CHAPTER 13
0706 Hours, August 15, 2553 (Military Calendar)/ Prison Blocks of Daygars compound on planet Raiek
Brent was beginning to grow weary of waiting in his cell. James had promised to rescue him but had not delivered. He felt himself growing angry, angrier than he usually did. But he regretted this anger and supressed it deep within himself. He didn't know how much longer he could keep doing this, so he thought nothing of it and inspected the bars that held him.
On the opposite wall of the tiny prison blocks, Brent spotted a control panel for his cage. He became angered that they were so far away. But he again supressed this and gazed around the room for a way to escape.
Just then, a tap behind him caused him to spin around. He looked through the barred windows into the bright sunlight of Raiek's two suns and saw Alex Daufel, hanging next to the window, holding a pistol in his hand. "Need this?" he asked, a grin on his face under his helmet.
Brent reached up and jerked the weapon from the Spartan's hold. "Give me that!" he growled.
Alex held up his hands innocently. "No need to be so irritable. I'm sending you a map of the base, and a triangle on it will tell you where you need to rendezvous with us, along with a path to follow from here to there."
"Okay!" Brent grunted and held the pistol upwards, aiming at the control device.
Alex sighed deeply. "See you later," he muttered and raised himself back onto the roof.
Brent took aim right at the controls. Since they were sort of far away, he activated the 2X scope and unleashed a single bullet into the controls. The bars in front of him seemed to flicker, fade, then vanish. Now freed, Brent moved next to the controls and found an emergency stash of weaponry in a box. He shot the lock off with his pistol and opened it.
Inside were four plasma grenades, two plasma pistols and a plasma rifle. Brent took all the grenades and swiped the rifle from its place. It would be far more effective than a plasma pistol in combat.
Bringing up the map from Alex in his HUD, Brent studied it, and took off down the hallway, ready to follow the path, muttering words under his breath. He was in no mood to have to chase down his team when Alex could have easily pried the wall open, he thought.
But that was not true. The walls would have been too strong had Alex tried to open them. It was just Brent's rising anger that triggered the ludicrous notion.
Gripping his M6D pistol in one hand, Brent moved quickly down the hallway.
0702 Hours, August 15, 2553 (Military Calendar)/ UNSC battleship Pillar of Winter, in orbit around planet Raiek
Captain Moores held onto the brass railing behind him. He stared out the main viewport of the Pillar of Winter, which was constructed in much the same way as Captain Keyes' ship, made in his honor. Thinking deeply of the Spartans and Marines down on Raiek below, he started to bellow out an order to contact the Master Commander and have him report.
Just then, a feisty General Henry Standon burst onto the bridge, blowing past several astonished officers and came to stand next to the Captain. He gave a smart salute and stood at attention. "At ease," Moores grunted.
The General held up a file containing information on the most recent events of Raiek. The fact that James had refused to be re-assigned was unacceptable of the Spartan himself and particularily of his own commander, Captain Moores. "I have the most recents reports that you requested, Captain," Standon said, throwing a frown the Captain's way.
Moores lightly took the disc and inserted it into its drive. A small blue light shot forth and came to a rest upon the retina of Captain Moores. The astonished Captain read the report from the General with great speed. After he had finished, he stared at the General roughly, trying to figure out what the General was getting at.
"I understand you are upset with the Commander that he refused to be re- assigned, but that was why they were picked for the job of newly-recruited Spartans. They never give up, and never return to base without having succeeded at their mission." The General gave a curt nod. "And now you figure I should withdraw them myself?" he asked.
Standon's eyes were rock-hard, untouchable in their decision. "Yes, sir," he said, staring at his two officers that flanked him. Colonel Garison, the Marine from Raiek, was among them. "I believe that those arrogant Spartans will get their just desserts by being forced to work with you on Jarrisno and will keep them out of trouble, sir." He stood straighter, his face appearing to become even more rock-hard. "I trust you shall withdraw them immediately and allow my Marines to handle the Raiek situation themselves."
"Negative, General," Moores said, glaring hard at Standon. "My Spartans will continue their work. Even if all six of them die, it will be lives well-spent if they get the job done. I've lost Spartans in combat before, and I'm prepared to do it again."
Standon frowned. "That is not the issue at hand! The issue is that those Spartans are no better trained for this mission than my Marines. Soon, they will completely take over, Captain!"
"No, they won't," the Captain growled. "He picked up a disc file and tapped a button. The blue light beamed onto the General's retina. "Look at this! Commander James Carser of the Spartans reported to me a new race in the Covenant, called Howlers. According to him, the only ones capable of surviving their deadly howls are the Spartans themselves."
The General grunted as the file was withdrawn from his eyes. "What's your point, Captain?" he asked sternly.
"My point is that James told me a Marine under his command was killed in combat against them, and many more to add to that under the command of your Colonel over there." Colonel Garison's eyes darted widly at the comment. Moores was right. "And also, since the Spartans are the only ones that can live through the attacks, I order you to withdraw any Marines left down there, and allow the Spartans to handle this one!" he barked.
The General thought for a moment, and then nodded. He took out a plasma pistol he'd swiped from an Elite and handed it to Moores, nozzle-first. "You're right. The Spartans are better off on this one. Also, in honor of your orders, I'll hand over my weapon and permanently withdraw from this place."
As Moores reached out his hand, Standon squeezed the trigger. The plasma energy lanced forward, missing Moores by inches. The resulting effect was that a Marine pilot driving the Winter was taken straight through his back. The explosion that followed shattered the control mechanism, causing the ship to buck and shake. They were losing control.
"Shields down!" one officer called.
"Engines losing power!" another announced.
The ship's AI, Darkel, snapped on. His chosen form was that of a cheetah that walked like a human. He stood at the edge of his perch, his tail flicking behind him. "The ship is going down, Captain," he said in a monotone voice. "We'll have to make an emergency landing."
Moores snatched the plasma pistol and aimed it at the mad General. "You're insane!" he cried. He squeezed the trigger, and the bolt of fire impacted the General in his chest. He collapsed, and Moores ordered his officers and the General to be chained up and gagged. All three of them would live, but not in comfort. They were to be thrown into the prison blocks on-board the ship. Turning to Lieutenant Sellers, Moores handed the weapon over butt-first.
"Take this and keep it. Use it in case the Covenant take our time of weakness to attack."
Sellers started to turn, but then looked back. "Where will we go without engine power?" he asked the Captain.
Moores looked out the viewscreen, horror on his face as he watched the moon of Raiek loom closer. "The only place we can go. The moon of Raiek! Darkel isn't strong enough after being debugged before we left to keep us up."
The Pillar of Winter slowly began to fall down to the moon, pulled into the atmosphere by the gravity of the moon. They slowly sunk towards the ground. Within minutes, they smashed into the surface of the moon, tossing the entire crew to the floor.
Once order had been restored, Moores rose above the rest. "Take what weapons you can and find some grenades. We need to completely abandon ship for now. Since we're marooned on the moon of Raiek, it'll be up to the Spartans on Raiek to rescue us. For now, let's remain here and guard the ship. I'm going to send several dropships full of Marines and find out where the plasma cannon on this moon is."
Since there was constant travel of freight ships going from the moon to Raiek, a cannon was obviously being powered here. No one was sure exactly what it was, and that was their best guess. However, before they could destroy it, they had to find it...
0716 Hours, August 15, 2553 (Military Calendar)/ Inside Daygars compound on planet Raiek
James stood next to Jason, Bryce and Jarrett as the two of them related what they saw in that blocked tunnel to their Commander. "There was no way for us to get the Warthog through," Jason said, standing at attention. "So we had no choice but to make our way around through this tunnel like you ordered, sir."
"Good," James said, turning to face Bryce. "You say you encountered infection Flood?" he asked sternly, not a hint of emotion in his voice.
"Aye, Commander," Bryce responded.
James took a moment to think it over. If the Flood really were on this planet, they'd do anything it took to infect the bodies of his Spartans. After putting a hand to his chin, James looked at Bryce. "Have you seen any Howlers lately?" he asked finally.
"No," said Bryce. "None since that time in the tunnel yesterday." He put a hand to his waist. "You think those were the only ones?" he asked quizically.
James shook his head. "Of course not. There are many more on the planet. I'm not sure how many of them exactly made it to Raiek, but it is my hope that we can find them all and destroy them. This Howler deal ends here!"
Almost in response, a growl uttered from behind them. The Spartans spun around to see four Howlers standing further down the hall way. Infection Flood scuttled along the ceiling around them, not even bugging the Howlers. "You end here!" the Howler spat and opened his mouth.
The three behind him watched in silence.
"Move!" James screamed. "Get out of here!" The five of them scattered down the hallway, moving as one unit before the Howlers could strike.
"Kee-ROWWWWWWWWWW!" The shockwaves caused by the puny-looking Howler appeared to follow the Spartans down the tunnel, aimed right at them. The blast caught Jason, who, ironically, was at the rear, causing him to stumble. The rest of his team continued.
James shouted out immediate orders to his team, seeing a closing door up ahead, activated by the Howlers. If they got through, it would be their savior. If they were left behind, they would die at the Howlers' hands. Alex hesitated, thinking about rescuing Jason. "Leave him!" the Commander cried. The four remaning Spartans dashed through the door just as it started to close more quickly.
They turned to see Jason's body crawling with infection Flood. He held a hand out, calling to his teammates. Withdrawing his MA5B assault rifle, he started to fire, but there was a click as his ammo ran out. He had used too much of it before on the Warthog. The door closed as he tried to reload, and the Spartan team could hear his final cries.
Alex turned to James. "He was our best friend!" Alex shouted, shoving the Commander against the wall.
James withdrew his assault rifle and aimed it right at Alex's helmet. "And I'll do it to you if you don't shut up!" he warned. After Alex had calmed, James calmed himself as well. "If any of us had tried to get Jason, the rescuer would have been left behind. Then, the rescue would have been futile, and only three of us would be left!"
Alex saw his mistake, but he didn't apologize. He just snorted and continued down the hall. Even though he and James were best friends, this didn't seem like the time for celebrating their escape.
They continued in silence, the lights on their guns paving the way in the pitch-black tunnel. There didn't seem to be any reason to speak, but then they heard a noise.
"What was that?" Jarrett asked, pointing his light upwards to where the sound came from.
James tried to keep a cool head, although he was terrified. "I have no idea. Let's press on." In no more than several minutes, the team of four had arrived upon a vent shaft leading straight up. From the looks of it, it came out on the roof.
"I'm going to go up that way," James said. "The three of you continue down the hallway and you'll get to the cannon room. When you start to engage, I'll drop in from above to provide additional support." His crew nodded, so he slung a rope up there and began his descent. "Meet up with you later," he called as he moved.
Alex was in command. He waved his men down the tunnel, so they continued. Eventually coming to a door, it opened by itself, revealing the room beyond.
The large cannon sat in the very middle, and it sparkled with purple plasma energy and from its own glorious shine. Elites were around it, just in time getting it finished. As the last energy plate was snapped on, an Elite pulled a lever and it fired up. The end of it seemed to pop and sizzle. The cannon itself was turning to face another angle, always upwards. A large door was overhead, made of metal and closed at the moment. Once they were ready, they would no doubt open that door to fire the device.
A gold-clad Elite stood on the top of it, obviously at the controls. The translators helped the Spartans know what he was saying. "We have finally reached our most glorious moment!" he boomed as Elites, Grunts, Jackals, and two Howlers turned to watch. "Our target: Sigma Octanus!"
0724 Hours, August 15, 2553 (Military Calendar)/ Open field in Daygars compound on planet Raiek
Farr stood outside with his troops ready to fight. Just then, a call came in through his comm-link. It was the Commander. "Go!" was the only word.
Activating the link to his troops, Farr talked to them. "The Commander has gives us the signal!" he said into the crackling mic. "Attack!"
From the front of Daygars on the outside, the three Hunters steadied their arms right at the top of Daygars. Focusing intently, they let out a mighty roar of battle as their arm-mounted cannons fired out a large blast of pure plasma energy right at the fortress itself.
The wall-guards screeched aloud and swiveled in their seats. A Grunt in a mounted Shade fired, killing one of the Elites. Only six outside still stood. Suddenly, the roar of three Banshees above put out that Grunt for good. The plasma bolts took the guards by surprise, and they stumbled over themselves to destroy the ship. A Hunter on the roof aimed his arm upwards and destroyed one of the Banshees with a single direct hit.
The Hunters on the ground fired again! The ceiling literally exploded inward, caving in on itself.
The warcry of Farr and his troops rained out as they stood up, activated their stolen plasma shields, and fired their weapons at Daygars from their trench hiding spot. "Keep firing!" Farr boomed.
It was then that streams of Covenant warriors began to pour from the compound, firing back at Farr and his group as they leaped over their cover and began to engage in hand-to-hand combat. More Covenant went down than rebels, but the tide would soon have to change. All three rebel Banshees had been shot down, and now nearly the whole of Daygars was outside, fighting the rebels. It was impossible to tell friend from foe after the two sides met, so they just killed whoever got in their way.
0726 Hours, August 15, 2553 (Military Calendar)/ Cannon Room of Daygars compound on planet Raiek
Inside the cannon room, the Elites turned to face outside. Around half the Grunts and nearly all the Elites ran, obeying their Prophets orders. After the tide had left, only seventeen Grunts, four Elites (including the gold one), and one Howler remained.
Alex jumped from his hiding spot and took down a Grunt with three neatly-placed shots. Jarrett followed up by pegging two Grunts with three shots, downing them. From another corner of the room, Bryce leaped forward and fired his shotgun, taking out two Elites with two shots.
The gold Elite above howled a warning and pulled the lever. Within seconds, the roof of the complex began to open, revealing the snowy wasteland that was Raiek. They were far from the field where Farr fought, but close enough to hear battle cries. With one flick of a switch, the cannon powered up.
From the window above, James dropped in, shattering the glass as he moved through the threshold and landed behind the commander Elite. With the butt of his gun, he knocked the Elite backwards over the railing. The Elite rammed into the ground and was dead instantly by falling from such a height.
As this happened, the cannon began to rotate as the overhead door opened fully. The cannon was starting to power-up, and James was looking at the controls. He couldn't make heads or tails of the dots, bars, and lines that was the Covenant language.
Then, Bryce jumped up beside him. "I can't stop it!" James shouted as the cannon started to collect energy on its tip.
"Then do this!" Bryce shouted, flipping his assault rifle over, butt- first. With one ram, he shoved it right into the control panel, which sizzled from energy and sparked. James aimed at it and unloaded several bullets into it, completely destroying it. Instantly, the cannon stopped moving and loading.
Alex and Jarrett came up behind them. James was reading some data on Raiek. "Look here," he said, turning to them, holding a data-pad. According to my translation, the core of Raiek is indeed pure plasma. And as we speak the planet is literally eating itself alive. It only had three days left before the core of the planet eats through the surface!"
Alex paused, thinking. "I have an idea." He moved to the firing mechanism and put his hand on the switch. It was turned upwards. He moved it into neutral, and then down. The cannon started up again, but instead of collecting energy, it visibly shot the energy back into the planet. As a result, the eating of this planet would happen much quicker.
"We have to get off this planet!" Alex said. He stared at a countdown timer. "We only have three hours!" He and the rest of the team leaped to the ground and began to move back down the tunnel.
Further into it, they were back in the dark. Their lights shone everywhere. Within minutes, they stopped and assessed their plan on how they would escape from the planet with their new rebel friends.
"We have no choice but to take them with us in Foehammer and the other dropships," Jarrett said. "We can't leave them here."
Alex spoke up. "Foehammer and the other ships can't hold them all!"
James held up a hand. "I doubt all of them will survive their battle. Hopefully Farr will so I can thank him for what he's done for us. Without his help, I doubt we'd still be alive right now. It was because of him we got as far as we did. If we didn't have their distraction and inevitable sacrifice, we wouldn't succeed."
Alex grabbed the Commander and they started back down the tunnel. "We have to get off this planet! It's going to be covered in liquid plasma soon, and we have to be off of it by then!" The team moved back down the tunnel.
"Let's go! We have to make our exit NOW!" The team hurried down the hallway and emerged back onto the surface, right in time to see Farr fight with an Elite.
The Elite jumped to the side, and roared. Farr ducked under a blow and came up with an uppercut. The Elite, in a last ditch attempt to take out its foe, fired his needler, a small curved weapon with dorsallike needles protruding from the top, at Farr. The brave Elite General took the spikes through his chest. He fired his plasma rifle at the Elite's head, killing it. Then, the needles exploded in a blue-white flare, downing the rebel General. He fell in a heap.
Jarrett sprinted to his side and lifted him. He wasn't nearly as qualified as Jason was in meds, but he knew more than the rest of them. He hoisted Farr up onto one shoulder, blue blood dripping onto his MJOLNIR battle armor, and activated his comm-link. For Farr to survive, he would have to be filled with the self-sealing bio-foam and taken to certified medics.
"Foehammer," Jarrett said into his mic, "we've got a situation down here. A rebel Covenant General had been wounded, and we need immediate evac."
Within seconds, a voice came back on the communication link. "Roger that, Lieutenant. ETA is seven minutes. Confirmed?"
"Affirmative," Jarret responded and closed the link. He turned to the Commander. "ETA is seven minutes."
James nodded. As he looked around him, he could see that the rebels were losing a crucial battle, but if they could just hold on until the planet's plasma began to break through, the battle might belong to the humans. "Keep fighting," he called out, trying to put some confidence in the rebels. He then turned to Alex, full of worry. "We have to get off of here."
As he finished this, the crust below his feet sparked away. Purple energy seemed to flicker and spew from it. James moved to the side and watched as the energy literally bubbled over the crack and began to eat the planet alive. They watched with intensity for several minutes. "We definitely have to get off of this rock!" Alex said.
Above them, they heard the whine of engines on atmosphere as Foehammer circled in, dropping down low. Just then, the entire planet seemed to explode. Plasma erupted from the surface, and launched itself onto the crust. Snow melted in seconds under its intense heat, and boiled away soon after that.
James looked up. Foehammer couldn't come low enough to pick them up, because the plasma was too strong. They might be hit. But a Marine tossed down four grapple hooks, which the Marines easily caught.
They used their grapples to fire up onto the open evac door, and pulled themselves up. They planned to use the dropship to pick up surviving rebels, but as they watched, Covenant and rebels alike began to boil alive in the scalding heat of the plasma energy which now flowed onto the surface.
Jarrett and James strapped Farr into a seat and filled his stomach with bio-foam to keep him going as well as to keep his guts on the inside where they belonged.
Alex spotted Brent standing on top of Daygars. He waved his hands eagerly, and Foehammer came near him. In one tremendous leap, the Spartan landed on the insides of Foehammer, easily received.
"Thanks," he grunted as he sat and strapped himself in. "Oh," he said to James, "there were several Elites coming after us. I tried to shoot them, but I missed every time!" He seemed to laugh.
James looked at Brent over his shoulder. "You missed?" This seemed absurd, because Brent had one of the best accuracy ratings of any Spartan to ever live. He never missed. Ever. "You missed?" he repeated, blown away.
Brent shrugged. "Sure."
James shook his head and moved to the hatch door. It was this fact that would give Brent away in the end.
Below them, the entire crew watched as Daygars seemed to melt and ripple in the energy. In seconds, Raiek had gone from snowy crust to liquid plasma. Hardly a mile of Raiek's crust was there, because the entire surface had been melted away. Standing down on one little chunk of crust, Kakay waved his hands.
James recognized the little Grunt as one of Farr's friends, so he ordered the pilot to go down and pick him up. Amid the boiling waves and plasma splashes of Raiek's now liquid surface, Kakay sprinted for the ship. He hopped up and reached out his hand.
"I've got you—!" James cried. However, he was cut short by a bullet sound. A neat circle formed itself right in Kakay's head, taking him out instantly. James gasped as Kakay splashed into the plasma, incinerated instantly without protection.
Brent held a smoking M6D pistol in his hand. James turned to him. "What did you do?" he cried.
A blow across the face knocked James to the ground. As he looked up, terrified at just being struck by Brent's gun, he pulled out his assault rifle. "Who are you?" he growled.
Brent's armor seemed to ripple. He let out several low gurgles, and the armor looked to be under a large amount of pressure. James's eyes went wide as the MJOLNIR armor completely shattered from Brent's body, revealing the combat form Flood underneath. The armor clattered to the floor, reduced to splinters of metal. Brent had been infected by the Flood!
0706 Hours, August 15, 2553 (Military Calendar)/ Prison Blocks of Daygars compound on planet Raiek
Brent was beginning to grow weary of waiting in his cell. James had promised to rescue him but had not delivered. He felt himself growing angry, angrier than he usually did. But he regretted this anger and supressed it deep within himself. He didn't know how much longer he could keep doing this, so he thought nothing of it and inspected the bars that held him.
On the opposite wall of the tiny prison blocks, Brent spotted a control panel for his cage. He became angered that they were so far away. But he again supressed this and gazed around the room for a way to escape.
Just then, a tap behind him caused him to spin around. He looked through the barred windows into the bright sunlight of Raiek's two suns and saw Alex Daufel, hanging next to the window, holding a pistol in his hand. "Need this?" he asked, a grin on his face under his helmet.
Brent reached up and jerked the weapon from the Spartan's hold. "Give me that!" he growled.
Alex held up his hands innocently. "No need to be so irritable. I'm sending you a map of the base, and a triangle on it will tell you where you need to rendezvous with us, along with a path to follow from here to there."
"Okay!" Brent grunted and held the pistol upwards, aiming at the control device.
Alex sighed deeply. "See you later," he muttered and raised himself back onto the roof.
Brent took aim right at the controls. Since they were sort of far away, he activated the 2X scope and unleashed a single bullet into the controls. The bars in front of him seemed to flicker, fade, then vanish. Now freed, Brent moved next to the controls and found an emergency stash of weaponry in a box. He shot the lock off with his pistol and opened it.
Inside were four plasma grenades, two plasma pistols and a plasma rifle. Brent took all the grenades and swiped the rifle from its place. It would be far more effective than a plasma pistol in combat.
Bringing up the map from Alex in his HUD, Brent studied it, and took off down the hallway, ready to follow the path, muttering words under his breath. He was in no mood to have to chase down his team when Alex could have easily pried the wall open, he thought.
But that was not true. The walls would have been too strong had Alex tried to open them. It was just Brent's rising anger that triggered the ludicrous notion.
Gripping his M6D pistol in one hand, Brent moved quickly down the hallway.
0702 Hours, August 15, 2553 (Military Calendar)/ UNSC battleship Pillar of Winter, in orbit around planet Raiek
Captain Moores held onto the brass railing behind him. He stared out the main viewport of the Pillar of Winter, which was constructed in much the same way as Captain Keyes' ship, made in his honor. Thinking deeply of the Spartans and Marines down on Raiek below, he started to bellow out an order to contact the Master Commander and have him report.
Just then, a feisty General Henry Standon burst onto the bridge, blowing past several astonished officers and came to stand next to the Captain. He gave a smart salute and stood at attention. "At ease," Moores grunted.
The General held up a file containing information on the most recent events of Raiek. The fact that James had refused to be re-assigned was unacceptable of the Spartan himself and particularily of his own commander, Captain Moores. "I have the most recents reports that you requested, Captain," Standon said, throwing a frown the Captain's way.
Moores lightly took the disc and inserted it into its drive. A small blue light shot forth and came to a rest upon the retina of Captain Moores. The astonished Captain read the report from the General with great speed. After he had finished, he stared at the General roughly, trying to figure out what the General was getting at.
"I understand you are upset with the Commander that he refused to be re- assigned, but that was why they were picked for the job of newly-recruited Spartans. They never give up, and never return to base without having succeeded at their mission." The General gave a curt nod. "And now you figure I should withdraw them myself?" he asked.
Standon's eyes were rock-hard, untouchable in their decision. "Yes, sir," he said, staring at his two officers that flanked him. Colonel Garison, the Marine from Raiek, was among them. "I believe that those arrogant Spartans will get their just desserts by being forced to work with you on Jarrisno and will keep them out of trouble, sir." He stood straighter, his face appearing to become even more rock-hard. "I trust you shall withdraw them immediately and allow my Marines to handle the Raiek situation themselves."
"Negative, General," Moores said, glaring hard at Standon. "My Spartans will continue their work. Even if all six of them die, it will be lives well-spent if they get the job done. I've lost Spartans in combat before, and I'm prepared to do it again."
Standon frowned. "That is not the issue at hand! The issue is that those Spartans are no better trained for this mission than my Marines. Soon, they will completely take over, Captain!"
"No, they won't," the Captain growled. "He picked up a disc file and tapped a button. The blue light beamed onto the General's retina. "Look at this! Commander James Carser of the Spartans reported to me a new race in the Covenant, called Howlers. According to him, the only ones capable of surviving their deadly howls are the Spartans themselves."
The General grunted as the file was withdrawn from his eyes. "What's your point, Captain?" he asked sternly.
"My point is that James told me a Marine under his command was killed in combat against them, and many more to add to that under the command of your Colonel over there." Colonel Garison's eyes darted widly at the comment. Moores was right. "And also, since the Spartans are the only ones that can live through the attacks, I order you to withdraw any Marines left down there, and allow the Spartans to handle this one!" he barked.
The General thought for a moment, and then nodded. He took out a plasma pistol he'd swiped from an Elite and handed it to Moores, nozzle-first. "You're right. The Spartans are better off on this one. Also, in honor of your orders, I'll hand over my weapon and permanently withdraw from this place."
As Moores reached out his hand, Standon squeezed the trigger. The plasma energy lanced forward, missing Moores by inches. The resulting effect was that a Marine pilot driving the Winter was taken straight through his back. The explosion that followed shattered the control mechanism, causing the ship to buck and shake. They were losing control.
"Shields down!" one officer called.
"Engines losing power!" another announced.
The ship's AI, Darkel, snapped on. His chosen form was that of a cheetah that walked like a human. He stood at the edge of his perch, his tail flicking behind him. "The ship is going down, Captain," he said in a monotone voice. "We'll have to make an emergency landing."
Moores snatched the plasma pistol and aimed it at the mad General. "You're insane!" he cried. He squeezed the trigger, and the bolt of fire impacted the General in his chest. He collapsed, and Moores ordered his officers and the General to be chained up and gagged. All three of them would live, but not in comfort. They were to be thrown into the prison blocks on-board the ship. Turning to Lieutenant Sellers, Moores handed the weapon over butt-first.
"Take this and keep it. Use it in case the Covenant take our time of weakness to attack."
Sellers started to turn, but then looked back. "Where will we go without engine power?" he asked the Captain.
Moores looked out the viewscreen, horror on his face as he watched the moon of Raiek loom closer. "The only place we can go. The moon of Raiek! Darkel isn't strong enough after being debugged before we left to keep us up."
The Pillar of Winter slowly began to fall down to the moon, pulled into the atmosphere by the gravity of the moon. They slowly sunk towards the ground. Within minutes, they smashed into the surface of the moon, tossing the entire crew to the floor.
Once order had been restored, Moores rose above the rest. "Take what weapons you can and find some grenades. We need to completely abandon ship for now. Since we're marooned on the moon of Raiek, it'll be up to the Spartans on Raiek to rescue us. For now, let's remain here and guard the ship. I'm going to send several dropships full of Marines and find out where the plasma cannon on this moon is."
Since there was constant travel of freight ships going from the moon to Raiek, a cannon was obviously being powered here. No one was sure exactly what it was, and that was their best guess. However, before they could destroy it, they had to find it...
0716 Hours, August 15, 2553 (Military Calendar)/ Inside Daygars compound on planet Raiek
James stood next to Jason, Bryce and Jarrett as the two of them related what they saw in that blocked tunnel to their Commander. "There was no way for us to get the Warthog through," Jason said, standing at attention. "So we had no choice but to make our way around through this tunnel like you ordered, sir."
"Good," James said, turning to face Bryce. "You say you encountered infection Flood?" he asked sternly, not a hint of emotion in his voice.
"Aye, Commander," Bryce responded.
James took a moment to think it over. If the Flood really were on this planet, they'd do anything it took to infect the bodies of his Spartans. After putting a hand to his chin, James looked at Bryce. "Have you seen any Howlers lately?" he asked finally.
"No," said Bryce. "None since that time in the tunnel yesterday." He put a hand to his waist. "You think those were the only ones?" he asked quizically.
James shook his head. "Of course not. There are many more on the planet. I'm not sure how many of them exactly made it to Raiek, but it is my hope that we can find them all and destroy them. This Howler deal ends here!"
Almost in response, a growl uttered from behind them. The Spartans spun around to see four Howlers standing further down the hall way. Infection Flood scuttled along the ceiling around them, not even bugging the Howlers. "You end here!" the Howler spat and opened his mouth.
The three behind him watched in silence.
"Move!" James screamed. "Get out of here!" The five of them scattered down the hallway, moving as one unit before the Howlers could strike.
"Kee-ROWWWWWWWWWW!" The shockwaves caused by the puny-looking Howler appeared to follow the Spartans down the tunnel, aimed right at them. The blast caught Jason, who, ironically, was at the rear, causing him to stumble. The rest of his team continued.
James shouted out immediate orders to his team, seeing a closing door up ahead, activated by the Howlers. If they got through, it would be their savior. If they were left behind, they would die at the Howlers' hands. Alex hesitated, thinking about rescuing Jason. "Leave him!" the Commander cried. The four remaning Spartans dashed through the door just as it started to close more quickly.
They turned to see Jason's body crawling with infection Flood. He held a hand out, calling to his teammates. Withdrawing his MA5B assault rifle, he started to fire, but there was a click as his ammo ran out. He had used too much of it before on the Warthog. The door closed as he tried to reload, and the Spartan team could hear his final cries.
Alex turned to James. "He was our best friend!" Alex shouted, shoving the Commander against the wall.
James withdrew his assault rifle and aimed it right at Alex's helmet. "And I'll do it to you if you don't shut up!" he warned. After Alex had calmed, James calmed himself as well. "If any of us had tried to get Jason, the rescuer would have been left behind. Then, the rescue would have been futile, and only three of us would be left!"
Alex saw his mistake, but he didn't apologize. He just snorted and continued down the hall. Even though he and James were best friends, this didn't seem like the time for celebrating their escape.
They continued in silence, the lights on their guns paving the way in the pitch-black tunnel. There didn't seem to be any reason to speak, but then they heard a noise.
"What was that?" Jarrett asked, pointing his light upwards to where the sound came from.
James tried to keep a cool head, although he was terrified. "I have no idea. Let's press on." In no more than several minutes, the team of four had arrived upon a vent shaft leading straight up. From the looks of it, it came out on the roof.
"I'm going to go up that way," James said. "The three of you continue down the hallway and you'll get to the cannon room. When you start to engage, I'll drop in from above to provide additional support." His crew nodded, so he slung a rope up there and began his descent. "Meet up with you later," he called as he moved.
Alex was in command. He waved his men down the tunnel, so they continued. Eventually coming to a door, it opened by itself, revealing the room beyond.
The large cannon sat in the very middle, and it sparkled with purple plasma energy and from its own glorious shine. Elites were around it, just in time getting it finished. As the last energy plate was snapped on, an Elite pulled a lever and it fired up. The end of it seemed to pop and sizzle. The cannon itself was turning to face another angle, always upwards. A large door was overhead, made of metal and closed at the moment. Once they were ready, they would no doubt open that door to fire the device.
A gold-clad Elite stood on the top of it, obviously at the controls. The translators helped the Spartans know what he was saying. "We have finally reached our most glorious moment!" he boomed as Elites, Grunts, Jackals, and two Howlers turned to watch. "Our target: Sigma Octanus!"
0724 Hours, August 15, 2553 (Military Calendar)/ Open field in Daygars compound on planet Raiek
Farr stood outside with his troops ready to fight. Just then, a call came in through his comm-link. It was the Commander. "Go!" was the only word.
Activating the link to his troops, Farr talked to them. "The Commander has gives us the signal!" he said into the crackling mic. "Attack!"
From the front of Daygars on the outside, the three Hunters steadied their arms right at the top of Daygars. Focusing intently, they let out a mighty roar of battle as their arm-mounted cannons fired out a large blast of pure plasma energy right at the fortress itself.
The wall-guards screeched aloud and swiveled in their seats. A Grunt in a mounted Shade fired, killing one of the Elites. Only six outside still stood. Suddenly, the roar of three Banshees above put out that Grunt for good. The plasma bolts took the guards by surprise, and they stumbled over themselves to destroy the ship. A Hunter on the roof aimed his arm upwards and destroyed one of the Banshees with a single direct hit.
The Hunters on the ground fired again! The ceiling literally exploded inward, caving in on itself.
The warcry of Farr and his troops rained out as they stood up, activated their stolen plasma shields, and fired their weapons at Daygars from their trench hiding spot. "Keep firing!" Farr boomed.
It was then that streams of Covenant warriors began to pour from the compound, firing back at Farr and his group as they leaped over their cover and began to engage in hand-to-hand combat. More Covenant went down than rebels, but the tide would soon have to change. All three rebel Banshees had been shot down, and now nearly the whole of Daygars was outside, fighting the rebels. It was impossible to tell friend from foe after the two sides met, so they just killed whoever got in their way.
0726 Hours, August 15, 2553 (Military Calendar)/ Cannon Room of Daygars compound on planet Raiek
Inside the cannon room, the Elites turned to face outside. Around half the Grunts and nearly all the Elites ran, obeying their Prophets orders. After the tide had left, only seventeen Grunts, four Elites (including the gold one), and one Howler remained.
Alex jumped from his hiding spot and took down a Grunt with three neatly-placed shots. Jarrett followed up by pegging two Grunts with three shots, downing them. From another corner of the room, Bryce leaped forward and fired his shotgun, taking out two Elites with two shots.
The gold Elite above howled a warning and pulled the lever. Within seconds, the roof of the complex began to open, revealing the snowy wasteland that was Raiek. They were far from the field where Farr fought, but close enough to hear battle cries. With one flick of a switch, the cannon powered up.
From the window above, James dropped in, shattering the glass as he moved through the threshold and landed behind the commander Elite. With the butt of his gun, he knocked the Elite backwards over the railing. The Elite rammed into the ground and was dead instantly by falling from such a height.
As this happened, the cannon began to rotate as the overhead door opened fully. The cannon was starting to power-up, and James was looking at the controls. He couldn't make heads or tails of the dots, bars, and lines that was the Covenant language.
Then, Bryce jumped up beside him. "I can't stop it!" James shouted as the cannon started to collect energy on its tip.
"Then do this!" Bryce shouted, flipping his assault rifle over, butt- first. With one ram, he shoved it right into the control panel, which sizzled from energy and sparked. James aimed at it and unloaded several bullets into it, completely destroying it. Instantly, the cannon stopped moving and loading.
Alex and Jarrett came up behind them. James was reading some data on Raiek. "Look here," he said, turning to them, holding a data-pad. According to my translation, the core of Raiek is indeed pure plasma. And as we speak the planet is literally eating itself alive. It only had three days left before the core of the planet eats through the surface!"
Alex paused, thinking. "I have an idea." He moved to the firing mechanism and put his hand on the switch. It was turned upwards. He moved it into neutral, and then down. The cannon started up again, but instead of collecting energy, it visibly shot the energy back into the planet. As a result, the eating of this planet would happen much quicker.
"We have to get off this planet!" Alex said. He stared at a countdown timer. "We only have three hours!" He and the rest of the team leaped to the ground and began to move back down the tunnel.
Further into it, they were back in the dark. Their lights shone everywhere. Within minutes, they stopped and assessed their plan on how they would escape from the planet with their new rebel friends.
"We have no choice but to take them with us in Foehammer and the other dropships," Jarrett said. "We can't leave them here."
Alex spoke up. "Foehammer and the other ships can't hold them all!"
James held up a hand. "I doubt all of them will survive their battle. Hopefully Farr will so I can thank him for what he's done for us. Without his help, I doubt we'd still be alive right now. It was because of him we got as far as we did. If we didn't have their distraction and inevitable sacrifice, we wouldn't succeed."
Alex grabbed the Commander and they started back down the tunnel. "We have to get off this planet! It's going to be covered in liquid plasma soon, and we have to be off of it by then!" The team moved back down the tunnel.
"Let's go! We have to make our exit NOW!" The team hurried down the hallway and emerged back onto the surface, right in time to see Farr fight with an Elite.
The Elite jumped to the side, and roared. Farr ducked under a blow and came up with an uppercut. The Elite, in a last ditch attempt to take out its foe, fired his needler, a small curved weapon with dorsallike needles protruding from the top, at Farr. The brave Elite General took the spikes through his chest. He fired his plasma rifle at the Elite's head, killing it. Then, the needles exploded in a blue-white flare, downing the rebel General. He fell in a heap.
Jarrett sprinted to his side and lifted him. He wasn't nearly as qualified as Jason was in meds, but he knew more than the rest of them. He hoisted Farr up onto one shoulder, blue blood dripping onto his MJOLNIR battle armor, and activated his comm-link. For Farr to survive, he would have to be filled with the self-sealing bio-foam and taken to certified medics.
"Foehammer," Jarrett said into his mic, "we've got a situation down here. A rebel Covenant General had been wounded, and we need immediate evac."
Within seconds, a voice came back on the communication link. "Roger that, Lieutenant. ETA is seven minutes. Confirmed?"
"Affirmative," Jarret responded and closed the link. He turned to the Commander. "ETA is seven minutes."
James nodded. As he looked around him, he could see that the rebels were losing a crucial battle, but if they could just hold on until the planet's plasma began to break through, the battle might belong to the humans. "Keep fighting," he called out, trying to put some confidence in the rebels. He then turned to Alex, full of worry. "We have to get off of here."
As he finished this, the crust below his feet sparked away. Purple energy seemed to flicker and spew from it. James moved to the side and watched as the energy literally bubbled over the crack and began to eat the planet alive. They watched with intensity for several minutes. "We definitely have to get off of this rock!" Alex said.
Above them, they heard the whine of engines on atmosphere as Foehammer circled in, dropping down low. Just then, the entire planet seemed to explode. Plasma erupted from the surface, and launched itself onto the crust. Snow melted in seconds under its intense heat, and boiled away soon after that.
James looked up. Foehammer couldn't come low enough to pick them up, because the plasma was too strong. They might be hit. But a Marine tossed down four grapple hooks, which the Marines easily caught.
They used their grapples to fire up onto the open evac door, and pulled themselves up. They planned to use the dropship to pick up surviving rebels, but as they watched, Covenant and rebels alike began to boil alive in the scalding heat of the plasma energy which now flowed onto the surface.
Jarrett and James strapped Farr into a seat and filled his stomach with bio-foam to keep him going as well as to keep his guts on the inside where they belonged.
Alex spotted Brent standing on top of Daygars. He waved his hands eagerly, and Foehammer came near him. In one tremendous leap, the Spartan landed on the insides of Foehammer, easily received.
"Thanks," he grunted as he sat and strapped himself in. "Oh," he said to James, "there were several Elites coming after us. I tried to shoot them, but I missed every time!" He seemed to laugh.
James looked at Brent over his shoulder. "You missed?" This seemed absurd, because Brent had one of the best accuracy ratings of any Spartan to ever live. He never missed. Ever. "You missed?" he repeated, blown away.
Brent shrugged. "Sure."
James shook his head and moved to the hatch door. It was this fact that would give Brent away in the end.
Below them, the entire crew watched as Daygars seemed to melt and ripple in the energy. In seconds, Raiek had gone from snowy crust to liquid plasma. Hardly a mile of Raiek's crust was there, because the entire surface had been melted away. Standing down on one little chunk of crust, Kakay waved his hands.
James recognized the little Grunt as one of Farr's friends, so he ordered the pilot to go down and pick him up. Amid the boiling waves and plasma splashes of Raiek's now liquid surface, Kakay sprinted for the ship. He hopped up and reached out his hand.
"I've got you—!" James cried. However, he was cut short by a bullet sound. A neat circle formed itself right in Kakay's head, taking him out instantly. James gasped as Kakay splashed into the plasma, incinerated instantly without protection.
Brent held a smoking M6D pistol in his hand. James turned to him. "What did you do?" he cried.
A blow across the face knocked James to the ground. As he looked up, terrified at just being struck by Brent's gun, he pulled out his assault rifle. "Who are you?" he growled.
Brent's armor seemed to ripple. He let out several low gurgles, and the armor looked to be under a large amount of pressure. James's eyes went wide as the MJOLNIR armor completely shattered from Brent's body, revealing the combat form Flood underneath. The armor clattered to the floor, reduced to splinters of metal. Brent had been infected by the Flood!