Author's note: More replies.
dragonmaster1992: I could consider doing that, but I don't know for sure. And thanks for all the reviews.
CT-325: Crap, I screwed that up. Thanks for the heads-up, and I'll try to fix it in later chapters.
Longer update than last time, but shorter than what I usually do. I realized I got a lot of good reviews from the past two chapters so thanks a bunch for those, I always appreciate it. Just to let you all know, after this chapter I'll just reply to reviews in those private messages things. Well, that's it, here's chapter 26.
Friendly Fire
As Fi sat up every part of his body groaned in protest. The last thing he remembered was him and Darman firing at Tartarus, then getting caught in the side with the hammer and thrown into the wall, where he had fallen into unconsciousness. He shook his head and tried to stand up, using the wall for support. When he was standing he figured out quickly that he had a couple of broken ribs. He also realized that he was standing in what looked like to be a cell with an energy shield blocking the doorway. He wondered what happened to everyone else, and decided to take a look in the other cells, but what he saw surprised him.
There were hunters and elites in the cells, not humans. Why would they imprison their own kind? But then he saw a familiar face among the aliens.
"Atin!" he whispered, "Hey, Atin, wake up!" He thought he hadn't heard him until he raised his head where he was sitting against the wall. When he saw Fi he was instantly on his feet.
"You alright?" asked Atin.
"Just a couple of broken ribs," replied Fi, "Do you know where the others are?"
"Well, Darman fell down that hole so I don't know what happened to him," he said with a hint of worry in his voice, "Then the rest of us got captured, I think they said something about taking them to a place called High Charity."
"Quiet humans!" snarled a voice in the cell next to him. He looked over and saw an elite wearing blue armor, making it appear that it was very lowly ranked.
"Hey, if you haven't noticed we're all trapped in these cells together," Fi replied, "We're on the same side, you know." The elite just snorted and backed up into his cell where he couldn't see him. "Someone's in a bad mood," said Fi.
"I would be too if I was in his position," replied Atin, looking at the elite's cell.
"Why?"
"Weren't you listening to anything Tartarus said?" he asked.
"No, I was too busy being knocked upside the head with a hammer."
"No, I mean before that, when he was talking to that elite, the Arbiter I think."
"How do you know his name?" asked Fi, surprised.
"I've been listening to some of the conversations in here," he replied, "But that's not the point, before he attacked Tartarus was talking about how the elites no longer belong to the Covenant, and his race, the brutes, were going to kill them all."
"You are right," said the elite from earlier, walking back up so they could see him, "The brutes have already murdered the high council and are moving down from there until each one of my race is destroyed."
"So, what are they doing in here?" asked Fi, pointing to the hunters in the cell beside Atin.
"They have allied with the elites, along with the grunts," the elite said, "It has become a civil war within the Covenant." Fi nodded, an awkward silence settling in until he asked,
"What's your name?"
The elite didn't answer for a moment, then said, "Jeno 'Netamee"
"The name's Fi," he replied, and then pointed to Atin, "and that's Atin." Jeno acknowledged it with a nod, his mandibles clicking. Just then the door to the room opened and four brutes entered with a couple of jackals following them.
"Oh great," Fi muttered, eyeing the brutes.
One of them heard him and turned to glare at him, "What did you say human?"
"What?" he asked, trying to look innocent, "I didn't say anything."
The brute snorted, "You won't be when General Grievous comes to pick you up." Now Fi really was silent.
"What's with the sudden protection?" asked Atin from the other side of the room.
"Like I'd tell you," replied one of the brutes.
"You look stupid enough too," said Fi, and he saw Atin put his head in his hand, shaking it.
"One more word out of you-" the brute snarled but Fi cut him off.
"Or you'll what? Lay on me? Cause I'm pretty sure if you did that you'd kill me."
The brute, now furious, deactivated the shield and charged at Fi, who was waiting for this. As soon as he swung at him, he dodged to the side and ejected his vibroblade that lay hidden in his wrist. He stabbed it right in the side of the brutes head, twisting it. The brute's howl of pain was cut short as it fell to the ground in a heap, dead. He was about to rush out of the cell when the other brutes were instantly on him, one brute grabbing its fallen comrade while the other two grabbed Fi's arms and held him against the back wall of the cell.
"You'll regret that, human," said one of the brutes and as he finished his sentence he hit Fi in the stomach as hard as he could. He tried to bend over, the pain doubled by his broken ribs, but they held him up and continued to beat on him. Then what they did next surprised him as one grabbed the top of his helmet and ripped it off. Now they proceeded beating his across the face and every other part of his body they could reach until he lay on the floor, unmoving. The brutes laughed and walked out of his cell, reactivating the energy shield.
"Fi!" yelled Atin, "Come on, speak to me!"
"Quiet, human!" yelled one of the brutes, "Or you will end up like him." Fi felt broken everywhere and he could actually feel the bruises forming on his body. He couldn't get up, couldn't move.
"You must get up, hu- I mean Fi," he heard Jeno whisper to him from the cell next to him, "You have to show them you have not given up or you will be killed." Fi knew he was right, and he had to get up to defend himself if they made another attack. He struggled, putting his hands by his shoulders, pushing himself up, ignoring the pain it caused. With much effort he was able to get himself into a kneeling position. He looked around for his helmet and found it lying in the corner. He grabbed it and put it on, glad to have his HUD back. One of the brutes glanced in his direction and snorted, but fortunately they did not attack him again.
"Lets hope things get better from here," muttered Fi.
Niner and Jusik didn't hesitate as they ran forward to meet the oncoming mutants, Jusik swinging his lightsaber right through them while Niner gave him supporting fire. In minutes they were lying on the ground in pieces. The two of them stood there for a moment, speechless, when Jusik finally spoke up.
"Are you sure there's no one else here?" Niner didn't answer for a second, thinking of everyone who had come. Omega, Kal, Ordo, and all the marines except Adams went to the Library while Delta, the Spartans, and the Jedi had gone back to Cairo. He thought hard, thinking he had missed someone when it came to him.
Dr. Halsey.
She had requested to come with them at the beginning, and had remained on In Amber Clad while the others had gone off to fight.
"Dr. Halsey," said Niner aloud, "She was a scientist that came with us, we've got to find her."
"Where would she be?" he asked.
"Probably around here, since these are the living quarters," he said, thinking aloud, "If not probably in a lab of some sort. But we've got to find her before those… things do."
"Alright, then lets hurry," Jusik said and went out the door into the hallway. There were no more of those freaks around but Niner had a feeling it wasn't long before they showed up.
"You go that way," said Jusik, pointing right, "And I'll go this way. We'll be able to check the rooms faster." Niner nodded and took off down the hallway, kicking in every door to every room he saw. He found her in the fifth room, kicking in the door he saw her jump almost out of the chair she had been sitting in.
"What are you doing?" she asked in surprise as she pulled herself together.
"We've gotta get out of here," he said quickly, "These mutant type things have taken over the ship.
"It's the Flood," she said in awe, and then said after seeing Niner confused, "they infect humans and Elites to take over their bodies." She instantly got up to follow Niner.
"Do you know a way off of here?" he asked, moving back down the hallway to find Jusik.
"Escape pods," she replied, and then pointed behind them, "But they're back that way."
"We've got to meet up with Jusik first," he said, "He headed up this way." They kept running, passing their old quarters, when suddenly a Flood form leaped out from a room and slammed Niner into the wall, making stars appear in his eyes. It was right on top of him and he couldn't bring his rifle up in time to defend himself and he certainly knew that Halsey could do nothing so he did the next best thing.
"Jusik!" He hoped he heard him as he brought up his leg and tried to push the Flood off of him so he could use his gun. Suddenly off to his left he heard a lightsaber activated and the Flood was cut cleanly in two and fell to the floor.
"Thanks," said Niner, wiping his forehead as Jusik deactivated his lightsaber.
"Dr. Halsey, correct?" asked Jusik.
"Yes," she replied, and then to their surprise said, "and you are Niner and Bardan Jusik, are you not?
"Yes," said Niner, "How'd you know?"
"I try to know all of our allies," she answered simply. There was a sudden sound from down the hallway and then the sound of the Flood running, trying to catch them.
"Come on lets get to the pods," said Niner and led the way back the way they came.
The Chief and Darman quickly mowed down the small patrol jackals and brutes that had been waiting for them at the bottom of the lift. Cortana had made so that the gravity lift that usually went up would actually carry them down. The Chief now had a carbine he had picked up from a brute previously while Darman had what they had figured out to be a brute plasma rifle. They had also learned that Truth actually did have the index, and that they had to get it from him.
Suddenly Tartarus's voice come over the loudspeakers, "Reinforce all approaches to the holding pens! Slay the demon on sight."
"Oh, sure, leave me out," said Darman.
"What does he mean by holding pens?" asked the Chief.
"I'm not sure, it could mean holding cells," replied Cortana, "But be careful you guys, their beefing up their patrols, stay sharp."
"Roger that," said Darman, picking up a few plasma grenades off the ground and stashing them in his ammo belt. They continued on for a couple more minutes when Cortana stopped them.
"Wait a minute! I'm reading marine IFF transponders!" said Cortana, surprised, "The signals are originating somewhere below your position."
"Any related to me?" asked Darman.
"Not that I can tell," said Cortana, "But I may just not be able to pick them up. But if you keep going there's a grav lift in the next room you can use to get down to the cells." The Chief and Darman rushed forward only to be met by a patrol of brutes and jackals. They fired upon them quickly, forcing the two to dive for cover. The Chief saw Darman pull out a grenade and prime it, throwing it at the closest brute. It stuck right to his face, causing it to panic and run right into the other brute standing next to him, causing them to explode in the grenade's onslaught.
"Nice throw," said the Chief, "But we shouldn't worry about these guys, let's rush the grav lift."
"Alright, just let me cause a distraction," said Darman, getting ready to throw another grenade. He primed it and threw it, causing it to land in between a couple of jackals. They screamed and dived away right before it exploded, but as soon as it did the Chief and Darman sprinted inside the small structure in the middle and to the grav lift, where Cortana appeared on the pedestal.
"Hurry, jump in!" she said, and the Chief and Darman jumped in, immediately falling downwards, "There are 2 groups of marines in this detention block. I'll deal with their location; you neutralize the guards…quietly." The Chief snorted, when did he ever do things quietly? As they landed the brutes guarding the grav lift turned around in surprise, which left them enough time to shoot the brutes dead. Just then several grunts ran up the ramp that lead to the platform, firing a combination of needlers and plasma pistols. They quickly put them to an end with a few headshots. Right after Cortana spoke up again,
"Come to the middle level, Chief. The marines are just inside. Careful of the guard."
"They won't be a problem," said the Chief and led the way to a set of gravity lifts at the far side of the room and jumped into one, sending him down to the lower level. Darman came down behind him, but as soon as they were both there a brute and jackals that were waiting for them opened fire and the two of them once again were forced to take cover.
"Take out the jackals first," said the Chief, "then we can deal with the brute."
"Copy that," said Darman, rising up to fire a few shots at a jackals shield. It glowed brightly then disappeared, leaving it vulnerable to the head shot the Chief gave it.
"Nice work," said the Chief as he primed a plasma grenade and threw it. He aimed it perfectly, flying through the slot hole in the jackals shield and sticking it, causing it to panic and run into the brute, blowing them both up. With the way clear once again they made their way to the unlocked door. It opened up automatically and inside were rows of cells holding marines captive inside. Towards the far back there was a small area where a brute was walking, holding a brute shot. There were also a few grunts and jackals standing in front of the cells, and they all turned around in alarm as the Chief and Darman walked in guns raised, firing. The Chief managed to get a grunt and a jackal while Darman got two grunts, leaving only two jackals and the brute. The brute turned around, furious, and ran forward and stood next to a cell, ready to fire its brute shot. But to its fatal mistake the brute was standing too close to the wrong cell as an armored gauntlet reached through and injected the vibroblade in its wrist into the brutes head, causing it to fall over, clearly dead. The jackals, having seen the brute killed, panicked and turned to fire at the cell, exposing their backs to the Chief and Darman, who fired on them mercilessly. With the guards dead, Cortana opened the cells to reveal three marines and a person who the Chief didn't know.
"Nice one there, Ordo," said Darman, walked up the figure who had white armor with red markings, wearing what resembled a skirt.
"Good to see your okay," said Ordo, "But what were you thinking?"
Darman shrugged, "I don't know, it was the spur of the moment I guess."
"What'd you do?" asked the Chief.
Ordo turned to look at him for the first time, "So you're the Master Chief everyone's been asking about?"
"Yes," he replied, registering that Ordo wasn't someone to mess with.
"About your question," said Darman, "We had just retrieved the Index when that elite we saw earlier attacked us. He almost had Keyes when Tartarus grabbed her and took the Index, started talking about how the brutes were going to wipe out the elites starting with him. He was about to kill him when… I stepped forward to protect him."
"You protected the elite?" asked the Chief in surprise.
"Like I said before, it just felt like the right thing to do at the moment," he said defensively.
"You almost got yourself killed," said Ordo.
"Never mind me, what about the others?" he asked.
"Everyone's here except for Fi and Atin," he replied.
"Wait, Cortana, you said there was another group of Marines here, right?" asked the Chief.
"Yes, on the lower level," she replied, making Ordo look around.
"Is there anyone else besides the Marines?"
"Scanning…" she said, pausing for a moment, "There is a man there who isn't registered as UNSC."
"That's gotta be Sarge," said Darman, looking at Ordo, "And by the way, that's Cortana. The Chief's AI who's in the system at the moment."
"Okay, intros are done, how bout we go help Kal out?" said Ordo.
"Sounds good to me," said the Chief, "And afterwards we need to go after Truth."
"We're hunting the Prophet?" asked one of the Marines, holding a needler and who's tag on his chest read 'Cpl. Corrin', "Alright what are we waitin' for?"
"Let's go then," said the Chief, and the others followed him. He figured Ordo was only following him since this wasn't his own Galaxy. The went to the gravity lifts and went to the lower level, where they quickly dispersed of the patrol of grunts there.
"They're in here guys," she said, appearing on a pedestal outside a door. They quickly ran in, guns raised, Ordo with his newly acquired plasma rifles, and quickly killed off the jackals and grunts, who were outnumbered greatly, leaving only the brute. It quickly threw down it's gun as soon as it realized it was alone and charged, hitting the Chief against a cell, bending the bars. Ordo kicked the brute off of him, and together they fired at it. With a cry of pain it fell to its knees and then to the ground where it lay motionless.
"Nice shooting there, boys!" called a man from the cell the Chief had been thrown into. They turned to see who the Chief assumed was Kal.
"Cortana?" asked the Chief.
"On it," she replied and the cell doors opened, letting out two Marines and Kal. The Sergeant instantly walked up to Darman and thumped him on the head.
"Don't scare me like that, di'kut! I thought you were dead against that thing!"
"Come on, Sarge, you know me," said Darman.
"Yeah, you don't think before you leap, son," he replied, sighing and shaking his head.
"I'm alive and well," said Darman, "and unscathed, can't ya at least be thankful for that?"
"Sorry to interrupt," said Ordo, "But if this Prophet guy we're going after is on the move, he's probably gained a lot of ground on us during these rescues."
"He is right," said Cortana, talking from the pedestal, "I'm able to track him since he's broadcasting on the move, and he's moved a lot while we were in here."
"Then we'll continue this later," said Kal, and they headed out of the cells to return to hunting down Truth.
As soon as the Attero came out of Slipspace it headed toward Cairo Station, where it landed in the hangar bay. As Boss walked out a plasma shot barely missed his head by inches and he spun around to see a group of jackals waiting near the door, shields up. Another jackal fired a charged plasma shot and it nailed him square in the chest, taking down his shields completely. He staggered backward, gritting his teeth against the pain. His wound was still there from Grievous's lightsaber and getting a blast from a charged plasma shot didn't feel all to great. Someone then grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back. He looked to see it was Obi-wan, lightsaber activated, as he moved forward in front of Boss. The jackals fired now continuous shots but Obi-wan was able to block them with his lightsaber as Fred, Scorch, Kelly, and Sev moved forward, the only ones able to fit in the small door, and returned fire.
"You alright?" asked Fixer, who appeared as his shoulder.
"Yeah, just that didn't help my wound at all," he replied, rubbing his chest. Soon they had the four jackals laying on the ground riddled with bullets.
"This has gotten worse since we left," said Sev, "They were just boarding but now they have made it all the way to the hangar."
"We better move quickly to the bridge," said Obi-wan, "and see if they got the transmission about the fleet, and then see where we're most needed."
"Lets go," said Fred and he led the way to the bridge, following the signs. They didn't meet as much Covenant as they thought they would and Boss was beginning to think that they'd get there easily, but he thought wrong as they entered the next room.
There were at least three patrols of Covenant, each consisting of two elites, four jackals, and three grunts. There were even a pair of hunters there. But, luckily, they had not noticed them enter the room cause currently on the other end of the room there was a squad of Helljumpers pinned down, wearing their black armor and helmets, desperately trying to fight them back.
"Oh, fierfek," said Scorch.
"I think we need our snipers," said Fred, looking at Linda and Sev.
"Finally, its about time," said Sev, pulling out his sniper rifle while Linda did the same.
"Ill get the left and you get right?" suggested Linda, "and we'll each take a hunter. Don't get selfish."
"Sounds good to me," replied Sev, kneeling down behind a box that was sitting there and resting his sniper on top of it, "And I never get selfish."
Boss heard Scorch snort, and he had to agree with him. Sev being so headstrong, he'd probably try to take both hunters if in a different situation. But with the Helljumpers pinned, and them being out in the open, he hoped that Sev had the common sense not to do it.
"Alright, lets do it," said Linda, setting up her own sniper on a pile of rubble. Sev's reply was a shot from his sniper, nailing the hunter in it's weak spot in the back, making it fall over. Linda fired only a half second later, her hunter meeting the same fate. Three of the elites turned around at the sound, one gold and the other two red. The gold elite roared in anger at seeing the dead hunters and ignited it's energy sword, but Linda and Sev finished him off with four shots from the sniper. As if issued a silent command the group opened fire on the Covenant, a mixture of snipers, battle rifles, and SMGs.
"Grenades on my mark!" yelled Boss over the gunfire, and everyone who had a grenade pulled it out, "Mark!" They all threw them into the mass of Covenant, and when they went off it created one giant explosion, vaporizing a quarter of the Covenant and exploding half into nearby walls or boxes, sending blood and gore everywhere. After that there was only one red elite, three jackals and two grunts left. The Helljumpers then proceeded to leap from cover and help them finish off the last of the Covenant. One of them leaped behind the elite that was firing at Boss and grabbed its head, twisting it and breaking it's neck. Soon the Covenant lay everywhere in the room, their bodies piled up. The Helljumpers crawled over the rubble to them.
"You really saved our asses back there," said one, "The names Corporal Brettan."
Fred walked forward, "Fred, but how bad are things here?"
"They're all over us, their boarding parties have doubled since they first started and more and more ships are making it through to Earth. If we lose Cairo, we're definitely screwed."
"Then I'm pretty sure you don't want to hear our news."
"What?"
Fred told him about the Covenant Fleet, and how it was on its way to Earth.
"Oh no," said Brettan, his helmet shaking back and forth, "Oh man, its all over."
"Its not over," said Boss, stepping forward, "If we get enough ground forces to repel the troops, and keep Cairo alive, we've still got a fighting chance."
Brettan looked at him, "But, if they glass it…" He let the sentence trail off, all of them knowing what would happen if the Covenant did.
"We shouldn't concentrate on that," said Obi-wan, "we need to get to the bridge and alert Lord Hood of the situation."
"We'll give you support," said Brettan, bringing his gun to bear, overcoming his sudden hopelessness of the situation.
"Good," said Fred, "I was hoping you would, now lets go and tell Lord Hood. Then we can prepare for whatever's coming at us."
Author's note: I would've had this done sooner but I've had so many problems with it, first Microsoft Word expired and then Works wouldn't work and man it just delayed me about a week, plus a really bad writers block. A huge thanks to PFC Koprulu, or as I better know him as LinkMasta from RvB, for helping me with my writers block. Please tell me what you think, cause I like to know who still reads it.