Twelve days later
Date: April 10th, 2552
Camcorder's POV
10:15:57:09am
The screen shifted slightly as it rose up, revealing a small square shaped room with several large crates scattered about. On the wall above the door was a small intercom. There were about four marines in the room, among them Alan and Isaac. They were in the room with Moe, who was obviously holding the camcorder and had it attached to his shoulder, with another marine called Steve, who was an engineer here at the base. They were all down here in the room putting crates away from an ammunition delivery ship that had arrived from Earth. Even though they were underground and not really in battle stance, they had their weapons, three battle rifles and MA5B assault rifles placed on the top of one of the crates near the entrance to the room.
"That the last of them?" Isaac asked, grunting a little, as he put down the last box.
"Yeah, that's all of them," came Moe's voice, which was picked up on the camcorder's sound receiver.
The door to the room opened and sergeant John appeared there.
"Thanks for doing that, guys," he said. "Alright, head off,"
They nodded and the screen shifted slightly from side to side as Moe walked towards the doorway that led into the corridor. The four picked up their weapons and left, John walking out last and closing the door behind him and walked off with the group alongside Moe.
Isaac turned his head and asked John: "So what is this taskforce meant to do in this first mission?" he asked John.
The screen turned to the right slightly to face John, who replied: "Attacking a Covenant assault carrier,"
"Apparently, the Covenant have begun a build-up of their fleet not far from Reach," came Moe's voice.
"Do you think they know about this taskforce?" Steve asked.
"Probably," Alan replied. "But then again, they wouldn't really care. I mean, It's not like this taskforce is gonna be much use against them."
"I wouldn't be so sure on that," John told him. "There's some pretty good soldiers in it, Eve included, so we may have a bit of an advantage,"
Alan was about to reply when…
BLEEEEEEEEEP!Suddenly, the corridor went dark red and an alarm blared out throughout it.
"ALL UNITS! GET TOPSIDE NOW!" a voice shouted over the base's intercom.
At once, the scene began to shift wildly from side to side as Moe, Alan, Steve, Isaac and John ran down the corridor, which, very quickly, began to fill up with other soldiers and officers running about.
Normal view
The group came to a turning in the corridor that led left. They ran into the next corridor where they saw the taskforce barracks door open and the members run out, most of them becoming separated in the rush.
As Moe ran down the corridor, he accidentally ran into one of the taskforce members, a man wearing a red bodysuit, and almost knocked him over.
"Sorry, man," he called back, looking over his shoulder, before he reached the end of the corridor, which formed part of an intersection, with John, Alan and Isaac.
John led them left down the next corridor towards a large metallic door which opened as they approached it, revealing a large square shaped room that was about one hundred and ten feet long and about seventy in width. There were two power generators that were fenced off. Scattered around the room where large crates with machine guns, grenades, pistols, you name it, it was there. On the right wall near the far end of the room was another door that led out of the armoury outside. A few other marines were scattered about the armoury.
John ran over to a nearby crate whilst Moe, Alan and Isaac ran over to a small box, placed on top of a large empty rocket launcher crate, which was filled with ammunition. As they began to fumble through it, Moe heard the barracks door open again and he looked over his shoulder to see a group of taskforce soldiers run into the armoury. Among them was the soldier he almost knocked over, a woman with brown hair in a green bodysuit, Eve, who he instantly recognized because of her silver hair, and a few women.
John waved to them. "You lot over here!"
They ran over to him. Moe heard John speak to them but set about reloading his weapon.
"Well, this is it," Isaac said as he loaded a clip into his battle rifle. "The Covenant has brought the battle to us,"
"Let's hope this taskforce is really up to what I've heard about it," Alan replied as he put a clip into his MA5B assault rifle.
Camcorder's POV
The screen was facing down towards the crate and Moe's hands as he began reloading ammo clips into his weapon. Behind him, the camcorder's sound receiver picked up John explaining something to the taskforce soldiers. One of them said something and John replied and then a door opened behind them and the sound of battle flooded in for a second before the door closed.
"Are you guys ready?" John's voice asked them.
The screen turned right as Moe turned around to face John, who had an MA5B assault rifle in his hands. Alan and Isaac nodded and the camcorder moved a little as well, indicating Moe must have nodded as well.
"Alright, let's go," John said.
He turned and ran out of the armoury into the battle raging outside. The screen shifted from side to side wildly as Moe, Isaac and Alan ran out after him. As they came outside, the camcorder screen, out of the left corner saw the group of taskforce soldiers disappear amongst a group of cube shaped buildings.
"Pelicans are nearby," John said. "We need to get to them. The Axiom is preparing to evacuate soldiers and civilians from Reach so we need to find those pelicans and defend them,"
John looked around for several seconds, trying to remember where the pelicans were parked, before he pointed right over towards a large rectangular building about sixty feet away. A few pieces of metal fell from above and the screen moved upwards to see a Covenant seraph fighter break apart and fly over the armoury. A loud boom followed about two seconds later.
"Alright, this way," John's voice ordered.
The screen moved back down to face the buildings and it once again began shifting from side to side violently as Moe ran with Isaac, Alana and John towards the building. When they reached it, John kicked open a door and the group ran inside. Another explosion erupted in the air behind them, which the camcorder's sound receiver caught very well. That was another craft gone.
Normal view
The squad found themselves in a large rectangular shaped room that had several desks along It's walls, a large window on the left wall that gave a view of the outside, a few plants in the far right corner of the room and there was another door on the left wall near the other end of the room. A loud boom shook the room slightly and a small cloud of dust fell from the ceiling. The squad looked up at it, worried as if it would suddenly cave in. Thankfully, it did not.
"Alright, let's go," John said.
He led the squad over towards the door and they ran outside. In front of them was a large clearing with about six parked pelicans. Around it, in a kind of semi-circle, were small cube shaped buildings where several small AA missile launchers were firing on any nearby Covenant aircraft that might try and launch an attack on the landing zone. Running around among the pelicans were marines, medics and pilots. Some of the marines were helping medics and pilots with wounded that were either from the nearby hospital or those that had already been wounded in the attack, whilst others were preparing themselves for the battle against the Covenant ground forces who were, no doubt, already landing around the area.
Camcorder's POV"Sergeant John," a sergeant standing by one of the pelicans shouted, waving to them. "Sergeant John! Over here!"
The scene shifted from side to side wildly as Moe ran over to the sergeant with John, Alan and Isaac.
"I'm glad you guys are here," the sergeant said to them. "We've got reports of Covenant ground forces converging on this position and we don't have enough spare troops to hold them off-"
BOOM! The scene shot round left and looked up a little, as did everyone else who heard the explosion, to see a pillar of fire rise up into the air from the other side of the rectangular building. By the looks of it, that was either a stray shot from a UNSC long sword fighter, or an aircraft must have been shot out of the sky.
"-Anyway," the sergeant continued and the camcorder screen turned right again to face him. "We need you to help our guys hold off the Covenant whilst we evacuate the wounded."
"Where about are they being taken to, sir?" came Moe's voice.
"The Axiom, soldier," the sergeant replied, who then looked back at John. "Do what you can against them," he said to him.
John nodded. "Yes, sir. Good luck,"
The sergeant nodded and ran to the back of the pelican to help out in loading on the wounded. John turned to face his squad and Moe turned slightly so the camcorder screen was facing him.
"Alright, guys," he said. "You heard the sergeant, we need to hold off any Covenant infantry headed this way. Give the soldiers and medics here enough time to evacuate everyone,"
"I hope there's a pelican left for us," came Isaac's voice, which the camcorder's sound receiver picked up.
"Don't worry, there will be," John told him. "It's not like we're offering ourselves as sacrifices to the Covenant. Alright, let's go,"
The scene shifted wildly from side to side once again as Moe, Alan and Isaac followed John around the pelican and across the clearing towards two small rows of stone cube shaped buildings that formed a small alleyway between them. When they reached them, they ran down the alleyway to the end, where a large road was and across it on the other side was a large stone square shaped building where two other marines were standing, their weapons raised, pointing left past the buildings, but what it was exactly they were aiming at was unknown as it was out of sight because of the buildings.
The squad ran to the end of the alleyway, Moe's heavy breaths filling the camcorder's sound receivers as he ran.
"Shit! Covenant forces!" a marine from behind the left side of the end stone cube shaped building of the alleyway.
The squad skidded to a halt and placed themselves against the hard walls of the end stone cube shaped building and raise their weapons. The two marines standing behind the square shaped building across the road did the same, the marine there peeking his head out from behind the building to look down the road.
Gingerly, the camcorder screen moved forward as Moe cautiously stepped forward, with John in front of him also stepping forward but ordering his men behind him to halt as well. It was obvious by the sounds of that shout that the Covenant was nearby.
Suddenly, a marine ran past the alleyway entrance, coming into view of the squad. Koe's camcorder followed him as he ran, getting a clear view of the marine. He was bloodied across the legs of his uniform and there wad dirt across his back and bottom, indicating he must have fallen over whilst running. Then, two light blue blasts flee out left from behind the building and struck the marine in the back. With a yell, he fell forward onto the ground and moved no more.
"Engage those Elites!" the marine across the road shouted as he pointed his battle rifle out from behind the building and fired a burst of ammo down to road. A roar erupted from the left and light blue blast was fired in return, narrowly missing the marine's head as he quickly moved back behind the wall.
Normal view
John took a deep breath and stepped out from behind the building. Down the dusty road, about thirty feet away near where two parked warthogs, were three minor Elites, all armed with plasma rifles. They stood far from the warthog vehicles; obviously thinking that their armour's built in shields would protect them. One of them pointed at John and fired a shot, which he dodged by hiding behind the building and he blind fired a burst of ammo from behind it in return. The bullets hit one of the Elites, causing It's shield to light up, but the alien did not make any attempt to dive for cover. In fact, the alien, along with It's two comrades, marched forward, firing away at both the building John was hiding behind and the building across the road from the squad in the alleyway.
Camcorder's POV
"What the Hell do we do?" Isaac's voice asked from behind Moe.
"Where are your grenades?" John replied.
The screen moved down slightly as Moe fumbled about in his belt for grenades. After a few seconds, he pulled out two.
"Use 'em," John ordered.
The screen moved again as Moe walked around John, who moved backwards to give Moe room at the front of the line, to the end of the alleyway. Looking down, which made the screen look down; he pulled the pins out of the grenades and threw out of from behind the alleyway down the road towards the Elites. He then pushed himself against the wall of the building behind him and braced himself for the explosion.
BOOM! The grenades exploded in the dusty road, followed by a chorus of loud roars which quickly fell silent, indicating that the Elites must have been killed by the grenades. Cautiously, Moe stepped forward and looked out, revealing to the camcorder screen three dead bodies lying on the ground where a black scorch mark surrounded them. His attack had been successful.
The camera screen then moved again as Moe stepped to the right to allow John out of the alleyway.
"Good work, Moe," he said. "Alright, let's move out,"
John ran down the road. The camera screen shifted from side to side as Moe, Alan, Isaac and the two marines that had been hiding behind the building across the road from the alleyway followed him. They passed the parked warthogs and turned left at a turning in the road and continued on. Ahead of them, there were only a few more cube shaped buildings along the left side of the road. The right side of the road was bare and looked like a small desert. Far away across the small desert were a set of other buildings. They were a nearby airfield and, looking over at it, giving the camcorder screen a clear view of the buildings, was a dogfight raging above it. A battle must be raging there as well as a few explosions erupted from the ground and a few blasts were visible shooting up into the sky.
"LOOK OUT!" John yelled all of a sudden.
Moe looked ahead of him and saw a purple laser appear. The laser struck Isaac in the chest and he fell to the ground, dead.
"Isaac!" Alan shouted over his friend's sudden death. He went to grab his body, but John grabbed him and pulled him towards a small gap between two of the cube shaped buildings. The camcorder screen shifted from side to side again as Moe ran towards the buildings, diving into a gap, unaware that he had avoided another purple laser by a few inches.
Normal view
Moe grunted as he hit the ground. Grunting a little in pain, he stood up and turned around so he was facing the entrance to the alleyway he was in. In the alleyway on the other side of the building to his right were John and Alan. The other two marines were hiding in the next alleyway to their right.
"Are you alright, Moe?" came John's voice.
"Yeah," Moe replied. "Where did that come from?"
"Somewhere up ahead,"
Moe stepped forward and poked his head out from behind the building and looked down the road. About sixty feet away was a small rectangular building with a tiny stone dome on the top of it. He could just about see a figure standing next to the dome.
Suddenly, he moved behind the building's side again as another purple laser fired out from the figure, striking the wall. Breathing a sigh of relief, Moe ran out of the alleyway and, keeping low, ran to the next one where John and Alan were crouched down. He must have surprised them because when he appeared at the end of the alleyway, the two shot round and aimed their weapons at him, their fingers on their weapons' triggers.
"Whoa! Whoa, stop!" Moe said, bringing his arms up as if they would form an invisible shield to protect himself.
The two lowered their weapons. "Sorry, Moe," John said. "Didn't realise it was you,"
"It's alright," Moe replied, lowering his arms and stepping into the alleyway and crouching down in front of them. "What are we going to do about that sniper?" he asked.
"Try and get near him and kill him," John replied. He looked towards the other end of the alleyway. "Question is: how?" he asked himself. "We go out there, we're dead,"
John was right. If anyone went out there, they were dead. Plus, they still had to stop any Covenant ground forces getting to the landing zone and they were probably not in the right area. They had to get around this damn Covenant soldier or by the time they got to where the Covenant ground forces were, it would be too late.
Then, an idea popped into Moe's head.
"Sir," he said, making John look at him. "If some of us can fire on the figure and pin him down, then one of us can run out towards him and fire on him and kill him,"
"Good idea, Moe," John said. "Alright, get ready to run,"
Moe was quite shocked by this. "Um…I didn't say I was going to run out there," he said.
"You came up with the idea so I think It's fair," John replied.
Moe tutted. "Thanks," he said disapprovingly and walked forward towards the end of the alleyway, crouching down when he was about three feet from the end.
"Hey guys," John shouted out to the marines in the next alleyway.
"Yes, sir?" one of them replied.
"Moe's gonna run out and try and take out the sniper that's got us pinned down," John told them. "On the count of three, fire at the roof of the building at the end of the road,"
"Yes, sir," John looked down at Moe.
"Right, get ready," he said and Moe nodded in reply, though he was still annoyed that he was to run out there.
Camcorder's POVThe screen was facing the road and the small desert on the other side of it. Heavy breaths were coming from behind him. They were Moe's. He was readying himself for the run down the road. Next to him to his left, John and Alan were loading their weapons. Similar noises from the next alleyway to his right, which the camcorder's sound receiver's picked up, indicated that the other two soldiers were doing the same.
"Alright, on three," came John's voice. He stepped towards the end of the alleyway, his leg coming into the left corner of the camcorder screen. "One…two…" Moe took a deep breath and got ready to run. "…THREE!"
John and Alan, who ran in front of Moe, fired a barrage down the road. More bullets flew out next to them, indicating the other two soldiers were doing the same. They did this for about three seconds before they stopped. Then, the camcorder scene shifted wildly from side to side as Moe got up and sprinted out of the alleyway and down the road, passing the alleyway he had dived into a few moments ago. Ahead of him, the camcorder screen just about picked up something moving on the roof of the building at the end of the road.
Next thing, the screen was filled with a quick view of another alleyway before it was filled with the ground. A grunt of pain sounded from behind it. Moe had jumped into the next alleyway at seeing the figure on the roof of the building at the end of the road move. The screen rose up as Moe got to his feet. It then turned left again to face the alleyway entrance, revealing the road and the small desert across the road.
Normal view
Moe stepped towards the alleyway entrance. Just as he did, a voice shouted out: "You alright, Moe?" It was John.
"Yeah, I'm okay," he shouted back. "Get ready to fire again,"
"You got it,"
Moe crouched down when he reached the end of the alleyway and waited. A few seconds passed, but they felt like hours as he was going to have to run out into the road again, which meant putting himself in easy range of the sniper. If the sniper decided to fire on him as soon as John and the two marines stopped firing, then he was dead.
No, he was going to have to go out whilst they were firing. It might put him in danger of being hit by friendly fire, but it was either that or risk getting killed by the sniper when everything sounded clear.
Then, the barrage filled the air again. Moe took a deep breath and, keeping low so as to avoid any bullets, ran out of the alleyway and down the road. John went wide-eyed, as did Alan but they decided not to stop tom ask him what he was doing and continued firing at the building.
Moe's heart was beating like mad against his chest. Just a little further and he would be within range of the sniper, but he would also be a clearer target to it. He would just have to hope he got within range of the sniper and fired on it first before it fired on him.
After a few mad seconds, Moe screeched to a halt about twenty feet from the building. At that same moment, John and the marines stopped firing behind him. The sniper on the building's roof ran to the edge, revealing itself to be a Jackal, as were most Covenant snipers, and aimed It's weapon at the squad. However, just as it did, it noticed the marine standing on the ground near the building.
Then, a burst of ammo filled the air, followed by a loud screech as the Jackal sniper fell forward off the building's roof to the ground about fifteen feet below, hitting the ground with a loud thud. Moe smiled at his kill and stood up and ran back to the squad.
"Good work, Moe," John said. "Alright, let's move on,"
"SARGE! LOOK!" one of the marines yelled all of a sudden, pointing out across the desert.
The rest of the squad looked across the desert and went wide-eyed.
Coming straight towards them was a large group of vehicles. They were huge, about twenty eight feet long and shaped like seats and were hovering about a foot off the ground. At the front of the main seat shaped section of the vehicle were two small horn-like sections where the engines were. Near the top of the seat shaped main section of the vehicle was a large circular hole. A few feet down from that was a small hatch door that led into the driver's seat of the vehicle. Wraiths, about nine of them.
Then, smaller vehicles came towards them, hovering alongside the wraiths. They were split into two sections. They were also shaped like seats, though they did not rise up like the wraiths did, but at the front of the vehicle, sticking out of the sides, were two small horn-like sections where the engines were, like on the wraith. At the back of the vehicles was a small dome-like section that looked like the back of a seat. Ghosts, about fifteen of them.
Suddenly, the wraiths fired a wave of mortar blasts into the air. Five of them zoomed over the buildings behind the squad and exploded on the next row of cube shaped buildings, causing most of them to cave in. One of them fell short. One struck the end building on the row of buildings behind the squad. The last two, however, struck on or near the squad. One blew up on the roof of a building next to them, throwing them to the ground. The other landed on the ground at the back of the squad, killing the two marines and throwing their bodies into the air.
Moe groaned as he lifted his head up. His vision was a little blurry but it kicked back in quickly. He looked over at the small desert and saw the formation of Covenant vehicles coming towards them. They were just fifty feet away.
"John!" Moe exclaimed, getting to his feet. A groan emitted from him as Moe turned him over on his back. He sat up and rubbed his head.
"What happened?" he asked groggily.
"That did," Moe answered, pointing out at the formation of vehicles. John looked and lost his breath.
"Oh, crap!" he whispered, quickly getting to his feet.
Moe ran past him and tapped Alan's face. "Alan, wake up!" he urged.
He did not respond. His eyes remained closed. Moe put two fingers on his pulse and gasped a little. He was dead.
"Moe, c'mon!" John urged him.
At first, Moe did not hear him but a blast from one of the ghosts, which, thankfully, zoomed in front of him by about a foot and struck the side of the building he was next to brought him back into reality. Putting his friend's body back on the ground, Moe got up and ran with John through the alleyway. Behind them, one of the Elites piloting one of the ghosts roared shouted something and the wraiths fired another wave of mortar blasts, which struck the buildings and obliterated them, along with bodies of the fallen lying out on the road.
Moe and John climbed over the ruins of one of the cube shaped buildings, that was part of the row that formed the alleyway they had been in a few moments earlier, and ran down the alleyway towards the clearing. Behind them, they could hear the machines of the Covenant moving on as if they were hunting them.
The two emerged into the clearing, which was almost completely clear of pelicans and men running about. There was only one pelicans left, and it was about to take off. John and Moe ran towards it.
"Hey, wait!" they shouted.
A marine standing in the back of the craft saw them and shouted something to the pilot and the pelican, which had risen a few metres into the air, came to a halt.
"You guys are lucky," the marine standing in the back of the craft's resting area told the two as they reached the craft. "Almost left you here,"
"We only got room for one more," the pilot called from the pelican's cog pit. "We can't take too many,"
John and Moe looked at each other. Who was going to get on board the pelican and get out of here? Either one of them could, but that would mean the other would have to find another way of getting to safety.
Before Moe could even speak, John grabbed him and threw him into the pelican.
"You go on, Moe," he said to him. "I'll find another way out of here," and he ran off out of sight before Moe could protest.
The pelican shook slightly as it hovered into the air and flew forward into the sky, heading away from the base. Moe, standing up, watched as John entered the rectangular shaped building and the Covenant wraiths and ghosts swarm over the clearing and surrounding area, firing on everything in sight.
As Moe sat down, he took the camcorder off his shoulder and went to turn it on, but it would not.
Oh no, don't be broken! he thought as he tried pressing the buttons to turn it on but they did nothing.
Then, a small holographic screen appeared above it and the words: Battery low. Camcorder turning off to conserve power appeared above it.Moe breathed a sigh of relief. It was just turned off to save battery power, which was good as the last time his other camcorder got broken.
He set the device on his legs and looked around him at those in the pelican's resting area with him. On most of the seats were wounded, some with bandages over their faces and chests, others with burn marks over their bodies. Besides him, there was only three other uninjured marines in the pelican. Just four were all that was defending these wounded and this craft from the Covenant.
Moe turned his head to look out through the pelican's entrance. Before his eyes was a war torn landscape with burning buildings, dogfights raging in the skies and explosions and smaller battles raging on the surface between the buildings on the ground below. Hope faded from him. He could not believe this was happening. This was it. Reach was going to fall.
"Echo 543, this Delta 075," a voice said from the cog pit radio and a large shape descended into view of those in the resting area. It was another pelican.
"Roger that, Delta 075. We have wounded on board and heading towards the Axiom," the pilot's voice replied from the cog pit.
"Copy, Echo 543, we have seven taskforce soldiers on board and will be joining you to the Axio-"
BOOM! The pelican following Moe's eas engulfed in an explosion on the rear. Moe and those who could still see watched in despair and shock as it struggled to stay airborne.
"This is Echo 543, we have taken a hit to our rear and have sustained damage to our engines!" the pilot's voice from the other pelican warned. Another smaller explosion erupted on the right wing, but Moe was amazed to see that it was still flying straight. "Mayday! Mayday! This is Echo 543! We are going down! I repeat, we are going down!"
The craft sped forward past Moe's pelican. He and the other three that could still stand, along with two other wounded who could still see and sit up, looked through the cog pit door to see the great ship of the Axiom not far ahead of them. Then, the pelican they had just seen get hit flew into view about three hundred feet in front of theirs. It was tilting from side to side and was clearly struggling to stay airborne. Then, it zoomed forward and disappeared from view.
"We're nearing the Axiom," the pilot said from the cog pit to his passengers. "Hold on, we may have to make an emergency landing,"
The marines standing up or sitting up, laid down on the seats or on the floor and covered their heads, some also covering the heads of their injured comrades who were too weak to do so themselves or had injuries sustained to their arms. Moe silently prayed to himself that the pelican would land safely.
Please land safely! he mentally pleaded. Please don't crash! Please land safely!
A few seconds later, the scene outside the pelican changed from sun to a slightly darker environment and the sounds of battle were a little fainter now. Then...
CRASH! The pelican rocked as it landed and skidded for several seconds before it finally came to a halt after a loud BANG! Gingerly, those in the resting area raised their heads and looked out through the resting area entrance to see they were in a hanger. They were in one of the Axiom's hangers.
The pilot emerged from the cog pit, a small cut on his fore head from where he had been launched forward onto the controls.
"Everyone alright?" he asked.
Those that could nodded. Three sergeants appeared at the resting area entrance.
"Good, everyone's alive," one of them said. "Alright, let's start unloading these wounded."
Moe and those who could walk, including the pilot, got up and began to help the sergeants take the wounded out of the pelican.
Five minutes later
During the last five minutes, another pelican had entered the hanger, though this one had managed to land normally, and was also packed with wounded. Moe instantly went to help out those once the wounded from his pelican were off to the ship's medical centre.
"Look!" one of the marines said all of a sudden, pointing put of the hanger.
Everyone turned to look and saw another pelican heading towards the ship, though this one heading more to the right, for another hanger. However, behind it was what they were really looking at. It was a large purple cylinder that seemed to stretch up into the sky. It was a Covenant glassing laser, and it was heading straight for the ship.
"Oh crap!" one of the sergeants gasped. "We need to go, now!"
Then an alarm sounded through the hanger and, as Moe away from looking out the hanger entrance as the pelican had disappeared from sight, a voice said over It's intercom: "All personal in the hangers, strap yourselves in immediately. We are about to take off!"
Moe ran towards the back of the hanger where a control room was. The sergeants and other walking marines joined them, having helped the medics take away the last of the wounded. They ran into the control room where a few workers were already strapped into their seats. A few deployable hover chairs, used for anyone extra that was to come in, were scattered around the room.
"Strap yourselves in, quick!" one of them ordered.
They did so. Moe took one of the hover chairs and strapped himself in and looked out through the control room window at the hanger entrance. Through it he could see the Covenant forces still fighting with the UNSC even though the Covenant was beginning to glass the planet. The purple laser that they had seen was gone, but more were just visible in the distance.
Then, a loud whirring sound filled the air and the hanger doors, two large rectangular sections, each one being half the size of the hanger entrance, appeared, one out of the floor and one of the ceiling. They moved towards each other, gradually shrinking the view of Reach until they finally came together with a small boom, sealing those in the hanger off from the outside world old Reach. Moe turned his head and looked back across the control room where everyone else was waiting for the ship to take off. They were all nervous, not because none of them had been in Space before, but because they were afraid they would not escape, that they would all die here.
Then, the ship shook violently and those in the control room felt the ship ascend. Moe closed his eyes and tried to shut out the violent shaking that was making him feel sick. He just wanted it to end, but if that happened then he and everyone on board this ship was dead. Come on! End already! Stop shaking!
Then, after several seconds, the shaking stopped. Moe slowly opened his eyes and gazed around him as if he was shocked to see that the hanger and themselves were all still in one piece. They all unstrapped themselves, the ship's artificial gravity already having been activated, and walked out of the control room. Moe walked over to the pelican he had entered the ship on and picked his camcorder. He had left it there. He was going to have to be careful, otherwise he would lose it, or worse, break it.
Then, another loud whirring sound filled the air. Everyone in the hanger or control room looked towards the hanger doors to see them open, only they were not being sucked out into the vacuum of space for there was a window there, having been built into the doors to give a clear view of space when the ship left a planet.
What they saw shocked them.
Far below was the planet of Reach. In space around it were the ruins of a space orbital defence platform and hundreds of Covenant ships, both assault carriers and, mostly these types, CCS battle cruisers. Every few seconds, one or a few of them would fire a purple laser down onto the planet, creating untold death and destruction to the surface below.
Moe walked to the edge of the hanger window and turned on his camcorder, regardless of the low battery it had left, and turned it so it was facing the scene unfolding in front of him. He was breathless with shock, but even though he could not say it, he knew that this was it. Hope seemed to fade from him.
This is it he thought. We're defeated. It's over
"I've just got word from the bridge," one of the workers said, making everyone turn to face him. "Everyone has to leave the hangers,"
Obeying the orders they had been given, everyone in the hanger began walking towards the door, some talking amongst themselves over what they had just seen, others looking back as they walked, not taking their eyes off it. Moe sighed and turned off his camcorder and walked towards the door. When he reached it, he looked back once more and the last glint of hope and happiness that seemed to reside in them disappeared as if it were taken from him forever, and, heaving a heavy sigh, he walked out of the hanger.
