The centre of the bottom of Halo's inner ring surface was desert. Nothing but desert that stretched for miles. This desert resembled one much like the Sahara, only the sand was a dark yellow colour and it on the edge of a sea that resembled the same colour. Probably part of a desert that the sea had managed to swallow up. However, there was one great big difference about the desert this time. It had the Axiom on it.
The Axiom was lying on It's side on the top of an enormous hill. Half of the front of the ship was over the edge of a massive cliff that ran for miles both left and right. Far below it was probably a lower level of desert as it was also the colour of the sand around the Axiom. The ground around the Axiom, that stretched out as far as two thousand feet from the ship, was charcoal black. On the ground at the rear end of the Axiom was another large cliff, only it was made out of sand and there was a small lake below the engines. The crash must have been really powerful in order for it to do that much damage to the landscape.
In the sky a small shape flew towards the Axiom. As it got closer to the massive ship it was revealed to be a banshee. Eve and Auto's banshee. The two had had a lucky escape from the great battle between the Covenant and Flood at the Truth and Reconciliation. Now, they had to finish their job on Halo. Eve and Auto had found a way to detonate the ship, which was by initiating an overload of the ship's fusion engines. Hopefully, and Auto had said it was most likely to work, the explosion of the ship would do enough damage to destroy Halo.
The banshee flew closer and closer to the Axiom. However, a small trail of smoke was coming out behind it from the engines. Then, a small part of one of the engine connections with the main part of the craft fell off.
"Eve, this thing is falling apart!" Auto said in a panicked tone.
"It will hold," Eve replied in a calm voice.
Eve steered the banshee around the front. Her target was the life pod exhaust silos on the side of the ship near the bridge. Hopefully the craft would hold out until then. As the exhaust silos became visible, Eve turned the banshee towards them. However, she was not slowing down.
"We're not going to make it!" Auto said, again in a panicked tone.
"We'll make it," Eve replied calmly.
When they were about one hundred feet from the Axiom, Eve flew the banshee up higher towards the wall above the silos.
"Eve, descend! Descend!" Auto said in an urgent tone.
BOOM! The banshee exploded on the side of the ship. The remains of it were engulfed in fire as they fell down towards the ground far below.
"You did that on purpose, didn't you?" Auto said to Eve in a sardonic tone.
Eve had jumped out of the banshee at the last minute and fallen straight into the exhaust silo. Perfect landing! She smirked as she stood up. That joke she just played on Auto was quite funny. But now was not the time for laughs. They had to get to the bridge and activate the self-destruct sequence to destroy the ship.
Eve walked down the exhaust silo towards the silo at the end. In her hand was the plasma rifle she had obtained from the battle on the Truth and Reconciliation. The silo looked horrible. The floor, the walls, the ceilings were all badly burnt. It was as if a massive fire had swept through the entire ship. It one did, it had certainly left It's mark.
Eve walked out from the silo into a corridor. The corridor looked just as bad as the silo did. Everything was burnt or wrecked. Eve looked left and saw the half-hexagon shaped door closed. No way they were getting to the bridge through that way. Eve walked left down the corridor towards a turning that led right into another corridor. When Eve reached this corridor, she saw it ended at another half-hexagon shaped door just a few metres away in front of her. "There's no way out of here," Eve said.
"Yes there is," Auto replied. "Look on the wall to your right,"
Eve did so and saw a small metal door that was just slightly taller than her. It had a metal cross that started from the door's four inner corners and moved further into the middle of the door to from the cross. It had large gaps between where the crosses lines started and ended. They would have glass, but the crash would have obviously destroyed them. Behind them, Eve could see a long narrow corridor that was almost pitch black, it were not for the small red lights on the ceilings. Though most of them were destroyed so it only just lit up the corridor.
Eve walked towards the door. Thankfully, it was still working. It opened to allow her into the corridor. Eve walked into the corridor. As she headed further down towards the end, she saw another corridor lead left. Eve turned into that corridor. The end of this corridor was more lit up than the one she had just left. Which was a good thing because on the floor, about half-way down the corridor, was a hole. Eve walked up to the hole and looked down. It led to another corridor. The drop was only about a few metres.
Suddenly, a laser flew from one side, of what Eve could see though the hole in the corridor, to the other. Just a second later, a carrier form ambled out from the right and disappeared left, followed by two more. Then, an small boom was heard. An infection form flew out under the hole from the left before moving back in towards the left again, disappearing from view.
"Looks like we're going to have company," Eve said.
Eve kept her finger on the plasma rifle trigger and jumped down the hole into the corridor, landing on her feet. Ahead of her were two sentinels firing at the other carrier and three infection forms. Eve raised her plasma rifle and fired at the carrier, causing it to explode. The infection forms were thrown across the corridor, one landing just a few feet from Eve. Even though infection forms attack the nearest enemy, they seemed no interest in Eve and moved down the corridor towards the sentinels. Eve fired another barrage from her plasma rifle at the infection forms, causing them to explode. Then she aimed at the sentinels and fired on them. The sentinels exploded and fell to the floor, where they burst into flame.
"I'd keep your gun ready," Auto said. "They'll be more where they came from,"
Eve nodded and walked down the corridor towards the turning that led right. When she reached it, she saw she was in another exhaust silo corridor. Again, the floors and silos in this one were really badly burnt or damaged.
Suddenly, a figure ran out from right at the end of the corridor. It was a small combat form. Then another two tall combat forms followed. They were all unarmed. Then, the small combat form spotted Eve and charged towards her. This brought the attention of the other two big combat forms and they charged towards Eve as well.
Eve raised her plasma rifle and fired a barrage of sky blue blasts at the combat forms. The combat forms were hit repeatedly, causing them to lose their arms and flabby parts of their heads. After a few seconds, they fell to the floor, dead. It did not end there. Just a second later, a small swarm of four infection forms moved out from one of the exhaust silos and headed straight towards Eve, who fired on them with her plasma rifle, causing them to explode.
Eve lowered her plasma rifle ran down the corridor towards the end. When she reached it, she turned right into the next corridor. This one also ended at a closed half-hexagon shaped door. Eve walked towards it, hoping to find a way out of the corridor.
She found it. It was a large metal door on the right wall. Unfortunately, it had a red light on it and it looked like it was not going to open easily even though the crash would have damaged it very badly. Eve sighed.
"Great," she muttered. "How the hell are we going to find a way through this area?"
"Try hitting the door with your plasma rifle," Auto suggested. "Maybe that'll-"
BOOM! The door expanded outwards. Eve gasped and took a step back. Then, it hit her. The last time she saw a door do that was when she was inside the structure in the jungle. That was when she first saw the Flood. BOOM! The door expanded outwards further. There was a small gap just visible down the middle of the door. Eve could just see the yellow/brown tentacle hand of a combat form. Yep, the Flood were behind the door alright.
BOOM! The door flew open, breaking in two. One side of the door fell to the floor. The other flew through the air and hit the wall, also almost hitting Eve if she had not ducked. Eve got up and looked down the corridor behind where the door once stood and saw five tall combat forms, two small combat forms and a swarm of twenty infection forms. They spotted Eve and were ready to attack. However, Eve, despite almost being was hit with the side of a door, was ready for them. She raised her plasma rifle and fired at the group of Flood. Five of the combat forms, both of the small and three of the tall, fell to the floor fully dead. Another blast hit one of the infection forms, causing it to explode along with most of the others. Then, Eve's plasma rifle stopped firing. Oh crap! It was out of ammo.
The last two combat forms charged towards Eve. Eve yelped and threw her plasma rifle at one of them, hitting it in the head. The combat form fell to the floor because of the impact. Eve then dived forward, narrowly missing a whack from the other combat form. She got up and ran down the corridor. Behind her, a loud growl filled the air as the combat forms chased after her.
When Eve reached the end of the corridor, she turned right into another corridor. This one was not as long and was most likely to lead to another corridor at It's end. Eve ran down the corridor. A loud growl caused her to quickly look over her shoulder to see the two combat forms still chasing after her.
"I need to find another gun, quickly," Eve said.
"Worry about the gun in a minute," Auto replied. "Right now, just keep running."
Eve turned right into the next corridor. This one was longer than the other two she had just been in. Thankfully, at the end was a door. Hopefully, she would try and lose the combat forms there. Eve ran full speed down the corridor. She urged all the strength into her legs. She wanted to get away from the combat forms. Eve ran on and on down the corridor, but no matter how fast she was running the door seemed to get further and further away.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Eve reached the door. Luckily, this one was still working it opened and Eve ran through the doorway, only to be right in the middle of another battle.
Eve had run into another corridor that was outside the mess hall. However, there was a battle going on. At the left end were two Hunters who were firing projectiles down the other end towards a group of combat forms. Scattered on the floor up and down the corridor were dead combat forms and dead Covenant. The Covenant and the Flood must have been fighting over the ship for some time. Then, a special ops Elite ran out from the mess hall, through a door that had been forces open and fired on the combat forms as they ran out of the corridor behind Eve.
Eve ran towards the forced open door. The Elite did not even bother to stop her. The Covenant were probably more concentrated on the Flood rather than Eve. Eve ran into the mess hall. Some of the tables and seats were broken apart and scattered everywhere. There were several dead bodies lying around. Many of them special ops Grunts. Even though there were many more dead in here, the fighting between the Covenant and the Flood was still going on. Two special ops Grunts, armed with plasma pistols, were near the other end of the room, firing at a swarm of infection forms. They were right in front of another forced open door. Outside was a special ops Elite. It was most likely keeping guard just in case any more Flood tried to attack from behind.
"We won't be getting out there if these guys here," Auto said.
"I just need to find a gun," Eve replied.
Eve scanned the floor around the dead bodies for a gun. After a few seconds, she found one. It was a plasma pistol lying on the ground near where a Grunt had fallen. Eve ran over to where the plasma pistol lay and picked it up.
"Bad guy!" a high pitched voice squeaked from the other end of the room.
Eve looked towards the other end of the room to see one of the Grunts take out a plasma grenade. It lit the grenade and threw it. Eve dived to her right to get away from the deadly device.
BOOM! The grenade exploded. Eve only just managed to get out of the blast radius of the grenade as it exploded. She got up and fired a barrage of light green blasts at the Grunts. Both were hit and yelled loudly as they flipped backwards onto the floor, dead. Then, the Elite ran in and fired two blasts from It's plasma rifle at Eve. Eve dived behind an overturned table. The blasts shook it as the object as they collided with it. The Elite fired more blasts at the table. Eve prayed that it would not break apart. Then, like someone flicking a switch, the blasts stopped. Eve heard heavy footfalls approach the table. The Elite was walking right to her. Perfect! Eve tightened her grip on the plasma pistol. She was ready to fire.
When the Elite was a few feet from the overturned table, Eve rose up and fired repeatedly at the Elite. The blasts broke through the Elite's armour's shield and killed the creature. It fell forward onto the floor, dead.
"Hopefully that's the last of them," Auto said.
"Same here," Eve replied as she walked out from behind the overturned table.
Eve knelt down next to the body of the Elite and picked up the plasma rifle. Eve threw the plasma pistol onto the floor. From the time she had been on Halo and fought the Covenant, she had learned one thing about Covenant weaponry that was not hard or boring; the plasma rifle was much better than the plasma pistol.
Eve got up and walked towards the forced open door at the other end of the mess hall. When she reached it, she walked out in the corridor outside the mess hall. Again, this corridor had been badly burnt in the crash. Eve looked down the right end of the corridor. Again, this corridor ended at a closed half-hexagon shaped door. Eve looked down towards the other end, which also ended at a closed half-hexagon shaped door. However, she saw another forced open door. That's it! They had reached the bridge!
Eve ran over to the door that led to the bridge. When she reached it, she walked down the small corridor that led to the bridge. When she reached the end of it, she saw the large cube section in the middle. Eve walked around the side of the cube section. She saw the window at the front of the ship. It's glass was gone, obviously shattered when the ship crashed. There was the cylinder panel in front of a small thin rectangular barricade-like panel. Eve walked up to the panel and squeezed her shoulder. Auto's data cord rose up out of her shoulder. Eve took the data cord in her fingers and placed it in a small slot on the side of the cylinder panel. Auto's purple, seven inch high avatar rose up from the top of the panel.
"I leave home for a few days and look what happens," he said as he surveyed the bridge.
"Can you still activate the self-destruct sequence?" Eve asked him.
"Yes," Auto replied. "Give me a moment, it won't take long,"
Auto disappeared inside the cylinder panel. Eve sighed and scanned the bridge. She had not seen Wally, or heard from him for that matter. She was worried about him. She was hoping he was okay since he did tell her that the sentinels would be after them so ho was going to lead them away to allow Eve to rescue captain McCrea. Hopefully, the sentinels had not captured or killed him.
Auto's avatar rose up out of the panel.
"Alright, It's done," he said.
The top of the rectangular panel behind Auto's cylinder panel opened up. A blue haze came out of it. Then, in red letters, came the words "Self-destruct sequence initiated". Then, a timer, also in red, appeared below the red letters. It was on 16:35.
"That should plenty of time to find a drop ship and get out of here," Auto said.
Eve nodded and went to press a button on the side of the cylinder panel to release Auto.
CLANK! Eve wheeled round and fired a shot from her plasma rifle at the side of the top of the bridge's large window. Something moved on the outside of the ship just above the window.
"Who's there?" Eve demanded.
"Eve?" A voice said.
A figure hovered down from the side of the ship into the bridge. It was Wally.
"Oh, Wally," Eve said, relieved as she lowered her plasma rifle. "Sorry, I thought you were Flood or something,"
"It's okay," Wally replied as he landed on the floor in front of Eve.
Wally looked around the bridge and noticed someone was missing.
"Where's your captain?" he asked.
Eve heaved a heavy sigh.
"He did not make it," she replied.
Wally nodded. It was like he was reading her mind. He could almost imagine what happened to him.
"I am sorry, Eve," he said.
"It's okay," Eve replied.
"Have you managed to activate the self-destruct sequence?" Wally asked.
"Yep," Auto replied. "I've just activated it. Now we just have to find a way off this ship,"
"I'm afraid that's out of the question," another voice said.
That voice was recognizable the moment the three heard it. The voice was Juggernaut's.
"Oh, hell," Auto groaned.
"Ridiculous," came Juggernaut's voice again. "I find it absolutely ridiculous that you imbue an A.I. with such a wealth of knowledge! Were you not worried it might be captured? Or even destroyed?"
"He's in the ship's data arrays!" Auto exclaimed. "A local tap!"
Juggernaut had found his way to the ship after repairing the pulse generators. He was in the ship's engine room. Probably after the hangers, it was the biggest room on the entire ship. There were two enormous wall-like parts in the room that were connected to each other, almost cutting the room in two. Both ends of the engine room had many walkways to allow workers to get from one level on one side of the engine room to the other and even get them from one side of the engine room to the other.
On the first walkway on both sides of the engine room were several computer consoles. Juggernaut was at the right end, scanning one of the consoles.
"You cannot imagine how exciting this is," he said as he fired a blue laser from his hand at the console in front of him. A blue orb came out and hovered over to Juggernaut's hand, where it disappeared. Most likely into some kind of trans-dimensional pocket. "To have a record of all of our lost time! Human history? Ooh, fascinating."
Juggernaut hovered up from the walkway he was on up to another console on a top walkway where there was another console, though this time it was for the engines. Juggernaut fired another blue laser at the console. Another blue orb hovered out.
"Oh, how I will enjoy every moment of It's categorization!" he said as the orb disappeared inside his open hand. "And to think you would destroy this installation, as well as this record. I am shocked. Almost too shocked for words."
Eve raised her plasma rifle and aimed it around the bridge, expecting Juggernaut to suddenly appear and attack them.
"NO!" Auto yelled. "Damn! He's shut off the stopped the self-destruct sequence!"
"Why do you continue to fight me and my sentinels, Reclaimer?" Juggernaut said over the ship's com. "You cannot win! Even with the help of Wally! Give me the construct and I will endeavour to make sure yours and Wally's deaths relatively painless and-"
Juggernaut's voice suddenly cut off.
"At least the ship's com channels are still working," Auto said.
Suddenly, four shapes rose up from below the window. Eve, Wally and Auto looked out the window at the shapes. They were sentinels. The sentinels aimed their lasers at the three and pushed Eve to the floor, narrowly missing a blast as it hit the wall of the bridge's cube. Eve then quickly rose up and fired four shots from her plasma rifle at each sentinel. The sentinels exploded and fell down below the window, disappearing from view.
"That was close," Auto said.
"What are we going to do?" Wally asked as he and Eve got up from the floor. "Juggernaut has stopped any chance of us activating your ship's self-destruct!"
"Calm down, Wally," Eve replied. "We'll just have to find another way to detonate the ship. Auto, where exactly is Juggernaut?"
"I'm just going through the ship's com channels." Auto said. "I've detected his one…. He's in the engine room! He must be trying to take the core offline! If he does that, I won't be able to activate the self-destruct sequence at all. I don't know what to do,"
"Wait!" Eve exclaimed. "You said he was in the engine room, right?"
"Yes," Auto replied. "Why, we won't be able to activate the self-destruct…"
Auto was cut off when he saw Eve smile at him. He knew exactly what she meant.
"It's suicidal, Eve," he said.
"Like I've said before, sometimes you have to be suicidal to live," Eve replied.
"Alright," Auto said. "I'm going with you,"
Eve nodded and pressed the button on the side of the panel. Auto's avatar instantly disappeared. Then, the top of the panel opened up and Auto's data cord rose up out of the panel. Eve grabbed it and placed it on her shoulders. The data cord sunk into her shoulder like quicksand. Eve then turned to Wally.
"Let's go," she said.
Wally nodded and followed Eve as they ran out of the bridge, down the short corridor and came out into the main corridor that led to the bridge.
"Okay, which way do we go from here?" Eve asked herself as he looked up and down the corridor.
"There," Wally said, pointing down the corridor towards the half-hexagon shaped door at the other end.
Eve looked to where he was pointing and saw another forced open door on the right wall of the corridor. It had been mostly concealed behind a kind of railing/pillar on the side of the wall.
Eve ran over to the door; Wally followed. When they reached it, they found a ramp lead up to another corridor. The two ran up the ramp and down the corridor up towards another forced open door at the end. However, when the two were near the door, a blast shot from the left to the right of a corridor that the door led to. Then, four more blasts flew from both sides to the other. A Grunt's yell was heard a second later. There was another battle going on.
"Stay behind me," Eve whispered to Wally, who nodded.
Eve raised her plasma rifle and, cautiously, stepped towards the door. Another blast flew from the right to the left. Then, a loud growl was heard and an unarmed tall combat form ran from the left side of the corridor towards the right side. Six infection forms and two small combat forms, armed with plasma pistols, followed the tall combat form.
"Looks like the Covenant and Flood are still going at it," Auto said.
"Don't worry," Eve replied. "We won't stop here. Wally stay close to me,"
"Okay," Wally said.
Eve ran out into the corridor; Wally followed. Eve looked down towards the left end and saw just a closed half-hexagon shaped door. There were no railing/pillars on the walls so the two could not see smaller doors. They were not going that way. The two looked down towards the right end of the corridor. There was a dead special ops Grunt lying on the floor. Around it were two more special ops Grunts armed with needlers and a special ops Elite armed with a plasma rifle. They were fighting the combat forms and three infection forms.
"Stay behind me," Eve said to Wally, who replied with a nod.
Eve raised her plasma rifle and fired a barrage of sky blue blasts down the corridor at the Flood and Covenant. She managed to hit and kill the tall combat form and kill both of the Grunts. However, when the Grunts had been killed, the Elite growled and took out a plasma grenade, lit it and threw it down the corridor towards Eve. Luckily, Eve saw it coming and smacked it back down the corridor towards the fight with her plasma rifle. The Elite was too busy trying to pull one of the infection forms of It's chest to notice the grenade land near on the floor next to It's foot.
BOOM! The grenade exploded. The grenade's explosion caused the three infection forms to explode. The Elite and two small combat forms were sent flying up the corridor towards Wally and Eve. They landed on the floor just a few feet in front of the two.
"Nice one, Eve," Wally said.
"Thanks," Eve replied.
The two ran on down the corridor towards a closed half-hexagon shaped door at the end. When they reached the door, they found another forced open door on the left wall lead into a corridor. The two ran down the corridor towards the end which led into a left turning. The two ran down the next corridor. At the end was a closed door, which surprised the two. However, as the two ran further down the corridor, they saw another door on the right wall. This one was fully working, as they could see by the green light on the front of it. The two walked towards the door, causing it to open.
Eve recognized the room that was on the other side of the door. They were in a cryo-tube room. However, this one was much different than the one Eve had been in when the Axiom was under attack. The cryo-tubes were lined up about one metre apart from each other at both ides of the room underneath a railing that was about twelve feet above the floor also at both sides of the room. There was a control room sticking out from the wall Wally ad Eve were at but it had some kind of corridor, which was connected to the ceiling and had two glass windows along the side of it leading from where the corridor started to the end of it, lead from the control room to a closed door on the wall near the ceiling at the other end of the room.
BOOM! An explosion caused the glass of one of the cryo-tubes, on the right side of the room, to shatter. A Flood combat form jumped down from the railing above the shattered cryo-tube onto the floor. Then a beam flew out from the left and hit the combat form in the chest, fully killing it.
"Stay close to me Wally," Eve said to Wally.
The two ran into the room. There were dead Flood and sentinel parts lying all over the floor. Two infection forms fell down from the room's right railing and headed straight for Wally and Eve. Eve fired two shots at them from her plasma rifle, killing them. Then, she fired three shots at a sentinel that had just killed another combat form. The sentinel fell to the floor and exploded into a fire.
Wally grabbed Eve by the arm and activated his anti-gravity boots. He hovered up to the railing and set Eve down on it before landing next to her. The railing led to the wall, but there was a wide ledge on the wall that stuck out about three feet. The two were about to walk down the railing when Wally stopped Eve.
"Look," he said, pointing over into the long corridor that led from the control room to the wall at the back of the room.
Two sentinels hovered down the corridor towards the control room. Just s they reached it, a door on the right wall of the control room opened and four combat forms, armed with M6C pistols, ran out. They fired on the sentinels, who retaliated by firing at the combat forms with their lasers.
"Stay behind me," Eve said to Wally, who replied with a nod.
Eve raised her plasma rifle and ran down the railing; Wally followed. The two ran over the ledge and into the corridor through a side entrance near the entrance to the control room. Eve fired a barrage of blue blasts into the control room, killing the last two combat forms and destroying the one remaining sentinel. The two then ran into the control room.
"Where do we go now," Eve asked.
"Through the door on the left," Auto replied.
Eve looked towards the left wall of the control room and saw another door there. It was still working, as it had the green light on it, and it was closed. BOOM! A massive explosion shook the room. Wally looked out of the control room's window to see the burning remains of the door into the cryo-tube room scattered all over the floor. Then, six combat forms ran in, followed by two carriers.
"C'mon," Eve said.
Eve ran over to the door, causing to open to reveal a long corridor behind it. Eve ran down the corridor; Wally followed. The two ran towards the end of this corridor. Wally quickly glanced over his shoulder to see the door, which had closed, opening again. However, this time four of the combat forms ran out of the control room down the corridor after them.
"They're chasing us!" Wally exclaimed.
Eve looked over her shoulder and saw the combat forms running up the corridor after them. She skidded to a halt and spun round. Wally skidded to a halt and hid behind Eve as she raised her plasma rifle and fired down the corridor at the combat forms. All were hit and fell to the floor dead. Eve then fired another shot at the door. It hit the light and caused the door to shut.
"Hopefully that'll stop them, for a while at least," Auto said.
Eve turned to face Wally.
"Wally," she said. "I thought you promised me that you would…fight them,"
"Eve…" Wally began but Eve cut him off.
"No, don't 'Eve' me, okay?" she interrupted. "Look, Wally. When someone makes me a promise, I expect them to keep it. But you haven't kept yours. I know you fear the Flood, but you will have to face them eventually. Just please try and do that,"
Eve walked past Wally and turned left into the next corridor. Wally sighed. He felt really guilty inside. He had made a promise to Eve about defending himself when the Flood were near. But he had not kept it. She was right. He was going to have to face his fears soon, otherwise he was going to stuck being scared of the Flood for the rest of his life. Wally sighed again and turned into the next corridor to follow Eve.
The two walked towards another working door at the end of the corridor. However, when they reached it and it opened, they saw two sentinels hovering in the middle of the corridor next to a half-hexagon shaped door that only had the top half closed. The lower half's remains were scattered down the corridor and in the corridor junction behind the door. One of the sentinels hovered down to the ground and fired a laser into the junction. Then, a small swarm of ten infection forms moved out from the corridor junction and jumped onto the sentinels. Eve raised her plasma rifle and fired two shots at each sentinel. Both sentinels exploded and fell to the floor burning piles of wreckage, also killing six of the infection forms. Eve then fired a shot each at the infection forms, killing them as well.
Wally and Eve ran down the corridor towards the half closed door. They squatted down and walked underneath it into the corridor junction They then stood. There was another corridor leading down to another door. The two ran down the corridor towards the door. It opened when they reached it.
The two were revealed with a large room with a wide and long computer panel, that started about four feet from the door, going down the middle of the room and ended about four feet from a door on the other side of the room. Along the walls were weapons in slots. They were in an armoury. Most of the slots that held the weapons were empty. Even the grenade slots were empty. Luckily, on the floor near the right wall was an open box on It's side. Scattered a few feet in front of it were several fragmentation grenades. Among the pile were about two plasma grenades.
"Pick those up, Eve" Auto said. "We'll need them for when we're in the engine room,"
Eve nodded and walked over to where the grenades lay on the floor. She knelt down and picked up some of the grenades. Wally came over and picked up the two plasma grenades. He then pressed a button on the side of the bulge on his arm. The side of the bulge opened up, revealing a small open space inside it. Wally placed the two plasma grenades inside the bulge. "You can place the rest in here if you want to," Wally said to Eve.
"Thank you," Eve replied.
Eve placed the four fragmentation grenades she had picked up from the floor in the open space in the bulge on Wally's arm. The opening then closed and became the side of the bulge again.
"How far are we from the engine room?" Eve asked Auto.
"Not far," Auto replied. "It's just a few corridors away."
BOOM! The door at the other end of the room exploded. The remains flew through the air and landed across the floor around the room. Then, a blast flew from the right to the left. Wally and Eve ran over to the doorway and looked out. The doorway led into a corridor that had another battle raging in it. Eve poked her head out from the armoury and looked up and down the corridor. At the right end of the corridor, in front of a corridor junction, were two Hunters, a special ops Elite, that was armed with a plasma rifle, and two special ops Grunts, who were armed with fuel rod cannons. The Covenant were firing down at a group of five sentinels at the right end of the corridor that had a right turning lead off into another corridor.
"We'll need to fight hard to get through these enemies," Auto said.
"Too bad we can't use the grenades," Wally said.
"We'll get through them," Eve said. "Wally, stay behind me,"
Wally nodded.
Eve raised her plasma rifle and ran into the corridor, Wally followed. Eve ran down towards the left end and fired at the Covenant. The Grunts were hit and flipped backwards onto the floor, dead.
Suddenly, Eve felt a burning pain on her back. She yelled in pain and fell over, dropping her plasma rifle. Wally grabbed Eve and her plasma rifle. He pulled her behind a nearby pillar/railing. He rested her up against the wall and knelt down beside her.
"Where does it hurt?" Wally asked Eve.
"On my back," Eve replied.
Wally gently pushed Eve onto her side. He gasped when he saw a large burn mark down the back of her suit. Thank God she had her suit's shield, at which the holographic meter appeared and the level began to fill the empty bar again, or she would have been killed. After a few seconds, Eve's shield was fully recharged again. She stood up and poked her head down the corridor. The special ops Elite was taking out a plasma grenade. Unless he was a very good thrower, it was obvious the grenade would only be targeted at her and Wally.
"Wally, I need one of the grenades, quick," Eve said to him.
Wally nodded as he stood up and pressed a button on the side of the bulge. The side of the bulge opened up to reveal the pile of grenades. Wally took out one of the fragmentation grenades and handed it to Eve. Eve pulled the pin off of the grenade and threw it down the corridor at the Elite just as the alien was about to throw his grenade.
BOOM! The fragmentation grenade exploded. BOOM! Another explosion followed, which lit up the corridor with a sky blue colour. A loud roar of pain was heard. Eve peeked her head from behind the pillar/railing to see the Hunters and the Elite lying dead on the floor.
"Alright, c'mon," Eve said to Wally as he handed Eve her plasma rifle.
The two dashed out from behind the pillar/railing down the corridor towards the junction at the end. As they approached the junction, they saw a forced open door on the left wall leading into a corridor. Above it on the wall was the words Engine room. They had made it to the engine room.
"I've disabled the corridor's door," Auto said.
Wally and Eve looked back down the corridor to see a closed half-hexagon shaped door about twenty feet away. On the other side, through the door's glass, the two could see the sentinels firing down the turning. It became obvious at what they were firing at when a combat form jumped out from the turning and whacked one of the sentinels, causing it to hit the floor and explode.
Wally and Eve ran down the corridor from the forced open door. The end of the corridor turned right into another. The two turned right into that corridor and ran down that one towards a closed door at the end. As the two approached it, the door opened. The two ran through the open doorway.
The two were in a huge room with walkway levels at the left and right ends, two huge wall-like parts in the middle of the room that were connected to each other, almost cutting the room in two. Also, there was a walkway along the side of one of the wall-like parts near the top and it had a path lead through a large gap in the wall-like part to another walkway, on the other side of the other wall-like part, that was also near the top of It's wall-like part. Also, there were four long and wide large metal rectangular-shaped exhaust couplings that went into a large shaft underneath the walkways. There were four of them, two on each side. They started from the walls above the walkways at the left and right sides of the rooms. Along the two walkways that went across the sides of the large wall-like parts were consoles, also two on each side.
"We've made it," Auto said through his com. "Now we can detonate the ship," "I don't like this," Wally said as he scanned the engine room
"Why?" Eve asked him.
"Juggernaut is nowhere to be seen," Wally replied. "And he would have brought sentinels with him."
"That's not the worst of what he's done," Auto said through his com. "He's disabled all of the command access. I can't restart the countdown, so there's only one remaining option."
Suddenly, Wally pushed Eve to the floor and jumped on top of her to shield her body with his. A beam tore across the floor, creating a burn mark. Wally and Eve looked up and saw two sentinels hovering several metres in the air. The small light next to the red to yellow and then blue, meaning the sentinels were ready to fire again.
Before Eve could react, Wally grabbed her and flew up into the air. Just in time because just as they left the ground, the sentinels fired at where they were on the ground. Wally shot up towards the walkway on the left wall-like part. Eve looked below and saw the two sentinels fly up towards them. Eve aimed her plasma rifle and fired down at them. The sentinels exploded and fell back down towards the floor.
Wally set Eve and himself down on the right end of the walkway near a console when they reached it.
"Okay now we need to find a way to detonate the ship," Eve said.
"I've got it," Auto piped up. "Eve, go up to the console and activate the exhaust couplings,"
"What good will that do?" Eve asked Auto.
"Just trust me," Auto answered. "We don't have enough time,"
Eve knew Auto was right. They had very little time before Juggernaut found a way to turn off the core for good. If he did that, then their plans of destroying Halo would be shattered. Eve ran over to the nearest console and pressed a small button.
An alarm rang out in the engine room as the exhaust coupling, below the part of the walkway where the console was, moved out from the shaft below the walkway.
"Good," Auto said. "Now you just need to throw a grenade into the shaft so it detonates and destroys the shaft."
"I'll help you," Wally said.
Wally grabbed Eve under the shoulders and hovered into the air. He then flew off of the walkway before turning round and descended a few feet until the two were a few metres from the shaft. The shaft had two doors inside it at the front which lifted up to reveal an orange/red/yellow coloured furnace. That was the target. Wally, taking an arm out from under one of Eve's shoulders and pressed on the side of his bulge. The bulge's side opened up to reveal the pile of grenades. Wally took out one of the fragmentation grenades and handed it to Eve. Eve pulled off the pin and threw it at the furnace. The grenade bounced off the top of one of the doors and went into the furnace.
BOOM! The grenade exploded inside the furnace. BOOM! The entire shaft suddenly blew up, throwing the two doors and a few large chunks of the inside of the shaft through the air to rain hell down on those on the ground. The alarm rang out through the engine room again as the exhaust coupling moved back towards shaft.
"Good work, guys," Auto said through his com. "Fusion reactor number one destroyed. Now destroy the other three so the engines detonate."
Wally flew over to the other end of the walkway and set Eve down on it. Eve ran over to the console and pressed a button on it. The alarm rang out once again as the exhaust coupling moved back from the shaft towards the wall. Wally then hovered over Eve and picked her up under the shoulders again. Wally flew over to the other shaft and handed Eve another fragmentation grenade. Eve pulled off the pin and threw it into the shaft as the doors lifted up.
BOOM! The shaft exploded into a fireball. The doors and some of the insides blew off and fell to the floor. The alarm rang out through the engine room again as the exhaust coupling moved forward back towards the silo.
"Good work!" Auto said through his com. "Two of the silos are destroyed. Now we just need to destroy the other two,"
Whilst Auto was speaking, Wally looked down at the engine room's floor. He gasped. The engine room's door opened. Out of the corridor came an enormous wave of Flood. There were loads. Carrier forms, combat forms and infection forms. Then, a large number of sentinels, numbering probably thirty or forty, flew out from the engine room's left and right walkways and fired on the Flood, killing some of them. Those Flood that had weapons fired back, shooting down some of the sentinels.
"We have to be quick," Wally said, nodding down at the battle on the engine floor.
Wally flew up to the walkway and set himself and Eve down on the path. The two ran down the path that went through the middle of the wall-like parts. Half-way down the wall-like parts were two doors. One on the left wall and one on the right wall. BOOM! An explosion erupted on the wall a few feet behind the two. A fire raged out of the hole.
"Oh crap," Eve said as she looked at the fire. "We better hurry before the ship gets blown to pieces."
Wally and Eve continued running down the path towards the other walkway. When they reached it, they saw the other two exhaust couplings lead out from under the walkway towards the wall far ahead of them. Wally and Eve ran left towards a console. When they reached it, Eve pressed a button. The alarm rang out in the engine room as the left exhaust couplings moved out from the shaft. Wally grabbed Eve under her shoulders and flew down in front of the shaft. Wally handed Eve another fragmentation grenade. Eve pulled the pin off and threw it into the shaft as It's doors opened.
BOOM! The shaft exploded, throwing the doors and parts of the inside down to the floor. Once again, the alarm rang out as the exhaust coupling moved back towards the shaft.
"Keep it up," Auto said through his com. "Only one more fusion reactor to go,"
"We're almost there!" Eve exclaimed.
Wally flew over to the walkway and set himself and Eve down onto the path. The two ran towards the right console. On the wall near the console was a door. The two felt a great happy sensation wash over them. They were almost done. All they had to do was destroy this last shaft and then find a way off of the ship and Halo. Wally felt happier then he had ever been before. He was going to Earth with Eve! He knew almost nothing of his own race so everything was going to be new to him when he would get there.
Wally and Eve reached the console.
"This is it," Eve said. "It's time to destroy Halo,"
BOOM! An explosion from the pathway drew the two's attention there. They turned to look at where the explosion had erupted from.
"EVE WATCH OUT!" Auto yelled.
Before Eve could turn her head round, she was pinned to the walkway floor. A hand grabbed her neck and squeezed hard. Eve looked up and saw her attacker. It was Juggernaut.
"YOUR NOT GOING TO DESTROY MY INSTALLATION!" he yelled at Eve. "I'LL KILL ALL THREE OF YOU IF I HAVE TO!"
Eve clenched her fist and threw a punch at Juggernaut, getting him in the eye. Juggernaut yelled in pain and stood up with a hand over his eye. Wally, who had been knocked to the floor by Juggernaut's sudden appearance, scrambled over to Eve.
"Are you okay?" he asked her.
Before Eve could reply, Juggernaut kicked Wally right in the stomach. The impact winded Wally and caused him to fall onto the walkway floor, gasping for breath. Eve got up to help Wally but Juggernaut launched another kick at her, getting Eve in the ribs. Eve was also winded and fell to the walkway floor.
Juggernaut laughed as he walked up to Wally, who was still gasping for breath.
"How pathetic," he said. Juggernaut grabbed Wally's chest and held him about a foot off of the walkway floor. "Your still weak like last time, hey Wally,"
Juggernaut then released Wally, causing him to land painfully on his arm on the walkway floor. He then grabbed Wally, held him up and punched his chest several times before grabbing his face and launching a single punch at it. Wally's head snapped backwards and Juggernaut threw him to the floor. Wally did not get up.
"WALLY!" Eve screamed.
Eve felt pure shock run through her. Juggernaut had just killed Wally. Then, blind rage filled Eve. She got up and charged towards Juggernaut. She jumped onto his back and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck in an effort to drag him to the walkway floor. Juggernaut, however, was too quick for Eve. He grabbed her arms and threw her over his body down towards the other end of the walkway. Eve landed a few feet from the other walkway's console. She groaned as she saw Juggernaut walk towards her. When he reached her, he looked down at her.
"You should not have opposed me, Reclaimer," he said as he kneeled down next to Eve. "Now you have to suffer the consequences,"
Eve's eyes were closing. She could not find the strength to keep them open. Her body was already trying to recover from the impact of being kicked and thrown to the walkway floor. Juggernaut grabbed Eve by the throat. His grip felt stronger than carbon steel. He then lifted Eve several inches off of the ground. Eve gasped for breath. Her vision was fading. Her breaths were getting weaker. It looked like the end of her. All Eve, Auto and Wally had worked for was gone.
"JUGGERNAUT!" someone behind Juggernaut yelled.
Juggernaut looked behind him to see Wally standing there.
"Let her go!" Wally growled.
Juggernaut cackled at Wally's words.
"And what are you going to do if I don't?" Juggernaut asked in a mocking tone.
"This," Wally replied.
Before Juggernaut could react, Wally raised the arm with the bulge and fired a red laser. Juggernaut was taken completely by surprise and the laser hit him in the chest. Juggernaut yelled as he flew backwards, dropping Eve when he was hit, and hit the console.
"Eve!" Wally exclaimed as he ran over to her. Wally knelt down beside her.
Please don't be dead! Wally thought Please be okay!
Suddenly, Wally heard a growl. He turned to see Juggernaut standing up from the walkway floor around the console. He had a look of utmost fury on his face. Pure hatred was running through him. He was going to make Wally pay for shooting him with his laser.
"I'll kill you!" Juggernaut hissed as Juggernaut took a step towards Wally.
BOOM! The walkway floor around the console grinded loudly as something exploded on the bottom of it. Juggernaut fell back onto the console. Then, the metal around the console grinded loudly. Juggernaut realised what was happening and was about to activate his suit's boots.
Then, the metal floor around the console snapped. Juggernaut screamed as he fell down to the floor. He hit the floor, landing painfully on his chest. He groaned as he got up. Then, he looked up and saw the console and metal floor falling towards him. Juggernaut screamed as the massive objects fell towards him. Then, like someone had flicked a switch, his screaming abruptly stopped.
Wally looked away when the console and metal floor landed on Juggernaut. He may have killed Juggernaut, but he was on his own. Eve was dead.
Suddenly, Wally heard something. It sounded like a stir. It was coming from behind him. Wally turned to see Eve sat up with a hand on the side of her head.
"Eve!" Wally exclaimed.
Wally ran over to Eve and embraced her in a tight hug. Eve was startled by this. However, she soon wrapped her arms around Wally. A tear came out of her eye and rolled down her face.
"Wally," she said, though it was muffled. Wally moved back from her a little to hear her better. "Thank you," she continued. "You saved my life."
"Well you've saved me," Wally replied. "And, I've used my laser. I didn't want to but he was going to kill you,"
"Oh, Wally," Eve said in happiness, causing more tears to fall down her face. "Thank you,"
Then, Eve moved towards Wally. Her jaw cupped with his. Wally went wide-eyed, taken completely by surprise by this. He heard a little moan escape from Eve. Then, they broke free from each other. Wally blushed.
He and Eve had kissed.
"Thanks, Wally," Auto said. "Now let's destroy the last shaft,"
Wally and Eve nodded and stood up. Wally activated his boots and hovered over Eve. He picked her up under the shoulders and flew down in front of the shaft. Wally handed Eve a plasma grenade. She pressed her thumb down on the device's orange thunderbolt and threw the grenade into the shaft as the doors lifted up.
BOOM! The shaft exploded. Another alarm rang out in the engine room as the exhaust coupling moved back towards the shaft. Then, the engine room went a red colour.
"That's it!" Auto exclaimed. "We've done it! The engine's gone critical!"
"Where do we go now?" Eve asked Auto.
"That door near the right console," Auto said. "It leads to an elevator that'll take us to the warthog bay. Don't ask questions guys, let's just get moving,"
Wally flew back over to the walkway and set himself and Eve down on it. The two ran over to the door near the right console. It opened as they approached it. The two ran through the open doorway into the corridor behind it. At the end of the corridor was another door. Wally and Eve ran down the corridor towards it. However, when they reached it, the door was closed and had a red light on it.
"What are we going to do?" Eve said. "We're trapped."
"I'll try and unlock the door," Auto replied.
BOOM! The door exploded, throwing Wally and Eve to the floor. Eve groaned as she lifted herself up from the floor. Wally did the same.
"You okay?" Eve asked Wally.
"Yes, I'm fine," Wally replied.
The two stood up and looked through the doorway where the door had once stood. There were several burning pieces of the door scattered down the corridor and in the room that was behind the door. Wally and Eve ran through the open doorway into the room. It was a large room and had a large square shaped hole in front of the two. Then, a large square shaped metal platform descended into the room. It was an elevator. On the elevator were Covenant. Three special ops Grunts and a special ops Elite. The Elite roared as he spotted the two but before he could fire on them, Eve raised her plasma and fired a barrage of sky blue blasts at the Covenant squad. The Elite was hit repeatedly until It's armour's shield broke and it fell to the elevator floor, dead. The Grunts were hit and yelled as they either fell sideways or flipped backwards, dead.
"Alright, quick!" Auto exclaimed. "Onto the elevator!"
Wally and Eve ran forward onto the elevator. When they boarded it, a large metal door with a cross going through the middle of it descended down and blocked the two off from the room. The two looked up and saw the rest of the elevator shaft. At the top was a hole that led into the sky outside.
Wally and Eve jolted slightly as the elevator rose up the shaft.
"Auto to Echo 419. Come in Echo 419," Auto said through his com.
"Roger, Auto. I read you five by five,"
"The Axiom's engines are going critical, Foehammer," Auto said. "Request immediate extraction! We'll grab a ride and meet you at external access junction 4C."
"Affirmative, Auto. Hey, things are getting noisy down there, everything okay?"
"Negative! Negative!" Auto replied in a panic tone. "We have a wildcat destabilization of the ship's fusion drive core! The engines must have sustained more damage than we thought!"
The elevator jolted slightly again as it stopped outside a large square shaped hole that led into a warthog bay. Wally and Eve ran off of the elevator into the warthog bay. Along the side of the walls were several warthogs. One at the right end was turned on It's side. Wally and Eve ran over to the nearest one. Eve got into the driver's seat whilst Wally jumped into the passenger seat.
"Auto, how long do we have until the ship explodes?" Eve asked Auto.
"Analysing," Auto replied. "We have six minutes until the fusion drive explodes. We need to go now,"
Eve started the warthog. The engine hummed. The tires screeched loudly as Eve drove the warthog down the vehicle bay through a large circle shaped opening at the back wall. The warthog came out at the bottom of a curved ramp. Just a few feet ahead of the warthog were several Covenant special ops Grunts and Elites. They spotted the two and fired on the warthog. The blasts hit the side of the vehicle, causing it to shake. Eve drove away from the Covenant as fast as she could.
"That was close," Eve said.
"Look out!" Wally shouted, pointing ahead.
A massive swarm of infection forms appeared from behind the top of the curved ramp. The warthog shook wildly as it ran over them. The explosions of some of them could be heard by the two, but were hard to hear as a few explosions at the bottom of the ramp occurred.
Eve screeched the warthog to a halt as it reached the top of the ramp. Ahead of them was a large and wide corridor-like area of the ship. There were many small tower-like structures ahead of them and several tunnel-like paths that led underneath the floor and then back up to the floor. Along the side of the massive walls were long railing paths that stretched on all the way to the other end.
"C'mon, Eve. Go!" Auto said through his com.
Eve drove the warthog forward down the ramp towards the corridor floor. Another explosion blew up part of the floor as they reach it. Eve swerved the warthog around the explosion into one of the tunnel paths that led underneath the floor. The warthog drove down the slope of the path. Then, the path rose up again as it led back up to the floor. Eve drove the warthog up the path. The vehicle flew out of the path and landed with a crash on the floor. Luckily, the warthog was still on It's wheels.
Eve drove the warthog forward. She swerved left around a tower-like structure and then right round another. The second tower exploded moments later. It collapsed and landed on the floor.
"Up ahead!" Wally shouted pointing out ahead of the warthog, causing Eve to bring the warthog to a screeching halt.
A group of four sentinels were fighting a group of Flood combat forms. They were on some kind of ramp. On both sides of the ramp was another of the tunnel paths that led under the floor and then came back up to the surface again. Eve would not have to drive down the tunnel paths in case there were more enemies down there. The only other way was over the ramp. Eve breathed in and slammed her foot down on the accelerator.
The warthog shot forward towards the ramp. The sentinels and Flood were busy fighting each other to notice the warthog coming towards them. BOOM! One of the sentinels exploded as the warthog collided with it whilst driving up the ramp. Two of the combat forms were sent flying forward when the warthog hit them. The warthog flew through the air and landed on another small ramp that led out of the wide corridor area.
BOOM! Two explosions erupted a few metres in front of the warthog as Eve drove into another wide and long corridor, only this time it was curved like an S. Eve drove left into the curved corridor, narrowly missing a pillar with two combat forms on it. Eve swerved right in the next curve where a group of carrier and combat forms had just come out from a large hole in the wall. The warthog hit one of the carrier, causing it to fall to the floor and swell up. Eve drove the warthog away from the group of Flood as fast as she could, narrowly missing the infection forms as the carrier exploded.
The warthog swerved around another pillar and drove on. Eventually, it came to the top of another ramp looking over another long and wide corridor like area. There were many of the tower-like structures, only this time many of them were spaced at least ten metres from each other because they had large platforms on top of them. The platforms formed some kind of path that went all the way down the wide corridor area, probably towards the other end. However, there was a problem for Wally and Eve. In order to get to the path around the bottom of the tower-like structures, Eve had to drive the warthog around some kind of barricade. That would take too long because they did not know if any Flood or Covenant or sentinels were hiding around or behind the barricade waiting to kill anyone that went by.
"Auto, how long do we have left?" Eve asked Auto.
"Three minutes and forty eight seconds!" Auto replied. "C'mon, we have to get moving!"
Eve nodded and slammed her foot down on the accelerator. The warthog shot forward down the path towards the barricade. When they were a few metres from it, an enormous explosion behind the barricade threw four combat forms through the air. The explosion also caused a nearby tower, that was not connected to the platform paths, to sway.
"Drive right!" Wally shouted.
Eve skidded the warthog to a halt on It's side. She then drove the warthog forward towards the side of a small ramp that led to the railing path. The warthog shook as it drove up the ramp and came onto the railing path. Eve then skidded the warthog sideways and it hit the wall but was facing in the direction of the end of the wide corridor area. Eve drove the warthog down the railing path towards the end of the wide corridor area. Wally looked out at the tower-like structures as they drove past them. Several explosions erupted from them, causing many of the towers to sway and collapse. As the warthog was about fifty metres from the end of the railing path, an explosion several metres ahead of the warthog blew a hole in the path. Eve slammed her foot down on the brake but the warthog had been going too fast. It drove up the side of the path, that had been bent upwards by the explosion, and flew through the air. The warthog landed with a crash as it came back onto the railing path. Eve then slammed her foot down onto the accelerator and drove the warthog forward towards the end of the path.
"Auto to Echo 419 are you nearby, over?" Auto said through his com.
"Roger, Auto. I've got a fix on your signal. I'm coming in now,"
"How long do we have left?" Eve asked Auto.
"Two minutes and fifty eight seconds." Auto replied.
"Oh, no," Eve said. "Are we almost at external junction 4C?"
"Almost," Auto replied. "Just about another one hundred metres ahead,"
Eve drove the warthog forward towards the end of the path. Then, she turned left and drove the warthog off of the path onto the corridor floor. She then drove the warthog forward again up a ramp that led into another wide corridor, except this one had no towers or platforms or railing paths. Eve drove the warthog down the corridor towards a wide platform on the other side of a large circle shaped opening. When the warthog came out onto the platform, Eve slammed her foot down on the brake. Wally and Eve got off and looked up at the sky. They were near the hangers on the side of the ship near where the engines were.
"Come on, Echo 419," Eve whispered as she scanned the sky. "Where are you?"
"There!" Wally exclaimed, pointing up at the sky.
Eve looked over to where Wally was pointing. Coming down towards the ship was a pelican. Echo 419's pelican! They were going to be rescued.
"I see you guys. I'm coming in now,"
Echo 419's pelican was just a few thousand feet from the ship. Eve wanted to jump and shout in joy. They were going to be saved! They were going to esc-wait a second!
Two shapes were following her. They were instantly recognizable. Covenant banshees.
"Auto to Echo 419! There are two Covenant banshees approaching you on your six! Evade! Say again, Evade!" Auto said through his com.
Then, the worst happened. The two banshees fired a barrage of plasma blasts at the pelican from their cannons. The blasts hit the back of the pelican and exploded.
"NOO! I'm hit! Mayday! Mayday! Air foil structures have been blown to hell! Engine's gone! I can't hold her! I can't hold her!"
"NO!" Eve yelled as a fire erupted from the back of the pelican, followed by another explosion.
Echo 419's pelican flew below the platform towards the bottom of the ship. Wally and Eve could only watch helplessly as their only way of escape crashed into the side of the Axiom and exploded.
"What are we going to do?" Wally said, hysterically. "We're trapped! We're going to die!"
"How long do we have left?" Eve asked Auto.
No response.
"Auto?" Eve said.
"Guys, I've just done a scan of the ship's inventory." Auto said. "The inventory still shows one Longsword fighter docked in the hanger near the engines. If we move now, we can make it!"
Wally and Eve ran over to the warthog. Eve got back into the driver's seat whilst Wally got back into the passenger seat. Eve started the engine again and drove the warthog forward towards another circle shaped opening at the other end of the platform. When the warthog went through the opening, the two were lucky because an explosion tore through the platform and broke it in two, causing the pieces to fall down the ground thousands of feet below.
Eve drove the warthog down the wide corridor that led from the opening. When she reached the end of it, she turned the warthog right into a slope corridor that went down at a 25 degree angle. The warthog was going so fast that it almost slid down the slope corridor towards the bottom. When the warthog reached the bottom of the corridor, Eve drove it left through another circle shaped opening into another S-curved corridor.
"Auto, how long do we have left?" Eve asked Auto as she drove around the first pillar in the corridor.
"One minute and thirty four seconds until the ship blows," Auto replied.
Eve swerved around the second pillar in the corridor. She carried on driving down the now straight part of the corridor towards a circle shaped opening at the end. Wally looked back down the corridor to see several explosion erupt from the walls and floor. Sentinels and Flood were charging out of some of the holes and began battling each other. Neither were aware that their time was up. Their time on Halo would be over in just one minute and thirty seconds
The warthog jolted as it drove through the opening. It flew through the air, over a ramp and landed in a large room.
The warthog crashed into several overturned ammo barrels, stopping the vehicle completely. Wally and Eve were thrown from the crashed vehicle onto the floor. Eve groaned as she stood up. She scanned the room they were in. It was huge. There was a large square shaped opening at the other end that showed the sky. The warthog was in some kind of path between several barricades that were spaced two metres from each other and were placed along both sides of the path. At the end of the path was a small ramp. In front of the ramp, that was slightly higher and was being held up by railing pillars, was a platform. Half-way down the platform was the shape of the Longsword fighter.
"Wally, come on!" Eve exclaimed, grabbing Wally's arm.
Wally and Eve ran through the gaps between the barrels. Around them, explosions erupted. Then gunfire and grenade explosions followed. As Wally and Eve came from the gaps between the ammo barrels, they saw Covenant, Flood and sentinels fighting each other. A special ops Elite even ran out from behind a barricade with infection forms on it. The Elite roared in pain as it tried to pull off the infection forms, but it was no use. The Elite then dropped dead onto the floor.
Wally and Eve ran past the dead body of the Elite towards the ramp at the end of the path. The two were happy. They were going to make it. They were going to escape Halo and stop any chance of the Flood escaping the ring and any chance of the sentinels activating Halo.
Wally and Eve reached the top of the ramp. Eve climbed up onto the platform and helped Wally up. The two then ran on across the platform towards the Longsword fighter. They were about half-way across the platform when…
ROOOAAAARRRRR!
Wally and Eve skidded to a halt and turned round. There was a massive group of combat forms, both big and small, chasing after them.
"Wally, go and bring the ramp down." Eve said to Wally. "I'll hold them off,"
Wally nodded and ran across the platform towards the Longsword fighter. When he reached it, he searched the fighter's 'tail' until he found a control pad near the back of the fighter's 'tail'. He pressed a button. A loud whirring sound was heard. Then, a hole appeared on the bottom of the tail as a ramp lowered down onto the platform. Wally turned round.
"Eve!" he shouted, causing Eve to turn her head in his direction. "Come on, the ramp is down!"
Eve smiled and went to turn to run towards the ship. Suddenly, something wrapped round her arm. Then, something wrapped round her other arm and then her chest. Eve looked behind her to see a combat form, that she had knocked off the platform onto the ramp below, with It's long tentacles wrapped round her. The combat form pulled Eve towards it, causing her to fall to the platform floor. Another combat form wrapped It's tentacles round Eve's arms and bean pulling her towards the edge of the platform.
"AAAAHHH!" Eve screamed. "WALLY! HELP ME!"
Wally, who was about to board the ship, shot round to see Eve being dragged towards the edge of the walkway.
"EVE!" Wally shouted.
Wally wanted to run and help her. He wanted to save her. But the Flood were there. Sure he had plucked up the courage to use his laser again, but not against the Flood. He was still terrified of them.
Then, a combat form jumped down and knocked Wally down onto the ramp. The combat form stood over Wally. Wally tried to scramble away from the combat form but he was too afraid. The combat form stepped towards Wally, raising It's tentacle hand. Wally went wide-eyed and looked over at Eve. He saw the combat forms pulling her closer towards them. There was just a few feet of platform between Eve and the combat forms. Eve looked up at Wally. It was then he felt hurt and sick inside. He had promised Eve he would face his fear. He promised he would defend himself if faced against danger. He had let her down.
NO!
Wally had spent his entire fearing the Flood! Every night he would have nightmares on how they would kill him and make him one of them! Not this time, no. This time, he was going to fulfil his promise.
As the combat form went to bring It's tentacle hand down onto Wally, It was stopped. Wally's right hand had grabbed the arm just as it was about to strike. Wally then stood up and raised his other arm. The front of the bulge opened up, revealing a dark silo inside it.
Eve was still trying to break free from the combat forms' tentacles. But it was no use. They were thick steel that had glued themselves to her. No matter how much she squirmed or kicked or wriggled, she could not escape. Eve was now only a few feet from the combat forms. She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth.
"This is it, Auto," she whispered.
"It's been great working with you, Eve," Auto replied.
They both knew the end was near. Eve was hoping she would be killed, even if it was a slow and painful death, rather than become one of the Flood. She waited for the end.
It never came.
All of a sudden, Eve felt the tentacles release her. Were they infecting her? Eve slowly opened her eyes to see Wally standing over her. And he was firing his laser at a group of Flood in the path that led up to the ramp.
"Wally!" Eve exclaimed.
Wally smiled and helped Eve up.
"You came back," Eve said.
"Not only that," Wally replied. "I've fulfilled my promise, Eve. I stood up to them,"
Eve smiled and embraced him in a tight hug. She was proud of him now that he had faced his fears and beaten the Flood.
Suddenly, a combat form, armed with a plasma pistol, fired a blast at the two. It missed, but hit the control pad. An alarm rang out from the fighter. Wally and Eve looked over at the fighter. Their worst fears were realised. The control pad was malfunctioning,! And it was making the ramp rise!
"C'mon!" Eve exclaimed.
Wally and Eve ran across the platform towards the fighter. They were determined to get to the fighter before the ramp closed. If that happened and they were not on the Longsword fighter, then their chance of escape was gone. Eve looked behind her to see a massive group of combat forms charge up the path towards the ramp. They probably knew what was going to happen. Even though there was little time left, the Flood were still to try and take Eve and Wally with them.
"Guys, the ramp's almost closed!" Auto said through his com in a panicked tone.
Auto was right. The gap between the ramp and the ship was getting smaller with every passing seconds. Just another two or three seconds and the two's chance of getting off Halo would be lost forever. Wally did not want that to happen.
Without thinking, Wally activated his boots and flew forward towards the ramp. He had to try and stop it from closing. However, he was not quick enough. He reached the ship, but got stuck right in between the ramp and the ship.
"WALLY!" Eve screamed.
It was horrible. The ramp and the ship were pushing against Wally with such force that even through his suit, Wally felt terrible pain. That pain was because his bones were cracking and breaking as if they were made of plastic. The pushing even caused wounds to rip open along his arms and legs and chest. Blood began to flow. Wally began coughing up blood and screamed in pain, though it was slightly gurgled because of the blood in his mouth, as he felt his ribs, his hip bone and the bones in his hands, upper legs and arms break like glass.
Finally, thankfully, after a few seconds but what seemed like forever to Eve, the ramp lowered. Wally's limp body fell onto the platform floor. Eve felt tears well up in her eyes. She rushed over to Wally and knelt down beside him. She placed one hand on the back of his head and held it a few inches up from the floor. Her other hand was on Wally's back.
"Wally!" she chocked through her gasps. "Please be okay! Please!"
Wally stirred, but also gritted his teeth. The pain was great. Even though Wally had his bodysuit, Eve's hand on Wally's back began to turn red because of the blood. Wally looked up and saw a large group of combat forms climb up onto the platform.
"Eve…" Wally managed to say. "Get out of here,"
"What?" Eve asked, unable to believe what Wally just said to her.
"Go," Wally gasped as it became harder for him to breathe. "I'll…I'll hold…them off. Get off…Halo. Save yourself."
"I'm not leaving you behind," Eve protested. "You've saved me. Without you, I wouldn't be here. You need to come back to Earth with me,"
"No," Wally replied as he tried to lift himself up from the floor. "Go. Just go,"
"But…" Eve said.
"GO!" Wally shouted.
Before Eve could protest, Wally grabbed her and threw Eve into the ship. Eve landed on the floor that led from the ramp up to the cog pit. Eve looked up and saw Wally, who was standing on his two legs but it was obvious he was really weak and could not stand up for long, place a hand on the control pad. The ramp lifted up from the ground to seal Eve off from the platform. As the last few inches of space shortened, Wally looked into Eve's eyes one more time.
"E…Eve," he said weakly.
The pain in his legs was so great. Wally just wanted it to go away, but he was not going to fail on telling Eve something since he first knew what they meant.
"I love you,"
The ramp closed. Eve got up and tried to open the ramp but it was no use.
"Eve," Auto said. "We have to go. We have just twenty seconds left."
Eve did not want to leave Wally. She wanted to be with him. Tears fell down her face. But Auto was right, they had to go.
Eve got up and ran up the corridor towards the cog pit. She ran up to the control panel and placed a hand on a scanning device. She then pushed a switch forward next to the scanning device before sitting down in one of the two seats. The fighter shook as the engines burst to life. The craft rose several feet up into the air. Wally, who, despite the terrible pain, was kneeling down on the platform facing the hanger exit, looked up and watched as the fighter flew off out of the hanger and into the sky. Wally smiled as the pain suddenly disappeared from him. Eve was free. He turned to see the combat forms just a few metres away. He closed his eyes and got ready for his death. The longsword fighter flew off into the sky towards space. Behind it, the Axiom witnessed Halo's landscape once more before an explosion tore through the back of the ship. A large pillar of smoke rose from the ship as Eve's fighter disappeared into the sky.
A few seconds later, the fighter flew out of the clouds into the darkness of space. The trillions of stars became visible. They lit up the dark sky.
Suddenly, a bright light lit up space around Halo. The reason; an explosion on the bottom of the ring. Then, a ling of ring shockwave flew out from the bottom of the ring and stretched through space until it hit the many mixed surfaces of the inside of the ring. Then, Halo began to break apart. Eve could see the cracks forming as Halo was quickly torn apart.
In the cog pit, a small holographic screen lit up from the control panel. In red letters it said Engine temp critical.
"Shut them down, we'll need them later," Auto said to Eve, who pressed a button on the control panel.
The engines turned off, leaving the fighter drifting through space. Eve sighed.
"Fancy a look?" Auto asked her.
Eve got up from her seat and walked over to the cog pit window. She looked at Halo. The ring had shattered into many sections. The large pieces drifted away from where they once were. One piece from the bottom of the ring spun round wildly as it flew up towards the top of the ring. It collided with another section of the ring, splitting it in two. The two large pieces spun off into the darkness of space in a cloud of fire, smoke and dust.
Halo had been destroyed.
Eve turned round and sat back down into the seat. Auto sighed.
"Eve," he said. "I'm really sorry. Wally was a really good friend. But we did what we had to do, for Earth. The Covenant armada that followed us has mostly been destroyed, the Flood have been destroyed and we've saved the galaxy by destroying Halo."
"Maybe so," Eve replied weakly. "But everyone that has been like family to me. Everyone that I've known since I've joined the E.R and the task force. They're gone. Wally saved me. He stuck by me and protected me no matter what. And he finally sacrificed his life to save mine,"
"Eve…" Auto began.
Eve squeezed her shoulder. Auto's voice was cut off completely as the data cord rose up from her shoulder. Eve then took the data cord in her hands and placed it on the control panel in front of her. Eve then buried her face in her hands. Wally. The one person, who had stuck by her to protect her and guide her through Halo's dangers and had finally sacrificed his life to save hers, was dead.
As the fighter drifted off away from Halo, the ruins of the once mighty world continued to break apart into small sections, becoming separate from being one.