Lian IV

The shock of the hit nearby served as a what if to the Infinity were that miss become a hit, prompting Lasky to scream at staff his next orders, feeling the vessel move in the ordered direction. It was also that maybe the gravity control was beginning to get rattled by the constant barrage of aftershocks that rattled the infinity's hull,.

In pursuit, was still the same circular drones, their design seemed 'inspired' from the halos themselves, though smaller even less then the Infinity in height but wielded a power it could not confront directly.

Lasky surveyed the mapped graph and it provided a grim outlook, he held his breath as he witnessed another one of those things appeared up fast and close, but it was a range it could fire from in contrast to the Infinity that struggled. Strength had no advantage if it did not have the reach, and the enemy had both strength and range, speed and timing were the only cards it had left to keep it in the game, they were not to win more as stall enough time to create a victory. But that time was running out. Every short burst on the engine to gain distance was momentary as the rings came about and fired, always one went off to recharge at the hijacked planet-bound Aegis before returning to the hunt. The aliens had had installed something beside their own shielding, some kind of replenished that protected powered its guardians, the only time the infinity had was to fire enough volley to briefly knock out shielding so Blue team can arrive, and they were seemingly slowed down, learning nothing since. But they had to take out whatever device that was acting as a refuel for these drones, without their constant source for refuel they will simply shut down. But with Aegis now heading close to Lian's stratosphere he may have to take the chance of putting his crews lives in greater risk for victory.

The ship jumped and again distance was gained, but warnings flared louder with a drone coming in close sooner then he had expected and realization they were starting to predict his next move with greater accuracy.

And it fired.

Hands held onto everything solid, but to those that hadn't or lost their grip like Lasky found them thrown off their feet and crashing into the steel walls of the bridge and bounding to the floor with a thud seeing his perspective blurry and shadowy. In his mind he could see the Infinity finished, the open exposure to powerlessness, no shouting orders or reacting to the situation, it bore the hallmarks of him accepting then end, a sound came but one his ears were glad to hear, the fiery charge of engines rumbled and with that they moved. Time was in their hands once more but it was slipping. Distance was maintained as they tried again to evade and find a way round these attackers.

'Where the hell is Blue team? We're getting killed out here!'

Creeping inside she saw all eyes both foe and survivor alike stared at the presence of the Master Chief.

True to his word he came to her clearing up the aliens without a second thought, she had no doubt her uncle revered the Spartans, himself being one of the earlier generation but Anji was not battle hardened, her call to duty came more to honouring a family tradition all while never seeing the covenant war up close. How the Chief fought and decimated through enemy pods was her witnessing the desperation Earth must have been to create and use men like him to win humanity's right to survive.

She was not hardened by battle, which was why she still had as much fear for the Chief as she did for respect unable to fully comprehend that the Chief's silent but evident aggression, to ruthlessly cut down opposition without hesitation for the sake of survival. She would be lying if she didn't feel terrified on the thought of the Spartan going rouge. Spartans were loyal but was that concept humanity took for granted? She tried correcting herself, Spartan and humanity were the same, but they weren't, truthfully. Tthey were always seen as more; superior, saviours, yet loyal and subservient to earth's authority. How long can that kind of establishment go on for? In the presence of the Chief she felt safer, but it wasn't lost to her that looking past the uniform was a man that exerted a level of violence to get the job done and the lack of empathy that came with it terrified her.

She took a deep breath as she peered round in the engineering of the Aegis, she couldn't let the giant "Upsillion" daunt her let alone that giant hologram of that…thing. She saw that them two and the other alien guards eye the Chief, with them distracted she quietly made her move around them in the hopes of not being drawn into the battle.

'It couldn't be-' Said the holographic 'Ridley' a seemingly brazen mockery gasp not hiding that it had a clear knowledge of the Master Chief, either learnt or informed. Really Anji was more surprised the thing spoke well let alone speak at all with it mockingly dismissive at the Spartan.

'-because from what I was told you were meant to be smart'

It wasn't arrogant outright, she noted it gave the Chief a deep glare, seemingly sizing him before dismissing him with the Chief seemingly patient, a flex of a grip, no doubt looking round within that visor, from the caught from a glance look he was unfazed by the monster's glare and it's retort.

'Upsillon' The alien who almost seem to have a skin entirely of thick metal called out for the spartan's blood and his head with his elites making their move to kill the Chief.

Anji darted ahead and heard nothing else but a continuous violent exchange of the alien's pulsating weaponary against the Chief's ballistics' weapon. Seeing first hand as well as hearing how short lived the troops onboard lasted when faced with this alien weaponry she was left a gasped at seeing at a glance of the Chief ability to overcome the seemingly technological superiority he faced. Strafing effectively via the jet boosters and taking small rapid shots. Another mad dash and she reached the device at the heart of this matter, ignoring it's vastly otherworldly like design was focused on deducing what was familiar and usable. The item was still constructed by creatures with fingers and thumbs despite the obvious physiological differences, the mechanisms wouldn't generally be that indifferent, it was just a matter of identifying it.

There was a crash, her eyes panic to see a platform fall but it was the first to fall with the Chief landing on top of it last and was in control of the fight, still dictating the movement of battle at him with the other Pirates coming in with a flash of a grenade that hit from behind, catching them off guard he fired up close and broke off their formation engaging into a vicious hand to hand melee. Fists exchanged, shields flickered but as vicious as the creatures looked the Chief's actions were the most vicious. Re-focused on the device she kept scouring, probing the surface frantically and found something. A hidden smooth panel, almost camouflaged within the total surface area but she tested the covers, looking for a manual open mechanism, she prefer not to bash the thing open but when seconds matter she felt her patience tested when –

-Click-

It opened! Hope jumped but she held it down she had to maintain her focus on seeing the job to its full completion, noting inside a series of greenish red controls and other holographic touch screens, her hands started to sweat as she was no longer following practical methods but a world of theory. Dangers of traps, overload, short circuiting and anything unforeseeable that made her wipe her hands onto her uniform to be rid of the sweat of her nerves, only to feel it back on her skin again. She at least understood its relevance, given the Aegis was moving at full speed despite it's damages meant this this thing was some kind of amplifier, and likely source or refuel for those drones with this gone, the ship would be exposed to the full intervention by the Infinity. Then it hit her that there be a good chance the Aegis would be shot down entirely.

In a way she disturbingly ok with that because she wasn't sure how much of the horror she could put up with knowing this experience will be a memory that will never go away from her.

The creature, Upsillion, growled at the direction of the Chief, evidently seeing it's elites fall to the Spartan and made its move. Every move was felt with every step being a tyrannous thud that no weapon fire imaginable could drown out, Anji could just about see the Chief's response, putting away his traditional weapon and tearing off one of the alien's own, that were seemingly augmented to in a crude if not forceful fashion. He got to grips with the weapon quickly, experience of xeno weaponary made him the Master of his new weapon and charged the remaining green pulses of plasma from the gun and began firing away on the shields of the beast despite it's horrible laugh, It's attention was on the Chief and away from her to make a choice and hopefully, live.

She slid her hand in the panel and deducted her guesswork and tried. She felt her fingers immediately burn momentarily thinking she would fry but she seemed to have skimmed over what defense mechanism she almost set off. Gradually her hands slowly twisted and re-joined components she theorized were part of the shut down or reducing the power to minimal capacity. Her fingers moved with precision with no shake or vibration, the training for the officer came when needed. The alien cables that extracted the power waned and the colour dimmed, her breath was controlled it wasn't over, but it was close, seeing what needed to be done she applied some more pressure when her hand jolted back and had her hands over her head, there was a build up of something, a pressure of what felt like a expanding force trying to rip her skull apart and there was a voice, a terrible sadistic voice full of anger. She recognised it and she saw what it was from, that hologram. The hologram projection that was Ridley noted her and gave her a look just as it gave one to the Chief before the sneer, now she realized the sneer was to cover his failing, and it's glare was to show he will not fail again.

The Chief dodged Upsilion's charge, strafing with the acquired alien weaponry and fired again, the creature's initial sneering was turning to more expressive anger, a hint for the Chief that he was at last making progress, for now it was just him and this monster, but he was aware of his surroundings and noted something of concern.

The device had paused but it was not off, amidst the noise by a enraged creature covered in metal causing wreckage he was still visually aware and saw not only the device but that the holographic creature, an image that somehow was becoming more evidently familiar to him was preoccupied with something. He noted it's glare, that was the look he gave earlier, in that moment he felt something almost like it was an 'attempt' of somesort burrowing into his mind at the time the Chief thought it was unrelated, now he was convinced it wasn't because that glare meant he found her and that the 'attempt' was real, and wasn't fast enough then the thing will succeed in it's second attempt.

Weighing his options fast he caught sight of a woman in ONI uniform alongside a wounded man waving and yelling for his attention, she had a grenade, too far for her to throw, but he could grab it and complete the job, and then suddenly he heard 'her' cry out a warning, on cue he immediately jumped out of the way to an instinctive left, a lifesaving choice, seeing an intense beam of burning green plasma flyby where he once was in what could had been.

His jump was a nimble flip in the air landing upright to see Upsilion snarl, discarding the gun that had since enter a cool down mode.

'So what? You'll still die!'

The Chief remained calm.

'Not yet'

He slammed down a device just as Upsillion came for another crashing fist, throwing the entire weight of his arm, it seemed inevitable to hit, till it saw a bubble of a shield eclipse round the Chief. Hard light was struck and the monster found itself staggering back on the rebound, the shield immediately went and the Chief charged taking advantage of the confusion with a powerful jump, grabbed ontop of the creature's chest plate and planting firmly in it's face, another volley of his primary rifle. The ballistic fire was loud as it bullet blasted it's face, a force that akin to the Chief's resolve to win, swaying to and back Upsilion who raged amidst it's disorientation trying to hit the bastard human but the Chief was having none of it. The Spartan kept the continuous fire and the tugging to and fro, shaking the creature's centre point till after one strong sway the Chief hit everything he had and pushed everything he had toppling the creature over its own footing and letting gravity finish off it's tumble with a fall into the surrounding interior breaking everything it collided into. Killing it would had been a bonus but for now it was rattled and out of the fight which meant escape was a bit more easier.

Thinking briefly to earlier, he wondered what it was he truly heard, amidst the chaos and before the shot he barely avoided, was that voice…He know he saw the ONI officer wave at him, but it wasn't her voice that he heard…

The device had waned dead at last, no traps to worry about and no shields, which meant little time to get out, he raced to see Anji looking worse for wear but had recovered to complete the job and helped steady her to her feet.

'…It was in my head..I..I-'

'You did well soldier.' Reassured the Master Chief. 'But we need to move. Now'

Anji and the Chief weren't the only two moving quick, the ONI officer was carrying her male colleague with speed and using the last ounce of desperation to make up for spent strength.

'You two' Dare and Miles Noted the Chief who came close, knowing to give authority to his experience 'We're short on time, I'll carry you' Miles looked a bit taken aback to the guy that was over a foot taller than him.

'No I can manage, I can-whoah!'

Dare looked back at Upsilion. 'What about that thing?'

'I'll come back to it when I can kill it'

The Chief led, with a free hand grabbing another pirate weapon, if he needed to break through something then the plasma shot may just do the trick as they raced out of engineering each of them pushing their own limitations. In his visor the Chief was noting an increase in radiation, looking back he saw a glimpse of what must had been the infestation, a strong invading orange glow and unsettling he heard Upsillion burst into a madding laugh.

Fred led the rapid assault, Linda and Kelly followed as they shot down more of the aliens adjusting their approach and tactics from the initial encounter to an almost perfected skill in killing efficiency.

They scanned the ships and determined which were functional in the bay, the doors were closed but they need to gain control of the surrounding to open them securely, it was a challenge leading the line of traumatized survivors but their pace had to be fast for their safety and to ensure the bay when taken is secure. There was a fear that the aliens could open the metal bay doors without the soft transparent shielding that let ships go in and out without the inside of the bay affected by the vacuum of space. The briefing mentioned the Aegis had this because it was an adaption of conveant technology and so far from what he studied it looks like providing the doors don't blast open that shielding will still be there when opened properly. Fred peered through a small door that led into the backway of the bay before looking back, from his voice he gave an admission this was about to get harder.

'I see two pods and prisoners..they look to be assembling something..but..' He looked at Kelly. 'You still got the pace?' Every Spartan excels in something more than the other, Kelly to date was still the top sprinter shaming even the generation IV of the Spartan class. She tilted her helmeted head to his question.

'Is that a trick question?' In short a very confident yes.

''I think the end is rigged, and this looks scripted for an ambush..Linda you're crowd control, any of these bastards come from behind then you fire everything got it?'

'Finger on the trigger as always.'

'Good' Fred breathed 'Kelly let's do this'

She nodded. 'Travelling at the speed of death'

Their entry was swift, a silent charge that did not stir a sound or the air around them, they were silent and predatory in motion but Fred could feel unseen eyes watching him from the shadows, they darted through the obstacles that obscured them from the enemies line of sight, keeping tabs of their movements and in a mix of calculation and gambled raced closer to the close point. Fred took a look and evaluated with the precious seconds he had. The two pods circled with the prisoners tied still, motionless with bags over their heads. He noticed something immediately wrong. He eyed the end of the hanger with the closed opening door, he spoke to Kelly via his comm, no verbal conversation could be heard outside their suits.

'I'm going to throw an explosive, and a flash in your direction as you sprint towards the hanger'

'Fred. Explain yourself, They are captives.'

'Their not real, trust me…the hanger doors…note how dark the top corners are. There's no shading contrast it's entirely oblique'

There was a pause. 'Kelly?' He repeated.

She replied.

'You better be right about this'

He had two grenades ready and set them off at a few seconds apart from the other and thrown them on the basis of a gamble.

His guess came from an assumption, he observed the movement of the pods, the posture of the captives and natural movement of their patrol, it looked to well synced making him suspect holographic technology, either the aliens own or improved on existing Covenant tech. Yet he saw 'discrepancies' besides the movement, that the pods look very well armored and the prisoners were well masked, in fact anything showing soft tissue and sweat was not displayed.

Did it seem in character of these aliens to keep captives in this fashion? He suspected these creatures knew of human comradeship towards one another. Adding the unusually darker points of the hanger and how it overlooked the position and his mind was convinced his choice was right, but Fred threw the grenades immediately as he suggested the plan, not because he was certain, but because he was starting to hesitate.

The explosive was sung into place and briefly he reeled in possible horror of being wrong till the entire pods and their captives vanished in an electrical fickle of dissolvent. That was when one of those creatures, decloaked from nothingness armed with a melee clawed weapon swung, and as it did the flash set then off blinding the creature with the swing being a critical miss, gripping the alien's neck he applied the brute strength a third gen suit brought with it and delivered a snapping crunch of bone to the creature's neck. He dropped the dead weight and saw Kelly running through the after light of the flash. Firing and killing before they could prop up their shielding. Fred joined the precision markings.

Hit. Kill. Hit. Kill.

They countered the ambush and had every intention of making it into a decisive fight, with some passing fires the bloodlust of the creatures meant seeing rapid fire at them but the eagerness of the kill was without accuracy but it was close with Fred experiencing the vulnerability of a suit that had lost its shielding, another shot was all it took to stand him down but he held his nerve. It was a fool stand to be out in the open but that was the chance he had to take.

'I'm getting the non combatants out of here!' Linda shouted via the comm.

'Hold your ground!' The order was refused.

I'm being swarmed! We're experiencing radiation levels! I have to get them to one of those ships!'

'Linda!' Comm was cut off. 'Shit' Fred gritted his teeth as he came in firing a few more off, Kelly worked frantically on the doors, one of the aliens a larger and more elite looking made the charge at him, firing from the weapon attached to it's limb, with no shield returning, he ran at the thing regardless. The body still trembled and he took a chance at one sidestep and the shot missed, not planting his feet he immediately strafed past the next and ran head on, the creature had centre shot and fired. In that gamble Fred went for the unorthodox he slid down for a tackle, sped by the boosters on his back and crashing into the alien. Both parties tumbled, and the creature tired to take a shot at the fleeing survivors but it was swatted aside as the two engaged in a lethal hand to hand fight, within three strikes, there was a strike, parry and a decider, the alien parried Fred but he was the decider, sliding of a parry and bring back a elbow strong enough to break jaw and part of the thing's skull where it fell back convoluting for a few seconds before it laid still, Fred was still gasping inside his suit.

'Fred…Fred!' Kelly ran to him and heavy tapped his shoulder to prompt him to look at her, the bay doors were opening and he saw the transparent shielding were in fact still intact, yet no sooner had one enemy gone, another was creeping upto them. He patted back to say thanks and hit his comm to contact Chief.

Fred hit his comm 'John…We have an exit point, please tell me your near'

'Buy me seconds, I'll be within the minute.'

'Need you to be faster than that!'

Linda was the last to enter the bay and was sealing entrance behind her, but Fred was seeing radiation levels increase. Kelly was running ahead pointing at the survivors 'All of you to here! TO HERE!'

'That surge has caught up to us! Get them in a ship or we're dead! Hurry!' Stressed Linda, something that toned on fearful, something Fred himself shared upon seeing in a moment of disbelief at parts of the surrounding bay twist to decay in a smothering foreign colour of odious orange and darker colours, Fred jogged feeling his strength, but the shield was still offline, was it a permanent damage, he needed to asses, than he had that feeling of being watched, again.

'John. Get here. Now!'

Kelly all the time was shouting her intent to Linda making sure she in turn prioritized at squeezing everyone in one of the usable transports/

'I'll get the engine heated up' Her voice changed from order to a warning shout. 'Fred!'

Kelly's warning was too late.

He didn't see but feel the feel the impact of the attack, Fred actually felt the physical properties of ice but the sudden freeze was sending environmental warnings within his suit. He staggered fighting against a seemingly sense of inevitability with only a blurry glance of someone approaching him fast, throwing a punch which he felt was caught,he twisted to throw another, but the grip that was on his fist had applied it's strength.

'Argh!'

The comm was still on with john from before, and he trying to find what was going on, John was to receive no answer as no sooner as Fred winced down to the pain of this attacker he saw a fist close in and he slumped and blacked out.

Both female Spartans raced towards the attacker with gun aimed, but their chance at a shot was denied as the attacker, humanoid in a exo suit not encountered and veiled screen mask had Fred as his own shield with the nozzle of his gun attached close to his mask.

'You bastard! Drop him!' Threatened Linda, yet the attacker said nothing but giving the impression that were his face to be seen he would be giving a smirk reveling control of his escape. He headed towards a transport, doors opened automatically, sign he had the craft automated for his need. Linda wanted to shoot and Kelly suspected it, telling via internal com to back down, she argued they'll lose Fred and Kelly reply to that was a promise they will find him but the situation was becoming more important, the lives come first. That was their code.

'Kelly get the pilot's seat!' Was Linda's final words on the internal comm, she still kept aim as the attacker slowly withdrew in confidence, already on the boarding ramp of his own escape. There was a wail among the structure of the bay, solid metal now being scrunched up like paper, rotting revealing a blueish swam mixturing in red and black, a combined mixture of seemingly organic force that was wrapping round the exterior. From everything Linda read and saw, this was not the flood. It was the infectious source, but she had no idea what the hell she was looking at.

There was another tear of metal but the sound that erupted was a detonation force, gun focused before seeing the Chief escorting final few survivors found to the craft. A tall woman, an ONI operative by uniform mentioned something back before carrying her comrade off the Chief, helped by another woman who accompanied with them to the ship. Kelly saw that was all and the doors were closing as they took off, she could tell from the glance Linda and john were staying on.

'John!' Linda shouted. 'He's got Fred!'

'I know' There was something very cold about that line, undeterred by the surge it didn't matter, and she knew why, whoever tried or hurt one of his friends would be met with hell. Kelly's craft made out fast, and the craft of this attacker made the move just as its doors were closing, the two Spartans gave chase, blasters of the engines were fired at them in an attempt to knock them off their feet but the two were not having any of it as they fought back with their boosters and their own strength.

Initially thinking it would fly up into space it instead when flying out the bay dove down to the planet itself, hot on the tail john and Linda jumped into the fray seeing their target at the forefront but the sheer majesty of the Lime like atmosphere of Lian itself, the backdrop of it encompassed everything, the ship drove into the stratosphere, with the two tailgating and feeling the burning of the re-entry around them, keeping pursuit, even in their suits they were feeling an increase in G force, but they didn't care.

Lasky looked dejected at what he saw, the shield was down and there were survivors that escaped, there were no casualties on board but it still felt like a defeat.

The drones eventually burned out of their own excess usage of power but it still felt like a defeat.

For once the Master Chief and his team escaped, immediate shots were taken onto the ship, but at that point its hull was showing some kind of organic substance, the strikes made holes in the thing but waves of its own fluid flesh covered the markings. Another volley was ordered but the charge would be too late as the gravity of the planet had now pulled what was the Aegis, hurtling into Lian.

AN: Delayed due to work constraints, this was...considerable giving I'm trying to give every character involved their moment and not short cut on a few things, as it is the mysterious substance that was unleashed by llsa Zane and was slowly spreading now has a face so to speak, can Spartans give pursuit to a ship going re-entry? Look the Master Chief feel to earth and lived! So why not!

Anyway thanks for reading if you have been, now to rest.