The dark Spartan IV stood at the door of the hanger bay, slanting his visor down to the ground as he stared at the gold particles that flowed through the gravitational push of the Shuttle, 'Fist of Judgement.' No bodies or marines had been pulled into the recovery wing as after they had been shot by the forerunner weaponry; they had disappeared in a splatter of particles.
As he dropped the long orange rifle that was held in his hand, he touched his visor and wiped away a smidge of red blood that lay across it; how the liquid got there, he would never know.
"Spartan Lucifer, call in soldier!" A sharp female voice ripped across his com layout and commanded his attention, he acknowledged the officer immediately and awaited for further instructions; he clenched his heavy Mjonlir gloves as he recognised the familiar tone of Lieutenant Drafter.
"The Fist of Judgement is dead in the water Lucifer; I can't get any contact with the operators or Admiral" Drafter spoke slowly, unclear on the current situation.
Lucifer replied in kind, "Gone, there's only me and a couple left." He breathed loudly on the radio, letting his slow anxiety get the better of him. The Spartan IV was unclear on how many of the original 'gold squad' had survived; the man count of the entire ship was still unknown to him.
"Spartan, a squad of phantoms are heading straight for your vessel" Drafter spoke hurriedly, her tone revealing she was nervous about the loss of another soldier in her command.
Lucifer sighed and picked the light rifle straight up from the floor again, he armed it with golden light quickly and walked towards the hanger bay slowly. As he aimed the rifle in his arms, the nearby doors of the hanger bay burst open as an ODST ran straight forward.
Both figures aimed their rifles at each other; the hell-jumper unleashed a couple of rounds but only had them bounce of the Spartan IV golden shields. Lucifer lowered his rifle as he noticed the attacker was indeed his ally.
Robert immediately raised his arms as he realised what he had done wrong, "Sorry about that Spartan…so do you really have a plan on how where getting out of here?"
Lucifer growled at the ODST's lack of realisation before he was shot, then deciding to check out any operational vehicles in the bay. All of the pelicans had been crippled after the heavy shootout unfortunately, leaving them with only one choice.
"All UNSC forces on this frequency channel of the Fist of Judgement" Lucifer suddenly sprang into action, "I want any survivors to meet at the hanger bay C pronto."
Robert cocked his head, confused with what the Spartan was doing before he asked, "What's your plan here Lucifer."
The Black Spartan IV smiled as the large phantom smashed through the window of the hanger bay and started offloading storm warriors; he raised the light rifle and fired a volley of golden particle rounds at the unwary collection of shielded blue Sangheili and small green Unggoy, until he spoke, "We're stealing that bird."
Meanwhile
"Bring him closer, I want to look upon those who are doomed to fail." The voice commanded the nearby operators to drag the human prisoner into the presence of the hovering throne and San Shyuum that sat upon it.
Admiral 'Ace' Osborn struggled to twist his head and look up into the peering eyes of the Prophet, the human attempted to make a move against such a villainous creature but simply couldn't; his injuries and exhaustion had finally beat him.
"Such a fragile being" Hierarch laughed at the human, enjoying the power he had over this one enemy he had in his thrall, "It is truly a wonder how you have held of the oncoming Thunder for so long…but no longer."
"What the hell do you want from me?!" Ace shouted out the last of his strength, completely starting to fall forward in agony as his chest wound started to take its toll on the Admiral.
The prophet lowered its large head down, letting its breath roll over the helpless human as it finally resoluted, "It is not you I want, it is the encyclical you carry that will reveal the hidden path to us."
"The what?" Ace questioned slowly, completely unsure on what the Hierarch was talking about in an honest batch of ignorance.
A roar emanated from a force behind the human, resulting in a huge spiky fist smashing straight into the back of the Admiral roughly so he fell roughly to the floor. Ace screamed as a goblet of blood flew out of his mouth and he felt his spine vertebrae shift immediately to the right.
The Harbinger stood over the fallen human angrily, reaching down and grabbing a fallen circular data slot that had tumbled out of the Admiral's pocket, "The encyclical is safe Hierarch."
Storm smiled at the brutal resolution and turned his throne around to face the stars as he rumbled out slowly, "Let the AI suffer like its masters and kill the human filth."