Chapter 21
Chief lay prone in the open ground, his active camouflage currently active as an Imperial patrol went by. Cortana said they were heading for Infinity, which gave him an idea.
As the last transport hovered by, he set down an explosive charge in their path and detonated it, forcing the convoy to slow down enough for him to climb onto the roof of the last transport.
The monitor on his Active Camo turned red, blinked rapidly, then shut down.
"Perfect timing," Cortana said.
Chief remained quiet as he eyed the recharging Active Camo indicator. Then, he heard the sound of a sliding door opening and he reactivated his AC, quietly telling Cortana to put divert power from his shields to the camo, making it last a lot longer.
A stormtrooper poked his head up from the side of the transport and looked around.
"What is it?" one of the others asked.
The first stormtrooper kept looking around. "I thought I heard something jump up top... I'm going to investigate."
He climbed up and walked about the roof of the transport. He eyed the gun turret near the rear and slowly approached it.
"I know you're there! Hands up!" he ordered, raising his blaster.
Nobody appeared.
"I said come out!"
Chief didn't move.
The stormtrooper grew impatient and looked around the turret...
"CT-7642, what's going on?"
The first stormtrooper shook his head. He sees the dent in the roof, but doesn't see anybody. "It's all clear...?"
"No rebels?"
"None."
"Then get back inside! We don't know if anything else will suddenly combust! Besides, it was probably just debris that hit us."
The stormtrooper climbed back inside the transport, shutting and locking the door again.
Chief clung to the rear of the transport, then quickly climbed back up and leaned against the turrent. The camouflage just then gave out as the power cells in Chief's suit started to recharge the device.
"That was too close," Cortana said.
"We've been closer," Chief said.
"You have a point. Are we really riding this thing all the way to Infinity?"
"We don't have a choice. We can't outrun these transports."
"That's... very true..." Cortana said.
"How long until we get to Infinity?" Chief asked.
"At this rate? I'd say about 20 minutes."
...
The gunfire seemed louder than he had remembered. As expected, the fake night raid on the Imperial front-line resulted in an Imperial counter-attack. They brought out more walkers, soldiers, and TIE fighters today. If anything, it was predictable, but Ezra had to hand it to the Empire. They were not used to large scale warfare with a species from another galaxy. Granted they're using guns, they fire at a much faster rate and with more power than the typical slugthrowers. Imperial armor, though apparently had some sort of protection against slugthrowers, was like paper to the UNSCs guns.
"If I may ask... about the guns?" Ezra asked.
"Go for it," Palmer said.
"The stormtroopers are supposed to be relatively protected against slugs..."
"Bullets."
"Whatever. Here's my question... what is it about them that break their armor so easily?" Ezra asked.
"What's the fire rate of your... slugthrowers?" Palmer asked.
"I hear Tusken Raiders on Tatooine have single-shot. Our slugs can be enveloped with energy, though."
"Even then, it's still considered a projectile if there's something physical about whatever's being fired. Plasma and other energy weapons don't necessarily count as projectiles unless they're contained and launched in some sort of capsule or shell."
"What about the things we use in larger starships? We have them contained in large shells," Sabine said.
"If they're purely energy when fired, my point still stands," Palmer said.
A/N: I'm going to say this right now, but I may not be entirely accurate with that definition of a projectile. I say this as how I see what projectiles are.
"And our guns have more RPM. You should already know this, you've seen some of the training," Palmer added.
"Well... yeah, but I was just curious," Ezra said. "Sorry if I wasted your time..."
Palmer looked to the sky and saw Imperial bombers approaching. Immediately, she activated her radio and called it in.
Moments later, several Longswords appeared and shot down the Imperial bombers, then went on to bomb the Imperials instead.
"Kriff... I've never seen something happen so fast before!" Sabine exclaimed.
"How fast can those TIE Bombers fly?" Palmer asked.
"I don't know how to say it in your terms of speed..." Sabine said.
"I guess I can check the records..." Palmer grumbled. She quickly checked translated records about the TIE Bomber. "For us it has a top atmospheric speed of 850 kilometers per hour."
"How fast does the Longsword go?" Ezra asked.
"Now's not a good time to discuss top speed for bombers, but I can guarantee you that it's faster. The Longsword isn't just a bomber, it's an interceptor that just happens to carry a lot of bombs. It's multi-role. Interceptor, Strike fighter, atmospheric and exoatmospheric fighter, and bomber."
"Multi-role? Do we have something like that?" Ezra asked Sabine.
"We have the X-wing, and I can recall information from the old Republic ARC-170 being a multi-role fighter."
A TIE fighter crashed near the Mammoth, forcing everybody to duck for cover as debris and shrapnel rained down on them.
...
Five transports.
All full of stormtroopers.
Lasky watched the newly reconnected security footage as several Imperial stormtroopers poured out of the transports and started forming ranks.
"Roland, we're going to need all combat able personnel to battle stations. If they try to break their way inside Infinity, we'll need to keep our engineers covered."
"I'm already on it, sir," Roland said. "The alert has already been sent out."
Lasky's arm was in a sling and it was completely numb. A medic ran by him just a little while ago and fixed his arm in the right position, then ran off to find more injured. Granted, the medic objected to leaving, but it was Lasky's orders.
The stormtroopers just started to advance when one of them started to freak out. He started looking around, and tried to pull something off of his back, but just moments after it was placed, it exploded. Several stormtroopers were caught in the blast, most of them killed, but many wounded.
They just started to look around when gunfire erupted behind them. While all the stormtroopers panicked while failing to hit whatever was shooting at them, one after the other they were felled by automatic fire.
"Sir, look right here!" Roland exclaimed, zooming the footage in on a particular spot. He froze the live feed so they could get a better look.
Lasky grinned, "It's the Master Chief! His timing couldn't have been better!"
...
"I think we definitely caught them by surprise!" Cortana said.
Chief just finished off the last stormtrooper just as his camo ran out.
He ejected the module from his armor and it started smoking and sparking.
"I think we overloaded it," he said.
"Well, we always find a way to break something, right?"
"Sierra 117 to Infinity, do you read me?"
"Infinity to Sierra 117, are we glad to hear you. What's your status?"
"I'm fine. What about Infinity?"
"We're still low on power, but we can bring everything back online easily. Our weapons are, once again, knocked offline and need to be manually restarted."
"This is too much like Requiem," Cortana said.
"You weren't there," Chief said.
"I know I wasn't. But I still have the old Cortana's memory. All thanks to you, anyway."
They don't really talk about that Cortana much. It's still a painful topic for the Chief to discuss with even his new Cortana. That one, along with the Created, are still at large in the Milky Way. Not to mention the corrupted officials of ONI, who followed Halsey's research but twisted it to radical ideals. Chief still remembers that trial, too. Halsey was found guilty of kidnapping and treason, though the latter were lifted after seeing proof that she was "working" with the Covenant Remnant only to find out valuable information, but before she could serve her sentences she was murdered by the very people who once followed her. They claimed that she was tricked into believing that her own research was inhumane. On the contrary, she rejected her old ways of making Spartans and accepted the new.
The whole thing is still very complicated to make sense of, mostly because they're completely insane.
"Any time you can help bring them online, that would be appreciated. We're reading multiple squadrons of TIE bombers incoming."
"Copy that, Infinity."
...
"Sir, our recovery teams have arrived one schedule, but we seem to have lost all contact," an officer reported to the Saxon.
"What do you mean we lost contact? There is no UNSC or Rebel presence around that ship and they shouldn't have power! Send another team to investigate. Walkers, tanks, everything!"
"With all due respect, sir... it is a 5 km long ship... they have fighters that are more than capable of defending their own..."
Saxon glared at the officer, "Exactly why I ordered tanks and walkers to support the troopers!"
Another officer ran up with a new report. "Governor! The bombers have arrived on location. The ship should be under siege as we speak."
"Good. Keep them there a little longer until our ground forces arrive."
"Yes sir!"
...
"Bombs away..."
The copilot watched as the ion bombs fell from their tubes and hit the defenseless UNSC vessel.
"This is too easy! We might be able to completely destroy it!"
"Idiot!" the pilot shouted. "We're not supposed to destroy it! We only need to make sure it's disabled completely. Research teams will be studying their tech and maybe their history. If we can do that, we can develop an effective strategy against them!"
"Well... I suppose you're right... That being said, we should hit their engines."
The bomber suddenly started shaking violently as something exploded next to them.
"What was that?"
The pilot looked over to his left, where the explosion came from, and watched in horror as another bomber fell towards the surface... Or at least, what was left of it.
He saw a small red beam flashing towards another one of their bombers, then that one exploded.
"All bombers! The enemy has active defenses! Evasive maneuvers!"
...
Several soldiers dotted the outer hull, firing missiles while whatever Spartans were still on board were firing the M6 "Spartan Laser". The TIE bombers started evasive maneuvers and managed to evade the lasers, while some started tanking the missiles.
"These missiles aren't doing anything to them!" a marine shouted.
"Just keep firing at your target!" his squad commander ordered. "They'll fall eventually!"
"Incoming!"
A few bombers regrouped and flew in formation over the marine's heads and dropped their payloads of ion and proton bombs.
"Fine cover, now!"
Marines scrambled for cover, though many of them never found cover in time while some barely managed to find some. Screams filled the air, not only from the bomber's engines, but also from wounded marines scattered around the hull.
"When is that Spartan going to get our defenses back online!"
"Just give him a few more minutes! Anybody that are able, pick up a launcher and keep firing!"
...
"Chief, what's the status of those defenses?"
"I'm almost there," he replied.
He just found one of the manual restart panels and flipped the switch.
"One's up."
"Great! We need three more activated before others start rebooting on their own. Make it quick, Chief. We're taking heavy hits."
Master Chief started running for the next panel, and after nearly 30 minutes of constant running, he finally flipped the final switch.
"All manual restart switches are flipped."
"I see that. Great work! They're all coming online now. I've dispatched a Pelican to your location. We need you on the front."
"Understood."
Moments later, a Pelican landed in front of Chief and brought him towards the defense line.
...
"Push them back!" the officer shouted.
For his first major battle ever since taking command of his very own stormtrooper battalion, he was excited. He has orders to forcibly break through the UNSC defense and take over the ship. All bomber wings were ordered to withdraw since they were taking too many losses from missile and laser weapons.
His army of stormtroopers was backed by AT-ST and AT-AT walkers. Almost nothing the UNSC fired at the AT-ATs did anything at all, not including a couple lucky hits to the neck of one, and to the knee of another. The enemy line was starting to crumble and victory was in sight.
But then things took a turn for the worst for his army.
A missile, too large to be fired from a shoulder mounted launcher, hit one of the AT-ATs and completely destroyed it. Large guns were seen moving about the entire flank of the ship and opened up on advancing fighters.
"What's going on? I need a report, NOW!" the officer shouted.
"Their weapons systems seem to be back online, sir! We need to fall back!"
"No retreat! We push through their lines and take the ship!"
Another AT-AT explodes as another missile hits it, the blast crippling a couple other walkers.
The officer watched the UNSC soldiers lined up behind the edge of the crater their ship made upon impact with the surface and noted that their shots were rapid, but relatively equal with his own soldiers. He determined that they were using single fire energy weapons, much like their own. However, that thought was quite literally shot down as his troops suddenly jerked backward and fell to the ground, blood pooling underneath them and spilling over their formerly white armor. He didn't see anything flying towards his troops.
"What in the Galaxy just happened?! I want answers!"
"They're not using energy weapons, sir! These slugthrowers of theirs are more advanced than I've ever seen!" an lieutenant said, clearly frightened.
"Order our troops to hold the advance. All remaining walkers, fire on their lines!"
...
"All forces, return to Infinity. Flight power has been restored, we're getting up and out of here!"
"Yes sir!" Chief replied. He motioned for all the Marines and his fellow Spartans to board their Pelicans and board Infinity, just as a volley of AT-AT fire opened up on them.
"Watch those cannons!" a co-pilot shouted.
One of the Pelicans flew too high, and though they tried to do evasive maneuvers, they were hit in the engines by the AT-ATs laser cannons.
"We're hit! Mayday, mayday! We're losing control!"
"Watch your spacing! Get clear of the hit Pelican!"
"We're too close to Infinity! We can't go anywhe-..."
Static filled a patch of communications where the third Pelican was supposed to be. The first Pelican crashed into the third, bringing both of them to a hard landing.
"Pilot, get me down there!" Chief said. "We need to get any survivors!"
"I'm on it, Chief!"
"Infinity, Sierra-117. Two Pelicans are down, I'm moving to provide assistance."
"Acknowledged, S-117. We'll cover you best we can, but you're going to have to be quick. We can't launch bombers to take out the enemy ground force. They're too close. The sooner you get out of there, the sooner we can get out of here."
Chief jumped out of the Pelican just before it touched down and ran over to the crashed Pelicans. All pilots were hurt, but were alright, as were most of the Marines they carried. Unfortunately, almost half of the Marines were killed in the sudden crash and both Pelicans were out of commission.
"Get aboard! We can't hold this position much longer!" the pilot shouted.
The Marines and pilots jumped aboard and Chief was the last to board.
"Cortana, as soon as Infinity is clear, detonate the charges."
"With pleasure," the smart AI said.
When everybody was back in the safe confines of Infinity's hangars, the ship rose into the air, all the engines running on full power. The Imperials on the ground fired everything they had at the Infinity, but they were unable to get passed her shields and armor. As soon as Infinity was airborne, away from the Imperial force, Lasky ordered Longsword crews to launch and provide escort. They will not engage the Imperials unless they attempted to follow.
...
"That's really good news!" Palmer exclaimed. She was standing over one of the communication consoles in the Mammoth. Everything was relatively quiet for the moment, except for the sounds of machinery within the Mammoth plus all the escorting vehicles around it.
"What happened?" Ezra asked.
"Infinity is airborne. She's heading our way as we speak," Palmer replied.
"Why is it heading here?" Sabine asked. "Why not just go back up to orbit?"
"Are you joking?" a marine replied. "Those Imperials are up there with their EMP guns. She'll get blasted as soon as they spot her!"
Sabine turns red, embarrassed, "Oh... right, I forgot."
Ezra stares at her, "How did you forget? That's really unlike you, Sabine..."
Sabine glares at him. "I'm sorry, but lately there's been a lot happening so I've been a bit distracted!"
Ezra raises his hands in surrender, "Sorry, geez... We've all been a bit distracted."
"Now isn't a good time to argue, or get distracted. I get this is all really new to all of you, but we need you to stay focused. Especially you, Wren," Palmer scolded.
Sabine snapped to attention and nodded.
"Yes, ma'am," she said confidently.
Ezra looks out of the Mammoth and sees something in the distance. "Hey, what is that?"
Palmer looks to where Ezra was pointing and looks through some binoculars.
"Alert all hands. We've got the Infinity incoming!"
