Halo: The Nameless War
Chapter IV: Aboard A Covenant Cruiser
Though each were sweating profusely, they had mad it onto The Truth and Reconciliation. The room they were in seemed to be a loading bay of some sort. However, right now it was littered with corpses, scattered all around the room. A large hanger door was open to the right side of the room, and two doors stood in front of them with two behind. The Hanger doors were only a larger version of the four around them. Mesa and Gainer moved outwards, looking around the crates and checking the corpses to see if any were moving. Williams was checking his monitor again.
"I can see movement through that door, looks like a few grunts, probably just lucky survivors."
The team ran behind the crates and stopped, Gainer was closest to the door. The Grunts fell through the doorway, apparently rushing away from something. The stopped as they got into the room and turned towards the door, there was nothing there, and the one behind it was locked. They all sighed obviously, each against crates facing the door. Jerkin took the opportunity to hit one in the back of the head and pull it back, ripping its environmental suit. The older Williams did the same to one near him and Miller did the same also. The two that remained turned and jumped. Gainer and Miller quickly ran behind them and as the Grunts turned to shoot, they were also hit hard in the back of the head.
"Let's move up!" cried Miller enthusiastically.
This time, Gainer took the lead and Miller took the rear. They went through the door the Grunts came from and through the next door, surprising an Elite that was leaning against it with a whack in the back of the head. Gainer shot hard at a Grunt further down the corridor. Gainer kept Williams of Electronics close by, checking around corners with his monitor and letting him hack into any panels he found. Eventually, they came to a hanger door and when it opened, they were confronted by a large group of Covenant.
Gainer leapt back and stuck to the wall. Gainer threw a frag in and the Covenant, inexperienced in human technology, were scattered. Gainer turned back in, hitting an Elite in the face with her Shotgun and taking it down. She moved back and the older Williams threw in another frag. Again, this worked. Gainer and Williams turned in, shot wildly at any enemies they could see, then ducked behind the wall and watched the monitor. Williams of Electronics however, was at a panel further up. He pressed several buttons and then plugged in his hand panel. Pressing more buttons he continued his work as the door opened behind Gainer.
Red grunts, followed by two oranges, ran through and were hit with a barrage of fire. Even Williams with the panel had turned to fire at them. Afterwards he continued and soon enough the panel showed the Shuttle bay. Smoke poured from the ventilation system until even the Elites lay unconscious on the ground. Williams smiled,
"I learned long ago that the Covenant had protected their ships against intruders inside as well as outside. They don't realise how intelligent humans are."
They moved in quickly. Miller and Gainer hitting every sleeping covenant they came near over the back of their head. They continued until they had crossed the Shuttle Bay and started to head upwards. Gainer taking shots at any Grunts they ran into. Near the higher entrance to the shuttle bay they saw five Elites running down an adjacent corridor.
"What are they doing?" questioned Gainer, looking at Williams, who was still holding his panel.
"They're making repairs," he replied, "Cortana used that cannon on the Autumn to disable it, but from what they're transmitting I think she hit their main engine. This ship will probably be out of commission for a long time unless they can fix it. By the look of it that's their number one priority."
"So the chief won't be helping matters by killing a horde of them," said Jerkin, smiling to himself, "and what we can do helps as well. So we'd better get busy."
They followed the Elites, hoping to deal damage to the Engine more on Miller's orders. Jerkin eagerly took the lead alongside Gainer while the older Williams joined Miller at the rear. Williams of Electronics kept forward, tracking the Elites so that he didn't lose them. They moved quickly, working hard to keep up with the Elites and not worrying about noise. Twice they ran into Jackals carrying tools and twice they dealt with them swiftly. They did not have shield because of all of the tools they carried so Gainer and Jerkin tore them apart in a few shots.
They moved forward until they had gone down into the bowels of the ship, there they came across the Covenant engine room. It was surrounded by Elites, all working hard on it, with shieldless Jackals around them, all carrying tools. Grunts were pacing around the area, occasionally being called on to hit switches or attack nails with hammer like tools. The corridor they were on led to a raised platform that had only a few Grunts on. Miller and Williams moved downstairs with Reid, covering her while she hid and prepared one of her explosives. The younger Williams moved down with them and guided them to all the engine room entrances. She set bombs at every one before returning. The covenant were too busy at work to notice. Once they had set them they moved back up to where the rest of the team was waiting. Mesa moved out onto the high platform and they lost sight and sound of her. Stealth was her area.
Mesa moved quickly for the sounds that she was making. She dived in and out of corridors easily, hiding there until a Grunt strolled by. She scanned the area quickly, hit it hard on the back of the head and then dragged it away. She moved back onto the platform and looked across at the rest of her team. They all looked dumbfounded, as if they couldn't see her. It was only a quick glance, she grabbed the next grunt as it stood looking down at the work going on and elbowed it in the throat. One remained, looking across towards her. She flattened on the platform and waited. It looked away and she stood quickly. It spotted her but quickly got a pistol shot in it's head. Her pistol was silenced so nothing was heard. She moved back to the team quickly, they hadn't seen her at all.
She returned as silently as ever, making everybody jump.
"It's clear high up, now move out slowly."
The team spread out over the railing and set a plasma grenade in each of their hands. The grunts and Elites down below continued to work hard, trying to fix the engine. The team ducked down, threw the grenades and ran.
The explosion followed them into the corridors, as well as the screams and cries of dying Covenant, they continued to run. Then, the grenades the grunts carried went off, and so did the engine. The team kept running, turning back into the corridor they had set out from and meeting up, them continuing to run. Covenant could be heard all over the ship now, Gainer took the lead.
The first they ran into was a group of four Jackals, Reid shot with her rocket launcher, spreading them and their pieces all around the corridor. They kept moving, keeping a quick jog before Miller demanded a halt, Jerkin was beginning to fall behind. They ducked into the nearest room, the older Williams brother blasting the Elite that was there in the head. They sat down and soon realised they were in a storage room. The younger Williams scanned the room and his eyes lit up as he came to one of the shelves. Gainer followed.
"I know what these are," claimed Williams, picking one up and plugging his monitor into it.
Gainer finished his sentence for him, "They're Elite shields, made for humans, it looks like these are the ones that were confiscated when they attacked Reach and killed all the Spartan-II soldiers."
Liam Williams continually pressed buttons on his panel until he finally seemed to find what he was looking for, "These shields are also made for people in our position, it doesn't seem as though the Covenant could use them but there's a built in instruction manual here. Miss Gainer, turn around, I'm going to attach this to you, and don't worry if my hands wander."
"They'd better not or I'll have them both off."
They continued onwards when they were all kitted up, before they escaped properly an Elite caught sight of them, pointing them out to four grunts and two jackals. The all came after them and as the passed the door, Reid pushed a button on their own panel and blew a crater in the wall where the room had been. The Covenant were crushed and the team sprinted towards the hangar bay. They moved quickly until they were there, running into little resistance before they found what they were looking for, the Covenant had beaten them there. The area was swarming with grunts and Elites stood on the balconies where the team were hiding behind crates. Two Hunters strode along the balconies, looking at their troops eagerly, as if they were definitely looking forward to a fight. The team fell back to the nearest room and sat on crates.
"So how are we going to deal with them?" asked Gainer, now stroking her Shotgun. Jerkin perused the contents of the crate he was sat on, as all of them it was large and bulked out.
"I have an idea," he said quietly, "you should look in these boxes, it seems as though this is where they store attack vehicles for transport."
Miller went over and looked down at the ghost positioned in the crate, "but how can this help us?"
The younger Williams moved forward and put a wire from his panel into the crate. He pulled it from his panel and pressed a button. The ghost moved, "What say we set up a little present for the Covenant and once they're distracted, we sneak out."
It worked well. The Ghost flew from another corridor and charged across the balconies, running over two Elites and blasting down more than five Grunts in the process. As it fell down lower the Hunters leapt down after it. An Elite tried the same but landed head first on a crate, knocking it out. The Ghost continued to fly until it was surrounded by both Hunters, three Elites and more Grunts than they could count. They moved in, the Ghost reacted by exploding.
The blast rippled through the area, sending Covenant flying, another of Reid's bombs was a success. She cheered at her own handiwork before following Mesa and Gainer forward. They headed into the bay and found Covenant at the bottom of the bay, trying to get back into position. Thyme set up between two crates and Mesa and Reid took positions beside her. Gainer, Miller, Jerkin and the older Williams moved downstairs while the younger Williams went searching for the nearest panel. With a signal from Jerkin Thyme made her first shot.
As soon as the first Elite fell Gainer and Jerkin moved from the left, while Williams and Miller moved from the right. The first Hunter was targeted by Jerkin and attacked from behind via its neck. It fell quickly. The second charged at Miller, who dodged aside, swung an uppercut at it to push it's head upwards while Williams took a shot, hitting it in the front of the neck. Thyme shot another Elite down which had been firing at Gainer, keeping her in hiding. She rose and shot at an Elite, knocking it back before a barrage of Needles hit it, shot by Reid. The Needles blew before the two grunts supporting the Elite could escape. Mesa shot down three grunts in the time it took for this to happen and was busy holding an Elite down when Miller came up behind it and snapped it's neck in two. The remaining grunts scattered and were hit on all sides before they could escape.
A dropship had been waiting here a long while, dropping off reinforcements for the area, it's gun swivelled round and fired at Jerkin, but it only managed to drain his shield, Thyme aimed a shot and struck hard. The driver fell at the cockpit of the vehicle. The team moved in quickly and let Williams of Electronics kneel down beneath the cockpit, again playing with his panel. The panel was put on the stand, showing exactly how to fly the ship and Jerkin took the panel. He scanned it over and raised the ship, heading it straight out of the docking bay.
"Omega Team this is Cortana, myself and the Chief have found the captain and are leaving the ship, we suggest you get out of there too. Good work there, you had the Covenant scared for a few moments before they all died. We're heading out to find the control room, when we know we'll tell you, for now we need you to check out a camp the Covenant have made that translates as The Way Forward. From their network it seems that they have found some sort of weapon there and are planning to use it against us. Stop them at all costs."
Chapter IV: Aboard A Covenant Cruiser
Though each were sweating profusely, they had mad it onto The Truth and Reconciliation. The room they were in seemed to be a loading bay of some sort. However, right now it was littered with corpses, scattered all around the room. A large hanger door was open to the right side of the room, and two doors stood in front of them with two behind. The Hanger doors were only a larger version of the four around them. Mesa and Gainer moved outwards, looking around the crates and checking the corpses to see if any were moving. Williams was checking his monitor again.
"I can see movement through that door, looks like a few grunts, probably just lucky survivors."
The team ran behind the crates and stopped, Gainer was closest to the door. The Grunts fell through the doorway, apparently rushing away from something. The stopped as they got into the room and turned towards the door, there was nothing there, and the one behind it was locked. They all sighed obviously, each against crates facing the door. Jerkin took the opportunity to hit one in the back of the head and pull it back, ripping its environmental suit. The older Williams did the same to one near him and Miller did the same also. The two that remained turned and jumped. Gainer and Miller quickly ran behind them and as the Grunts turned to shoot, they were also hit hard in the back of the head.
"Let's move up!" cried Miller enthusiastically.
This time, Gainer took the lead and Miller took the rear. They went through the door the Grunts came from and through the next door, surprising an Elite that was leaning against it with a whack in the back of the head. Gainer shot hard at a Grunt further down the corridor. Gainer kept Williams of Electronics close by, checking around corners with his monitor and letting him hack into any panels he found. Eventually, they came to a hanger door and when it opened, they were confronted by a large group of Covenant.
Gainer leapt back and stuck to the wall. Gainer threw a frag in and the Covenant, inexperienced in human technology, were scattered. Gainer turned back in, hitting an Elite in the face with her Shotgun and taking it down. She moved back and the older Williams threw in another frag. Again, this worked. Gainer and Williams turned in, shot wildly at any enemies they could see, then ducked behind the wall and watched the monitor. Williams of Electronics however, was at a panel further up. He pressed several buttons and then plugged in his hand panel. Pressing more buttons he continued his work as the door opened behind Gainer.
Red grunts, followed by two oranges, ran through and were hit with a barrage of fire. Even Williams with the panel had turned to fire at them. Afterwards he continued and soon enough the panel showed the Shuttle bay. Smoke poured from the ventilation system until even the Elites lay unconscious on the ground. Williams smiled,
"I learned long ago that the Covenant had protected their ships against intruders inside as well as outside. They don't realise how intelligent humans are."
They moved in quickly. Miller and Gainer hitting every sleeping covenant they came near over the back of their head. They continued until they had crossed the Shuttle Bay and started to head upwards. Gainer taking shots at any Grunts they ran into. Near the higher entrance to the shuttle bay they saw five Elites running down an adjacent corridor.
"What are they doing?" questioned Gainer, looking at Williams, who was still holding his panel.
"They're making repairs," he replied, "Cortana used that cannon on the Autumn to disable it, but from what they're transmitting I think she hit their main engine. This ship will probably be out of commission for a long time unless they can fix it. By the look of it that's their number one priority."
"So the chief won't be helping matters by killing a horde of them," said Jerkin, smiling to himself, "and what we can do helps as well. So we'd better get busy."
They followed the Elites, hoping to deal damage to the Engine more on Miller's orders. Jerkin eagerly took the lead alongside Gainer while the older Williams joined Miller at the rear. Williams of Electronics kept forward, tracking the Elites so that he didn't lose them. They moved quickly, working hard to keep up with the Elites and not worrying about noise. Twice they ran into Jackals carrying tools and twice they dealt with them swiftly. They did not have shield because of all of the tools they carried so Gainer and Jerkin tore them apart in a few shots.
They moved forward until they had gone down into the bowels of the ship, there they came across the Covenant engine room. It was surrounded by Elites, all working hard on it, with shieldless Jackals around them, all carrying tools. Grunts were pacing around the area, occasionally being called on to hit switches or attack nails with hammer like tools. The corridor they were on led to a raised platform that had only a few Grunts on. Miller and Williams moved downstairs with Reid, covering her while she hid and prepared one of her explosives. The younger Williams moved down with them and guided them to all the engine room entrances. She set bombs at every one before returning. The covenant were too busy at work to notice. Once they had set them they moved back up to where the rest of the team was waiting. Mesa moved out onto the high platform and they lost sight and sound of her. Stealth was her area.
Mesa moved quickly for the sounds that she was making. She dived in and out of corridors easily, hiding there until a Grunt strolled by. She scanned the area quickly, hit it hard on the back of the head and then dragged it away. She moved back onto the platform and looked across at the rest of her team. They all looked dumbfounded, as if they couldn't see her. It was only a quick glance, she grabbed the next grunt as it stood looking down at the work going on and elbowed it in the throat. One remained, looking across towards her. She flattened on the platform and waited. It looked away and she stood quickly. It spotted her but quickly got a pistol shot in it's head. Her pistol was silenced so nothing was heard. She moved back to the team quickly, they hadn't seen her at all.
She returned as silently as ever, making everybody jump.
"It's clear high up, now move out slowly."
The team spread out over the railing and set a plasma grenade in each of their hands. The grunts and Elites down below continued to work hard, trying to fix the engine. The team ducked down, threw the grenades and ran.
The explosion followed them into the corridors, as well as the screams and cries of dying Covenant, they continued to run. Then, the grenades the grunts carried went off, and so did the engine. The team kept running, turning back into the corridor they had set out from and meeting up, them continuing to run. Covenant could be heard all over the ship now, Gainer took the lead.
The first they ran into was a group of four Jackals, Reid shot with her rocket launcher, spreading them and their pieces all around the corridor. They kept moving, keeping a quick jog before Miller demanded a halt, Jerkin was beginning to fall behind. They ducked into the nearest room, the older Williams brother blasting the Elite that was there in the head. They sat down and soon realised they were in a storage room. The younger Williams scanned the room and his eyes lit up as he came to one of the shelves. Gainer followed.
"I know what these are," claimed Williams, picking one up and plugging his monitor into it.
Gainer finished his sentence for him, "They're Elite shields, made for humans, it looks like these are the ones that were confiscated when they attacked Reach and killed all the Spartan-II soldiers."
Liam Williams continually pressed buttons on his panel until he finally seemed to find what he was looking for, "These shields are also made for people in our position, it doesn't seem as though the Covenant could use them but there's a built in instruction manual here. Miss Gainer, turn around, I'm going to attach this to you, and don't worry if my hands wander."
"They'd better not or I'll have them both off."
They continued onwards when they were all kitted up, before they escaped properly an Elite caught sight of them, pointing them out to four grunts and two jackals. The all came after them and as the passed the door, Reid pushed a button on their own panel and blew a crater in the wall where the room had been. The Covenant were crushed and the team sprinted towards the hangar bay. They moved quickly until they were there, running into little resistance before they found what they were looking for, the Covenant had beaten them there. The area was swarming with grunts and Elites stood on the balconies where the team were hiding behind crates. Two Hunters strode along the balconies, looking at their troops eagerly, as if they were definitely looking forward to a fight. The team fell back to the nearest room and sat on crates.
"So how are we going to deal with them?" asked Gainer, now stroking her Shotgun. Jerkin perused the contents of the crate he was sat on, as all of them it was large and bulked out.
"I have an idea," he said quietly, "you should look in these boxes, it seems as though this is where they store attack vehicles for transport."
Miller went over and looked down at the ghost positioned in the crate, "but how can this help us?"
The younger Williams moved forward and put a wire from his panel into the crate. He pulled it from his panel and pressed a button. The ghost moved, "What say we set up a little present for the Covenant and once they're distracted, we sneak out."
It worked well. The Ghost flew from another corridor and charged across the balconies, running over two Elites and blasting down more than five Grunts in the process. As it fell down lower the Hunters leapt down after it. An Elite tried the same but landed head first on a crate, knocking it out. The Ghost continued to fly until it was surrounded by both Hunters, three Elites and more Grunts than they could count. They moved in, the Ghost reacted by exploding.
The blast rippled through the area, sending Covenant flying, another of Reid's bombs was a success. She cheered at her own handiwork before following Mesa and Gainer forward. They headed into the bay and found Covenant at the bottom of the bay, trying to get back into position. Thyme set up between two crates and Mesa and Reid took positions beside her. Gainer, Miller, Jerkin and the older Williams moved downstairs while the younger Williams went searching for the nearest panel. With a signal from Jerkin Thyme made her first shot.
As soon as the first Elite fell Gainer and Jerkin moved from the left, while Williams and Miller moved from the right. The first Hunter was targeted by Jerkin and attacked from behind via its neck. It fell quickly. The second charged at Miller, who dodged aside, swung an uppercut at it to push it's head upwards while Williams took a shot, hitting it in the front of the neck. Thyme shot another Elite down which had been firing at Gainer, keeping her in hiding. She rose and shot at an Elite, knocking it back before a barrage of Needles hit it, shot by Reid. The Needles blew before the two grunts supporting the Elite could escape. Mesa shot down three grunts in the time it took for this to happen and was busy holding an Elite down when Miller came up behind it and snapped it's neck in two. The remaining grunts scattered and were hit on all sides before they could escape.
A dropship had been waiting here a long while, dropping off reinforcements for the area, it's gun swivelled round and fired at Jerkin, but it only managed to drain his shield, Thyme aimed a shot and struck hard. The driver fell at the cockpit of the vehicle. The team moved in quickly and let Williams of Electronics kneel down beneath the cockpit, again playing with his panel. The panel was put on the stand, showing exactly how to fly the ship and Jerkin took the panel. He scanned it over and raised the ship, heading it straight out of the docking bay.
"Omega Team this is Cortana, myself and the Chief have found the captain and are leaving the ship, we suggest you get out of there too. Good work there, you had the Covenant scared for a few moments before they all died. We're heading out to find the control room, when we know we'll tell you, for now we need you to check out a camp the Covenant have made that translates as The Way Forward. From their network it seems that they have found some sort of weapon there and are planning to use it against us. Stop them at all costs."