Eight days later
The last eight days had been a lot more relieving than the first days of training. The task force had finished the training three days ago and were now going over their tasks when they were to be launched on their first mission.
Eve still found it hard to accept that she was still leading the task force. It was a really big risk. If this mission failed, not only the survival of the super soldiers could be at stake, but also the survival of the entire human race could be threatened if this mission was a failure.
Eve had constantly been going over maps and blue prints of the ship high command had given her. She didn't want one part of the ship to be left unchecked. She knew that even the slightest fault in the mission could have all of them killed. Her friends, however, were getting worried about her. There had been at one night where Anya had woken up to see Eve going over the blueprints of the ship. That was a four in the morning; Eve had been going over the blue prints and tasks for six hours! It wasn't until seven in the morning when Eve had finally stopped looking at the blueprints. She was really tired the next day! When the task force went for briefing for the mission, Eve fell asleep in her chair. Everybody noticed this when she leaned forward in her seat and fell off it.
In the barracks, Eve was lying down on her bed. Several blueprint sheets were folded up next to her on her bed. She had been looking through them for most of the day until she decided to have a break and fell asleep. Everyone else was in groups scattered around the room, talking amongst themselves.
Reach Fermion remote sensing outpost
Reach had many remote sensing outposts scattered across It's surface. Each one was designed to pick up any ships travelling towards Reach. Ever since the war broke out, they have been fully operational non-stop. Each remote sensing outpost had many control rooms. In one control room in Fermions upper floors, a worker on a computer looked at his computer screen. It had a line graph going across it. Suddenly, the lines shot up on the chart. Each time a new line appeared, it was higher than the last. The worker immediately noticed this.
"What the…?" he said.
He grabbed a data pad from a cabinet built into the computer panel. He looked through it hoping to find an answer to the high amount of energy just appearing out of nowhere. Finally, he found it. If any amount of energy was that high, it could only mean one thing.
The worker immediately typed in a code. The screen changed from a line chart to man in a high ranking uniform. Behind him was a set of computer panels, workers and several stairs that led to and from platforms.
"This is captain Thompson of Gamma space station," the man said
"Captain, this Fermion remote sensing outpost. Unconfirmed reports of an in system Slip space rupture." the worker told the captain.
"Impossible, check your source," captain Thompson ordered.
The worker typed in a code to check the energy sources to make sure there wasn't any interference. When he brought up a radar screen, he saw something blips on the screen.
"I'm reading multiple pings below the orbital defence grid," the worker said.
However, he attracted the attention of the workers around him. They came over to see what was going on.
"He's right!" a worker exclaimed. "There like ten pings! Now there's twelve! Fifteen!"
"Oh, this can't be happening," captain Thompson said as his face appeared back on the computer screen.
"There's no mistake, sir," the worker on the computer panel said. "It's them,"
Reach task force barracks
Anya, Bethany and Emily sneaked towards Eve's bed. Eve was laying soundly asleep. Her three friends wanted to make her jump.
"Okay," Anya said. "Bethany, get on the left side of the bed. Emily go to the bottom."
Bethany and Emily did so.
"Okay, on three," Anya whispered. "One. Two…"
"Don't even think about it," Eve said. A smile came upon her lips as she woke up.
"How did you know we were here?" Bethany asked.
Eve tapped her right ear.
"I have good hearing," she replied.
Suddenly, an alarm blared out throughout the building. The whole room went a dark red colour.
Eve got up and ran towards the barracks door. When she opened it, soldiers were running up and down the corridor. Some with weapons, others talking into radios. A general ran up to the door.
"Eve, get everyone out here!" he ordered.
"What's going on?" Eve asked the general.
"It's the Covenant. They're attacking," he answered.
Eve gasped. The Covenant were here. Looks like their mission was going to be cut short. Eve spun round so she was facing the inside of the barracks.
"Alright, everyone. Let's go. Let's go," she ordered.
"What's going on?" Matthew, who was at a bunk bed near the door, asked Eve.
"It's the Covenant," Eve answered. "They're attacking,"
As soon as Eve finished, everyone in the barracks immediately headed straight for the door. Eve ran out first. Everyone else followed. In the confusion in the corridors, many people got separated or ended up running the wrong way. Anya, Bethany, Matthew, Allison, Emily and Sophie managed to stay together as they ran down the corridor. They turned left when they came to an intersection in the corridor. The group found themselves outside the armoury. They ran inside to prepare themselves for the coming fight. The armoury was a big square room that was about one hundred and ten feet long and about seventy in width. There were two power generators that were fenced off. Scattered around the room where large crates with machine guns, grenades, pistols, you name it. There were about thirty soldiers in here, getting weapons or putting ammunition into the ones they already had.
Sergeant John was over by a crate at the other end of the armoury. He spotted the group.
"You lot, over here," he ordered. The group ran over to John.
"Right, you each have a BR55 battle rifle each," John said, handing each of the group a machine gun with a scope on it. It roughly weighed about eight lbs. "You also have a M6C Magnum pistol as a sidearm and two fragmentation grenades," John added, handing each of the group a pistol and two grenades.
"The Covenant have launched a full-scale assault on the planet." John explained. "We need to keep this base in our hands. If we can hold them off, there's a chance we might be able to hold off the Covenant long enough to evacuate the people."
"Thanks, John," Matthew said. John nodded.
"Good luck," he said.
The group nodded and ran out through a door halfway down the left wall of the room. They found themselves outside, where all hell was breaking loose in front of them.
In the air, there were UNSC fighters and Covenant Seraph fighters, truck sized fighters with a main cannon at the front, two spires on either side of the cannon and bulge at the top and bottom of the fighter, engaged in dogfights. Pelicans were flying in all directions, some being blasted out of the sky and Covenant drop ships, big ships with two L shaped sections that stuck out from a bulk-like part of the ship that led down to a turret and there was also a blue haze between the two L sections of the ship, were landing everywhere. One even landed a few hundred feet away behind some burning buildings.
"Over here!" someone shouted. The group saw a soldier waving at them. "You guys, over here!"
"C'mon," Eve said to her friends.
The group ran over to the soldier, who led them into a maze of buildings. After a few minutes they found themselves in a small house that must have belonged to a captain since, among the usual household stuff, it had pictures of a UNSC battle cruiser and a desk with papers of the ship's crew and missions.
"What are we doing in here?" Eve asked the soldier.
"I need your help," the soldier replied. "I'm Captain Robinson," he shook Eve's hand.
"Okay, captain," Eve said "What is it you need us to do?"
"The Covenant has launched a ground offensive against this base." captain Robinson explained. "They'll soon be crawling all over this place. We have to hold this area."
"Where are they coming in from?" Matthew asked captain Robinson.
"From the airbase and from the space research lab over the hill." captain Robinson replied. "The airbase is nearest, so link up with squad sixteen over by the medical outpost."
The group nodded and gave a salute to captain Robinson. It could be the last either of them would ever give. Eve then led the group back outside and through the maze of buildings once again. After a minute or two, the group found themselves outside the maze of buildings and back in the middle of the war zone. An explosion erupted nearby. A Seraph fighter zoomed overhead, pursued by three C709 Long sword Interceptor fighters, a two hundred and ten feet long and two hundred and forty five feet wide fighter shaped like a manta ray, the only difference being that there were two engine silos at the back of the fighter.
"Time to kick alien butt," Matthew said.
Eve led the group across the landscape. There were some trees and grass scattered about, but they wouldn't stand for long before a blast or bomb or explosion would tear them apart. Ahead of them, a set of buildings grew closer. When the group reached the buildings, a couple of soldiers inside one of the buildings led the group inside and pointed them to a window or hole in the wall caused by an explosion. Eve and Sophie were led upstairs to the roof.
"Good to see, guys," a soldier holding a SR S99C sniper rifle. The gun was about six feet long. Luckily, the soldier carrying it was about six foot three.
"Are you guys squad sixteen?" Sophie asked the soldier, who nodded.
"Yeah," he replied. "The wounded from the medic outpost are in the barracks just next door." The soldier indicated to a short, long rectangular building just next to the building Eve was on. "If the Covenant get in there, It'll be a slaughter."
"I see 'em coming," another sniper, who was lying down with his gun pointing out towards several dome buildings in the distance.
"Guys, they're coming," Eve whispered down the stairs.
Eve then joined the soldiers. She laid down and aimed her BR55 battle rifle so it looked like it was facing diagonal. The wait was tense. Eve began to count the seconds they were waiting. One…two…three…four…five. It seemed like forever as the group waited for the coming threat.
"I see them!" Eve heard Emily hiss from below. She was right.
One hundred feet ahead of the buildings, Eve saw the shape of Covenant soldiers coming heading straight for them. Eve recognized the small, lumbering Grunts. In the middle of the pack was the giant figure of the Elite. The Elite was a minor, same thing with the pack of Grunts he was leading. Twenty feet either side of the pack of Grunts were four minor Jackals, their shields held up in front of them.
"Wait for them to get within fifty feet," the sniper laying next to Eve whispered. "Then, we'll nail 'em,"
Eve nodded. She slightly raised her weapon, but stayed laid down. She knew that if one of the Jackals spotted her, the element of surprise would be lost. The Covenant squad got closer. They were seventy feet away. Then Sixty. Fifty five.
"Get ready," Eve whispered.
The group loaded their weapons and got their grenades ready. The Covenant wee getting closer. Eve could just make out the mandibles of the Elite as the aliens were forty feet from the house.
"On three," the soldier whispered to Eve. "One…two…"
BANG! A warthog armed with a mini gun turret drove out from behind another building about seventy feet away. There were three men in the warthog. A driver, a passenger and a soldier manning the turret. As soon as they were out of the maze of buildings, they were blasting away like hell at the Covenant.
"WHAT THE HELL!" Eve heard Matthew yell.
Things quickly got really bad when one of the Jackals fired a shot out of his gun. It hit the driver of the warthog, causing the jeep to flip over. The driver was dead and the passenger and soldier on the turret were thrown out of the warthog to the ground.
"DIE!" the warthog passenger yelled
He fired a burst of bullets from his MA5B assault rifle at the pack of Grunts. A Grunt yelled as it was hit several times in the head and upper chest, causing it to flip backwards and land on It's stomach. It was dead. The Elite growled and fired a blast from his weapon that hit the warthog passenger in the head, killing him.
The man on the turret had fallen onto the ground. He tried to make a run for the buildings but before he was even two feet away, a Jackal fired a blast at his leg. The soldier fell to the ground and yelled in pain.
"I'll get him," Emily shouted.
Before anyone could stop her, Emily ran out of the building towards the wounded soldier. Her gun raised, she was firing away at the Covenant troops. Another Grunt was hit and fell to the floor, dead.
"Emily, come back!" Allison shouted.
"I'll get her," Matthew piped up. Matthew ran from the building and took off after Emily. Emily had reached the soldier.
"Your gonna be okay," she said, hoping to calm the soldier who was clutching his leg tightly.
Emily picked up the soldier and place him over her shoulder. Matthew stopped a few feet away and began firing on the Covenant troops.
"GET BACK IN HERE!" Allison yelled.
Eve fired a barrage from her battle rifle at the Covenant. Several shots hit the Jackals' shields. Even though the bullets bounced off the shield, it stopped the Jackals from returning fire.
Matthew continued firing at the Covenant. He had taken cover behind the warthog, hoping to provide cover for Emily as she headed back to the buildings.
"AAAH!" a scream came from behind Matthew.
Immediately, he knew who that scream belonged to. Emily!
Matthew turned to face the buildings. Laying on the ground, at least twenty five feet from the buildings, was Emily. The soldier she was carrying was lying next to her, dead.
"Emily!" Matthew cried.
He ran towards his friend. He was scared that she, one his friends, was gone. Matthew skidded to a halt as he reached Emily. Thankfully, she opened her eyes. She was alive. Emily must have woken up from the shock because as soon as she opened her eyes, she grabbed her side and yelled in pain.
"Don't worry, Emily," Matthew said as he picked her up. "You'll be okay,"
"MATTHEW WATCH OUT!" Eve screamed.
Before Matthew could even blink, a blue explosion lit up the area. Everyone in the building and on It's roof darted for the floor. After a second or two, Eve lifted herself up from the floor. What she saw brought tears to her eyes.
Emily was lying dead on the ground. Matthew was still alive, but whatever exploded had caused a big hole in his bodysuit's leg. Eve saw a small wound where the hole was. Blood was starting to trickle from the wound, turning the ground around Matthew's leg with the wound a red colour.
Then, it got worse. The Elite, who had walked over Matthew, fired two shots from his gun at Matthew. Both hit him in the head. His head hit the floor, all life gone from his body.
Eve felt sadness run through her. She had just seen two of her friends die. It just felt like all life had been taken from her.
In blind rage, Eve took out her fragmentation grenades, pulled the pins and threw both at the Elite. The Elite didn't even see them coming. Both exploded, breaking through the Elite's armour shield and killing it. The Elite fell to the ground, dead.
"They got leader!" one of the Grunts squeaked. "Noooo! Run away!"
The two remaining Grunts turned and ran off, arms waving in air as if to signal any other Covenant headed this way to turn back. The Jackals, however, stayed. One of them charged up It's gun and fired. A ball of green plasma flew through the air and went through one of the buildings windows. It hit a soldier in the head, killing him.
Eve, Sophie and the snipers on the roof fired at the Jackals. All four Jackals were hit and fell forward onto the ground, dead.
Eve jumped down from the roof and ran over to Matthew and Emily's bodies.
"Matthew," she exclaimed as she reached his body, setting her gun down on the ground beside her.
Matthew wasn't breathing. Eve shook him slightly.
"No," she said. She wasn't going to give up. "C'mon Matthew. You can't be gone,"
"LOOK OUT!" one of the snipers yelled.
A huge creature stomped towards Eve. It was twelve feet tall with spikes coming out of It's head, thick armour over most of It's body, a huge sword/club on one arm and a massive cannon on the other. It was a Hunter. Another Hunter came out from behind the first Hunter. On both sides of the two monster aliens were a pack of Grunts numbering five each.
"Holy god," Eve whispered to herself as she looked up and saw the creatures heading towards her.
Suddenly, one of the Hunters charged up It's cannon and fired. A shot flew out to the barracks. It exploded, causing part of the roof and wall to collapse. The explosion also caused the ground to rumble. That must have been powerful.
The other Hunter charged up It's cannon and fired another shot. This time, it hit the roof with the snipers. An explosion threw a cloud of dust and rubble up into the air. Eve felt tears well up in her eyes again when the ceiling collapsed.
"No," she said weakly, a tear came out of her left eye and rolled down her cheek.
A CLANK caught her attention. At her feet was a sniper rifle that was thrown into the air when the building's roof exploded. Eve gritted her teeth in anger. She grabbed the sniper rifle, aimed it at the head of the Hunter and fired.
A shot went straight through the Hunter's head. It stopped for a second before it fell backwards onto the ground, making a slight rumble. Eve fired another shot that went through an exposed area of the other Hunter's skin just under It's chest armour. The Hunter fell forwards to the ground, dead.
"The Hunters are dead!" one of the Grunts squeaked. "Run away!"
"Not so fast," Eve whispered under her breath.
She threw the sniper rifle to the ground, grabbed her battle rifle and fired four bursts of ammo at the fleeing Grunts. Each one hitting and killing It's target.
When the remaining Grunts had fled, Eve turned and ran back to the building. When she reached it, she frantically began digging through the rubble. She hoped everyone was okay. She hoped her friends were still alive. If they were hurt, she would protect them or even take them back to the base's hospital. She wasn't going to leave them here.
Finally, Eve had found Allison. She had a big graze along her chest and several big bruises across her face. Eve put two fingers on her neck's pulse. She wad dead.
A tear came out of Eve's eye and rolled down her face. Another of her friends was dead.
This can't be happening, her mind thought.
Already in the space of just five minutes, three of her friends had been killed. Eve hurt inside. These people were like her family and they were dead.
The pain only worsened when Eve found Sophie's, Anya's and Bethany's bodies under the rubble along with three other soldiers.
"I'm so sorry," Eve whispered to her friends' bodies.
Two nearby explosions shook the ground where the building once stood. Eve looked up. Two Seraph fighters had flown back up into the sky. It was obvious they had just fired a blast at the buildings surrounding the remains of the one Eve was in. And by the looks of it, they were preparing to dive again to fire another set of blasts.
Eve ran from the building as fast as she could. Just a few mere seconds later, a huge explosion threw her several feet through the air. Eve skidded across the ground as she painfully landed. When she looked up, she saw the barracks had a hug hole blown in It's side. The wounded! They were fully exposed! Eve got up and ran back towards the barracks. She could hear the Seraph's engines getting slightly louder. They were coming in for another attack. Eve ran faster and only just managed to jump inside as another huge explosion tore away even more of the barracks.
"Eve," a medic, lying on the ground, exclaimed. "Thank God you're here,"
Eve got up and was greeted by a horrific sight. There were two wounded laying down on tables just a few feet in front of her. One of the wounded had a big wound in his side, which the medic was struggling to stop a continuous flow of blood.
"Where are the other medics?" Eve asked the medic.
"They're dead," the medic replied. "Johnson got killed in the first explosion that destroyed the building's side."
"We need to get these wounded out of here," Eve said.
"Arrgh!" one of the soldiers gritted his teeth in pain as the medic injected a serum into the wound.
"Eve, get these wounded out of here." the medic said. "I'll cover you,"
Eve nodded and picked up the soldier with the wound in his side. She held him in one arm and then picked up the soldier that laid next to him.
"There's the exit," the medic said. The medic ran over to a door halfway down the left wall of the building and kicked it open. Eve ran outside, the medic right behind her.
"Where am I supposed to take these guys?" Eve shouted to the medic.
"There's a medic post in the armoury," the medic shouted back. "Take 'em there. I'll cover you!"
Eve could see the armoury's roof on the other side of a recon post. She put all her energy into her legs. She wanted to save these two wounded. Suddenly, a burst of ammo exploded behind her. Eve managed to look over her shoulder to see the medic firing at a pack of minor Grunts being led by a major Grunt. One of the minor Grunts fell to the ground on his side, dead.
"Keep going!" the medic shouted at Eve.
Eve kept on running, the burst of the medic's gun still ringing in her ears. All of a sudden, it stopped. Eve had reached the recon post. She took one more look behind her. The medic was lying dead on the ground. Two minor Grunts had been killed, but the other three, including the major Grunt, were heading straight for Eve.
Eve ran. The armoury building grew closer and closer. Her mind was racing. She had to get back to the armoury. She had to save these two wounded. Suddenly, Eve went flying forward. She must have been running too fast, causing her to trip over herself. As Eve and the soldiers went crashing to the ground, the Grunts, who had ran after Eve, were only about twenty feet away and were preparing to fire. Eve saw them coming and closed her eyes. If she was to die, she wanted it too be quick and painless. She felt sorry for the soldiers who were having to put up with their wounds. Well, at least they were going to die quickly so they wouldn't have to live with the pain anymore.
The end never came. Instead, there was a barrage of gun fire from battle rifles, MA5C assault rifles and M6C Magnums. Eve slowly opened her eyes to see all the Grunts laying dead several feet away. Luckily, a team of UNSC marines had come out of the armoury and killed the Grunts just a mere second before the Grunts were about to fire. Eve stood up and watched the marines carry the wounded back into the armoury.
"Eve!" Eve heard someone exclaim. It was sergeant John "Good job getting those soldiers back here,"
"Thank you sir," Eve replied.
Sergeant John then noticed something.
"Where's the rest of your squad?" he asked her.
Eve gave him a sad look. She looked like she was going to burst into tears.
"They're dead," Eve answered weakly. "They were killed trying to hold back the Covenant,"
John sighed and placed a hand on Eve's soldier.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I'm so sorry, Eve." Eve sniffed.
"It's okay," she replied. "What are you going to do with the wounded?"
"We're going to have to evacuate them," John said. "We can't hold Reach for long. The president of Reach has ordered any BnL battle cruisers to evacuate the planet with as many wounded as they can."
"Sir," a soldiers shouted as he ran out of the armoury. "Sir, we've got reports of Covenant ships getting into position above the planet. High command thinks they're about to glass Reach."
John went wide-eyed. The Covenant were going to glass the last main UNSC stronghold before Earth itself. This couldn't be true. There were still thousands of military and civilian personal on the planet. They wouldn't stand a chance if the Covenant glassed the planet.
After a few seconds, John came to his senses.
"Order two Pelicans to land over here and take us to the Axiom." John told the soldier.
"Already have, sir," the soldier replied. "Here come the Pelicans now,"
The soldier pointed upwards behind John and Eve. The two looked where he was pointing to see two large truck sized ships coming in for a landing. Eve, John and the soldier moved back a few feet to give the Pelican some landing space.
"Alright," John said. "Eve, you get on one of the Pelicans and help set the wounded down on the seats."
Eve nodded and climbed into one of the Pelicans. A few seconds later, UNSC marines started running out of the armoury, many of them holding wounded comrades. A medic carrying a wounded soldier ran over to Eve's Pelican and handed him to her.
Eve was uncomfortable looking at the soldier whilst she set him down on one of the Pelican's seats. He had bandages over his arms, neck and there was a big mark in his uniform around his stomach. Eve shuddered and walked back over the Pelican's entrance to pick any other wounded. As Eve was putting the soldiers down onto the Pelican's seats, each new soldier she would put on the seats would more messed up than the one before. Probably the worst was the second before last soldier. He had blood stained bandages over his eyes, massive holes in his uniform that were caused by near miss grenade explosions and a bandage over his arm which John had told Eve had been in a fire.
Just as Eve set the last wounded soldier on the Pelican's seats, John ran up to the Pelican and climbed in.
"Alright, let's get outta here," he said.
The Pilot pushed on the ship's throttle. The Pelican rose up into the air and flew forward. Eve had a perfect view of what was once a surface UNSC base. Several buildings were on fire, crashed Pelicans, Seraph fighters and Thunderbolt Interceptors were scattered all over the place and there was still fighting going on between UNSC forces and Covenant in or around buildings.
"Pelican Charlie 325. This Echo 415. We've got task force soldiers and are heading straight for the Axiom," Eve and John heard the pilot's radio say.
Eve looked out the back of the Pelican and saw another Pelican a few hundred yards away following her Pelican.
"Copy that Charlie 325," the pilot replied. "We have one task force soldier and multiple wounded onboard."
"Echo 415! You have three Seraph fighters approaching on your six. Evade! Say again, evade!" a voice said out of the pilot's radio.
An explosion in mid air shook the Pelican Eve was on. She looked out of the back of the Pelican, her shock was overcome by fear.
Three Seraph fighters flew over a burning Pelican that was struggling to stay airborne. That Pelican was the one that was following Eve's Pelican to the Axiom.
"This is Echo 415! We have taken heavy damage to our engines and the Pelican's rear!"
BANG! Another explosion erupted from the back of the Pelican. It began to spin around widly in the air.
"Mayday! Mayday! This is Echo 415! We are going down! I repeat, we are going dow…!"
The Pelican crashed into the ground and skidded to a halt. Almost immediately after hitting the ground, Covenant forces charged out of nearby buildings and fired on the crashed Pelican. Eve saw two soldiers return fire on the Covenant.
"We have to go back and get them!" she shouted to the pilot.
"We can't!" the pilot shouted back. "We have to get to the Axiom."
"We can't just leave them, here!" John shouted, marching up to the pilot.
"Listen, sergeant!" the pilot growled, poking John in the chest. "I have five wounded onboard this thing. You and that task force soldier are only ones who can protect me and the Pelican from the Covenant. I'm sorry, but we have to get out of here. The Covenant will start glassing the planet soon."
Eve sighed sadly. She faced the wall of the resting area and pounded her fists against it really hard. John walked up to her.
"Eve, I'm sorry," he said.
"It's okay," Eve replied. "I just don't want to be at this alone,"
"You won't be," John said, trying to comfort her. "You have us UNSC soldiers to help you,"
"No, I mean me being the last super soldier," Eve told John, standing up straight. "I don't want to be the last super soldier,"
John sighed.
There's a lot of things in this war nobody wants," John told her.
"This is corporal Miguel. If anyone can hear me, we have reports of Covenant ground forces at the main base! Tommy, cover that building.!" a soldier's voice shouted on the pilot's radio.
"Good thing we left," John said to Eve.
"There's thousands of them! Grunts, Jackals and their warrior Elites. They're massing near the armoury!"
An explosion was heard in the background, followed by screams and alien gunfire.
"Tommy's down! Get a damn medic! Jesus Christ, they've breached the damn perimeter. Fall back! Fall back! If anyone can hear me, the Covenant are massing near the armoury. Be careful. They have Seraph fighters and drop ships."
John looked up at Eve with a defeated look on his face. He couldn't believe this was happening. They had thrown everything at the Covenant to stop them and still nothing worked. Eve felt the same defeated in her eyes. Reach was lost. Another defeat for UNSC, for BnL and for humanity.
"That's it. We've lost. Reach is going to fall," John said to Eve.
"Sir, the Axiom is in sight," the pilot shouted to John and Eve.
John and Eve walked up to the cog pit and looked out through the window. In the distance was a huge ship parked on a UNSC battle cruiser landing pad. There was the Axiom, the UNSC's best battle cruiser and one of the flagships of the UNSC fleet.
The Axiom had been built several years before the war began. After it was completed, the ship needed a good crew. So, some of BnL's best engineers, soldiers, scouts, pilots etc came to work in the Axiom. Already within the first few months of It's launch into the BnL fleet, which was shortly after the war began, the Axiom had established a reputation for itself. Mainly because it had destroyed three Covenant CCS battle cruisers during a space battle over Lupo.
"This is corporal Miguel. If anyone can hear me, the Covenant are preparing for a counterattack on the main hanger." a voice said from the pilot's radio.
"Samuel, Danny, I'll take up position here, you guys cover the left flank. Alex you cover the right."
"Sir, they're pulling back," a voice in the background said.
"What! I…I don't believe it. They're retreating! The Covenant are pulling back! I repeat, the Covenant are pulling back! All UNSC for…hang on. I see a light in the sky. What the…OH GOD NO! THEY'RE GONNA GLASS THE PLANET! EVERYONE GET THE KZK…"
A huge explosion drew Eve and John's attention to the Pelican's entrance. A large purple light, in the shape of a cylinder, had hit the ground. What was terrifying about it was that the cylinder was expanding. And destroying everything it touched!
"Pilot, speed up!" John ordered.
"We're nearly there, sir," the pilot said. "One mile."
The Pelican's speed grew as it neared the Axiom. When it was about a thousand feet away from the Axiom, the pilot could, just about, see several large rectangular-like holes in the sides of the ship.
"I see the hanger!" he exclaimed. "I'll try and land,"
"Don't try and do a normal landing, you'll have to crash land," John said to the pilot.
"But, sir," the pilot protested. "We'll probably destroy the Pelican,"
"Well we can't do a normal landing." John replied. "If we do, by the time the hanger doors have closed, the Axiom will be gone,"
The purple cylinder had grown to about three miles wide and had destroyed everything it touched. The crash site of Echo 415 had just been hit.
"Sir, the Axiom's hanger doors are closing!" the pilot shouted.
John looked out through the cog pit window and saw a large steel door ascending from the top of the launch bay.
"Speed up!" John shouted.
The pilot pushed the throttle to full. The Pelican shot forward, causing Eve and John to go crashing to the floor.
"We're almost there," the pilot exclaimed. "Two hundred feet! One hundred! Hang on!"
The Pelican was just outside the hanger. But the door had almost fully closed. There was very little space, but the pilot pushed the throttle to maximum and headed straight for the hanger.
That was a string of luck. The Pelican only just managed to get into the hanger, missing the doors by less than a few metres. The Pelican skidded across the hanger floor until another Pelican brought it to a halt.
"Another happy landing," John said, breathing a sigh of relief.
"You guys!" a worker in a control room above the hanger floor shouted. "Get in here, quickly!"
"C'mon," Eve said. Eve, John and the pilot ran out of the Pelican and up to the control room via some stairs near a platform. The worker directed the three to some seats and told them to strap themselves in.
"It's gonna get really bumpy," the worker told the three.
The Axiom's bridge
There was a frenzy of activity going on in the Axiom's bridge. Workers on control panels had stopped on them and were strapping themselves in. Captain McCrea, a tall man in a UNSC navy captain uniform, was checking everyone's straps were on correctly before he sat down on a seat in the middle of the bridge and strapped himself in.
"The ship's engines are a full power, sir," a worker said, looking at a holographic screen of the ship's engines.
"Let's fly," captain McCrea replied.
One of the workers leaned forward and typed in a code on the control panel. A holographic screen of the Axiom appeared in front of him. In the corner of the holographic screen were the words AUTOPILOT ACTIVATED.
Suddenly, there was loud rumbling sound. Then, the ships shook violently. After this, everyone on the bridge felt the ship rise with great speed. Metallic shades lowered over the windows, darkening the room. A light from each of the control panels turned on, brightening up the room quickly. It felt like one day had ended, the night had come quickly but as quick as it came it was gone, only to be replaced by another day.
After several minutes, the shaking stopped. The crew felt like something was pulling them out of their seats.
"Artificial gravity activated." the bridge's autopilot computer said.
At once, everyone fell back into their seats again. The metallic shades over the bridge's windows rose upwards. The crew found themselves staring into a black sky. White lights were visible in the far way distance. They were in space.
The crew of the bridge quickly released the straps from themselves and went back to their controls panels. The ship was several hundred thousand kilometres above the planet.
"Autopilot Deactivated," the bridge's computer said.
"Captain, the Covenant have twenty four CCS battle cruisers heading straight for us," one of the workers on the control panels said.
"Get the ship away from Reach," captain McCrea ordered.
The workers began typing in codes and pushing throttles to get the ship away from Reach as fast as they could. After a few minutes, they did it. And with seconds to spare. The Axiom flew away from the planet and the Covenant fleet. But the twenty four ships sent to destroy the Axiom did not stay behind to glass Reach, but, instead, they headed out into space after the Axiom.
Captain McCrea and the crew watched as each Covenant ship would emit a purple light down onto Reach. Even though they were millions of miles from Reach, they could perfectly see the impact points because when the purple light would hit the surface, a fire would erupt. The crew felt defeat sweep through them like water against rock. Reach, a planet heavily defended by UNSC forces, the BnL fleet and even the task force specially formed to be the main line of defence in the battle. But neither of this was a match against the Covenant's planet glassing technology.
"We've lost Reach," captain McCrea thought. "We're defeated. It's over,"
"Sir, what are we to do now?" one of the workers asked.
That question stuck out in McCrea's mind. What were they to do now? Were they to flee back to Earth? If they did, they would bring the Covenant fleet to Earth and thereby end the war quickly and bring total defeat to the human race. What if they fled into space? If they did, they would probably save Earth. But what of themselves? They could never survive out in space for more than a few years. And they couldn't keep running either. The Covenant would eventually lead them into a trap and kill them.
After a silent moment or two, a triumphant look appeared on captain McCrea's face. He turned to his crew.
"I'll tell you what we're gonna do," he said. "We're going to stay in space and fly away from Reach. Not towards Earth, but in the opposite direction. Into the unknown."
"But, sir.." a worker piped up, but captain McCrea cut him off.
"I know It's risky. But if fly back to Earth, we will have done the Covenant's work for them. I am not going to accept defeat yet. We are going to stay in space and fly as far away from Earth as we can. There is a strong chance that the Covenant fleet will most likely follow us because they will believe we are fleeing back to Earth,"
The bridge's crew looked at each other. In a way, they knew their captain was right. But they also knew that his plan was suicidal. They knew that the Covenant ships were always faster than BnL ships even when they weren't in slip space rupture. However, most of the crew did not want to give up yet. As Stalin had said to his troops during the Battle of Stalingrad "Stalingrad will be defended to the last man, the last round of ammunition and the last drop of blood," That is what the crew wanted to do. They wanted to fight on until they were truly defeated. They were NOT going to admit defeat now.
"What is your course, sir?" one of the workers asked.
"Continue heading in this direction," captain McCrea replied. "It doesn't matter where we go, we are not giving up yet,"