A/N: (Climbs up from a pit filled with project papers and school assignments, holding out another chapter): Yes! I'm back! in all seriousness, thank you all for staying with me so far. I'm nearly done with the massive assignment (one more week, until februari 5, in which I can't work on the story). I will be honest: It looked pretty much like this (until second pulse generator part and onward) for a week, and I haven't had the time to complete the chapter.
Disclaimer: Still no success on owning 343 industries, so Halo still belongs to them.
Chapter 7
"Are we there yet?" Richard Wilson asked as the elevator arrived at the top. "No." Johnson immediately responded.
He had been part of the second squad that was assigned to guard the weapons cache, and had, along with Chips Dubbo, been attacked by the Flood, as they seemed to be called by the 'light-bulb', as Johnson called it. He had gone along with the Spartans, and had been... teleported with them into this odd place. He had managed to hold out so far. Some of the others weren't as lucky. Including one of the elites that had gone along with them.
He would have found it odd, and frightening, to be here, were it not for the fact that people had been acting way too seriously. To the point that two of the spartans had even had an argument in a service corridor.
And the tension was so thick that Wilson decided to lighten it up with a bit of humor.
"Are we there yet?" he asked again.
Johnson sighed, and the others looked at him. "No." Johnson said again, as they got off the elevator.
"Are we there yet?"
"No"
"Are we there yet?"
"No."
"Are we there yet?"
"Oh, for the love of... SHUT UP!"
Richard, or 'Richie, as his teammates used to call him, waited for a second, and then asked. "Are we there yet?"
Chips Dubbo, the only other marine still alive, responded this time. "Why don't you shut up? Or at least ask the lightbulb?"
Richie looked at Dubbo, and said "Because he can't pick up I'm not as serious about it as I claim to."
"Asshole."
"Admit it: You'll miss me when I'm gone."
"Only if someone bumps my elbow."
"Ouch. That hurt my feelings."
"Oh, please. You don't have feelings. Or a heart, for that matter."
At this point one of the spartans, the small one with the energy swords, finally intervened. She had also been one of those to argue. "If I ask our guide, will you shut up about it?"
Wilson just smiled, depolarizing his visor. "Only if I get a date along with it."
"I'll ask Lightbulb if he wants to date you."
"I meant you."
At this the Spartan was silent, then continued on. She didn't approach the lightbulb when he appeared. Wilson approached it, and asked "Are we there yet?"
"No, reclaimer. Not yet. Only a few more levels, though, so we're close."
"Thank you."
He turned to the others. "There. Was that so hard?" Johnson hit his forehead with his palm, and most of the others sighed. The elite turned to him. "Can you also shoot as much as you talk, Human?"
"Want to serve as target practice and find out?"
"No, thanks."
They continued on, and ran into more Flood, and after a few moments they appeared behind them as well. As usual, two of the other Spartans, the Chief and the one with the sniper rifle took point, along with Johnson, and the other two spartans covered the rear, and the rest were somewhere in the middle. Wilson raised his scavenged shotgun, and fired a few shots at a combat form, waiting a bit before actually shooting, so they actually got into range. As he saw the others do, he aimed for the red parts on the chest. They did go down quicker that way. They were starting to overwhelm them, though, as they had on the elevator.
And then the elite saved him, by taking a group of them down by kicking one of the walking bubbly-like ones into a group approaching him, taking the entire group out. The pressure on his end lowered a bit.
He looked around, and saw a small crawling squid-like one sneaking up on Dubbo. He shot it down, though it was overkill with his shotgun. Dubbo turned to him, and nodded in thanks.
Wilson looked around, looking for a new 'friend' to play with, as he put it. He saw the Spartans up front were starting to overwhelmed again. He shot one of the things encircling them, killing it, and drawing the attention of some of the others. They ran at him, and he shot at them again and again. They kept coming, but he didn't care.
He just kept shooting, as he'd done for most of the day. Or night. He couldn't tell which one it was now.
Then the Shotgun ran out of ammo. And there were still a few of the things left. Oh, for FUCK's sake.
He threw his shotgun at one of them, drew his combat knife, and prepared to use it. One got close enough, and he stabbed at it's chest, right into the red part. He stabbed the thing there multiple times, and it fell down. He pulled the knife out...
And one of the things jumped on top of him, and he fell on his back.
It tried to slash at his throat with it's tentacles. It seemed to be a former human. He held his arm in front of it's tentacles, and only his arm was hit. He stabbed at the red part with his other arm, which held his knife. It died, and fell on top of his body.
And he was stuck. Damn, the thing's heavy. Couldn't they have been made of gas or something?
He grunted, trying to move the thing. It didn't go off of him, so he stopped trying. He looked around.
His shotgun lay there, half a meter away.
And between it and him one of the small things that had turned the others. He held his free arm out in front of him, ready to smash it to pieces. It ran towards him, jumped with it's tiny little appendages, and went straight his way.
And he hit it with his fist, on which he always had brass-knuckles. It died, and popped like... popcorn. Ha-ha. A new pun.
He tried to reach out for his shotgun, stretching his fingers. Come on, Come on...
His finger hooked around the barrel. Gotcha.
He carefully pulled it towards himself, and grabbed a better hold of it. He carefully grabbed a few shells, and started reloading. He grabbed it with one hand, and looked around.
The others seemed to have taken care of the Flood, and as far as he could see the others had all seemingly survived the encounter.
He called out. "Hey, a hand please?" Johnson approached, and held out his hand. Just out of reach. "Am I there yet?" He asked, with a large grin on his face. Richie rolled his eyes, adjusted the shotgun so it aimed at the corpse on top of him, and pulled the trigger. The corpse fell to pieces, ripped apart by the blast. He got up, and grabbed his knife from the corpse, and sheathed it.
He looked at his arm. His armor had taken on most of the blow. Only one cut had come through his jumpsuit. It was a nasty cut, but nothing he couldn't handle. Dubbo didn't agree, though.
"That's nasty. You need to get a look at that."
"It looks worse than it is."
The small Spartan came towards him again. "That's not good. You need to get that looked at."
"You sound like Chips here." Chips started to glare at him at that.
"I'm a medical expert, so I know. You need to get that looked at, and it can't happen here." she turned to Lightbulb. "Monitor, can you teleport him and Dubbo out of here, towards the largest concentration of Reclaimers? They need medical attention."
"Certainly, Reclaimer."
A yellow flash appeared around him, and after a few moments his gut went upside down again. He looked around, and he saw he was in a forerunner structure, with Dubbo.
And there was a scorpion tank visible from across the room.
And Silva was looking at them, like they appeared out of nowhere.
Great. The All-powerful Silva, who can beat Spartans, if you believe his speeches and boasts. This will be fun.
Fol looked at them, and they disappeared in a yellow flash. He looked at who was left.
Just him, The four Spartans, and the dark-skinned Sergeant that kept calling people names. Optimistic, considering what they started out with.
He looked at the monitor, who most called Light-bulb. "Monitor. Why do you call the Humans Reclaimers? What do they have that other species don't?"
The Monitor turned to him. "They were the chosen successors of the Precursors. They were supposed to take the Mantle of Responsibility, And would have done so had the Forerunners not wiped them out millions of years ago."
"But-"
"All very interesting, Monitor," one of the Spartans said. The one the other soldiers called the 'Master Chief'. "but shouldn't we get going?"
"I agree" The one called Six said.
Fol decided to call them, in his mind at least, by their visors. Six would be called Cut, for the cut he had made across her Visor on Reach. The other female would be called Goggles, for she seemed to have multiple goggles on her helmet of one clear visor. He knew they were camera's and sensors, but they just seemed too much like goggles in his mind. The really tall Spartan he had heard was called Sam would be T, for his Visor was shaped like a human T, although it was quite wide. The Chief would be called blank, as he had no identifying marks on his Visor.
They all went on. It went much the same from there on: Blank and Goggles would clear the front, Cut and T would keep the rear secure, even if they kept their distance from each other a bit, and he and the Sergeant would provide support where needed. The Sergeant seemed to be quite skilled at keeping them at bay, to the point where the little ones didn't even get close to him.
Fol reactivated his energy swords as the Flood appeared again. But this time the party of humans and an elite weren't alone. A flight of the drones appeared again, and began thinning out the Flood.
Fol saw they were killing them quite fast, but they were overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Fol grabbed his swords a little tighter, activating them. He saw the others prepare as well, either reloading or already taking aim at the Flood. Then he saw something he didn't want to face again.
A Juggernaut. Followed by a twin. They were starting to fight the Sentinels, and clearly were winning due to the reach of their tentacles Fol looked at T, who already was grabbing his rocket launcher. The others were all either taking better cover or grabbing grenades, seeing the result of them on the things.
Fol counted how many of the flood there were, and saw, beside the Juggernauts, a horde of the little ones, about thirty of the turned, and twelve exploding ones.
And most of the latter were clustered around the Juggernauts at the moment.
Perfect.
Fol holstered his energy swords, turned to T, and held his hand out for the rocket-launcher. After a moment's hesitation, T gave it. Fol aimed it at the ground around the exploding ones, and fired a single rocket.
It hit in the center of the group, and did the job he hoped it would. The things all exploded from the force of impact, and the Juggernauts all staggered from the impact of so many explosions. One fell down, and although it's tentacles still moved, it kept lying on the ground. Likely kept there due to it's weight.
The other came out of it with less damage, only a few patches of meat hanging loose. Fol then looked at the turned, and was surprised.
Only five were still standing, all of them on fire. The fire was colored blue. Fol looked closer at them, as none of the Flood seemed to approach him.
And then he saw.
His rocket had severely damaged a few of the sentinels, and they had all crashed into the turned forms. Most had died from the ensuing explosions of the crashing drones, and the rest had been set on fire.
And fire seemed to be wrecking havoc on the things.
Fol handed T back the launcher, reactivated his swords, and kept ready for when the Juggernaut started to engage them. He didn't have to wait long.
It looked around, saw them, and jumped towards them, at a speed and height that belied it's size.
Fol jumped out of the way, throwing a plasma grenade at it as he did so. It stuck to the large thing, and the thing didn't seem to notice it. There was a slight problem, though.
It had stuck to the end of the right tentacle, and it was swinging around at them with incredible speed and flexibility.
Fol thought fast, and tried to jump on top of it again, like he and Cut had tried with the first one. But it was onto him, and hit him in the side, swinging him against the wall. It tried to stab him with the end of the tentacle.
And then the grenade exploded, a meter away from him. The thing staggered, and the tentacle Was heavily burned as a result. Fol didn't come unscathed out of the encounter either, as his shields had been drained to about a tenth of their full strength. But the thing in front of him was burned, weakened, and seemed to lose it's balance.
So Fol did what seemed the most logical to him, grabbed his still active swords, and jumped straight into it. It would normally have done little to no damage, but the thing was already weakened and unbalanced from the explosion, and Fol stabbed the thing in the rough area of the stomach as he dived.
It fell down, and was twitching a bit before finally laying still. Fol removed his swords from the corpse, briefly shut them down and reactivating them to remove any tissue still on the blades, and looked at what the others were doing.
T and Cut were firing at the other Juggernaut, out of it's reach, in an attempt to permanently kill it. The Sergeant was firing at the little infection forms, alongside with Blank, in an attempt to keep them from resurrecting the turned, and Goggles was firing at the that were still standing. Fol decided to join her, and grabbed his assault rifles.
He could only fire two rounds, though, before they shut down. They were out of charge, as he had been using them ever since he had grabbed them from the phantom that dropped him off at the Weapons cache. It was a miracle they had lasted as long as they did.
Fol looked around for another ranged weapon. He didn't spot any covenant weapons, however. Only the human projectile weapons seemed to be laying around. He grabbed one with discomfort, an assault rifle. It wasn't that he had anything against the weapons, but they weren't designed with his anatomy in mind, and he had slight trouble fitting his finger in the trigger guard.
It didn't mean that he didn't know how to use them, however, and he released the low-ammo clip from the weapon. Fol grabbed a fresh one from the corpse, and saw the ammo counter jump up to sixty. Good.
He grabbed all the ammo he could find on the nearby corpses, and joined Goggles in taking down those that still stood tall among the Flood numbers. It took less than five seconds to take them all down.
He heard an explosion, and he turned in it's direction. T had unloaded a rocket into the form of the crippled Juggernaut, and it had blasted most of the thing apart. It wouldn't trouble him, so he looked around for any other potential threats.
There weren't any. The Sergeant and Blank had taken down the little forms, and there weren't any other forms in sight.
They all gathered at another door at the end of the hallway, but the monitor then appeared, ending up hovering in the middle of the group.
"Good news, reclaimers. I've managed to override some of the elevator controls, and The central platform is coming down to this platform."
The Sergeant looked dubious. "And why is that important, Lightbulb? In case you haven't noticed, we just got off of an elevator."
The monitor turned to the Sergeant. "Because the Central platform is the one containing which the index hovers over, and The index lowers with it."
"So in short words, you've just made our journey a lot shorter." Cut said.
"Yes, reclaimer. It means you will soon leave this facility, of which the lowest levels are already overrun with Flood."
Fol was glad with that. They had been fighting nearly non-stop ever since they had been at this place. Come to that, they had done so ever since their arrival at the weapons cache, pausing only when they encountered friendlies like the marines at the latter facility's exit, or the argument between Cut and T. It would be nice to have a break for once.
Indeed, as the door opened, Fol could see a central platform lowering. In it's center an object was floating, and it went down at the same rate as the platform.
Between them and the platform, however, more flood stood. About fifty of them of various types. He turned to the others. "One last Fight with these things, and it'll be over for them."
They all nodded, and turned to engage their foe. Fol aimed his assault rifle, and fired at the Exploding forms first, which numbered to about six. They went up with bangs, lowering the count of enemies to about twenty or thirty. He didn't stop to count how many had been taken down, instead just continuing to fire at the things.
One came too close, and was about to swipe it's tentacle at him when the Sergeant jumped in front, blasted the thing, and it reeled back from the force of the blast. Fol fired at it's chest, and it went down for good.
Fol couldn't pause yet to thank the sergeant, though, as one was creeping up on his flank, attempting to blindside the sergeant. Fol blasted it, grabbed it's corpse as it attempted to get up again, and threw it over the Sergeant's head at a cluster of forms that he was firing at.
The Sergeant looked back in surprise, then grinned. "Guess that makes us even."
Fol aimed over the Sergeant, and fired at one of the forms attempting to take potshots at them. It went down.
"By my count, I'm one up on you, Sergeant." The Sergeant looked at him in surprise, and started to grin even more.
"Is that a challenge to whoever kills the most of them."
"If you are up to it."
"Alright. May the best one of us win."
At that, Fol and the sergeant stood side by side, and fired at the few forms that hadn't already been dealt with by the Spartans. They could b counted on one's hand, a Sangheili one anyway, and in the end it ended in tie for Fol and the Sergeant.
Cut looked around, and shot at the things that were dead, trying to ensure they stay that way. She then stepped onto the Platform, and it started to turn. The others hastened to get onto it as well before it started to lower too much. They all made it.
They hit the bottom after about a minute, and The Monitor appeared next to blank, who was standing in front of the Index. "You may now retrieve the index." It sounded almost... excited to Fol. Like it was looking forward to something that was about to happen that he had hoped for.
Blank moved his hand so it was above the thing, and it ejected something, a green object shaped like a T as well.
Shaped like a T...
The T-Shaped Key looks like that!
Fol couldn't see why the same Key that had been at the Citadel center for a millennium was also here, though, so he didn't give it any further though.
Then a beam came out of the Monitor as Blank just grabbed it. Blank looked at it, and T and some of the others raised their weapons at the thing. It started talking.
"Protocol requires that I take possession of the Index for transport. Your organic form renders you vulnerable to infection. The Index must not fall into the hands of the Flood, before we reach the Control Room and activate the installation."
That made sense, but why couldn't the monitor just ask for it poli-
Then the weird yellow flash appeared again, and Fol knew he was being teleported.
"The Flood is spreading. We must hurry." He heard the monitor say.
The first thing John saw as he appeared again in the control room was that the Hologram of Halo had more red patches, indicating the Flood had spread further across the ring. He also saw that he Flood were getting closer to Alpha base. And Six had just sent the Marine and ODST there because they were wounded. Bad sense of timing.
John looked at the control panel, where he'd last left Cortana. Her avatar wasn't visible now.
The monitor hovered next to him. "Is something wrong, reclaimer?"
John thought for a second about letting the monitor about Cortana. It seemed like it was the 'manager' of this ring, for want of a better word, and it might be able to help them. But it was still holding back something crucial. He was sure, and from the occasional glances he saw Six give the thing, he knew Six suspected something as well. The thought only lasted for a second.
"No. Nothing." The others, namely Sam and Linda, looked at him, but they said nothing.
"Splendid" The Monitor said. "Shall we?"
They all moved to the central control panel, with Johnson moving to guard the door. The monitor hummed for a minute, before moving to hover near the panel.
"Unfortunately," It started "my usefulness to this particular endeavor has come to an end. Protocol does not allow units with my classification to... perform a task as important as the reunification of the Index with the Core. That final step is reserved for you, Reclaimer."
It removed the Index from it's chassis, and John grabbed it. He looked at it for a moment, turning it over in his hand, before he inserted it in a fitting slot in the panel. The others, including the odd elite, looked at him and the panel.
Lights started to swirl around them, and machinery started to hum, and he heard something starting up.
But then everything shut down and fell silent. The monitor looked surprised, like he didn't expect that. Everyone was looking at the flying lightbulb. "Odd." It said. "That wasn't supposed to happen."
"Oh, really?" a Female voice sounded behind him. She had her hologram projected from the panel, and a variety of colors was swirling across her body. She shot a bolt of energy from the panel, and the monitor fell to the ground, temporarily disabled.
And boy, John saw she was pissed. In fact, he had only seen one person look angrier, and that was Six during her fight with Silva.
"Cortana-" He began, but Cortana continued on. "I've spent the last 12 hours, cooped up in here, watching you toady about, helping that thing get set to slit our throats." She seemed to gesture at the monitor.
"Hold on now." Sam said, holding up his hands. "He's a friend. He's helped us."
"Oh" Cortana said, holding her hand before her mouth mockingly. "I didn't realize, Sam. He's your pal, now? Your Chum?" Her voice then turned to anger. Damn, she was furious. "Do you have any idea what that bastard almost made you all do?"
"Yes" Linda said. "We were about to activate Halo's defensive systems, and destroy the Flood. Until you stopped it."
The monitor finally reactivated, looked around, and saw Cortana. "A construct? In the Core? That is absolutely unacceptable."
"Sod off." Cortana said, sounding irritated and angry.
"What impertinence. I shall have you purged at once." It started to move towards Cortana, but stopped when Cortana physically removed the index, or rather the codes stored within. She held it up, and absorbed it into herself.
"You sure that's a good idea?"
The monitor was stunned, to say the least, by Cortana's audacity. It seemed to freeze in midair for a moment, before moving forward a few inches. It actually sputtered for a few moments.
"How... How... how DARE you? I'll..." It said, but it didn't seem to get any further.
"Do what?" Cortana finished. "I have the index. You can just float and sputter."
At that point the elite moved forward, placing himself in front of the monitor, though it seemed more to stop the monitor from doing anything than stopping the argument. "Construct, I'll admit I'm not following. What is so dangerous about Halo that we can't use it to destroy the parasite that you know could destroy all life as you know it?"
Cortana looked at it for a moment. Then she took on a look of pity. "None of you have an idea what really is, do you? Not the Prophets, not the elites, not even your current population of Huragok."
She then turned to all of them. "Halo doesn't kill the Flood. It kills their food. Human, Covenant, whatever. We're all equally edible. The only way to make sure the Flood's destroyed is to starve them to death."
She gestured at the room around her. John noticed she pointed specifically to the Hologram of Halo. "And that is exactly what Halo is designed to do: wipe the Galaxy clean of all sentient life." she turned to the elite again. "You don't believe me? Ask Him." She pointed behind them, and they all turned.
Towards the monitor.
Fol was Shocked. Stunned. Paralyzed. Dumbstruck.
Everything the Covenant was teaching was a lie. The gods that were supposed to be waiting for them, the supposed heresy of his Clan for speaking about their assumption that Forerunners weren't gods, The sacrifices his troops all had made throughout the war.
All for naught. For a lie. An empty promise.
It upset everything in his life. He knew that there was no heaven or anything waiting for him, no afterlife for him to enjoy. But a giant ring, capable of wiping out all life in the galaxy? And the Covenant willingly sacrificing all of their armies to achieve so, even if they believed otherwise? That made every fight, every scream, every death undone, their sacrifice in vain. It made his life up onto that point useless.
The Monitor made sense now. except one part. He turned to the Monitor, and asked, his voice showing his shock. "And the Title Reclaimer, Monitor. Why are humans granted that title, and not another species?"
The monitor turned to him, and said something even more shocking. "They were the chosen successors of the Precursors. They were supposed to take the Mantle of Responsibility. But my creators, the Forerunners, waged a massive war on them for this, and drove them to near extinction. They assumed the Mantle, and drove your species nearly to extinction as well. Were it not for the Librarian, you would have gone extinct long before the firing of the array. Why do you ask, meddler? Meddler?"
But Fol wasn't listening anymore, even though he could hear both the Monitor asking for his attention, and the Human AI explaining the basics of the Covenant religion to the others. He was taking a moment to process it all. Not only had the basics of the Covenant religion been uprooted, but they Prophets were being proven to be false prophets. They were liars, traitors, deceivers, and their own blasphemers.
And they were exterminating the species that was supposed to follow up the Forerunners. No, the Precursors, he corrected himself. Humans were the ones the Covenant should follow. They were the ones destined to lead the others to greatness. His respect for them was justified. Their tenacity, their creativeness, their ability to adapt to any situation. It was all justified in the end.
He turned to the monitor.
"And what the Construct said." He asked. His voice was subdued. "Everything she said. It's true, isn't it?"
The monitor answered, not noticing he was shocked. "More or less. Technically, this installation's pulse has a maximum effective radius of twenty-five thousand light years. But, once the other rings follow suit, this galaxy will be quite devoid of life, or at least any life with sufficient biomass to sustain the Flood." It paused, looking at all of them. Johnson was approaching them, holding his weapon high to attack the lightbulb if necessary. "But you already knew that... I mean, how couldn't you?"
The others were looking at the monitor. Cut approached the monitor. "It seems you left out that detail." Fol noticed she looked angry as well, like the AI. "And I remember specifically asking you to fill us in on all the details."
The monitor started to back up as Cut was starting to get really close. "You left us in the dark on purpose. Because you knew we'd refuse if we heard everything. And you knew we'd set out to destroy your precious ring if we knew the full truth."
The monitor bumped against the door, and was effectively cornered by Cut. Fol started to approach the Monitor as well. "The right thing to do, Monitor," Cut practically spat the word. "is to destroy the ring. It wipes out the flood, and it's destructive power can't be used ever again."
"No" The monitor started to protest. "What if there is an infestation elsewhere, or the entire popu-"
Fol cut him off. "NO. If we don't destroy the ring, then the San'Shyuum will wipe out all life in the galaxy anyway, because of their misguidedness. We WILL destroy this ring." He raised his assault rifle at the monitor. "Whether with your permission or not."
The monitor seemed to hesitate, then it hovered closer to Fol. Or as close as Six would allow anyway. "No, Meddler. Protocol dictates the Ring must be preserved at all costs. Even if reclaimers must be killed. I do, however, require the Index from your construct." It looked at the AI, and Fol already knew the Spartans would die in order to protect it from this... 'glorified lightbulb'. The sergeant was right in choosing that name, after all.
"That's not gonna happen." Blank said, as he grabbed the AI's chip from the console and inserted it in his head. Fol agreed, and joined the others at standing in front of the AI.
The monitor sighed, then he looked at them. "So be it."
Then a few of the Sentinels, 16 in all, floated up from the abyss below the walkway, and they all hovered behind the monitor, whose eye was starting to glow bright red. "Save his head." it said, aiming with a light beam at Blank. "And dispose of the rest." He fired a red beam at Blank, but he dodged, and the beam instead hit the console. It melted before Fol's eyes.
Fol didn't hesitate, though, and he fired at the sentinels. They had shields, though, so the firing from his projectile-based weapons had no effect. Then he remembered something the monitor had said.
They are aggressor-class sentinels. They are present to combat the Flood. They are however, highly susceptible to plasma fire.
Fol looked at who had plasma weapons, and saw that T was using a plasma rifle to good effect. He was, however, the only one with plasma-based weaponry.
Fol then saw the door on the other side of the sentinels open, and he saw something emerging he now had mixed feelings about.
A full lance of Covenant troops.
Fol grabbed his last plasma grenade, and threw it at the lance, which consisted of three Jackals and five elites. The grenade threw the Jackals off the platform, and the elites all lost their shields. Fol gunned them down, regretting every bullet he fired at them, but still doing so, knowing that he'd be killed on sight for dealing with Spartans like that. He could have lied his way out, of course, but Fol wasn't that stupid. He'd regret every moment of doing so.
They all finally went down, and Fol sprinted towards them, scooping up their weapons. He holstered his assault rifle, and he grabbed two plasma pistols, and overcharged them, and fired at the two of the nearest sentinels.
They both crashed and burned on two that were hovering too low below them.
Fol tossed the plasma weapons to the others, and together, despite the Monitor firing his own beams at them, they all destroyed the sentinels. The monitor looked displeased. "So you're more skilled than I thought. I'll be back soon." Then a yellow flash appeared around the monitor, and he disappeared of to who knows where.
Fol turned to the others after he made sure the area was secure. They were all looking amongst themselves, and Cut was standing close to him, finger on the trigger on her rifle. She hadn't forgotten their fight on Reach, and was still eager to shoot him, despite their short alliance and her odd attempts at humor in the Flood den in the swamp. Fol looked at her, then at the others, who spotted Cut's hostility as well.
Fol thought for a moment, at a loss for what to do. He knew he had an objective, but he saw he wouldn't leave this room alive if he didn't form an alliance with these spartans. He wouldn't even be able to leave the ring, as he had shot at his own species, at his own ranks. Essentially, he had committed treason.
Fol decided for the action that was the most rash, and completely left the decision to the others. It would also likely get him killed.
He dropped his plasma pistol, unholstered and dropped his assault rifle and energy swords, and stepped away from them, hands raised.
The others looked at him, and Fol could tell from their stance that most were at the very least surprised, and at most perplexed. Cut even slightly lowered her rifle for a moment because of it, but raised it just as quickly.
He answered the unspoken question. "I have just heard something that upset everything my society is based on. My cause to fight against humanity has been uprooted, all sacrifices I've made in my life undone." He stepped towards the edge of the bridge. He didn't intend to jump off, merely doing so to illustrate the point that he trusted his fate to the humans. "All I have done up to this point amounts up to nothing now. I have nothing to live for, beyond a slight hope for redemption."
He looked at all of them. "Do whatever you wish with me. All I ask is that you make it quick."
Cut started to approach him, her rifle raised, but she was stopped by Goggles, who stood in front of it. "He could be useful" She said.
"He deserves to die." Cut responded.
"He has valuable intel on the Covenant, he has experience fighting the Flood, and he could give earth enough codes on Covenant fleets to actually give us a chance in this war."
"And you trust he keeps his word? A Hinge-head?"
At this point blank approached as well, though the construct spoke for him. "I have analyzed all data I have on the Covenant forces, and He speaks the truth. The revelations the monitor told him contradict everything of their religion. This Intel could upset their entire society, and could actually cause a civil war among them that could last for decades. Besides, he already pledged support for our next plan: to destroy Halo."
They all looked between the Construct's carrier and Fol, and Fol looked at Blank. "I have nowhere to turn to. I already fired on my own kind. All chances I have of survival rest with you."
Fol took two steps towards Blank, and then got on one knee. "I hereby pledge my service to you, spartans, and I'll do all I can to get you all off of this Ring alive. All I ask in return is a sample, a copy, of The Halo data, enough to confirm the suspicions of my clan, so they can deci-"
"And let valuable data fall into the hands of the Covenant?" Cut interjected? "Not a chance."
"It would be used to convince the Clan to support Humanity." Fol looked at blank again. "Construct, if you want to know where it goes to, look among your databanks, or the Covenant Battlenet even, for data on Sang'Katarn. That is my homeworld. You will know I will use it wisely."
"One moment" sounded from Blank, and indeed, she was only silent for a moment. "Wow, that's... interesting."
"What?" The Sergeant asked.
"He comes from an ex-Covenant prison colony. His clan was originally sent there, after supposedly committing heresy by broadcasting their atheist beliefs. They ended up Capturing the colony, and after repelling multiple invasions at a constant disadvantage, have a reluctant cease-fire with the Covenant. Roughly around 1914, the planet, named Sang'Katarn, sent cadets to the Covenant for the first time, trying to make the peace more permanent." The Construct paused. "The Cadets ended up beating the instructors in skill, tactics, strength and teamwork. The planet has since become something of a military heaven. But, unknown to nearly everyone, The inhabitants of the planet kept their atheist beliefs, and The colony, despite being the best military academy the Covenant has and producing the most skilled, intelligent and pragmatic warriors, is arming up for an inevitable splitting from the Covenant."
"Impressive digging, Construct." Fol interrupted. "That last part you could only have gathered from my personal identification disk."
"I know" The Construct said. "Anyway, to top it off, the Colony is the only one without any inhabitants that feel humanity is supposed to be exterminated."
"So basically" The sergeant said "It's a combination of Harvard, the Highcom training facility on Reach, and an Atheist haven in a Catholic country from 15th century earth."
"That sums it up" The construct answered.
"And Fol-of-himself comes from this place, and shares those views on humanity you said earlier.
The construct seemed to pause, as if searching for an answer. "Yes. As a matter of fact, he's a descendant from the ancient leader of said atheist beliefs."
The Sergeant turned to Fol, while most of the Spartans were taking a bit more distance from Fol. The Sergeant stopped in front of Fol, and looked him straight in the eyes, even if Fol had lost one to Cut. "If you behave, then you can actually come along. I have taken a liking to you, and you are quite skilled. If you aid us, if you help is destroy this ring, then I have no objections about taking you along."
The others looked at Johnson, who looked straight back. "He's tough, he's fast, and he knows his way around fighting the Covenant. Hell, he's planning to actually do so in the near future. He could end up becoming a valuable ally." Johnson then grabbed something out of his pocket, a round, brown cylinder, and put it in his mouth. Fol then realized he had grabbed a cigar. Johnson turned to Fol. "Will you help me stop the religious covenant?" He held out the lighter, for Fol to take.
Fol grabbed it, lit the fire, and held it close enough to light it. "I promise to do all I can to stop them." The cigar was lit, and Fol shut the fire out, and handed the thing back to the Sergeant, who took it with ease.
The others stood down, either lowering their weapons or aiming them more around the door, looking for other threats.
All except Cut.
Fol, still on his one knee, looked at her. He could understand her hostility, given the fact he had hunted her team down mere days before by his count. But they had to get around that. Or none of them would leave the ring alive.
"What are your reasons for still being hostile towards me beside your team? I want to know, so I know what I need to do to persuade you."
Cut looked at him with hatred, and spoke with vehemence. "You've said it yourself: You personally killed two members of my team, and hunted down me and the others. You are responsible for the deaths of all of them."
"And that justifies killing me on the spot, when I've just sworn to, using your terms, defect to your cause?"
"Maybe not, but I'm long past caring about that. I just want you dead."
"I know you do, but who will it truly help beyond yourself?"
At this Cut was silent, likely contemplating something. Then she lowered her weapon, and Fol saw from the corner of his eye that T was relaxing slightly. So he was worried she was gonna do something rash.
"One wrong move, and I'll shoot you. I don't trust you enough."
"I know. I'll behave."
At this Cut finally gestured for Fol to get up, and handed him back his weapons. Blank held out his hand for shaking, and Fol shook it. Fol looked him in the eye. "Do I get actual names to add to each of you? In my head I just call you by short names of your helmet description."
"I'm the Master Chief, and I'm in charge of each of us standing here." Blank responded
"I don't want to go by rank, so I'm just Linda." Goggles said.
"Sam" T added to the mix. Fol turned to the sergeant. "I already know your name, Johnson, for I overheard you and the one that cost me my eye talking to each other."
Johnson immediately looked up. "And what did you hear?"
"Only about how it was an honor fighting alongside the Spartan."
Johnson sagged his shoulders, strangely looking... relieved? Fol didn't look ponder it too much, and turned to Cut. "And what are you called?"
Cut stood frozen for a few moments, then said "Just go by Six. I'm used to that."
"Just Six?"
"It's all you'll get."
Fol turned to the others, and asked "Is that her real name?"
"It was her call-sign on her last team, and she has stuck to it up until this point." Johnson said. "And don't try to take it personally: I don't know her real name either."
Fol nodded. "Six will do."
Then Sam turned to the Chief, and asked "So, since you just said that you have a plan: Let's hear it."
The construct spoke again. "Yes. As both Fol and Six said, we have to destroy Halo."
"already figured that. Do you actually have a plan on how we go about doing that?"
"Yes. According to my analysis of the available data, I believe the best course of action is somewhat... risky."
"We're used to it." Linda interjected. "Just say it."
"Alright. Sam will like this part: An explosion of sufficient size will help destabilize the ring, and will cut through a number of primary systems. We need to trigger a detonation on a large scale, however. A star ship's fusion reactors going critical would do the job."
"In short: We need to make a big boom?" Sam asked
"Yes."
"Hell, yes."
"All well and good, Cortana." Six interjected "But do you also have a way to get us off Halo before it detonates?"
The constr- No, Cortana, Fol reminded himself, huffed. "Of course. I have Foehammer standing by, so she can get us off the Ring. No worries, I have planned for everything."
"Good."
Fol then moved towards the door. "If you want to detonate a ship, you need it's command codes. The easiest way to do that is to locate your own captain, and take his implants if he's dead." he said.
"I agree, so I'll do that. The moment I've located the Pillar of Autumn's crash site."
Six nodded, but she and Johnson seemed somehow depressed about this. Then Six rummaged in one of her pouches. She drew out something, and tossed it to the Chief. "No need to search for the Captain." Six said, her voice sad. "I wasn't gonna let the things have the CNI. I took them from his corpse, after blasting it apart."
The others nodded, all looking either down or away. Fol nodded, intending it in respect. They all moved toward the door, and Fol opened it.
Straight into an ongoing battle between sentinels and the Covenant.
Fol immediately opened fire on them with his plasma pistols, overcharging them before letting the bolts loose on the Sentinels. Two of the five went down, crashing into two elites and a grunt that stood too close. The other foes all turned towards the new venue of attack, and prepared to fire at it as well.
It would have worked too, if not for the rockets and grenades thrown and fired in their direction. It wasn't so much a battle anymore, as it became an actual massacre. The Spartans each fired at an elite, and Johnson and Fol fired at the Sentinels. They all went down, and the grunts that still stood fled from the onslaught. Linda shot them before they got to the door leading outside.
Fol saw a grunt had dropped a Fuel-Rod gun. Fol moved towards it and grabbed it, taking all ammunition he could find for it as well. In the end he found 25 rounds, and the thing had been fully loaded, the grunt dying before it could fire the weapon. He saw Sam look on, studying the weapon. Fol held it out, giving Sam a good look of it. "Our equivalent of your rocket launcher. Five rounds before reload, fires with an small arch." Fol revealed a switch behind the trigger. "If this switch is thrown, it becomes a deadman's switch. A fail-safe. Explodes with the force of a frag grenade."
Sam nodded, impressed. "Nice. Might switch it with you one day."
"we'll see if we live that long."
They made it to the door, and got outside.
"I haven't located the crash site yet" Cortana began "but we need to buy some time, in case the Monitor or his Sentinels find a way to activate Halo's final weapon, without the Index."
"Sounds logical, considering the monitor is as bent on genocide as Truth." Fol said.
"Truth?" Linda asked.
"One of the Covenant's 3 hierarchs. Based on the Holy City of High-Charity. He declared the genocidal war on Humanity."
"Handy to know." Cortana said. "Anyway, let me continue. The machinery in these canyons are Halo's primary firing mechanisms. They consist of three phase pulse generators that amplify Halo's signal, and allow it to fire deep into space. The power levels are enormous. I can't even begin to calculate the pulse's range. So, if we damage or destroy these generators, the Monitor will need to repair them before Halo can be used. That should buy us some time."
The chief nodded, then gestured up. "I saw a platform up there when we entered the Canyon. Is that where it is?"
"Yes. I've placed a nav-beacon there. Make your way there, and we can take it down."
Six looked up the canyon walls. "I like the thought of pissing off our favorite lightbulb, but I already know it will take a long time for me to climb that wall."
The others looked as well, and nodded too. Especially Johnson. "I ain't climbing no wall. I value my fingers too much, and I'd hate to scratch them during any falls."
Fol agreed, and scanned the area below the large shrine that was the Control Room.
Both the Sentinels and Flood had done a number on the Covenant here, and had cleared out the force outside. It seemed that the ones they had encountered in the hallway behind them were the survivors of the attacks, fleeing to the inside of the complex. Fol saw a lot of Flood and Covenant corpses, and here and there a few scraps of Sentinel pieces. Fol saw a lot of opportunities to resupply his arms, and he and the others did so, picking up from the corpses.
Fol now had a Fuel-Rod gun, two energy swords and an assault rifle. The Chief had an assault rifle, a pistol, an energy pistol and a shotgun. Linda had her sniper rifle, a plasma rifle, and a shotgun. Sam had an assault rifle, a plasma rifle and his rocket-launcher. Six had her shotgun, two needlers and two energy swords. Johnson had an assault rifle, a shotgun and his service pistol. All had stocked up on ammo and grenades to their fullest.
Then Fol spotted something down there that lightened his mood.
A crashed Spirit dropship, and it seemed largely intact. It would even be flyable.
If it weren't guarded by a wraith mortar tank and a full force of 15 fully promoted Zealots. A challenge even Fol didn't like taking on, even these new gold ones that changed their armor from crimson to gold.
I've spotted a pirate treasure. It's only guarded by parrots." Fol called out. The others approached, and looked at what he was pointing at. Johnson laughed at the joke. "Ahoy, matey. Let's steal the treasure, and we can all go home."
"Aye, aye, cap'n." Sam said, and most laughed, even Cortana. Then they all made their attack plans. The Chief started. "Linda, make your way up as high as possible, and get a good view. Give us covering fire. Sam, Fol: make your way to either side of that Wraith. Flank it, and take it down. Hit it in the rear if possible. Johnson, Six: You're with me, storming the beachhead. Take down as many of them as possible. Use grenades as soon as possible, and take them on from a distance. Get in position, and we all move once we're all in position."
They all nodded, and moved to their respective positions. The Chief and the others moved on down the spire down the main ramps, Fol and Sam skidded down the sides, and sprinted their way silently towards the flanks of the wraiths, using stealth to make their way around the zealots. Linda climbed the way up the spire in front of the door, and reached a maintenance platform from where she had a good view.
The last group signaled they were into position, so The Chief gave the signal, and Fol decloaked himself, fired his Fuel-Rod gun five times, aiming at the wraith. Since he could stand free due to his active camouflage, he drew the attention of the wraith. His Fuel-Rods hit the front armor of the wraith. It was damaged by the blast, and the plasma cannon mounted on top was melted. It still stood, however. It took aim at Fol...
and it didn't survive as Sam fired two rockets into the back of the tank. It's plasma engine exploded, as did the mortar energy reserve tank, and The tank was nothing but a smoldering wreck. Fol and Sam nodded to each other, and they moved to attack the Zealot force from behind, who were busy with the other spartans. They both reloaded their heavy weapons, took aim, and unloaded their clips again.
The rockets and Fuel-Rods hit the center of the group. All of the Zealots survived, as none were directly hit, and their shields were extremely resilient, only surpassed by Fol's own. They were drained from the explosions, however.
The Chief, Six and Johnson made their way from the Shrine, charging straight into the Zealots. A few of the elites saw what was going on, but they were silenced by Linda's superb Sniping skills. The others started to see them, and aimed at them.
At which point Fol and Sam fired their assault rifles at them in their backs. Three went down from the combined fire before the others noticed, and they all looked back. All of them.
Rookies. Fol thought. Likely promoted due to a lack of bodies to throw at the Flood. Pathetic. We truly are better of without the prophets.
Fol distracted them by throwing a grenade, and the elites scattered. And were easily picked off by The Chief and his group, falling like trees before noticing the flaw in their tactics. And by that time, they were down to four of them. Fol holstered his rifle, grabbed his energy swords, and challenged two of them. He saw Six do the same, grabbing her energy swords. The Zealots all grabbed their energy swords, and each carried two of them.
In synch, Fol and Six charged at the Zealots. The other Spartans held their fire to give Fol and Six some room to play. Six reached the group first, near a large arch that went up to the top of the spire, where there was a small cliff of a dozen meters. Six kicked at one's chest to unbalance it, and it toppled. It didn't fall into the Cliff, but Six now had breathing room with the other. It slashed with both blades at her head, but Six ducked, then jumped, making a kick at the elite's jaws at the same time. It tumbled down, unbalanced. Six stabbed it just as it was regaining it's balance, with the blades emerging from the back. It went down, lifeless.
Fol then reached his pair, who had also seen the Spartan take down one of their own with uneven odds. Fol sliced at both of them to evaluate their skills. Both blocked, but Fol noticed one nearly didn't bring up his blades in time.
Perfect.
Fol kicked one at the forehead, and it tumbled onto it's back. It didn't get up immediately. Fol then made multiple slashes and Jabs at the other in an attempt to overwhelm it's defenses.
That took about two seconds. Fol used one blade to block two of the Zealot's, and Fol used the free one to stab at the head, and slashed across the spine. The Zealot went down in agony, and Fol stabbed at it's head again, making it's end short. Fol then turned to the other Zealot, who was just getting up. Fol charged him, and nearly hit him when the zealot made a barrel-roll sideways. Fol jumped the other way, keeping some distance between the two of them. They both got up, and eyed each other. Fol saw this one was more experienced, likely an actual Zealot. Fol then made a glance behind him, and saw Six had the swords of her opponent pinned, and she then let go, hitting him in the face multiple times, using her energy sword hilt like a knuckle-duster. The elite was stunned, and Six then stabbed it at the eye with the hilt, and activated the blade. The blades went through the brains and exited the head.
Fol looked back at his opponent, and saw he was observing the events behind Fol as well. Fol decided to distract it by charging towards it. The zealot moved to engage, but just before Fol got to it, he received a click across his com-channel. He followed his instinct, and jumped.
And he saw Six Jump through, straight into the Zealot. Both tumbled a bit before getting up. It was wounded, as one of Six' blades had sliced across it's side. It tried to attack Six...
and at that moment Fol appeared behind it, grabbed it by it's right hand, and pulled to unbalance it. Fol then slashed across the elite's throat. Fol let go, and it dropped, lifeless.
Fol looked at Six, and he gave a mock-salute with his blades still on. "Impressive. Where did you learn to fight like that?"
"Planet's already gone, and it was self-taught." Six answered.
Fol then formed his mandibles into a Sangheili smile. "Shame. I could have gone there in peace-time and looked up your teacher."
Six nodded, and they all moved into the dropship. The interior wasn't heavily damaged, and Fol was confident he could fly it up the canyon to the dropship. They waited a minute, then two, and then finally Linda appeared. She was breathing heavily, and she appeared to be exhausted.
Fol decided to ask. "What is it? You appear to be exhausted, yet you didn't run that far."
"She was heavily wounded above Reach." The Chief answered. "She hasn't entirely recovered yet from the surgery."
Fol nodded, understanding. "In that case, have her rest in this seat." Linda started to speak to object, but Fol cut her off. "It's the Gunner's seat. It'll let you help without worsening the injuries."
Linda nodded, and despite being exhausted made her way into the seat swiftly.
Fol moved into the pilot's seat, and prepared to move the ship into the air.
Six kept near the prong, so she could get out quickly in case they were ambushed.
She was suspicious of Fol, despite his claim of allegiance. Six admitted to herself he seemed honest about his defection, and he was highly skilled, as he'd just proven in their sword-fight against the zealots. But he had hunted her team, had hunted her, on Reach, and she just couldn't shake her suspicions away as quickly as she liked.
They lifted into the air, and after a minute arrived at the platform. Six and Sam got out, as Johnson and John had insisted on staying on the dropship. Fol and Linda didn't object.
Six and Sam moved towards the door, and it opened. They moved inside silently.
Sam decided to break their silence first. "Look, about what was said in that corridor-"
"Don't." Six interjected.
"I just want to say something, alright?"
"Then just say it. Don't talk like you're about to go on your first date."
"I'm sorry."
Six paused, stopping in her tracks. "What?"
"I didn't intend to get you angry at all. Not at you, anyway. I was frustrated, and I happened to let it out on you. I'm sorry for that."
Six looked at him. He did look like he was meaning it. She wasn't used to that, people apologizing to her. Six never had done anything people apologized for, or they didn't live to do so if they did. She didn't know how to take it.
"Thanks, I guess?"
"You guess?" Sam asked.
"I'm sorry, but people don't apologize to me that often." Six paused, then added. "I am thankful, I'm merely not used to it."
Sam still seemed dumbstruck. "People never apologize to you?"
"I either never encounter them again, or they're dead in less than five days." Six then made the gesture of a spartan smile, showing she was joking. Sam returned the gesture.
Six grabbed his shoulder. "Really, I do appreciate it. But." Six paused for dramatical effect. "You still should aim more to the left."
Sam laughed. "I'll try." Six then let go. "Come on." She said. "We've got a pulse generator to neutralize."
They moved on, and they got to the generator after a few turns. It was a large column of energy, with a few smaller prongs coming from it's top and ending a meter at the sides from the bottom. "So, how do we do this again?"
Six sighed, then said "Cortana briefed us in the dropship. We need to enter the pulse's energy stream, and our suit will deliver an EMP that shuts down the generator. We are both needed, as just one suit doesn't deliver the punch needed to knock it out."
"I remember that part. It's what comes after that I keep forgetting."
Six rolled her eyes. "You didn't forget it. You just don't like it."
"You mean that you do like the fact our suit's shields will be knocked out from the EMP?"
"No. But I don't make a fuss about it, Samuel."
Sam groaned. "I hate it when you call me that."
"I know. So what?" Six then stepped towards the generator, and sam followed. They crossed the beam around the same time, And it started pulsing a lot. Then the equipment around the thing started rumbling as well. Six hit her com.
"Cortana, did that do it?"
"Scanning. The Pulse generator is off-line. Well done." Cortana responded. "Get back to the dropship, and we'll go on to the next pulse generator."
"En-route now."
Sam and Six made their way back through the hallways, their shields recharging. Six looked back at the generator before they rounded the corner, and saw the beam was starting to pulse faster. And the rumbling started to become audible.
That could only mean one thing in Six' head.
"Run!" She yelled to Sam, who was just turning around to the new noise. Sam saw it as well, and started to share her fears. They both ran through the corridor at full speed. They just got outside as they heard a loud high-tone shrill. Six started to run even faster towards the dropship. She jumped inside just as a loud blast was heard inside the hallways, and Six feared they had run out of time.
Then she jumped off the platform and into the dropship, with Sam close behind. The ship started to back away, and no sooner were they lifting up, than a large explosion of blue flames shot out from the doors, and the platform, destabilized by the explosion, fell down the canyon, crashing into the wreck of the wraith down below. It completely buried it.
Six turned to John and Linda, who were helping them up. "Next time, YOU disable the generator Cortana."
"Hey." Cortana rebutted. "I didn't know the beam would become so unstable the entire generator would explode. Besides, you made it back, didn't you?"
"Yeah, but I'd like a warning next time."
"If I can give one, I'll do so."
The ship finally lifted out of the canyon. They flew for two minutes before they entered another canyon, which was bisected by two parallel bridges and had an artificial, partially roofed trench below. Six looked around from the hatch, and saw no platform indicating there was a pulse generator. She turned to the others.
"No generator in this canyon. Let's try the next one."
The others agreed, and Fol moved the dropship over to the next canyon with ease. Six observed from the corner of her eye, curious about how to fly the dropship, in case the elite was killed along the way. They seemed simple enough.
They entered the next canyon, and there Six instead saw two platforms. Six looked at the Chief again. "Cortana, which of the two platforms is it?"
"The one to the east. It's marked on your hud, and is quite close."
Six looked, and saw it was the platform behind the elevator on the central pillar.
It was also crawling with grunts carrying Fuel-Rod guns. Risky to land there right away. Six looked down all the way, and saw a lot of things. Hunters, wraiths, shade turrets, a lance of elites.
And a square of parked banshees. Perfect.
Six gestured. "Down there. See it?"
Johnson, Fol and Linda looked, saw what she gestured at, and nodded. Banshees were mobile enough for them to evade the Fuel-Rod guns, yet had enough of a punch to take the grunts out. The Chief was watching their HUD-view, and nodded. "Six, you, I and Sam will go down and take some of those banshees. Linda, you and Johnson take care of the Covenant below. Fol, make strafing runs on the wraith and shade turrets, but keep the dropship secure. It's our only way out of here if the platform goes down." Fol nodded.
The ship landed near a tunnel entrance, and they all went out.
John, Sam and Six headed for the banshees, while Johnson and Linda took care of the Covenant forces on the bottom of the Canyon, starting with the hunters. They were just coming from the corner of the huge pillar, when Linda shot twice, at an incredible distance. The Hunters went down, and the ricochet of one of the shots killed another zealot.
Six then sprinted towards the banshees, parked near the entrance of the pillar. John and Sam got in two, and Six was about to do do the same...
When the entrance opened up, and 4 zealots emerged, all with activated swords. Fuck, couldn't they get one break?
Six refrained from boarding the banshee, and instead grabbed both her energy swords. If they wanted a piece of her, they'd have to come and get it.
The elites charged at her, and Six threw a grenade just in front of herself to stop their charge. She jumped out of the way, and was satisfied to see that one went down immediately, and the others were drained of their shields. Six jumped at one, and kicked at it's midsection before stabbing down into it's back. The elite, surprised by her swiftness, combined with the fact it only now noticed it was down one comrade, was overwhelmed by her attack. It went down, it's spine burned through between the shoulder blades. Six turned to the other two zealots, and saw they were only just getting up. They then surveyed the carnage before them. Their numbers were halved in the span of five seconds, and the elites had barely even managed to even attack her. Six raised her energy swords, and was about to run towards them, when two green flashes got down from below. They hit the Zealots square in the chest, and Six saw they were mangled, and were sure to stay dead. At least until the Flood showed up.
Six looked up, and saw two banshees fly past her, and one opened it's hatch so the occupant was visible. It was Sam, who waved at her. Six waved back in thanks, then looked to see where Linda and Johnson were.
It wasn't good. They had taken down the Shade turrets, but were pinned down by the wraith. And despite Fol's multiple strafing runs on the tank, it's attention was focused on Johnson and Linda.
Six opened her com. "Chief, I'm going to help Linda and Johnson. They're pinned down, and could use a hand."
"Alright. We'll take care of the pulse generator. Just be prepared to run like hell, because the generator is right above you."
Six looked up, and swallowed. It was indeed right above her, or rather above the position Linda and Johnson were currently occupying. She keyed her acknowledgement light, then moved to help Linda and Johnson. Six saw it's attention was focused purely on Johnson and Linda.
Then Six got an idea. She sprinted towards the tank, and boarded onto it's front, near the hatch. She was now in an ideal position, for unlike the variants she had encountered often on Reach, this one had no turret up front to discourage boarding it. Six grabbed a grenade from her belt, and held it in her hand. She formed that hand into a fist as large as she could manage, then punched at the hatch to the driver's seat. The hatch buckled, and a large dent was formed. She put the grenade in, keyed the button, then jumped off, sprinting as far away from the thing as she could. It turned towards her, ready to fire...
and then the grenade went off, and the driver was killed in the explosion. Unknown to Six, the explosion severed a couple of power couplings, and the chain reaction that caused completely destroyed the wraith. Six looked on, satisfied with her work. Linda and Johnson emerged from hiding their cover, and approached Six. Six looked at them, and said "See, I can make a campfire."
"More like a bonfire" Johnson responded "but it'll do."
"Spoilsport."
Then a large boom sounded up above and Six looked up. The blue flames were coming around the edge of the platform, and then the platform started to get larger. Fast.
Six and Johnson started running away, headed back towards the tunnel entrance, as it provided shelter from most of the debris. Linda arrived a few seconds later.
And not a moment to soon, as the Platform hit the ground behind her, and it exploded before their eyes. Next thing Sam sounded over the com. "There, I can make a bonfire too."
"Show-off." Six said "Come pick us up, would you? This tunnel is quite large, and I don't want to wa-"
Six was cut off, as a rocket flew past behind them, and Six, Linda and Johnson turned as one, looking at the source.
And saw a horde of flood coming their way. They were halfway from their end of the tunnel, and were charging at full speed.
And they numbered in the hundreds.
Six keyed her com again. "Where's that pick-up? I have a hundred gory Flood bastards running towards me for a hug. I want to get out now!"
"Away from your fanbase? Really?" Sam asked
Johnson responded this time "Yes. Six isn't kidding when she said a hundred."
The com was silent after that, and Six was about to try again, when the dropship appeared in front of them, the open hatch turned towards them. Six and Linda jumped aboard, and Johnson followed. The ship took off.
No sooner than it did, the Flood ran through where they had been standing, and Six saw they all looked up. Towards them. Fol was already flying away from them, and after a few seconds, that seemed like a century, they finally got out of the canyon. Cortana sounded over the Com.
"I've located the Pillar of Autumn. She put down twelve-hundred kilometers up spin. Energy readings show her fusion reactors are still powered up."
"Terrific." Fol said. "But while we can destroy the thing, and get away with a dropship, consider this: Dropships don't have FTL-drives. How do we get out of the system?"
The others were all silent, and Fol continued. "I have a plan to solve that problem, but you won't like it."
Six glared at the elite, but the Chief responded before she could. "We'll manage. Just say it."
"We need to warn at least one Covenant ship, preferably a cruiser or the carrie, but the support vessel Infinite Succor would do as well. That way, we can escape Halo, regroup with any other survivors, then board and take the ship."
"You're right." Six said. "I don't like it. But even I see our dilemma, and that you offer the only reasonable solution." the others seemed to relax. "But send it only after we have initiated the Autumn's destruction."
Fol nodded, and they all set off towards the last generator.
Stacker was confused with the behavior of the ODST Richard Wilson and his fellow marine Chips Dubbo.
They had appeared at Alpha base a few hours ago, and they had been debriefed, patched up, and no sooner had they been back in gear Silva had them put on Stacker's team, and they had secured the Hanger of the Covenant ship Truth and Reconciliation,The same ship the Chief and his team had rescued captain Keyes from.
Stacker had listened to the reports Dubbo and Wilson had made. They had accompanied the Chief and his team as they exited the weapons cache, up to the point where they had been wounded in a weird tower on the other side of the ring. They had returned, and had been with Stacker ever since.
Then Wellsley told them that he had received a message from Cortana, informing them all of her plan to destroy Halo using the Autumn's fusion reactors. Stacker was sure it would work, for despite the fact he didn't know a thing about how the things worked, they always made a big boom if seriously damaged.
Silva had promptly moved everyone out of Alpha base, and had, along with nearly all remaining human forces, taken the Covenant cruiser Truth and Reconciliation, and prepared it for take-off from the Ring. The vessel had been downed by the Flood, who wanted to escape the ring as well. Silva had control of the Ship now, or at least the engineering section, the bridge, the hanger and the Grav-lift amidship. Stacker's team, along with three others, were keeping the hanger secure.
But Stacker, along with Wilson and Dubbo, had no doubts about the fact the Flood were still aboard. Only minutes ago, they had heard an argument between Silva and Mckay, with Mckay recommending standing off, and waiting near one of the gas giants until they had cleared the entire ship, while Silva wanted to head for Earth with both a treasure trove of technological marvels and a full batch of Flood samples.
Stacker had been with the team that had assaulted the bridge, and had helped clear a large Flood form off of the central command platform. Stacker had seen to his horror that the Captain had been assimilated into the creature, or at least his lower body, anyway, as his upper body was blown off above the waist. He had only recognized the man (No, Thing) at all because of the Captain-issue uniform on the legs and the fact the thing had a pipe in it's pocket.
Stacker wanted to nod contaminate the earth with these... things. One look, and he could confirm Dubbo and Wilson, with his knuckle-dusters on his fingers and chains hanging from his trousers (in violation of regulation, but Wilson had an amazing record, and was forgiven a few things for it), agreed as well. Stacker made his way over to them.
"I don't know about you guys, but I want to get the hell off of this thing before the Flood retake control. Don't you guys agree?"
"Aye," Dubbo said, and Stacker could see he meant it. "and you know I'll support you every step of the way, Sarge. But how do we get off of the ring without Silva?"
That was the flaw in Stacker's plan of escaping: they needed someone who could fly, and he didn't know anyone who could.
Then Wilson spoke up. "We take one of the spirit dropships. There are currently two here, right? We take those, and fly out of here."
"In case you haven't noticed, genius" Dubbo said "We need a pilot for that."
"I can fly it." Wilson responded.
At this, Dubbo and Stacker looked at Wilson. "Really?" Stacker asked.
"Yes. Back during the battle on Imber, me and three other ODST's hijacked a Spirit, and I was flying us away from an area that was about to be glassed. It's been some time, but I'm confident I can manage it."
Stacker looked at Wilson and Dubbo. They had a way out of here after all. Stacker looked at the two others, and then said "Well, Wilson: Lead us away.
Fifteen minutes later, they were away. Silva had approved of the test flight easily enough, so long as they flew away from the Ring along the cruiser. Wilson did so, but kept quit a distance, both to be as far away from the flood-infested cruiser as they could be and both because he was still relearning his piloting skills. He saw another dropship take off, a pelican, and it headed away from them. Wilson frowned, but kept concentrated on flying the thing.
Then the cruiser started to descent, and Wilson knew something was wrong. It was falling fast, and Wilson saw it was headed straight for what was supposed to be the island containing the Cartographer. If Silva was planning to snag a bit of Forerunner data long with him, he really was poor at making well-timed decisions. Surely Cort-
but Wilson saw the Cruiser started to roll, and it didn't slow down. Then Wilson understood.
"Sarge! Dubbo! Get up here, Now!" he called, and the others were there in less than 10 seconds. They saw as well that the ship was now beyond control, and Stacker grimaced. Dubbo still seemed confused.
"Mckay, or someone else in engineering, must have sabotaged the engines." Wilson provided. "They are deliberately crashing the ship, taking the Flood down with them."
Dubbo still seemed confused. "But there are still hundreds of our men in there."
"A worthy sacrifice, if we are to keep the bastards on this ring." Stacker said. "The things are now trapped, and they will die when the Chief blows this Ring to kingdom come." Wilson nodded, but he grimaced as well.
They all watched in silence as the cruiser crashed into the island, completely demolishing the top. The following explosion went into the tunnels below the island, and Richie knew anything either inside the ship or on the island was incinerated.
Without the Cruiser, they were stuck in the system, and he didn't know if the three of them could just board and take a covenant ship, even if they had the spartans on their side.
What will they do now?
A/N: There, the end of the chapter. the last (or second to last chapter, depending on how I feel about the last part) chapter will be uploaded by around the end of Februari, because until then, I am too busy with School. Rest assured: I will write First strike. but it won't be in the same story, and I'll start a separate one for that
I hope you all enjoy this, because to be honest, I enjoy writing this.
With kind regards
Gharst Omenlumin