Sorry for the delay. I've been busy getting ready for college to start up again.
Special thanks to those who have been dropping me new reviews. I don't get that many for this story but oh well. As long as people still read what I write, that's all I care about.
Enjoy.
(CHAPTER 26) STORMING THE FORTRESS
The two Spartan's approached the entrance to the cavern. There was no illumination inside the massive tunnel, only the dark metal walls that lead deeper into the interior of the planet. "Dude, your planet just keeps getting weirder and weirder." Devon said slowly as he walked up to Eric. Not taking his focus away from their discovery, Eric replied, "Tell me about it, I didn't even know this was down here."
The large group of ODST's walked up to the Spartan's. Calabrese walked up beside Eric and said. "Well Sir, I wasn't planning on something like this; any suggestions for orders?" Eric replied still not taking his focus away from the caverns. "Yeah, have half of your troop's guard this entrance, you and the other half are going in with me and Devon." Anthony nodded and then opened up his COM. "Alright men, platoons one through six, you're stationed out here at the entrance, don't let anything past you. As for the rest of you, you're going down with me and the Spartan's." Calabrese heard several replies of "Yes Sir." From his squad leaders and watched as the guard teams took formation around the cavern entrance. The Helljumper's in their black combat suits took positions behind rocks and rubble and blended in with their surroundings completely out of sight. Calabrese looked at Eric and said, "They'll watch our backs for us. We should be fine for having nothing following us down." "Good." Eric replied as he hopped down the rocky slope and walked towards the cavern entrance.
"I don't know about you, but I don't think it's the best idea to head down there without at least some heavy weaponry. Who knows what's down there or how far down it goes." Yuna said with her usual sassy voice. Eric looked at the tunnel and said. "Looks like I better be extra careful and get started heading in now then." "Or!" Yuna replied, "You can wait a few minutes for the equipment drop Dokuro and I called in for you guys." Dokuro cut in over the two Spartan's COM and said, "Speaking of which, here it comes now." Eric and Devon looked up and saw a large number of Pelican's bringing down vehicles. Dokuro continued, "For the Helljumper's we called in for ten Warthog's, six with the standard chain gun and the other four with the Gauss Cannon, fifteen Mongooses," Two more Pelican's slowly hovered down and dropped their payloads off in front of the Spartan's. "And two Scorpion Tanks for our special boys." "Emphasis on the Special part." Yuna said with sass. "Have I ever told you how much you girls rock?" Devon said as he walked over to one of the Scorpions. "Not enough." Dokuro replied.
Eric walked over to his tank. His and Devon's Angel Pack's would be too bulky to fit into the driver's seat. He unlatched it from his battle suit and secured it to the side equipment rack of the Scorpion and Devon did the same. "Yuna, you're gonna have to keep giving me feedback down there. Keep on your guard for any sign of energy spikes and directions." "Of course." She replied, "However, it's going to be as much of a guessing game for me as it is for you down there." Eric hopped into the driver's seat of his tank and said, "Oh, somehow I don't doubt this." He closed the hatch above him and opened his team COM. "Alright troops, find a vehicle and mount up, Calabrese, I want you on my tanks chain gun." "Yes Sir." He replied.
Devon hopped up on his tank and looked at the ODST's finding positions and vehicles to mount up in. He saw one Helljumper in particular that stood out. This one was noticeably taller than the others and looked to have a lot more muscle mass. Devon pulled up the Helljumper's stat's on his HUD.
It read:
UNSC ODST 1254-7635B
Lance Corporal: Phil Gowen
ODST Enlistment Date: 2-21-2551
AGE: 20, SEX: Male, HAIR COLOR: Red, EYE COLOR: Blue, HEIGHT 6'6", WEIGHT 265lbs.
"Hmm, only a Corporal, and he's still new to the ODST's. I wonder if he can handle front line work." He watched as all the vehicles were filled leaving Gowen standing with no one to mount up with. "Be nice and give the kid a chance." Dokuro said calmly. Devon shrugged and said, "Why not… Hey kid." Gowen looked over at the Spartan. He was somewhat stunned. He was still new to the UNSC and he was being called by one of the Spartans. He quickly double timed it over to the tank and took his helmet off. He had short cut red hair and a goatee. Despite his size he seemed to be a mellow person and had calm eyes. He saluted and said, "Yes Sir?" Devon looked at the ODST. He was huge from muscle mass. Devon said, "Damn kid, doin' a little extra body building after basic training?" Phil nodded and said, "Yes Sir! I want to make sure I'm always at my best." Devon nodded and said, "Aren't you going to mount up with anyone?" "I'm trying to Sir." Phil replied, "I'm still the greenhorn and no one wants to be the one who has to watch my back." Devon replied, "Tell you what, I need a gunner and I think I'll give you a shot and see if you're any good." He saw the Helljumper grin with excitement. The kid clearly wanted to prove himself and make his squad proud. "Thank you Sir! I won't let you down." Devon nodded and said, "That's great, now hop in the turret. We got work to do." Gowen put his helmet back on and hopped up on the tank and took his place in the chain gunner position. "We're ready." Devon radioed into Eric.
All of the Helljumper's took their positions and mounted up on vehicles. "Where do you want us Sir?" One of the Helljumper's asked. Eric replied, "I want the Gauss Cannon Warthog's up front with me and SPARTAN-69, chain gun hog's right behind, and Mongooses follow behind and take out any stragglers that slip past our front lines." "You got it Sir." The Helljumper replied.
Eric and Devon powered up their tanks and headed forward into the dark cavern. The only thing illuminating the tunnel was the headlights from the large fleet of UNSC vehicles and the occasional spray of sparks that shot out from under the two Scorpion Tank's treads as they skid along the metal surface.
Dokuro called out over the Team COM. "Be on alert, I'm picking up obstacle obstructions in our path up ahead." "Understood." Devon replied. He radioed into Eric. "Well, should we over kill it with the tank's or just let the ODST's handle this?" Eric replied, "Depends, if it's just a few stray grunt's, they can have a field day with them and kill them how they want, but if it's something big then I'm taking over. I mean come on! They gave us tanks! They can't expect us not to have a little fun in them." "Good point Devon replied.
"I'm picking up a few objects in our path about fifty feet up ahead." Yuna reported. "Alright, I'll take a look." Eric replied as he opened up his team COM. "All advancing troops, sit tight a minute. We're going to check out something up ahead." "Roger that Sir, holler if you need us."
"Spot lights on." Eric radioed into Devon. He switched on his tanks spot light and slowly advanced up ahead with Devon close by. The two shone their lights around looking for any type of obstruction. Up ahead, Devon's light reflected off of an object. "Got something." He said as he inched closer. "Be ready on that turret." Eric called up to Calabrese. He nodded and let his finger lay lightly on the trigger.
Eric shone his spot light into the darkness and ended up finding the objects. Several abandoned Ghosts were sitting on the ground in disarray with no sign of their drivers. Eric looked at his motion tracker and saw no sign of movement. "Picking up anything Yuna?" Eric asked. "Nothing." She replied. "Keep going." Eric radioed in and said, "Advance." As he started his tank rolling again.
"Well, at least we know their down here." Devon said calmly. "Yeah, but it's dark as hell down here and that gives those bastards plenty of places to hide and wait for us." Eric replied. Devon shot back, "Hello, we have tanks, what do they have? Foot soldiers and plasma pistols. I don't feel threatened." "Yeah, good point." Eric said as his fleet rolled past the abandoned vehicles.
The cavern path began leading downward and a new feature popped into view. The cavern was now somewhat illuminated by faint blue lights. It did little for lighting the area but at least it was a change from complete darkness. Something else began to change. The deeper the fleet descended, the colder the temperature became. "This is odd." Yuna said with confusion. "We're going deeper into the planet; the temperature should be rising not dropping." "This whole mission is odd Yuna." Eric replied.
The path up ahead curved and again led down. Around the curve another strange feature appeared. A thick ghostly fog. "Alright, this is creeping me out." Devon said over his COM. Eric opened his team COM. "All troops ready weapons. We could be heading into a trap." Eric and Devon drove ahead and felt the path level out. They continued ahead and for a quick moment the fog dissipated and the Spartan's took a look at their surroundings. They had driven onto a wide bridge that was at least one hundred yards wide and its length spanned out until it vanished into the thick fog. The span seemed to hang over a deep chasm that fell into a dark abyss.
"Take it easy now." Eric radioed into Devon as the two cautiously moved forward. Devon heard a Mongooses engine and looked over. One of the ODST's driving the four wheeler moved ahead of the tanks with his passenger and started surveying the area. "What are you doing trooper?" Eric said annoyed that someone was disobeying his orders. "Get back into position." "Hold on Sir," He replied, "I'm just checking something out for you." Eric replied sternly, "That's not your job, now get back into position."
Almost instantly, a sharp purple beam of energy sailed out of the fog and struck the passenger on the Mongoose. The ODST fell limp and collapsed to the ground as blood seeped from a hole in his helmets visor. Another round quickly sailed out of the darkness and hit the driver in the hand. Out of shock he gripped the throttle and overturned the vehicle. He fell to the ground and yelled in pain as he gripped onto his wounded hand. "Man down! Get them out of there!" Devon yelled over the COM. Before anyone could react, a large plasma mortar from a Wraith Tank sail towards the wounded ODST. He yelled out in fear as the large plasma round struck him and vaporized him.
"Son of a bitch!" Eric cursed to himself as he began messing with his tanks controls. He radioed to Devon and yelled, "Figures! We can't go anywhere without these assholes getting in our way!" He opened his team COM and yelled, "All units, spread out and search for targets, kill any that you find! Devon, you're going in with me. Find those Wraiths and kill them."
On the other side of the large bridge stood the Commander of the Covenants underground assault. It was an Elite Major. He was far different then his other Elite brothers. He was larger in both height and muscle mass and instead of armor; he wore a ceremonial style black and gold robe. He stood amongst a group of other higher ranked Elite Officers and watched as his forces attacked the humans. An Elite in black armor approached the Elite Major and said, "The human's are taking casualties. None of those wretched creatures will live through this." The Elite Major stood with his arms crossed. He replied calmly. "Good, make sure none of them pass our defenses. I don't want them anywhere near this relic."
Eric took aim with his tanks cannon. "Yuna, can you get me a location on those Wraiths?" She replied, "I'm picking up movement and heat signatures all over the area ahead of us. My guess is that anywhere you shoot, you're going to get kills." "Well that's good to know." Eric mumbled to himself. He took aim at a random location in the fog and squeezed the cannon's trigger. An orange explosion flashed in the fog followed by a deep blue flash. "See that." Yuna said happily. "You destroyed a Ghost."
Devon was in the same situation. He couldn't sight on any targets. He could only make guesses from the flashes of stray plasma fire he saw coming out of the fog. He heard Yuna's voice come on over the team COM. "Attention all units, focus fire on the lower line of fog and use your best judgment by following the direction of plasma fire." As her voice cut out, Devon said to himself, "That's kinda reckless." Dokuro shot back, "Since when are you against doing something reckless!?" "I'm not," he replied, "I just don't want to waste too much ammo on random shots." "That doesn't stop you when you're on foot with a rifle, what makes a tank any different? I mean, I figured you would be going crazy with this thing right when you sat in the driver's seat." Dokuro replied. Devon took aim randomly into the thick fog. "You know what?" He said as he took aim. He squeezed the trigger and fired a round from his tanks cannon. "You're right!" He could see muffled blue explosions coming from deep in the fog. Good, he knew he was hitting targets. Dokuro continued, "See, blind fire work's sometimes." Devon cracked a smile and said, "Yeah, only this time you aren't yelling at me for doing it."
Plasma fire continued to shoot wildly from the fog with still no clear sight of their source. "This isn't working," Devon said, "We need to move in deeper if where gonna kill these bastards." Eric opened up his Team COM. "All units advance. Let the tanks do the heavy work, I want minimal casualties!"
Calabrese popped off several rounds from the chain gun on Eric's tank. He sighted in the direction of plasma fire and shot off several rounds. The weapon fire from that location stopped and he knew he had gotten a kill. A Beam Rifle's round speared through the fog. Eric saw the sleek purple beam impact on the side of Calabrese's helmet. He fell to the alloy of the tank and laid still. Eric instantly opened the tanks hatch and yelled, "Calabrese!" A moment later he sat back up ran his glove over the side of his helmet. "Whoa that was close!" He said with humor in his voice. Eric sighed. " Jesus, I thought they got you." "No Sir," Calabrese replied as he took aim again on his chain gun. "Just laying low in case there was another round behind that one." The side of his helmet had a sleek line carved into its alloy from the Beam Rifle's round. It would be another war trophy for the Helljumper.
Eric sat back down in the driver's seat and closed the hatch. He heard Calabrese call down to him, "Let's head in there, I wanna return the favor to the bastard that scuffed my helmet." Eric throttled up and the tank roared forward. "Tell you what." Eric said as he yelled back to Calabrese. "My Sniper Rifle is attached to the weapon rack right beside you; return the favor the same way." Calabrese looked over and saw the weapon attached to the Spartan's personal weapon rack. "I like the way you think, Sir." He replied.
The onslaught of UNSC forces advanced deeper into the fog on the large bridge. The constant popping of automatic weapon fire echoed through the large dark cavern. Plasma fire splashed off of the tanks armor plating and the alloy bubbled from the intense heat. Up ahead, Devon's greenhorn chain gunner saw a blue flash appear in the thick fog. It stayed stationary for a few seconds then vaulted into the air. "Oh shit!" He yelled out as he shot at the source. The blue orb penetrated out through the fog and landed right at the front of an advancing Warthog. "Grenade!" Gowin called out as he shot his chain gun. The blue orb detonated sending the Warthog and its three passengers tumbling over the edge of the bridge into the dark pit below.
Out of the thick fog appeared several Grunts and a handful of Jackals. "Hit em!" Devon ordered to his gunner. Gowen quickly sighted on them and blew them away with his turret before they could react. Devon looked at a monitor mounted on the control panel of his tank. It showed him troop positions and locations of vehicles. Eric's tank was now about fifty feet away from him and was out of sight due to the thick fog. He radioed in, "I'm starting to run into ground troops, be on alert." Devon could hear the boom of Eric's tanks cannon over both his radio and outside. He replied, "Really, you too?"
An Elite in black armor ran from the bridge path up to a platform built for the higher ranked troops to watch over the battle below. One of those watching the battle unfold was the Elite Major. The Elite in black armor approached and said, "Excellency, the human's are advancing to close." The Elite Major slowly turned and approached the black armored Elite. It calmly spoke. "Then why aren't you down there repelling them?" The black armored Elite lowered its head and held its fist to its chest plate in honor and said, "I can assure you, we are doing everything in our power to stop them from advancing. However, we have discovered a setback in our attempts." The Elite Major replied slowly, "And what might that be?" The black armored Elite continued, "Two of the humans that are approaching are the ones who wear the special armor; the armor that the Demon who destroyed the sacred ring wears." The Elite major frowned. "I see." He said sternly.
The Elite Major walked towards a holo projector. He tapped his slender finger over several images and opened up a radio contact.
Eric's tank roared forward. He was in a constant barrage of plasma fire and fighting to prevent the loss of any more of his troops. He heard his radio fill with static followed by Yuna report in. "Unknown contact establishing a connection. I'm trying to fight it off." Eric frowned under his visor. "Really…" He uttered. "Track the signal and let it through." "Are you sure?" His A.I. asked with concern. Eric nodded. Yuna sighed and said, "Alright."
A harsh alien voice came on over his radio. The Elite Major spoke. "You dare defy us by leading an army of filthy human footsteps into the realm of the gods?" Eric replied with a grin, "I defy a lot of things that generally tend to piss your race off, coming down here was apparently one of them. But that doesn't mean that I plan on stopping." The Elite Major scoffed at the Spartan's ignorance. It replied, "You fight with valor and I see that we are both equal as Commander's, but it will be no use. You will fall before the might of the Covenant."
Eric replied sharply. "My skills as a commander make your race shudder and die. I've killed thousands of your troops single handedly. Don't think for an instant that I'll stop just because of your threats." The Elite Major replied, "You speak highly of yourself and of your abilities, but how well can you fight?" Yuna spoke over his private COM. "I'm picking up his general location. He's about a half of a mile ahead of our current position." A red NAV marker appeared on his HUD. Eric aimed his tanks cannon and said, "You're about to see how well I can fight. And by the way, I hope you like 90 millimeters of tungsten!"
He squeezed the trigger and the tank shuddered as he watched the round sail off into the thick fog and detonate in the pale darkness. The radio transmition was filled with static and he heard no reply. "I think you got him." Yuna said calmly. "Were it so easy." The Elite Major replied over the radio. It continued in its harsh voice. "Unlike those vulgar Brutes, we Elite's still believe in an honorable battle. I would hope a warrior of your class believes the same." Eric replied, "I believe in nothing more than stopping your Covenant and nothing else." The Elite Major replied, "So be it. We will make it an even fight."
Back on the other side of the bridge, the Elite Major shouted to its troops, "Wraiths! Take your positions and begin your attack!" "Yes Excellency!" An Elite called back. "Make sure none of them live; especially those two in the special armor."
"He seems friendly." Devon radioed over to Eric. "Yeah, we meet all kinds of interesting people don't we." Eric said back as he sighted on targets.
Out of the blackness, several sharp rounds from Beam Rifles pierced through the darkness and struck several more of the Helljumper's. The radio began to fill with constant chatter of troops requesting aid from medics and for cover fire. The fog up ahead suddenly lit up with a bright purple flash. Out of the darkness, five plasma mortars from Wraith Tanks simultaneously appeared. "Oh! That's not good!" Devon called out. Eric opened up his team COM. "All units. Focus fire on any one of the Wraiths! Take them out before the do the same to you!" Eric moved his tank towards the middle of the bridge and radioed out to Devon. "Form up with me. We'll have a better shot at this with two tanks on one." "On my way." Devon called back.
The two tanks slowly formed up and ran parallel to one another. "Get me a lock on the closest target Dokuro. I'm not firing into the blind, it'll be too easy for them to spot us." She immediately replied, "Incoming Wraith roughly thirty yards ahead of you." A red NAV marker appeared on his HUD. Dokuro opened up her own team COM. One that she made sure was unhackable. "All troops, I'll be updating all of your HUD's as I see fit from your locations. Any close target to you that appears in your sights, I want you to take care of them. That may be our only shot at this." Several replies of "Yes Ma'am." Replied.
Two loud boom's echoed through the massive cavern as the tanks both opened up on the incoming target. Up ahead, the bright electric blue flashes illuminated the thick fog. "Good! We're hitting them!" Devon called out. "Keep firing!" The two tanks again fired. This time a large blue explosion could be seen. "Target destroyed!" Yuna called out. "Updating your HUD's for the next one."
Gowin unloaded his chain gun while Devon drove him closer to the threats. He called down to Devon. "You know, this kinda fun; getting to kill these alien bastards with a Spartan! I can't wait to tell my buddies back home about this." Devon replied as he continued to fire the tanks cannon. "Tell you what, when we get out of this, I'll buy us both a drink to commemorate these fun times but for right now, just shut up and kill shit!"
A stray plasma mortar sailed over the two tanks and detonated behind them. "Ok, that was to close for comfort." Eric said. "They know we're here, let's change locations." "On it." Devon called back. Another mortar detonated next to Devon's tank. This one impacted a Warthog that was taking point beside him. The vehicle exploded in a fireball instantly killing the passengers. "No! Those bastards!" Phil yelled out as he shot his chain gun in the direction of the Wraith. "No!" Devon shouted. "Not while we're changing positions!" Phil continued to fire for a few seconds. He knew one of the other Helljumper's in that Warthog; one of his friends from training. Several plasma rounds fired at Devon's tank. They impacted off of the thick alloy and pelted across the front of the tank. Two of the rounds struck Phil in the upper right chest plate and in his left arm. He yelled out in pain and hunched over.
"Gowen!" Devon shouted. "Status!?" Phil grinned his teeth in pain under his visor. The young ODST quickly looked over his wounds. He saw his chest plate was warped and semi melted from the heat of the plasma and his arm was bleeding steadily. He yelled down to Devon. "I'll be alright, I just need to patch this up real quick." He reached into one of the pouches on his combat armor and pulled out a silver canister over Bio Foam. He quickly shook the can and put the nozzle into the wound on his arm. He sprayed a quick shot of the foam into his wound and growled in pain and did the same for the shot to his chest.
He let his wounded arm rest to the side and held his right hand on the chain gun. Devon yelled up to him. "Can you keep fighting?" He asked. Phil nodded his helmet and replied, "Yeah, I'll be fine." The Helljumper hid his pain and continued to sight for target's while the force of UNSC troops advanced.
Meanwhile, the Elite Major could see how close the human forces were getting. They were to close for his liking. In human distance they were only a quarter mile from his location. He frowned and called out. "Wraiths, focus all fire, Ghost's, target the smaller vehicles, and sniper, kill anything you see still moving!" Down below, several Grunts waddled towards their parked vehicles and mounted up. The Ghost's eerie purple glow flashed to life and the vehicles sped off into the fog.
"One Wraith left!" Yuna called out. "Hit it hard Devo!" Eric ordered. The tanks reports echoed through the cavern and one final large blue explosion could be seen. Devon laughed to himself "Ha ha! Wraiths can suck my…" He was cut off by the glow of more incoming vehicles. "Oh come on!" He yelled out."
A formation of Ghosts sped past the tanks. "Get those Ghosts!" Devon shouted over his team COM. He could hear Gauss Cannon fire from the Warthogs behind him. Returning fire with his tanks cannon wasn't an option; the Ghosts were too close to his troops for a safe explosion. He heard one of the ODST's radio to him. "We're fine Sir! Keep advancing!"
The barrage of plasma fire intensified. The two tanks as well as the other vehicles and troops were being pelted by white hot rounds of plasma. "Your tank is taking some hard hits!" Yuna reported. Her Spartan continued to fire rounds from the tanks main cannon. He yelled back, "It's gonna have to tough it out because there's not much I can do about it right now. I have no cover down here."
The battle was now in complete chaos. All that was seen in the dark cavern was nothing but orbs of plasma and the bright orange streaks of bullets. Two pink shards from a Needler impacted on Calabrese's torso as he was shooting. They instantly deatonated sending a shower if pink shards as well as the ODST's blood splattering onto the tanks alloy. Calabrese yelled out from the wound but ignored it. He grinned his teeth and continued firing.
On Devon's side of the bridge, his battle wasn't fairing well either. From inside the cockpit of his Scorpion, he heard the sound of metal grinding followed by red alert lights on his tanks control panel. He radioed over to Eric, "My right front tread is locking up; I don't know how much more of this my tank can handle!" Eric shot back as he blew away another Ghost with his tanks cannon, "Keep pushing as far as you can!" Up ahead, the fog started to thin out and a massive wall came into view. It looked almost alien and was intricately designed with geometric patterns and had an almost cathedral like look to it. He thought to himself, "We must have found what their after." He quickly asked, "Yuna, how far away are we from that structure?" She quickly replied, "We only have about a quarter mile left, keep pushing forward!"
"This is it boys!" Eric yelled over his team COM. "We're almost to whatever it is that they don't want us near, don't let those bastards stop you! Keep moving!"
A wave of green flashes appeared. "Incoming!" Calabrese called out. A barrage of Fuel Rod Cannon rounds sailed towards Eric's tank. "Evade them!" Yuna called out, "This tank can't take that many more hits!" Eric shot back, "This thing can't exactly just skip away!" He watched as the rounds neared his tank. He quickly called out, "Calabrese, bail out now!" He watched as his gunner hopped out of the tanks turret right as three of the thick green orbs of plasma struck the front end of his tank. Calabrese rolled onto the ground and quickly regained his footing. He pulled out a Battle Rifle off of the back of his battle armor and sighted for targets. Up ahead he saw a large group of hunters emerge from the fog and again shoot more rounds from their Fuel Rod Cannons. Several more impacted off of Eric's tank. Inside, his control panel sparked and red warning lights flashed. Its motor shut down and a small fire plumed out of the front end. "Bail out now!" Yuna yelled.
The metal hatch swung open as the Spartan pulled himself out of the now useless vehicle. He quickly hopped down to the metal surface of the bridge and ran to the side of his tank. He quickly unfastened the straps holding his Angel Pack on and positioned it against the alloy of the tank. He saw several more fuel rod rounds flying towards him. He quickly positioned the back of his suit against the pack and let it attach to his armor. He saw his HUD flash and saw the Angel Pack's stat bar appear. "Move!" Yuna yelled. The Spartan quickly sprinted away from the tank as another barrage of plasma fire impacted against his tank. There was a loud boom as his tank was destroyed from the severity of the damage followed by a bright orange ball of fire.
He looked at Calabrese and said, "Follow me! We're going to SPARTAN-69's tank!" The Helljumper nodded and the two sprinted off towards Devon's tank. They both dodged plasma fire and bullets and eventually saw Devon's tank struggling to advance forward. Eric hopped onto one of the metal plates covering the tanks treads. He pulled out his Sniper Rifle and began picking off targets. He yelled over to Devon. "This isn't working!" Devon shot back. "You think!?" Eric picked off several of the hunters with four well placed shots from his sniper rifle. He said back to Devon, "We aren't that far away, we might as well make a break for it." "Shit." Devon mumbled to himself. He continued, "This is gonna be one of those things that's probably going to get me killed. Either way isn't looking to promising right now so what the hell." Devon popped the hatch on his tank and hopped out and quickly ran around to the side of his tank and attached his Angel Pack. Gowen jumped from his turret and ran around the side with the others and helped give cover fire.
Eric opened up his Team COM. "Attention, this is SPARTAN-45 requesting immediate back up from all ODST forces stationed in the pit. I repeat, all ODST stationed in the pit, we are being overrun and are requesting immediate backup, over!" One replied, "We're on our way Sir!"
The Elite Major walked over to the entrance of the massive structure. Several Elites were busy attempting to hack a holo terminal on the front of what looked like a massive door. The Elite Major approached the Elites and asked, "How much longer? We cannot afford to waste any more time on this." One of the Elites replied, "Only a few more minutes Excellency. We are almost through."
A frag grenade bounced into the Covenant inner fortified area. It detonated next to several parked Ghosts and destroyed them. The Elite Major frowned. The humans were right on top of him and his troops had failed to repel them. He shouted, "If that relic isn't opened within my next breath, I'll see to it that you are all used to absorb the human's gun fire!" One of the Elites replied, "I have it Excellency! The relic is opening!"
Devon and Eric felt the massive cavern shudder. Up ahead they could see a deep blue light pour out from what looked like a large door parting. "No! Dokuro yelled. "Their getting inside; you have to stop them!" Calabrese cut in and said, "You two go! We'll hold off the rest and make sure nothing follows you in." Eric quickly patted Calabrese on the shoulder and said, "Kick their asses." Devon looked at Gowen and said, "And don't worry, I'm still treating you to a dink after all of this." Gowen replied, "I'm holding you to that."
Eric and Devon turned and quickly activated their Angel Packs and flew off towards the opening door. Once in the air they had a panoramic view of the area. The bridge they were on led to what looked like a massive wall of a fortress built into the cavern walls. On the end where they were headed was lined with Covenant forces. Devon radioed to Eric and said, "Got a plan for this one?" Eric replied, Oh hey, look at that. We leapt into another battle without thinking again, didn't we?" "You always do that!" Yuna yelled. Eric continued, "Tell you what, let's just land at the entrance to that fortress and hope for the best." Devon looked ahead of him and saw all of the Covenant that were waiting for them when they landed. He sighed and said, "Yeah, we might as well."
Up ahead, the Elite Major saw the two Spartan's flying towards him. He snarled and yelled, "Snipers! Kill those wretched humans! Do not let them get through!" A line of Jackals took aim and began firing rounds from their Beam Rifles.
Out of the darkness, the two Spartan's saw a wave of purple beams of plasma fire at them. "Snipers!" Devon yelled. A round struck Eric dead center in his chest and killed his shields. He quickly folded the wings of is Angel Pack over the front of his body and shielded himself while his shields recharged. He pulled his own Sniper Rifle up to firing position and said to himself, "You wanna play dirty? Fine! I will too!" His shields quickly sparked and recharged. He immediately unfolded his wings and went into a dive and Devon followed him. He took aim and unloaded the four shots from his rifle into the bodies of the jackals. "Hit those Elites!" Devon called out. Eric looked at the entrance to the fortress and saw several Elites making their way inside. "I don't think so!" The Spartan called out as his popped off another clip into the Elites.
From down below, the Elite Major shouted, "Stop them! I will not see them get past us!" From above the two could see Elites making their way inside. Eric slung his sniper rifle. He sent his Angel Pack into full burn and rocketed himself forward towards the opening. He radioed over to Devon. "Follow me down and fold in your pack before we reach the door." Devon's acknowledgement light blinked on Eric's HUD. He carefully aimed himself and flew towards the opening. When he was twenty feet away from the opening, he folded in his packs wings and killed its engines. He impacted hard on the ground and slid forward on the smooth metal floor sending out a large plume of sparks from under his suit. Devon did the same thing and blew past the Covenant forces and crashed to the metal floor. The two sprawled out on the floor to slow their sliding and eventually came to a stop about two hundred feet from the main door. The two quickly stood and began picking off the Elites that got through with their Sniper Rifles. Eric sprinted back towards the door and saw a holo panel on it.
To him, the marking's on this holo panel seemed familiar but he ignored it and pressed his finger against one of the symbols. The door shuddered and slowly slid closed. On the other side he could see the Elite Major approaching the door. The alien was massive and was far bigger than any Elite he had ever encountered. He watched as it stopped as the doors slid to close together to be passed through safely. It seemed to scowl at him as the two doors slowly shut and latched. Eric quickly held his hand over the holo pad and said, "Yuna, lock this down, I don't want them getting through." His glove sparked gold as Yuna interfaced herself with the holo panel.
A few seconds later she returned to his mind and said, "There. The only way they can get through now is if they blast that door down, and I don't see that happening." Eric turned and saw Devon looking down into the huge tunnel ahead of him. He walked over to his fellow Spartan and said, "Looks like we got a little bit of exploring to do." Ahead of them was a dimly lit tunnel. It was massively high and seemed to head deeper into the planet's surface and stretched out into the darkness. There was no telling how far down it led or how long it went on for. "Yuna, Dokuro," Eric said calmly. "I want both of you to be on alert for any sign of energy spikes. Who knows where the source of that energy is down here." Dokuro replied, "Well, for now you two have only one way to go. I'd get moving if I were you." Eric and Devon again spread the wings on their Angel Packs and lifted off of the metal surface. They adjusted their positions and flew into the darkness of the massive tunnel.