CHAPTER THREE¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
0240 Hours, January 26, 2535 (Military Calendar)/ Lambda Serpentis System, Covenant Ship near Jericho III
'Plague'
As Plague jumped off the nose of the pelican everything seemed to be speeding past him, yet moving in slow motion. He had the feeling that time was slowing down, yet racing at the same time. It was the feeling only experience by Spartans. With their fast reflexes, they could see things slow down, yet adrenalin still pumped through their system, and so everything also seemed to move more quickly. One of the other Spartans had once called it "Spartan time". That was the phrase everyone now used.
In this Spartan time, Plague suddenly realized the seriousness of his predicament. Wrench's pelican was totaled and so they had no way off the covenant ship. Also, they had no way in, and every enemy on the ship knew they were there. It didn't take a genius to figure out that they were in a pretty tight spot. He was a Spartan though, and Spartans were always in tight spots, and they always got out. It was their duty. It was their Job.
Plague could see the hull of the Covenant ship speeding toward him. In a matter of moments, he crashed into it and began sliding just as the pelican had. He however, could stop himself. He activated the electro-magnets built into his armor's boots. Immediately he began slowing down, and within five seconds, he came to a stop. Adrenaline surged throughout his body, and he could feel his heart beating fast and hard. A few seconds later, he was joined by his teammates.
Plague opened a com channel, "You guys OK?"
"Fine," replied Brute.
"I'm OK," said Wrench, "but my pelican..."
The three Spartans looked in the direction of the doomed drop ship. It was hardly visible in the distance. After a second though, it hit one of the ship's turrets, and was engulfed in a giant ball of purple plasma. Wrench was terribly disappointed at the destruction of his own vehicular creation, but nothing got in the way of a Spartans mission... Ever.
"Wrench," asked Plague, "how did you plan on getting inside the ship?"
"Through the docking bay," he replied, "it's the only easy way, and the only one that would fit a pelican."
"Good." said Plague. "We'll try to board the ship there. Hopefully they won't have the barriers up."
It was a bit of a run to the docking bay. It was probably about a kilometer across the ship's hull to get there. The Spartans covered the distance in about 3 minutes. They were unmatched in their speed, as they were with every other aspect of combat.
Unfortunately, the barriers were up when they got there, and who knew how long it would be before they opened them. Hours? Days? They couldn't wait that long. They were running out of time.
'Brute'
"Let me handle this." said Brute, stepping forward. In his hand he held two sticky bombs. That wasn't enough power to get through the barrier itself. In fact, almost nothing but plasma fire could take down one of the Covenant's complex energy barriers, but Brute knew what he was doing.
He planted the charges both near the corner of the semi-transparent shielding, about where the generators should have been. If he could destroy two of the generators, he could open up a hole for them. The down side was that it would attract attention. The Spartans were ready though. They were always ready.
The three stepped away from the charges, and Brute prepared to blow them. The button was pressed and after only a moment's delay, the bombs blew. When the smoke cleared, which it did slowly and awkwardly in the 0 g's, they could see that indeed the entire corner of the barrier was gone.
By planting the explosive in those spots, Brute had forced the generators to drop the shield in the corner. The space was plenty large enough to get through, but the Spartans weren't worried about that at the moment. They were too busy scanning it for hostiles. After a few seconds, a single Jackal stuck out its head and looked around. It didn't have a chance to see them before its head attracted one of Plague's sniper bullets.
There were a few more seconds of nothing, and then a stream of Covenant began pouring out of the hole. Elites, Jackals, and Grunts, all enclosed in their space suits, ran headlong in the Spartans screaming silently in the vacuum and firing. The grunts were going crazy. They ran around waving their weapons in the air, stopping here and there to fire, and usually getting killed a few seconds later.
The elites, dodged a lot of the Spartans' fire, but one by one they fell under the powerful surge of firepower rushing at them. Jackals were using their shields to their great advantage, and became nearly as much of a threat as the elites.
The Spartans however, obviously had the upper hand. Brute was standing right out front with his shotgun, firing repetitively over and over. Wrench stood to his left and slightly back, using his pistol to kill many of the grunts and jackals. Plague crouched behind them, firing his sniper rifle into the crowd of Covenant, taking out many of the larger opponents with single shots to the head.
Together they were unstoppable. None of them took any serious damage during the entire battle, which lasted about two minutes. The Covenant kept pouring out of the hole like water flowing from a fountain. Finally they came to an end. They were all dead, and no more came.
Brute crept cautiously forward and peered into the hole. The entire docking bay was empty now. It seemed that all the Covenant had come out to fight and die. They would rather die fighting than retreat and live to fight again. Brute had no problem with that, he was glad to fulfill that wish.
'Wrench'
"We'd better load up a drop ship if we're planning to evac when this thing blows. We'll need to get out quick." said Wrench, "Plague, you jam the doors, and Brute grab me a couple of ghosts. We may need them if we're going to have to mop up any survivors on the planet."
Wrench wasn't supposed to be in charge of the mission. That was Plague's job. He knew that none of them cared though. When they weren't in combat, they respected the higher ranks just like anyone should. In combat hover, rank was forgotten. They were a team. No one lead, no one followed. They didn't need to. They knew how to work together, and they did it well. That was all that mattered.
Wrench found a ladder to the second story where he could board the Covenant drop ship that was docked there. He entered one of the troop bays. He had seen them the troop bays before, but then he continued to the cockpit. It was nothing like anything he had ever seen.
Of course all the writing and symbols were alien, but the entire layout and everything was different. There was no window to the outside. There was only a view screen. The only light in the cockpit was dim, and Wrench couldn't tell where it came from. Computer panels lined the view screen, and various places on the wall elsewhere. It was complicated, but he was sure he would be able to handle it when the time came.
After a few minutes of looking around, he left the ship and climbed back to the first floor to help Brute load the ghosts. The ship didn't use cables like a human drop ship. Instead, it used a small anti-gravity field to hold the ghost in place. A few minutes later, they had it figured out, and the first ghost was loaded.
Brute had just gone to get a second one when Plague's voice came over the com, "We've got company. Invisible Elites... Who knows how many."
A few seconds later, there was the hiss of opening doors on all three levels of the bay. Plague obviously hadn't yet had the chance to jam all of them. The Spartans could handle any enemy supposedly, but without knowing where that enemy was, the challenge was remarkably harder. They could win though. They had to.
Wrench turned away from the ghost he had loaded, and leveled his assault rifle at the door. He didn't see anything, but fired a small burst into it. He hit two elites. Their camouflage broke for a second as the projectiles passed through the invisible coating. It was only for a second though, and before he could fire another burst, they had moved and were gone.
Brute had already fired a rocket though. It hit right in front of the open door, and sent three elites flying, dead. There were obviously more because a second later plasma fire erupted behind Brute, and he took a number of shots in the back. His shields drained and he became vulnerable.
Brute rolled to the side and behind a purple storage crate. Wrench fired a three round burst into the air where the plasma had come from and hit the elite's camo generator. It was now completely visible, and Brute took that opportunity to peek from behind the crate and hit it in the stomach with a round from his shotgun. The elite doubled over clutching its middle, letting out one last dieing scream.
That was all of them on the first level, but Plague was on the second level. Wrench opened a com channel, "Plague, we got all of them on our level, how are you doing up there?" There was silence. "Plague? Plague?" Still, there was only silence.
