So this chapter is the new addition to the story. It's been too long since there was anything added on. I have to say thanks to everyone still reading the story and please review and rate it! I like constructive criticism so I'll happily read any those kind of reviews. Also, if you guys have a certain idea for this story, I'll take it into consideration. I'll start writing the next chapter as a soon as I can! Thanks again readers! Enjoy the chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to 343 industries' franchise Halo or anything from either the Alien, Predator, or AvP franchise.
...
Eric noticed that the controls for the phantom were slightly different than the other drop ships from Reach. Without the help from Roland, he had no choice but to operate this ship on his own. Thankfully, the ship was already in cruise mode and he grabbed ahold of the joysticks and he pulled. The two standing Spartans jerked back and almost lost their balance. The ship bumped into the side of Infinity.
"Whoops," Eric muttered with a smirk.
Dylan turned his head towards Eric with a slightly devastated expression.
"Whoops?" He griped.
"Looks like they inverted the controls since the last time I flew one. I wish Murphy would've told me." He smirked and glanced around at the controls. He then noticed Dylan giving him a concerned expression. "Cool it Pratt, I got this," Eric replied flatly.
He pushed the joysticks forward and the ship started moving forward. He pushed them right and the ship turned right as it was supposed to. Seemed simple enough. Eric finally turned the phantom towards the Reaper started cruising towards it. As if it was Spartan luck, the Reaper didn't suspect that their drop ship was hijacked. Things were looking bright for the Spartans, so far. However, this plan could very well end badly.
As the phantom approached the Reaper, the Covenant radio echoed with the voice of a Sangheili. The alien's tone was harsh and loud. There was little doubt to the Spartans that the elite was demanding a sit-rep. Dylan placed his battle rifle on his back and leaned on the pilot's seat. Danny walked up to the dead general and knelt down next it. He flipped the dead alien over and searched his dead body for anything useful. There was nothing worth using on the dead body and he turned his head in annoyance. He then noticed something that could prove to be quite useful.
"What are we gonna do now?" Dylan asked as he turned his focus to Eric. "If we don't radio back or something, they're gonna shoot us down!"
The sharpshooter had a point, Eric thought to himself. Well, needless to say, it was a point that meant either life or death. There wasn't much they could do. None of them could speak Sangheili.
"Well, there's no way to let them know. We just got to keep going in and hope for the best," Eric replied back flatly. The situation was getting worse, the more they got closer to the Reaper.
As their Phantom finally started passing through the Reaper's shield, the three Spartans all readied for commandeering the larger ship. Eric heard the com network in the Phantom roaring with a raspy alien accent. He noticed on the visual monitor that the ship was surrounded by many armed Sangheili. Most of them were elite minors with a few of them being majors. They were led by a Zealot.
"Wait, let them come in. There just outside," Eric placed his SAW on his back and pulled out his combat knife. Dylan caught on and drew his knife. Danny drew the blade the hunter gave him a few days ago.
Just outside the Phantom, the elites were preparing to board the dropship. The Zealot was calling out to the ship, most likely to the general Eric bested. After no reply, he activated his energy sword and ordered three of the elite minors to board the ship. The three elites slowly walked up to ship and went up the gravity lift. The Zealot waited for the three elites to report back. After a few minutes, there was no reply. The Zealot growled, stormed up to one of the elite majors holding a Fuel Rod Gun, grabbed the heavy weapon from his subordinate, and began unloading shells at the Phantom. The bombardment blew a chunk off the side of the drop ship. The ship dropped to the floor and shook the Reaper.
The three Spartans were launched around ship due to the bombardment. Eric looked up at his team and shook his head to snap out of it. Danny landed next to the gravity lift, but thankfully his fall didn't wound him. Dylan, on the other hand, was not as fortunate. He landed on his left arm with a lot of force. The impact did not break his arm, but it did dislocate his shoulder. He was yelling out in pain. It was a very sharp pain like his arm was cut off, but he could still feel his left hand. Eric quickly got to his feet and ran up to the injured sharpshooter.
"Pratt, what's wrong?" Eric asked him in a very concerned tone.
"My left shoulder!" He grimaced and sucked for air. "Hurts like a son of a bitch!" He leaned up and brought his right hand to his injured shoulder.
"Is it broken?" Eric quickly asked again.
"I don't think so, but it.." Dylan grimaced in pain then took a deep breath. "I can feel my hand but I can't move it because it fricken hurts!"
"You'll be okay, Pratt. You just dislocated it!" He moved Dylan's good hand away from his left shoulder. He grabbed ahold to Dylan's limp arm and looked back at him. "Alright, this is going to hurt a lot more so be ready."
Dylan hesitated, looked back at his arm, then back at Eric. "Alright, alright, just fuckin' do it!"
Eric pulled Dylan's arm, which caused him to yell at the top of his lungs in sheer pain, lifted the arm up a little, then jammed his arm toward Dylan's shoulder. Dylan was yelling even louder and started to curse at anything he could think of. Meanwhile, Danny stood next to blown hole in the side of the Phantom with his hunter blade drawn and ready. He was ready for any stupid alien bastard that was stupid enough to come in. Suddenly, the two Spartan's heard a sickening pop in Dylan's left shoulder. Dylan yelled out once more briefly. He looked at his left hand and started to move it. It still hurt like a son of bitch, but not as agonizing as before.
"You could move your hand, good," Eric said as he got to his feet. "We're still in this though. Can you fight?"
Dylan got up to his feet without using his left arm. He moved it around, which was still very painful, but he could manage. "I can still fight."
"Good, I'll watch your back," Eric replied. "Alright Spartans, lets blown this ship up."
The three Spartans grabbed their weapons and sprinted out of the blown hole in the drop ship. As soon as the three Spartans were visual, the Covenant opened fire. Eric rolled on the ground and started firing his heavy machine gun, mowing down any Covie that he saw. Danny evaded to the same cover as Eric and opened fire along with him. Dylan evaded in the opposite direction of his fellow teammates. He was behind a few Covenant crates that fell over. He lifted his battle rifle up, grimacing as he did it, and aimed for any Covenant troops. Suddenly, he saw the Zealot sprinting toward his cover. Before he turned his battle rifle towards the Zealot, the elite jumped over the cover and kicked the Spartan back several feet.
"Die you heathen!" The Zealot roared as he activated his energy sword. Dylan quickly got to his feet, lifted his battle rifle and fired two bursts at the elite. The Zealot swiftly swiped his sword at the Spartan and cut his rifle in half.
Dylan quickly dove to his right and dropped the other half of the battle rifle. He drew his knife and went into a protective stance while keeping in mind his shoulder injury. The Zealot roared and swiped horizontally at the Spartan. Dylan moved toward the elite and caught the elite's swinging arm with his left hand, but the Zealot's strength pushed Dylan back and staggered him. He grimaced from the pain in his shoulder but quickly got back into a defensive stance. That impact only made the pain in his shoulder worse. The Zealot growled and swiped vertically at the Spartan, hoping to cut the Spartan in half. Dylan quickly moved to his left, dodging the attack, then countered by slugging the elite in the face with his left fist. His delivering blow made him yell out in pain.
The Zealot made a pained groan and staggered to his left, leaving his back to the Spartan only for a moment. Dylan took the time given to him to charge in with his combat knife. He plunged his knife deep into the Elite's right shoulder. The Elite roared in pain, but then countered by turning around and head butting the Spartan on his visor. Dylan fell to the ground with a daze in his head.
"Oh boy," he murmured as he brought his hand to his helmet.
The Zealot ripped the combat knife out of his right shoulder and glared at the fallen Spartan. He took a moment to look around at his troops and he realized that they were getting annihilated by the other two Spartans. He looked back at the Spartan on the ground in front of him and started approaching the human with his energy sword drawn. Suddenly, the Zealot was being fired upon by one of the other Spartans. His shields were depleting rapidly and he decided that retreat was only way to survive. He muttered something in his language out loud and started running out of the dropship bay. The rest of his troops stood their ground until death.
After the firefight, Eric and Danny quickly went up to Dylan.
"You alright?" Eric asked and he held out a hand.
Dylan nodded as he pulled himself to his feet. Danny threw his Assault Rifle to Dylan and a few clips.
"C'mon, let's go get that bastard," Eric fiercely stated.
The three Spartans then started sprinting towards the cockpit. As they approached the cockpit, they noticed the Zealot standing there holding two plasma grenades in both hands. He roared in his alien tough and chucked one of the grenades at the Spartans. The three Spartans effortlessly dodged the grenade and it exploded in the corridors behind them.
The Zealot then activated the other grenade and jammed it into the controls of the Reaper. The grenade detonated and blew up the cockpit. The Zealot activated an armor lock modification and then held onto a bar on the side.
The ship quaked vigorously and sent the three Spartans flying to the right wall in the cockpit. The ship lost control and started stalling into the planet's atmosphere. The gravity from the planet slowly pulled the ship towards it.
Suddenly, the ship the Spartans were in quaked again, but this time, it was much more violent and the Spartans started flying around the cockpit. Eric glanced outside the threshold of the cockpit and saw that there was a huge human metallic piece of metal that was plunged through the hallway. The ship was compromised to the vacuum of space which made all the air in the ship get pulled towards the emptiness of space. Eric was astonished to see that human piece of metal that was plunged through the Reaper's architecture. What could have possibly happened that caused for an event like this to happen.
"Holy shit! What the fuck happened?" Danny yelled out at the top of his lungs.
"Hang on the something, now!" Eric ordered the other two Spartans as he held onto the an opening in the wall.
The other two Spartans quickly found something to hold on to as the Reaper descended like a meteorite towards the uncharted planet. The Zealot let go from the bar and let his body fly out of the cockpit and then caught onto something in the hallway. His armor lock modification was still activated. Despite the force imbalance in their particular environment, Eric managed to pull himself to the window to get a glance at what of possibly happened. He could not believe what he saw. Something he thought was nearly impossible to happen. The city sized flagship suffered a terrible blast in the center of the ship. The ship was falling down to the planet.
"Shit! Infinity has been hit!" Eric cried out. "She's going down!"
The other Spartans barely heard him through the deafening white noise, but they both were shocked at the horrific news.
"What? How does a city sized ship get shot down from a battle like that?" Danny yelled out while still holding on for dear life.
Suddenly, the communication network came back online and shouts were going through all channels with sheer terror. The Reaper eventually entered the planet's airspace and it started to heat up to an extreme level. Eric started to think of anything that could ensure the survival of him and his team. Options were extremely limited and his heart began to race. There was only one thing that they could do that can ensure their survival, but it could come with some negative consequences. He didn't have a choice, he decided that this was the only thing they could do. He pointed at the other two Spartans.
"When I say, activate armor lock!"
The other two Spartans nodded and readied themselves on Eric's mark. Eric looked out of the window and estimated the distance to the surface of the planet. Seconds passed by through all the noise and quaking of the ship. Finally, he caught glimpse of the surface and realized that the Reaper was just about to make an impact.
"Now!"
All of Crimson activated armor lock and the Reaper crashed to the surface of the planet.
...
Danny slowly opened up his eyes and he realized that he was laying on his back. Everything was blurry and he could barely hear anything. He slowly glanced around him and noticed Dylan face down over a large pile of purple metal. He coughed in his visor and turned his head to his left. Eric was sitting up on a pile of purple debris and he seemed to be unconscious. Danny leaned up to a sitting position and looked up in the sky. His heart sank. Infinity was crash landing over his head. The impact of the city sized flagship caused a large earthquake and rocked the other two Spartans awake.
Dylan coughed and rolled over on his back. His left shoulder was still very painful and he massaged it with his right hand. Eric brought a hand to his helmet and moaned. Danny got to his feet and looked off in the distance of Infinity's crash sight. The distance had to be more than ten klicks. Danny brought both hands to his helmet. Shit really hit the fan. Suddenly, they heard more piercing explosions above. Crimson looked up and noticed Covenant cruisers and corvettes also crash landing in all directions. Debris was falling all over the surface of the planet.
"What, the fuck, is going on?" Danny said with both hands on both sides of his helmet.
A UNSC Broadsword crashed 100 yards from the Spartans' positions and they all cringed. Eric slowly pulled himself to his feet walked over to Dylan.
"Get up, Spartan." He helped the sharpshooter get up to his feet then glanced at Danny. "We need to get our way back to Infinity. It's the only place we'll be safe from those xenos. There's gonna be a lot of them.." He looked back at Dylan. "How's that shoulder?"
"Hurts," he simply replied. "Do you guys have any weapons?" Dylan asked as he stretched his body.
"Just my knife," Danny replied flatly.
"Let's see if we can find any Covenant weapons in the Reaper," Eric ordered the other two Spartans.
Crimson salvaged through the remains of the Reaper. Eric found a Covenant Carbine with only three and a half clips. The other two Spartans found two used Storm Rifles. It's as good as it's going to get for the three Spartans. Eric attempted to contact Infinity. Unfortunately, the only thing he heard was a static buzz.
Eric shook his head and looked at his team. "Well fellas, looks like we are gonna have to get to Infinity on foot."
The other two Spartans stayed quiet but Eric knew what they were feeling. This journey was going to be perilous. The path's terrain was mostly jungle and overgrown which gave them a distinctive disadvantage. If they were going to get through the jungle unscathed, then they have to keep their guards up the whole time and watch out for ambushes from Covenant survivors, Xenomorphs, or any other being that decides that this Spartan Fireteam is an easy target.
Eric walked up to his Fireteam. "Alright Spartans, let's move out. Keep your heads down and your guards up. You see anything, you let everyone know."
Danny and Dylan both nodded. The three Spartans then disembarked on their perilous journey back to Infinity.
...
Swiftblade stood at the top of the canopy and watched as ships of many different architectures and technologies crash land to the surface. The giant human ship had a familiar puncture in its side. He knew the impact was not from delivered from the Sangheili ships. He growled after coming to a conclusion to where the impact came from. The abomination race of his species. It couldn't be his kin because they wouldn't engage in a huge spaceborne battle.
The bad blood Yautja race were a fearless, relentless, and ruthless race. Their main motivation is to be the best killers of all species in the galaxy. Their code of honor was very different compared to Swiftblade's race. He knew they were biologically stronger, faster, and heavier. However, they tend to be more reckless and arrogant. Swiftblade's race could only win a fight against them by outwitting them, never by brute strength.
The Hunter heard noises from below him and looked down at the surface. He spotted three humans with Covenant weapons. They were the metallic humans he's seen before. One of them was the one he came across in the hive. The honorable human.
He activated his cloak and silently followed them on their path by jumping from tree to tree. He switched his vision to EM vision. These metallic humans were definitely going to be ambushed by the serpents. It was inevitable. For some strange reason, he had a liking for these three metallic humans. He did not wish to see them dead.
The humans came to a grassy clearing in the forest. Swiftblade scanned around the clearing and did not spot any serpents, but he sensed that there was something that wasn't right to him. He switched visions to thermal. Still nothing in sight. It was a perfect ambush position. Swiftblade would have used this spot if he was on a regular hunt. Any yautja would agree which made him think about it more. There could be a bad blood around the tree line.
Suddenly, the humans stopped in their tracks and got in a defensive position.
"Did you hear that?" The lead human asked quietly.
At first, Swiftblade thought they somehow spotted him, but their attention was not directed in his direction. He clicked his mandibles and scanned the direction of their attention. He couldn't spot anything. He zoomed in on one of the larger trees on the other side of the clearing. In this particular tree he zoomed in on, he noticed a little distortion. It was a cloaked being. He knew the difference between the Sangheili cloaking technology and his own. He knew what is was. A bad blood. He activated his plasmacaster and aimed it at the distortion. With his lasers visible, the three humans spotted him in the tree above them.
"In the tree!"
The three humans opened fire on their unknown enemy. Swiftblade quickly leaped into another tree and hid behind the main trunk. He was slightly annoyed by them. If not for the honorable human, he would have shot them with his plasmacaster. He glanced back into the clearing and he noticed the distortion mobilizing very quickly towards the three humans. Swiftblade roared loudly, unsheathed his wristblades, jumped to the ground, and charged at the distortion.
...
"That's no elite," Dylan commented. It was faster than an elite.
Danny noticed the shape of the figure sprinting through the field and lowered his Storm Rifle. "Guys, hold up. Don't shoot."
The other two Spartans looked at him in shock. "What?" Dylan replied in horror. "Why?"
"That's the same thing that saved my sorry ass in that cave."
Both Eric and Dylan looked at each other and lowered their weapons. Suddenly, there were two roars coming from the center of the field that caught their attentions. Both roars were similar but one of them was deeper and sounded bigger. Two figures materialized in the field and they were fighting savagely. Danny recognized the smaller entity. It was the thing that saved his life. The strange thing was that it was fighting a being that looked almost exactly like it, but it was a little bigger and had a different face mask on. The fight didn't look like they had a small disagreement or something, it was more like a full on hate death match. These two similar beings did not like each other in the slightest, to say the least. Danny figured that helping the hunter that saved him could very well benefit him and his team.
"Guys we need to help the smaller one!" He yelled as he started sprinting towards the two engaged hunters. The other two Spartans hesitated. Eric still questioned Danny's trust in this unknown extraterrestrial, but he trusted that Danny had a good reason to trust it. Although, Danny trusting this being does not mean that Eric will let his guard down. Finally, he and Dylan followed suit.
Swiftblade noticed the three humans sprinting towards him. The larger Yautja slugged him in the chest and pushed Swiftblade back a few steps with the air knocked out of him. He turned his head and saw the honorable human charging in with momentum. The bad blood noticed the human charging in but was too late to react defensively. The human collided with it and pushed it back a few feet.
Danny realized how much strength this hunter had and immediately regretted his decision in tackling his foe. The larger hunter roared a low and deafening shriek and kicked him back a few feet, landing onto his back. This gave Swiftblade enough time to get back onto his feet and ready himself. The other two humans lifted their fallen comrade to his feet and handed him his rifle. The larger hunter glanced at the four lesser beings surrounding him. He unsheathed both of his wristblades and growled.
Danny pointed his Storm Rifle at the larger being which got its attention. The Spartan was not about to give it any more chances to counterattack and he opened fire. His fellow Spartans also opened fire. The plasma bolts hit the larger hunter's armor and started to melt the metal away. The larger predator roared and staggered back from the added impacts from the raining plasma bolts. Suddenly, he activated his plasmacaster and it started rotating like a gatling gun, then fired a round at Danny's chest.
The impact from the round sent Danny flying back several yards and completely drained his armor's shield. Swiftblade quickly went behind the larger species and stuck his double wristblades into its back. The larger hunter roared in agony and fell to its knees. Dylan quickly went over to his fellow teammate and helped him to his feet.
Eric lowered his rifle and witnessed the strange scene happening before him. The larger hunter dropped onto all fours and moaned in pain. The smaller one ripped its wristblades out of its back and grabbed the larger one's dreadlocks, lifting its head up. In one swift motion, the smaller predator swiped its wristblades across the larger predator's neck and decapitated it. Green neon blood splurged out of the neck and the limp body dropped in the grass. The smaller predator then gave out a loud victorious roar. It then glanced at the decapitated alien head and removed its dark face mask.
Eric winced as he studied the alien's facial features.
"You are one ugly mother-"
He stopped mid sentence after noticing that the standing hunter's attention was on him. Eric suddenly felt slightly threatened by this bone chilling gaze from this larger being. He finally had a good chance to study this alien's appearance. It was outfitted so it could move quick and be light on its feet. The armor was very minimal with having wrist guards, which also had wristblades installed within them. It had shoulder guards, knee and shin guards, and a small light chest plate that were all designed for a lightweight situation. On his left shoulder, there was a strange device which looked like a projectile based weapon. Lastly, his face mask had a smooth look to it and it had a slight resemblance to the old E.O.D. Spartan II helmet. It didn't seem like military apparel. Overall, Eric related its outfit to what a hunter would wear. Something what a predatory being would use on a hunting or tracking mission, so to speak. For all intensive purposes, a predator.
"So do you understand what I'm saying?" Eric asked the alien. The hunter cocked its head and slightly shrugged. Eric could not understand if that meant yes or no. The predator pressed a button on his wrist guard's device. It then brought its hands down to his sides and looked at Eric.
"Yeah, you piece of shit," said an audio human voice that came from his helmet. Despite the random insult, which made Eric smirk in his visor, Eric was slightly impressed with the linguistic translation modification on its wrist. He thought about proposing an idea to the UNSC to create something similar for Spartans so they could understand what other species like Sangheili were saying.
"Good." Eric then thought about another thing that made him wonder. If it could translate English, that means this predator's race has had a past with the human race. It or other members of his species must have recorded other human voices in the past.
Eric glanced at Danny who was trying to walk off his injury. There was a small melted dent in his armor. Eric noticed that his armor's integrity was compromised. The taller Spartan walked over to Eric and the predator.
"I'll be fine," he simply told them.
Dylan crouched next to the dead alien and studied the remains.
"Ya think this thing has anything useful?" the marksman asked that wasn't directed to anyone. It was more of a general rhetorical question.
The predator looked down at the headless body and crouched on the other side of Dylan. He flipped it over to its backside up and pulled off a small rod. The Spartans could not figure out what was so significant about this rod until the predator pressed a button in the center. Suddenly, the rod expanded to a nine foot, duel-bladed spear. It resembled a double bladed glaive.
"Sweet," Dylan commented in an impressed tone. The predator glanced at him for a moment then threw the sniper the glaive. Dylan caught it and looked back at the predator.
"Thanks," he said as he contracted the spear and placed it on his back. Dylan was convinced a little more to the fact that this being was not hostile. He didn't trust it before, but he thought it would be wise to trust something that gave him a weapon. Although, he didn't fully understand why it decided to help him and his team.
Swiftblade knew that the humans couldn't operate the larger predator's plasmacaster, so he pulled off the canon and placed it in a pouch around his waist. It is never bad to have a spare. He searched the dead bad blood and found a few trip mines. They definitely will come in handy.
"Hey," Danny attempted to get the predator's attention. The predator stood upright and directed his gaze on the honorable human. "We have to get back to our ship. You know, the very large one that is not Covenant?"
Swiftblade cocked his head slightly. Usually, he would not help out any other species with any task. The yautja tradition did not have anything against assisting other species. There were a number of humans in the past that were apprentices to the Yautja way of life, however they never lived long enough to complete their training. Usually, an unblooded hunter's training to become a blooded hunter took many centuries, and a human did not even live for a century. Basically it was the thought that mattered to them. The Yautja honored all the species that dedicated their time in learning their tradition.
However in this case, these humans were not trying to learn the Yautja tradition. Swiftblade wondered if helping them would jeopardize his honor. However, recent events have changed the entire situation. The situation was a lot more dire than a hunt that went south or a serpent decontamination. The abominations decided to make an appearance in this chaos. And out of every species currently on the planet, the Yautja viewed the Bad Bloods as an intolerable race and they were ultimately an insult to the entire Yautja species. The ancient clans made a doctrine that said that the Bad Bloods must be eliminated at any and all costs. Therefore, Swiftblade's mission now was to eliminate every bad blood on the planet and the planet's orbit. However, he knew that taking on an entire clan, or possibly more, of Bad Bloods alone is completely impractical. He was going to need reinforcements to take them down. He would call for help, but he wouldn't be able to make that transmission outside of his ship. He also would activate his distress beacon on his wrist, but that would only send a few other yautjas in aid. They would bring a ship that could communicate with Yautja Prime, but that would take much longer to get military outfitted Yautja. He was going to have to use the human's communication technology to call for help.
Despite the fact that his plan was very practical, there was a very clear downside. The Yautja culture viewed the use of foreign technology as dishonorable. They believed that all foreign technology, even the Forerunner's technology, was unclean and deemed unworthy to the Yautja. He remembered several instances in the distance past where young bloods were caught using foreign technology, mostly Forerunner technology. They were stripped of all their honor and were either exiled from Yautja Prime or executed on the spot. After witnessing all these events, he knew the consequences. However, this situation was much different than every past incident. None of those incidents included the Bad Bloods. It came down to the loop hole between both of the Yautja doctrines. The elimination of the Bad Bloods was always the first priority. The use of foreign technology was generally a lesser priority compared to the previous one. Anyways, his plan was essentially a gamble. His reputation could go both ways.
There were two choices he had. Either ally with the humans or leave them. Practicality versus honor. That is what it came down to. He already had a high standpoint on his home planet among his society, which made him believe he did not have to worry about his honor. However, that reputation could plummet if the clan elders thought that his actions in using human technology would be a dishonorable act.
After a few moments of pondering his choice, he gasped and shrugged. The decision was to get the humans back to their ship and then use their communication systems. Swiftblade nodded at Danny.
Eric nodded. "Alright, we have to get going ASAP. Shit has hit the fan."
...
Fluorescent lights were flickering in the hallways. Crackles from broken wires echoed. The communication network was breaking up and gave off white statics. Thorne slowly opened his eyes in his visor. The sight before him was one of the most terrifying sights he saw. Infinity. She has crashed. Crashed not just on any planet, but a Xenomorph infested planet.
He slowly pushed himself up from the metallic ground and glanced around the corridors. His entire team was still unconscious as far as he knew. The closest Spartan to him was Hoya. He was face down on the ground. Thorne moved toward his immobile body and shook him.
"Hoya, get up," he said quietly.
The Spartan didn't move. Thorne scanned for any gnashes on his armor. Sure enough, there was a large dent on the back of his chest piece. He glanced around at the other fallen Spartans. DeMarco was on his back, Grant had her back against the wall and her head hanging down. However, Thorne did not spot Madsen. He wasn't anywhere in sight.
Thorne slowly got up to his feet and began to radio in to Infinity's bridge.
"This is Spartan Thorne of Fireteam Majestic. Anybody read me? Repeat, do any UNSC personnel respond?"
He waited for any response. He only heard white noise through the communication network.
"Spartan Thorne, it's Roland," the AI's voice responded which made Thorne give out a reassuring exhale. "Man, is it good to hear your voice, Spartan. What's your team's condition?"
"Red. The rest of my fireteam is unconscious or worse."
"That's not good. Spartan, we are going to need you in the Bridge ASAP. It's only a matter of time before the Xeno's invade Infinity."
"Roger that."
Thorne moved over to DeMarco and shook him. DeMarco moaned and looked up at his teammate with a dazed reaction.
"What happened?"
"No time to explain, wake up Grant," Thorne quickly replied as he picked up Hoya. "We have to get to the bridge."
DeMarco shook Grant awake. She looked up at her leader slowly. DeMarco helped up to her feet. She shook her head and glanced around.
"Where's Madsen?" She asked.
"I don't know, we have to get to the bridge ASAP so search for him quickly."
DeMarco and Grant brushed through the debris looking for their missing teammate. Thorne placed Hoya against the wall and removed his helmet. He was clearly unconscious. Thorne slightly opened his eyelid to see if he sustained any brain injury by waving a light over his pupil. Thankfully, he didn't suspect anything out of the ordinary.
Suddenly, an injured Sangheili Ultra turned from the corner of the hallway and glared at the four Spartans with a plasma pistol in his hand. He cursed at them in his alien tongue and he pointed the pistol at DeMarco. DeMarco reached for his magnum but it was not on his thigh magnet. Grant quickly looked around for any weapon.
"Die you heathens!" The elite roared.
Suddenly, he was forcefully tackled into the wall by an Sangheili Xenomorph. The elite pushed back the bug and got into a defensive stance. The Xenomorph hissed at the elite and whipped its tail through the air.
"We have to move now!" Thorne yelled as he quickly lifted Hoya over his shoulders. He didn't have enough time to pick up his helmet. The other conscious Spartans rushed behind Thorne and away from the duel.
The elite activated his energy dagger and roared at his foe. The Xenomorph revealed his inner jaw and extended both of his arms. The two circled and growled at each other. The elite was well aware of how dangerous these black serpents were. The elite sneered and charged at the Xenomorph. He tackled the bug into the wall and thrusted his dagger into its exoskeletal abdomen. The serpent screeched out in pain, but quickly counteracted by head butting the elite which caused him to stagger backwards. The elite quickly shook his head and glared at the Xenomorph.
The Xenomorph was dripping acid all over the floor but it acted as if it wasn't injured at all. The bug forcefully swiped his arm at the elite, but the elite dodged it and jabbed his dagger back into the bug's abdomen again. The xeno once again cried out in pain, but this time it grabbed onto his wrist with the energy dagger and held onto it so the elite wouldn't be able to stab it again, then grappled the elite by the neck with its other free hand, and lifted him up in the air. The elite grabbed onto the serpent's wrist with his other free hand, attempting to break free from the grapple. The bug moved the elite's face towards his own and revealed his inner jaw again. The elite struggled and flailed trying to break free from the grapple, but the serpent's grip was too tight.
The elite watched as the serpent's inner jaw started biting at air, getting ready to end his life. His wrist that had his energy dagger, which was still activated, attempted to break free from the serpent's vice grip handle on it, but it was not effective. Seemingly running out of options, the elite did his next act of survival out of pure instinct. He stuck his free hand into the serpent's mouth and grabbed onto its inner jaw.
The serpent was taken aback by this action and it started shaking its head. The elite's grip was too tight which made the serpent lose its temper. It headbutted the elite and let the impact push the elite back a few feet. The elite quickly looked up after landing and saw that the serpent was in the process of pouncing onto him with its tail aimed right down at his upper chest. The elite quickly moved his energy dagger over his torso. The serpent's spear-like tail jabbed down into the elite's right shoulder and exited out through his shoulder blade. The impale caused the elite to roar out in pain.
Then to his surprise, the serpent started screeching in pain. The elite looked down at his torso and saw that his energy dagger was plunged into the serpent's upper chest. He quickly pulled his dagger upward towards the serpent's head, opening a large wound in its chest. Acid started spilling over the elite, but his shields were repelling its effects. However, he knew that his shields wouldn't hold forever, especially with the high acidic levels. He quickly pushed the serpent off to the side and rolled in the opposite direction. His shoulder was bleeding purple blood and he immediately placed his hand over it.
The elite looked down at the serpent on the floor. It was twitching on the floor and shrieking in pain. Its acidic blood started to melt the floor underneath it. The elite stood over it and growled. He enjoyed watching this vile serpent of the underworld die slowly and painfully. The serpent looked back up at the elite and then grabbed onto his shin. The elite pulled his leg away and then grabbed the serpent's arm. He then swiped his dagger horizontally, severing off its arm. He threw the severed arm away and growled in anger. The elite decided that he's seen enough and he plunged his energy blade through the side of the serpent's head.
The serpent immediately went limp and dropped its head to the ground. The elite pulled his dagger out and kicked the body to make sure it was dead. It was. The elite deactivated his dagger and gave out a victorious roar.
One last thing, I did in fact start writing the sequel to this story which is called Halo: Project Omega. I know it's weird since I haven't finished this story yet. So just bare with me everyone. Thanks!
