One hour later
A long hour had passed since Eve and the survivors had been rescued from Tikal. The pilot had flown clear over northern Guatemala and was now in southern Mexico. It would usually have taken longer but the pilot wanted to hurry because of Covenant air patrols that may be lurking around in the skies and because of the wounded.
Eve had stood at the pelican's entrance for the whole journey. She had not said a word to anyone apart from Auto. She had given him the sharp metal Forerunner piece for safe keeping. It was now obvious that the Covenant were looking for something Forerunner. But what was it? And more importantly, was it a weapon? Halo was a Forerunner weapon. It had the power to destroy all life within a 25,000 light year range of the galaxy. If there was a weapon on Earth, it may have the power to destroy all life on the planet, or even the planet itself. Eve shuddered.
"Alright everyone," the pilot shouted down from the cog pit. "We're almost there."The pelican jolted slightly as it began to descend towards the ground. Eve watched as the trees got closer. It looked like they were growing higher to dwarf the height the pelican could go in the air.
The pelican stopped about twenty feet above an open area of the ground. Eve looked down and gasped as the ground opened up, revealing a long tunnel that went down about forty feet. At the bottom was a large square shaped platform near a blast door that led out of the tunnel. The pilot carefully positioned the pelican over the hole and descended into it. When the craft was about half-way down the tunnel the doors closed, darkening the tunnel for a brief second. Lights along the tunnel walls then turned on, eradicating the darkness and making the tunnel light again. The pelican was now about ten feet from the platform. It's landing gear unfolded and touched down on the platform when the pelican was about four feet above it, bringing the craft to a halt.
Eve got off the pelican first and helped some of the civilians off. The soldiers and some of the male civilians helped carry the wounded soldiers off of the pelican. When everyone was on the platform, a squad of marines ran out of the blast door onto the platform and took the wounded and placed them on stretchers the squad were carrying.
"You guys Delta squad two three?" he asked one of the soldiers, who nodded. "Good," he said, slightly relieved. "I'm glad some of you made it. Alright, we'll take the wounded. Civilians follow them to the shelter."
Eve watched as the soldiers led the civilians out of the tunnel and into a corridor on the other side of the blast door.
"You better come with me, Eve," the soldier said to her.
Eve nodded and followed the soldier off of the platform and into the corridor on the other side of the blast door. On the left side of the corridor was another corridor leading off. At the end of the corridor Eve and the solider were in was another blast door, which Eve managed to catch a glimpse of the group of civilians going through before it closed.
The soldier walked down the corridor; Eve followed. When the two were half-way down this corridor, they turned left into the next. This corridor was not as long as the previous one but it did end at a blast door and also had another corridor on the right wall lead off. Above it were the words Armoury. Eve followed the soldier down the corridor towards the blast door. When they reached it, the soldier rested his hand on the scanning device.
"General's waiting for you," he said to Eve. "I gotta head off to the armoury,"
"Thanks," Eve replied.
The soldier walked down the corridor towards the armoury. The blast door in front of Eve opened up. Eve walked through the doorway into a large circle shaped room. Along the bare brick walls were computer screens, computer panels for radar and base defences and shelves stacked with weapons. Soldiers and workers were scattered around the room, either talking in groups or working on either of the control panels. A man in a general's uniform at a nearby control panel saw Eve.
"Eve!" he exclaimed, walking up to her. He shook her hand when he reached her. "I'm glad you're here and well. Hood contacted us earlier and said you had gone missing. Everyone thought you were dead."
"No," Eve replied. "Me and Auto fell into the jungle near Tikal after we got hit by a Seraph fighter up in space. We fought our way to Tikal and waited until a pelican came and picked us up,"
"Sir!" a worker on a control panel at the other end of the room shouted. "We've picked up hostile forces in the jungle outside the base's walls."
"How many?" the general asked.
"Unknown, sir," the worker answered. "They're made up of both land and air forces,"
"Damn!" the general hissed. "Alright, looks like we're going to have to abandon the base. Where's the nearest UNSC ship?" he asked.
"The destroyer UNSC Iroquois is stationed about six miles off the Pacific coast," another worker answered. "It's on It's way here to lend support. ETA twenty minutes," By that time, we'll be dead the general thought anxiously.
"Alright, Eve," he said, facing her. "I need you to help our troops. Hold off the enemy for as long as possible. Good luck,"
"Thank you, sir," Eve replied. "Oh, and you may want to take this,"
Eve placed the metal Forerunner piece in the general's hand. The general stared at it and then looked back up at Eve.
"Tell high command to keep it in a safe place," she said.
Before the general could ask what this thing was or why they had to keep it in a safe place, Eve turned and ran out of the room into the corridor. She ran right down the corridor towards a large blast door that led to the armoury. When Eve reached it, the door opened automatically. Eve ran through the doorway into the armoury, which a small square shaped room filled with shelves that were stacked to breaking point with weapons. There was another door on the opposite wall near the other end of the room. Eve walked up to a shelf and took a battle rifle that was placed between an MA5B assault rifle and an M6C pistol. She checked the gun to make sure it was loaded. It was.
"Do you think the Covenant are going to be looking for that metal Forerunner piece?" Auto asked her
"Probably," Eve answered.
Eve ran over to the door at the other end of the room. It opened automatically as she approached it. Eve was revealed with a wide rectangular shaped room with several bays going along both walls. Inside most of them were warthogs. However, some of these warthogs, instead of having the enormous machine gun, had a large flak cannon as the vehicle's weapon. This flak cannon would fire flak grenades faster than it takes a person to blink an eye! Because the grenade would go at the speed of a bullet, it would penetrate the skin like one then explode inside, killing anyone it hit. At the other end of the bay was a large blast door, most likely to be the exit out into the jungle. This would be the perfect place for the Covenant to break in.
There were three other soldiers in this bay. One was manning a deployable machine. The other two, one armed with a battle rifle and the other armed with a sniper rifle, were each taking cover behind a warthog. The soldier on the deployable machine gun turned to face the doorway as Eve entered the bay.
"Oh, Eve," he said. "Thank God you're here," "Are the Covenant heading in this direction?" Eve asked the soldier as she ran over to him.
"Most likely," the soldier answered. "This is the quickest way into the base and It's also the nearest entrance to the command centre,"
BANG! The two froze. Their eyes locked onto the door, which was where the bang came from. BANG! There it was again, only this time it was much harder. Eve slowly raised her battle rifle at the blast door. The soldier next to her manned the machine gun and kept his finger near the trigger. They were ready to drive off any Covenant that would charge-
SMASH! An almighty thud literally threw a large section of the blast door across the bay. It landed with a crash on one of the warthogs. A small cloud of dust filled the room around the hole in the door. Then out of the dust cloud, which had cleared, came the worst types of Covenant. Hunters.
Hunters were probably the most aggressive and most powerful members of the Covenant. They were at least twelve feet tall and had armour, that was like steel, over most of their body. What made them terrifying was that attached to one arm was a massive proton cannon and attached to the other arm was an enormous metal sword that could rip a man's body apart with just one swipe.
The Hunters walked into the bay, their massive feet causing the room to shake slightly. Suddenly, their proton cannons began to charge up. Eve knew what was going to happen.
"GET DOWN!" she screamed.
Eve and the soldiers dived to the floor. Just as they did, two green lasers shot over them and hit the wall. When they disappeared, there were two enormous holes in the concrete. Eve looked up at the Hunters. They obviously had a new upgrade to their cannon because when Eve fought them on Halo their cannons would fire plasma projectiles, not lasers. This upgrade would most likely be more deadly than the old plasma projectiles.
The Hunters began charging up their cannons for another blast. The soldier next to Eve saw this and manned his machine gun. The deployable machine chattered loudly as it fired a barrage of bullets at the two enormous creatures. One of the Hunters was hit repeatedly in the face and in the stomach, which was in gap of the chest armour and legs armour. Finally, the creature fell forward onto the floor, dead.
The other Hunter growled loudly, silencing the barrage. Then, without warning, the enormous creature charged towards the deployable machine gun. It was furious that these humans had killed It's comrade. It wanted revenge and it would stop at nothing to kill all of these soldiers, especially Eve.
Very big mistake.
As the Hunter ran past the last two warthogs, the soldiers aimed their weapons up at the creature's exposed back, the easiest was to kill a Hunter, and fired. At the same time, Eve and the solider on the deployable machine gun fired a barrage at the creature. Being hit from both the front and the back was too much for the Hunter. After a few seconds, the creature fell backwards onto the floor, dead.
"Is that all of them?" one of the soldiers asked.
He got his answer when…
BOOM! The squad shot round to see an enormous Covenant vehicle heading towards them. There was an even bigger hole in the blast door now. The vehicle hovered into the bay. It was about twenty eight feet long, a dark purple colour and had a huge main section and two small triangle sections at the front which helped the vehicle hover above the floor. This vehicle was instantly recognizable. It was a Wraith. A Covenant mortar and battle tank.
The wraith continued hovering towards the squad at the other end of the bay. All of a sudden, when it was about half-way down the bay, it fired a light blue mortar projectile at the soldiers. The squad dived for cover, narrowly escaping the blast radius of the projectile.
Eve looked up from where she was lying. The Wraith turned to face a soldier near the right corner of the bay. It fired another projectile at the helpless soldier, killing him. Anger filled Eve's heart. She had to get rid of this wraith now or it would kill all of them.
As the wraith turned to fire a projectile at the last three soldiers with her, Eve had an idea.
"Keep it distracted," she said to the two soldiers.
"Why?" one of them asked, only to see Eve run off towards one of the warthogs
Eve ran over to the back of the first warthog and climbed into the driver's seat. She started the vehicle. The engine hummed. The wheels screeched loudly as Eve drove the warthog out of the bay at full speed and crashed into the side of the wraith. The wraith lifted about three feet into the air and was pushed against another warthog on the other side of the bay. The pilot of the vehicle, a minor Elite, threw the hatch open. This was a big mistake as the other two soldiers fired at the creature, killing it. The body slumped forward onto the top of the tank. Purple blood leaked out of the body and slid down the tank onto the floor.
Eve reversed the warthog so the massive Wraith fell onto the floor. Eve stood up in the driver's seat.
"C'mon, get in," she said to the two soldiers, who nodded and ran over to the warthog.
One of the soldiers got into the passenger seat beside Eve. The other climbed onto the back and manned the flak cannon. Eve pressed her foot down on the accelerator. She drove the warthog down the bay and out of the hole in the blast door. The warthog drove up a steep path, that the vehicle could only just go over, that led up to the surface. When they reached the surface, the three were greeted by the base's surface.
The base was a large square shape and was situated in the middle of a large clearing of the jungle. Around It's perimeter was a fifteen foot high, six foot deep concrete wall. In the middle of the base was a large rectangular shaped building that was about twenty feet high, fifty feet long and thirty feet wide. On the top of this structure was a large square block which had several windows along It's side. This was the command centre of the base on the surface. The main was underground, where Eve had been just minutes earlier.
About forty feet behind the command centre were three large half cylinder shaped buildings separated by about ten feet of ground. Each was about one hundred and twenty feet long. These were the surface barracks. About ninety soldiers could say in each barracks. Next to the barracks was a tall square shaped block. This was the surface armoury. Inside it was loaded with grenades, battle rifles, explosives, vehicle ammo etc. Finally, near the back of the base were two large platforms, which had two tunnels that lead underground to a large hanger at the bottom. This was where pelicans and fighters would land. In between the platforms, which were separated by about twenty feet of earth, was a small square shaped building only about fifteen feet long and ten feet wide. This was one of the only other ways to get underground to the underground structures. Most of the open area was for weapons or vehicle training.
However, the three in the warthog were also greeted by a scene of chaos. Scattered around the open ground were the remains of other warthogs, pelicans and the occasional Wraith or banshee. Also scattered across the ground were many dead Grunts, Jackals, Elites and UNSC soldiers. Large chunks had also been blown open in the wall, the biggest was where the entrance to the base once stood, and up in the sky were long sword fighters engaged in dog fights with banshees and seraph fighters. In front of the command centre was a long concrete wall about six feet high. Behind it were several UNSC soldiers who were firing at Covenant troops taking cover behind the remains of a Wraith and a few destroyed banshees.
"Let's go help 'em out," Eve said.
Eve drove the warthog towards the battle at full speed. When the warthog was about twenty feet from the battle, the soldier in the passenger seat and soldier on the flak cannon fired a barrage at the Covenant troops, who were four Grunts, two Elites and three Jackals. The Covenant were taken by surprise and were quickly massacred before they could flee.
When the Covenant squad had been killed, a sergeant jumped over the concrete wall and ran over to the warthog.
"Thanks guys," he said. "We didn't think we would last long,"
"What's happened up here?" Eve asked the sergeant.
"The Covenant have attacked the perimeter and some have managed to break through to the underground area of the base," the sergeant answered. "At the moment, our boys are holding them off down below but we have to hold off any reinforcements so we can get everyone out of here."
"WATCH OUT!" one of the soldiers behind the concrete wall yelled.
BOOM! The warthog flipped over and landed on It's side with an almighty crash. Eve and the soldiers were thrown out onto the floor. Eve groaned as she got up. She looked at the other two soldiers. They were okay. The sergeant, however, was lying dead on the ground. Whatever had exploded had killed him instantly.
"LOOK OUT! IT'S A WRAITH!" another soldier at the concrete wall yelled.
Eve looked over towards the entrance. The soldier was right. Coming through the entrance was a Wraith. Then, another followed. Eve swore under her breath. This did not look good.
The first wraith fired another mortar shell at the command centre. The blast hit the building and exploded, blowing a huge chunk of the side away. The second wraith fired a blast at the concrete wall. The soldiers saw it coming and only just managed to avoid being blown apart by diving away from the wall. When the mortar blast hit the wall, a large hole was left in the middle.
Eve helped the other two soldiers to their feet. The three then ran over to the concrete wall. Another blast hit the warthog, blowing it to pieces. A relief thought went through Eve's mind, and probably the other two soldiers' minds as well, that they just narrowly escaped being blown apart.
Eve skidded across the ground and dived behind the concrete wall. She rested against it next to another soldier.
"How the hell are going to take those things down?" she asked herself.
"We could call in an air strike," another nearby soldier suggested.
"We can't," the soldier next to Eve replied. "Any fighter that gets launched over here's a goner. We'll have to find another way to take 'em out,"
BOOM! Another explosion blew away a large chunk of the command centre building, throwing dust and rubble onto the ground surrounding the building. A small piece of rubble hit a soldier in the head, knocking him out.
Eve scanned the base for anything that the squad could use to destroy the wraiths. She found it. The armoury. Surely there was something there she could use against the Covenant vehicles.
"I've got an idea," Eve said to one of the soldiers. "Keep them distracted," Before the soldier could ask what the idea was, Eve got up and ran towards the armoury. The soldier just shrugged and fired a burst of ammo from his battle rifle at the wraiths. However, one of them fired a mortar blast at Eve, narrowly missing her as it exploded on the ground. Eve ran at her full speed, desperately trying to get to the armoury before she got blown up. The wraith fired another blast at her. Eve looked over her shoulder and saw it coming. She looked ahead of her and saw the armoury only a few metres ahead of her.
Four metres to go.
Eve is almost at the armoury. The mortar shell is just about ten metres away.
Two metres.
Almost there. The mortar shell is now just under four metres away.
BANG! The mortar shell exploded. Just as it did, Eve dived through the open doorway. She landed painfully on the floor. Oh, well. At least she did not get blown to pieces.
"That was close," Auto said.
"Yeah, it was," Eve replied, breathing a sigh of relief.
Eve stood and gazed around the armoury. The entire building was just a large square shaped room with several stacks of weapons against the walls, piles of boxes stacked everywhere. There were even some weapons and explosives strewn across the floor. Looks like the soldiers on the surface were in a hurry to prepare the defences for the Covenant attack.
Eve scanned the room for any weapon, or weapons, she could use to destroy the wraiths. She found them. On top of a pile of boxes was a rocket launcher. Next to it were some rockets. Eve ran over to the weapon and picked it up. It was already loaded. Good. Now she could destroy those wraiths and, hopefully, buy enough time for everyone in the base to esc-
BOOM!
The soldiers at the concrete wall shot round to see an enormous fireball fill the sky. They gasped. Hopelessness filled them like water flowing into a tank. The fireball had come from the armoury. That was where Eve was! Now, she was dead. Their only hope of winning this war was gone.
The soldiers snapped back into reality when another explosion erupted from the ground nearby. They dived behind the concrete wall. Anger was raging inside them. They were now determined to avenge Eve. The soldiers loaded their weapons and got ready to launch a charge attack.
"Get ready," one of the soldiers said. "Time to take these split lip freaks down," BOOM! An explosion on the side of one of the wraiths startled the squad. BOOM! Another explosion quickly followed. The wraith burst into flames, killing the pilot.
"What the hell was that?" one of the soldiers asked, aghast.
He got his answer when two objects flew at the other wraith, hitting it in the sides. The soldiers looked in the direction of where the objects came from and saw Eve with a rocket launcher over her shoulder, aimed directly at the two wraiths. An explosion brought their attention back to the wraith. Fire engulfed the vehicle. The soldiers could hear the Elite screaming. Suddenly, the hatch flew open. The tall bulky figure of the Elite climbed out onto the roof of the vehicle. The soldiers raised their weapons and fired at the creature, killing it with hits to the chest and head. The body fell sideways off of the tank onto the ground.
"Nice work, Eve!" one of the soldiers shouted as she ran over to them.
"Thanks," Eve replied. "Hopefully, that should buy us some time," Then, Eve's ear radio crackled to life.
"This is command centre to all UNSC surface forces. The underground command centre has been captured by Covenant. The general has ordered all personal to leave the base at once. All surface forces, report to the hanger for immediate extraction,"
"We better get moving," one of the soldiers said.
The squad ran towards the square shaped building between the two platforms. As they got closer, Eve heard a whirring noise coming from behind them. She looked over her shoulder to see a phantom drop a squad of four Grunts, an Elite and two Jackals on the ground before it flew off into the air, disappearing behind the trees. The Covenant squad immediately spotted the UNSC soldiers and charged after them.
"We got company!" she shouted to the squad, who turned to see the Covenant troops chasing after them.
Eve skidded to a halt, shot round and fired a shot from her rocket launcher at the Covenant squad. The Grunts screamed and dived to the ground. The Elite was not quick enough…
BOOM! The rocket exploded on the Elite's chest, throwing it through the air and landing on the ground several metres from where it started. The Grunts panicked after seeing their leader get killed and fled towards the hole in the wall where the entrance used to be. The Jackals shook their heads in disbelief as they watched their comrades flee. However, this put the Jackals off guard and were killed by gunfire from the soldiers.
"Alright, let's get down into the hanger before more Covenant arrive," Eve said.
The squad ran to the building. When they reached it, they burst through the doorway into the room. The room was small and cramped for space as it was filled with several computer panels and a glass elevator, with silver coloured steel going over the sides, most of the top and most of the bottom of it, at the other end. The squad ran over to the elevator. Eve rested her hand on a scanning device on the wall. The elevator doors opened, allowing the squad to enter it. One of the soldiers pressed the down button, causing the doors in front of them to close. The elevator jolted slightly as it descended into a long tunnel that led down into the hanger. After a few seconds, the elevator jolted again. The doors opened, allowing the squad to walk out into the hanger.
The hanger was an enormous rectangular shaped room with several tall steel pillars holding up the ceiling, which was only thirty feet above the hanger floor, since on the other side of the ceiling was the ground and then the base on the surface. Scattered around the hanger walls were several doors that led to different parts of the base. One led to the cafeteria, one to the barracks, one to the hospitals and one to the civilians shelter. Scattered around the hanger were about twenty pelicans. In or around them were civilians and soldiers. The soldier were desperately trying to keep everyone calm and get them on board, which was proving to be difficult since the base's underground command centre had fallen to the Covenant about ten minutes earlier. The soldier who were with Eve ran off in the mob to help keep order. Eve looked around the base, her face filled with worry and anxiety. These people had to get out of the base. If not, they could all be listed as casualties of the attack.
"These poor people," Auto said. "They'll never make it out of here in time. We have to find a way to help them,"
"How?" Eve asked in a hopeless tone. "The Iroquois still hasn't turned up yet and the Covenant are probably heading this way right now!"
"Eve!" someone exclaimed from her right.
Eve turned to see a worker, holding a battle rifle, running towards her. She recognized him as the one who warned the general about the incoming Covenant attack.
Before the worker could speak, Eve cut him off.
"What happened at the control centre? Where's the general?"
"Whoa, Eve, slow down," he said, calming her slightly. "As you've probably heard, the Covenant have taken the control centre and have killed everyone inside, except me. I only just made it out. Anyway, the general planned to blow up this base with a bomb if the Covenant took it. The bomb's still in the control centre, but they've probably disarmed it."
"Alright," Eve replied. "Give me your battle rifle. I'll head over there and see if I can get the bomb to go off."
"Eve, your crazy!" the worker half-shouted. "They've got zealot Elites there! You'll get slaughtered!"
"Look, just worry about getting yourself and everyone else out of here!" Eve snapped. She took a breath to calm down. "Look," she said. "I'm sorry about that. Anyway, keep the evacuation going. If I'm not back in ten minutes, go on without me,"
The worker sighed.
"Okay," he said, handing Eve his battle rifle and taking her rocket launcher. "Just stay safe, alright? We can't afford to lose you."
"You won't," Eve replied. "Good luck,"
Eve ran past the worker towards a door on the front wall. It opened as she approached it. Eve ran down the corridor on the other side towards a large room at the other end. When she reached it, she saw it was the civilian shelter. The room was a large square shape with several plants, seats and small make-shift beds scattered around it. Several security cameras were attached to the walls. The room was a mess, most likely because everyone had to leave in a hurry. On the right wall was another door which led into another corridor. Eve ran towards the door, which opened as she approached it, and ran into the corridor on the other side.
Eve gasped at the sight of this corridor. It was covered in blood. Light blue, purple and red. There were several large holes in the walls, floors and ceilings. Bullet holes and blast marks were also visible. It did not take a genius to know a fierce battle had taken place here. How many had been killed or wounded, Eve could not tell.
Eve raised her battle rifle and crept down the corridor. She recognized it as there was a corridor leading off to the right. As Eve reached the second corridor, she could hear something else. Eve looked down the corridor to see the command centre's door lying on the floor, having been forced off It's hinges. The noise sounded like… voices? Yes they were voices. High pitched and deep. Looks like the worker's warning about the zealot Elites was right. The only problem was; how many Covenant were in the room? Hopefully, not loads.
Eve kept her battle rifle close and walked down the corridor towards the command centre, keeping close to the walls so the Covenant would not spot her. When she reached the door, she peeked her head out from behind the wall to look into the command centre. In the middle of the room was a large silver coloured cube shaped object with a control pad on It's front. That was most likely to be the bomb. Around it were two zealot Elites, three Grunts and one Jackal. They were standing in front of a huge tunnel that had been dug into the wall at the back of the room. It was too dark to see if anything or anymore Covenant were in there though. However, Eve was angered by the sight of the general and about fifteen other workers and soldiers lying dead against the wall. Two dead Grunts and dead Jackal were lying amongst them. The general and his soldiers and workers had defended the command centre to the last man. Even though they slightly outnumbered the Covenant, they were no match for their weaponry and hand to hand combat, but they had managed to take at least three Covenant soldiers with them.
The Grunts and the Jackal were digging through the tunnel with their bare hands. A few inches behind them was a small mound of dirt.
"Keep digging!" one of the zealot Elites ordered. "Our masters will grow impatient! We must get the artefact."
The artefact? It was obviously Forerunner, but what type? It could be a Forerunner weapon or key or map or something. Whatever it was, Eve had to find it before the Covenant did?
"I'm detecting a massive energy signature from that tunnel," Auto whispered. "Your right about it being Forerunner, I've had the same reading before when we were on Halo,"
"Will I be able to give you this Forerunner artefact like I did with the Index?" Eve asked him.
"Most likely," Auto answered.
One of the Grunts threw a handful of dirt onto the mound. As he did, he caught something out of the corner of his eye. He looked up and saw it was Eve.
"DEMON!" he screamed, pointing up at her.
The two zealot Elites shot round and saw her. In an instant, they lit up two energy swords and jumped up in front of the doorway.
"You will die for destroying the Sacred Ring, demon!" one of them growled.
"Sorry, I don't plan on dying yet," Eve replied.
Before either of the Elites could react, Eve whacked one of the Elites round It's head with her battle rifle. The creature roared in pain, but only more of it came as it smacked it head on the steel wall, knocking it out. The Elite fell backwards onto It's comrade, causing it to stumble. Eve saw her chance and fired a burst from her battle rifle at the Elite hitting it in the chest, killing it. The body fell onto the floor with a thud.
Suddenly, Eve's shield lit up. A light green blast had hit her suit. It came from the direction of the tunnel. Eve looked and saw the Jackal with an activated shield by It's side and a plasma pistol aimed at her in one hand. Eve fired a burst of ammo from her battle rifle at the exposed Jackal, killing it.
Eve, her battle rifle raised, walked towards the other end of the room. The Grunts were still in the tunnel but they had no weapons on them. Eve walked towards the Grunts, who began to back away against the wall of the tunnel they had just dug.
"Please! No Hurt!" one of the Grunts squeaked, placing It's hands over It's head as if they would protect him.
"What are you looking for?" Eve snarled as she approached them.
"Artefact!" one of the Grunts answered, backing away as Eve came closer. "Please, don't hurt me-AAAH!"
All of a sudden, the Grunt fell through the wall onto a hard metal floor. At once, a light seemed to come out of the floor and reveal the room. Eve gasped. The room was a small circle shape with a cylindrical platform on the floor. A light blue/white aura was hovering from the panel up to the ceiling in the middle of the aura was a light blue diamond.
The Grunt that fell on the floor got up, only to fall over again when he saw Eve standing over him.
"Please don't hurt me!" the Grunt squeaked.
Eve grabbed the Grunt's chest and threw it out onto the command centre's floor.
"I were you guys, I would leave. Now!" she said, adding a tone on the last word.
Not even a second passed before the Grunts got up and ran towards the command centre's door. Eve watched them flee the room before turning. She walked into the room towards the cylindrical panel. As she approached it, she could feel some kind of energy that felt like it was drawing her too it.
"It's energy signature is massive," Auto said. "Even stronger than the Index. This must be something very powerful if It's Forerunner," "Yeah, but what?" Eve asked.
She reached her hand out and grabbed the crystal. As she did, a sharp pain filled Eve's head. She yelped in pain and fell forward, almost hitting her head on the panel.
"Eve!" Auto exclaimed. "Are you alright?" "Yeah," Eve replied, breathing heavily as she stood up. "I'm fine."
"We better go," Auto said. "Otherwise the pelican will leave without us,"Eve nodded and ran back into the command centre room. As she passed the bomb, she rested her hand on the control pad. Auto immediately activated the timer. They had only one minute to flee the base before the bomb detonated.
Eve ran through the doorway, over the knocked out body of the zealot Elite, and ran down the corridor towards the end. She was running at full speed. This crystal was important and could possibly be the only thing between the Covenant and the destruction of Earth, or even the universe.
"What do you think this thing can do?" Auto asked her.
"No idea," Eve replied. "We'll have to try and find that out when we get to the Iroquois, at least I hope we do-"
"KILL THE DEOMON!"
As Eve turned into the main corridor, another zealot and four Grunts had been coming down from the hanger to the right to deal with Eve. The zealot Elite, armed with a plasma rifle, fired a burst of ammo at Eve as she ran left down the corridor towards the civilians shelter. Most of the blasts hit her suit, causing her shield to light up. The holographic meter appeared above Eve's wrist. The level was in the red, which was very bad. What was worse, the level decreased more as more blasts hit Eve. Suddenly, it was empty. Eve looked up and saw the civilian shelter just a few feet ahead of her. Without thinking, she dived forward through the open doorway, narrowly missing two blasts as they flew over her head and hit the wall opposite the doorway.
Eve got up and ran towards the corridor that led to the hanger. Behind her, she could hear the heavy footfalls of the Elite as it chased her. The doorway to the hanger was just sixty feet away. Now fifty… Forty… Thirty. Eve ran at her full speed. She had to get to the hanger. She was almost there.
Suddenly, her suit lit up again. Eve looked over her shoulder to see the zealot Elite standing in the doorway of the civilians shelter, It's plasma rifle raised up at her. The Elite fired another barrage of light blue blasts. Most hit Eve's suit, causing the level in her holographic meter to drop into the red zone. Although she did not have time to stand and fight, Eve had to do something about the Elite.
Still running, she turned the upper part of her body and fired a burst of ammo down the corridor towards the Elite. The bullets hit the Elite's shield, causing it to light up until it was disabled. The Elite dived behind the wall inside the civilian shelter. With the creature dealt with, Eve could now continue on to the hanger.
When Eve reached the hanger, she was relieved to see a pelican waiting below one of the tunnel entrances up to the surface. Two soldiers climbed on. One of them then turned to make sure the hanger was clear and saw Eve.
"Eve!" he exclaimed. "C'mon, get over here quickly!"
Eve ran over to the pelican at full speed. When she reached it, the soldier grabbed her arm and hauled her up into the pelican. The pilot ascended the craft up towards the hole as quickly as it would go.
Command centre
The bomb's timer was at six seconds.
5.…
4.…
3.…
2.…
1.…
Surface
The pelican flew out of the hole up into the sky. Eve looked down at the base as the pelican climbed higher away from the ground.
Suddenly, Eve heard a loud noise. It sounded like an enormous distant creature's roar. It was coming from the ground. Eve looked down at the base's surface. Just as she did…
BOOM! Enormous fireballs shot up out of the ground through the holes in the ground that led to the hanger. Eve and the soldiers in the resting area watched in shock and awe as the fireball ascended into the sky. Then, the sound of an enormous landslide filled the air. Eve looked down and gasped as the surface of the base and some of the surrounding jungle crumbled and fell onto the underground base. Eve sighed. It was a great, but costly sacrifice. Even though they had lost this base, and probably control over this region of Central America, at least they had managed to save a lot of civilian lives and soldiers who would live to fight another day.
What made the sacrifice more worth it was that Eve and Auto had managed to recover a Forerunner artefact. Although they did not know It's full purpose, if it was a weapon that did have the power to destroy Earth or activate something that would destroy Earth, they had managed to stop the Covenant from recovering it.
"Alright," the pilot announced from the cog pit. "We're heading over to the Iroquois. Command's ordered all spare troops to head to any city under siege from Covenant forces,"
Eve ran up to the cog pit.
"Where we headed?" she asked him.
"Once we get to the ship, we'll be in New Mombassa," the pilot answered.
