Chapter 04: A Faint Victory

Just then two plasma bursts were fired from the wave gun. The huge balls of energy headed for the ship. I could feel the immense heat of their power. They were coming right for us...

"Hold On People, I'm gonna try something a little risky. We gotta get back there or we're never gonna have a safe haven." Shouted Aika from the pilot seat. Everyone grabbed on to the side and strapped ourselves into the seats. Suddenly everything seemed to go upside down as we swooped around and began heading straight back at the hunters. The two bursts of plasma flew past the Sanguine and the air around them seemed to superheat. Vallen was closest to one of the

"What the fuck are you doing, you're gonna fucking get us all killed, Get me fucking outa here!" Shouted Aart as he took off his straps and leapt from the Pelican, hurling himself into the depths of the forest.

There was no time for consideration of Aart as the Pelican quickly covered the distance to the hanger in less than a second.

"Lock and load men, we got a whole lotta targets down there and we sure as hell ain't gonna give 'em an easy ride." The Captain shouted this and chucked an assault rifle at me, which I swiftly grabbed. The gun was already loaded and the safety switched off. I was ready for some action. The Pelican mowed down the elites as it flew low into the hanger, piling up the corpses of the covenant on the front. The blue gore obscured the vision on the viewscreen.

"MOVE OUT SOLDIERS, Let's kick some alien arse." Shouted the Captain. All of beta squad jumped off of the Pelican armed with their assortment of weaponry. We ran up to the doorway and took positions on either side.

"Cap'n, I'm gonna move out before it gets too hot up here, we'll be waiting at the coordinates of installation 152. Keep safe Cap'n, Hoowah," said Aika over the communicators as the Pelican rose into the air and proceeded to fly away.

The hanger bay was a mess. On all sides debris lay scattered, electrical wiring and gas pipes hung broken and a large mass of covenant corpses littered the floor.

"Take point private Pyrrhus," said the Captain, "Move up ahead, we gotta get us to the Control room hidden below and give these scum such a hard time, they don't have the guts to go looking for any trouble again soon, we gonna blow this place and the information on other hide-outs stored within. Private Zimbane you cover him."

"Yes sir," said both me and Balton.

I felt a desire to speak then and ask the Captain, "What about Aart Cap'n?"

"We gonna go back and retrieve that soldier private, he's gonna face repercussions on his actions though. Forget about him for now. Focus on the mission private, it's all that matters on the battlefield. Now get moving!" said the Captain.

I ran around the corner back into the hanger bay control room as the blue bolts of energy fired from the plasma rifles hurtled past and burst upon the wall. One of the four elites fighting me scored a hit. Pain rushed through my body, infectiously creeping into every part of my essence. My chest felt as if a huge sledgehammer had just been swung at full strength into it. Regaining control of my body, I squeezed the trigger of the assault rifle aiming at the elite who had just hit me. The entire clip of ammo was emptied at short range, I was now only a few feet from that elite, and the others had retreated back. I watched unmercifully as the elite's shielding failed and steadily holes began to be blown through the body of my victim. The firing stopped. My finger was still gripping the trigger and pain still flowed through my body, but the clip had run out. Pyrrhus ran round the corner and patted me on the back.

"WOOOO, you toasted his blue arse, GO ZELL, WOOOO" Pyrrhus enthusiastically shouted. I looked down at the corpse beside my feet. Apart from the blue blood oozing on the floor, it was barely recognisable. I released my grip on the trigger.

"Pyrrhus lets go and get those suckers." I said.

"Oh yeah! WOOOO! Them blue fuckers are goin' down!" Shouted Pyrrhus.

Together we ran through corridors making our way to the stairwell. We were getting increasingly agitated as we ran. The base seemed deserted. Where were all the covenant that had populated it only moments before. I barged through the metal door bashing it fully open with a gun placed in my hands, aimed and ready to fire. Two elites sat on the stairs, one above, and one below. On the floor beneath me was a dead marine from alpha squad. A fragmentation grenade lay there. Picking it up I bounced it off the back wall and back up the next floor of the stairs. It landed by the elites feet. Pyrrhus watched from the door. "FIRE IN THE HOLD!" he called as both he and I leapt to the ground and covered our heads with our hands. The grenade exploded and the stairwell above blew into different directions. A fragment from the metal stairs impaled the other elite through the chest, seemingly unaffected the enemy tore out the shard and chucked it aside. He adjusted his grip on the plasma rifle and began shooting at Pyrrhus. He was pinned down behind the door. I crept slowly through the shadows around the outside of the stairs and crept up behind the elite. A precise bash with the butt of my gun brought the elite to the floor. Nothing remained of the elite above except for the blood adorning the walls.

"Way to go! Go Zell, Go Zell, Its your birthday, Its your birthday." Said Pyrrhus as he joined me running down the stairs. The other marines from beta squad followed behind, they were protecting our rear. We came the bottom of the stairs; only a few grunts had blocked our way and they could not stand up against both Pyrrhus and I firing rounds of bullets in their direction.

"You ready Pyrrhus, I'm gonna try to make it to the control panel in the corner of the room. Anything between here and there I'm gonna attach some plasma grenades to, when I'm clear, blow 'em to hell," I said

"Sure Zell, lets go for it. I'm gonna kick arse and chew bubblegum," replied Pyrrhus.

I held up three fingers on my left hand. I holstered my gun. I took down one finger, two. One. Go. I kicked open the door and ran for the console. There was one elite in my way. Pulling out a plasma grenade from my belt I stuck it firmly on the elite while it stood and almost seemed to gape like a human in surprise. I dived under the control panel. BANG! Suddenly everything shone in a blue light and my vision faded for a moment, when it came back Pyrrhus was standing over me.

"You okay mate," he asked.

"Yeah, I'm okay, thanks. You really nailed that target, good shot!" I replied.

"It was nothing, now then, lets do this thing."

I loaded up the control panel and hastily rushed through the controls. Entering in the password I was told earlier, I found the self-destruct sequence on the sequence. It was activated. A loud computerised voice sounded throughout the base.

"Self-Destruct sequence activated! 10 minutes to self-destruct sequence."

The walls began to shake as the self-destruct sequence slowly began the process of destroying the base. The ceiling began to fall at the top of the stairwell and the fall was only stopped by the final flight of stairs. The rest of beta squad ran into the control room.

"There's a Warthog in the storage facility around here. Now we can't make for the Pelican, we're gonna drive on out in that. Are you ready men, lets go!" shouted the Captain.

We ran as a group through the door and through several smaller corridors. We only encountered grunts on our way and to the elite force of beta squad was too much for them to handle. We reached the door within 2 minuates without any hassle. The captain gave signals to each member of the squad. Me and Pyrrhus were going straight for the Warthog, and we were to get it up and running. Vallen was going to run in with the captain and try to take out any of the covenant that were scattered around the storage facility. The captain put his hand out in front of him. Five fingers. Four fingers. Three fingers. Two fingers. One finger. I put my rifle out in front of me and looked down the sight. No fingers. Sarge and Vallen kicked the door open and charged around the edges of the room with Vallen crying out loud a battle cry.

"Today, The Hunter Becomes The Hunted" Vallen shouted as loud as he could.

Meanwhile I ran straight for the Warthog that was on the opposite side of the room. The room was huge with boxes stacked up everywhere. There was a second floor above us with walkways all around the room. I heard a shout.

"Look out below!" bellowed Vallen from the other side of the room as he fired his pistol into the head of an elite standing above us. The elite tumbled from the balcony and fell onto the floor below just a few feet from Pyrrhus. I continued to run as hails of red hot plasma bursts flew over my head, narrowly missing my skin. The returning fires from Vallen and the captain were deadly and on target, the covenant seemed to begin to fall from the sky.

"Forget about raining cats and dogs mate, its raining grunts and jackels." Said Pyrrhus trying to boost my spirits in what seemed like a dire situation. They outnumbered us at least by fifty - one. I reattached my weapon to my belt as I reached the vehicle. I jumped in to the vehicle and Pyrrhus turned away to assist Vallen, Karron and the captain. I looked down at the control panel in the central part of the vehicle. It looked fried. I was gonna have to do some serious fiddling to get this Warthog to rumble out. I started to activate the control panel. It fizzled. Suddenly I felt something cold touch my skin.

"Don't move or you'll make a nice window for our commander." He then began to speak the mysterious covenant language to someone else over his headset. I looked around. The covenant were closing us in, into a tighter and tighter circle. If someone didn't do something now, we would be trapped. I remembered the fate of alpha squad. Rage built up within me and I felt a huge rush of adrenaline through my body as every muscle became supercharged with power. With a burst of speed that surprised both me and the elite I reached back, grabbed the elite and threw him across the chamber at the wall. My aim was slightly off however and instead he crashed into a pillar only a few feet away. The force of the throw from the distance was enough to collapse the pillar and topple the balcony above onto the ground crushing my victim. The energy rush was gone and I felt drained. I could barely move without feeling excruciating pain through every limb of my body. I shuddered as I fought through the pain to reactivate the Warthog. The panel still would not switch on. I looked under the vehicle. The power supply for the Warthog had been destroyed by a stray plasma burst. I told this to Pyrrhus who shouted to the captain.

"She can't do it cap'n! She don't have the power!"." Pyrrhus shouted. Inwardly I cringed. That cliché had been in use for several centuries and was still running strong. Scotty was a legend.

"Vallen, collect a power pack from the crates. On the double soldier, move, move, move!" The captain shouted. I picked my pistol up from its holster and used the zoomed scope. The room was beginning to empty out of the covenant grunts. Only one squad of grunts remained. I recognised the one at their lead. It was Skrec. My vision may have been virtually zero because of the pain, and I may have been struggling to move now, but my hatred for Skrec and for my traitorous general built up within me.

"Its him, the one who escaped, get him now!" The grunt cried in a shrieky voice. The marines of beta squad began to slaughter as many as they could before they reached me. By the time they were only a few feet away from me only Skrec and one other grunt remained. They had no regard for their own kind and so kept advancing even in the face of the oncoming danger. I fired my pistol at Skrec, an entire round. Only one bullet made contact. Skrec swayed for a second and then heedless of the danger continued. The final other grunt was shot down by Pyrrhus. I took a swing at Skrec who easily managed to dodge the poorly aimed attack. Skrec's attack was far more accurate and made contact with my chest. I collapsed in seering hot pain. I took a swing at Skrec's feet and hit! Skrec was brought to the floor. I was blind now. The pain had become so overwhelming that I could barely see. I leapt from the floor in the last direction I saw Skrec. I landed on organic matter and quickly punched towards it with my fists as much as I could. The creature screamed in pain as my tenuous grasp on consciousness began to slip.

To Be Continued...

p.s. Sorry about how long it took me to make this chapter. Thanks for all reviews and I would like to hear more from all readers. Thanks for the cliché someonewashere, would like some more from readers please. Next chapter should be out by the end of the week or the end of next week. Keep on reading (

p.p.s. To Somewashere, its fine for you to post them as a review, thanks for the cliché, it got in :P