Hello again, everyone, and welcome back to my Halo - MechWarrior/BattleTech crossover. Thank you all for your continued support. I greatly appreciate the feedback that I'm getting.
By the way, a new category was added in the crossover section for games for Escape from Tarkov. I've written up the pilot chapter for my newest crossover, Mass Effect: From Tarkov to the Future. If you can, please check it out. Any feedback on my newest crossover would be deeply appreciated.
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Disclaimer: I do not own the Halo or MechWarrior/BattleTech franchises. They are the respective properties and trademarks of Microsoft Game Studios, 343 Industries, Bungie, FASA Corporation, FASA Interactive, Catalyst Game Labs, Piranha Games Inc, etc. Any material original to the franchises belongs to their respective developers and publishers. Any material not original to the franchises is of my own invention. I do not own any music listed in each chapter. Any music listed belongs to it's original composers and/or artists.
Sabaton – Defense of Moscow
ODP Cairo
Geosynchronous Orbit, Earth
November 21st, 2552
As soon as he left the bridge of the Cairo, Chief exploded into action. Moving out of the room, he moved down a series of steps that led to the level below him. As he did so, a voice announced, "All hands to battle stations. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill. Seal all pressure doors. Open all weapon lockers."
As soon as the PA announcement ended, weapon lockers built into the Cario's interior opened up. At this point, due to their superior performance against Covenant armor and shielding, Misriah Armory had begun manufacturing SLDF grade weaponry under license, per the UNSC's agreement with Admiral Chenrenko. Though the weapons had yet to be fully distributed throughout the UNSC, the Cairo was the first to receive a full replacement shipment.
As such, instead of MA5B's, M7's and BR55N's, Chief spotted M42D's, MP-20's and other SLDF grade weapons in the lockers. To him, it was a reminder of how much things had changed with the SLDF providing assistance. Reaching over, he grabbed an M42D and some ammunition before advancing towards his current objective: the bulkhead door that led to the Cario's bridge.
The bulkhead door was located in a part of the ODP that had a pair of view ports looking out into the void, with the view being Earth. This was Recreation Section R-01, one of four recreational areas on the ODP. Video phone consoles were present, along with informational displays that presented info about Cairo station. Currently the recreational area was populated with Marines that were setting up barricades and weapon emplacements.
It was also where the Covenant were moving towards, as Chief could see boarding craft moving towards the station. One was about to get too close, only for a ruby red laser beam to pierce through the enemy vessel, causing it's plasma reactor to detonate. Looks like the Naval grade weapons the SLDF installed are going to work, he thought as he spotted other naval grade weapons firing off. One such weapon was a Capital Missile launcher, which promptly spewed out a swarm of missiles.
Looking around, Chief spotted Johnson helping a pair of Marines set up a Support Machinegun, with Johnson manning the rotary barreled weapons platform. Gone was the dress uniform that he'd been wearing. Now, it was replaced with the M45 armor kit that the Chernenko had kindly permitted for manufacturing under license.
Once the S-MG was set up, Johnson keyed his COM. "How's it going Malta?" he asked.
"Standing by," came the reply. Moments later, a loud CLANG came over the COM-link, then, "They're latched! Check your targets and watch your crossfires. They're in standard formation: little bastards up front, big ones in the back… good luck, Cairo!"
At that moment, Chief spotted another Covenant Boarding Craft moving towards the station. Apparently, the pilot of this one was a cut above the normal fodder, as the vehicle moved quickly enough that the naval defenses couldn't target it, allowing the vehicle to dock with a loud CLANG! 'Cortana," Chief asked, "can you get me a video feed of Hangar A-01?"
"Got it," Cortana replied over the COM. "Sending video feed now." Moments later, a security camera feed of the hangar in question popped up.
Sure enough, he spotted the Covenant Boarding Craft. Apparently, the breaching tube was designed to cut through the viewport, allowing the personnel inside to get into the space station. Already, Chief could see the affected areas of the viewport glowing as they heated up.
Apparently, Ferro-Glass was more resistant to heat than the Covenant anticipated, as it took them a good two minutes to cut through, nearly four times as long as the thirty seconds required to cut through transparent titanium. Once they had gotten through, defensive turrets deployed from the ceiling, with pulse lasers and bullets cutting through the air. To counter this, the Jackals that got inside deployed their shields and formed a shield wall, allowing unshielded personnel to get through. The Elites, obviously, needed no such protection.
"Field of fire on the door," Johnson ordered. "Soon as that door opens, let 'em have it!" As soon as he said this, a glowing yellow-white line began to cut through the center of the door, where the two sections met.
Moments later, the door burst inwards as an explosive charge detonated, blasting it into dozens of pieces. As soon as it did, Covenant personnel poured inside, with Grunts and Jackals taking up the front, while the Elites were in the back. At the same time, Johnson and the others let loose, firing their weapons into the crowd of Covenant personnel.
The Covenant, who had been expecting the area to be poorly guarded, were caught completely off guard by the unusually stiff resistance. The Support MG roared, the barrels spinning rapidly as it spat bullets at the enemy. At the same time, Chief opened fire, along with the other marines, adding their own firepower to the mix.
For the Covenant, it was a slaughter. Grunts and Jackals were cut down by the sudden storm of bullets, and even the Elites were forced to take cover. Once the initial fusillade of bullets died down, Chief advanced, with the Marines following closely behind him. The Elites, sensing the break in the attack, rounded the corner and fired, only to be driven back into cover by Johnson via the Support MG.
Rounding the corner, Chief fired his rifle, shattering the Elite Minor's weakened shields and penetrating the armor. The Elite staggered and stumbled to the ground, it's chest riddled full of bullet holes. A roar from behind him drew his attention, with Chief preparing to engage that Elite. He need not have worried, as the Marines cut the Elite down.
"Hah!" one of the Marines shouted. "Not so tough now, are ya?"
"Stay focused," Johnson called out to them. "Don't get cocky!"
"Watch it!" came a shout. "Up there!" Right on cue, two Elites, Rangers from the looks of it, appeared on the upper walkway. Before they could react, Johnson fired the MG, gunning them down before they could get to cover.
"Chief," Hood said over the COM.
"Yes, sir?" Chief asked.
"Find the boarders' point of entry. Cut them off at the source."
"Affirmative." Turning to the Marines, Chief asked, "Can you hold this area?"
"We've got it," a Marine replied. With that, Chief advanced forwards, moving through the hallways of the ODP. Turning around a corner, he found himself entering Security R-01, one of numerous security stations onboard the Cairo. This one overlooked Commons R-01, one of the areas onboard the ODP were personnel could gather.
In this case, it was the scene of a raging firefight, as UNSC Marines were in a fight against Covenant personnel. Moving inside, Chief spotted a Support MG, with a wounded Marine next to it. "Chief," the Marine coughed out as a Corpsman worked on him, "use the MG. It's yours now."
Nodding, Chief manned the Support MG, with the weapon's systems linking to his armor in an instant. As soon as he spotted Covenant personnel down below, he aimed and depressed the firing stud. There was a loud BRRRRTTTZZZZ as the Support MG fired, the sound akin to that of canvas being ripped.
The effect on the Covenant was nothing short of devastating. Grunts and Jackals that were unlucky enough to be caught out in the open practically exploded, their armor doing little to stop the HEAP bullets tearing through them. The Elites were luckier, but only by a small margin, as their energy shields gave some enough time to find cover. The others, however, were ripped to shreds in moments.
Once the Covenant out in the open were terminated, he unmounted the MG and moved downstairs to clear out the remaining Covenant. As he did so, he heard a loud, shotgun-like sound, from up ahead. Ignoring it for now, he moved into the small hallways surrounding the Commons area, firing on any Covenant dumb enough to assault him.
Once the Covenant in the Commons area were neutralized, he moved towards a flight of stairs. As he did so, he heard that loud, shotgun-like blast again, only it was much closer. He moved just in time to see a massive suit of armor barreling through the hallway and into a group of Covenant. Chief immediately identified the suit of armor as Elemental IV Battle Armor, a favorite among Clansmen that had defected to the SLDF.
Here, it used the standard SRM Launchers, as well as what seemed like a standard Machine Gun. Instead of firing standard bullets, however, Chief was surprised when it fired a spread of what looked like flechettes. While the gun was unusual, it was undoubtedly effective, as the Elite and other hostiles were promptly shredded.
"Arrogant stravag," the Elemental in the armor growled. Spotting Chief, he turned and said, "There you are, Chief. I was looking for you."
"Alex," Chief said simply.
"Is there another one?" Alex asked. "Never mind. What are your current orders?"
"We need to get to Hangar A-01 and secure it," Chief replied. "The Covenant are sending in boarders from there. If we move there, we can cut them off before they can get further into the station."
"Good," Alex beamed. "I have been waiting to try out this new gun. It is similar to the LBX Autocannons used on 'Mechs, only it is scaled down for Battle Armor. In tight spaces like this, it is most useful. Perhaps when the battle is over, we can talk shop with each other. Regardless, it is time to take the fight to the Covenant."
"Agreed." With that, the two moved out, heading for the hangar in question.
Hangar Bay A-01 was one of numerous hangars onboard the Cairo, and was standard for many ODP's that the UNSC designed and built. The hangar was short, roughly two stories in height, and wide enough to hold a pair of Pelican VTOL's, with maintenance equipment and spare parts included. The doors, which had transparent viewports, were designed to lift when they opened, allowing said VTOL's to fly out with minimal difficulty.
In this case, the hangar was the site of one of the Covenant Boarding Craft that had docked to the Cairo in the opening moments of the Battle of Earth, as one could be seen outside. Currently, a raging firefight was ripping through the hangar, as Marines located on the upper catwalks were firing their weapons at Covenant that were on the lower deck. So far, they had the situation under control, thanks to their weapons, as well as the automated turrets that had deployed.
Moving inside, Chief fired his rifle, gunning down a pair of Jackals that were present. At the same time, Alex hopped down onto the lower level, causing the lower deck to shake slightly from the impact. An SRM shot out from one of the armor's shoulder mounted pods, blasting apart a group of Grunts. At the same time, his LBX-like weapon fired, shredding an Elite and two Jackals with a single blast.
Eventually, the Covenant that had been in the hangar were completely neutralized. Looking out the window, Chief spotted the Malta, one of the sister ODP's for the Cairo. "Hey, check it out," Chips Dubbo, who'd been present during the fight, beamed. "The Malta's already driven off her boarders."
"Malta," Cortana asked, "what's your situation? Ov -"
Moments later, she was interrupted. "All hands, abandon ship!" the CO of the Malta said over the COM. "All hands, abandon ship!" Within thirty seconds, life pods shot out of the sides of the ODP, zooming away towards the nearest UNSC or SLDF WarShip.
As soon as they were away, the Malta exploded. A brilliant blue-white detonation tore through the station, blasting it apart into thousands of pieces. "Oh, fuck!" Dubbo gasped, eyes widening at the sight. "This is bad! Real bad!"
"Get a grip on yourself," Alex said to the veteran Marine. "It appears as though the Covenant have a new strategy. What it is, I do not know, but I do not like it."
Apparently, someone else had noticed the loss of the station, as a WarShip promptly moved into position to cover the hole that had been created in the ODP Battle Cluster. Moments later, everyone was distracted as the PA announced, "All hands! Brace for impact!" Moments later, there was another loud CLANG as something attached to the station.
"We've got another boarding craft in Hangar A-02," Cortana informed Chief. "Can you get there?"
"Affirmative," Chief replied. "What's the status on the Malta's survivors?"
"They're heading to the SLS Athens," Cortana reported. "Reports indicate that almost everyone made it out."
"Good." With that, Chief moved towards Hangar A-02. Here, it was a similar case, only this time, the Covenant had the high ground. A brace of Grunts were firing down on Marines using semi-portable plasma turrets. In addition, the Covenant were sending in more boarders as well.
"Can we get fire support!" a Marine shouted. "We're getting killed down here!"
"Affirmative," Cortana replied over the COM. "Combat Micro-Robots are being deployed."
"What does that mean?" a Marine asked.
"Probably something else the SLDF cooked up," Dubbo remarked. "Let's get to killing those Covenant!"
Spotting Chief and the others, the Marines morale quickly turned around, as they began to fight with increased vigor. As they did, Chief thought he spotted four small, waist high ports in the back wall open up. What is that, he wondered.
What Chief didn't know was that the SLDF, like the UNSC, had experimented extensively with automated defenses. The first major success was the development of Security Robots, which were tasked primarily with defending against casual intrusion into restricted areas. This encouraged the development of other automated defenses, like the Space Defense System commissioned by Johnathan Cameron in 2690.
After the Amaris Civil War, and the Succession War, further research was conducted into creating smaller robots, ones that could assist SLDF personnel in combat zones. This led to the development of smaller robotic systems, but the crowning achievement was the Combat Micro-Robot. Compared to it's pre-Succession War counterpart, it was much smaller and lighter, though this came at the cost of reduced armor and the inability to mount heavy weapon systems.
It was this innovation that Chief saw coming out moments later. The Combat Micro-Robots he saw were small, coming only up to a man's knee in terms of height. Each one was covered in angular armor painted in standard Star League colors, with a number of glowing ocular sensors, as well as a number of hidden scanners. They moved around on tracks, and were armed with what appeared to be an infantry rifle sized MG, as well as what looked like a Compact Grenade Launcher.
Despite their small size, they were surprisingly effective. The Covenant inside of the hangar were so focused on the Marines, they were caught off guard when bullets and grenades began to fly into their midst. Turning around, they were forced into cover by the small Micro-Robots, which began to move left and right in evasive maneuvers.
"Look at that," Dubbo beamed. "Looks like Cortana really pulled a trick out of thin air! The Covenant's trapped! Move in and take them out!"
Just like that, the Marines, along with Chief, capitalized on the Covenant's predicament. Trapped between the Combat Micro-Robots and the Marines, the Covenant forces were doomed. An Elite's shields failed as a grenade detonated, allowing Chief to shoot the alien in the back. A Marine disabled an Elite's shield, just as one of the robots fired on the Elite, killing the alien instantly.
Within thirty seconds of the robots activating, the Covenant forces had been neutralized. Moving towards, the window, Chief spotted boarding craft leaving the ODP Athens. "Uh, oh," Dubbo remarked. "They're leaving the Athens." At that, Chief half-expected the Athens to be destroyed.
This time, however, the CO of the Athens must've had time to act, as Chief spotted a larger hangar bay fully opening. As soon as it was open, a gout of plasma, likely from a detonation similar to what destroyed the Malta, blasted out the side. The Athens was sent hurtling through space, spinning on it's MAC axis like a top. It took the RCS systems a full fifty seconds to stop the station's spinning and wayward trajectory.
"Athens, do you read me?" Cortana shouted. "Athens, report!"
There was a moment of silence, then Chief heard loud coughing on the other side. "Oh, fuck," a man groaned. "I-I hear you, Cortana. We're still operational… barely. Requesting WarShip support."
"Granted," Admiral Hood cut in. "O'Briscol, report."
"I-I think I know what the Covenant are doing," O'Briscol strained out, indicating he'd been injured. "Those Covenant bastards slipped a bomb inside of the MAC Cannon bay onboard. We were able to get it to the port hangar but -" A loud fit of coughing interrupted his words.
"Get yourself to medical help," Hood ordered. "Cortana?"
"A bomb would explain the Malta's destruction."
"And they sure as hell brought one here. Chief, find it and disarm it."
"Understood," Chief nodded. "Which way to the MAC Cannon Bay?"
"Go under the hangar bay through MAC storage," Cortana informed him. "That will get you to the Armory. Once you're there, head through Commons B-01, then through Security B-01 into a terminal area. I'll give you more instructions as you go."
"Affirmative." As he said this, Chief noticed a series of floor panels that raised upwards, allowing him to move down into MAC Storage through a door. The room for MAC Storage was typically where the tungsten-ferric slugs for the Super MAC's were stored. As such, it was a fairly large room.
The room was dimly lit, with teal lights providing illumination for the interior. As he moved inside, Chief spotted contacts on his suit's sensor suite. "Four contacts," he reported. "Likely Grunts. Two more past them."
"Got it," Alex replied. "I will handle the Grunts, you handle the contacts up ahead."
With that, both men moved up, with Alex moving towards the Grunts. Despite being in Battle Armor, he was surprisingly quiet, as the Grunts didn't hear him until he fired his gun. By that point, it was too late, as they were dead the moment he fired.
Up ahead, Chief was moving through when he spotted a shimmer in the air. Reacting immediately, he fired his weapon, killing a SpecOps Elite that faded into existence within seconds. Ducking underneath a swipe, he was about to fire when the Elite's chest exploded outwards, flechettes barely missing Chief. "I got him," Alex called out.
"Thanks."
"No problem."
A moment later, the doors leading to the armor opened up, just in time for Chief to hear gunfire. "Get the hell outta my armory, split lip!" Guns shouted. "If you won't leave, I'll make you leave!" Moments later, Chief heard a loud BLOOP, followed by an explosion.
When the doors fully opened, he looked around to see the source of the noise. Crouching behind an overturned table was Master Gunnery Sergeant Guns, with the man holding a Grenade Launcher in his hands. Looking to the left, Chief spotted two Elite's, or rather was was left of them. One was lying dead on the ground, while there was nothing left but the hoof boots of the other.
"Glad you made it here, Chief," Guns beamed as Chief and Alex clambered out of MAC Storage. "Those ugly sumbitches tried to break into the armory. Didn't expect me to have my Grenade Launcher ready to go."
"SitRep on the area ahead?" Chief asked.
"The Commons area ahead is overrun by Covenant," Guns replied. "If you're heading to the terminal, go through Security. Make it fast, though. I heard that Commander Keyes is up ahead with some Marines. They're pinned down."
"Understood," Chief nodded. "Alex, clear the Commons area. I'll move through security and get to the Commander."
"Got it," Alex nodded. "I will draw their attention away from you. See you on the planet surface, Chief."
The two men nodded at each other in respect, before Alex charged forwards. "Come on out, cowardly stravag!" Alex roared. "Face me in combat!"
That had the desired effect, as moments later, a number of Covenant moved towards Alex, allowing Chief to move by relatively undetected. Entering Security B-01, he moved towards the door, just as some Grunts and a Elite moved into the booth. Firing, Chief gunned the aliens down, his rifle clicking empty as the last alien was killed.
Smoothly reloading, he moved through the security booth and into the Tram station. As soon as he did, he spotted Commander Keyes, along with a few UNSC Marines. They were taking cover behind a pair of barricades, while firing on some Covenant that had them pinned.
"Come on, Chief," Johnson shouted at him. "This way!
"We were almost onboard when they showed up," Commander Keyes shouted.
"Don't worry, ma'am. We're on it."
Moving into cover, Chief leaned out and fired off a burst, neutralizing a pair of Jackals. Taking out a grenade, he hurled it cover the barricade, with the grenade detonating in the face of an Elite.
"Thanks, Chief," Commander Keyes beamed. "I owe you one."
Chief didn't reply, but rather nodded as he advanced forwards. As he moved forwards, Cortana said, "Chief? Good, you made it to the Docking Umbilicals."
"Where to now?"
"You'll have to head outside the umbilicals and move to Portside Shipping. Once you're there, head down the elevator and move outside to the MAC Assembly. Once you're there, you need to take an elevator down to Fire Control. I'm detecting a radiation signature coming from there."
"Understood." With that, he turned to the right and entered one of the umbilials. As soon as he did, the doors sealed behind him, followed immediately after by the sound of air being pumped out of the room. "Depressurization in progress," a voice in his COM unit informed him. After around fifteen seconds, he heard, "Depressurization complete. Outer airlocks open."
Moments later, the outer airlocks opened, allowing Chief to move outside. Just as he did, two Elite Rangers appeared, firing their weapons at him. Chief couldn't get to cover, so he allowed his shields to take the hits, while he fired back. An alarm sounded as his shields snapped, but he ignored it, as he killed one of the Rangers. Targeting the other one, he fired again, killing that Elite.
As he moved along the outer hull of the Cairo, he looked around at the sight above him. Above, he could see a full blown battle between the Covenant fleet, as well as the defending UNSC/SLDF fleet. While he couldn't see much, he could tell that the battle was going well, as the Covenant Carriers were being kept out of range by the ODP's, allowing the SLDF and UNSC WarShips and AeroSpace Fighters to keep the Covenant at bay.
As he moved, he heard Cortana say, "Boarders have breached the Fire Control center. They have a bomb!"
"Can you defuse it?" Hood asked.
"Yes, but I'll need Chief's help to make contact with the detonator."
"Chief, get to the bomb! Double time! Cortana, prioritize targets and fire at will!"
"Moving now," Chief replied. Traversing the airless outer hull, he moved towards the entrance to Portside Shipping. Once inside, the outer airlock doors closed, allowing the room to pressurize. Once it had, the inner airlock doors opened, allowing Chief to get inside.
Portside Shipping was a large, open space, with cranes on the roof, as well as cargo crates and barricades that had been erected. Moving forwards, Chief realized the elevator was moving upwards, no doubt bringing Covenant reinforcements. Just as he moved forwards, he watched as a swarm of Drones appeared from nowhere, screeching and chittering loudly as they fired on the Marines in the bay.
"Fuck me," a Marine groaned. "Where's a Spartan when you need one?!"
"Look behind you, genius," another Marine remarked. Just as the Marines did, Chief fired, blasting some of the Drones out of the air. Emboldened, the Marines fired as well, killing the remaining Drones before they could haul anyone to an unfortunate end.
Moving forwards, Chief kept his rifle out, before jumping off the edge towards the elevator. Landing on the incline, he fired as he slid down the slope, sparks flying off of his armor as he ground his way down to the elevator. A few Grunts and some Jackals caught the bullets, falling to the ground as Chief came to a stop on the upper portion of the elevator.
Hitting the switch, he reversed the direction of the elevator, while gunning down any Elites in his way. Once he reached the bottom, he moved into the airlock and waited. Once the doors opened, he moved outside.
The exterior of the station in this area was dominated solely by the MAC itself. Past a wide walkway was a large ramp that moved up and down as the MAC fired. The deck shuddered with each shot, a true showcase of how powerful a Super MAC truly was. Up ahead, Chief could see the door that led to the elevator that would take him to Fire Control.
He wasn't the only one out here, though. Looking at an elevated portion of the walkway, he spotted a pair of Elite Rangers up ahead. Weapon aimed, he fired, sending one into cover before ducking into cover himself, narrowly avoiding being hit. Plasma turret, he thought. No problem.
Coming out of cover, he fired his rifle, killing one of the Elites. Using his newly upgraded armor to full effect, he leaped upwards, with thrusters on his armor guiding him to a landing next to the Elite. The alien, while surprised, attempted to counter, only for Chief to slap it's rifle away, before he buried his knife into it's throat. With a single motion, he partially cut it's neck in half, with the Spartan kicking the corpse away.
As he did so, more COM chatter became present. "The carriers are breaking through, sir," Fleet Admiral Harper reported. "They're heading for the Cairo!" As he said this, an Assault Carrier slipped past the Cairo, though from the looks of it, it was badly damaged.
"The first carrier ignored us," Cortana remarked, surprised. "Blew through the Malta's debris field and straight for Earth! Can anyone intercept the other carriers?"
"This is Captain Anders of the Farragut. We're moving to intercept. Battle Cluster Epsilon, close the hole where the Malta is at. We can't risk more Covenant breaking through."
As this was going on, Chief had moved into the elevator leading to Fire Control. As the elevator moved down, Cortana said, "There are quite a few Elites guarding the bomb. You may have to get creative."
"I always do," Chief replied. As soon as he said this, he arrived at Fire Control.
The room was massive, with a central column that held part of the firing mechanism for the MAC, as well as a loading mechanism that occupied the center and back portion of the room. Up ahead, Chief spotted the bomb, as well as three Elites guarding it, one of which was a Zealot. Looking around, he spotted just what he was looking for. Moving to the right, he hit a hidden panel, prompting four Combat Micro-Robots to deploy. Spotting the Elites, the robots engaged, allowing Chief to handle the Zealot.
The Zealot was extremely angry, enough that it drew it's energy sword. "Demon," it snarled. "DIE BY MY HAND!" Roaring, the Sangheili Zealot hurled itself at Chief, forcing the Spartan to dodge. Moving left, he smoothly ducked underneath the blow, while slashing at the Elite's side with his knife.
Purple blood splattered onto the deck as ferro-steel smoothly parted bodysuit and flesh, opening a grievous wound in the Elite's side. Snarling, the Elite attempted to backhand Chief, with the blow clipping his helmet visor. The blow nearly staggered Chief, but he reacted quickly enough to come to a combat stance once more.
"Filthy heretic," the Elite snarled. "I will make you bleed for what you've done."
"You first," Chief replied. That goaded the Elite into charging recklessly at him, a mistake it would pay for with it's life. Ducking under the blow, Chief drove his knife into the Elite's sternum, a loud metallic CRACK echoing in the air. Drawing the blade to his right, he sliced through the Elite's vulnerable torso, splitting it's body wide open. Blood and guts fell out, with the Elite screaming as it died from the grievous wound.
As he did so, Cortana appeared over a holo-pedestal. "Me. Inside your head. Now!" she ordered.
Seeing that the other Elites were dead, Chief complied, allowing Cortana to upload to his suit systems. Once she did so, he ran over to the bomb and allowed her to disarm it. "How much time was left?" he asked.
"You don't want to know," Cortana replied.
"Cairo, this is In Amber Clad," Commander Keyes said over the COM. "I'm in position and ready for immediate assault."
"Negative, Commander," Admiral hood replied. "Not against a ship that size. Not on your own."
"Sir," Chief asked. "Permission to leave the station."
"For what purpose, Chief?"
"To give the Covenant back their bomb."
There were a few seconds of silence, then, "Permission granted."
With permission secured, Chief stowed his weapons and, with both hands grabbed the bomb by the spikes that covered it. Sparks flew as he dragged the ovoid bomb away from the Fire Control station and towards a nearby elevator. Pulling it inside, he hit a key for a particular floor.
As the elevator descended, Cortana said, "I know what you're thinking, and it's crazy."
"So, stay."
"Unfortunately for us both, I like crazy."
A few seconds later, they arrived at their destination: an empty Longsword launch bay. Dragging the bomb out, he let it go before looking outside, noting how the defenses were holding. Running back towards the rear, he hit a panel, which deployed a long lever. WARNING: LAUNCH BAY DOOR RELEASE, said five bold letters.
"Just one question," Cortana insisted. "What if you miss?"
"I won't," Chief replied. With that, he pulled the lever.
As soon as he did, the launch bay doors opened. The air howled and roared as it rushed out into the vacuum of space. Bits of debris and trash were sucked out as well, while Chief waited for the bomb to begin moving.
Unable to withstand the air being pulled out, the ovoid bomb moved an inch, then another, then it began to accelerate towards the launch bay doors. As soon as it zipped past him, Chief reached out and grabbed one of the spines. Just like that, he exited the Cairo and entered space.
As he flew downwards, he spotted a Covenant Carrier that was moving below him, the ship aimed directly at an SLDF WarShip. It's going to target the Farragut, Chief realized. With that in mind, he guided himself towards the Covenant WarShip.
As he did, a UNSC WarShip, a Marathon-class heavy cruiser, moved into the way of the Carrier's energy projector. The projector fired, with the beam smashing into the heavy cruiser. With the SLDF's arrival came refits for WarShips that the UNSC had, including armor plating. The energy beam smashed into the armored spine of the heavy cruiser, hammering the WarShip with pure energy.
The Lamellor Ferro-Carbide installed as part of the fleetwide retrofits held up… barely. Heavily damaged, the heavy cruiser's engines flared, with the vehicle rocketing away. As it did so, Chief watched as a pair of Dragonfire IV AeroSpace Fighters flew ahead, dropping high yield bombs onto the projector.
The blasts tore the hull open, with Chief flying inside moments later. Fire whipped past him as he flew deeper into the Assault Carrier, emerging out of the flames moments later. Looking around, he realized he was next to the pinch fusion reactor powering the Covenant WarShip, as the massive device glowed with a brilliant blue-white light. Looking down, he spotted a large gash in the bottom of the hull, which would serve as his exit.
Moving forwards, he reached out and engaged the bomb's mechanism once more. As it flashed faster and faster, he maneuvered himself into position, before launching himself away from the bomb. Using his suit's thrusters, he accelerated away from the bomb, rocketing out of the gash in the hull moments later.
He was just in time. Within seconds, the bomb detonated, tearing apart the pinch fusion reactor. Explosions rang out all over the Assault Carrier, with the WarShip slowly being torn in half. Rocketing away, Chief flew downwards, spotting the In Amber Clad. Angling himself, he steered towards it.
Inside the In Amber Clad, Miranda Keyes looked up as she heard a clang on the 'Ship's hull. Johnson knew who it was, as he said, "Well, for a brick… he flew pretty good."
"Chief, get inside," Miranda Keyes ordered, "gear up. We're taking this fight to the surface." With that, she steered the In Amber Clad towards Earth.