Truth and Reconciliation
"Alright," said Cortana, "that's the last of them."
The Chief stepped out of the driver's seat of the warthog after driving for nearly an hour, going from crash site to crash site, locating stranded marines and their lifeboats. Much of the Pillar of Autumn's crew had made it to the ring's surface; much more than Cortana had predicted.
The Covenant cruisers had dispatched hundreds of drop ships to the landing sites to eliminate or capture the humans. But with the Chief's prompt assistance, a couple dozen marines were spared the Covenant's wrath. There had been hundreds of life pods that were ejected from the Autumn, but the Chief wasn't capable of rescuing them all; they were scattered all over this ring world. Somewhere on the ring, some of the Pillar of Autumn's command crew had already gathered together and set up a base of operations, and a Pelican transport craft was sent to retrieve the Chief and his party.
He walked around the front of the warthog and approached the passenger seat of the vehicle; a dark skinned man in a green uniform hopped out, assault rifle in hand and waved to Raymore.
"Get down off of there, Private," the man said. "We've got to go butcher some more of those Covenant suckers!"
Raymore loosened his grip from the machine gun turret which was mounted on back of the warthog; the triple barrels of the mini gun turret were still smoking from recent combat.
"Yes sir, Sergeant." Raymore answered. He hastily leaped from the back of the vehicle.
The Chief approached the Sergeant.
"Johnson, tell the rest of the men that Foe Hammer is on her way."
"You got it Chief!"
Johnson detached his communicator from his belt and activated it.
"Marines," shouted Johnson, "we're gettin' out of here! Foe Hammer's coming in."
As the five marines made their way out from the large, jumbled maze of boulders that were splayed across a nearby hill where they had been taking refuge, the hum of Echo 419's pelican engines could be heard overhead.
"New traffic on the Covenant battle net:" stated Cortana, "I've found Captain Keyes! He's being held on a Covenant cruiser: the Truth and Reconciliation - a ship I disabled before we abandoned the Autumn. The Truth and Reconciliation touched down on a desert plateau roughly three hundred kilometers up spin."
Soon after, the Pelican began to drop down several meters away from the gathered marines; it came into a low hover above the ground.
"There's our ride." said Cortana. "Get aboard and let's get out of here."
They all ran for it and leaped up into the rear compartment where Lieutenant Foster had been waiting ever since she had been injured. The Chief and Johnson were the last ones to enter the transport.
"Welcome aboard Master Chief." said Foe Hammer "Ready for dust off."
"We should move out, Lieutenant;" Cortana said to her, "and then we'll need your help on a rescue mission."
"Glad to be of service, Cortana."
Foe Hammer maneuvered the Pelican through the night, into a landing position, just out of site of the Covenant forces that were blocking them from their objective: The Truth and Reconciliation.
The marines inside the transport locked and loaded their weapons and prepared to engage the Covenant troops; they were all just waiting to appease their itchy trigger fingers. The Chief chose Raymore and Foster: the two marines who had been with him on the lifeboat; he was familiar with them and they were determined and skillful soldiers. Johnson chose several: Dubbo, Jenkins, Mendoza and Stacker. There were two other marines accompanying them.
"The enemy has captured Captain Keyes," said Cortana to the marines in the pelican, "and are holding him aboard one of their cruisers: The Truth and Reconciliation.
The ship is currently holding position approximately three hundred meters above the other end of this plateau."
"So how do we get inside the ship if it's in the air," asked Dubbo, "The Corp issued me a rifle, not wings."
"There's a gravity lift that ferries troops and supplies between the ship and the surface," Johnson replied, "that's our ticket in."
"Once we get inside the ship I should be able to lock on to the tracking signal from Captain Keyes' neural implants," Cortana informed them.
Echo 419 stopped as its thrusters swiveled on their hinges and aimed downward towards the ground. Foe Hammer slowly brought the craft down. The marines piled out by twos.
"Hit it Marines, go, go, go!" yelled Johnson, "The Corp ain't payin' us by the hour!"
Every marine ran for the small canyon path that led into a clearing: a clearing that the Covenant had posted at least a dozen soldiers and a couple of plasma turrets inside of to guard the path to the grav-lift platform.
"Stick to the higher ground to the right," Cortana suggested, "we should be able to recon the Covenant position without being spotted."
The Chief did as he was told and crept up the high path that ran along the side of the clearing, above the unsuspecting Covenant. He zoomed in with his visor and activated his night vision observing several elites who were patrolling back and forth, four or five grunts who were standing by at the plasma turrets and four jackals who formed a defensive perimeter near the entrance to the clearing.
"I've detected Covenant stationary guns near the next pass," Cortana cautioned. "I recommend using your sniper rifle to take out the gunners while I call for marine support."
The Chief set his pistol in his holster and pulled the sniper rifle strapped on his back around into his grasp. Cortana continued.
"Get ready to move in to support us, Sergeant," Cortana exacted, "the Master Chief is going to covertly take out as many of the Covenant as he can; don't open fire until you hear the enemy return fire on us. That should let us keep the element of surprise."
"I'm standin' by Cortana," said Johnson in his usual, confident tone yet keeping it low.
The Chief motioned to Raymore and indicated that he wanted him positioned a bit further down the high path; he had Foster take up the further end.
Everything was in place; the Chief situated himself behind a thick bush that was scraping against a rock which provided him with perfect cover from sight. He lifted his sniper rifle and placed the stock into his left hand.
Placing the barrel through the bush, he used the scope to zoom in on the strategically placed jackals. It'd take a whole clip of sniper rifle ammunition to penetrate a jackal's energy shield, but luckily the Chief had flank.
He sited in on the closest jackal and fired. It was a direct hit and the bullet traveled directly through the sides of all four jackals; they hit the ground dead.
A Covenant elite popped out from behind a rock and fired up at the ledge from which the Chief was sniping. The Chief's shields were nearly lowered by the time he had time to take cover behind the boulder, due to the incredible accuracy of the elite. But his accuracy was no match for Foster's efficiency as she immediately popped out from her cover and shot the elite in the head.
The Chief mentally activated the communicator in his helmet.
"Johnson," he said, "move in!"
"We're on our way. Chief," Johnson replied!
It didn't take long for the marines to mow down every Covenant soldier and regroup. There had been no casualties or severe injuries besides Raymore; he had been jumped by an elite and was injured after Johnson and his men had rushed the Covenant. He was lucky to have Lieutenant Foster for a "bodyguard"; otherwise the elite would've mangled him.
Cortana called for Echo 419 to send in paramedics to come take Raymore back to the Pelican.
As the medics placed Raymore on the stretcher the Chief walked up to him.
"It's alright marine," the he said, "you'll get'em next time."
Raymore looked disappointed and angry at himself.
"If you say so Chief," he responded in pain. Foster approached the stretcher and gave Raymore a friendly smirk.
"You'd better take better care of yourself, Private," she said jokingly. "I can't always be taking care of you."
"You know," he chuckled in pain, "you'd make a wonderful nurse." She gently patted him on the shoulder then she and the Chief rejoined the other marines.
The medics carried Raymore away and loaded him onto the transport. The Chief turned to the remaining marines.
"Let's not keep the Covenant waiting."
Guan'de's ship touched down at the same place the Ooman's had, soon after it had departed from the Ooman infiltration team.He rotated his chair and faced the right hand console so that he could unveil his unique hunting gear that was hidden behind a bulkhead. This was a unique hunt.
'Few Yautja ever get the opportunity to hunt an opponent of equal skill', he thought to himself with pride. This was the turning point in his life so he was employing his finest equipment. He knew that he could not keep his presence hidden from such an intelligent prey, but he had to stay concealed as long as he possibly could; he needed to know his Prey.
Above most things, he wished to avoid any more delays like the one he experienced back at the cliffs. Though he made it down, it took too much precious time that he could've used to hunt his main prey. He had decided upon no more detours, for fear of once again losing sight of the main objective.
Guan stood and walked over to the newly revealed compartment behind the wall and marveled at his martial expertise.
Guan was soon clad with an intimidating ensemble; it was black from head to toe. His mask was of his own design, and was made to be terrifying, especially with his thick, dark dreadlocks protruded over his shoulders. His outer body mesh was a net of solid wires that covered his entire body; this was enclosed in black shoulder and chest armor that was treated to endure most forms of ruining, including acid.
He was still using his old wrist blades; the very ones he used with which to kill his first Xenomorph eighty years earlier, though they had been cleaned and polished many times since then. It was fortunate for him that the blades were also immune to his reckless brutality, such as jamming them into cliffs and rocks and such.
He had a plasma caster which he had mounted on his shoulder; he had laid a black coat of paint over its original gray color so that it would fit with his sinister outfit.
Over his back was slung his custom forged combi-staff, which, when extended to its full length, was over two meters long and exceptionally deadly. And on his belt was fastened three (also custom forged) shurikens, a spear-gun, and his ceremonial dagger which was presented to him by his mentor when he was still of the Unblooded Class, many years earlier.
Guan was loaded and ready. He walked towards the rear of the vessel and opened the hatch. The rear section of the ship opened and the bulkhead lowered down to act as a ramp. Guan activated his portable stealth device and he was instantly invisible, only detectable by motion. He quickly strode across the ramp and sprinted towards the same path that the Ooman soldiers had taken. As the hatch closed behind him, Guan muttered to himself, "M-di H'dlak".
'Fear is not an alternative.'
The Chief hurled a frag-grenade into the large group of Covenant soldiers that was posted out in the clearing that was ahead. By the time they saw him, they had been blasted into the air by the explosion; the Covenant were in utter confusion as to what was happening. The marines piled into the clearing and confronted the last three elites; they were all of the "major" class, which was perceptible because of their maroon armor. They would've given the marines more than they could chew had the Chief not been there. The fight commenced.
Foster quickly sniped the grunts that would've been operating the three plasma turrets which were positioned around the area.
"Bring it on, baby!" yelled Johnson as he rushed one of the elites. He took his assault rifle and brutally shoved it into the Elite's chest. The Major stumbled back only slightly; he then rose to his full height. He towered at least two feet over Johnson; with both of his three fingered hands, the Elite seized the Sergeant by the uniform and lifted him into the air, intending to throw him against a nearby boulder.
The Chief had just finished dispatching the other two when he turned and sprayed the elite in the back with several bursts of his assault rifle ammo, only to ricochet them off of the elite's shields. The elite released Johnson and turned to face the Chief. Johnson quickly recovered his posture and bashed his rifle over the elite's head, breaking the weapon. The elite collapsed.
"That's right, you mother scratchin' alien. Try and get up! Try!"
"Common, Sarge." said Mendoza. "Let him get up so I can kill him again." he joked in his slight Mexican accent.
Cortana called for Foe Hammer to bring in the reinforcements, for they had reached the gravity lift which was directly beneath the Truth and Reconciliation and would require greater forces to infiltrate the vessel.
The surface platform was linked to the ship by a shimmering, cylindrical shaft of purple light. The shaft shone directly onto the pad at the surface.
"Cortana to Echo 419: we've reached the gravity lift and are ready for reinforcements."
"Copy that Cortana." Foe Hammer responded, "Hold tight, gentlemen."
Foster cleared her throat loudly over the comm. so that Foe Hammer could hear her. There was a momentary pause.
"Sorry about that Lieutenant." Foe Hammer said, "Foe Hammer out."
"Once we're inside the ship, I can home in on the Captain's command neural interface." Cortana informed the marines, "He'll probably be in or near the ship's brig, which should narrow our search."
Foe Hammer flew her Pelican over the plateau, circled the gravity lift and came in for a landing.
"Echo 419, inbound," said Foe Hammer. "Clear the drop zone."
The transport dropped off seven fresh marines about ten meters from the lift; they approached the landing platform.
"Marines," said Cortana, "prepare for boarding action!"
They were all hesitant to step into the purple stream that emanated from the bottom side of the massive battle cruiser hovering far above their heads. The Chief decided to start a trend. He stepped onto the platform, into the stream and stood at the center of the platform. Several seconds passed and he suddenly started to feel weightless. His feet were lifted slightly off of the platform; soon he was speedily flying upward towards the Truth and Reconciliation, feeling as if he were swallowing his own stomach.
He would soon be in the Covenant ship
'I hope they followed me.'