Chapter 25: Fight of Souls

Covenant Planet Killer Pandora's Box

Will pulled out his fiber optic cable and tried to fit it under the bulkhead door but it wouldn't fit.

"We're blind and Kat isn't responding. We can wait here or storm the bridge without any kind of idea of their strength," he said. Chris and Linda didn't say anything.

"This is Will, you responding?"

"Affirmative, sir, the hangar is still clear for the moment. The Seraph is warmed up and waiting for you to come back," responded the Marine.

"Hold tight for the time being, over and out." Will pulled his backpack off and checked to see what they had left to use. One Lotus mine, ammo for his Battle Rifle and SMGs, an extra grenade, and a clip for his pistol.

"What've you got?" he asked.

"Same as you, we could use some ammo but it'll take forever to get back down and get some more. I doubt that the Lotus would be enough to crack the door too. But I think it's unlocked, there is that white glow around it," replied Chris. Will looked up at it and saw the glow.

"I've got an idea…" he said, trailing off. He pulled the Lotus out and looked at it's settings, "I'm gonna put this on a ten second fuse and throw it ahead of us. It'll kill whatever is in front of us and hopefully stun the rest. But as he pulled the Lotus out both Linda and Chris opened fire. He turned around and saw an Elite slide to the ground leaving a streak of blood on the wall. Chris walked over to it and grabbed something off its belt and fired two more rounds into its chest.

"What is it?" Linda asked.

"I think this would be a Covenant Plasma Sword." Chris held the silver cylinder object in his hands and then handed it to Will.

"Thanks, this could come in handy. Apparently it still works when it wasn't in his hand. Okay, Linda, you're on that side," he said pointing to the right side, "Chris that one," pointing to the left, "I'm gonna toss this when one of you opens the door. If you see any of them on the sides open fire on them, cause they know we'll be coming." Chris and Linda nodded and Fred charged the mine…

Muffled gunshots reverberated through the huge door and caused some of the Grunts to stop working. The Master Chief just looked out of the window at the Covenant fleet slowly tearing the Humans apart. He saw a bright flash and watched as an UNSC ship's reactor detonated. Small areas of red were already appearing on the surface of the Earth as the new Covenant Dreadnoughts slipped through and started their plasma bombardment on the Super MAC generators. At this rate the fleet wouldn't last more that twenty-four hours. It would've gone much faster had the Second Apocalypse not been destroyed so fast. But their repairs would begin once the UNSC ships surrounding them were destroyed. The Master Chief turned around in time to watch the doors open up and a small silver object get tossed to the floor. A second later it went off. There was a blinding flash as the mine exploded spraying shrapnel around the command consoles. The Elite he had spoken to earlier was vaporized instantly along with some Grunts unfortunate to be standing so close. Sparks sprayed across the ceiling and onto the floor as the inlayed lights were shattered. The Chief reactivated his sword and started to move toward but was met with gunfire and the ghostly blue of a plasma sword. Through the smoke he saw the Elite at the main console arc his back and fall limp as the blue sword tore through his gut. Purple blood fell to the floor along with a sickening sizzling sound. The blade retracted and the Elite fell to the ground. Emerging from the smoke were three Spartans covered in blue and purple blood.

"That was a very gutsy move you did there. I applaud you, but right now I have someone you might want back." The Chief pushed Kat forward but kept a firm grip on her under suit.

"Kat!" one of them yelled out.

"What is this," the Chief said, unable to contain his anger with his jaws clenched tight, "There are more of you!"

"You! I swear to god! If I get my hands on you there is no measure to how slow and painful your death will be!" Linda yelled out.

"Hardly, I have so much more power than you could ever imagine. I –will-crush-you." At that the Chief shoved Kat to ground, tearing a section of her suit off revealing her bronzed flesh, and lunged at Will. Will reacted quickly and bent backwards launching the Chief over his stomach. He spun around and started to parry the Chief's blows from his sword. The two slowly walked backwards toward towards the main window. One of the Chief's blows tagged Will's shields causing them to flare up. The Chief kept forcing him back towards the wall not making a single sound. Will suddenly dodged to the left giving him the upper hand. He proceeded to violently attack the Chief forcing him back quickly. He made another unexpected move by ducking down and ramming his shoulder into the Chief's stomach. John flew backwards into the view port and planted his feet on it. A blue glow emanated from within his visor.

"This is a small measure of my power," he said, his voice twisted and warped. Instantly he shoved off and flew threw the air into Will. The Chief grabbed his shoulders and started to flip over Will's back. His enemy was taken of his feet and thrown to the ground on his stomach. The Chief brought the Plasma Sword up and was about to spear Will in the back but was brought to the ground by Kat. But before anybody could react blackness enveloped the bridge. But this wasn't a shadow. The Pandora's slipspace generator had been activated. A door to the side of the view port opened up and Elites filed out to apprehend the infidels. The Chief got up looked all along the floor were plasma scoring from Will's and his' fight. The only light in the room was from the glowing portions of the Elites' and Spartans' armor and the two plasma swords.

" Kelly, get these lights working again. I'm tired of the darkness," the Chief ordered.

"Right away," she responded and walked back through the door she had entered from. One of the Elites walked up to him and began to speak.

"The infidels in the hangar have been exterminated along with their primitive vehicle confiscated. Right now we are conducting a thorough search of the ship before exiting slipspace."

"Excellent, keep me updated on what you find. And don't let them out of your sight, they are incredibly dangerous," he said, referring to the Spartans. The Elite nodded and walked back to the other Elites.

Hiding in a small maintenance hatch was Private First Class Traufman. He held his Battle Rifle leveled at the only entrance into the hatchway that he could find. Traufman was leaning up against and enormous amount of equipment. SPNKr Rocket Launchers, bags of grenades and ammo, cases of rockets, a small pile of weapons. Through his small earpiece he could hear everything that was going on. Then he heard something that piqued his interest. The Covenant had captured the Spartans and had executed his comrades. Traufman was that last free human and he would stay put to be the Spartans' armory when, or if, they were able to escape. But for the meantime he would have to deal with the Covenant and their head hunt for him.