spartan kade karrick heard the alarms as the UNSC infinity was about to enter real space he looked to his team mates on alpha squad as they got loaded up on ammo and weapons for their deployment to the zeta halo to secure it for the plan to bring down the rogue AI cortona. ty asher the teams heavy weapons expert loaded his bulldog shotgun with a drum magazine while victoria jade the teams explosive expert loaded a hydra with a MA40 assault rifle sitting on a bench loading a magazine of 14.5 caliber rounds for his sniper rifle was steven micheals the teams designated marksmen. on the opposite bench sharpening his knife was the teams scout jasper peters he carried two smgs and a MA5K a cut down verison of the MA5 assault rifle. sasha greene the teams medic sat a BR75 on the table for kade who picked up the battle rifle loading a fresh magazine in as he felt the ship shutter as it exited slipspace to normal space only for the ship to immediately shake as if it had hit rough waters in a storm battle alarms began blaring over the PA system. "attention all hands the fleet is under attack by banished forces all spartan VIs perpare to rebel boarders!" came the voice of sarah palmer over the PA system. kade pulled the charging bolt back on his rifle and let it slide home with a satisfying click as he looked to the others. "you heard the lady lets join the party." kade stated getting nods from the other spartans as they finished loading their weapons steven picked up a BR75 as his back up. "figure this will work better inside this tin can than my main weapon." steven shrugged. the spartans put their helmets on and in a flash of light and movement hundreds of readouts and displays filtered across kades vision until only his shield monitor motion sensor and team comms remained in the corners of his vision. "alright spartans lets get this done." kade ordered. alpha team left the gear up room as the ship rocked from explosions and alarms sounded that the enemy had boarded the ship they made their way to the nearest breach where a squad of grunts lead the charge firing green bolts of plasma down the corridor jasper snapped up his rifle firing a full auto burst into the little aliens dropping six their little heads exploding from the impacts of the rounds steven dropped four jackals that had been in the process of making a shield wall while ty opened up with his assault rifle tearing through the shields of a elite before the second burst tore the elites chest wide open a pair of brutes came charging at the spartans only for kade to put two three round burst into the skull of the first as ty switched over to his bulldog and filled the second one full of buckshot dropping it to the ground at the spartans feet in a dark red bloody mess. the spartans continued down the corridor a trio of crimson plasma bolts struck jaspers shields making them flare and pop as he fell back with steven putting the jackal who had shot him down with a single clean headshot. "spartan alpha team moving through deck subsection D32 contact with banished forces confirmed." kade reported but got no response from the command channel as the ship rocked voilently knocking the spartans off balance. "this is the captain to all hands abandon ship i repeat abandon ship!" laskey ordered. "that last hit disabled the engines." sasha stated. "damn this is the best ship ever fielded by the UNSC!" jasper yelled in disbelief. "it was." steven stated. "that order is for sailors and normal crew our job is to see that they get out of here and take out any banished that get in the way." kade ordered everyone nodded. "what about the mission?" came sirus sashas AI. "the mission what about us!" came frit kades AI. "quiet the chatter lets move." kade ordered.alpha moved through the deck escorting crews to life pods and keeping banished forces off them as the life boats filled.spartan griffins voice came over the comm channel. "the captain is secure and away all spartans master chief is down... all spartans abandon ship!"griffin ordered. "thats gotta be a incorrect report." victoria stated. "there is no way they got him." ty said shaking his head. kade took a breath and steadied himself. "either way we have our orders so lets go we have a date on the ring." kade said.he turned to lead the squad to their evac site when a heavily armored brute entered the corridor wielding two gravity maces in his hands the brute snorted at the spartans as it fully entered the corridor dragging the corpse of a spartan whose arm gauntlet was stuck to its leg armor it shook the corpse off and looked at the spartans who took aim firing their weapons only for it to cross its maces and generating a crimson shield that deflected every round it then charged at the spartans throwing its left mace at their feet unleashing a shockwave that knocked all of them off their feet allowing it to close the distance jasper was struck in the chest by the brutes powerful boot as it kicked him into victoria sending them both down the corridor ty went to grab his bulldog only for the brute to stomp on it he switched to his assault rifle firing a burst of rounds before being heel kicked into the bulkhead the brute turned striking steven with its gravity mace sending him flying back down the corridor from which it had come. sasha fired several rounds from her sidekick only for the brute to pick her up by the throat choking her with one hand she gagged and gasped struggling to breath furiously hitting the hand that had her only for kade to tackle the brute making it drop her to the floor coughing kade shoved the brute back with his side arm firing continously into its side while his other hand stabbed a knife into the brutes side only for a powerful blow to hit him square in the back sending him down to his knees the brute heel kicked him in the chest driving him backward but he managed to stop himself and ignoring the pain or the fact he wasnt able to catch his breath he charged in with his knife going for the brutes throat only for a gravity mace to come to life with crimson energy the brute brought the weapon down striking him in the helmet with such force it sent kade flying down the corridor hitting the deck and rolling to a stop his shields sparking his helmet flew off off its visor cracked he groaned as he struggled to get up blood ran down his face stinging his left eye his vision blurred and his ears were ringing.steven got up slowly staggering slightly before grabbing his sniper rifle aiming and pulling the trigger only for the rifle to jam he quickly cleared the jam firing his rifle the heavy round struck the brute on the shoulder flaring his shields and taking off his left shoulder plate before the brute threw the gravity mace at steven who used his rifle to knock the weapon away getting hit by the gravity pulse and destroying his rifle but avoided taking a direct hit he was sent tumbling to the ground as ty got up punching the brute with a left right left combo ending with a uppercut the brute caught his left fist and squeezed making the gen3 armor creak and shriek as it was bent and crushed breaking tys left arm and every bone in his hand making the spartan yell out in pain before being flung away.kade got up picking up his helmet he put it on with it sealing he picked up a dropped assault rifle firing a full automatic burst that bounced off the brutes shields making them pop but the rounds just dinged off the brutes armor which turned to him kade dropped the empty rifle and gestured for the brute to come at him which it charged at him he turned seeing a air and looked back at the brute side stepping the brutes charge only for it to turn tackling him into and through the airlocks inner doors. victoria and sasha helped jasper and ty into the lifepod while kade kneed the brute in the face which got him slammed into the wall of the airlock kade grabbed the switch pulling it down opening the air lock causing the air to go rushing out of the chamber kade fired his grapple hook into the wall to anchor him into place as the brute began to slide toward the vacuum of space grabbing hold and bending kades chest plate glaring at him with fury and hate in its eyes. "frit... dscard the chest plate." kade ordered. the AI followed the order releasing the clamps and bolts holding the chest plate in place seperating it from kades armor letting it and the suits power supply on his back go flying into the void of space taking the brute with it. kade went to reel himself in only for the hook to not respond he saw his suits emergency batteries had been damaged leaving his suit without power as his heads up display died the hook began to loosen and he closed his eyes as it came loose and he fell into the void drifting away from the infinity the only sound came his steady rthymic breathing as he watched as explosions ripped through the massive ships hull he watched as the life pod containing his squad left the ship and started toward the halo. (humor me for a moment...)kade shivered as the coldness of space worked through the layers of what remained of his gen3 armor. he could hear his teeth chatter as he struggled to breath. (if you knew how you were going to die...)kade looked to his wrist gauntlet and managed to get just one of his backup batteries working enough only to bring his heads up display to life it brought up a image of his family his wife and daughter waiting for him back on earth he gasped for air but there was none his vision blurred.(how would you live your life differently?)a tears floated inside his helmet as darkness crept into his vision. "i'm... sorry." kade managed out before the world went black and the heads up display died for the last time as kades body drifted in the void of space.