The bay door began to open before the Pelican even touched the ground. Heat from the thrusters on the rear of the ship blasted at the ground, torching the blades of grass to a fine ash. The Marines and their leader swiftly disembarked, waved a signal to Lieutenant Pamell, and ran in a steady crouching position toward the nearest brush. The Queen Janice took off, the off-ramp closing back up and the thrusters emitting fire as they burned in the incredibly low altitude. The worst part about that is that they waste more fuel that way than a battalion of Warthogs driving all day put together, thought the Major. He ran the calculations of the Warthog's miles to the gallon versus the Pelican's, amused at himself.
"Sir, a comm channel is open for all of us; it's been confirmed as secure. Three thirty-five," came Private Chase's voice over a personal comm-link. The SPARTAN unit didn't bother to respond; he just winked his acknowledgement light on. He raised his battle rifle and zoomed to 2x. He could see Base Six right across a small plain. They would have to wait in this small clump of brush until the Covenant drop ships had deposited their wide range of troops and made the recon sweep.
"Sir! Covenant drop ships at six o'clock!" came the voice of one of the Marines. Daren shoved himself into the brush better and rolled over on his back. He watched the drop ships as the came up from behind their position and passed directly over the small patch of barren forest. This area was unusual; it was full of fir and pine trees, which the Major hadn't seen more than a few times. He would have loved to take a small amount of time to study the trees, but he shoved the thought from his head and rolled back over.
"Sir, one of the drop ships is damaged," stated Chase over the comm channel. The last of the four drop ships to pass overhead was emitting green sparks from where on of the plasma turrets should have been.
"What the hell? How did that happen? It's fresh damage; irreplaceable plasma weaponry on Covenant ships doesn't spark. They usually seal it off, so that the plasma system cycles the power more effectively," stated Daren, trying to sort out possible causes in his head.
They watched as the drop ships put down about forty yards from the base. The forces unloaded: Grunts, Jackals, and two Elites per drop ship; this was not going to be fun at all. The drop ships hummed loudly as they rose from the ground and accelerated, shooting globules of green plasma at the base. The plasma shattered the columns of concrete that held the energy fence's distributing units, eliminating the only obstacle, apparently, that stood in the way of the small wave of Covenant forces and the imminent destruction of Base Six.
The drop ships disappeared from view, only to come back half a minute later, passing overhead, back in the direction that they had originally come from. The Major leapt up, signaling to his teammates with a NavPoint on their HUDs. He sprinted forward, his men right next to him in a fairly smooth line. He raised his battle rifle, zoomed in on a Grunt with it's back to him, and squeezed off a three-round burst. He saw the bullets penetrate the alien's skull and open the front of his head, colliding with the methane facemask just before he moved to another target. As one of the two bullets ripped through the facemask, it sparked the gas, and the breathing tank strapped to it's back exploded, sending the already-dead alien flying in a trail of fire. Several Jackals turned around, alerting their comrades to the presence of the Marines. An Elite wheeled around on its hoof and sparked an energy sword, charging at full speed toward Private Chase.
Chase dropped his battle rifle and pulled his pistol from its holster. He dodged the swipe and the plasma blade seared through the air, leaving small sparks in its wake. He slammed the pistol into the warrior's gut and unloaded the entire clip, some of the bullets bursting through its back. He grabbed the energy sword as the Elite dropped to its knees and wheeled around, bringing the blade down through the neck of the Elite, severing it and spewing blue blood over Private Chase's uniform. He gasped for air as he hit the ground, and then groped for his rifle. He disengaged the energy sword, slammed a fresh clip into the pistol, and then put it back in its holster. Chase raised his battle rifle and zoomed in to pick his next target.
One of the other Marines, armed with a rocket launcher, fired off two rounds into a group of Covenant, kneeling down to reload quickly. The rockets slammed into the ground, sending shrapnel, dirt, and rocks ripping into the aliens as they flew through the air, flaming. A sniper rifle shot ripped through three methane tanks and sent an entire group of Grunts up in flames. Meanwhile, Chase had dropped another Elite with the energy sword he had acquired, and the Major had smashed through Jackal plasma shields with brute strength to smash the butt of his rifle into their birdlike skulls.
There was still a good amount of Covenant left to kill off, and just as Daren raised his battle rifle to take aim, his HUD flashed red and static washed over his shield. He slammed into the ground and rolled several times, losing hold of his battle rifle. He looked up-only to see a Banshee float toward him.
Daren thought futilely of ways to save himself, but his mind drew a blank; he was a goner, and he knew it. He heard Chase shout something over the comm, but he didn't hear, he was in a daze as he realized that he was going to die. The small cannons began to glow brilliantly, as the Banshee drew ever closer. But what should have happened did not.
The Banshee exploded in a brilliant flash of light; fire erupted from the cockpit, and the Banshee ceased to fly toward the stunned SPARTAN. A Longsword fighter whizzed past, encasing itself in the fire of the gently falling Covenant airship for a brief second before pulling up to avoid smashing into the base. It was then that Daren realized how close he and his men were to Base Six, and he leapt up, grabbing his rifle and continuing to engage the enemy.
The Longsword did a U-turn and came whizzing back overhead. The Major glanced over his shoulder for a brief second to find six more fighters engaging three Banshees. The Banshees smashed into the ground, smoldering, and the Longswords patrolled the area. A signal blipped on the Major's HUD: A private comm channel. He opened the link and heard the voice of the commander of the squadron.
"Good to see you're still alive, Sir!" the man shouted. "We thought we'd nearly lost you that time!"
"I've had close calls before, but this was my closest," replied Daren, crouching down. There were only a few Grunts left; he would let his Marines finish the job. "Where'd you guys come from?"
"To the Covenant, we came from hell. To you, we were dispatched from the station when it was alerted to the presence of reinforcements. We came down here but didn't see anything but the drop ships. My wing mate wounded one, but we had to back off; we knew it was critical to your mission to assault the forces with no detection. Then, we made as recon sweep, apparently just in time, eh, Major?"
"Yes indeed. Thank you for the air support. Any word from the station yet as to the ETA of the evac Pelicans?"
"No, not yet Sir, but I'm assuming it will be soon. You had better finish up; I saw some Covenant attempting to infiltrate the base on my way by."
"Alright, thank you, pilot," said the Major.
"Orders, Sir?"
"What? Oh, right. Maintain your current position. Have a steady recon of the area, and patrol this base. If you get any messages from the station, forward them to me immediately."
"Sir! Alright boys, let's go Ghost-1-2-1, blue position!"
The comm channel closed and the Longswords broke formation and applied their thrusters to gain altitude. The Major checked everyone's status. Nobody was wounded, and they were all starting to regroup. Daren opened his private comm channel for the Marines.
"Move up with caution, I have a recon report from one of the Longswords that there are Covenant inside the base. Acknowledge." Their lights winked on and Daren smiled to himself. "Private Chase, report on ammo consumption, if you please."
There was a brief pause as Chase tallied the Marines' ammunition. "Sir, all Marines have expended two battle rifle clips. The rest are as follows: One clip pistol, one container rocket. All Marines have three available clips of rifle; four of pistol minus one, and the Marine with the rocket launcher is carrying two more containers. Come back."
"Affirmative, ammo consumption report received. Continue to advance."
"Yes, Sir," came Chase's reply. The Major lifted himself from his crouching position and jogged forward. He slammed into the wall, putting his back to it and peeping around the corner. Nothing. He whipped around the corner and hustled toward the entrance of Base Six.
"Caution, Sir, coming up in front of you."
Daren rounded the corner, meeting up with his teammates, who had taken the other side. The thick steel door to the base has shut and locked.
"Frag it."
The Marines moved backward several yards and Private Chase primed and tossed a fragmentation grenade. The small ball of explosives bounced up against the door before hitting the ground and detonating. Nothing had happened to the door; the grenade hadn't even scratched it. There were no visible control panels.
"How the hell can the Covenant get in there and we can't? It's our damn base!" exclaimed one Marine.
"Take it easy," said Chase. He moved closer to inspect the door. "It opens upwards. There aren't two smaller doors making one. Someone get something to slide under it; we can pry it up."
"That won't work," stated the Major, indicating the seamless bottom of the door. "What the hell is up with this?"
There came a large hissing sound from his right, and he turned around to find one of the Marines standing in front of an open doorway. "Trick door," he said, smiling. Suddenly, he flung himself to the side and a small blue blotch appeared in the doorway.
"Sticky!" yelled the Marine closest to him as he dove backward. The plasma grenade exploded in a blue flash of light, and the Marine next to the door screamed in anguish. The Major dropped his battle rifle and, turning to the Marine holding it, grabbed the rocket launcher. He primed it and jumped horizontally across the doorway, firing a rocket into the room beyond. The sound of the detonation met the ears of the Marines, who sprung into action swiftly, covering the doorway as the Major rolled, got up, and fired the other rocket into the room. It slammed against the concrete wall and exploded with great force, sending an Elite flying through the doorway, gushing blue blood, and sent several Grunts splattering in to the walls.
"Clear!" Private Chase rushed into the room, spraying rifle fire into the few remaining Grunts. The Major checked the status of the Marine; he was dead.
"Guess we'll never know how he got the door open," the SPARTAN smiled to himself. He closed the Marine's eyes, retrieved his rifle, and strode into the room. Chase was setting a small breeching charge on a much thinner door. The Marines moved back.
"Clear!" he shouted, and detonated the charge. The door flew open with the brute force of combustion, and the Marines stormed into the next room. There was only one Grunt; a Marine bashed its skull in with his rifle, picked it up, and flung it into the wall.
"Overkill," stated the Major. "I like it." The Marines chuckled, and the Major attempted to pick up a useable comm channel for the base. After scanning multiple times, he found nothing. "The Covenant must have destroyed the Communications center. Split up. One with me, Private Chase, you take the other man. If you find any survivors, contact me immediately.
Static crackled over Daren's comm channels. He accessed an active one and waited for a reply. The voice of the Longsword squadron commander floated in.
"Sir, ETA of evac is five minutes, copy?"
"Copy, ETA five minutes."
"Sir, I recommend that you be ready before then. The station's running a tight schedule; there's a Covenant transport attempting to enter Slipspace, and they need all of their ships, even Pelicans, to bring it down."
"Copy, thanks for the info," replied the Major.
"No problem, Sir. See you in five." The comm channel closed, and the Marines split up. The Marine accompanying the Major didn't say anything. Daren saw in his eyes the hell of war; the man had obviously witnessed great horrors in his first five missions. Although this mission was easy, the stress was enough to make every mission hard, and there was nothing that could be changed about that. Daren pressed on, checking every room.
"ETA two minutes," came the voice of the man behind him. Daren glanced back at him. He was smiling; apparently he would be happy to get out and back to the station.
"Can't wait to get out of here, can you Marine?"
"No Sir, can't wait at all, though I'm probably going to be suited up to man a Longsword when I get back."
"You a pilot, Marine?"
"Yes Sir, the best there never was." Daren laughed slightly. He remembered John, who never laughed, and thought of what a pity it was that he didn't. Then again, John might have been dead by now; Daren had no way of knowing.
"It's true, Marine… The UNSC has seen very few good pilots."
"You know that move the Lieutenant pulled off when we left the station? The one where she shot right between those Longswords? I can do that even better, pull off a spin and everything."
"That skill could come in handy," said the SPARTAN. A sudden comm link opened from Private Chase.
"Sir, we've found the survivors. About twenty of them, only four were killed in the assault."
"Excellent. We have one minute to ETA; bring them up and out to the surface."
"Copy, Sir." Daren turned to the Marine behind him.
"Let's get the hell out of here."
The Marine smiled widely. "Yes Sir!"
The Pelicans were ready to go before the Marines and their SPARTAN leader had even left the base. The Longsword fighters had returned, and were looping around the base, keeping an eye on things. The survivors and the dead were loaded onto one Pelican, and the Marines and the Major were loaded onto another. The thrusters pulsed and flared, and the craft took off from the ground. The engines flooded with power as the Pelicans slammed into the atmosphere, breaking the sound barrier, as they pressed onward into space. Flames enveloped the craft, and the Major glanced out the cockpit to see the Longswords whip past them.
"Old things are slower than death when they're entering space, Sir!" the Private handling the craft yelled over the monotone roar of fire. "There isn't anything we can do to modify it, either! The Pelicans were designed for transport, not for speed and stability!"
"Too bad, too!" shouted the Major. "We could use an upgrade on The Queen Janice!" The Marines roared with laughter, pleased that they had completed their mission and were on the way back home. They pushed the thoughts of their dead comrade into the backs of their minds. It would only last for a little while. That Marine had been somebody's son, somebody's friend, and somebody's father. Daren knew that Private Chase would have to do the honors of writing a letter to his family, though they could not send it.
The Pelican broke through the atmosphere and entered space. The Major glanced forward out the cockpit window, then did a double take. What he saw stunned him. "What the hell…"
The Marines strapped in behind him undid their buckles and harnesses, standing slightly to stretch their legs. Private Chase came up behind the Major and his jaw dropped. In the middle of the field of space near the station, a giant Slipspace rupture glowed brilliant off-white. Emerging from the rupture was a gigantic Covenant battleship.
"No. No way. This can't be happening. What the hell does an insignificant little planet have to do with their quest for Earth!" shouted Chase.
"Destruction," said the Major, in awe. "They're hell-bent on destroying us, and apparently the glassing of Genalsus VI is just a stepping stone on their journey to Earth."
"This can't be happening!"
"Wake up, Private. It is."