Chapter 3

1121 hours, June 19, 2556 (Military Calendar)/
Salusa Primus System, unnamed valley, planet Solitude

The Master Chief crouched in the dense shrubbery, completely still. His green armor allowed him decent camouflage in the thick leaves. Around him, hidden in the foliage as well, were fifty Helljumpers. All of them sat, not making any motions at all. Every single one of them, including the Chief, were staring intently at a small opening set in the side of a large hill. They had been sitting there for the last fifteen minutes, waiting for John and Malkins to give them orders.

The reason they were there was because they had followed a small group of sentries back to this entrance, and were waiting for any sort of activity. So far, nothing had happened while they waited, and that was all that kept them from taking any action. It could have been their headquarters, but for all they knew, it could just have been an empty cave that the sentries were investigating.

Their plan was to take a small HAVOK tactical nuke, kept in a special pouch on John's belt, deep inside their headquarters and prime it for detonation. After they had retreated a safe distance, they would set it off, effectively eliminating any Covenant activity on the planet. As a precaution, Lieutenant Johnson and his company would then sweep the surrounding area for any remaining survivors, and the area would be bombarded with the Aurelius' newly acquired plasma weapons. Of course, all this meant it would be a stealth mission. Discovery early on would mean certain failure.

Earlier, John and the Helljumpers had spotted the sentries only minutes after landing. It was a small party made up of an Elite, two Jackals, and five Grunts. They had quickly gathered their equipment up and followed them. They had followed them through sparse forest and across a mesa. They had almost been found out when they stumbled upon a Grunt who had fallen behind to relieve himself. Fortunately, he was silenced by the Chief's combat knife before he could raise the alarm. Unfortunately, a Helljumper accidentally got his boot smeared with fluorescent blue crap.

They had finally tracked them to this location, and now they waited for something to happen. Suddenly, several red blips appeared on the edge of his motion tracker. John put his hand up in a fist, palm forward, and pumped it down. It was the signal to be ready. They reacted accordingly, quietly checking their weapons and making sure everything was in working order. The blips on the motion tracker moved closer, and the things causing them came into view. It was a large squad made up of some Elites, several Jackals, masses of Grunts, and two Hunters. After observing them for a few seconds, he realized that they were all escorting one Elite. He was wearing decorative golden armor with alien symbols etched all over it. He also wore a holographic red cape with a golden energy sword emblazoned on it. Whoever this Elite was, he was obviously very important. John also noted that one of his eyes was a milky white color, indicating he was blind in that eye. He stored that information in the back of his mind, in case it became useful later. Cortana suddenly interrupted his train of thought with a whisper.

"Chief, I'm picking up communications from that Elite's bodyguards. From what I can tell, this particular faction calls itself the Light of Salvation. Typical rebel name. Anyway, I've also found that this cave is indeed their base of operations. I think that's a very good incentive for you to move in," she murmured.

Instead of saying anything, he simply winked his acknowledgment light. He didn't want to risk any more talking than necessary. He waited as the cluster of Covenant moved into the cave. After waiting a few minutes, he moved his hand up and waved his hand forward. As planned half of the unit responded and moved quickly and quietly into the open, while the other half, including Malkins, waited in the brush to guard their means of escape. They checked the surrounding area for enemies, and finding none, started moving into the cave. The Chief waited until everyone had gone in, and followed them. He moved swiftly to the front and continued deeper into the cave.

They moved down a gently sloping and somewhat narrow hallway. The light from the entrance quickly faded, and everyone turned on their helmet lights. The narrow tunnel was quickly bathed in intense light. The Chief immediately made a cutting motion across his throat, and the entire unit simultaneously snapped their lights off. The Chief left his lights on. That simple incident reminded him immensely just how unlike his Spartans they were.

That thought triggered a sudden and unexpected flashback. He saw a wide clearing in the middle of a forest . . . him and his team walking through the clearing . . . a Phantom descending from the sky overhead . . . Fred firing his rifle at it while everyone ran for cover . . . Fred standing up to run . . . the Phantom raining plasma on him . . . his shields failing . . . Fred falling forward in slow motion . . . John watching as he died right in front of him . . .

John shook his head to clear it out. He couldn't afford to be having those thoughts right now. He needed to focus on the mission. He continued down the tunnel with twenty-six Helljumpers in tow.

They soon arrived at a door. John checked it and, as he expected, it was locked. He pulled Cortana's chip from the back of his head and inserted it into the slot above the keypad, and Cortana slipped in wordlessly to unlock the door. As she worked, the Chief checked his silencer to make sure it was in working order and verified that his magazine was full. The door slid open silently, and the Chief brought up his rifle and moved forward into the corridor beyond. As planned, he left Cortana inside the system to provide assistance when necessary.

He swept the corridor, and seeing that it was empty, motioned everyone else forward. It was lit, so he shut off his helmet lights, and walked silently to the end of the corridor. It forked, so using a series of hand signals he directed five ODSTs to come with him on the path to the right, and everyone else to go down the passageway on the left.

The group split, and John was suddenly left with only five men. They quickly moved down the passage. As they were walking, John noticed the uncanny silence that filled the air. He couldn't figure out why, but it tugged at the edge of his mind and set him on edge. They reached the end of the hallway and another door. When they got close to the door, it slid open as it detected their presence. As it opened, the Chief suddenly realized why the silence had nagged at him. For a group that had recently discovered a UNSC space probe nearby and considered itself the only hope for the revival of the Covenant, the facility was devoid of heightened security and relocation personnel. That could only have meant that they had walked straight into a trap. He knew this because standing on the other side of the door were eight Elites with their rifles leveled at them. One of them bared it's mandibles and roared a battle cry. The corridor was suddenly filled with the sound of several plasma rifles firing at once.