Corporal Wright checked the magazine of his MA5B assault rifle and pocketed two grenades. He scanned the remainder of his squad, five bloodstained, weary soldiers.
"Suit up marines. We leave in five."
The smoking wreckage of the Pillar of Autumn lay in the distance, purple banshees circling above it. It was their ticket outta this hellhole. Fifteen fully operational Longsword fighters were onboard with their name on them.
"Alright this is it marines. You know what we gotta do. There's fifteen Longswords on that ship, and we want em. The whole place is infested with flood and covenant, but it's our only way off the ring. Right?" The corporal's query was met with grunts of acknowledgement from the marines.
'Then let's do it."
The two warthogs roared to life and sped towards the Pillar of Autumn. As they approached, two banshees broke formation and flew towards them. They were met with withering machine gin fire from the two warthog turrets. One exploded in a blast of hot shrapnel, the other spun uncontrollably before crashing into the ground.
"Nice shootin Hicks." Wright swerved past the smoking banshee as Hicks, the soldier in the turret behind him scornfully pounded the wreckage with more bullets. More banshees had sensed their arrival, and Wright knew that he couldn't take them all on. However, the hangar door of the Pillar of Autumn was close. Streaks of plasma fire erupted in front of the speeding warthog. Wright burst through the cloud of dust and into the hangar, the other warthog close behind.
The blissful silence of the hangar was quickly lost as heavy crashing was heard beyond the airlock. Wright mobilised his men.
"Marines! Eyes up. What ever comes through that door I want it dead! Got it?"
The marines quickly took up defensive positions around the airlock. Suddenly the light flashed green and the airlock opened. Nothing was there, except shadows. Wright battle instincts quickly took over.
"Cloakers! Switch to infra-red!"
Suddenly the empty hangar was turned into a crowded frenzy as stealth elites stormed the marines. Wright ducked a stream of plasma fire, and fired his M90 shotgun into the belly of an elite. He pushed the body off and scanned the room. It was a close fight, but his men were some of the best, and they were pushing the elites back. He drew his pistol and fired into an elite about to kill one of his men. The elite roared with anger and charged forward. Sidestepping quickly he smashed the butt of his pistol into the elites back, killing it instantly. Suddenly he saw a small green object come to a stop in the centre of the hangar.
"Frag!" he roared, and the marines were sent scrambling for cover. However the remaining covenant elites were simply not quick enough, and the frag grenade easily penetrated their shields, killing them all.
Corporal Wright wiped the purple gore off his visor and took stock. Four covenant elites disabled, and only two of his men injured.
"Well done marines, but that was only the start. Ready for round two?" They grinned. "Righto then. Grab their gear," said Wright, motioning to the dead elites. "It could come in handy. We'll take the service tunnels to Hangar Bay 4. Stick together, torches on."