"Reverie"

By Kpmh2001

Zeta Halo, 2560

Zeta Halo was a place that was truly unlike any other in the galaxy. The history that was buried in the very soil of the Ringworld's surface told countless stories of tragedy and misery, of gruesome battles and civilizations that had long since been exterminated. But few people, if any, still lived that could recall the events of the past. Instead, the modern inhabitants of the Galaxy saw the Seventh Ring for what it had originally been conceived as, a weapon of mass destruction on a galactic scale.

Even as the echoes of millennia-old conflicts continued to linger on the ancient Ring, a new conflict had emerged between the alien armies of the Banished and the surviving forces of the United Nation Space Command Defense Forces. For months, the Humans had fought a bitter struggle to stop the Banished from taking complete control of the Ring, but the forces pitted against them were simply too great. It seemed to be almost an inevitability that the UNSC would finally meet their end on the surface of the greatest tomb the galaxy had ever seen.

But it wasn't the first impossible war that they had been forced to fight.

It had been two days since Ben and the rest of Onyx Team had mysteriously awoken on Zeta Halo, consequently finding themselves in the middle of the ongoing conflict. From the moment that they had woken up, they had been thrown into battle after battle against the Banished.

They had barely even found the time to sleep, let alone find answers for the myriad of questions that they had. How did they get here? Where was the Dominion? How did they get back to normal space in the first place? All of those questions and more were forced to be put on hold as Onyx Team was forced to put their effort into surviving.

Even with the constant distraction of the Banished, Curie had managed to find some information about what exactly was going on elsewhere on the Ring and in the rest of the Galaxy at large. The year was now 2560, eight years later than Ben thought it had been. The War with the Covenant had ended with a Human/Sangheili victory, but a slew of new conflicts had arisen in the aftermath, including some kind of AI uprising that had apparently wrought absolute hell upon Human Space, killing much of the remaining population and leaving what little was left under the boot of a nightmarish police state.

But not all hope was lost, the UNSC still existed along with what free Humans had escaped death or enslavement by the "Created," or worse, the Banished. Sadly, it was readily apparent that the UNSC was in perhaps the direst straits that it ever had been. The Banished had apparently managed to utterly crush whatever UNSC forces had initially been present during the opening battle of the Zeta Halo Campaign.

The evidence of the fighting was scattered all over the place, most notably in the form of the wreckage of UNSC ships, including some models that not even Curie recognized. Although Curie had admitted that she couldn't accurately guess how many UNSC ships had been brought down either on or around Zeta Halo, she made it very clear that the Admiralty must have committed everything that they had left to this one battle, only for it to end in disaster.

It was in the wreckage of one such ship, the bisected remains of the Paris-class Heavy Frigate UNSC Hamburg, that Onyx Team had established a temporary base camp. The titanium hull resting around them was a decent enough place to try and get some sleep, and they'd even managed to scavenge some gear from the ship's storage and armories.

Peering through the scope of an SRS99C-S2 AM Sniper Rifle, Ben kept watch while his squadmates slept. While Curie was technically capable of keeping watch for all of them, Jorge and Ben both agreed that it would be prudent to have somebody who could hold a rifle on watch as well.

Ben had selected a position higher-up in the wreckage to get a better view of the surrounding landscape. The night had been calm and concerningly quiet, but it seemed that the only things active were the nocturnal wildlife and the "Sentinel" drones that Curie assumed to be the Ringworld's caretakers.

As the sun "rose" over the hills and valleys of the Ring, Ben spotted a tiny bit of movement in the distance. He used the scope of his rifle to get a better look but found that it had only been a bird flying between the evergreen trees.

"While I appreciate the caution…" Curie teasingly said. "I am not sure if I could classify that Woodpecker as a threat, Ben."

Ben lowered the rifle and resumed his search for targets elsewhere. "Hmph, what if it's a Banished Woodpecker?"

Curie laughed. "I had not considered that!"

Ben couldn't help but smile, even in light of the terrible, seemingly hopeless situation around him, there was always something in the world that could lighten the mood a bit.

"Found anything on the B-net yet?" Ben asked. He knew that she was constantly scanning what was left of the UNSC Battlenet for any other friendly forces, but so far, they hadn't found anybody that was still alive.

"I am afraid not." Curie reported. "But do not lose hope. I have intercepted several transmissions from the Banished that indicate they are facing resistance from Human Forces on this part of the Ring."

He looked out at the surrounding landscape, and at the rest of the Ring that gradually curved upwards and out of his view in the distance. "Well, we've got a lot of ground to cover…"

The radio in his helmet buzzed as TeamCom came back to life again. "Ben, your watch is over, make your way to the Armory as soon as possible. Curie, keep the ship's sensors running. I want to know if something's coming."

"Sir, yes Sir." Ben replied as he climbed out of his watch position.

"I will do my best, Sir." Curie added. "But please, try to keep in mind that this ship was literally split in half, and that it is operating at less than one-percent power."

"Anything's better than being blind out here Curie." Jorge said. "Do what you can."

Ben made his way back through the ship's lifeless dark corridors and descended the elevator shaft that he had originally climbed up to get to the top of the ship. Making his way back down was considerably easier, and before long, he was reunited with the rest of the squad in the only intact armory that Hamburg still had, which was also serving as their temporary barracks.

What are the chances that not a single bedroll survived this ship going down? Ben somewhat bitterly thought. He didn't mind it too much since he normally slept in his armor anyway, but he still didn't envy the Six ODSTs in his squad that were forced to sleep on cold titanium at a twenty-degree angle.

"-I'm just saying, this place can't have good ventilation." Yu was in the middle of talking to the rest of the squad when Ben climbed into the titanium coffin that the squad was now calling home. "If there's no power, there's no airflow in the vents!"

"Your concerns are unmerited, Corporal Sato. I have made sure to dedicate a portion of the Hamburg's remaining power to keeping the air breathable." Curie explained. "Failing that, I would be alerted to any signs of hypoxia by your Neural Lace."

"Oh, that's very reassuring." Yu sardonically replied.

While Curie was offering up further reassurances, Ben noticed Nathan sitting in one of the corners with his back to the wall. He tried to return Nathan's Sniper Rifle, but realized the Marksman wasn't quite awake yet.

There were a variety of cruel and creative methods that Ben's instructors had used to wake him up at Camp Currahee, but he also recognized that Jorge probably wouldn't approve of him firing off an entire magazine of blanks into the ceiling. Instead, he opted to grab the Helljumper by the shoulder and roughly shake him about.

"Gah!" The snoozing Helljumper woke up practically instantly. "Easy Ben! Hey, knock it off!"

Once he was satisfied that Nathan wasn't in any danger of returning to his half-awake state, Ben let him go and handed him his Sniper Rifle. "Thanks for the gun."

Nathan bitterly grumbled something in response, but whatever it was, Ben was reasonably confident that it wasn't important. He made his way past Fairfire, Kowalski, Kerry, Peggy, and Meadows, who were all chatting about the Halo Ring that they now found themselves on. But at the end of the armory by the high-explosives storage, Ben found Jorge examining what they had left.

"Any good news?" Ben asked.

Jorge shook his head and revealed the empty locker. "I'm afraid not. Of course, I was planning on asking you and Curie the same thing."

Ben shrugged halfheartedly. "I don't know what to tell you, Sir. The only thing I saw all night was some birds and the muskrats."

"What about that Banished Artillery position we spotted yesterday?" Jorge asked. "Was there no movement from that?"

"I couldn't tell you, there's a hill in-between us and them." Ben said. "And while I didn't see anything, I'm willing to bet that whole area is crawling with the bastards."

Jorge hummed in deep thought. "That's going to be an issue. I don't want to risk attacking a target like that without good recon."

"Pardon me monsieur, but I have a suggestion that may remedy that issue." Curie offered. Jorge nodded, and she continued. "The Hamburg's inventory records show a dozen MQ-96 Support Drones were kept aboard when the ship went down."

"Well if that's the case, we should have found them by now." Jorge pointed out.

"I am afraid that they were kept in the Hamburg's other armory." Curie awkwardly explained. "If we intend to use them, we will need to travel to the other half of the Hamburg's wreckage."

"Do you know where that is?" Jorge asked.

A small blue icon appeared on the HUD of everyone in the squad, directing them to head around four kilometers up-spin.

"We might be able to make that trek undetected, if we move fast." Ben said.

Jorge reached down to the ground and grabbed Etilka. "Then let's get on with it. Onyx Team, form up on me!"

Some Time Later…

Despite the numerous hills and mountains that made up the terrain of this portion of Zeta Halo, Onyx Team was able to move fairly quickly. Small dirt trails seemed to be practically everywhere, almost as if the terrain had been intentionally designed for ease of maneuverability. Then again, given the Ringworld's obvious artificial origins, perhaps the paths really were put there on purpose.

Speed was Onyx Team's most capable ally. They'd already noticed how the Banished Patrols had stepped-up during the day, so every minute spent in the open was a big risk. Already, Ben had spotted a squadron of Banshees flying in the distance, further highlighting the threat to their continued survival. Thankfully, Curie was present to handle navigation while Ben took the lead and tried to find the least-arduous route for the rest of the squad to follow.

Avoiding a fight was crucial, as even if Onyx Team was likely to win against a small Banished patrol, they simply didn't have the ammunition to fight a protracted battle. Aircraft represented a particularly large threat, as while Yu still had her SPNKR, she was down to only a pair of missiles, and taking down a wing of Banshees with rifles was easier said than done.

And that's only if those Seraphs don't spot us. Ben thought. He'd noticed that the Banished was using the Space Superiority Fighters to augment their patrols as well. If they were somehow detected by a squadron of those… it would be a very short battle.

So far, they had traveled around a kilometer from the wreckage where they had spent the night, but a new obstacle had presented itself in the form of a cliff blocking their progress. With a turbulent river on one side and a deep canyon on the other, ascending the cliff was the only true option. Mercifully, it was only around twenty meters tall, and had a number of small ledges that acted as a sort of giant stepping-stone up to the top. The landscape would have almost seemed a bit serene, were it not for the fact that it was impeding their progress.

Prime ambush territory… Ben noted, but for the moment, it seemed as if nobody but him and the rest of the squad was present.

"Ah, it's just like Earth!" Meadows wistfully said as he dug a set of pitons out of his backpack. "Big cliffs like these are all over the place, at least, they are in the Urals."

"You know, I can think of a couple key differences between this place and Earth." Nathan said as he gestured towards the rest of the ring "above" them.

"Yeah, the air's nicer." Meadows affirmed. He approached the stone and jabbed one of his spike-like tools into the rock to gauge its sturdiness. "Alright, this should be good, as long as we go nice and slow…"

"Then we better get started." Jorge said. "Ben, follow me up this stretch to the side. If we end up falling, I don't want to hit anyone on the way down."

"Yes Sir." Ben confirmed.

The biggest issue that a Spartan faced when climbing was the strength of whatever they were climbing, especially soil. Most UNSC units equipped for mountaineering already tried to keep their weight below the standards of other units, but given the exceptional weight of Mjolnir, that wasn't much of an option for a Spartan. Thankfully, this particular cliff seemed to be made from a fairly sturdy sort of rock, so hopefully, it wouldn't create too many issues for them.

Hopefully. Ben thought as he dug one of his gauntlets into the rock, molding it with his grip to form a steady handhold, before beginning to climb alongside Jorge.

Progress was slow, especially for Jorge, who had a much harder time ascending due to his large hardcase and machine gun, which he held on a pair of heavy-duty slings that dangled beneath him. The added weight was a negligible issue given his already heavy armor, but the added baggage was clearly giving him a bit of trouble with his balance.

"Here Sir, pass me your field case." Ben offered with an outstretched hand. Jorge obliged and delicately handed Ben the strap, which he slung over his shoulder, taking extra care to not let it swing beneath him.

With the burden redistributed, he and Jorge were able to make much more progress. The ODSTs were moving at a somewhat similar pace thanks to their ability to properly use climbing equipment.

"What I wouldn't give for a jetpack right around now…" Meadows grumbled.

"Oh come on, I thought this was just like Earth!" Yu teasingly said.

"Yeah well, Earth ain't all it's cracked up to be." Meadows replied.

"Be quiet." Curie instructed. "I am reading something strange on the Hamburg's sensors, give me a moment to clear up the signal."

The squad continued to ascend while Curie investigated whatever had caught her eye. As Ben got further up the cliff, the rocks became more brittle and soft, making them less useful for gripping on to.

He and the rest of the squad were about halfway up the cliff when Curie called out a sudden warning over TeamCom. "Alert! I have detected a number of fast-moving groundside vehicles past the top of this cliff!"

The squad momentarily paused at Curie's warning, before Jorge spoke up. "Keep climbing! Curie, how far away are they?"

"Around a kilometer away, but the Hamburg's sensors indicate that they are closing rapidly!" Curie replied. "I see three contacts so far, but it looks like there are more behind them!"

We can't get caught in a gunfight here. Ben realized. In a pinch, he might be able to hip-fire his MA5B with a single hand, but the rest of the squad wouldn't be in any position to return fire, let alone avoid the enemy.

"We need to get back down the cliff, we're sitting ducks up here!" Fairfire warned.

With a gruff of frustration, Jorge nodded. "Agreed. Everyone start-"

Before he could continue with his order, he was interrupted by a sound that none of them had anticipated to hear. Gunfire, specifically the distinct report of an M41 Light Anti-Aircraft Gun, the kind usually mounted on the back of Warthogs. From what Ben could tell, it sounded like there was more than one of them firing.

"Wait… are those friendlies up there?" Yu asked.

"I cannot say, I see no friendly IFF signals, but with the Hamburg's damaged sensors, I might just not be reading them." Curie answered.

A tense moment of waiting passed before Jorge issued a new order. "Keep climbing, and double-time it! They might need our help there!"

Ben followed the order and sped up his efforts. He'd been deliberately going slower than he could to avoid getting separated from his team, but now with the order to proceed as fast as he could, he began to ascend much more quickly.

"Hang on Curie, I'll try to raise them." Jorge said. "Everyone, switch the E-Band."

Wordlessly, Ben swapped his Com over to the relevant channel. The Emergency Broadcast Channel was typically used by UNSC forces when things had gone well and truly south, any UNSC Forces still on Zeta Halo with a radio would have the means to hear what was being said over it.

"This is Onyx Actual to any UNSC Forces in the area, respond immediately." Jorge said.

There was silence for a few moments, before another voice came in to reply. "This is Gunnery Sergeant Stacker, I read you Onyx! I've got a convoy of Warthogs with me, but we're being tailed! We sure could use some help here!"

That explains the gunfire. Ben thought. The sounds of battle in the distance had only become more distinct, and Ben could now make out the distinct whine of plasma fire in addition to the gunfire.

"Curie, guide them to us." Jorge ordered. "The rest of you, keep climbing!"

"Affirmative!" Curie replied. "Sergeant, you need to take a thirty-degree left turn as soon as you are able! If you can enable your IFF tags, I shall place a Nav-Point on your HUDs."

"Roger that ma'am, we're on it." Stacker replied. "Marines! You heard the lady, turn off at the next pass and get your signals on!"

"But Sarge, what if she's with the Robots?" Another Marine nervously asked over the radio.

"Just do it, son!" Stacker shouted. "Alright Onyx, we'll be there in just a minute. Set the table now, we're bringing company!"

While Curie warned Stacker and his Marines about the cliff, Ben finally reached the top. Jorge quickly followed, with the Helljumpers not far behind.

The cliff's edge was dotted with trees and boulders, offering some decent cover. In the distance, Ben could hear the sounds of battle growing ever closer, and rising up into the sky, he spotted plumes of black smoke rising upwards.

"Onyx, this is Stacker, we're coming in now. I hope you're ready!" One final warning came over the radio, before all hell well and truly broke loose.

Three Warthogs came careening into view, all badly damaged, with their Marine gunners firing at something unseen that was chasing them. Mere moments later, their pursuers emerged into view, following the Warthogs at nearly point-blank range.

The two Banished vehicles were of a make and model that Ben hadn't seen before. Each one resembled a Brute Chopper that had been bulked up considerably, but instead of having a large wheel in the front, this vehicle had a pair of Gravity Sleds holding it up. There was a plasma turret mounted on the rear end of the vehicle, which both vehicles were using to fire upon the escaping Marines.

"Sato, get the SPNKR!" Jorge ordered. "Weapons free!"

Ben fired his Assault Rifle as the rest of the squad unleashed hell with their own weapons, but only Jorge and Nathan had any hope of doing any real damage to what were clearly well-armored vehicles. Still, if it meant that they could take the enemy's attention away from the badly damaged warthogs, it was worth the effort. None of the three Recon Vehicles were still firing their rotary guns, meaning that they were likely either disabled or out of ammunition.

Yu had already been preparing the missile launcher before Jorge had even given the order, and as the Warthogs closed to within a hundred meters of Onyx Team's position, she locked onto a target and fired the first missile.

While the Banished had seemingly noticed Onyx Team firing at them, they had clearly not been expecting any kind of heavy weaponry from the infantry unit, as both of the enemy vehicles swerved off to avoid being struck. With the short travel time for the missile, they never really had a chance to dodge in the first place.

The missile struck the leading vehicle with a glancing hit, but a minimal hit with a SPNKR was more than enough to liquify the gunner and disable some of the vehicle's stabilizers, causing it's antigravity systems to malfunction and flip it over onto its side. The remaining Brutes inside bailed out, and were swiftly picked off by the rest of Onyx Team.

The Warthogs ground to a halt a short distance before them, with the Marines inside swiftly dismounting and rushing up to join Onyx Team in cover. The remaining Banished vehicle wisely broke off and retreated into cover before Yu could fire a second missile.

"That is strange." Curie noted as the gunfire finally died down. "I do not believe I can recall an instance of Brutes ever retreating in the past."

"Those were all Covenant Brutes, maybe these ones are better trained." Ben suggested.

Before long, Sergeant Stacker and his Marines had reached the top of the small hill. There were other Marines with him, and all of them seemed to be sporting some kind of injury, but one man in particular was in bad enough shape that he had to be carried, his IFF tag identified him as Corporal Chips Dubbo.

"Ben, go see what you can do to patch him up!" Jorge ordered. "Everyone else, keep a tight perimeter, we haven't seen the last of those bastards!"

The Marines carrying Dubbo found a good place to set him down behind a sizable boulder, where ideally he would be safe from any kind of Banished attack.

The Marine that had been carrying him stopped to offer up some details. "He took a spiker round under one of his ribs here. We managed to stop the bleeding, but it's still in there. He also hit his head a few minutes ago, that's what knocked him out."

"Don't worry, we'll take care of him." Ben replied.

His own knowledge of anything beyond emergency first aid was minimal, but with Curie's extensive medical knowledge and a handful of basic medical tools, that problem was somewhat mitigated.

"You should deploy a Drop Shield over him, Ben." Curie advised. "The regenerative effects should help."

He did as she instructed and began the process of instructing Ben on everything that he needed to do. Scan Dubbo's brain for any swelling or bleeding, get a sterile field over his wounds and get them cleaned up properly, and finally, the delicate process of removing the spiker round from the Marine's chest. Mercifully, his armor had taken much of the impact, and the heat of the projectile had managed to partially-cauterize the wound, which was probably the reason why he hadn't bled to death entirely.

Ben was also vaguely aware of Jorge and Sergeant Stacker talking about something outside of the shield dome that he had projected, but he was too focused on his work and Curie's instructions to hear what they were saying.

Eventually however, he was forced to focus on something else when Curie called out a new warning on TeamCom. "Alert! We have four small aircraft inbound, Radar signatures suggest Banshees!"

Ben bit back a swear as he finished dressing the worst of Dubbo's injuries. "Curie, will he be okay if we leave him now?"

"His vitals have stabilized enough that he should be safe on his own." Curie answered. "I would suggest we lower the Drop Shield however, it will only make him a target."

Reluctantly, Ben brought down the defensive barrier and grabbed his rifle. While at a glance it may have seemed like a good idea to keep the shield up to protect the wounded Corporal and perhaps some of the other Marines, the shield had nowhere near the durability to withstand the combined firepower of four Banshees.

Once he was sure that the wounded Marine was as safe as he could be, he made his way over to Jorge's position, where he found the elder Spartan standing beside Sergeant Stacker, who was using a set of rangefinders to look for the incoming Banshees.

"I don't know about those Banshees, Lady. I'm not seeing any fliers out there…" Stacker commented.

"They are using the valley to our magnetic north to approach undetected, you should focus your efforts in that direction." Curie explained. "I was only able to spot them thanks to the Radar on the UNSC Hamburg."

Stacker lowered his rangefinders and scowled. "Oh, well that's just fantastic. How many missiles do you all have left?"

"One." Yu pointedly replied. "And I hate to say it, but I'm not that good."

"Damnit…" Stacker muttered, before turning to Jorge. "What's your plan Lieutenant?"

In response, Jorge hefted his Machine Gun. "We dig in as best as we can and engage them with small arms, maybe we can break up their formation."

"Hmm." Stacker said aloud, before a look of realization adorned his face as he gestured to Ben. "Say Lieutenant, can I get a little help from your Sergeant here? With a bit of extra muscle, I bet we could get one of our Warthogs into fighting shape!"

That's a good plan, those machine guns aren't just for show. Ben thought, but ultimately the decision fell to his superior officer.

Jorge only thought it over for a moment, but eventually gave Stacker and Ben a nod of confirmation. "Go. We'll hold our ground here."

"Much obliged Lieutenant! Come on Spartan, let's move!" Stacker said.

He led Ben down the hill towards the Warthogs, and despite Stacker's obvious age, he did a pretty good job at keeping pace with Ben. "My Warthog should be up and running, but we'll need to replace the Machine Gun. One of those Marauders got a lucky hit in on our barrels."

Ben filed the name of the Banished vehicle in the back of his mind as Curie interjected with a warning. "In any case, you will need to work fast. The Banshees just cleared the canyon, and should be entering visual range any second."

By the time that Ben and Stacker reached the Warthogs, he could hear shouting from the top of the hill as the rest of the Marines and Onyx Team prepared for a fight. Stacker hopped in the driver's seat of the lead vehicle and performed a quick check to confirm that the Warthog truly was still functioning.

Ben wasted no time in moving to the next Warthog over and examining the vehicle's machine gun for any damage. While it was out of ammo, it seemed to be in working order, the gunshield was even still attached.

"That should still be operational. Remember Ben, you need to remove the locking pins-" Curie advised, but stopped talking as soon as Ben tore the weapon roughly from its mount and held it aloft. "...Or you could tear it off like an angry gorilla."

"Hey, we have to be fast." Ben playfully retorted, but there was little time for banter, and so he turned to dash back to Stacker's Warthog.

The Marine Gunnery Sergeant was far ahead of him, however, and was already pulling his own Warthog alongside the others so that Ben could jump over. "Hop on Spartan, and make it fast! Those Banshees are gonna be here any moment!"

Once Ben had disposed of the melted scrap that constituted the Warthog's earlier machine gun, he fastened the new weapon into place as quickly as he could, while also making sure that it wouldn't shake itself loose while firing. From the top of the hill, he heard the sound of a Missile firing. Despite his instincts to look and see what was happening, he continued to focus solely on affixing the gun into place and loading the necessary ammunition.

After what felt like a millennium, Ben gave the triggers an experimental pull, successfully firing a pair of rounds into the distance. "Ready!"

"Ooh Rah!" Stacker gleefully shouted as he sent the Warthog driving forwards.

Just as their Warthog began to accelerate, Ben heard the distinct whine of plasma fire, followed by bolts of the lethal energy blasting the ground all around him. He brought the Warthog's turret to bear and fired as soon as he acquired a good sightline on the first Banshee. Judging by the fact that there were only three of them remaining, it was safe to say that Yu's rocket had landed a solid kill.

As Stacker did his best to evade the oncoming fire, a new, bright green projectile slammed into the ground beside their Warthog. "Whoo! Mind the bump!"

Curie did her best to help guide Ben's fire onto target by indicating where to fire on his HUD, and with her help, he was able to get a decent amount of rounds onto target. After a few seconds of consecutive gunfire, one of his shots must have hit something important on the lead Banshee, as it ceremoniously exploded into a terrific ball of plasma and fire as it fell to the ground. The other two Banshees were undeterred, and continued their pursuit of the Warthog.

"I'm gonna take us down the hill, maybe we can lure these things away from the rest of our squads!" Stacker said. "Hang tight, there's a gap coming up that we'll need to jump!"

Now that the Warthog had reached its top speed, the Banshees were having greater trouble effectively targeting it, especially with their slow and cumbersome Fuel Rods. Even so, Ben tried to keep them from lining up for an attack by corralling them with a steady stream of gunfire.

Eventually, he managed to shoot off one of the anti-gravity generators on the wing of the rearmost Banshee, and while it wasn't destroyed, it did break formation and retreat. The other Banshee followed its wingmate's example and broke off the attack.

"They're running!" Ben reported.

"Good, then let's-" Stacker began to reply, but was interrupted by an explosion erupting, sending a shockwave throughout the Warthog.

Whatever it was landed directly in front of the Warthog, leaving it to drive through the smoke and burning residue of the impact. Stacker was coughing heavily, but he still managed to keep the Warthog moving, turning off to the side in an attempt to avoid a follow up hit.

"Two armored vehicles, directly ahead!" Curie shouted, with no small amount of panic in her voice.

Ben swiveled the turret around and was greeted by the sight of two large and somewhat strange Banished Vehicles that were approaching from a nearby treeline. Although he couldn't get a great look at it, they vaguely resembled a Wraith that had its back end stretched out to form some kind of bus. Sitting atop each vehicle was a Brute manning a turreted plasma mortar.

Ben wasted no time targeting the gunners of the two craft as Stacker caught his breath and turned their Warthog around. But the Banished Vehicles were deceptively fast, and were able to keep pace with the heavily battered Warthog. The already-flaming engine was now starting to sputter as it struggled to keep the vehicle moving.

"We're losing our steam here, Sierra. Keep those Invaders off of us!" Stacker shouted. "Don't waste your time on the armor, focus on the gunners!"

The plasma mortars continued to land around the Warthog with worrying consistency, but as Stacker had suggested, their gunners were very exposed. It was relatively simple to pick them out of their seats with perhaps a bit more gunfire than was truly necessary, but as Ben had learned over the last few days, Brutes were incredibly durable, so the excess firepower wasn't entirely unwarranted.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much that Ben could do to stop the "Invaders" themselves, as the Warthog's rotary gun wasn't quite powerful enough to pierce their heavy armor. And to make matters worse, a number of small portholes opened on the sides of both vehicles, allowing the Infantry inside to fire on the Warthog with their personal weapons.

By now, the Warthog was travelling noticeably slower, and the transmission beneath him was starting to make some very concerning noises. He did his best to suppress the Banished Infantry, but the armored carapaces of the Invaders offered them very suitable protection.

"We need to adjust our targets!" Curie said.

"Agreed." Ben said. He'd already been cooking up a plan in his mind, and while what he had planned wasn't necessarily safe, it had a better chance of working than continuing to run until their Warthog finally gave out. "Sergeant, bring us back about alongside the vehicle on the left, and get ready to jump."

Thankfully the Marine didn't complain, in fact, he laughed with approval. "I like your style, let's do it!"

Stacker expertly turned the Warthog on a dime, and directed it straight at the targeted Invader. The aggressive move took the Banished completely off guard, and as the Warthog careened past the rounded hull of the front Invader, Stacker and Ben both jumped from their vehicle and boarded the enemy Troop Carrier. Stacker managed to get a sturdy grip on one of the Invader's periscopes, and whooped in victory as the passengers of the vehicle were completely unable to fire upon the heavily-armed hitchhikers.

That didn't mean the Invader was helpless however and the driver began to shake the hovercraft back and forth violently in an attempt to knock Ben and Stacker from their grips. Stacker nearly lost his grip when the periscope he was gripping onto began to turn, so Ben swiftly punched a new handhold for him into the hull and helped the Marine grab onto it.

"Thanks." Stacker breathlessly yelled. "What now?"

Before Ben could answer, a flurry of tiny plasma bolts landed all around them as the other Invader pulled up ahead of them, giving its passengers a clear line of fire onto him and Stacker. No sooner had the fire begun, however, than it was stopped by the sudden appearance of a shield dome around the front of the boarded Invader.

"Go, I can keep this up for a few moments!" Curie advised.

Ben helped Stacker climb up to the gunner's platform on the roof of the Invader, where he found only a single hatch that led into the driver's cabin. A few swift kicks proved sufficient to bend the offending plate of metal enough for Ben to stick that barrel of his rifle inside, allowing him to hose down the Brute that had been driving with bullets.

Meanwhile, Stacker did his best to keep his balance, as his lack of magnetic boots was starting to become something of an issue. From below them in the Passenger Bay, Ben could hear foul insults and threats being made at them from the Grunts, Jackals, and Brutes that were inside, but for the moment it seemed like they were still unable to get a clear line of fire on the two-man boarding party.

"Hang on Sergeant, I'll-" Ben began to explain his plan, when he noticed that the other Invader had accelerated well ahead of them, and was now turning to face their own Invader head-on. He looked down at the dead Brute who had been driving, and put the pieces together in his head just as the other Invader began to accelerate. "-Belay that, get to the gun, they're going to ram us!"

Thankfully, it seemed like Stacker understood Ben's basic plan. He'd use the plasma mortar to destroy the other Invader while Ben and Curie tried to get their own vehicle off of a direct collision course. While Stacker manned the gun, Ben pulled the corpse of the Invader's previous driver free of the cockpit and gave Curie access to the vehicle's control suite.

"What the- Ben, this vehicle has no navigation computer!" Curie warned.

The fact that she was powerless to change their course went unspoken as Ben took to the cockpit himself and looked over the myriad of buttons, lights, and switches ahead of him. While he was trained to operate a number of vehicles, this aftermarket Wraith modification was not one of them. Experimentally, he began fiddling with what controls seemed the most familiar, but the craft failed to respond.

"No good, this isn't working!" Ben called out on TeamCom.

"Don't worry Sergeant, I've got him!" Stacker replied from the mortar turret. "Drop the shield and I'll cook that bastard!"

Curie did as Stacker instructed and dissipated the Drop Shield that had been protecting the front of the Invader, giving Stacker a clear line of fire at the other vehicle, which was only continuing to accelerate as the passengers inside of it howled insults and taunts at the two Humans. Ben watched as Stacker fired the trigger… only for nothing to happen.

It's too late, time to go. Ben thought as he noticed that there wasn't much he could do to prevent the collision anymore, the best he could do was disembark. "Bail out, Sergeant! Go go!"

Stacker disappeared from view as Ben just about managed to get himself out of the driver's cabin, only for the two Invaders to collide with each other at maximum speed. He was immediately disoriented as he was thrown by the force of the impact, and a terrific crashing sound echoed all around him. Debris and aliens of numerous different races were flung in more or less every direction.

When he landed, he managed to stagger out the landing by rolling, which somewhat helped with the impact. Still, his energy shields flared with the effort, and when he finally ground to a halt, he was lying flat on his face.

"Get up, Ben!" Curie shouted.

He steadily brought himself back to his feet and reached for his rifle, only to find that it had been lost at some point in all of the chaos. All around him, dead Grunts, Brutes, and Jackals decorated the ground, while those that were still living struggled to recover. Stacker was nowhere to be seen, and Ben could only hope that he'd managed to bail out in time, as there was no possible way that he would have been able to survive the crash.

"There, a plasma rifle!" Curie marked the weapon of a dead Brute out on his HUD. He rushed over and grabbed the weapon just as the first of the aliens started firing back at him.

Molten plasma lashed out at his energy shields as Ben found his target, a Jackal armed with a plasma pistol, which he promptly gunned down. He set to work shooting as many of the recovering aliens as he could, prioritizing the Brutes, as they were by far the biggest threat. But after only a few moments of firing, his plasma rifle was overheated, and he was left unable to fire at any of the now-recovered aliens that moved to surround him.

"Ben-" Curie began to speak, her voice laden with panic at the dire situation they found themselves in.

"Working on it!" Ben replied. He reached down to his belt for anything that might be able to buy him a bit of breathing room, but he had no sidearm, and not even a single grenade. That being said, he did have one weapon left.

With his left hand still free, he reached up to his shoulder and withdrew his kukri from his sheath, and hefted the still-smoldering plasma rifle like a club with his other hand.

"Come on!" He taunted the Banished all around him, who stared him down with malice and contempt. "Who wants to fight a Demon?!"

The Brutes around him looked at one another and chuckled amongst themselves, before what he could only assume was their leader spoke up.

"You have heart, Warrior." The Brute growled. "You will die with dignity!"

The Brute took a single step towards Ben as it raised its weapon, only for its head to explode.

Everyone, including Ben, was taken completely off-guard, three more Brutes being swiftly decapitated before the body of the first had even hit the ground. Exploiting the opportunity that he had been given, Ben spun the kukri in his hand around and deftly tossed it into the skull of the closest alien, a Jackal with a particle carbine.

He dashed over to the weapon and grabbed it off the ground while the Banished were still trying to figure out what to do. Some fired at Ben while they ran for cover, while others looked around fruitlessly for the sniper that was continuing to expertly pick them off one by one. Ben prioritized focusing down those that were posing a direct threat to him, picking the heads off of Grunts and Jackals and focusing down Brutes with volleys of radioactive projectiles from his Carbine.

As quickly as the fighting had started, it stopped, as the last retreating Grunt was unceremoniously shot by Ben. A moment later, Stacker reappeared. "I hope you don't mind me disappearing there, Sierra, but I figured it would be better to go get help than anything else."

Ben nodded, that certainly explained the sniper fire. "I appreciate it. If you hadn't shown up with that Sniper Rifle, then I would have been toast. Fine shooting."

Unexpectedly, Stacker laughed. "I appreciate the compliment, but that uh, wasn't me."

Ben cocked his head in confusion. "Then who-"

Before he could finish his question, another figure emerged from the bushes. It was a Spartan, clad in a magnificent suit of Mjolnir of a model that Ben had never seen before, holding a similarly unfamiliar Sniper Rifle and examining the carnage as he approached them. Emblazoned on his chest piece were three digits, in a pale white font that was broken up by the scars of battle.

117.

Author's Note: This is basically just my way of showing how excited I am for Halo Infinite, and a way of experimenting with new writing techniques. Obviously it's non-canon (much like all of these really) but instead just my way to explore having these characters in situations that they normally wouldn't find themselves in.

Ideally, there should be two more of these in the run-up to Halo Infinite, so expect to see those then.