Chapter 3.

'Back to basics.'

As Linda looked out the back of the Pelican, her sharp eyes searched for covenant strays in the slums surrounding New Mombasa. The Covenant had landed here just over 2 hours ago and were cleaning up any marine forces in their path. The cavalry had soon been called in. She spotted a lone Jackal and raised her Sniper rifle. It took her a split second to calculate the path of the bullet before she took off the creature's head. Linda was a Spartan, the best of the best. There was no target she could not hit, even from the back of a fast moving pelican from 150 metres away. She emptied the rest of her clip before reloading the rifle and shouldering it. She turned and continued examining Fred armor as the pilot opened a comm. channel and frantically called them into the cockpit. Placing her rifle in a nearby weapons cache, Linda followed the other 2 Spartans into the cockpit. Fred was 1st and promptly asked the pilot what the problem was.

'Look' said the woman, pointing to the large covenant carrier roughly a kilometre away.

'Oh no' said Fred quietly.

Of course Linda, with her supersensitive eyes, had already noticed the problem. Waves of light pulsed around the nose of the ship, beginning to swallow it.

'They're entering slip space, from inside the city!' said the pilot, astonished. 'I'm gettin this bird the hell outta here. Hold on tight.'

The Spartans grabbed onto the railing hanging from the roof a split second before the dropship took a sharp 180-degree turn and sped off in the other direction. Linda exited the cockpit, followed by Fred and Will and returned to where she had left her rifle. She picked up her rifle and looked out the back, freezing with the sight that met her eyes. The carrier had disappeared and in its place was a rapidly expanding ball of energy, vaporizing everything in its path.

'Holy hell,' whispered Will quietly.

'Step on it ma'am,' shouted Fred through the comm. channel.

'Affirmative, hold tight.' Replied the pilot, hitting the gas shortly afterwards. The Spartans could do little more then hold on tight as the pelican sped past the slums of New Mombasa, rapidly losing ground to the massive ball of energy. Linda could see the damage it was causing, blowing debris, buses and anything in its way, down streets and over buildings before rapidly engulfing them in its glowing expanse. She could hear the Pelicans engines whining now, screaming with pain as they were forced to slug on. They would not stay at this speed for much longer. As the pelican slowly began to reduce speed, the energy gained on them, no more then 500 meters away now.

'This is it,' thought Linda solemnly. 'After all the battles we have won, all the odds we have overcome, we are helpless against this enemy.'

She thought about John and where he was. The 3 Spartans were meant to do a quick sweep of the area before meeting him in Mombasa. If he were still there then he would most certainly be dead. 200 metres and the ball was all they could see. 100 metres and the pelican began to shake with the force of the energy being exerted from the sphere. The Dropship was soon shaking so violently that the Spartans had to strap themselves in to the rear seats.

Then, as quickly as it had expanded, the ball had stopped. The pelican finally slowed down, giving the engines a much-needed break and the Spartans surveyed the aftermath of the carnage they had just witnessed.

It was almost 5 minutes before the dome of energy had completely disappeared and when it did, Linda would have preferred to see it again. What had once been a bustling city had been reduced to a crater, a hundred or so metres deep.

'Ok people gear up,' said the pilot making Linda jump. 'All personnel in the area have been ordered to gear up and head into what's left of Mombasa. Shoot all covenant, save all survivors. Over and out.'

The Spartans nodded at each other before hastily gearing up and rechecking each others armor, more out of habit then procedure. Linda was once again on sniping duty as the pelican made its way around the outskirts of what used to be New Mombasa.

'Ma'am, could you fly slower and closer to the ground, that way we can use our motion trackers to find targets and survivors.' Asked Fred over the comm.

'No problem,' said the pilot as she brought the Pelican to a more reasonable altitude.

'Ok, set motion trackers to maximum range and keep your eyes open, ' ordered Fred.

Two acknowledgement lights winked at him from his HUD as Will manned the rear 50 cal and Linda readied her Sniper Rifle.

Fred spotted for the other 2 as the rattle of the 50 cal and the occasional crack of Linda's rifle slowly bore into their brains, numbing them of their surroundings. It was 2 hours of occasional enemy sightings before they found any sign of human survivors.

'I've spotted some marines,' said the pilot. 'They're pinned down, lets bust em out.'

'Affirmative ma'am,' replied Fred.

As the pelican flew over a small cluster of half demolished buildings, marines were clearly visible through the large gaps in the rooftops. Outside the building, elites, grunts and jackals were clearly visible, their oranges, blues and reds standing out in the harsh African terrain. Will and Linda made short work of these enemies and soon, the pelican was landed on the ground. Fred jumped out and turned around to see 4 marines emerging from the ruins.

'Sir,' said one of the marines as they all saluted Fred.

'At ease,' said Fred, returning the salute.

'Thanks for the backup sir, dunno how much longer we coulda kept those bastards off.'

'It's our job' replied Fred. 'Do you have any wounded here?'

'Yes sir we have one wounded and a medic over there in the building,' said an Australian marine pointing towards the ruins they had emerged from.

'Ok, everyone in the dropship double time! Lets move out and look for more survivors.' Shouted Fred over the roar of the Pelican bringing its engines back online.

'Sir yes sir!' replied the marines in unison.

Within 5 minutes, all 5 marines as well as the medic were aboard the pelican as it continued its flight around the outskirts of the New Mombasa crater. It was 3 hours before the Spartans found any other survivors. A lone marine, a civilian and his dog were spotted by Linda, running towards the pelican and waving frantically. Once they were on board, the pelican turned and headed for the military refugee camp being set up just west of Mombasa. The Spartans would have no more luck for the day.

As the Transport approached the camp, Linda was astonished at what she saw through the front viewport. Rows upon rows of tents and makeshift offices had been established, small hangars had been constructed in a row along with landing platforms for Pelicans and Longswords and a large command tent, from which the camp was built around.

'This is Mombasa camp, dropship tango 392, do you read me? Over.' Came a male voice through the comm. channel.

'Roger Mombasa, this is Tango 392, reading you loud and clear, over,' replied the pilot.

'Bring your bird down on the 3rd platform, ill have someone flag you down, over.'

'Affirmative Mombasa, Tango 392 out.'

With that, the ship turned and headed for the long line of landing pads at the northern fence of the base.

Linda spotted the right platform from afar and pointed it out to the captain who nodded and headed in that direction. No other human could have spotted a lone marine with glow sticks on a landing pad from that far away.

It was a somewhat unpleasant night for Linda, deep sleep mingled with a recurring nightmare she had been having lately. She recognised it from the story John had told her, when she had finally awoken, of how he had found a cryo tube in the space around halo and taken it aboard his Longsword. She had dreamed of this, stuck in a cryo tube, noiselessly screaming as she floated helplessly into unchartered space. Although she had no recollection of this ever happening, Johns words must have triggered something hidden in her mind, for she awoke most nights, sweating and shaking.

The squad spent the next 2 days scavenging the wreckage of new Mombasa, searching endlessly for some sign of survivors. None were found inside the city, it had become little more then a massive barren crater, thick ash floated through the air and it was sickening to see what had become of this once populated city. By the third day, the Spartans were no longer needed in the search and got a well-deserved rest before they were called into the Command tent.

'This is Admiral Flint, All Spartans please report to Command tent Alpha on the double.'

The 3 Spartans exchanged puzzled looks before donning their helmets and leaving their quarters.

'The Admiral sounded stressed,' thought Linda quickening her pace. The other Spartans followed and broke into a jog. They needed the exercise anyway. Linda reached the Command tent shortly ahead of Fred and Will and quickly reported to the guard for the necessary security checks. Once inside, a marine escorted them around the winding desks and cubicles and to a larger office where they found Admiral Flint behind a desk, wiping his brow with a handkerchief.

'Sir,' saluted the 3 Spartans in unison.

'At ease soldiers,' replied the Admiral. 'We haven't got much time so ill just get straight to the point. At 1100 hours, covenant forces were spotted in the outskirts of the system, progressing towards earth and destroying our orbital comm. stations surrounding Jupiter. Lack of resistance has let them reach our doorstep, we can't let them get any further. At 1300 hours an unidentified ship was spotted leaving slipspace just out of range of the orbital defence grid, it has now passed the Cairo, and the replacement MAC stations, the Stockholm and the Wellington, and is estimated to land 3 Clicks north of our current position. We cannot let the covenant take Earth, you must stop the ground forces at all costs. I will keep a minimum number of marines here on camp defence and put every other soldier I can under your command. Our ships are doing a darn good job up there but a few landing craft have slipped through our defences. They are headed for the same area. The corps in Europe are sending all the marines they've got, it isn't a whole lot though. Here,' said Flint as he handed Fred a folder. 'Mission briefing along with maps of the terrain. Its gunna be a long day Spartans.'

Linda sat in the most rear seat of the Pelican, watching the thirty or so other dropships following them. 'This will be the battle of a lifetime,' thought Linda. Each of the Spartans had been assigned a squad of ODST's to command, these three elite squads would play the biggest role in the battle for Mombasa, or more importantly, the battle for Earth. The pelicans began to slow and soon came to a stop. Linda and her team of Elite ODST Snipers jumped out and huddled in a circle, Linda laying out a map on the ground.

'Ok Green team here is the plan,' she started. 'Greens 1 through 8, go and find some cover in those buildings east of the drop point. You should be able to see the point clearly from your positions. They could land anywhere on this plain so make sure you have a good field of vision. Green 1 through 4, take all open shots but concentrate on enemy snipers, 5 through 8 take out the Elites and Brutes. We don't want them getting near our infantry. Greens 9 through 15, you guys are with me. We will take cover in those hills over there. They aren't a lot more then mounds but they are littered with rocks and trees, which should provide some cover. Ok Green team good luck, Lets move out!'

The ODST's saluted at these last words before moving out and heading for their positions. Once Linda and her squad had reached the hills, she contacted Fred.

'Team Leader this is Green 1. Green team is in position, over.'

'Roger that Green 1, ETA 15 minutes. Just sit tight, over.' Replied Fred from the pelican LZ. He waited for an acknowledgement light from Linda before turning back to his squad. Approximately 200 marines and ODST's crowded around him as he gave a short briefing of the situation.

'Ok people, ETA is 15 minutes, get those barricades set up at the base of the hill to the west and the bottom of those structures to the east. We need to protect Green Team at all cost. Corporal McLean,' Fred shouted.

'Sir yes sir.' Came a gruff voice from near the back of the crowd.

'Take your team and set up those barricades.' Ordered Fred. 'Half to the east and half to the west. Keep plenty of space in the middle for red team to do their job.'

'Yes sir, lets move boys!' Shouted McLean, starting a jog for the barricades. Within 5 minutes, the barricades were in place and McLean as well as his men had reported back to Fred.

'Ok marines, I want all rocket jockeys to find high ground to make the shots count. Aim at any unopened drop pods too, maybe we can kill them before they get the chance to return the favour. Ok, this is Earth and were gunna give em hell for It. Right Marines?'

'Sir yes Sir!' Shouted 200 voices in Unison.

'Lets move out.' Shouted Fred and within minutes, there was no movement on the plain. The barricades had been camouflaged and the marines were hidden completely from view. 50 cal turrets were set up and the trap was ready to be sprung.

The unidentified ship in the sky, the dot that over 200 humans were solely focused on, slowly grew larger, making its decent down to earth. The sun blared from the sky, casting long shadows across the dirt. Daylight was wearing thin. The dot grew slowly into a triangle, which in turn, grew slowly into an alien ship. It was pyramid shaped, too square to be covenant, but what else could it be? The hum from the ships engines soon became a rumble and then a distinct roar. It was no more then 200 metres from landing now.

'Guns up!' shouted Fred through his Comm. channel. 200 assorted battle, assault and sniper rifles were raised to shoulder height as the marines checked their guns and scopes. 50 metres away and the winds were so fierce, the marines had to hide behind the barricades. A thud was heard over the roar as the ship hit the dirt and came to a stop. The engine noise halved and the wind stopped. Within seconds the Grav lifts activated and every single gun barrel was pointed at them. There were no less then 9 grav lifts extending from the belly of the ship and they were blue, unlike the trademark purple the covenant implemented. I took almost 30 second before anything came out of the dropships, Brutes and jackals began pouring out of the dropship, being mowed down by the nearby marines. 50 cal fire ripped through the Brutes and Jackals who gave no return fire. Instead they seemed to be trying to run from the ship they had just emerged from. Little more then 200 enemies came down the Grav lifts, all brutes and jackals putting up no resistance and occasionally drones attempting to fly away. The slaughter stopped as quickly as it started and the plain was still again.

'Green 1 to Team Leader,' Said Linda through a private comm. channel. 'Come in Team Leader, over.'

'I read you Green 1, what's the problem? Over.' Replied Fred.

'Look at the Grav lifts, do you see that?'

'What is it?' asked Fred, puzzled. He could see some kind of liquid dripping from the top of the lifts.

'Blood.' Said Linda.

'This is Spartan 117, any ground units in the vicinity please respond.'

Fred grinned and sent and acknowledgement signal to the Chief.

'Watch your fire marines,' shouted Fred over a main comm. link. The Chief is on that ship.'