-1The Resilience and the rest of the fleet got to the escort point to find destruction everywhere. Ships torn apart by plasma fire, bodies strewn about like rag dolls, and a few shipwrecks on fire. "Any sign of survivors?" The captain asked. "None as of yet ma'am. There's so much interference from engine cores and EM signatures, I can't tell what's a life pod and what isn't." The captain tapped her finger on the arm rest of her chair. The new ships of the line were now having seats for everyone on board the bridge, so that if heavy fighting came up, you wouldn't always be trying to keep your balance. So far, the seat the captain was sitting in was too cushy, too laid back, and absolutely no buttons on it. She felt like all she could do was belch orders and sit there. "Hang on ma'am. I've got a rescue beacon on three six zero. It's planet side. I'm reading multiple dodge holes in the surrounding area. Upper Hemisphere, third continent. The beacons seem to show the Ulysses ID coding for the life boats." She stopped her tapping. "Captain to bay 2. Send out the rescue teams. Bring our people home." Bay 2 acknowledged, and twelve pelicans, flanked by three squads of long sword and broad arrow fighters, shot toward the planet. A few covenant ships were detected on the ground, but other than that the place seemed unoccupied.
The rescue teams, followed by a walking tank seething with anger, entered the atmosphere and broke through. They eventually made their way toward the beacons, and finally landed. They dropped nine warthogs and three scorpions, and brought a few ATVs along as well. Ten Spartans, and over fifty marines and ODSTs had landed, with field medics and rescue specialists. Garrett and a few marines ran toward one of the beacons, the marines obviously in a warthog to keep up. They made it to the small bunker the people had made, and saw the carnage.
The defense barrier had been breached several times, and the marines that were holding the barrier were either killed or wounded. The civilians they were protecting were all cowering in a cave up in the rocks, surrounded by massive amounts of fallen trees. Garrett turned on his frontal search lights and walked into the cave, seeing everyone's eyes following him, and the marines following right behind, pulling what medical equipment they had on them and checking the troops, then calling in evac. "Tell me, did a Corporal Savara Gryphen make it off the Ulysses?" Garrett asked one of the marines with a plasma score on his leg. "Ugh… shit… huh? Uh… (Panting) yah. She was in this defense team. Ouch… Ah…She was taken with the officers in the group. We finally pushed them back, but if you guys hadn't shown up, we probably wouldn't have lasted another attack." Garrett grabbed the soldier by the shoulders and pulled him close to the armored face. "Do you know where they are holding them? Do you?" The marine winced. "What? No! I don't know! Fuck… Medic!" He grappled his leg. Medics were just entering the scene when Garrett stomped out of the cave. The major had walked from a warthog right when he left the opening, and stopped him. "Where do you think your going?" He asked. Garrett pulled his arm away. "I'm going to go rescue my sister." The Spartan grabbed his arm again. "No your not. Not without a plan you aren't. You have a better chance of getting those people killed than saving them." Garrett turned, and stared down at the green armored figure. "I'M NOT LEAVING HER TO ROT IN SOME COVIE CELL!" His voice echoed through the area, and marines and civilians alike stared at him. "We'll get them back. The covenant are probably holding the lower ranks as bait to make the officers tell them security codes and tactical positions for the escort home. Don't worry. Remember, we never leave a man behind." Garrett stood there for a moment as the Spartan let go of his arm and walked toward the cave.
Night had hit, and two lone pelicans flew in low to the ground. They were to wait at the edge of the valley the Ascended was in, wait for Captain Gryphen to swoop in and blow an entrance to the docking bays, and rush in, while he provided cover fire. The two teams would infiltrate and rescue whoever they could. Garrett sat clamped to the side of a cliff nearby, his armor latched onto jutting rocks with cables, anti-grav systems and lock on clamps on the body. He held a long range laser rifle aimed at the ship. It would be the easiest thing in the world to take the thing down with a few shots, but if he did anything, the survivors on board would die. He watched the flying banshees and seraphs moving around, watching every patrol route and marking the paths they took. He memorized every transfer of infantry dropped from the grav lift to the ground, and then a squad would move up the lift inside. "Alpha team, ready to roll when you are." "Bravo team, ready to rumble. Waiting for signal." Garrett watched a bit more closely. At the very moment one of the squadrons of banshees moved to the bay doors and they were deactivated, he shot, and the pulse flew true to what he was aiming at: The brute controller near the panels for the docking bay field. He flew toward the open entrance, firing anti-personnel grenades along the way toward the opening. He landed, skidding a few meters while opening fire on anything that was alive. The pelicans swooped in, then landed softly on the deck and dropped their payload. The marines and Spartans shot out faster than lightning, running for cover and taking what turrets Garrett hadn't blown to hell yet. Once the main area was secured, they moved on towards where Cortana and Auron said the holding cells were.
They soon got to the door, but the main locks were on. "I don't know how to bypass these security systems Major. Just give me a bit of time and…" Cortana said, but a large shield smashed into the controls, the antennas in the armor perked up, and the doors opened. "Nanites successful" Auron said. Garrett walked in, followed by at the ready marines and Spartans. They saw a few brutes in the area, and took care of them just the same. They walked up to the control systems and disengaged the shields on the cells. Most of the troops ran to the cells with officers, but Garrett ran to find his sister. She wasn't in any of the cells. "She might be in another station area. We should keep moving" the major said. "Wait, are you guys trying to find Corporal Gryphen?" A marine was helped from a cell. "Yes. Where is she?" Garrett asked. "She was taken to interrogation. I doubt she'll come back alive. All the people they take to interrogation don't come back." Garrett ordered Auron to give him a map. He boosted out of the room, followed by yelling from the marines to stay. He shot down the hallway, broke through a wall and smashed a hunter and two brutes straight into another wall, then pushed his way into the interrogation room. Two brutes turned, one gold, another in greenish armor. Apparently that was the warden. Both were shocked, but not for long. He pulled an auto cannon and fired, cutting both of them in two. Behind them, raised about five feet from the ground, was Savara, crucified on a metal stake.
Two years before Valeius, recon mission red dawn. Squad Echo 13, observing heavy fortress prison camp. Garrett's Captain was speaking to him
"Take good look gentlemen. The covenant is trying their best to learn everything they can about us, the same as we do to them. The fact that they stole information about our religions proves this point. Unfortunately for us, they use crucifixion as a way of torture just for the fun of it. If you see a man in that situation, or find yourself in it, don't hesitate. Put them out of their misery or bite down on the capsule in your cheek."
Garrett walked slowly up to the cross, Auron engaging the controls to lower the metal piece down. She was a mess; blood covering her, her body seemed broken. He took her off the plates and set her down on the ground. No movement came from her. Garrett felt tears come to his eyes, seeing that her eyes were not opening. No breathing could be seen, though the way his eyes were starting to blur, it was already difficult. A lone Spartan stood at the door, guarding against anything that tried to do anything at that moment to Garrett or the poor victim, having a major's rank emblazed on his armor. "Hey…Bro…" was barely heard from her mouth. He looked straight at her face, in complete shock. "Her vitals are critical, but she is alive. I suggest immediate evac. Now" Auron sternly said. A marine came up to her naked body and wrapped an e-blanket around her, then held onto her as he got up and they both charged out. The prisoners were semi equipped to fight, those that could fight anyway. The others were carried or limped along as the marines and Spartans covered them as they went to the docking bay. As they neared the bay, the plasma fire began to increase heavily. Firepower was bristling through the air, as rifle rounds were traded for plasma rounds. Plasma grenades were stuck to boxes nearby, and fragmentation grenades were rolled towards doors. They finally made it to some cover in the hangar, barely keeping everyone they came in with alive. No casualties had arisen yet, but with the increase in firepower flying towards them, it wouldn't take long. "This is Rescue team. We have the POWs now come pick us up!" the major yelled over the com channels. "Negative Rescue team. We've been engaged and cannot move at this time. We can't get near the hangar. We have too much firepower coming our way. If you can hold out for a while, we might…" and the connection severed with static. Evac was gonna be a no show.
Garrett looked over at Savara, lying helpless by a wounded marine, as the slug match continued. He sprayed the area with the remaining rounds in the auto cannon and switched the carriage with another. "Echo Bravo 6 Niner Zulu, we have contact! Lots of contact! We can't…" "They're everywhere! We can't hold out much longer!" "They aren't coming for us, are they sir…" was heard from his unit frequency. He fired twelve rockets into a nearby fuel container, having the first three dent it a bit, and the last few connect with covenant moving around. The area blew in a fiery death hole, tearing most of the nearby covenant to pieces. Unfortunately, more were pouring in from every door. Two marines were hit, and both went down, one with burns to his right arm, the other had his left hand melted off. Things were looking bad, very bad indeed.
At that moment, a rumble tore through the ship, as some sort of energy weapon carved into the side. The fields on the area died, and what might have been some sort of transport flew in, landed on the pad, and opened fire with some energy weapons. The cargo doors on the back opened up, and nothing was inside. The covenant pulled back, away from the ship as it seemed to be covering the humans. "Garrett. Get everyone on board now. The transport should cover you" a familiar voice said. "What the…" and Garrett thought better of it. He recognized the voice. It was Ilana.