November 3rd, 2552

0130

Covenant Space

Planet Code Named Scylla

May G-057 pressed back against the wall. A group of slave Unggoy walked past only a few more inches, and she could have reached out and touched one. Once the group made it past, May clicked her comms. The signal for the ambush. The Unggoy slowly moved to the other end of the hallway towards a shut door, energy pistol raised and ready to fire at anything.

Over the last two hours, Fireteam Claymore had been eliminating group after group of the Pirates. And now it seemed like the Pirates were aware of them. There were more Pirates than any of Claymore expected, forcing them to slow down. The team had to leave the narrow confines of the sewer. The risk of being snuck up on was too great. The exit they had chosen was a water treatment plant, only to catch more Pirates.

May yanked free her combat knife and started to stalk the Unggoys. She had already picked which Unggoy she was going to kill. The one in the back with the Type-33 Needler. Even in the hands of an untrained grunt, the needler could be fatal to a Spartan only wearing SPI. The group of four methane-breathing aliens nervously glanced around the hallway. The Unggoy had no idea they were walking at the rest of Claymore.

The lead Unggoy reached the door, and the purple hunk of metal slid up and open. The rest of the team was just on the other side of the door. Now ready to strike. Nothing happened for a long moment. The rest of the patrol walked into the room, besides the Unggoy in the back with the needler. May pulled the Unggoy backward off his feet. He landed in a sprawl at May's feet. A panicked shout ended as she plunged his knife into the kicking alien's throat.

Echos of suppressed assault rifle fire bounced around the small room and hallway.

A violent explosion shook the entire water treatment plant. The blast knocked May to the ground. The sound of gunfire faded.

"What the-" She pulled herself to her feet. Dust drifted down from the ceiling. Another blast, this one further away.

"Are we compromised?" Brett asked as he exited the ambush room and crossed to the other doorway. He lifted his rifle, looking into the room.

Alexis and Miles came out next. Miles had an arm around Alexis' shoulder, blood seeping from a wound in his leg. Alexis quickly removed the ruined thigh plate. Alexis lowered him to the ground; despite the plasma burn, Miles' eyes and rifle were locked on the exit of the hallway.

"Claymore Two, how are you feeling?" Clark asked as he posted up, watching the way they came from.

"I've had worse. And actually, I feel good. One of my SPI's camo projectors is gone, though." Miles felt a fire running through his veins, not painful but exhilarating. Gamma company's illegal augmentations at work. He felt more dangerous than even before he was shot. Alexis removed an anti-septic from her pouch and sprayed it onto the burn.

"What was the blast?" Brett asked from the doorway, a note of worry in his voice.

"Miles, test your cloaking. Let's see what we are dealing with." Clark looked back towards Miles. Miles vanished, besides his wounded leg. "It could be worse."

A new blast shook the building. More violently than the previous two combined. Alexis bent over Miles' burn to prevent the dust from getting to it. The young Spartans that were standing all got knocked to their knees. Miles was sure the entire building would collapse on the squad right as the shaking stopped.

"What in the world is happening out there?" Miles asked through clenched teeth and pulled himself to his feet.

"That can't all have been for us?" Alexis steadied Miles. Miles shook his head.

"No way. Covenant Military shouldn't have an idea we're here. And, a blast that big, if they knew where we were, we would be a smoking crater right now."

"Enough chatter, Claymore. Let's head outside. Actually, see what we are dealing with."

November 3rd, 2552

0200

Covenant Space

Planet Code Named Scylla

The explosions were enough to drive away the pirates, or at least it seemed to Miles. He stepped through the opening leading to a small courtyard. The front of the Water treatment plant. Rain pelted his armor. That'll make active camo less effective, he mused. Smoke filled the skyline, and purple glowing fires burned in the city. More explosions periodically erupted in the night sky.

"Is there a UNSC task force out here?" Brett asked. He had rushed across the courtyard to hold the other end.

"None that we were made aware of," Clark's voice sounded distant and distracted.

Miles glanced up at the center Spire. The most prominent building in the city, and there was a large hole blasted through the middle floors of it. The fact it was still standing is a marvel of Covenant engineering.

"Nothing has changed. There is a target that needs to be killed. We move through the alleys toward the Spire. It's not safe to be underground when the city is blowing up."

"Doesn't feel safe to be in the city at all when it's, you know, exploding." Miles laughed. Clark turned his helmet to look at Miles. "Just saying."

"Noted. May, take point. I'm sending updated nav data to everyone's HUD." A waypoint appeared over the Central Spire in Miles' HUD. "Takedown anything in your way, Claymore. I don't care if they see us anymore. Looks like they have bigger problems right now anyway."

The young Spartans left the courtyard May in front, following the waypoint. The going was slow as they passed through alleyways and were forced to wait as Covenant patrols moved down the wider central streets.

The team found cover as a lone Kig-Yar rounded the turn at the other end of the passage. They had just turned down a new alley when May flashed a warning amber light. The energy pistol was in hand, not holstered, which sent alarm bells ringing inside Miles. The Kig-Yar passed by a side doorway that May had pushed herself against. In a flash, May had her knife out and into the Kig-Yar. Miles stepped out of his cover to catch the body.

"Fireteam Claymore, get ready. There's going to be more." Clark had taken up a good firing angle on the street side entrance of the alley. "Brett, cover our backs." Brett silently left his cover and doubled back.

The rest of the Kig-Yar's patrol group turned down the alley. Led by a giant Jiralhanae warrior. The two Unggoy with the Jiralhanae stikkered forward. They had still yet to notice their dead scout or the Spartans.

"Miles, May, take the brute. Alexis, the grunt on the right, I got the left." Miles heard whispered into his comms. He shouldered his rifle and took aim at the mass muscle and armor plating. The Jiralhanae stopped and sniffed the air. His Type-25 Spiker Carbine snapped upwards. Miles squeezed his trigger down, the recoil hammered the rifle into his shoulder, and blood erupted from behind the Jiralhanae's helmet.

The Jiralhanae stumbled to the side against the wall, blood leaking down the front of his armor. He groaned and tried to push himself back to his feet, only to slide down the wall. He lifted his spiker and fired in the direction where he thought he had been shot from. May followed up the initial burst and finished the Jiralhanae off. She bounded forward to the street entrance of the alley.

Miles reloaded, amazed the Jiralhanae had survived long enough to get shots off.

"That's all of them for now. I don't see anymore coming." The team allowed themselves a moment to relax. Miles' leg throbbed in a dull agony. However, all it was doing for him was giving him more energy.

"Oh hell," May muttered at the end of the alley. A brilliant flash of plasma illuminated the sky, followed by a thunderous blast.

"Heads up!" Someone called out. Miles' eyes shot up, and he couldn't believe what he saw. A Covenant DAV-class light corvette had been hit by a plasma artillery bombardment. Venting plasma from a massive hole in the starboard side, the corvette hung in the air for a second. But then that second was over, and the ship's nose drifted down.

"It's going to crash into the Eastern part of the city." May's onboard computer had plotted a course for the wrecked ship. She watched the corvette lazily falling towards the ground. "Blast radius is going to devastating."

"Why are the Covenant shooting down their own ships?" Brett, from the far side of the passage, voiced the question on everyone's mind.

"Could it be the pirates?" Alexis mused.

"You ever heard of Jackal pirates with that type of artillery? Brave enough to attack in the middle of a Covenant-owned planet?" May asked, never looking away from the corvette. "It is going to hit in just under a minute."

"What's the plan, Clark?" Miles ripped his eyes away from the falling ship to look at Clark.

Clark stood motionless as the seconds ticked by. Nothing was going to plan, and the young squad leader was starting to feel overwhelmed. Clark licked his lips as he weighed the options. No telling if the Target is still alive with that blast at the Spire. Or if the Target fled or hid, the whole city would be on high alert now. But what other choice did they have?

"We use the corvette as a distraction. Once it goes up, it will launch dust, dirt, and a lot of smoke into the sky. We will use it as cover and move to the Spire as fast as we can. Find and kill the target if he is still alive and then get the hell off this rock. I'm sure ONI would love to look at our combat footage of all this."

The Covenant corvette finished its final flight and collided with the city skyline. Building in its path buckled and collapsed, and fires raged out of control. Smaller booms built on each other and filled the night with sounds of armageddon. Finally, the corvette had enough, and the reactor flashed a blinding white.

Miles' visor automatically polarized to protect his eyes, and still, he closed them in pain. The pressure wave blew apart buildings and flattened the city around the epicenter. The scale of the destruction was unlike anything he had experienced back on Oynx and humbled the young Spartan.

Dust and debris shot past them down the street. The alleyway provided them some cover from the more significant objects. May stepped into the street, rifle sweeping up and down, looking for targets. Miles followed her, stepping over chunks of glowing hot Covenant metals and rocks. Try as he might, thanks to the smoke that obscured most of the city, Miles could not make out the Central Spire anymore.