"Red twenty-two, this bastard's red hot!" shouted Attens over the comm channel. He barrel rolled out of the way of the Covenant battleship's cannon as it fired off a shining oval of green plasma. The shot streaked through space until it collided with the station, breaking off a large chunk the barracks. "Goddamn! All fighters, pull up and out, let's try to hit them from the side!"
The Longswords pulled back, shooting through space at weird angles until they finally righted themselves. Their stolen Covenant technology ripped plasma through the darkness, colliding with the ship just below the bridge.
"Watch it everyone, we do not want to hit the bridge! It'll ruin the Major's plans!" The Longswords screamed around the bridge and made a U-turn. They accelerated, as a group, and began to fire upon the lifepod hatch at the back of the ship. Smoke trailed from it as a large sheet of purple Covenant metal blew off the ship and floated swiftly down to the battleship's engines, where it was incinerated.
"Alright everyone, pull back and assault the battleship's hangers. There are five on each side, let's go!" Attens opened a secure comm channel with the station. "Station, this is Red twenty-one, come back." Static engulfed the channel, but the Private heard a faint reply. "We have blown the hatch. Repeat, we have blown the hatch, over."
Shhhh..ccch….shhh… "Affirmative Red twenty-one. Attack the hangers of the ship and come on home."
"Rodger station!" Attens closed the channel. "Let's go boys, let's finish up!"
"Launch!" The two UNSC boarding craft launched, one after the other, from Hanger 7 and sped with a Longsword escort toward the battleship. It was not wounded by any means; it was still pumping plasma rounds out like crazy, most of which had missed the station. Another barrage of plasma cut through the air like a hot knife through butter. The Major accessed the rear view screen on the control panel and watched as all four rounds crashed through Hangers 4 and 5. He scowled and grabbed hold of the strap that waved in the air above him. The Lieutenant that piloted the craft gritted his teeth as the boarding craft suddenly smashed into the Covenant battleship's shield. The pink bubble began to surround them as they fought slowly through; the collision with the shield had resulted in the total loss of velocity. Daren glanced to his left to find the same result for the other craft.
Finally, they punched through the shield and hooked up with their escort Longsword, who had not suffered a loss in velocity. They put the petal to the metal and came up alongside the bridge of the vessel. Through the windows of the bridge, Daren noticed Elites and Honor Guards lining the control panels. Apparently, Grunts and Jackals weren't good enough for bridge positions. It was like the Human military; everyone was classed, and everyone was always inferior, no matter whom they were.
They decelerated and pulled around the back of the bridge, and maneuvered carefully through the bay. Something wasn't right. "Wait! Abort! The lifepod is still attached to the ship!"
"No problem, Sir!" replied the pilot. He pressed a few buttons on his control panel and there was a grinding sound. The Lieutenant flipped the ship around gracefully and backed up ever so slightly. Outside, a boarding dock extended from the rear of the ship and latched hold of the lifepod. A holographic monitor appeared on the windshield, displaying the status of the operation. Floodlights snapped on inside the docking tube and several mechanized arms folded down. Attached to them were laser emitters. The arms focused into a circle and bounced back with recoil as the red-hot lasers initiated and began cutting a hole through the sheets of Covenant metal. The docking tube latched on to the lifepod and pressurized just as the hole was finished and hit the metal floor of the lifepod.
"Excellent," replied the Major. "Launch docking tube number two; we can't depressurize the lifepod now; we'll connect with the other boarding craft and move in as one force."
"Yes Sir!" The Major turned around and slammed his fist on the metal inside of the small bay. All eight seats were filled with experienced Marines, those who were skilled at boarding enemy ships. The occasion rose very rarely, so those who specialized in that field gained their skills very quickly.
"Let's go; we've got a Covenant battleship to storm."
The Marines rose from their seats and set their shotguns to fully auto. The Major checked his pistol; locked, loaded, and cocked. He put it back in its holster. An alarm sounded and the second docking bay door slid open, eight men swarming the doorway, eager to slaughter the Covenant on their own turf. The pilot leaned back.
"Pressurization is fully complete. Have a good time, Sir." Daren snorted and bobbed his head to the Lieutenant.
"Let's go!" The first bay door slid open and the Major started down the length of the tube, his men following closely behind. He hopped through the round opening; the round metal plate that had been cut clanked against the floor. "C4," he said. A Marine stepped forward and kneeled down in front of the lifepod bay door, taking a moment to set the timer for 10 seconds.
Before he touched the wires, he looked over his shoulder and said, "I recommend you all step back into the tube." Everyone shuffled back quickly and the Major waited for the Marine to touch the wires and retreat before retreating himself.
"Everyone look sharp; once that thing blows, we'll be in a fight before we know it." The C4 detonated, smashing through the door like nothing. Daren heard the screams of several Elites, and dashed through the door, shotgun at the ready. An Elite charged him and he raised the shotgun, firing a round into it's chest. It dropped to the ground with a grunt, then struggled to get back up. Daren pumped another round into it, then swiveled around to punch a shotgun shell through an oncoming Elite's head. The Marines, after watching the Major's superhuman feats, rushed through the blown doorway, smashing through the Elites. They attempted to fight back, but the Marines were too quick for them; the SPARTAN did the work of five Marines anyway.
"It's the Demon!" shouted an Honor Guard. Daren's head snapped up, and he raised the shotgun quickly as the Honor Guard ignited a plasma sword. He was too slow; he ducked under the blade as it hissed through the air, and then jabbed the shotgun into the unprotected gut of the Elite. He pumped off two rounds and the Honor Guard slumped down on top of him. He hurled the body off and it flew across the room and crashed into a cluster of consoles.
Daren took a moment to reload his shotgun; he looked around as he did so. The Marines were holding the only way out of the bridge, and were putting up a hell of a fight. The SPARTAN checked his roster. Not one Marine had died, or even suffered a wound during the assault on the bridge. He made his way over to the door. The Covenant forces were pulling back.
Private Chase turned to him. "Sir, the Covenant patrolling the halls were alerted to our presence. It won't be long before the entire cruiser's on full alert."
"Damn it. We should have checked to see that the door was shut. None of these Covenant forces were armed… What does that tell you?"
Chase's face twisted a bit as he thought. Suddenly it dawned on him. "That means almost none of the other forced onboard are armed!"
"Bingo. If their own bridge wasn't armed to the max, what do you think the rest of their ship will be like? For the moment, we'll hold our position and try to figure out these computer systems. First one we need to find is the door-"
Several Marines jumped from the doorway as it slid shut. The Major looked up to see one Marine fiddling with buttons. He glanced up and smiled coyly. "Sir, I've studied Covenant technology in my spare time; as a brig guard, you get a lot of free time. I looked up everything that our databases had on Covenant tech, new and old. After studying the symbols and their known meanings, I figured out what did what."
"What are you saying, Marine?"
"I'm saying, Sir, that I shut down every block of this ship, it's generators, and every damn power core. Even a light using a power core will be shut down. Which would you like me to do?"
"All of the above."