Chapter 8: Did Someone say 'Road Trip'?

As they ran through the tunnels, the sounds of battle echoing behind them, Sergeant Johnson shouted into comm system. "Does it sound like ah give a damn about enemy patrols, pilot? Get that bird down here pronto, or ah will personally hand you your ass!"

Not wanting to invite the wrath of his out-spoken superior officer, the Pelican was waiting for them when they emerged from the tunnels, though he was far from alone; Banshees and a Covenant Phantom were circling the sky above them.

Pilot, disengage your Scorpion. The Chief and Samus are going to continue on the ground while you take our wounded back to In Amber Clad. Load up a fresh squad, then come back, and I'll guide you to our location.

"Ah'm comin too" Johnson continued "You're not gettin rid a me that easily."

It wasn't until the tank had actually been detached that Samus noticed the Scorpion only had one seat. "Where are the extra two people supposed to sit?"

"There's plenty a room on the tread plating, isn't there?" the Sergeant answered as he hopped into the driver's seat.

Master Chief jumped up beside him. "Hold it Johnson, I always drive."

"If you pass it up this ONE time, ah think ah can make it worth your while…" Johnson answered, pulling a rocket launcher out of the storage compartment and holding it out to his comrade. The Chief stared at it briefly before taking the weapon. "Ok, but just this once."

The sergeant settled into the tank's cockpit. "Now we're talkin!"

The bounty hunter grudgingly leapt up onto one of the treads and the tank lumbered off, drawing the Covenant aircraft away from the Pelican. The two super soldiers had to crouch to avoid getting bashed in the back of the head by the Scorpion's swiveling gun turret.

It wasn't long before the Covenant hovering above them became ambitious and dived down to attack the lone tank. The Scorpion's cannon swung around and blasted the nearest Banshee, sending its shattered pieces towards the dirt. Samus began charging up her Power Beam, readying a Super Missile for the next target, and was about to fire when the Banshee was destroyed by one of the Chief's rockets. She chose another target, but had barely taken aim before another cannon blast from the tank did the flyer in. Three more Banshees followed suit, and Samus was starting to get bored just sitting there watching her male companions take down each enemy before she could get a shot of her own.

After digging through the Covenant battlenet, Cortana managed to find the general coordinates of the Library, and was directing the trio down a narrow canyon. This worked to their advantage, surprisingly; Covenant pursuers were forced to approach from either directly in front of them or directly behind, and between three pairs of eyes and two radar systems, the odds of getting close enough without being noticed was depressingly slim. One Ghost managed to get lucky and was speeding towards the Scorpion's rear. Samus noticed her companions were focused on enemies in front of them, and thought her luck was improving too as she clicked the Missile button inside her arm cannon. The Super Missile streaked out of the cannon, and was feet away from the ill-fated Ghost when a rocket obliterated the hovercraft before the Missile could nail its target.

The bounty hunter fumed silently as she heard the Chief call out from the other side of the tank "Oh, were you taking that one? Sorry."

By now, the Covenant following them had learned to give the lone Scorpion a wide berth, and as they neared the canyon's exit, the Phantoms pulled away entirely.

Wonder why they're giving up so easily?

"That might be why."

Exiting the canyon and arriving at an overgrown river, the trio was presented with a humbling sight; a massive Scarab walker towering over them.

Johnson, get us the hell out of here!

"Ah can't Cortana, these Scorpions don't have any speeds higher than Grandma!"

Then I think it's time to abandon tank!

Johnson grudgingly agreed and the three of them dove away from the Scorpion and bolted for cover as the Scarab began to charge up its main gun. They watched, hidden under scattered foliage, as the faithful tank was ripped to shreds by the walker's powerful beam.

I just gave our Pelican a call, and it's only a few minutes away. If we can hold out here, it'll show up with a new ride for us.

"Preferably something faster." Samus said, silently adding that she would also prefer something without cannon turrets or a stash of rocket launchers.

If we're lucky, the Scarab pilot will think we died in the explosion and move on.

"I doubt he's that stupid." The Chief said. Lo and behold, however, the Scarab didn't even stop to check and continued on its way down the river. As the three soldiers climbed out from their cover, they watched the Scarab lumber out of sight.

Did anyone else notice it's headed in the direction of the Pirate base?

"If it is" the Chief answered "I'd like to see how those Pirates will handle it."

As predicted by Cortana, their Pelican flew into sight within a few minutes. The pilot, a short-haired blonde man wearing a pair of goggles, leaned out of his cockpit's window and surveyed the tank's wreckage. "Geeze Sarge, those Scorpions don't grow on trees you know!"

"Shut it, Baird! Just drop your Warthog and your extra weapons and getchyer ass back to base!"

The pilot muttered sarcastically as he lowered the Pelican to the ground and another soldier, a heavily muscled black man, pushed the now loosened Warthog out of the cargo hold and lifted a load of weaponry in his massive arms.

"Here ya go, Sarge! Best hardware on the Clad! I'm sorry I'm not goin with you, sir, I've been achin to bust some heads!"

Johnson pulled a shotgun out of the pile and strapped it to his back. "What a you talkin about, boy? And why isn't there another squad with you?"

"Sorry sir, the Commander's callin everybody back to base. Somethin big's about to go down, for sure. She wants us all out of the line of fire until it blows over."

Johnson sighed and muttered "That girl…" as he handed the Chief a fresh rifle. "Alright Cole, you two better get back to In Amber Clad before Commander Keyes starts gettin too edgy and decides to clear out all together."

The Pelican flew off, and the Chief jumped into the Warthog's driver seat. "Sorry Johnson, that was your chance."

The sergeant muttered angrily as Samus headed for the rear turret. "Woah, hold on a minute. Johnson's getting the turret, Samus, you're taking shotgun."

"Why?"

"Because he actually uses it." He replied with an unseen smirk. "Come on, let's go."

The Sergeant laughed as he hopped in the back while Samus took her seat in the front. The Chief spun the tires for a minute before the three sped off in the Warthog.

***

While Samus wouldn't admit it, the Chief's insistence was turning out to be for the better. While the Scarab pilot had not felt the need to confirm his kill, his commanders did, and had sent a swarm of Drones to the wreckage to investigate, arriving just in time to spot their Warthog leaving the area. The bug-like Covenant managed to catch up to them as they were driving through a jungle, and while the Master Chief kept his focus on keeping them from crashing into anything, his two passengers concentrated on fending off their pursuers. Though Johnson's chaingun turret cut large swaths through the swarm, Samus wasn't able to keep her eyes on a single target in the veritable cloud of attackers to nail more than a few Drones with her Power Beam. Her frustration growing, she finally threw conservation to the winds and switched over to her Missiles. This proved to be a large improvement; while the agile Drones could avoid the small Power Beam shots, they weren't fast enough to escape the Missile targeting system, and each volley of Seeker Missile sent handfuls of Drones to the ground.

The Chief was having an equally frustrating time finding a good path through the foliage and the swarming insects all around them, but Cortana managed to keep him on the right track. After an hour of enduring on and off Drone attacks, the trio had reached a dead end. The forest had ended abruptly with a sheer cliff wall, and its summit towered dozens of feet above them.

"Well what now?" Johnson asked.

The Library is on the other side of this mountain.

"Why didn't you tell us to just stick with the Pelican, then?"

Relax, Sergeant, there's a hidden entrance to the tunnels beneath the mountain somewhere around here. We won't go over the mountain; we'll go through it.

The Chief sighed. "More tunnels. I should've enjoyed the fresh air while it lasted."

Technically, Chief, none of this is fresh air; none of the plants produce oxygen, so Halo's entire atmosphere is synthetic.

He waved a hand. "Details."

With Cortana's further guidance, they located the entrance and returned to the underground. Unlike the tunnels the Pirates inhabited, which were more for maintenance, it was obvious that the section they had just entered had a more significant purpose; there were large pieces of equipment stuck out of the walls, dotted by active consoles and the tunnels were filled with the sounds of laboring machinery. Samus didn't let this opportunity for study go to waste; as they walked, she ran her suit's scanner at full pace recording and examining everything they saw.

"Say Cortana" Sergeant Johnson said "You know a lot about Halo, right? What's all this junk for?"

The Chief rounded a corner and stopped. "I think I know."

The next hallway was filled with rows of Sentinels, flying robots built by the Forerunners to guard the Halos, meandering about. Though all of them were fully powered, none of them turned their deadly weaponry on the three soldiers as they walked past, barely even registering their presence in fact. At the end of that hallway was another room, and the trio could hear a high voice emanating from the room as they entered. "…must ensure that Sentinel production continues as scheduled. The intruders have suffered losses, but it has not been sufficient to extricate them from our systems. We cannot allow them a respite lest they further fortify their positions."

A Monitor, a floating orb with a single blue glowing light for an eye, hovered about large Enforcer Sentinels, talking to them.

"Aw, great" Johnson said, groaning "More talking light bulbs."

This caught the Monitor's attention, who stopped and turned to face the three. "Hmm? Oh my...how fortuitous! Two Reclaimers… and a Raptor! Both here during my time of need!" it said enthusiastically. It then turned to Samus and continued. "Raptor, I am pleased to see your armor's design has been refined in the thousands of years since I first observed it. Progress is a wonderful thing, is it not?"

There was a stunned silence as the Chief and Johnson both looked at Samus, finally broken when Johnson said with mild confusion. "…Did he just call you a dinosaur??"