Chapter 11
--Halo--
"This is Sargent Johnson, USC Marine Corps to any UNSC or Ecazian forces. We require assistance. We are under siege by Covenant air and ground forces and require immediate extraction or reinforcements. We have taken heavy casualties. Please respond." The message blared over John's helmet speakers.
"Cortana, how far awa..."
"Thirty clicks." Cortana interrupted dropping a nav point into John's HUD.
Opening up a channel John said, "Sargent Johnson this is Spartan John one one seven. We are on the way."
"Chief? That you. Good to hear your voice. We're holding them at the moment but I'd say we've only got twenty minutes until they break through our lines." Johnson replied in between the chatter of MA5B fire.
"Understood Sargent. We're on our way. Master Chief out." Turning to his Spartans he opened up the team channel. "Alright Spartans, we've got fifteen minutes to move thirty clicks. Drop the crates and pass round the Ecazian lasguns. We'll be needing the firepower." John still had his doubts about the energy weapons. Without a lot of fire discipline the wielder could inflict more damage on his own side than on the enemy and it had required over a week of practice to learn how to use the guns in a group but John was sure that they would need the firepower and there was no time to call in something heavier."Frank and Sarah. Escort the Pelican crews to the base." John ordered watching two lights flash in his display.
"Hey Chief! You'll need the help more than we will." Foehammer said. "We'll move towards that base ourselves, you use all your guys and concentrate on killing those Covvies."
John knew that they were right. Both Pelicans had been forced down by Covenant air patrols over an hour ago and the pilots and gunners were now being escorted by the Spartans. But before he could make a decision Frank radioed him.
"Chief, you take Sarah and I'll stay with the crews. If we need any help I'll call, and we'll try not to take on any Covenant."
"Understood." John replied then said to everyone. "Alright, Frank will remain with the crews and escort them to the base. Make sure all this kit is hidden. We'll be back for it later. Grabbing one of the guns John made sure it was ready and signaled for his group of Spartans to fan out and start running towards base 34.
--Chenoah--
"Mother Superior. Thank you for seeing us on such short notice." Duke Ecaz said.
"Well you seemed to be in a rush so I made some time." Siave replied with a smile."Please sit." She said.
After the Duke and Michael sat down he looked like he was waiting for something. Glancing at her clock Siave decided to talk.
"Well Duke Ecaz." She said. "You didn't come all this way in a ship of the line to have a morning chat with me."
The Duke quietly lifted up his briefcase and opened it. "You are correct Mother Superior. Two days ago a structure was found. The thing that brought our attention to it was what was over each entrance, a carving of a sandworm. Immediately some of my men went down and explored the complex. They found this." The Duke pulled out a sheet of Riduylan crystal and placed it on Siave's desk. "I'm sure you have a reader in your desk so I suggest you read the first line.
Confused but believing there to be no immediate harm in the sheet Siave opened up the reader in her desk and placed the sheet inside it. Reading the first line she became even more confused, 'Bene Gesserit' Who's idea for a joke was this she thought. Deciding to read further she was surprised to see it start in a very old Bene Gesserit cipher, quickly decoding it she read along and became even more confused"
"I'm guessing that you can decode it." The Duke said.
"Yes I can. It's a very old Bene Gesserit code that we haven't used in over a thousand years."
"So what is it?"
"I think it is a stellar map but I'll have to get my people to look at it to be sure." Siave replied leaning back into her chair.
"A stellar map? Why would the Tyrant give us that?" The Duke wondered aloud.
"He's hidden something here for us to use probably." Siave guessed. "It sounds like something he would do and we never knew the true extent of his knowledge so it is entirely possible that he was or sent someone here."
"The Covenant must be hiding something. That's the only thing I can think of without more data. What do you think Michael?"
"Have either of you considered how strange this meeting is?" Michael asked tonelessly.
"How strange? We're in a parallel universe fighting off an alien species sitting on Rakis. I can't see how much stranger it could get." The Duke chuckled.
"M'Lord, were in the presence of the Bene Gesserit leader talking as though we were always great friends. None of us have anything except for the most basic masks up."
"Where are you heading with this Mentat?" Siave asked as she sat up.
"I think the Tyrant maneuvered us into this position to throw us together in an inescapable alliance. Also note that we have yet to even get a hint of contact from anyone from the Old Imperium."
"And that starmap is a key on finding out why we're here?" The Duke asked.
"That would be my projection M'Lord."
"Mother Superior, please decode that starmap as soon as you can." The Duke said.
"Understood Duke Ecaz, we'll have a copy sent to you as soon as humanly possible."
"Thank you. Please excuse me, I must return to my ship now and get back into the fight." The Duke said as he stood up.
"Goodbye Duke." Siave said as Michael and the Duke left her office. Siave sat back down and after sending the sheet down to the Archives returned to her work.
--Halo 04--
"There they are." Radioed Linda. Looking ahead all John could see was more of the thick and dark forest he had been running through for the past fifteen minutes.
"Show me." He said straight back. In the top right corner of John's helmet the display snapped from displaying his ammunition and radio channel to displaying a grainy picture from the scope mounted on Linda's rifle. "Receiving picture." John said and a light flashed in reply. Looking at the image slowly John could see the long grassy field covering a wide and short hill that Base 34 was perched on top of. Looking at the base walls John could see the scoring and holes created by the Covenant weapons. Suddenly the display whited out and John's heart rate spiked but before he could call out the image came back showing a newly arrived beast that was the Covenant Mortar Tank, know as the Wraith by the human troops. Shutting off the connection John looked ahead at the ridge of a small rise and saw that the forest ended just before it reached the rop. Slowly pushing his head over the ridge and grass John was instantly impressed by the carnage strewn over the plain. Hundreds of Covenant troops, vehicles and thousands of weapons lay haphazardly over the ground, many in the deep holes created by the now silent artillery pieces sitting deep within the base and the hastily laid minefields. A few hundred metres beyond the beginning of the death and destruction was the front line of Covenant troops now slowly advancing on the solid grey walls of Base 34. There were still hundreds of Covenant left as John quickly saw. At the front Grunts were throwing their small dog like bodies into the thick wall of fire erupting from the base walls taking the hits for their Elite commanders. Behind them Jackels and the lower ranked Elites crouched behind shields and advanced forwards all the while pouring plasma fire into the wall and towards the defenders on top who took the head off of any Elite unlucky enough to show it's head for more than a second with out cover. Behind this the were the Hunters with the shields held high covering them and the Elites commanding the attack. Suddenly the Hunter covering the gold Elite commander stopped as the concentrated fire of the two remaining turrets on the wall and about a dozen rifles plowed into it. Replying the Hunter and its bond brother volleyed off their attached fuel rod guns at the wall completely slagging the turrets and killing several more of the defending Marines. Looking at the wall John could see holes now forming in the lower parts as the plasma weapons began to burn their way through the final layer of fastcrete. On the top he could see the Marines throwing all they had down into the oncoming waves of Covenant and in the middle of it standing straight up was a black Marine throwing orders left and right while pouring his own stream of bullets into anything that moved in the field. For a split second he stopped and threw something at a Marine beside him and said something before returning to the task of killing Covenant. Meanwhile another Marine let go of his rifle and pulled out his pistol. Seeing this John opened up a channel and said, "Sargent Johnson, this is Spartan one one seven. Report."
On top of the wall Sargent Avery Johnson was not enjoying himself. He and his men had destroyed over half of the Covenant force including nearly all of their floating tanks but in doing so they had used up all of their anti armor weapons and the last of the turrets had just been destroyed. Now they were onto the last of their small arms ammunition and the situation was looking extremely grim. He hadn't even been able to call base for evac after the comms tower had been lost and their radio pack was destroyed.
"I'm out!" Shouted a young lanky Marine to Johnson's left.
Throwing one of his final magazines to the Marine Johnson told him, "Make every single shot count Jenkins." Looking back up he shouted to the Marines gathered on the wall. "It looks like we're not going to get out of this Marines, so lets take these bastards down to hell with us! Hooah!" No one replied as they knew that this was the end and each and every single one of them agreed with the Sargent. Beside him a Marine threw down his now empty rifle and pulled out his pistol taking careful aim the Marine pulled off two shots and a Grunt clad in orange armor at the base of the wall fell over. "Well done Bisenti. Now see if you can take out that Hunter." Johnson remarked in between the chattering of his own rifle.
"Aw Sarge." Bisenti moaned as he grinned for a split second, "Why do you always got to give me the tough jobs."
"Because you can't kiss ass, that's why."
Bisenti simply shrugged his shoulders quickly took out several more grunts before quickly reloading.
Suddenly Johnson's radio came to life, "Sargent Johnson, this is Spartan one one seven. Report." For a split second Johnson wondered what these Covenant had done wrong because he knew the Covenant had now lost this battle.
"Hello Chief. I was wondering if you had decided to just stroll here." Johnson replied. "As to how we are. We've got lots of wounded and the Covenant bastards are about a minute away from breaching the walls."
"Understood. Stand by." John replied before cutting the channel. Shouldering his rifle Sargent Johnson quickly went back to work.
On the ridge line John quickly took in the whole battlefield once more and slapped together a quick plan. Nowhere neat as he would've like but as usual there was just no time. "Here's what we're going to do." John said over the team channel but before he could continue Cortana half shouted half screamed into his ears,
"Chief!"
Suddenly the sky turned white and a massive shock wave of sound and air slammed into everyone and everything throwing them high into the air and back into the forest, but before the Chief could do anything his world went dark as he slammed into a tree at nearly a hundred kilometres an hour. Shattering the tree and knocking him unconscious.
Ship master Nok'Chee made his way quickly through the small and cramped halls surrounding the small ship docking bays deep within the planetoid High Charity the seat of power of the Covenant it had been mined out of the moon on which he Elites and Prophets first created the Covenant and on which the only known ship of the ancient and powerful Forerunner resided. Since that moment the High Charity had led he Covenant on its path to ascension from the front, even entering battle to strike down the unbelievers but at that very moment Nok'Chee didn't really care for the history held within the very wall of the corridors he walked, but instead on the message from an old friend of his family's line. Now storming through the corridors Nok'Chee didn't notice or care about the dozens of Grunts, Engineers, Jackles, even the other Elites that quickly scrambled out of his way as they saw the gold plated armor of his station. Barreling around the corner Nok'Chee slammed straight into a tall red robed figure. Without saying anything or even taking another breath Nok'Chee dropped to his knees hanging his head low. He immediately recognized what he had just done and knew his life was about to end but there was now nothing he could do. Standing in front of the near groveling Shipmaster the Elite High Councilor Freay'Tes simply stared at Nok'Chee. He wore, what was for an Elite, a scowl across his face and waited as he watched Nok'Chee recognize that he was still alive. Freay'Tes nearly smiled as Nok'Chee raised his head in the deadly silent hallway as he tried to figure out with the rest of the creatures lining the hallway why he was still alive. Seeing Nok'Chee's face Freay'Tes was impressed at how deftly Nok'Chee controlled what emotions he displayed, but after nearly a hundred years experience in battle and in politics Freay'Tes could see fear, hope, amazement and even a tiny bit of anger fight to be released. Nodding Frey'Tes waited as his two bodyguards stepped forward and grasped Nok'Chee firmly by each arm. "Shipmaster, do you know what you have done!" Freay'Tes demanded, playing the part of a Councilor in this moment.
Nok'Chee had dared to hope after seeing the face of the Elite he had been asked to see standing in front of him but that hope was instantly quashed as he realized that even if Councilor Freay'Tes wanted to spare his life the steps and procedures set down for this moment could not be bent in anyway to his knowledge. Hearing the question he now had to follow the path prescribed by millennia of law and culture. "Yes Excellency, I do understand what I have done." Nok'Chee said with the required reverence.
"Do you know and understand the penalty for this crime?" Freay'Tes continued.
"Yes Excellency I do know and understand the penalty."
"Then you will follow me for your punishment!" Freay'Tes shouted more for the gathered crowd than for Nok'Chee. Spinning around on one foot Freay'Tes led the way while Nok'Chee followed behind escorted by the bodyguards and with his head hung low in the way required, hiding the final destination from his sight and senses. Around him creatures stared immediately knowing what was about to happen but none out of the hundreds eventually passed could see who it was and they knew that they would never know since these executions were never held for show. Nok'Chee felt his guards come to a stop and opening his eyes he saw nothing but complete darkness.
"Welcome Shipmaster Nok'Chee" Boomed a deep and powerful voice that sounded from the darkness. "I appreciate your quick arrival." Suddenly the lights snapped on and Nok'Chee was disorientated for a moment until his eyes adjusted and he saw Freay'Tes sitting cheerfully in a grav-couch in front of him.
Nok'Chee stared at Freay'Tes trying furiously to figure out what was going on. The only idea that come to him was that this was some sort of cruel joke and that just as he relaxed he would be dead. So instead he redirected his head to the ground and waited for death.
Freay'Tes continued to smile as Nok'Chee fumbled with his thoughts trying to understand the situation that he had been thrust into but he couldn't wait for the Shipmaster to work up the courage to take a chance even if he was immensely enjoying his discomfort. "Shipmaster Nok'Chee stand to!" He barked and immediately saw Nok'Chee nearly leap to attention as his training took over completely.
--Reach--
The Duke grunted as the Pelican pulled up from its steep dive into the High Commands airspace. A recent gift from the UNSC the new Pelican had now taken over the mission of transporting the Duke between his planet and ship. Suddenly the pilot line came to life as the airspace controller spoke.
"Ecaz Prime. Your approach vector is within parameters. Landing Pad Seven is clear and ready to accept your ship. Do not respond to this transmission. High Command Control out."
As the transmission cut out the Duke was thrown forward roughly as the airbrakes were deployed stopping the Pelican in the small corridor of space it was cleared for. The Duke knew as did the pilot that if they strayed even a foot out of this corridor the Pelican would becoming a rapidly expanding fireball in a few seconds due to the importance of this place. Looking up as the G's bled off the Duke saw the monitor in front of him show Pad Seven directly under the belly of the Pelican. As the ship settled down on the pad the intercom sniked to life.
"We have arrived M'Lord. I do apologize for the rough flight in but I did what I could within the limits that were set down."
Smiling the Duke looked over to Michael who sat back in his seat looking distracted but he knew better. "Yes." Michael shot over before his Duke could say anything. "I know he'll never be happy with any landing he has while transporting you. Why do you think he was chosen."
"Well he doesn't have to apologize for every bit of turbulance we hit and everytime we pull more than one gravity." The Duke chichkled back sitting back in his seat until the Pelican finished landing.
Admiral Soven stood silently as the now bright yellow and black Pelican was lowered into the cavernous hanger that was the High Command airfield. The only other Pelican he knew of decorated in the same way just happened to be the secretary General's Pelican. Must be something to do with leaders he mused as the Pelican finally reached the floor and taxied over to her bay for her short stay on Reach. Waiting patiently Soven watched as the side hatch popped open and before anything could happen the Duke was on the ground followed by his 'mentat' as they called them. He had only met this mentat once but Soven already felt unnerved by these creatures. The stiff, almost robotic way they moved just didn't feel natural and the way they became suddenly detached from the situation didn't help the situation but he guessed that around eight thousand years without a sentient computer system did that to a civilization. "Welcome Duke Ecaz to Reach again." He said as the Duke walked up to him.
"Thank you Admiral. I think we should start heading off to the meeting now. I'd like to start it as soon as possible." He replied.
"Well the meeting has already begun but I'll run you and your adviser up to date as we go." Soven said gesturing to the elevator a short walk away. Oh, and may I complement your pilot on a very neat bit of flying up there. It was very smooth and I know the High Command transport sqadruran would like to have a chat with him."
The Duke smiled again as he heard this. "All the advantages of several millennia of selected breeding."
Stepping into the elevator simply smiled and filed the comment away for later, he still could not understand how someone could feel that selective breeding was ok but the Ecazians were a very different group and no one understood the Bene Gesserit and the information they did have just brought more questions. "Now to fill you in what has happened since our last communication with you." Soven said as the doors slid silently shut.
"Chief? Are you awake now?" John's head thundered as Cortana shouted urgently. Opening his eyes slowly John was greeted by darkness.
"Yes yes I'm awake. Now could you tell me what happened?" He asked as he moved his head to turn his helmet mounted flashlights on.
"Don't do that!" Cortana shouted urgently again.
Instantly checking the motion John finally noticed that his motion detector was off. Quietly berating himself for forgetting something so obvious he quickly turned his attention to the happenings at hand. "What is it Cortana?" He asked slowly.
Taking an audible breath Cortana replied "After you were knocked unconscious by the blast all hell broke loose. The comms were quickly flooded by what little was left communicating from the base. Unfortunately I was unable to read anything useful from it due to the static left over from the explosions. Then a few minutes later some strange looking ships landed at the base as several more landed near us. The people in them quickly covered us in some sort of sensor suppression blanket that also caused your shields to overload and shut off. I haven't been able to pick up anything since that happened just over twenty minutes ago."
"Were they human or Covenant?" John asked trying to piece together a new plan once again.
"Human, but not ours. If my information is correct than they're Ecazian Shocktroopers. If you could slowly move your left gauntlet out from under the blanket we should be able to get some information on what's going on out there." Cortana quickly suggested.
"Understood Cortana. Do you know where the closest weapon is?"
"If you mean a weapon that isn't you then the closest one is a MA5B a foot away from left gauntlet." Cortana tried to say helpfully.
Quietly acknowledging Cotana's reply John began to slowly inch his gauntlet over to the left so it's sensors would be able to tell them something useful. After several minutes John stopped as his motion detector came to life showing dots of yellow and grey movement around him. Waiting rigidly John remained still as a yellow friendly walked up to him flanked by two grey unknowns. Tensing his muscles John prepared to attack but as the blanket was ripped off he was met with a smiling face.
"I didn't know super soldiers and high tech ay-ayes got to have their beauty sleep when they felt like it." Sargent Johnson said with some amusement.
"Well you wouldn't like me when I'm tired Sargent." Cortana shot back in a friendly tone.
Getting to his feet John took a quick look around. He was surrounded by Ecazian troops moving through the forest attending to their jobs. Glancing around his eyes were drawn to some sort of large airplane squatting down in a clearing that was far to small for any standard airplane of its size. It was at least the size of three Pelicans stuck together in a row and two wide. At the back a ramp had been lowered and a line of people were moving into and out of it. Looking carefully John could see that the people were carrying dozens of stretchers on board weighted down by wounded soldiers. Moving his eyes along to the side of the plane John saw over a dozen Covenant prisoners cuffed together and lined up with several Ecazians watching them extremely closely. John even smiled a bit when he noticed a few freshly severed limbs lying down beside the Elites. A bit of payback he thought before pushing that thought out of his head. Looking back at the Sargent, John said, "Report Sargent."
Johnson's smile faltered and turned quickly into a scowl. We're in a bad shape Chief. If the Ecazians hadn't arrived we'd all be dead by now. Out of the base's two hundred and fifty men complement only twenty are in any shape to fight and they're all wounded to some degree or another and there are another thirty four wounded. The rest are dead. As to our rescue, that would be the work of Commander Trewtis Hegwy, Commanding officer of the Duke's Troshty Assault Regiment." He finished pointing to a tall man dressed in a simple camouflage pattern with no markers of rank or position anywhere.
"Master Chief." Trewtis said sharply. "It's unfortunate that we had to meet under these circumstances. My standing orders were to assist any UNSC forces that I could and after hearing Sargent Johnson's distress call we came to assist. My forward aerial attack flight arrived here quickest and we unfortunately bombed close to your position. I offer you my apologies but we didn't know you were there."
"Understood. Commander." John replied through his helmet speakers but before he could continued Cortana spoke to him.
"Chief, I'm picking up a couple of faint Spartan beacons. It looks like everyone was knocked out and had those blankets placed over them."
"Very well." John replied trying to open up a com channel to the rest of the squad but after several attempts Cortana spoke up again.
"It looks like the signal is to weak to open up a channel. I'll hack away at it. I'll also suggest we get out of here now."
Letting Cortana try and coax a link out of the signal John continued his look around. Over in another clearing he saw the saddening sight of dozens of body bags being filled and tagged with young the young Marines that had died in the battle. At least they would be buried unlike countless other thousand that had had to be left on planets while the Covenant turned them into glass. Moving his eyes again John saw a blanket laying over a Spartan. The blanket was smooth to the eyes, was a deep black and blended indistinguishably into the background emission's that his armor picked up. Looking back at Trewtis John asked, "Commander Trewtis. What are those blankets?"
"Those would be life blankets Master Chief." Trewtis replied. "Fairly standard equipment especially when behind enemy lines and in escape packs. They block a wearers lifesigns from any sort of scanner. That was also what you were covered with. I had my men cover your unconscious form with them as we had more urgent things to do at the time and your bulk isn't easy to move around."
"Could you have them removed." John asked.
"As you wish Master Chief." Trewtis replied sending off a hand signal to one of his officers.
Several seconds later John was relieved to see lights blinking in his heads up as Cortana jumped over him and asked the Spartans if they were okay. "Apologies for the nap Chief." Fred radioed over the team channel.
"Make sure you get enough sleep next time." Jack radioed back.
"Alright that's enough." John radioed. "Check each other out and be ready to move off at any time." After waiting for the lights to flash in his heads up for each confirmation John returned his attention to the Commander but a new voice radioed in on a tightbeam transmission before he could do anything.
"Master Chief. This is Sarah. We're presently in the treeline two hundred metres downspin of your location. We have tried to get a sitrep out of the Marines but have been unable to make contact.. Request instructions." Sarah said.
"Situation is safe. Get here as soon as you can. We'll be moving out soon." John replied. Looking back at Trewtis he asked. "So what are our plans now Commander?"
"After consulting with Sargent Johnson I felt it best to evacuate everyone and thing we can to the regional fort. The first transports with the wounded have already left and we're currently loading up the remaining supplies, dead and prisoners. That should be done within the next ten minutes. At which point we'll leave. After which I'll spare anything I can to help your squad in whatever your mission is. As per my standing orders."
"Still sounds like a good plan." Johnson said.
Wanting to return to his mission John knew that it would unfortunately have to wait until they had arrived at the regional base at which point he could get a better understanding on what was going on and plan the rest of the mission more completely.
