The Covenant stood motionless, weapons pointed at the small group of UNSC troops. They stood motionless ready to have at it. Tails, however, was weaponless and could only stand to watch. His ear twitched hearing a loud beep, seconds later an image of himself and Mark appeared in his left eye. Between the two portraits of them was the number 141.12.
"What the hell is this?" he asked, his lips didn't even move. But his voice was still audible
"It's called a Codec Tails. Before you say anything else, it's an old piece of human technology. 21st century to be exact. This'll allow for an even more private conversation between us." Mark answered
"Okay, what about the situation at hand? We'll all be dead in seconds."
"No we won't. That arm of yours could turn this around." The red fox replied in a very confident voice "Like you, I can make weapons from spare parts but only to a certain degree. Your arm contains a W/A M6 G/GNR."
"A Spartan Laser? Aren't those still in testing?" Tails asked with mild surprise
"Let's just say I gave the ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence) network hell. Just lift the arm at the designated targets and concentrate. Be careful though, your laser packs enough punch to permanently offline an Elephant mobile base and you only have five shots. Also, I installed solar panels to keep the battery charged."
The air got thicker with tension. Tails raised up his arm, concentrating on his targets. The fingers folded back and tucked away in the back of his hand. A hole in the palm opened to reveal a bright red light.
"Also Tails, move the beam around for maximum effect." Mark said on the codec
"Anything else?"
"Make it count."
The codec disappeared from his eye sight. Tails arm hummed with energy. Seconds later, a huge beam of light pierced the aliens in front of him, followed by the loud sound of a sniper rifle.
"Hit the deck!" Mark shouted as he threw a plasma grenade. Soon the air above them became full of plasma and needles. Tails fired another shot into the ceiling above one of the large groups, forcing it to collapse on top of them.
The group turned to see the other group focus on something else. Cream glanced at her motion sensor as it pinged friendlies, taking a breath of relief and anticipation. As soon as the last enemy fell to the ground, a group of Spatrans rounded the corner. The group got to their feet as the other Spartans stood in front of them.
"Nice to see you aren't splattered all over the wall." Zack commented
"Stow it, Zack." Sara said sharply
"Glad to see you're back in action." Sonic said, looking at Tails. Tails simply nodded detecting some degree of aggravation. Sonic then turned his gaze to Mark, who'd had a small book in his hands writing in it with a pen.
The entire stood watching or what would happen. Mark just kept writing down things in his book.
"You need something?" The red fox smirked as he put the book and pen away, looking directly at the blue hedgehog
"You knew coming here was in direct violation of your orders."
"What are you going to do? Whine to the Captain? The Commander?" the fox mocked
"Mark, I wouldn't do that..." Alyx whispered
Sonic stepped closer to him. "Don't you ever disobey me again. Is that understood?" He said as he turned to walk away
"No sir." Sonic turned saying "What was that?"
"That armor make you deaf?" Sonic turned around and started to approach the fox again. Sara quickly stepped forward putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Shouldn't we be getting back now?" She said, Sonic let out a deep breath. He looked at Mark one last time before moving on. Everyone else but Sara and Mark had moved out.
"You know I could've taken him." Mark stated as he walked by his squad lead. She grabbed him by his wrist, he turned his head to look at her.
"I know that, but he is still our superior." She let go, then continued "Just keep it in check until we get home okay."
He simply nodded as they began to catch up with the rest of them. They got to the elevator from engineering. The elevator roared to life as it ascended through the hull of the ship.
"Anyone else get the feeling we'll need to blow up the Autumn before we leave?" Roy said
"You never know, but it's the only thing with an FTL drive. Aside from the Covenant fleet of course." Nicole answered
"Nicole, do you remember anything that happened last night?" Sonic asked, Mark could feel another look from the blue hedgehog.
"Er..um...strange. I don't recall anything aside from Tails' full recovery." The A.I. answered. Mark smirked, Sonic just shook his head
The elevator came to a stop. The team moved forward into the garage looking area. Tails, Sonic, Alyx, Sara and John got in a M831 TT Warthog. While Mark, Zack and Roy jumped into a M12G1 LAAV (Gauss Warthog). Mark's ear twitched as a loud beep went off there, seconds later, an image of Tails appeared.
"You know he's gonna try to get you put through court-martial." The orange kit said
"I also know we'll need anyone we can get on this ring." Mark responded as he turned the gauss cannon as he searched for targets. Nicole tapped into whatever ship systems were available, the schematics in particular. She took a look at the road ahead via security cameras. Ghosts and enemy ground troops gathering in the hangar where their pelican was docked.
"Hostiles incoming, approximately twelve ghosts. More seem to be waiting in the hangar." she reported
"Alright!" Roy said, as Mark cocked the gauss' firing mechanism. "Finally something to blow up."
"Yeah, just don't blow up the other Hog." Zack said, being somewhat sarcastic
The two jeeps entered the next hall as they saw a swarm of Covenant ghosts fly around the corner. "Light 'em up!" Sara shouted as both sides opened fire. The gauss cannon killed most out in one shot, but more seemed to come out of nowhere. The windshields cracked and shattered from the plasma fire. They entered a large open room.
"I don't like this..." Mark said as he took down three in one shot. The
doors on the other end to close when they were a third of the way there. The sound of fuel rods echoed throughout the room as they exploded against the Transport Warthog, causing it to swerve out of control.
"It won't hold!" Sara yelled as the uncontrolled vehicle slammed into the other jeep. Both started to roll on their sides, stopping with their tires facing up.
The squad crawled out slowly, grunting in pain. The Covenant surrounded them. Plasma soon rained down on them, forcing them to the ground. Tails fired his laser at the ceiling forcing down Titanium-A blocks on top of the attacking horde. Rays of sunlight filled through the hole, shinning on the team. Mark moved to flip over the gauss hog, getting in the turret again. The squad fell back behind the vehicles.
"Anyone have a good idea?" Alyx yelled, tossing Tails an M6D pistol.
"Can't get any support, radio's jammed." Zack answered, as he shot down a couple Elites
"Any defensive systems left that we can use Nicole?"
"Negative, ninety-five of the ships' systems went offline upon landing."
"Well than, unless a miracle happens, we're on our own." Mark said
Roy shot his last rocket taking down at least three hostiles. Everyone else chucked a grenade into a random spot.
"This looks like the end guys. Been nice knowing ya." Mark said
--Firebase Bravo--
"Blue team, do you copy?" A radio op spoke, he sighed as her turned in his chair "Comms are down sir, either a radio malfunction or interference."
"Keep trying." Keyes ordered as Cortana keyed in on the base intercom
"Captain, I'm picking up a large amount of Covenant troops converging on one of the service corridors. Getting live feed now."
The main screen showed a large room, filled with smoke. Two warthogs were barely visible, one of them had been knocked over.
"Cortana zoom in on the M12G1."
"Aye, sir."
The picture soon shown Mark manning the turret whilst his teammates returned fire from behind the jeep.
"Those are our men, Captain. They won't last much longer." One of the crewmen commented
"Sergeant, round up a squad of Marines. Go get them." Keyes ordered
"Yes sir!" Johnson turned and left the ops center passing a black furred cat in the doorway.
"They won't make it in time."
Keyes turned to face the cat. "Then what do you suggest we do?"
"Look there," He pointed a finger at a brightened spot "There's a hole in the ceiling, it looks barely big enough for a Hawk to squeeze in."
"And if it's not?" The Captain asked, the cat turned to him and responded "Then we'll simply make one. Either way would cause significant damage to the Covenant."
Keyes had thought for a moment. Hawks and shortsword fighters could arrive at the Autumn in minutes, a pelican would take a lot longer...He let out a deep breath.
"Alright I'll approve the mission. Just make sure you clear the area of all Covenant forces."
The cat simply nodded and left the ops center and headed for one of the hangars. Five men and women were working on UNSC Hawks that had been painted black.
"Listen up guys and gals, we got ourselves a mission." He called, everyone snapped to attention
"What's the job this time sir?" One asked
"Some of our guys are pinned down in the Pillar of Autumn. Get ready for immediate launch." He ordered "I'll fill in the details on the way."
Everyone quickly gathered their equipment, loaded it up, and waited for their leader to give the green light. The comm. channel sounded a four toned sound. All Hawks in the hangar launched without hesitation. The comm. soon crackled once more, being someone's voice instead.
"Alright BlackCats, here's the situation. Looks like the legendary Spartans got themselves in a jam. Our job is to clear all hostile forces and clear a path for a pelican to get through."
"Rules of engagement sir?" A female voice asked
"Kill all hostiles in and on the way to the combat zone, repeat, all."
Clouds had blocked their vision, forcing them to switch to thermal vision. The cockpits windshields filtered out the colder signals, picking up large targets.
"Sir, I'm tracking a large convoy. They don't look like friendlies."A male voice called
Their leader took a look himself, seeing at least three Spirit dropships. "Looks like you're right Casper. All Hawks engage those dropships, bring them down before they can reinforce the enemy."
Their engines flared as they deviated from their original course. The fork looking ships spotted them, opening fire. They dodged as many as possible. They took shots along the sides in order to eliminate whatever cargo had been inside them. The enemy ships opened their sides to reveal troops carrying fuel rod guns.
"Take em down quick!"
A flurry of green blobs spewed from the sides, barely missing their targets. The Hawks rolled back behind each ship and fired upon the back of the enemy's cockpit. The armor became dented before finally failing as the Spirit ships began their descent to the ground.
"Yeah! Burn in Hell you bastards!"
"Calm down zero-five. Form up and follow me to the target."
"Copy that, Lead. We're right behind you."
The clouds thinned out to reveal a large ground force headed in the same direction as them.
"Our boys must really be giving them all sorts of hell if they need all this armor." BlackCat-03s' pilot commented
"Agreed Ashlyn, you take five and six and take them out. Rendezvous at the Autumn when your done."
"We're on it sir." She responded with a small amount of glee
Three of them broke formation and descended on the Covenant convoy. "Cassidy, Brooklyn on me to the target."
---
"I'm out!" Zack yelled upon his weapon 'clicking'
The battle raged on for a good hour or so. Hundreds of Elites, Grunts, and Jackals lie dead on the floor. The Spartans fired in small bursts, concentrating on one target until it died.
"Status on the comm link?" Sonic yelled over the thundering sounds of fire
"Still not picking up anything, we're officially on our own here." Tails answered as Mark jumped down from the gauss cannon "The turret is out of ammo."
It was official, they had all ran out of ammunition. Now all they could do was wait until the enemy's shots got through. Sixty seconds passed; something came in over the radio that had been barely audible due to static.
"This is BlackCat squadron leader to anyone on the ground. Anyone there?"
"That's Carlos!" Tails called out "This is Spartan Blue team, we're pinned down by heavy fire."
"Copy that Blue team, sit back and watch the fireworks."
Shadows filled up the spot where Tails blew open the roof, followed by the sound of twin turbines. Hovering before them was a UNSC Hawk painted black with BC-01 painted on the side. The chainguns on either sides began to spew out 0.50 caliber rounds. Scores of the enemy fell dead until they stopped coming.
"Well if it ain't the legendary Blue Team," The pilot said on the external speakers as the massive vehicle turned around. "I thought this place was off limits unless ordered."
"This would actually be my fault." Mark said raising his hand, laughing a bit
"Ah, I should have guessed. Well at least more good came out of it. Your ride should be here in a few minutes, suggest you get to a hangar." The pilot said shooting down the large blast door with missiles
"Copy that, Carlos. Thanks for the assist." The door crumbled as Blue team got back into the warthogs. Mark settled just below the turret, hanging onto the metal bar. The ride went on mostly undisturbed, aside from sounds of explosions. It took a few minutes for them to arrive at their destination, seeing the place lit up in gunfire. Two Hawks had engaged the enemy that had been aligned along the walls and most of the floor.
"Glad to see you made it Blue Team. Evac should arrive in a few minutes." One spoke
The Spartans took cover once more behind the Warthogs, opening fire with plasma weapons they picked up from the previous fight. Machine gun fire and plasma rained down on the Covenant's forces. The loud hum of a Pelican became audible, the ship hovered eight inches above the ground.
"Evac is here, let's go!" Sonic called out. Everyone ran to the ship as fast as possible. Mark was almost on board as time seemed to slow down as he turned to see a squad of grunts fire fuel rods at one of the Hawks. All shots connected, hitting the turbines.
"I can't hold her! I can't hold her!" The pilot screamed as the vehicle spun wildly, crashing on the opposite side
"Brooklyn! Are you there?! Brooklyn!" The other pilot called
Mark stopped for a second, than turned away from the pelican. His teammates called after him, but they had been drowned out by the firefight. He ran out to the crashed BlackCat searching for the pilot. He heard sounds resonate from the cockpit. The pilot saw him approach.
"What are you doing here? Leave me." He said coughing up blood
"No, we're all getting out of here alive." The fox picked up the mongoose on his back
"You got guts kid, almost no one finds us alive after being shot down like that. Why..?"
"A personal code of honor, and we'll need anyone who can fight to fight on this ring." Mark said as he stood behind one of the larger pillars.
The pilot was handed up as soon as they got back to the dropship. They lifted off as soon as Mark stepped on, followed by the rest of the Hawks. The crew administered morphing to stop Brooklyn from bleeding to death.
"Well I guess I'm due for a yelling." Mark said looking at Sonic, who said nothing in response.
"More or less I'd say whatever you did, was a success." One of the marines commented
"Still isn't a save from the ear full I'm going to get at the base and at home." Mark responded, settling in for the rest of the ride.
