Two days later
Date: April 9th, 2552
Location: Zura mountains, 100 miles north of Axiom main base
Time: 11:50am
Another beautiful day had dawned for Reach. The sun shone brightly in the cloudless sky and a gentle breeze blew in the air. The perfect spring weather with a little heat in the air to add to it. it was an especially good time in the mountain regions of Reach for the snow, which had fallen there several months earlier, was beginning to melt and soon it would be suitable for climbing again. Well, it would have been were it not for the threat of a Covenant attack.
In the sky that surrounded the Zura Mountains, a large barricade chain of mountains, a large shape flew towards a small pass with a pathway going through it. It was a pelican. On board were Marcus, Tyler, Tanya, Stinger and Alice. They were coming here on another mission on the Covenant presence here.
For the past two days, the UNSC had not heard anything more from any outposts around the planet, at first leading them to believe that the Covenant had either given up sending recon teams to the planet entirely or knew that there were Humans on Reach and were preparing a fleet to strike at the planet. Then, this morning, a large object was detected flying into Reach's atmosphere by a radar post in the mountains. The UNSC did not know what it was but they needed to find out and so Marcus and his friends were once again called up by John to be sent out to scout out whatever this thing was and report back what it was.
"So what do you think this thing could be?" Tyler asked.
"Well, they said it was something big. Probably a Covenant ship," Tanya replied.
"Impossible," Stinger told her. "I mean, wouldn't the orbital space platforms have detected it?"
"If it had just flown in like a normal ship would do, then yes," Alice piped up. "But, apparently, this one just appeared and flew in so if it a Covenant ship, then it would have had to slip-space into the planet's atmosphere to not be detected by the orbital defence platforms,"
"That is a fair point," Tyler replied. "What d'you think, Marcus? Marcus?"
The group looked over at him to see him staring out through the resting area entrance at the mountains as they passed them.
"Marcus?" Tyler said again and this time, he turned to face them.
"Sorry," he replied.
"Are you alright, man?" Stinger asked him.
"Yeah, I'm fine,"
"Are you still worried about John said to you?"
Marcus paused for a moment, as if taking in what had been said to him, and nodded. "Yeah,"
He had told them all what had happened the day after he had returned from the walk with Anya in Jura Park near the base, which, thankfully, had not been overheard by John or anyone else. He and the others still found it ridiculous that had to keep this secret. The others had a right to know about this as well, but the UNSC at the base were preventing them from telling the other members of the taskforce, all because they were worried about them splitting up and going after the Covenant, which Marcus doubted would happen. If they just told them that the Covenant were searching the planet or sending recon teams to scout out It's surface, then the taskforce would surely stick together and prepare to fight them.
But how do I know that will happen? A voice said in his head.
He sighed. That voice was right. He had only doubted that the taskforce members would start splitting up and going after the Covenant on their own solo missions, but that did not mean he was right. For some reason, he did partly believe that John was right to stop the others from knowing. What if… What if he was right after all?
The cog pit door opened and the co-pilot stuck his head out.
"Alright guys, get ready," he said. "We're dropping you in on a small plateau near the start of the pathway,"
The co-pilot disappeared back into the cog pit, closing the door behind him, and the squad began collecting their weapons from under their seats. As Marcus took out a battle rifle from under his seat and loaded a clip of ammunition into it, he looked out through the entrance to the ship and saw the mountains around them rise as if they were growing. The ground, a small thin pathway only about fifteen or so feet across, grew closer to them until they were over a large clearing. The pelican came to a halt about fifteen feet above the ground and lowered towards the ground, the landing gear unfolding as it neared the surface of the plateau.
A few moments later, the pelican jolted slightly as the landing gear made contact with the ground. The squad got up from their seats and jumped down onto the half-snow/half-rock ground. The pelican hovered back up into the air, the landing gear folding themselves back up, and flew back the way it had come.
"Contact us when you've reached this thing," came the pilot's voice over their ear radios. "Report back what it is," and within a few moments the craft disappeared behind a mountain a few hundred metres away.
"Let's get going," Stinger said.
The group walked towards across the plateau and onto the pathway, which was about twenty feet wide, towards the small pass. Tanya slipped a little as she was about half-way down the path on some snow that had not melted and came close to the edge of the path, which overlooked an enormous drop either side of it that led to a sheer and rocky side far below, probably a few hundred feet. Afterwards, she kept away from any piles of snow on the path to make sure she would not fall over again.
When they reached the pass between two small mountains, they walked through it and found themselves on a large plateau, about forty feet wide, with a rock pathway that led right and descended down at a fifteen degree angle towards another large plateau, which was about twice as large as the plateau the squad were on, that also had a large pathway descending down from it, only it descended down from the front rather than the side to an enormous clearing about seventy feet below.
"Whoa!" Tyler exclaimed in a shocked voice.
The others looked at him to see what he was so shocked about and quickly found out why.
About three thousand feet ahead of them, at the end of a large valley between a chain of small mountains, was a large shape that seemed to be hovering near a large mountain. It was thousands of feet long with two large spires sticking out of the bottom and pointing diagonally down leftwards at the curved front of the craft. It had large engines at the back and had a silver armoured coating. It was a Covenant CCS battle cruiser.
The squad moved to the edge of the forward edge of the plateau and lay down, looking at the craft. Movement below caught Marcus' eyes and he looked down to see hundreds of shapes moving about on the bottom of the ground far below. Some were figures whilst others were instantly recognizable as Covenant vehicles, such as wraiths and ghosts. A few parked banshees were just visible below, as they were nearer to the CCS battle cruiser and were slightly and many figures were moving about among the vehicles on the ground. Marcus scanned the entire ground below with his eyes, which the others had just noticed, taking in everything that was down there.
Then, his eyes caught something far away to the far right of the ground near a large mountain, one of the biggest in the Zula mountain area, were a large group of Covenant soldiers gathered around the entrance to a large cave. He could make out the large shapes of three Hunters at the front of the mass of Covenant but the others were a mystery, most probably Elites and Grunts and Jackals, but he was mainly focused on the Hunters, who were standing very close up to the end of the cave, so he could only just see them. What were they doing?
Standing up, Marcus ran down the rock pathway that led onto the plateau below.
"Marcus, what are you doing?" Stinger's voice called but he ignored him.
When Marcus reached the bottom of the pathway, he moved to the right edge of it and laid down and looked over at the cave. As he was closer to it now, he had a better view of it and the Covenant inside it. He could see the Hunters were moving their arms against the rock wall. Were they…were they digging?
"What the Hell," Marcus whispered to himself as he sat up a little.
"What is it?" Tanya's voice asked and he looked up at the other plateau to see the rest of the squad running down towards him, crouching down beside him when they reached him.
Marcus nodded over towards the cave and the group looked and saw the Hunters.
"Wonder what they're doing?" Alice said.
"God knows," Tyler replied. "Well, what are we gonna do about this ship?" he asked, looking at the enormous Covenant craft.
"We'll have to leave that to base," Marcus replied and he placed a finger on the radio in his ear. "Bravo 725, this is Marcus, over,"
"We hear you, Marcus," a voice replied from his radio. "What have you guys found?"
"A Covenant CCS battle cruiser," he explained. "And a host of Covenant ground forces. We've also found a group of Hunters digging in a large cave in one of the mountains near our location."
A 'hmm' emitted out of the radio before the voice spoke up again.
"Alright, roger that. Hold your position, we'll relay your finding back to base,"
The radio went silent and Marcus, lowering his finger from his ear, looked back over at the Hunters in the cave. A thousand questions were racing through his mind about them and the Covenant here. What were they doing? Why were they here? Why were they, as it looked, digging in a cave? And if they were digging, what were they looking for? Not one of them had an answer.
"What d'you think they're looking for?" he heard Stinger ask. "That is if they're digging," he added.
"No idea," Tanya replied. "What I want to know is why they have a CCS battle cruiser here and why there isn't a fleet bearing down on the planet,"
KZK… "Marcus, are you there, over?"
Marcus placed a finger back on the radio in his ear. "Yeah, I'm here," he replied.
"We've just contacted base. You and your squad have been given new orders. Your to board that craft and find out what the Covenant are doing here,"
"What!" Marcus exclaimed, drawing the attention of his squad members. He sucked his teeth and ducked low, believing that he had inadvertently attracted the attention of the Covenant forces on the ground below. He paused for a second and poked his head over the edge of the plateau. Luckily, the Covenant were not coming over to their position to investigate the source of the shouting. Breathing a sigh of relief, he moved back away from the edge and sat up, ignoring questions from the others over what was wrong. "What do you mean we have to board it?" he demanded furiously in an angry, but quiet voice.
"Well, command needs to know what they're doing here and seeing as you guys are near it, you're can do that for them,"
"Well, can we at least have some help?" Marcus asked hopefully. "A few squads of marines or some air support?"
"No. I asked command that and they said they can't risk arousing suspicion back at the base. Plus, they're scared that the Covenant will either make a run for it or call for help if we send in a large force against them," Marcus growled through gritted teeth upon hearing this. "Sorry, Marcus, but we have been told to give you guys a scorpion tank. That should help you. We've got it now and we're heading to your location. ETA: ten minutes,"
The radio went silent. Marcus did lighten up a little upon hearing they would, at least, have a scorpion tank to aid them in this mission, but it would be a lot more helpful if they help from the UNSC. Sighing, he lowered his hand from his ear and turned to his squad.
"We're going to have to launch an attack on the ship," he told them, receiving a few shocked looks at him and the group. "But we're, at least, gonna have a scorpion tank to help us,"
"What about any air support or marine support?" Alice asked him.
"No, I was told that command doesn't want to attract any unwanted attention from the others back at the base and they think the Covenant'll try and make a run for it or call for help," Marcus replied.
The other squad members either sighed in annoyance or groaned. They were doing this on their own! It was stupid and ridiculous! Why were they being ordered to attack a Covenant CCS battle cruiser that was most likely jam packed with Covenant soldiers? It was just ridiculous! Absolutely ridiculous!
"How long do we have to wait until the pelican arrives with the tank?" Tyler asked Marcus.
"About ten minutes," he replied, looking back at the Covenant near the cave.
All they could do for the moment was watch and see if anything happened until the pelican arrived with the tank.
Ten minutes later
"How far are we into the mountainside?"
"Not far, sir,"
"Keep moving! Our prophets grow impatient!"
"Yes, sir,"
At the head of the mass of Covenant soldiers, behind the Hunters alongside two major Elites, were a group of three Elites dressed in gold armour. They were armed with energy swords with the activators clipped onto the side of the armour on their waists and were giving orders in barks or shouts. It was not hard to tell that these Elites were some kind of masters. They were zealot Elites, the so-called head of the Covenant forces on the ground and were a kind of loyalty clan of the Elites, set up to make sure their soldiers stayed loyal to their prophets. They were also a kind of special forces who were usually sent on secret missions to extract or take any artefacts from their Human enemies, particularly if they were linked in any way to their gods. Who these gods were the Covenant followed, the Humans did not know but to be honest they really could not care whether the Covenant were following a religious deity or not. They just wanted to survive.
One of the major Elites ran over to the Hunters and barked out a command to them. The Hunters began moving their hands, which on one was the huge metal swords, but on the other where the enormous plasma cannon would be was a large drill-like device that was shearing away through the rock. The three Hunters had been cutting and digging away at the mountainside for some time now, starting almost as soon as the ship had landed. They were hoping to break through into the mountain where they believed something that was connected to their gods in a way was placed and on their prophets' orders, they were to find it and bring it back.
One of the zealot Elites gazed up at the mountain as if awed by It's majestic majesty. It was well over two thousand feet high from where they were and they were only near the top! The entire thing was probably about six, seven, maybe even eight or nine thousand feet tall. If the Elite was to stand on top of the mountain and have the others removed, he would be able to see for tens of miles in every direction. A sight that would be truly unforgettable.
"Sir!" the major Elite said, running back up to the zealot Elites. "We have almost broken through the wall. The artefact is within reach!"
"Good," he replied and walked forward with his two brothers towards the Hunters and stood behind them, staring through the gap between the middle and left Hunter as they cut away at the rock. The gleam and dedication to his mission was blazing away in his eyes like a fire. They were almost there. Just a few more metres of cutting through rock and they would have completed their mission and they would be a step closer to their ultimate goal of beco-
BOOM! The mass of Covenant shot round, the Hunters stopped carving and also turned, one of them breaking the drill on It's arm by scraping it against the rock by turning at a fast speed, to see a wraith explode in a fireball. Then, their eyes rested on a large shape moving down the pathway from a plateau towards the ground. It was a Human scorpion tank!
"Kill them!" one of the zealots roared.
Inside the scorpion tank, Marcus looked at the holographic screen of the outside that was hovering above the control panel in front of him. He could hear gunfire from outside, indicating that the other taskforce members were open firing on the Covenant as well, and he looked at the holographic screen and saw several Covenant soldiers fall to the ground, dead. Others ran about in a panic mass, desperate to get to their vehicles and attack the intruding tank.
Marcus aimed the main cannon at a wraith about forty feet away and fired a shot, which made the tank shake slightly. The front of the wraith exploded in a fireball, throwing large pieces of armour and the mechanical insides everywhere, some landing on unfortunate Covenant soldiers and crushing them completely. A Jackal about twenty feet in front of the tank stopped and fired a blast at the tank, only to screech loudly and be thrown backwards into the ground by a burst of ammo from outside.
"Shit!" a voice shouted from outside, which he recognized as Alice's, and the hatch above Marcus was opened by a hand and Stinger's face appeared.
"Marcus, we got Hunters to the right," he warned.
Marcus nodded and turned the main cannon right, the image on the holographic screen moving in that direction as well. When he had turned it about 45 degrees, he stopped as the image on the holographic screen in front of him showed three large creatures running towards the tank, their metal swords brought back slightly, ready to swing them at their Human enemies. Marcus fired another shot at the Hunters, hitting one and throwing it backwards onto the ground with a crash. Gunfire, much louder this time as the hatch was still open, erupted outside and several yells and roars erupted all around the tank. Another shot from the main cannon flew out at the Hunters, hitting the Hunter that had been in the middle of the three and throwing that one to the ground about twenty feet in front of the first Hunter that was killed.
"Oh crap! Reverse, Marcus! Reverse!" came Tyler's voice
He did not need telling twice. The last Hunter, to which Marcus could see on the holographic screen, was just a few metres from the tank and was getting close to swinging It's metal sword at the tank. As the tank moved back towards the bottom of the pathway that led down from the plateau, the four taskforce members fired on the Hunter as it approached them. The bullets pounded loudly as they impacted on the metal armour on the creature and on the metal of what was attached to It's arms. The Hunter was just ten feet, It's metal sword arm bought back fully and ready to swing. The squad members on the sides of the tank began to panic and were moving away from the sides so as not to be thrown into the air when the sword impacted the vehicle.
BOOM! Another shell shot out of the main cannon at the Hunter, hitting it in the side of the head. The Hunter roared loudly as it was thrown backwards onto the ground with a crash that shook the ground slightly and it did not get up again. However, the shell colliding with the side of the Hunter's head had only destroyed part of it. What had not been destroyed by impacting the Hunter flew on through the air toward the mountainside. Then, with a loud boom, the remnants of the shell hit the rock wall at the end of the cave, crumbling it into dust.
Marcus was about to drive the tank on towards the CCS battle cruiser when his eyes rested on the cave again. Though it was far away, at a distance of about eighty metres, he noticed that there was a kind of silver colour at the end of the cave. What was it? Should he drive over and investigate what it was?
"Marcus, we got 'em on the run!" came Stinger's voice. "Let's push on!"
Marcus sighed. Looks like I'll have to find out what it is later he thought and he drove the tank forward again towards the battle cruiser.
This time, the Covenant soldiers were more prepared. The squad's tank had not gotten fifty feet before a mortar blast landed on the ground about five feet to their right and exploded. Ahead of them was a wraith. Another mortar blast shot up out of the top of the vehicle and landed behind the tank, shaking it slightly. That was another close call, but they might not be as lucky next time. Marcus aimed the main cannon at the wraith and fired a shot. The shell blew right through the side armour of the vehicle and exploded, blowing off the entire left side of the wraith. The remains of the vehicle fell to the ground, no longer of any use to either side. The tank drove on again.
From then on, it was like ploughing through walls made of matchsticks. The sudden attack seemed to have startled much of the Covenant on the ground, even the Elites, who had mostly fled back towards the safety of their ship along with most of the rest of the Covenant ground forces. Several Grunts and Elites, however, had tried to counterattack using ghosts and wraiths with a few Jackals in support, but they were all wept aside by the scorpion tanks' main cannon and the quickness and accuracy of the taskforce soldiers sitting on the sides of the tank. One of the Grunts, that had been driving a ghost, had been hit in the face by a bullet from Tanya and the ghost drove into another ghost and both flipped over, crushing the Grunt that had been driving the second ghost and throwing the body of the dead Grunt onto the ground next to the pile of metallic wreckage. An Elite had even tried to board a banshee and use it against the tank but a tank shell from the main cannon flipped it over and the four taskforce soldiers fired on the creature, killing it.
After a few hectic minutes, the tank finally came to a halt and the four sitting on the sides jumped off the vehicle onto the ground. Marcus opened the hatch of the tank, which he had closed when the Covenant tried to counterattack with wraiths and ghosts, and climbed out of the tank and stepped off the side of the vehicle onto the ground. About fifty feet ahead of them was a cylindrical shaped, purple coloured haze that was descending down from a circular hole in the bottom of the ship. It was an anti-gravity lift.
"Well," Tyler said. "This is it," he said. "We've made it this far,"
"We just have to hope that the Covenant don't fly off with us," Tanya replied.
"I don't think they will," Marcus piped up.
"What makes you think that?" Tanya asked him as they all turned to look at him.
"I don't know," Marcus told them.
He was trying to sound truthful in his answer, but in reality he was lying, though he would not count it as a complete lie. He had a faint idea though why the Covenant would not leave even when their enemies were on the ship and in perfect place to surround and kill them.
That faint idea was what was in that cave. Could whatever it was in there somehow prevent the Covenant from leaving Reach?
"We better move quickly," Tyler said, snapping Marcus back into reality and he joined the rest of his squad as they ran into the gravity lift. They were lifted off their feet as if they were being picked up by invisible hands up towards the circular shaped hole about three hundred feet above them.
As Marcus began heading up towards the craft, he took a last look at the cave and wondered again what it was and why the Covenant were looking for it. He was beginning to get the feeling that the Covenant presence here was much deeper than just scouting out for Humans but whether it would reveal itself soon or not he did not know.
Hopefully, it would