Ok, sorry for the delay. I know I said I was taking a break to get some of my other fan fic's updated but did I get to them? …no. Aside from that, here's chapter 10! Njoy all!!

(CHAPTER 10) THE COMING STORM

"Yuna, find me a place to lay low until this dust settles." Eric said as he stumbled through the thick cloud of ash and dust from The Arch's collapse. "I'm trying to but all the debris is making it difficult to scan." Yuna told him. Eric looked back and forth trying to make out where he was. His helmets flashlights did little for helping him see through the thick cloud of dust and without his HUD he had no sense of direction. So until the dust cloud settled he was in the blind.

The Spartan coughed and wheezed from the dust. A flash of blue pulsed over where his visor used to be. Yuna told him, "There that should help with the dust." Eric reached his glove up and touched the small field of energy. "What is it?" He asked. Yuna told him, "It's a small barrier that will act as a visor for the time being. It won't stop a bullet but it will at least keep all of this dust out of your face." Eric slid his fingers across the blue energy and said, "Thanks."

He tried contacting Kalder. "Kalder come in." He waited and got nothing. He tried again. "Kalder, this is SPARTAN-45 come in." Yuna cut in. "Something's wrong. Your encrypted COM link has been disabled." What do you mean?" Eric asked. Yuna answered back as she frantically tried to sort this out. "I don't understand, this COM link was supposed to be undetectable by any other source, even the interference from the Covenant's ships can't interfere with them." Yuna paused for several seconds. "Something's not right. That COM link was channeled directly from The Twilight. There's no way that the debris from The Arch is the cause, the only other option is that something is going on with The Twilight." Eric tried to think of other options. "Is there any way you can get in touch with Mitsuki?" "No." Yuna answered. "The only way to get in touch with her is through your encrypted COM channel." Eric frowned and kept walking.

It was an eerie quiet as Kalder made his way through the heavy destruction. There were no more sounds of emergency sirens, no more sounds of distant weapons fire and no more sounds of a bustling metropolis. Kalder saw a flash of blue stream across his HUD. He stopped. "What was that?" He asked. Mitsuki gasped. "Something's wrong!" Mitsuki said in a panic. "What's going on?" Kalder asked. "I've lost contact with Yuna." Mitsuki said as she tried to troubleshoot the problem. "How?" Kalder asked. "I thought your communication with her could never be interfered with." She continued, "It's not supposed to able to be interfered with. That COM channel is linked directly through The Twilight. The only way it could be severed is if something happened to The Twilight and even if something did happen my back up COM should take over. I've had a failure in both systems."

Kalder opened his COM channel. "Eric, come in." All he got was static. "SPARTAN-73 to SPARTAN-45 come in!" He received nothing back. "I told you." Mitsuki told him. Kalder looked around. The thick dust made it impossible to tell where he was. He had even tried to use a topography map of the city but it was no use now. The landscape was completely changed. Where streets and sidewalks once were, mountains of twisted steel now blocked the road. He was completely lost and in the blind. Kalder sighed and said, "Mitsuki, try to find me the best way towards the city center." She paused and said, "What about Yuna and Eric?" Kalder stiffened his jaw and began to walk. He answered. "We still have a mission to complete. Eric will be fine. He can make it out of this."

Light began to peer through the thick dust clouds. It did little to help with visibility. The dust still made it to dark to see without a light source. Even with his enhanced vision he still had trouble determining his location. Eric looked at the small compass on his Assault Rifles ammo counter. "Hey Yuna, lets make this easier for the both of us. Change the compass setting on my Assault Rifle to point towards the City Center." "There." She said softly. The small screen on the Assault Rifle flashed and the direction changed. The needle was pointing in the opposite direction that he was walking in. At least he now had some since of where he was heading.

Something caught his eye. To his left he saw faint blue flashes. He instantly brought up his assault rifle and made his way towards the source. As he got closer he heard the sounds of electricity snapping. He lowered his weapon and approached the source of the light. He attached his Rifle to the back of his suit and ran his fingers across the alloy of a vehicle. His hopes rose. He had found a Hornet. It was badly damaged and looked like it had fallen and landed hard. He jumped up to the cockpit and looked inside. There was no pilot. He hopped in the seat and activated its power. The badly damaged Hornet hummed to life. He started up the engines and slowly began to rise. He said to Yuna, "Now we have a way to get to the city center, if it even still exists anyways." "Let's just hope for the best." Yuna told him.

The craft rose higher and punched through the roof of the dust cloud. "Holy shit." Eric said quietly as he looked at the destruction. The entire city was choked in a massive debris cloud. The Arch was completely destroyed. Only jagged pieces of twisted metal remained where it once was. It was just as he thought. The city center was now under a twisted heap of metal. He was sure no one was alive after that.

He rotated the craft in a 360 turn to survey the city. Only the tops of the massive skyscrapers could be seen above the dust cloud. Black plumes of smoke rose from the debris cloud, probably from fires within the chaos. Covenant Cruisers and Destroyers loomed high over the destruction at different points of the city. None had there gravity lifts operating and none were deploying troops, probably waiting for the dust to settle.

He saw a large storm coming in from the east. Aurora was known for having powerful thunderstorms and this one looked like it might be one of them. Streaks of lightning flashed within the oncoming storm and bands of rain could be seen falling in the distance. Yuna told him, "That storm is heading for the city so where probably gonna get hit with it." His focus turned away from the storm and refocused on the horizon.

Flaming debris began to rain down from the sky. Eric looked up and his eyes widened. Through the auroras, Eric saw massive explosions in space. "A space battle?" He asked. Yuna said. "That explains why my communications are malfunctioning." Eric hit several buttons on the controls. A small blue box flashed on the Hornets dash board that read, "Long Range Communication." He said to Yuna. "I know your communications are kinda in chaos right now but can you try to amplify this signal as much as you can?" She replied. "I can try but your going to have to interface me with the Hornets control system." Eric saw a small holo pad that was used for A.I. communication with Pilots. He put his hand above it. His glove sparked gold and he felt his mind loose grip with Yuna. Her figure appeared on the holo pad. She said with sass, "Wow, this piece of junk is nearly on its last leg." Eric sighed. "Well at least this heap is gonna get us out of here." Eric typed in a code on the Hornets small computer. It was a secret code that was directly linked to the bridge of The Twilight. "This is SPARTAN-45 calling The Twilight, can anyone hear me? Over." There was nothing but static. "SPARTAN-45 calling the bridge of The Twilight, does any body read me?" Through the static the Spartan heard a few sounds of a voice trying to answer back. He said to Yuna. "Isolate that signal and amp it for me." The voice came through the static. It was Commander Bowley.

"Say again Sir!" Eric said. Bowley replied, "I don't know how in the hell you made it through that attack but I'm damn grateful you did!" Eric replied. "Sir, I'm out of contact with SPARTAN-73 but he is alive. I managed to find a Hornet and I'm above the city trying to find any outposts. Are there any others besides the main outpost in the city center?" Eric heard a loud boom followed by Bowley shouting an order. "Sorry about that son, things are kinda hairy up here. Where fighting off boarding parties and a fleet of Cruisers. Additional reinforcements are on there way but right now it seems like there not going to make it in time." Eric looked up in the sky at the countless explosions above him. He then heard Bowley say, "I'm uploading a rout to a base that's being set up on the outskirts of Eclipse to Yuna. She should receive it soon. Once she receives it, have her send it to Mitsuki so you and SPARTAN-73 can rendezvous and get that base set up." "Understood." Eric said. There was a loud boom heard over the communication followed by static. Eric looked up and saw a bright flash. A massive explosion had just happened near or on The Twilight. Yuna reported. "I've received the location of the new base being set up. I'm uploading the rout to the Hornets main display screen."

The location appeared on the display. It was located right near the residential end of Eclipse. He froze. The new base was located two miles from his old house from when he was a boy. Before the military tore him away from his friends and family. The Hornets engine stalled and re-fired causing the craft to jerk. Eric re-focused and said. "Status?"

Yuna brought up a list of the Hornets schematics in front of her. As she looked at the crafts extensive damage she said. "Look I know it's not my place to be picky but do you think next time you could interface me with something a little more… less piece of shit and more in working order." Eric rolled his eyes. He replied, "Tell you what. When we get out of this, I'll interface you with a limo."

A bright flash filled the cockpit. Eric saw Yuna look up at the sky. He did the same. High above in the heavens he saw a massive explosion. Yuna said in a panic, "That was one of the orbital MAC Stations!" Immediately burning debris began to rain down through the atmosphere. Eric powered up the Hornets engines and flew forward. He maneuvered the craft the best he could trying to dodge the burning rubble. He saw a massive piece of debris falling. It was the MAC Cannon tower that stood in the middle of the station. He watched it crash down through the dust cloud and crash into the ground nearly a mile and a half away from him. His lack of focus was a mistake. A large piece of debris came crashing down on the Hornets right engine. The graft shuddered and began to spiral towards the ground one mile below. The Spartan fought for control and he heard Yuna yell, "Get me back in your armor!" He placed his hand over the holo pad and felt Yuna re-enter his mind. He said to her trying to stay as calm as possible. "Yuna, when we get close to the surface dump the fuel pods and then get ready to over pressurize my suit when he hit." "All right, try to keep us as stable as possible and then hang on."

As Eric fought to control the tumbling craft he tried to find a safe place to land. It was next to impossible with the thick debris cloud below him. "Yuna, what's below us?" He asked. "If you can manage to keep a steady course down we should land near one of the city's main highways. If not then where going to crash into structures." Over the screaming of the Hornets warning alarms he answered back as he fought for control, "Then let's shoot for the highway!" Eric looked at the altimeter, 1,400 feet. "Yuna, drop the fuel pods!" The craft shuddered and the pods popped off. The remaining engine died and the Hornet dropped like a rock. The thick dust cloud offered no visibility. He was once again in the blind. He looked at the altimeter, 560 feet and it was dropping quickly. "Yuna! Get ready!" Eric shut his eyes and waited. A few seconds later he felt his suit squeeze around him and heard a loud crash.

Meanwhile Kalder had managed to find his way onto one of the city's main roads. The dust was beginning to slowly settle and visibility was getting slightly better. Not by much but it was an improvement. Kalder began to see bright orange flashes through the thick dust. They were coming from the sky. He knew it wasn't from the Auroras. This glow was coming from something burning. Aside from seeing the orange flashes. He began to hear the sounds of impacts. "What the hell?" He mumbled. "Meteors?" Mitsuki answered, "Those aren't meteors, there pieces of a ship." Kalder asked, "Are the Covenant attacking the ships orbiting Aurora or was there an explosion?" "I honestly don't know." Mitsuki said. "There's too much interference for me to do a scan and I'm out of contact with everyone." So my guess is there's something major going on in outer orbit."

Kalder saw an intense orange light approaching him. "Speaking of something major, something major is heading right for us." Kalder said as he began to run. His adrenaline kicked in and his speed increased. He looked back and saw a massive object crashing down behind him. It impacted and the ground shock. A shock wave flew past Kalder knocking him off balance. He stood and turned. He saw a massive MAC Cannon tower lying in a burning heap that was now blocking his path. Mitsuki said in shock, "That's a MAC Cannon from one of the orbital guns." Kalder stood and looked at the burning piece of the former MAC Gun. He knew the Covenant wasn't finished yet. They were waiting for the dust to settle down on the city and attacking the orbital perimeter while they waited. Kalder said to Mitsuki. "We need to get back up to The Twilight."

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For the fans of Eclipse, you'll be pleased to know that I already have chapter 11 started so it should hopefully be up in a few days. Hopefully by Saturday. So until then, drop me some reviews and let me know what you think so far. Feel free to offer plot suggestions. I like to hear what you guys want to have happen in my stories. So let me know!