Chapter 26: Silenced
AN: Quick question for all of my loyal readers out there, do you think my writing has improved since the start of this book? And how can I make it better? I would appreciate your feedback on this matter. Thanks!
Carter stood up in the Pelican's troop bay as it descended to the beachhead where his team would deploy. "This is it, Spartans, the first tower. Lots of contacts on the ground. Get ready to- SHIT! AA Wraith! Evasive maneuvers!" Too late. The fuel rod projectiles from the AA Wraith hit the Pelican straight in the back, dislodging the Warthog and destabilizing the dropship. "I gotta put her down here, boys. Too risky to try anywhere else. Good luck." "Move, move, move!" Jun, Jorge, and the Chief all stormed out of the troop as fast as they could, with Carter being the last one out. "Shade Turrets! Fire and maneuver! Hit them from the side!" The Chief pulled up his Spartan Laser and took careful aim so as to hit one of the turrets and the Brute behind it. It worked. The turret was decimated and the Brute was struck down as well. "One down!" Jun took a pot shot at the Grunt operator of the other turret, and three shots later, it was destroyed as well. A red laser streaked through the air and hit the power core on the back of the AA Wraith, detonating it and destroying the tank. "LZ secured, Commander. Nothing moving." "Hold position, I'm on my way. Spark believes that Truth will activate the rings at any time. If he does, Humanity… The Covenant… Halo will kill us all. Get to the first tower and shut it down. The other Spartans have secured a foothold near the third, and the Elites have touched down at the second.
A Pelican flew in from the general direction of the Dawn and dropped off a modified Warthog and a Mongoose. "I'll take the Mongoose; you guys get the 'Hog." The Chief jumped on the driver's seat of the ATV while Carter and Jun jumped into the front of the 'Hog. It had no turret on the back, instead modified to hold Jorge's modified MK. V armor and equipped with a rail to mount his MG on. "Clear! Let's get going."
The vehicles took off up a large hill to an overlook on the tower entrance. "Tower in sight! Watch for heavy armor." The Chief sped over the ridge and crashed his 'Goose into the front end of a Wraith. "I could use this." He jumped onto the outer hull and ripped open the hatch to the pilot's seat, grabbed the Brute pilot and threw him out, and then jumped into the seat and closed the hatch. "Now this is more like it." He turned and fired on the Brutes and Grunts emerging from the entrance to the tower. The ball of superheated plasma tore into the Covie lines, decimating them. "Nice job, Chief. Let's get in there, disable that tower." The Chief exited the Wraith and stuck a nearby plasma grenade on the power core, destroying the tank. "Good thinking."
Inside the tower, the Spartans fought through many Grunts and Jackals, aided very minimally by their Brute leaders. The four found an elevator up to the observation room, which supposedly held the controls for the barrier. At the top, the team encountered a team of Brutes led by a Hammer-swinging nut-job of a Chieftain. (Not really. It was very intelligent. For a Brute.) The Chief pulled up his Spartan Laser and charged it, but the Brute saw it and dove just as the laser discharged. "Shit! Engage!" Carter slammed a fresh clip into his DMR and sniped a Brute captain before it could react, and Jun and Jorge took down the Chieftain with combined fire that would have made a Hunter take cover. (And not just behind its big-ass shield.) The Chief tossed a frag grenade at a pair of Brutes that were hiding to regenerate their shields. The grenade killed both, and with that, the room fell silent. "Looks clear." "Does someone have Active Camouflage on?" "No… Why?" "Okay then." The Chief grabbed the shotgun off of his back, swiveled around, and fired straight at Carter. The 8-Gauge buckshot pellets tore into a camouflaged Brute that was standing in front of the Spartan Commander. "Hey, what the… oh." Jun ran to the window and hit a button which shut down the power to that part of the shield. "Good work, the Elites should be just about to~" The tower next to theirs shut down. "That's two. It's all up to Johnson and the other Spartans now."
A minute passed without the third tower shutting down. "Sergeant Johnson, get that shield down, ASAP!" "Commander, Johnson is a POW, and we've been engaged by a lot of Brutes. We need some backup, NOW!" "Roger that, NOBLE Four. Chief, link up with the Elites and proceed to the third tower, ASAP." "Yes, ma'am. Hang in there, Emile. Help's on the way." The Spartans sprinted to the elevator and jumped out when they had enough clearance to jump. They jumped into their vehicles and sped back to the beach, ignoring all along their path.
At the beach, two Hornet attack craft dropped out of the sky and landed square in front of the Spartans. "I won't fit in or on those." "That's okay, Jorge. We have a Pelican inbound to pick you up." "Thank you, Commander." The Pelican flew in and Jorge stepped on, while Carter, John and Jun got in or on one of the Hornets. "See you at the tower." The Hornet, under the deft control of Jun, bobbed and weaved to evade plasma fire from numerous Banshees and Loyalist Phantoms. They passed the second tower with Jorge's Pelican trailing by just a few hundred feet. As they neared the third, however, the Pelican stopped dead. "AA Wraiths. You need to take them out before I can drop these boys off." Jun fired a pair of missiles at the nearest Wraith while Carter pulled up his Rocket Launcher and blew up the other with both rockets. "Area's clear, Lieutenant. Put her down." "Roger that." The Pelican and Hornet descended as a Separatist Phantom dropped in and deployed 5 Elites, The Arbiter among them. "We must move, Spartans, your friends will not last long." The Brutes outside the tower fell quickly to the combined firepower of ODST's, Sangheili, and Spartans.
Inside, there were four Jackals, a shitload of Drones, and a pair of Hunters. "Fuck this shit." Carter reloaded his RL and fired both rockets at the same Hunter, killing it and about 10 Drones. "I'm out." The second Hunter fell to an inhuman (or rather in-alien) amount of lead spewed from Jorge's machine gun. The Jackals ran away as their walking tank friends died, and the Drones, which evidently couldn't tell that they were fighting Demons, fell to another barrage of lead from Jorge. "Clear!" The rest of the trip to the elevator was relatively easy, with only minor resistance. As they reached the elevator, the Arbiter began to walk away. "Disable this tower and the barrier will fall. Go Spartans! We have no time to waste." The elevator appeared and was descending towards the four humans. On it was one very badly beaten up Spartan-II. "James!" "Johnson and Emile… Captured by the Brutes." James lost consciousness and fell to the ground. "Jorge, Jun: get him out of here. We'll go disable the tower." "Sir. Commander Keyes, we need extraction on the double." "On my way."
Carter and the Chief, supported by the Arbiter and the two remaining Elites, swept through the tower to the elevator up to the observation room, and again, the Arbiter and the Elites stayed behind. "We will defend this area, Spartans. Go! Before the Prophet activated the rings!" At the top, the Spartans found the room filled with… nothing. "Kat!" Carter ran to the Lt. Commander's limp body and checked to see if she was still alive. "She's alive, but injured. I don't think she's coming to anytime soon." "Get her out of here. I'll handle the tower." "Alright." Carter slung Kat over his shoulder and walked to the elevator. "Good luck, Chief." "You too." John walked over to the window and pushed the button to deactivate the tower and the barrier. "Good work, Chief. Shipmaster, begin orbital bombardment." "I shall beat the Prophet's guards until the land is glass."
The CCS-Class Shadow of Intent flew into view, just as a slipspace rupture opened above the battlefield. "High Charity, By the Gods- BRACE FOR IMPACT!" Small meteor-like objects separated from the main structure and hurtled for the ground. One of these shot straight through Shipmaster Vadum's ship. Another shot through the window of the third tower.
"Shipmaster, what's your status?" "Sustained major damage! Weapon system offline." "Chief, get out of there, get to the Citadel, and stop Truth." "Yes, ma'am." John shouldered his MA5C Assault Rifle and fired into the flood of… well, Flood, that was coming at him. He let a few of the little infectors bounce off of his shields while he reloaded and then made a mad dash for the elevator. "Commander, there's Flood here. Get Kat out, now." "Already done, Chief. We're on a Pelican back to the Dawn as we speak, and… wait; did you say Flood?!" "I did. Get Jorge and Jun, and we'll assault through to Truth's location." "Roger that, Chief." The Chief fought down to the ground floor and found the Arbiter slicing through the last of the Flood swarm. "Spartan! We must go, now! The Parasite's arrival will only accelerate the Prophet's plans." "Why would the Parasite come here?!" "The Ark is out of range of all the active Installations! Priority: we must contain~" "No. First we stop Truth, and then we deal with the Flood."
The Arbiter and the Chief left the tower and found a Pelican dropping off the other three Spartans and a pair of Warthogs. "Let's move, now!" The team piled in and sped off towards the Citadel. A minute later, the Citadel was in sight, and the two LRV's began to take a beating from the Covenant forces there. "Citadel in sight, Commander, and the Brutes are throwing everything they've got at us." They sped past a sniper tower and a Wraith tank, while nearly skidding off of the edge of the cliff. A Hornet and a Falcon, outfitted with special Spartan Lasers instead of machine guns, landed on a nearby overlook. "Birds are in the nest, Spartans. Good luck." "Chief: You and the Arbiter take the Hornet, we'll take the Falcon." "On it, Commander." The Chief took the pilot's seat, while the Arbiter rode shotgun, and Carter piloted the Falcon. "Aw, fuck! Scarab!" "Not just any Scarab. I think that's a Super Scarab!" "All units: concentrate fire on the Scarab!" "Chief, what's so special about a Super Scarab?" "A Super Scarab, Spartan, is a much more heavily armed and armored variant of the Scarab, and is nearly invulnerable." "Oh…" Let's stay focused. Take out the legs, and then we'll expose and hit the power core." The Scarab's main gun charged, and obliterated a column of Scorpion tanks sent to support the Spartans. "DAMN!" Jorge discharged the mounted Laser and broke through the hydraulics in the front right leg. "Got one! Front right!" "Hi the back left next! That way, it can't get up very easily!" The next leg went down after another barrage of Lasers and missiles and chainguns. The Super Scarab stooped to the ground in order to stop it from toppling like an AT-AT on Hoth (Whoops! Wrong multi-million dollar sci-fi universe!) "Yeah-hoo! You're all clear, Chief! Let's blow this thing and go kill that Prophet!" The Chief let loose a volley of rockets into the ass-end of the Scarab, exposing the fragile and volatile plasma reactor. Another pair went out and collided with the reactor, starting a chain reaction that would destroy the Scarab. "MOVE! HAUL ASS, SPARTANS!" Ten seconds later, the reactor detonated with the force of a MAC focused on the head of a pin.
The Falcon and the Hornet landed on a bridge that connected to the Citadel where Truth was about to activate the ring. During the run inside, the Chief pulled his Spartan Laser off of his back and readied it, while the Arbiter and Carter readied Energy Swords. Jun slapped a fresh clip into his Sniper Rifle, and Jorge checked his machine gun. "Chief, how close are you to the control room?" The group stormed onto the elevator up to the control room as Truth gave a 'final speech' to his followers. "Not close enough."
"My faithful… stand firm… Though our enemies crowd around us, we tread the blessed path. In a moment, I will light the rings! And all who believe… shall be saved!"
At the top, the group was ambushed by another swarm of Flood, but as they tore into the Parasite, it talked to them. "Do not shoot, but listen! Let me lead you safely to our foe. Only you can halt what he has set in motion." The Flood forms moved around the Humans and the Arbiter, as if unaware of them. The group charged through two corridors filled with Covenant fighting the Flood and being slowly defeated. In the third and final corridor, the Covenant had been defeated and were being assimilated into the Flood. The Chief activated a light bridge at the end of the corridor, and the five warriors prepared to finish the decades long Human-Covenant War.
Virtual pat-on-the-back to anyone who can guess why I capitalized 'Citadel'. (NO GOOGLING ALLOWED! CHEETAHS! You should know this!)