-1Garrett woke up to a very high pitched humming sound. His head really hurt and he felt that his left arm might be dislocated. He looked around from where he had landed. The place was eerie. It was dark yet still had lights high above, and the tunnel he seemed to have landed in was huge. Multiple grates covered extra smaller tunnels along the walls and what looked to be tower like objects were pulsating in the middle of the tunnel. He tried to get up, and his theory on whether his shoulder was dislocated was proven. He crumbled to the ground, dizzy from the pain. He tried to clear his head and wait for the dizziness to go away, but it only slightly faded.
He looked around for something to wedge his hand into, found a small bar on the wall, and tied a strap from his rifle around his hand. He then tied the other piece of the strap that seemed to prove his rifle was else where and not with him to the bar and got ready. He breathed in deep and ran backwards, trying his best to ignore the pain. It was quite unbearable for a few seconds, and then he heard a pop and the pain subsided. His dislocated shoulder had popped back into place, but it was still tender to the touch. He unsnapped his left shoulder armor because it started to make the tender flesh annoy him, then ascertained what else his condition pushed on him. His rifle seemed to be gone and half the grenades he was carrying either went with it or he used on the way here, meaning he had about six left on his bandolier, and his pistol was still with him. He looked around for his knife, and found the thing snapped in its small sheath halfway under a boulder.
As he looked up from where he was standing, he saw the slide marks of where he had come from along the sloping wall. He had fallen a good fifty feet, but the slope had paused him briefly enough to survive the fall. He sighted where he had probably hit a jut from the wall, landed on it and stopped his fall, and then had it break under his weight and fall the rest of the way. He was lucky enough to be alive let alone capable of moving or fighting. He didn't think the other marines were so lucky with so much snow and rubble around, most likely buried or crushed under all of it. "Some climbing gear would be music to my ears right about now" he grumbled to himself. He looked around one more time, found another hole in the tunnel, and continued on. He might be able to find a way out of here and get an evac, but the problem was he couldn't exactly navigate correctly without his helmet functioning. He pressed a few buttons on the side to no avail, shook his head and winced and a piece of fabric cushioning inside touched a sensitive cut. He didn't have time to worry about nicks and bruises, he had to leave this place and report in before something else happened or… "The elite. Shit, where is that bastard? I nearly had him" he cursed to himself. The elite was probably in the same predicament as he was, and had maybe better weaponry, if he hadn't lost his rifle like Garrett did.
He continued through the tunnels, careful not to make any noise. Being trained for special ops had its advantages, and this was one of them. Sneaking to ambush was fine, but sneaking to find a way out of an unknown area that could have traps and might be an enemy installation with hostiles perhaps all around was better, if you don't want to get caught or seen of course. He came to a T junction and pressed himself against the left wall to peek to the right with out popping his head out. He could hear something around the corner, but he couldn't tell what it was until… Hunter. Only one, and it looked injured, but he didn't want to take one on despite it being crippled in one leg. He slowly pulled out his pistol and turned the safety off, careful to make as little noise as possible. He aimed and attempted to get a shot at the back, which was unprotected at the moment. Right at that moment a piece of rubble broke under his foot and he lost his chance. The hunter turned, he fired, and the bullet ricocheted off the armor to strike the wall. The hunter saw Garrett as he ducked back and fired his fuel rod cannon. The shot blew a hole in the wall and threw bits of metal and melted circuitry everywhere. Garrett dived just in time, and not a second too late. He could feel the heat from the melted hole, and cursed again that he didn't have his rifle. He lobbed a grenade around the corner and heard an explosion, and the hunter jumped around the corner! Apparently he was pushed forward by the explosion, and Garrett swore as he jumped by the behemoth. The hunter tried to turn, but Garrett was already around him and pressing a second grenade under the armored backside, pinning it to the alien's spine, and ran for his life. He hoped the monster couldn't turn fast enough to fire off another shot before the grenade blew. He saw another intersection, slid and turned, then his instincts kicked in and he ducked/dodged/jinked into the right section tunnel. The grenade blew a second before, and the fuel rod gun's capacitor overloaded by the destruction of many components caused an even larger explosion, letting a heat wave flow down the hall. Garrett was out of the way only to see the wave of fire shoot by him, and felt the excess heat nearby. "I don't get paid enough for this shit, I don't get paid enough for this shit, I don't…" he repeated over and over again, panting on the ground. He was somewhat proud of himself that he had gone toe to toe with a hunter and lived to tell about it, but he also knew that that maneuver was a very stupid one. "Garrett you are a genius. And an idiot" he laughed to himself. He got up and continued down the path he had just run into.
He eventually came to a giant door with an inscription on it he couldn't translate. At that time he wished his helmet was working, and looked around for a control panel. He pulled out an ICE-pick and placed it on the panel, then let the slicing softs do their job. He heard some whirring sounds, then heard a ping, and finally heard what sounded like an old modem connection and dial up. He puzzled over it for a second then saw that the door could open, and pressed the green button. The doors slid open halfway effortlessly, and then started making a grinding noise the rest of the way as the doors looked like they would break. He kept his pistol at the ready, making sure nothing inside could jump out.
Inside was an incredible spectacle. It seemed to be a machine shop, or science chamber, at least that was what it looked like to the Lieutenant. The little soldier was an ant compared to the shear size of the room. Robotic arms everywhere, conduits snaking across every wall, experiments placed on thousands of work areas. He eyed a computer terminal, walked up to it, and it suddenly came alive. Multiple holo screens appeared near the original screen, showing different reports and records. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't read any of it. What he wouldn't do for an AI right about now. He noticed a diagram of one object in one of the screens, floating there and turning slowly around. It looked like a humanoid form, but slightly blocky in areas and other places smooth. It seemed to have some sort of wing like appendages on the back, slightly similar in look to the spikes on the back of a hunter, but also wing like. It appeared as if this was some sort of suit, or armor to him. His musing was suddenly cut off by a plasma bolt flying by and striking a work station. He jumped and rolled, diving for cover behind what was now going to be his blast shield for awhile. "I'm impressed human. You continued to follow me even into this area that is unexplored by both our people. How did you ever manage to survive with that horrible excuse for a body?" He heard in slightly garbled English. "How do you know that we haven't explored this place huh bug head!" He said, trying his best to keep the elite occupied long enough to locate where he was. "Oh I do believe your people haven't found this place. Otherwise you would have used what is inside to push us off this pathetic colony." His attempted white lie broke, and he still didn't know where the bastard was. The elite's voice was echoing around the room. He eyed the computer. Surely if the thing could keep a scan of all the work stations it could scan the entire room for life forms? He was willing to chance the risk of getting shot and snuck up to the station. Another bolt flew by followed by three more, but he still inched his way up to the terminal. He pressed some buttons on the ICE-pick, having one more use in it before it fried its internals, and placed it next to the thing. The whirring happened again, and then followed by what sounded like a toaster saying its done toasting. Who programmed the sounds into this thing? But stopped that train of the thought when the other half of his brain told him he was going to get shot if he didn't hurry up. His other half of his brain shut up after that. The scanners picked up two life forms, but he still couldn't read what the life forms were, nor could he figure out where they were placed in coordinates to the room. He could be at the front of the room and the elite could be in the southwest corner, but he might have it the other way around. He jumped back to his little defensive wall and saw more bolts fly by. He knew now where he was compared to the elite, as he wasn't keeping track of where the shots where coming from before this, just where they were gonna end up if he didn't move out of the way. He sighted the elite as he fired more plasma his way and took a shot, not aiming for the elite per se, but hitting the rifle and stopping him from firing more death at him. He hit, but it didn't knock the rifle out of his hand, just stunned him for a second before he moved to a new defense location.
Garrett watched the terminal from where he was and followed the moving beacon. This asshole was going to sneak up on him again. He saw the beacon stop and checked the area. The elite had a good place; a wall similar to what he had, high placing on the third level of the establishment, and an escape route in case Garrett tried to move. Worst of all, he seemed pinned from where the elite was, as all the alien needed to do was cover the sides and top of Garrett's wall. There was no more cover, and if he ran for the door he would be cut down before he got half way. Where's a SPARTAN when you need one he mumbled to himself. He then noticed a beam held by small cables just over the elite's cover. If I shoot the back cable I can crush the bastard he thought. The problem was, it was quite far away, and it he peeked up he could get shot very easily. "No other way to do it" he said and grabbed an empty clip he had and threw it one way, having plasma bolts chase the sound, then threw two grenades to cause some shrapnel in front of him and dust. He heard the explosion, peeked up, aimed to where he saw the cable, saw some plasma shots fly toward him and shot. He ducked just as a searing bolt hit right where his head was, and heard the cable break and the beam fall. The elite screamed and then died. Garrett got up then careful there weren't any allies, he decided to explore the place a bit, trying to find a communications station or something to say hello to base camp.
As he looked around, he saw what looked like a hunter size metal crate, with no seams or weld marks on it. It seemed quite solid, maybe material used for the prototype items in the room. He took a look around, and then heard something inside of it. Something sounded like it was starting up or was already on. He backed away but it was too late. He was suddenly scanned by the box, heard "Pilot verified" and was sucked into the box.