to place both hands against the wall to stop herself from falling over. After a few seconds, the shaking stopped. Eve straightened herself up.

What the hell was that? she thought.

Was it the bomb going off early? No, it could not be. If it was, then the base would be going up in flames and her along with it. Maybe it was best if she did not know. She could not stay to find out anyway. She had to get out of here.

Eve ran down the bunker and through the doorway into the large fan-like surfaced room. She ran right down the corridor and turned left into the smaller corridor that led into the tunnel. As Eve emerged from the corridor, a large green mass flew out from a large vent on the tunnel's ceiling and zoomed down the tunnel. Eve screamed as the Drones flew into her. One of them flew into her. Eve's hand inadvertently grabed hold of one of the wings of the Drone. The creature screeched loudly, covering Eve's yell as they fell to the ground because of the extra weight. Eve quickly stood up and swung her foot into the face of the Drone, hitting it in the forehead and knocking it out completely.

Eve ran past the knocked out Drone towards the corridor that led off into the left wall. When she reached it, she ran down the corridor and turned left into the fan-like surfaced room and turned right into the next corridor. When she reached the end of this one, she turned left into a smaller corridor and ran to the end of this one and turned right into another smaller corridor. At the end was the doorway into the hanger. Her ticket out of here. Eve ran down the corridor towards the hanger.

When Eve ran into the hanger, she saw it was still the same. The bodies of the fallen marines and Covenant still remained and the CCS battle cruiser was still hovering in the sky, though the dogfight that had been raging in front of it had ended. Eve ran into the hanger to the top of the metal staircase that led down to the metal floor. She scanned the entire room. So where was the opening John said he would make for her?

It was then she noticed something different about the end of the right wall near the hanger entrance. A closer look revealed it was a small blast door opening that, hopefully, led to the elevator. Eve ran down the staircase to the metal floor. She ran across the metal floor to the opening. When she reached it, she saw the opening led into a large square shaped room with a blast door on the back wall. A small truck had been turned on It's side against the right wall of the room. A large rectangular opening was on the left wall of the room. Eve ran nto the room towards the rectangular opening. On the other side of the opening was a large metal floor with several large girders sticking up towards the ceiling and forming some kind of box. A large button was on the main girder on the right side of the box. It was the elevator.

Eve ran into the elevator over to the button. She pressed it. The elevator door lowered over the entrance. Eve jolted slightly as the elevator descended away from the room into a tunnel. Eve looked up and saw the hole becoming distant. She breathed a sigh of relief. She had made it. She had escaped from the base. Now she could join up with everyone else and continue the fight against the Covenant and drive them from Eart-

BOOM! Eve looked up. Her worst fears had been realised. The bomb had exploded. She jolted again as he elevator came to a sudden halt. BOOM! Another explosion lit up the tunnel, only this time a wave of flame shot out of the elevator entrance. Another explosion followed the flames. However, that was not the end of it.

Before Eve could blink, a huge chunk of concrete was blown off the tunnel's ceiling and fell towards the elevator. Eve dived to the floor and covered her head and waited for the concrete to hit the top of the elevator.

CRASH! The concrete block hit the top of the elevator. However, it broke apart into hundreds of smaller chunks and showered Eve. A few large chunks struck her, each feeling like a car was ramming into her. It hurt like hell. A few large pieces struck her shoulders and a small piece hit her head. Eve groaned and struggled to stay awake as more explosions erupted above. So this was how it was going to end for her. She was going to buried alive-

"What the…?"Though her vision was almost gone, Eve could see something in the elevator. It was… a purple light? What the hell was a purple light doing in an elevator? Wait a moment! Was this light Covenant? No it could not be. There was no Covenant when she arrived in the elevator and none had managed to get into it within the past few moments.

Wait! Something was taking shape in the purple light. It… it was… it was a figure? What was it? Or a batter question; who was it? As the shape began to take form, Eve saw that the figure was becoming clear. It was a man, about Eve's height, dressed in a high ranking UNSC officer's uniform. He was glowing purple and had some kind of purple/light blue lines going from his feet up his body to his head. Eve gasped.

It was Auto.

When Auto had formed, he walked over towards Eve. As he came closer, Eve saw his suit was torn in several places and he had bruise marks on his face. Eve reached a hand out towards Auto. He would help her. They were strong friends. When Auto reached Eve, he knelt down in front of her and reached a hand out towards hers. A happy and relieved feeling filled Eve. Auto's here. He's going to help me! Then… I can hug him and tell him I was not going to leave him. I might even ask how he got her-

Suddenly, Auto's hand grabbed Eve and clutched down hard. Eve gritted her teeth in pain but she could not shout or tell him to stop. Then, she began to feel drained. Her vision was slowly getting weaker. Auto was draining her. Whether it was energy or life, she did not know.

Eve finally closed her eyes and her head hit the floor. Auto let go of her hand and said one sentence to Eve.

"This place will become your tomb,"