The Life of Ryau 'Cinotee: Return to Standard Act II Part 4

Welcome Brother

September 2, 2555 0458 hour
Standard IV
UNSC
Tahoma Service Corridor 17B
SpecOps Major Ryau 'Cinotee [ACTIVE]


"What was that?" Endesa stared down the dark corridor the sound had come from.

"No time to explain," Ryau said backing toward the other corridor. "Run!" The group broke into a sprint down to the hangar deck. Ryau slapped a sign on the wall as they passed a junction. "Armory ahead, we need weapons. Grab what you can."

The armory's door was jammed open and weapons were scattered all over the room from the crash. They got inside and spread against the wall out of sight, loud thumps of the running creature ran by. Once it was all clear, Ryau collected Shotguns and distributed them to the group. Naki collected ammunition however she only could find enough 8 Gauge cartridges for only everyone to have one full clip. "Hmm, seems like someone already raided this armory." Naki said picking up an MA5C for herself.

"I wouldn't be surprised, considering the Flood. I'd take all the ammo that we could if I was in command. But right now all we need to do is get out of this ship."

"No wait, we should go to the bridge." Naki brought a map of the ship up on a working computer and traced a path with her finger. "We can access the communications and see if we can find one of the radio broadcast transmission sites that alerted us of this place nearby." She downloaded the map onto her data-pad. "And if there are any survivors we can contact them through the bridge radio, yours might have been damaged in the crash." Naki suggested.

"Good point, lets get going." Ryau leaned out the armory door and looked down the tilted corridor. "All clear"

"Alright the map says that there's an access corridor that will take us up to the bridge level just down there." Naki pointed down the corridor in the direction opposite the Flood sound. "It's labeled Starboard Access 12b. So keep your eyes open."

They moved out of the armor quickly, there was no need for silence since the Flood rely on scent. The ongoing alarms and flashing lights made it difficult to see and hear if the Flood was following. A Combat form jumped out from a storage room in front of Endesa, She hesitated for a moment, it was her first encounter with the Flood. It stood there for a moment before being blown away by her shotgun. Two more dropped down from a hole in front of the group. Naki pulled the trigger of her MA5 and tore through the chest cavity of the Combat form. The Infection form inside popped, and her bullets went out the back to cut the other Flood form in half. For now, nothing else moved.

"Good shooting." Ryau complemented Naki and Endesa. They reloaded their weapons and continued through the ship. There were no more Flood encounters on their path to the bridge, and by the time they had arrived the sun had risen over the mountains. The Bridge doors opened and attempted to close before jamming halfway through with a loud Clunk. Computers were smashed and chairs were strewn about. Sparks from broken wires danced across the floor. "Well, this looks bad," Ryau said.

"Yeah... Humans put their command bridges on the front of their ships where it is more likely to take the full force of an impact. Not even their sea going ships were designed like that." Naki looked over the destruction hoping to find a working computer.

"Endesa, Asau, see if you can find something to block the doorway. We don't need anything sneaking up on us at the moment," Ryau ordered. They nodded and ran off into the corridor. "And Shan, tap some of the keyboards and see if anything responds."

"Yes sir," Shan said. He walked around the bridge and taped the computers while Ryau and Naki cleaned up an area near a cable junction.

Naki looked up out the broken bridge windows at the sun coming over the mountains. "You know, if it wasn't for the looming threat of danger and the fact we're stranded on a planet with a Flood infestation... This would look pretty beautiful."

"Eh, I think Sanghelios still looks better." Ryau said pulling the grate off of the junction.

"True, true." Naki tossed an glow-stick down the hole.

"Ryau!" Shan said. "I've got a response."

"Very good, Naki work your magic," he patted her back.

"Gladly." Naki moved over in front of the computer and bypassed security after ten minutes of working. She finally managed to open an emergency communications system and activated a comm channel.

"...au Cinotee, this... Hartford, we received your message... awaiting your response. The Flood has... the ship and we advise you to evac the ship via bridge. Radio when you reach the bridge and a Pelican will pick you up..."The message continued to repeat and Naki looked to Ryau.

"Colonel Hartford we are on the bridge and would very much like evac sir. My radio's receiver is damaged and am using the ships communications for receiving." Ryau radioed Hartford.

The reply came almost right away. "Good, we don't wa... Loyalists that shot us down to know... made it, stay using shortwave. A Pelican is on the way. ETA fifteen minutes, hold tight."Normal radio traffic started to play again as Naki flipped through the channels.

Asau and Endesa returned carrying a barricade. "This is all we could find," Asau said. They placed it in the doorway and blocked the passage.

"Good job, we've got pick-up on the way. Be ready in fifteen." Ryau said looking over the barricade.

The fifteen minutes passed slowly, two more small Flood assaults and their lack of ammo kept them on edge. Ryau paced in front of the barricade watching for any sign of the enemy. Shan monitored the ships partially running radar for the Pelican. Upon looking out into the forest and beyond it became clear that the Floor infestation was minimal or almost non-existent. The Comm system suddenly beeped. Naki turned away from the world and opened the channel, a shortwave transmission began to play.

"Major, we've detected a Phantom inbound to the crash site. It will reach the ship before us, so I have called the Pelican back. We simply cannot risk detection at this time. I have devised a new mission for your Sangheili team. Recover your weapons in Armory 4B just off the bridge. I want you to meet the Phantom and claim that you were part of a boarding party that assaulted the ship before we jumped to this system. Once you gained their trust, attempt to inform them of the result of the war. I hope we'll be able to make contact again soon. Good luck, over and out."

Ryau and his team sat around and pondered the message. "This sounds like it might work," Shan said.

"Might have some holes," Naki added.

"Well lets do it. To the armory." Ryau said picking up his shotgun. Asau and Endesa pushed the barricade out of the doorway then they rushed out. "Keep up the speed, we need to get to the armory as fast as possible."

The path to the armory was clear most of the route except for a collapsed structural support. Ryau vaulted over the beam and fired a shell into a Combat form that jumped out of a hallway. Flood forms started to rush from any opening. Ryau and his team were forced to slow down and fire their weapons into the mass. Naki's MA5 fired away at the many Flood forms, cutting them to pieces.

Endesa was met with a click as she pulled the trigger. "I'm out!"she shouted before throwing the gun away and activating the wrist blades on her armor. Soon everyone else was doing the same, cutting through the flood of Flood.

When they reached the armory the plasma in their blades was running dangerously low, but luckily the armory's door was still working. Ryau keyed it open and they ran inside, he shut it just in time to stop a Carrier form from getting in. A muffled boom shook the door a moment later.

"Okay," Naki looked around the armory and found the purple weapons crate. "There we go," she mumbled to herself. She keyed in her pass code and the lid popped off with a hiss. Endesa took a Plasma rifle and a Plasma pistol. Asau a Fuel Rod gun and Plasma rifle. Shan a Needle rifle and a Spiker. While Ryau took his personal Carbine and Energy sword, along with a Needler just in case. Naki grabbed a Carbine and Needler as well.

"Hey Endesa," Ryau pulled an extra re-breather out of the equipment box and tossed it to her.

"Oh thanks," she clicked it into place.

Naki checked her data-pad which she had synced up to the ships radar system. "Ryau, the Phantom is docking in Hangar 1B directly bellow us."

"Alright, lets get down there." Ryau slowly opened the door and peeked out. Flood flesh was plastered against the wall, but the Infection forms were nowhere to be found. "Clear, lets move."

They crept out of the armory into the corridor and headed down, checking open passages and rooms as they went. Suddenly there was an explosion from down bellow as the Phantom's passengers blew their way in to the ship. A Flood screech responded to the explosion. Dull thumps echoed through the ship as the remaining Flood forms ran for the hangar.

"Gods! How much of the crew didn't make it." Ryau yelled as they dashed for the hangar as well.

Behind them a new mob of Flood appeared in the corridor. Ryau fired a few rounds with his Carbine at the mob, Endesa fired her Plasma rifle and set fire to the rotten flesh. They came to a corner and Ryau and Endesa stopped and covered Naki, Asau and Shan. Once they got by, Asau turned and shot her Fuel Rod into the mob, easily vaporizing most of the remaining Flood.

"Brothers, Sisters!" Ryau heard someone yell. He stood up and glanced over at the Hangar door. Two fellow Sangheili and a Jiralhanae stood around a Plasma Turret. The one that had called them was an Ultra.

"Ultra! Gods it is good to see you. We need to get off this ship right away!" Ryau said.

"Why Brother? What is aboard this ship that has you so worried." The Ultra chuckled.

"The Flood has infested the ship!" Just at that moment a Carrier form rounded the corner and exploded.

"By the Gods, I thought we burned them away." He turned to the others. "Back to the Phantom, now!" The Ultra's troops turned around and ran back through the still smoking doorway. Ryau and the others followed closely behind. The remaining mob rounded the corner but was denied access to the hangar by a large shipping crate. "What are your ranks and how did you get here?"

"I am SpecOps Major Ryau Cinotee, this is Science Major Naki Cimutee, and Minor Domos Endesa Nelum, Asau Asaos and Shan Vekat. We boarded the ship during orbital combat just before it jumped here. We were making our way from engineering to the ships command bridge when the ship was shot down and crashed. " Ryau explained.

"Hmm, come. I will take you to our keep. You'll get some food and maybe a place to live. But know this no one will come for you here. We doubt that the Holy Covenant knows that we still live." The boarded the Phantom and it quickly pulled away.

"That's a strange set of armor you have there Sangheili," the Jiralhanae said. "What kind is it."

"Its experimental, manufactured at Arica Armories in Zelso. Designed by Science Major Cimutee here." Ryau said. The Jiralhanae just gave a disapproving grunt in return. Ryau walked over to the open doorway to the troop bay and sat down on the edge. Here and there he saw glimpses of road bellow in the forest, it was the highway he had last escorted the Evac convoy. "Hmm I wonder if they ever made it to the starport," he thought. Soon the Phantom passed over a good sized Human city, Tumble. "Such an odd name for a city, but oh well, its deserted now."Ryau was surprised how fast the native vegetation had reclaimed vast amounts of the city. But then suddenly it was all gone, the Phantom had flown over the ocean.

A few hours passed and they arrived over the other continent. A massive CSO-class Supper Carrier sat, crashed landed in the center of what looked to be a Human city. But now it was overgrown and the area around it cleared into a mini city of Covenant design, the Human structures were cleared from the ship area and only existed on the outskirts now as reclaimed piles of rubble.

"Welcome to the Glorious Retribution." The Ultra said.


AU-
Well heres part 4 of Act 2, and we're going to have another major plot development coming soon.