Chapter 10

"Why would the parasite come here?"

John stood at the communication tent, and waited as the pelican slowly descended. John watched as it detached the M12 Force Application Vehicle, Warthog, the vehicle bouncing on the soft sand. The Pelican then hovered behind the vehicle allowing its lone Sangheili passenger to jump out. John walked over to greet his Sangheili brother. The Arbiter greeted him with a Sangheili smile.

"How are you doing Spartan?"

John had to admire the Sangheili for his calm demeanor, cause if they are unable stop this it could well be Sanghelios last days. "I'm good Thel, well stop this I promise."

John and the Arbiter watch as the Pelican fired its belly thrusters, and pushed itself into the air. Both soldiers walked to the communication tent, and reported to the Sangheili ultra. They walked out of the tent, and meet up with Atan 'Surom. All three walked over to the Warthog, and began discussing tomorrows mission. John used a data pad, and projected a map that showed a twenty mile radius around their current refuge. John pointed out two red dots that indicated their objectives.

"From what I have been able to gather these two areas have increased Flood activity. We have been tasked with checking this locations out, and seeing if we can find where this virus comes from."

The Arbiter pointed to the north dot, the map zoomed in, showed the dot was six miles from their current location.

"There is a small cave system there. I use to explore in my youth after training was complete for the day."

The map was zoomed in to show the dot in the east, and it was the same distance as the last. A river was running next to a large hill with a old Sangheili supply depot situated on the hill. John made the decision to check out the northern dot first thing tomorrow. He looked to his group who nodded in agreement. He turned off the data pad, and headed for the sleeping quarters. Hoping that what every they found could be stopped, cause as of now the only way to stop the Flood was with a Halo ring, glassing, or an overloaded engine core, and that was not an option here.

John sat up in his cot, and rubbed his eyes to clear them of sleep. He pushed himself off his cot, and found that the tent was empty. He reached for his suit, and turned off its security. He began donning the suit. He put his helmet on, and saw the HUD activate, his radar showed two friendly targets, plus his shields were fully charged.

"Shield status green."

"Air seals check."

Gel layer compromised."

Radar status green."

Cortana checked that Johns suit was in working order, which made the Spartan sigh and shake his head.

"Cortana, I've worn this suit enough to check myself." He informed the AI. John left the tent, and walked to the Warthog, where one team member was waiting for him.

"Without me, you wouldn't be able to find your MA5 in the morning." She teased him. Even in the most stressful times she can always make me smile, Chief thought to himself. The Arbiter was sitting in the back of the warthog hooves touching the ground, and had both his Type-51 Carbine and Type-25 Directed Energy Rifle field striped, and was checking its inner components. Atan 'Surom was walking from the communication tent with a Plasma Rife, and Energy Sword. Each weapon attached to his right hip. Thel 'Vadam reassembles his weapons, as the Spartan watched.

"I'm ready when you are Spartan."

Thel 'Vadam stood up, attached the Plasma Rifle to his right hip. He walked to the passenger side. He had to sit in the seat were his lower back was high in the seat, and his hooves pressed against the dash, causing his digitigrade legs to bend, and his knees to come within inches of his chest.

"This human seating is very harsh on Sangheili." Thel told John. Who smiled at the remark. Atan 'Surom hopped on the chain gun, and pulled the charging bolt, allowing it to snap forward. John looked surprised at the Sangheili.

"I didn't realized you knew how to use that."

Atan 'Surom looked at him, "Ive seen vids of your soldiers using these it did not look hard," the Sangheili made the turret turn three hundred sixty. John got into the drivers seat, and started the LRV up. He pressed on the gas, and turned the vehicle to their first objective. John stopped the warthog in front of a cave that had its entrance partially collapsed. John, Thel 'Vadam, and Atan 'Surom exited the Warthog. All three group members walked to the Mgalekgolo sized hole, like some thing forced its way out, and looked into the void. The Arbiter reach his right hand over his shoulder, and secured the Carbine to his back. He picked up a baseball sized rock, and tossed it into the hole, the rock echoed off the metal floor. He grabbed his carbine from his back, and stepped into the darkness. John and the Sangheili minor followed. The Spartan activated his helmet light illuminating the large metal cavern.

"Looks like someone is building something here." Cortana told the group. The Arbiter nodded in agreement. Atan 'Surom tapped the Arbiter on the shoulder, and whispered something to him. The Arbiter took his carbine, and sweep it left and right down the tunnel; he looked at John, Atan 'Surom, and motioned for them to disappear. Both Sangheili activated stealth devices on their armor, and vanished. John grabbed his assault rifle on his back, turned off his helmet light, and crouched behind a rock in a outcropping. John heard heavy footfalls coming down the tunnel from where the group was going.

"You heard what the Boss said, "If we don't deal with the leak this will spread before it's time", so we got to deal with this broken gas pipe, and sensors are going off near the main entrance we're going to check it out.

John couldn't see who was speaking, or who was listening, because both were wearing Sangheili Ranger Combat Harness. The Sangheili on the left stopped, and stood in front of one who spoke first.

"I thought we blew the entrance, so the infected bodies couldn't escape."

The right Sangheili pointed towards the entrance, and began walking in that direction. The left Sangheili resumed his place on the side.

"The virus he released has created monster, and now their starting to wake up. He thanks he can control the Flood without a Gravemind, but the infected our trying to get out. We have the others locked in large tanks, but this unintended escape of the combat forms has steered the rest of the horde.

The voices faded as they walked down the tunnel. John poked his head from behind the rock. The Arbiter and Sangheili minor had a concerned look on their faces. John pointed a finger at Atan 'Surom, pointed two fingers at his eyes, then pointed the same fingers where the Rangers went, telling him to cover there six. He shuck the same two fingers down where the Rangers came from telling them time to move. He raised his assault rifle, turned his helmet light back on, and motioned for the Arbiter to resume walking down the tunnel. Atan 'Surom followed behind the group sweeping his plasma rifle slowly in all directions. They came to a two-way split in the tunnel. John shined his light down the left tunnel. The light shined on closed doors, and a longer tunnel leading down the rest of the hall. He shined the light down the right tunnel, and saw a short hallway which led to a small lab. The contents of the lab made John glad he has filters on his helmet, because there was combat forms on three lab tables that where cut open with the contents layed out in neat rows. There was haft infected bodies laying in a pile in the right back corner, plus uninfected Sangheili corps in the back left corner. John looked at Thel 'Vadam, now to the untrained eye the Arbiters stance said this doesn't bother him, but John could see the slightest twitch in the upper right mandible telling him that this Sangheili was pissed, and when he finds who did this well, God help them.

What do you guys think so far?

To: BenadrylCrumplesack,

Thank you for the review.

I decided to do weaponized Flood, because to my knowledge no one has ever done it before, so I figured why not.

To:

Everyone else,

Please keep the reviews coming