CHAPTER NINE¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
0820 Hours, January 26, 2535 (Military Calendar)/ Lambda Serpentis System, Jericho III, unknown location
'Plague'
Plague lay on the ground looking up at the hunter. It had its charged fuel rod cannon aimed right at his head, and Plague looked up at it, thinking about what to do. Time seemed to slow down, and it seemed like everything was still and silent.
In reality, it took Plague a fraction of a second to react. He rolled out of the way and threw his feet up over his head, hitting the hunter's gun and knocking it to the side just as it fired.
The plasma hit the ground and detonated a few feet away. Even so, Plague's shields dropped dangerously low. He couldn't take another shot like that. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like he had a choice. As he rolled the rest of the way up and to his feet, he remembered that hunters always traveled in pairs. This was no exception. Behind the first mammoth alien was a second that now had its gun charged and aimed at him.
Plague knew that it was about to fire, and if he was hit, even by splash damage, he didn't have much of a chance of surviving. Fortunately for him, he didn't have to take the shot. He knew somebody else who would. Before the hunter could fire, Plague dove to his right. The enemy adjusted his aim without thinking and fired.
The hunter immediately saw his mistake, but by then it was too late. Plague had dived right behind the other hunter, and the large, green plasma projectile was now headed straight for it. The make-shift shield saw it coming and tried to duck, but was far too tall. The plasma bolt hit him right in the face, and he fell over after a violent, green explosion.
Plague easily dodged the falling body and crouched next to it, sniper rifle ready. The hunter that had fired let out a roar and charged straight for Plague. Despite the hunter's large mass, Plague was not worried, because the attack was a foolish one. He rolled to the side and the hunter passed him and began to turn around. Before it could, Plague had fired his rifle at the exposed skin on its back. Unfortunately, the bullet only grazed the enemy, and only really served to enrage his opponent further.
The hunter turned and swung his arm out, using the huge metal shield as a deadly club. Plague ducked and the weapon passed above him harmlessly. However, the barrel of his rifle stuck up into the air, and as the hunter swung its arm the gun was knocked out of his hands and skidded through the dirt, coming to a stop a number of yards away. Plague drew his pistol, trying to think of a way to get the hunter to expose its weak points.
At this point the beast was clearly enraged at having his brother slain and his prey surviving for so long. It stepped back and charged its gun again. This actually wasn't in the hunter's best interest, as it gave Plague time to reposition and manipulate the situation. Plague strafed to his right. Slowly at first, allowing the hunter to easily follow him with its weapon, which was now fully charged.
Suddenly, at the exact moment the hunter decided to fire, Plague sprung forward and flew over the ball of green plasma toward the hunter. It let out a deep, surprised grunt as a ton and a half of armored Spartan came flying at him with unexpected agility.
The fuel rod charge detonated harmlessly behind Plague as he launched himself at his enemy, pistol held out in front of him. He jumped clear over the hunter, and as he passed over it, his enemy looked up at him. As this happened, Plague pulled the trigger and the pistol discharged into the hunter's face.
He landed on the opposite side of his finished opponent, and didn't bother to look back as he heard the metal armor scraping against itself and the heavy thud of the beast falling to the ground.
After picking up his sniper rifle Plague looked around for Brute and Wrench, but saw no sign of the ghosts, either falling or on the ground. He turned around and looked toward the crashed ship. He couldn't see much due to a small hill standing in his way. Suddenly there was a distant crash and a little dust cloud rose up on the other side of the hill. That was them. The ghosts had hit the ground, and they would need his help.
It was only about a quarter of a mile to the hill, a distance that Plague managed to cover in about a minute. Upon his arrival, he pulled out his sniper rifle and peered through the scope. There was a boulder not too far from the ship, on top of which he saw Wrench.
Wrench dropped down the other side just as a group of Covenant made their way around it, to find no one there. Plague laughed to himself. He knew what was coming. A moment later, the boulder rolled toward them, and an elite and grunt were crushed under it. The rest jumped back away from the rock.
Plague looked in a slightly different direction. There Brute was running full speed toward a Wraith tank. Three elites noticed him and began running toward it as well. As far as Plague could tell Brute still had no idea they were there. He was just focusing on running.
Plague decided that he could help him out, and took aim. The first elite fell easily. The others were aware of him now though. He fired off the second shot before they could do much, and it grazed the shoulder of the second elite. One more shot brought him down.
The final elite was nearly at the tank. Plague steadied his hand, took aim, and led the target. The elite was only a few feet away from the tank.
Click. He was empty. Plague swore under his breath and reloaded as quickly as he could. By the time he had regained his aim however, the Wraith had been manned. Brute stood nearby, having realized the actuality of the situation.
'Brute'
Brute dove toward the tank as the shot came closer. It passed right over him as he was in the air. Static sounded over his radio and his shields dropped a little. The blue mortar detonated behind him, bringing his shields down to nothing.
He knew that he couldn't take any more damage, so he rolled repeatedly toward the tank. The auto-cannons activated and angled down, but he was faster and managed to get nearly under the tank. At that second it accelerated and passed over him, turning around a number of yards away, and opened fire with the auto-cannons again. Brute's shields were still down, and now, lying on the ground, directly in the line of fire, he didn't stand a chance.
Suddenly, there was a loud shot from far off, and one of the auto-cannons fell of with a small explosion. The trail of a sniper bullet faded in the air near the tank. A second later another shot rang out and the second turret fell off. Brute let out a sigh of relief. He wasn't out of the woods yet though. The tank fired its main cannon now, and for the second time in the past minute, a giant blue projectile came hurtling toward him.
Time seemed to slow down and speed up simultaneously. He had once again entered Spartan time. As the plasma mortar arched through the air, Brute tried to think of something to do. Simply jumping out of the way would not work, as with his shields down the splash damage would surely kill him. He didn't seem to have any choice.
He heard the whir of a ghost's engine and immediately and hopefully stuck his hand into the air.
Wrench passed over him in a ghost and reached down to grab Brute. He was whisked off of the ground for a second, and then slammed hard back into it a few meters farther along. Wrench's grip broke and Brute skidded a few more feet through the dirt.
As he came to a stop he lifted his head and saw the mortar explode right were he had been a second before. He thanked both Wrench and Plague silently and stood, preparing to once again face the tank.
By the time it had turned to face him, his shields had fully recharged. So, apparently, had its weapons, as it fired another mortar upon spotting him. This one, however, was much easier to dodge. Brute ran toward the tank at a diagonal so as to avoid the explosion. He did so easily.
By the time the tank was ready to fire again, Brute was too close for it to be effective. So, the driver resorted to a secondary means of killing. He tried to run Brute over. The driver accelerated toward him, giving Brute less than a second to react.
Of course, that was plenty of time for a Spartan with enhanced reflexes. Brute quickly dropped to the ground and as the tank passed over him, he rolled onto his back and stuck a plasma grenade to the bottom of it, right under the engine.
The tank stopped a few yards away, now at an effective range, and turned back toward Brute. Just as it came about, there was an explosion on the bottom of the tank, and the vehicle fell out of its hover and to the ground.
The pilot opened up the hatch on top and began to climb out, screaming in his alien tongue. He wasn't half way out when a sniper bullet found his head and fell back into the tank.
'Wrench'
Wrench turned back toward Brute to make sure he was okay. He was getting to his feet and moving toward the tank once more.
Wrench considered using the ghost to help him, but figured that he could take the tank on his own. He turned his attention to the large hole in the ship, where a group of grunts peeked around a corner, looking out onto the battlefield.
He accelerated toward them and they all screamed as they saw him coming. He opened fire and took most of them down before he was even there. The remaining few became road kill as he easily mowed them down. One last grunt ran screaming back into the ship, but Wrench fired on last burst of plasma and he too fell face first into the dirt.
Wrench got out of the ghost and looked out toward Brute and where he could just barely make out Plague in the distance. Brute had finished dealing with the tank, and Plague began running in toward him. In less than a minute they were all together again discussing their next move.
"There's only one last thing to do," said Wrench, "We just have to make sure that none of the covenant can make it off the planet."
"We're going to have to make it off the planet ourselves though," said Plague, "but as of right now we don't have any kind of vehicle."
Suddenly there was a burst of static over the com, and a new voice joined the conversation.
"Spartans, this is Captain Rander of the ship Manassas. We never received a report from you via the long range comm. in your pelican. I was sent to help."
"We can certainly use some help," said Brute, "starting with a ride."
"I'll get right on it," the commander replied, and the comm. link was cut.
"That was good timing," said Wrench.
"No doubt," replied Plague, "but we're still going to have to get rid of the rest of the covenant."
"True," said Wrench, "but let's not worry about that until we evaluate the situation and find out what the Admiral's got on his ship."
"Good idea," said Brute.
Suddenly a loud scream filled the air. An elite in gold armor wielding an energy sword charged from out of nowhere. This opponent was formidable. Spartans were almost never snuck up on. Wrench drew his pistol and back away. He saw Brute bringing out his shotgun and moving closer, while Plague also drew his pistol.
The elite slashed the sword at Brute and he dodged it easily, simply spinning to one side. As he did so he grabbed the handle of the sword and attempted to wrench it from the alien's grasp. The elite fought back however, and managed to force a stalemate. This elite was very strong indeed if he could match Brute's strength, thought Wrench.
It didn't last long though, as Plague fired a shot at the elite's head. The bullet ricocheted harmlessly off the shields, but it did its job. The elite was distracted for a moment, and Brute pulled the weapon away from him. The elite drew a plasma rifle, and rolled backward, away from Brute.
Brute gripped the plasma sword but the failsafe kicked in and it deactivated, rendering itself useless, almost. Brute instinctively threw the handle at the elite. It his him square in the face and the elite screamed and stumbled back. Brute fired a round from his shotgun into it and its shield flared up then died.
Wrench took the opportunity now and fired his pistol directly at the elite's head. The bullet hit its mark and passed straight through, bringing a spray of purple blood out of the other side with it. The elite's scream continued and then cut off as it sank to the ground.
