Change in Plans
"We made it!" Cortana exclaimed as the Chief broke through the opened doorway pulling the trigger of his rifle. The marines behind him backed him up as he maneuvered around to flank the enemy.
The grunts ran for their lives after the elite major dropped to the deck, but were chased down by Keyes and Johnson and were shown no mercy.
After leaving the brig, the Chief led his group of marines and navy men to the nearest hangar bay so that Foe Hammer could pick them up. The most important thing on everyone's minds was getting Captain Keyes to a safe place. He was their leader, and without him it would be extremely difficult to coordinate an effective resistance against the Covenant. Such a resistance could also give them better opportunity to find out more information about this ring world, Halo.
"Cortana to Echo 419: we have the Captain and need extraction on the double."
"Negative, Cortana." replied Foe Hammer. "I've been engaged by Covenant air patrols and I'm having a tough time shaking 'em. You'll be better off finding your own ride. Sorry."
"Acknowledged, Foe Hammer. Cortana out."
"Why is it never easy?" remarked Mendoza.
"Because you're behind enemy lines and you're under my command, Soldier!" shouted Johnson.
"Air support is cut off, Captain." said Cortana. "We need to hold here until Foe Hammer can move in."
"Oh man! We're trapped in here." cried Dubbo. "We're screwed! We're screwed, man!"
Keyes stared at Dubbo solemnly.
"Stow the bellyaching, Soldier. Remember, you're a leatherneck."
There were no other Covenant in sight, but the marines did a quick search just to be certain; then they secured the door.
'Something isn't right here.' The Chief had been uneasy since before they boarded the ship.He couldn't help but feel on edge; the same feeling he felt after the life-pod crashed on the Ring; when those Covenant soldiers were slaughtered by- '… by something.'
Keyes walked along the balcony on the second floor that stretched around the entire room, observing a craft that was docked; this gave him the plan he was looking for.
"Cortana, if you and the Chief can get us into one of those Covenant drop ships, I can fly us outta here."
"Yes, Captain." she said. "There's a Covenant drop ship still docked."
The party moved over to the location where the drop ship made contact with the second floor balcony. The Captain worked at the console for a bit and the door of the craft's side compartment opened.
"Everybody, mount up," ordered Keyes. "Let's get onboard."
As the marines piled into the side compartment, the Chief paused and looked back at the door; there was a sense of uncertainty about him; and throughout this whole operation, there was a thread of vagueness. The Chief's change in disposition was so blatant that Keyes could see it, even through the MJOLNIR armor.
"What's wrong, Chief?" the Captain asked, also looking at the door. The Chief paused momentarily and answered back.
"I don't know."
"Well, let's get out of here." While the Captain made his way into the cockpit, the Chief slowly entered the side compartment with the rest of the marines; his mind was still dwelling on the steadily increasing disturbance. The Captain was now situated in the cockpit and began preparing to take the drop ship out of the hangar bay.
He deactivated the clamps that were holding the ship to the ceiling, activated its engines, and gently lowered it down to where it could hover above the ground.
"That's it." said Cortana. "The drop ship is moving."
Keyes twisted the controls and the drop ship turned and faced the force field that separated the hangar from the outside.
"Give me a minute to interface with the ship's controls." said Cortana who was obviously more confident in her piloting abilities than in Captain Keyes'.
"Ah, no need." Keyes said calmly. "I'll take this bird out myself."
Keyes was about to thrust the control stick forward when a door on the second floor opened revealing two massive creatures. They were hunched over and were almost completely covered in a blue, opaque armor; integrated into their left arms were massive shields and the right arms were well-sized gun barrels.
The monsters' skin was a bright orange color, but they were mostly covered by the armor, leaving only a select few "soft spots" undefended. And to add to their already menacing appearance, there were several lengthy spikes budding out of the backs of their armor. The two behemoths slowly inched their way to the edge of the balcony while remaining crouched.
"Captain, hunters!" warned Cortana.
"Hang on!" said Keyes.
The Captain quickly moved the drop ship forward through the force field, just barely escaping the green projectiles that were distributed by the Hunters who sought to keep the stolen drop ship from escaping.
"It's payback time," Keyes stated. "Let's go find Halo's control center."
Guan leaped through the opened doorway just in time; that is, just in time to see the Oomans escape in their commandeered craft.
"C'jit!" he cursed in anger and irritation. He was so close to his Prey; he was already getting used to following his familiar trail. He had been expecting to finish the hunt and retain his trophy, his glory, and his honor.
But he soon forgot his frustration when he discovered the folly of cursing in mid-hunt, for two large creatures heard him clear as day and began their approach. They appeared to be formidable opponents, heavily armored and well armed. He thoughtfully considered taking his anger out on them. Even though he doubted that they were equivalents to his main Prey, they would have to do for now. The Ooman would undoubtedly be thousands of kilometers away by the time he returned to his ship.
Guan formulated a strategy in his head as to how he would take these beasts: they were covered from head to toe with seemingly impenetrable armor, and had strong offensive power, but they were extremely slow. Even so, the beasts already had him cornered, and his options became limited.
Thinking fast, he withdrew one of his shurikens and threw it towards a distant wall. It brushed up against the steel causing a shower of bright sparks and a loud, metallic shriek. The twin creatures stopped in their tracks and looked where the shuriken had hit the wall. Guan had made a window of opportunity. He deactivated his camouflage.
To give himself more time, Guan did not retrieve the shuriken as it returned, but ran and slid between the giants, halting as he came up behind them.
Guan had no desire to take on either of these monsters in hand to hand combat so he would take one out while he could. He swiftly extended his wrist blades and used his powerful arm to slice into the undefended "soft-spot" on the monster's back, being careful to mind the long spikes protruding out of the monster's back. The two blades slashed through the mushy, orange flesh with ease. The creature died instantly and thudded to the floor. Guan was surprised, and not to mention disappointed that his foe had died so quickly. 'It is no wonder that these beasts are so heavily armored.'
But as soon as Guan had eliminated his first victim, the other had instantly turned and slammed its heavy shield into Guan, knocking him on the floor. He was astounded that this fiend had been able to pull that off without him noticing.
Guan regained himself just in time to evade another violent swing of the beast's massive shield. He jumped up and onto the wall and pushed off, landing behind the creature. It seemed to anticipate this move and it jerked itself backwards, attempting to impale Guan on its long, sharp barbs.
It missed Guan, but barely. He fell back slightly to give himself more room so that he could counterattack; he withdrew his combi-staff from its sheath on his back, though he did not extend it. He didn't plan on using it until he had his opponent right where he wanted it.
The creature crept nearer towards Guan, hoping to once again force him into another corner. Guan predicted this tactic, and kept backing off into the corner and released several taunting roars and growls. This didn't seem to confuse his enemy any, for it continued to approach slowly but surely. But without a sign, Guan rushed the creature with all the speed he could muster, and if this behemoth wasn't confused before, it definitely was now. The creature brought its arm up to shoot Guan with its fuel-rod cannon, but he swiftly leaped up onto its arm and bounded into the air.
As Guan flew behind it, he extended his combi-staff to full length and firmly brought it into both of his hands. When he landed, he used all of his strength to thrust the staff into the beast before it could turn. It growled in pain as it stretched back. Life had soon fled the beast and it fell to the floor.
As he wiped the gob of blood off of his wrist blades, he hoped he would not have to inconvenience himself with any more of these creatures in this hunt.
'But perhaps the next.'