Chapter 3

0923 Hours, February 11, 2580 (Military Calendar) /
Sol System, In Orbit of Mars

The U.N.S.C. Cobra was a marvel of the fleet. Heavily armed with over 1500 Archer missiles, two EA (Electro-magnetic Accelerator) Cannons, more than fifty small electro-magnetic rail-guns, and dozens of fighters, this gigantic ship was over 1567m long. Crewed with humanities best and brightest, with SPARTANS on board as well, this ship was sent to do some of the hardest missions available. Mitchell 316 sighed as the last status report streamed in from Alpha team on Earth. From the recorders, there was a lot of action. He longed to be down there with everybody else. He was the COMM. officer on the bridge. At least he had just experienced a space battle, albeit a small one compared to those at REACH and Sigma Octanis.

As he gazed into the inky blackness and wreckage of ships, his console started beeping urgently. Almost immediately, Mitchell jerked out of the inky darkness and back into reality. It was a distress message from Alpha team.

"Captain! I'm receiving a distress call from Alpha team!"

"Patch it through, Mitchell 316."

"Captain Nathan, this is Hewitt 639. We are currently in retreat. Some ship just came through a portal and is dropping pods with alien freaks in them. I'm with Fire team Delta to try and slow the aliens down. Oh…no… sir, they're catching up to us, we need some help down here," his next few words were drowned out by the screams of marines, and the staccato of assault rifles blasting away at the aliens.

"The aliens just slaughtered Fire team Delta! Oh no! Get back, get back! schlock AUGH! Captain…I'm hurt. You'd better send some…help soon. I don't think we can slow them down much longer. I am with Nathaniel 730 and Sean 295. Please make sure that everyone else gets there safely... What in the name of…"Alert. Abrupt severance of communication relay. Missing signal…K.I.A.? M.I.A.? W.I.A.?

There was nothing but silence on the bridge. Slowly, the captain reached for the P.A. system on the ship.

"Attention crew, we have just lost communication from our defense team on Earth. I suspect that something must've happened to them. We will drop some recon teams down to the base. Be warned, something drove them out, and is more than likely to be still there. All mechanics, see if you can get some of those pelicans to have extra armor. I'll also need some medics, no more than twenty, and three marine fire teams. Get going. This is the captain, signing out."

D +03:36:28 (SPARTAN-316 Mission Clock)/

Pelican Victor 528, En route to New Delphi support camp

Mitchell felt at home in his new MJOLNIR armor. He was sitting with some marines in a pelican dropship. He closed his eyes, hoping that John and the others were safe. He wondered what was waiting for them, and if there was anyone still there.

"Hey guys. We'll be landing in ten minutes, so make sure…whoa!" the pilot suddenly jerked the pelican to dodge something, "Marines, I'm dodging some flying things, they seem to be trying to crash into me…ugh, it's hard to shake those buggers. Whoa! They're coming at me from everywhere!" After about three minutes of continuous dodging and jerking, it appeared that the pilot managed to dodge every one of those flying things.

"Hey kids, I think that's the last of…AUGH!"

The announcement was suddenly cut short as the cockpit shattered into dozens of tiny pieces of debris. As the dropship veered out of control, a smart-aleck marine cried, "WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!" and started to whimper. Mitchell was about to shout at him, when another pelican, also without a cockpit , whammed into them. The two pilot-less pelicans dropped like a stone through the air. The last thing Mitchell remembered before blacking out was seeing a bright flash and a crunching noise.