Chapter 6: Nightfall
August 11th-12th, 2552 Szurdok Ridge
26:30 Hours
A Phantom flies by the cliff face with its search light on. Jun emerges from a concealed position behind a rock as the dropship passes. He nods to Six. "Nightfall mission underway." Six says in Sangheili, holding something attached to his chest. Six follows Jun along the cliff edge, easing his way to make sure he didn't go tumbling. Six was outfitted with his new armor, a new coat of midnight black and blue. His visor, had gotten repainted to be a tint of blue. He didn't mind all that much, but he just now felt a whole lot different. His custom body piece felt nice though, and he and Thaya's radio was in place on his chest piece, with an ammo punch being placed to the other side if it. He had left behind his assault rifle and instead was equipped with a sniper rifle, alongside a DMR, suppressed magnum, and his sword-knife combo.
"Recon Team Bravo reporting: Three and Six in position. It's starting to get crowded up here, Kat." Jun said into Coms, with Kat responding.
"Then we're closing in. Report any Covenant structures or devices. Direct action may be necessary."
"Copy that. (chuckling) When Kat runs an op, direct action is always necessary." Jun and Six kneel down upon seeing some enemies out in the distance. "I like it. I think this will go smoothly. You and me will make this look like child's play." Six said, with him extending his fist. Jun bumped it chuckling. "Damn straight. Here, take this." He handed Six a sniper magazine, which he took and put in the pouch on the back of his waist.
"You may need these. High-velocity, armor-piercing. They'll take the hat off an Elite at two thousand yards. And they ain't cheap." Six laughed a bit as he loaded some sniper rounds into his shoulder piece. "I like the new armor Six, that piece looks like mine." Jun said as he pointed to the chest. "It is, we both have the packs and our knives are down low. Bare minimum for our agile builds. However, I left behind the ghillie suit for my metal guard here, and then I added a magnet here where the radio is. That's how it's there." Six explained.
"Kinda looks like you took the Commando, my piece, and the collar/breacher piece and mixed them all together." Jun remarked. "Sorta, if that's how you want to see it. It's fine by me. Let's go crack some heads." Jun and Six head further along the ledge, Jun reaches a boulder and starts to climb it.
"Mm. I'll be in touch." He waves Six off as Six slides down the ledge to the ground below.
"Recon Bravo, the sector ahead is definitely dark to electronic surveillance." Kat said through the coms.
"Covenant can block our instruments?" Jun asked to as means to clarify.
"So it would seem, and Command wants to know what they're hiding." Kat responded.
Six heads up along another ledge. An Elite Minor stands watch over the area, back facing them, while a few Grunts sleep nearby.
"Elite. He's yours, do it quiet." Noble Six nods as he put his sniper on his back and eased over to the Elite. He drew his blade with his left hand and got so close, he could hear the breaths from the foe. In a swift movement, he grabbed the mouth of the elite and jammed it closed with his intense strength, kicked it in the back of the leg hard enough to cause him to fall, and stabbed the elite right in the throat. "Shhhhhhh. I didn't want to do this you know." He whispers in Sangheili as the elite takes its dying breaths, wrangling and wiggling under his grip. He eventually stopped moving, so Six let him go and watched him drop beside him. Wiping the blood off his blade, Jun regroups with Six.
"Not bad." Six then puts his blade back and equips his pistol. It didn't take much effort to walk around and pop all the sleeping grunts right in the brains. After he eliminates the Grunts, he reloads his pistol and puts it away to pull out his sniper. As Noble continues forward, they eventually reach a Covenant-controlled complex.
"Recon Bravo to Noble Two, stand by for contact report." Jun says into coms.
"Standing by to copy, over." Kat responds.
"We have eyes on multiple hostiles patrolling a settlement. This what we're looking for, Kat?" Jun asked.
"Negative. Too small, you're not in the dark zone yet. Engage at your own discretion, but keep moving." She responded back.
"You heard her, Six. Drop those tangoes." Six closed his left eye and peered into the scope of the sniper. He scanned three elites walking on a catwalk, and decided that would be his best choice. 'One major, one minor, and one ranger. I'll take the ranger out first… Let's go!' he said in his thoughts, steadying his aim and aligning his crosshair on the head of the ranger. *BAKOW, BANG, BANG!* Six shot three shots into the elites as fast as he could, the shots echoing throughout the area. Jun opened fire upon many more tangos down below. Six, surprisingly, nailed all three perfect on the head and all three dropped before they knew what happened. He looked down quickly and fired one last shot at a Elite Minor down below, causing it's shields to break.
"Let's get em Six!" Jun yelled as they both reloaded their snipers. Jun stayed back, but Six drew his DMR while placing the Sniper on his back, and went for a full on frontal assault.
Both of the Spartans were tearing through the enemy forces. "Are you dead yet? No? You will be!" Jun said, laying into them with his sniper. After eliminating a few more of the Covenant troops, a Phantom shows up. "Incoming. Looks like we really pissed them off." They got into good firing positions and took shots into the incoming enemy forces. Jun fired onto the Rangers as they jet packed out of the phantom while Six took care of ground forces like jackals and grunts. "Don't show off just yet Jun!" Six yelled as he tossed a frag into the group of grunts and jackals landing from the phantom. The elites managed to dodge away.
"Don't be so jealous Six. I sleep with this rifle, you mess around with a sword."
"But man does it feel good to have a sniper again." Six retorted. He really hadn't used a sniper in such a long time, but having one again felt great. After running his current mag dry, he swapped back over to his sniper and placed a shot right into the skull of a ranger planted on the ground, killing not only the elite but some grunts behind him. "I see I have some competition." Jun said on coms, continuing to unleash heavy fire.
While reloading his sniper, Six was caught off guard by a plasma grenade landing next to him. "Shit!" he said as he rolled away as fast as he could. The explosion went off as he rolled and his shields caught the end of it. "Go Six, I got you covered!" Jun yelled, pretty much reading Six as he hauled ass into cover to regain his shields.
"Frag out! Hah!" Jun yelled as he reloaded while tossing a nade into a cluster of enemies in cover. As the covenant dispersed, Jun fired into them again. "Get the green demon!" A major yelled as they pushed Jun. Six had reloaded his DMR, and took this as a good opportunity to catch them. "You forgot about me you bastard!" Six yelled in Sangheili as he fired as fast as he possibly could into the head of the Major. It was the fastest Jun had ever heard a DMR being fired. So fast that its shields melted down and the rest of the mag was entered into its skull. How he managed to control the recoil is beyond him. "Damn Six, that was crazy as hell!" he said, following it up with crazed laughter.
Six and Jun fired off their remaining shots into the dispersed Jackals and grunts. They eliminate the rest of the Covenant in the area "Clear! All right, let's take this little trail and go in deeper." Jun said as he looked over to Six, waiting for him to head over. "Roger," Six said as he and went and continued onward on a trail behind the buildings, going further into the complex, soon finding an area with more Covenant troops. "So we aren't in the Dark Zone just yet, but electronics are still kinda hazy in this area. This all has to connect with the spire right?" Jun asked quizzingly.
"Yeah, we only caught glimpses of the spire though. We have no idea what we are up against, and no idea what this dark zone is here for. We are going based off a hunch really. So here is to hoping." Six explained.
"Right…" Jun followed back. While they were walking, something caught their attention. They both saw their radar light up like a Christmas tree, so they both got down low and had their rifles ready.
"We got hostiles near. I'll take a higher view, you just do what you do best." Jun whispered. Six nodded as they split off and got into their respective positions. The older buildings seemed to act as great defense portions for the covenant, but they weren't exactly ready for two Spartans to be at their doorstep despite hearing gunshots. Six readied his sniper, aiming down the sights and zoning in on the head of an unsuspecting Ultra.
Six slowly pulled the trigger and watched as the shields dissipated, with the helmet of the ultra being launched off its head while purple blood spattered. "We are under attack!" A major yelled as the jackals and grunts jumped and ran into formation. "Hahaha! Let's do this!" Jun said as they began to fire off their sniper rounds into any target asking for it. Jun went for the major posted up on the building while Six took care if the minor and his squad. "Demons! Slaughter them now!" Another Major yelled as he ran into cover, letting his teammates fight Jun and Six. "I love when it makes that sound." Jun remarked as he placed a bullet into the head of the major firing on his position from the building.
"Minor down, reloading." Six says as he ducks behind his cover and swaps mags. His radar was a bit iffy from being in the dark zone, but he could clearly see some red dots coming from his seven o'clock. Swapping over to his DMR, he rolled out of his cover and aimed down his sights to see a flanking jackal squad. He took out it's leader with a needles rifle first, as he could have been dangerous at such a close range. He strafed side to side as he continued his pattern of shooting the jackals in the hand to cause them to reveal their head, and then popping them right in the noggin. Jun was busy clearing out all the rest of the troops way out in front of Six, even firing onto some troops he saw down a leading trail. The two were actually make pretty quick work of the forces, as it seems like the whole bulk of their army was mainly jackal, skirmisher, and grunt forces. "Iro must have his main Sangheili forces at the actual spire." Six thought to himself.
"Visual on targets." Jun said as he fired upon anything he could see from his vantage point. "You like that?" He asked as he laid a round right into the dome of a poor little grunt, causing it to travel through and hit a jackal in the body. "Targets clear here, I'll move up onto the trail ahead. Care to cover me?" Six asked as he sprinted around the complex.
"Please, I'm pretty much mopping it up now." Jun said a bit snarky as he reloaded his sniper, peering back over the railing and firing at a shouting elite. Six made his way over to a shield placed on the trail and took cover behind it, occasionally peaking out and firing at enemies that give him a good sightline. The sounds of plasma whizzing by his helmet as he goes back into cover is truly a sound to remember. He may have shields to protect him, but he has heard of a Spartan going down by a single well placed plasma shot to the chest. Even with such advanced armors, it just sometimes isn't enough against such weaponry. We may be able to survive if it doesn't hit any vitals, but that is a slim to none.
As Jun gave him covering fire, his shield began to change to a red color. "Shit, gotta move." He said as he came out guns blazing, pushing the enemies back as he made his way to the next shield. "You get the rest Jun, while they are focused on me." Jun snickered as he hopped down from his little spot and began a slow push down the trail, firing his sniper relentlessly. "Oooh, headshot!" He said as he pushed forward. Six grabbed the radio on his chest and leaned his head into it. "We are getting close I believe. We have made quite a bit of progress already." He let go of the radio and pushed up with Jun now, firing onto the final enemies. Once they cleared it up, they reloaded their weapons and slowly pressed onwards, hearing quite a bit of noise up ahead. "What was that Six? You said something but I didn't catch all of it." Jun asked quizzingly.
"Ahh, nothing. I was just talking to myself is all." He responded, rather calmly at that. He had to make sure that his tone wasn't off putting in order to keep Thaya's existence a secret. "Right, let's continue then shall we?" Jun asked as Six nodded. Pressed on they did, but the noises were getting louder and louder, and they had no idea what the hell it could even be. "The hell is that noise? It just keeps getting louder and louder?"
"No idea, lets hop up on that group of rocks there, get a good vantage point of it." Six responded, with them both jumping up an assortment of big boulders. Jun and Six reach the top with their snipers at the sniper ready, and take notice of a clearing where some native large creatures are attacking Covenant troops.
"Look at that!" Jun says loudly while still whispering. Six didn't know what the hell to think, so he just aimed his rifle down range and kept it trained on the creatures as they rampaged. They were making quick work of an assortment of grunts and skirmishers. After eliminating the Covenant, the creatures notice Jun and Noble Six, and begin to charge them.
"Oh shit. Major enemy, incoming!" Jun and Six, from the safety of their perch, fired their rifles into the heads of the two creatures heading for them. It was like firing a .22 at a bear, as the creatures sustained many AP sniper rounds right into their head and not retaining much damage. "Come on! We have to take them down somehow!" Six shouted as the creatures roared out, causing Jun and Six to stumble a little bit. The force behind their roars matched those of a mythical dragon. "I have an idea! Distract them!" Six said as he went back from where they previously came from. Jun retained his fire from his perch, but the creatures kept roaring and throwing debris at him. "What the hell?! Your idea is to turn tail?!" He yelled, angry that he is left to deal with the monsters. In a few seconds however, Six was seen running back around the corner with two little blue balls attached to his belt.
"We will see if they like these!" Six yelled as he ran and jumped back up the rocks to get the high ground again. He held his rifle in his left hand while arming a plasma nade in his right. "Roar you big bitch. Come on!" He shouted, while Jun simultaneously shoots one of the creatures in the head. The other scrambled around to find something heavy to throw. The one still near them reared back and roared at them again. With a swift movement, Six chucked a plasma grenade into the mouth of the monster as hard as he could in order to make sure the roar couldn't veer it off course. Sure enough, the grenade stuck to its mouth and exploded, causing its blood to spray everywhere as it fell down, mouth and jaw charred from the searing burns of the plasma explosion. The sizzling it made was surely a nasty sound.
"Oh god, that was unexpected." Jun commented as Six jumped down and chased after the other creature. "What the- A heads up would suffice!" Jun yelled as he fired on the other creature fumbling around to find a nice rock to crush them. As he neared, he armed the grenade and stood a good little bit away from it in order not to get stepped on. "Come on you ugly bastard! Make a move!" Six shouted as the creature growled, picking up a big boulder after a bit of searching. "Oh shit, Six back up!" Jun ordered, but Six ignored.
The creature turned with the boulder held above its head, rearing to slam it down onto Six. "Six! Move!" Jun yelled again, but was surprised to see a bright blue light getting tossed into the face of the creature. Six turned around and hauled ass as it exploded, causing the creature to drop the boulder on itself as it fell.
Six stopped his running to catch his breath, turning around and seeing the aftermath of the situation. "Damn… that was some gruesome deaths for those things." He said panting as Jun rushed over to him. Their adrenaline was pumping from seeing such a new creature. "Yeah, it may have been overkill but it sure saved our skin. Kat, pick any of that up?" Jun said into the coms.
"Affirmative, Recon Bravo. It's an indigenous creature, called Gúta. Their aren't too much running around thanks to the covenant. They are on the verge of extinction I'm pretty sure." Kat responded, causing Jun to shrug. "We didn't do it, that's all that matters." Jun and Six gather themselves after a little bit but then continue on, soon finding another trail.
"Six, there's another trail up ahead through the rocks. Let's take it." He ordered. Six followed behind him and took notice of a little green light peering out of a cave up ahead on their left. "See that? Could be some marines." Six said while they went. While taking the trail however, they come across several Moa running off from the gun fire up ahead.
"Gunfire. Magnums, security sidearms. Standard issue." Jun comments as they pass by The moa and enter the cave. The green light was a glow stick next to a dead marine, holding a sniper and some grenades. "Damn, sorry soldier. I will take that." Six said as he crouched over by the dead marine and stripped him of his sniper ammo. He then topped it off by taking out the sniper mag and pulling the bolt back to get the chambered round.
Standing up, he gathered the sniper ammo and handed them to Jun. "Take em, you have been burning through that ammo more than Jorge does with that minigun of his." Jun nodded, taking it and putting them in their assorted places in his pack. "Let's go help out those marines. Come on." Six lead the way as The two sprinted through the cave, causing the trail to open up to a pumping station. Several militia are under attack by Covenant forces.
"Noble Two, that's some sort of pump station. Got eyes on civilians, I'm thinking more local militia, they've engaged hostiles." Jun said, with Six breaking off to his left. Six went up on a ledge overlooking the whole pump station, and it seems a marine had the same idea as him, since he was now laying dead with a sniper in front of Six. He took whatever ammo he had left on him and put them in his pouch.
"Move to assist. They may have intel we need." Kat responded, causing Jun to get ready.
"You heard her, Six. Keep those civilians alive." Jun said as he moved forward, seeing that Six was in a good sniper position. "Already on it Noble Three." Six said as he shot his rifle, echoing throughout the pump station and scaring the daylights of not only the marines, but the covenant as well. The bullet ended up being lodged in the skull of an Elite Major. "Spartans! They are here!" A marine shouted out as they took cover.
"Give us a hand! Bastards just keep comin'."
A marine ordered as they and Jun laid fire into the covenant, taking hold of the station above them. Six didn't waste any shots, placing them into any enemy that seemed like it was getting a good angle or was labeled too dangerous to still be walking. An ultra with a Plasma Repeater took note of Six's location and ran off somewhere. "Hell yeah! Take that you ugly freaks!" Another marine shouted as Jun snickered.
Six reloaded frequently as he fired at anything giving him the opportunity. "Jun, they are thinning out. You got some skirmishers on the roof, so I'll break around the left using the bridge. Support the marines." Six explained as he placed his sniper on his back with his DMR and rushed down the hill. "Roger." Jun said as Six reached the end of a bridge and climbed up some rocks. Once he got up, he pulled out his suppressed magnum and walked bridge with his pistol ready. As he neared, he opened fire on some jackals and skirmishers still focused on the marines and Jun. It took them a bit to notice due to their not being much noise coming from Six's pistol, but a heavy grunt noticed him when he saw his buddy drop next to him. "WAAAHHH! The demon is right next to us!" It shouted as it fled, being greeted by a nice sniper shot in the back from jun, causing its little armored fin to break. It made a weird hissing noise as it began to fly around a little bit.
"Hahahahaha! I love it when that happens!" Jun laughed as he and the Marines pushed up into the main courtyard. "Let's take the rest out, come on men!" The leader said as his three men pushed up with Jun, firing at the covenant that entered his sights. Six shot at the jackals as they brought their attention over to Jun, and also fired at the skirmishers on the roof. After a few more exchanged shots between the forces, an echoing sniper shot signified the soldiers current win. "All clear." Six said as he loaded his magnum and went over to the marines as they stood in the center, next to these green briefcases. He holstered his magnum and pulled out his sniper.
"Little more action than we're used to. You Spartans are good in a fight." The leader spoke up. "It's what we are made for, what is your names? I am Noble Six, and that is Noble Three."
"I am Sergeant Evans. The three men I have here is all I have left of my original squad. We got Private First Class Anders, Lance Corporal Dunham, and Specialist Ross. Glad to be on your side Spartans."
"We are just here on reconnaissance. Glad we ran into you. About your squad, I'm sorry. Had we been here a couple days earlier, we may have saved a few more lives. I'll see to it that they are properly avenged. You got my word." Six nodded as he finished, expressing his seriousness towards it.
"I thank you Noble Six. Although, it was our choice to be here. My men laid down their lives for their home. They didn't go out without a fight, that's for sure." He replied, causing Jun to start asking questions.
"What are you doing here? Whole area's supposed to be evacuated."
"Didn't like leaving it to someone else to protect our home. So we came back, for this. We have 'em hidden all over the territory." Evans walked near the three briefcases, and they electronically open to reveal various UNSC weapons. One had an assault rifle, DMR, and magnum. Another had another two DMRs and a magnum, while the final one had a shotgun and a rocket launcher, along with their assorted ammo types. "Damn, that's a lot of fire power there Evans." Six added.
"You know this stuff is stolen." Jun remarked, causing Six to tilt his head in confusion. Evans stood his ground as he raised an eyebrow. "What? You gonna arrest me?"
"No. Gonna steal it back." Jun said with a sly attitude. Six walked over and grabbed some DMR ammo, not taking too much. As Six stands up, he begins to hear a noise he really didn't want to hear right now. "Alright, you guys stock up. Grab whatever you can take and get into defensive positions." The Marines looked confused, but Jun interjected as he saw what Six heard. "Another dropship coming in."
"Oh shit! Okay… Ross! You take the rocket launcher. When you run dry, come back and grab whatever you can, whether it be the shotgun or the DMR. Dunham, you are going to rock with the DMR. You have the marksmanship for it. Anders! Grab that assault rifle and get into defensive positions!" Evans yelled, grabbing his rifle out of the case and moving into his position. "Jun, I need you up on the roof, act like a guardian angel for the marines."
"If you say so." Jun said as he ran up the steps behind him. With everyone in their assorted positions, they were now ready to take on the covenant as they tried to retake the pumping station. As the spirit touched down, the sides opened up and both Six and Jun began to fire at the Elites and Grunts before they could even touch the ground. It was a very disappointing way to go out; dead before you even touch the ground. "No touch down for those guys." Six muttered to himself as the marines got ready for the squad about to press in from the side they couldn't shoot.
Six reloaded his rifle as he heard the sound of an assault rifle go off. "They are coming up from the right side guys!" Anders yelled as he sprayed into an Elite. Once it's shields were down, Dunham placed a nice bullet right into the dome of the elite, causing it to drop in its locked position. "Back up Anders! Get with us!" Yelled Evans as Anders fumbled around trying to get to them. Ross had the rocket placed next to himself incase the time called, but for now he was holding a shotgun. "Take them out!" Evans and Dunham shot into the jackals and grunts as they came onto them, with Anders and Ross spraying into those who got too close. "Reloading!" Shouted Dunham, as Anders peaked up and sprayed into the shield of a jackal major. "I got you covered!" It's shield broke down, but Anders gun ran empty as its shield did. He ducked down to reload, and as he did Dunham shot back up, placing a round into the jackals head. "Clear." Dunham said, lowering his rifle. After the team was finished dealing with the hostiles, a second Phantom is seen in the distance.
"We've got company." Jun says, breaking their short silence. The marines look up to spot the phantom coming in from behind, so they switched their position to make sure they weren't to open. With Jun on one roof, Six decided he should take that high ground advantage as well, so he ran over to the building to his left and went up the stairs onto the roof. With Jun and Six adjacent to each other, there would be an easy mop up. "Alright, me and Jun will tag what we can. You guys get anything that makes it out." Six ordered. "Understood Lieutenant." said Evans as the phantom touched down.
Six wasted no time into putting a bullet into the head of the grunt on the plasma turret. "Damn! Stole my kill Six!" Jun said, causing Six to laugh. "You're too slow." Six said back. "We will see about that..." Jun remarked, proceeding to snipe at four separate grunts as the phantom doors opened up. Six chuckled to himself as he aimed down and sniped the domes of the elite Majors and Ultras. The two Majors had no luck in surviving, but the Ultras managed to tank his final two shots due to their shield upgrades. "Reloading, cover me." Six said, ducking down a bit as he reloaded. The covenant forces jumped out, and a swarm of grunts and jackals rushed out with their Ultra leaders darting into cover to regain his shields.
"More inbound. Tangos coming your way Evans, get ready." Jun said as he began to pluck off some jackals that gave the slightest angle of their body. Six popped back up, noticing that the Ultras were now out of sight. Looking out a bit, he swapped his sniper with his DMR on his back, and jumped down from his rooftop to flank the covenant as they rushed towards the marines. As soon as he landed, he aimed up and began to fire at the grunts already running for the Marines. "Behind us! One of them is behind us!" A grunt yelled as it fleed, causing others to do so as well. The Ultras formed together in their cover, with Plasma Repeaters at the ready. "Grrrr… those damn Unggoy are so skittish. Nothing but impudent pawns! Let's go brother, let us take out these humans and the demons guarding them." One Ultra said to the other. They nodded to each other and roared out as they both charged head on at the Marines, blocking themselves with Jackals and grunts.
"Take them down!" Evans yelled out as the four marines rained down heavy fire, properly switching and taking cover at the perfect moments in order to assure that constant fire is maintained. "Frag out! Get down!" Ross yelled out as he pressed a button on the handle and tossed a grenade into the remaining group, disrupting their flow as the marines got down.
The explosion went off, and the Elites were now pushing to the marines, charging so fast it was hard to react. "Marines! Elite Ultras closing in, move!" Jun said as he fired at them as they charged. The marines stayed down however, choosing to keep the cover while they could. Their shields tanked his shots, and as Jun was about to drop the both of them with his final two, his sniper went *click* with no shot ensuing. "Damn, why jam now! Six, help the marines!"
Six put his rifle on his back and pulled out his energy sword, hauling ass as fast as he could up the ramp and spotting them pushing the marines. One was firing at Jun as he laid low, clearing his gun. The other shot at the cover and over it in order to catch a marine when he pops up. He didn't hesitate to run as fast as he could, activating his sword and jumping on the shoulders of the first elite. The ultra gave out a surprised little growl as the weight nearly overcame him. Before he could do anything however, a blade entered his neck, causing him to start losing to the weight as life began to drain away from his amber eyes. Swiftly, Six used him as a springboard as he jumped off him and came down on top of the other elite. The elite went straight down without any more noises, since the sword came down right on top of his head, falling limp as he was skewered.
Both elites have fallen. Six got up and deactivated his blade, putting it back on his belt and looking behind him to see no more enemies. "All clear." Six said as he walked over to the center, looking at the bodies of the fallen elites. The four marines popped up from their cover, panting as if they were out of breathe. "You good up there Jun?" Six asked as he walked over to the marines. Jun got up from his prone position, holding his sniper and shrugging. "Had a slight jamming problem at the most inconvenient time. She is all good now."
Six shook his head, crossing his arms and sighing a bit. "Maybe if you spent more time cleaning it and making sure it's in good condition rather than sleeping with it, you wouldn't run into this problem." Jun chuckled. "Noted, it has been a while since she has been cleaned properly. I'll get on it when we have the free time." He hopped down and regrouped with Six and the Marines.
"Thanks for the assist again Spartans. Those damn elites tank bullets like they are nothing." Anders nodded in agreement, as the others checked their weapons. Ross strapped the rocket launcher onto his back, so that when the time called, he could use it. They all reloaded their weapons as Jun spoke.
"You gotta be ready to take those elites down because had we not been around, you all could have been dead meat." He said, rather annoyed by the fact that they practically didn't do anything when the elites pressed forward. "You are right, we will get our heads on straight so we won't do anything stupid." Evans said, causing Jun to nod. "You know, there is nothing here but that lake."
It took Evans a second to understand why he said that, but he eventually realized it and explained himself. "Road leads to a hydroelectric plant, but the gate doesn't work.
"Alternate route?" Jun followed up, loading up his sniper properly.
"We use the riverbed to smuggle rations, weapons..." He let it trail off, knowing fully well he probably got the point across.
"Basically anything the UNSC considers contraband." He answered, with Evans following him up. "Basically."
"Show us." Jun said, with the marines all ready to go. Six pulled his sniper back out and nodded to Jun as Evans took the lead. "Follow me." Evans said as the Spartans and the Marines followed Evans across The courtyard and down a trail that Jun and Six did not notice. It was now in sight, "There's the riverbed, Six. Let's see where it goes." As they went along, Jun decided to question Evans about it to gather more Intel. "Where does this riverbed lead?"
"Straight to the hydro plant. We dammed this river up forty-five years ago, plant powers every settlement in the territory. Shame if it all gets wasted." Evans said, ending it off in a seemingly worried tone. "Doing what we can." Jun remarked.
Six perked up as he heard a noise coming from up and behind them. "Jun, you hear that?" He said as the marines continued on. Jun turned around and peered up into the sky, seeing a little purple light up in the night sky with the humming following suit. "Hold up. Covie dropship, take cover." Jun said. "We can hide under that arch way up ahead. Move." Six commented as they all rushed over to it and stood under it, keeping to the shadows as the phantom came into view. "Don't move, they don't know where we are, so let's keep it that way." Six said to the marines as he and Jun eyed the phantom like a predatory does it's prey.
The phantom passes overhead after a short bit, causing Jun and Six to stand up rather relaxed. "OK, clear. Let's move." Jun said as he and Six walked out, following the trail with the Marines behind them. As they continue on, they eventually walk out on a ridge line. The plant, which is under Covenant control, is now in full view. A Covenant pylon is seen near the plant.
"Bingo…" Six whispered to himself.
"Kat, are you seeing this? Covenant structure. Kind of a big pylon. Heavily fortified." Jun asked intently, tilting his head to the side as he eyes the pylon. "That's the source of our dark zone." Kat responds.
"Okay, consider it gone." Jun said in a menacing tone. Before Six could object, Kat came in and did it for him. "Negative, stick a remote det charge on it. Command's planning something big. They say that pylon dies at dawn."
"We're gonna blow it?" Dunham asks to Jun, getting his DMR ready.
"We're gonna clear the area, and I'm gonna plant a remote det charge. You want to provide some cover, go right ahead." Jun answered back. "I'll take point. I'll take out as many as I can quietly. Once things go loud, you guys go all in." Six says as he goes ahead, pulling out his suppressed magnum and putting the sniper on his back. No one seemed to argue with him as they followed behind him slowly.
Six came near a bridge, spotting an Elite eyeing the area while some grunts slept. As soon as he turned his back, Six crept onto the bridge and came up behind him. As fast and quietly as he could, Six jumped up on him and wrapped his arms around the elite, snapping its neck with a loud crack. When it stopped moving in his arms, he slowly and carefully placed it on the floor of the bridge. Some grunts shifted a little bit in their sleep, but overall he was in the clear. One by one as fast as he could, he popped the sleeping grunts in the head with his suppressed pistol. "Okay, bridge is clear, I'm gonna see if I can take out the Grunts positioned on that gravity lift structure. Watch my back." Six said to his squadmates through his coms. He didn't need a response back, knowing very well his team had his back.
He slowly inched his way across the rest of the bridge, eyeing the plasma turrets placed on the lift. The grunts seemed to also be asleep the more he investigated, so he went over to the lift and walked into it. The lift made a weird noise as it hoisted him upwards and onto the top of the sentry placement, but the noise had caused the Grunts to stir in their sleep, babbling and waking up to see what was going on. Once Six landed, he dispatched the first grunt he saw and rushed around the side to kill the second. The grunt however, shrieked as it saw a blur of Six coming it's way. Time seemed to slow for the grunt as a heavy foot came and landed right across the grunt's face, causing some teeth and blue blood to spray as it flew off the lift and onto the ground with a loud thud. "The demon is here! Kill it!" The other grunt said as it charged it's plasma pistol and fired at Six.
The entire facility was now awake and on high alert as elites with their jackal and grunt squads shuffled around into defensive positions in different parts of the facility. They also had heavy skirmishers rushing the area, with shields placed on their wrists like vambraces.
Six's shields went down as he grunted in pain from the shields being busted by the overcharged shot. As soon as he lifted his pistol up, a sniper shot rang throughout the facility as the grunt's head exploded with vibrant light blue blood. "I got your back Six, take cover, we are inbound." Jun said as Six exhaled that of relief. His armor sparked as the shields charged up to come back online.
Jun and the Marines had went into a full assault on the covenant, dispatching everything that came into their sights. Six holstered his pistol, and did something that he hasn't done in a long time. He zoned out, looking up into the stars and thinking about what's to come ahead. The lengths that the covenant were going in order to obtain reach and the artifacts on it scares him badly. His very first mission on noble team ended up with him facing two Zealots and a Field Marshall. Sure, he managed to change the ideals of the Marshall, but that doesn't mask everything else. Deep down, even through his fascination for the Sangheili as a species, and through their exchanged conversations, he doesn't know if he could ever truly forgive her. He knows what it takes in order to get to such a high position, but is he any better? He could have broken the arms and legs of every elite he came across and forced to heed his word. Instead, he just slaughters them out of vengeance for the innocent people they killed. They were both monsters in their own rights, and neither were expected to become friends.
Another thing that haunted him is this constant fear glooming over him that messed with him for years. He knows that it was both a strength, and a weakness. His fear of losing his team. The fear of losing his loved ones, his brothers and sisters, people he promised he would protect. In the end, there is no ensuring that everyone will make it out alright. That is what killed him the most. He activated his radio on his chest, leaning into it a bit and speaking in Sangheili. "Thaya? Thaya are you there?" The response he received, was that of the sound silence that filled his zoned out bubble, despite the battle happening behind him.
He somehow managed to regain his composure enough to walk on the other side of the structure, pull out his sniper, and began firing at any enemies he saw. They were being torn apart by his teammates, standing no chance with the amount of firepower they had. The marines had a sufficient amount of cover thanks to the combined efforts of Jun and Six. "More covies coming out of the facility!" Ross said as they focused fire in the pair of elite minors rushing out with more skirmishers. Six was still zoning out, despite taking down high priority targets such as heavy grunts with fuel rod cannons and elite majors trying to flank around the squads right side. "Why do I bear these weaknesses… was I a failure among the Spartan threes? Is that why he chose me and made me into the soldier I was now, because I was going to be a failure without these skills? Did I doom humanity with my choice? Should I really trust Thaya? Will she keep to her word and is she really on my side?" So many different questions kept going through his head as he sat up on the structure and reloaded his weapon. If his helmet was off, you would see just how empty his eyes were. You would see just how somber he looked with his mind wandering in a different plane.
"Okay, I'm heading for the pylon. Mop up this place so I can put the det charge in its power supply." Jun said as he ran back, plasma whizzing by him as the marines backed him. Six and the Marines fired onto the remaining covenant forces, with the final elite falling to the ground. The gunshots stopped through the facility, and they were in the clear for now. Jun made it to the pylon and turned around to watch the marines walk up a set of stairs and open up some green briefcases like before and stocked themselves with more ammo.
"All clear, Six. This is gonna take a minute, keep your eyes peeled." Jun says as he gets to work, but his words fell on deaf ears. Eventually, a phantom is heard in the distance closing in. "Phantom incoming!" Evans says, prompting the marines to get into their defensive positions up on the staircase, using the concrete walls for cover. The phantom got close, and yet Six made no movements and did not say a single word. "Hunters! Six we are gonna need your help!" Dunham yells as he sees the phantom open up, revealing the two giant juggernauts as they hopped out and growled. Six finally snapped back into their world as he realized the danger his team was now in. He jumped down swiftly back off, firing his sniper into the visible little tentacles that were exposed on the head. This did damage, but not enough to stop it. It's main weakness was it's back.
"Charge placed! Let's kill these bastards!" Jun yelled as he retreated to the marines position. Evans, Anders, Dunham, and now Jun were all firing into the Hunters, taking cover whenever it charged up its cannon. "Ross! You need to use that rocket launcher on these guys! Four rockets, two for each. If it doesn't kill them, it will at least take off their damn armor!" Evans yelled as Ross fumbled to get his rocket launcher off his back. Six kept to his toes as he continued to shoot them and keep them distracted by running around in their vicinity, buying them as much time as possible. The cannon shots were really testing Six's shields as the Hunters were starting to compensate where he was gonna move next.
"Make sure you land a direct hit! Get ready Ross!" Dunham said as Ross aimed his rocket over at the hunters as they attacked Six, occasionally firing at Jun and the marines. Six's mag hit empty again, but instead of reloading he decided to swap it for his sword. He activated as usual, with sparks flying as the loud clash of the blade activating filled the area. He got close to the hunter closest to him to get it to swing, and indeed it did. With angry grunts, it swung it's massive shield down at Six, but he strafed around its side all the while slashing it's exposed side. This caused it to flinch from its weak spot getting slashed, and Six ran back as fast as he could. "Now!" Six yelled. Ross aimed the best he could, eventually firing both his rockets one after another right at the Hunter as it tried to regain it's composure.
The rockets both landed as they were expected. The first one hit it's back and opened up its back armor while the other hit it on its weakest point. With it already being so damaged from the constant gunfire, it was sure to fall. That it did. When it did, the other one roared in its signature tone, firing it's cannon at the marines. "Shit! It's pissed now!" Ross said as he tried to load in his final two rockets. Jun branched off to the left of the upper level, shooting the hunter to divert attention.
Six ran to his right while the hunter was distracted, grabbing his final frag grenade off his belt as he ran. Once he realized he was at its flank, he rushed towards it, stabbing his sword into its back, and the priming the grenade. Slashing his sword outwards, he then shoved his grenade into the wound he slashed out of the hunter and turned tail back. "That that you big bastard." He said as he watched it turn around to fire at him only to have it's back explode and leak out onto the ground. It's little tentacles sprung out of its back and hit the ground, like a gutted boars organs after gutting it. It's orange blood glowed much like the grunts, giving a nice new glow to the ground as the juggernaut fell to the ground.
"H-holy shit! We just beat those things! Hell yeah, that's the way!" Dunham yelled raising his DMR to the sky. The marines got up from their positions and went over Six, who was now catching his breath over by a giant gate behind him. His sword was already deactivated and on his belt. "Thank God you guys are here, I can't stress that enough." Ross commented as Jun made his way over to the group. "It's no biggie, we are simply doing our job." He then turned to look at Six, "What happened to you? You aren't crashing on me are you Six?"
Six straightened up and relaxed. "No, I'm good. I just hate those things more than any other creature in the covenant. The only one that deserves my hatred the most is the San'shyuum, but those damn things come in close." He pulled his sniper off his back and reloaded it. "Time to contact Kat." Six said to Jun, with Jun nodding back. "Recon Bravo to Noble Two, charge placed."
"Somewhere inconspicuous, I hope." She mused.
"Stuck it inside the pylon's power supply." Jun explained.
"Alright. Keep pushing into the dark zone. Command wants to know what the Covenant are hiding." Jun looked over at Six, who just shrugged not knowing what to say. Jun then looked over to the giant gate behind Six, and informed Kat about it. "There's a gate to the southeast of the power plant."
"Copy. Uploading security codes to you now."
Six chuckled quietly to himself.
"Okay, got 'em. Unlocking the gate." Jun said, walking over to a little panel on the right side and typing in the code he was given. The panel turned green as the gate started making noises to open up. "Gotta love her." Six commented.
"Charmed Six. Recon Bravo, you're heading into the dark zone now." Kat informed. Noble Six was not expecting that, and it threw him off causing Jun to laugh a little bit. "Understood Kat, Recon Bravo out." Jun looked over to Six and then the marines.
"What is your plan now?" Jun asked. Evans stepped forward from his squad and stood as stoic as he could. "We can't continue after this point. At this point we have been a bit of a burden. We will stay behind and gather our supplies. We have plenty of ways to get out, so don't worry." Six stepped forward as well. "I don't like it. Too many different outcomes from that. Why not lag behind me and Jun as we clear a path. We can evacuate you out of here."
"We appreciate that Six, but this is our home. We will stay behind and gather as much supplies as we can. Then we will book it out of there once things go haywire." Evans explained, and his soldiers nodded their heads in agreement. Six pondered a bit before groaning quietly in anger. "Fine, but I better catch you bastards at some point later on down the road. I want ALL of you alive, you got me? Have each others backs, and don't be afraid to turn tail of the battle looks like it could be too much." Six explained. The marines stood up straight and saluted him, with Evans speaking for the squad. "Yes sir, Lieutenant. Happy hunting. Thank you for the assist Spartans." The marines then turned around and headed off, going across the bridge heading god knows where.
Six sighed as he looked over at his tac pad. "Damn them… more weight just got added on my shoulders." Jun went over to him and patted his shoulder. "You can't help it, it's who you are. You just need to learn that you can't save everyone." Six looked up into the Sky as Jun entered through the opened up gate. "Let's get a move on, Six." Six turned and walked over to Jun.
Looking over to the clifface on the left, they saw a purple ship inbound. "Phantom! Too close for comfort." Jun said as it closed in, sniping the grunt on its turret before it could fire at them. "We didn't even hear the damn thing!" Six said as they both aimed in and waited for the doors to open. Sure enough, it did and they both fired off their shots into anything that caught their eye. Six managed to take out an Elite Ultra and two grunts, while Jun killed two jackals and two grunts. "Three bullets, four dead. I could do better." Jun commented to himself as they reloaded quickly as the remaining troop hopped out of the ship. Six dropped his sniper to be fast as possible, switching to his magnum and firing into the remaining jackals and grunts. "Nothing left to interest me." Jun said snarky like as he and Six mopped up the covenant forces that dropped out.
Six loaded his magnum and put it back on his right side. Picking up his sniper, he turned to see Jun opening up a big green briefcases like the ones before, revealing two snipers and a much of ammunition for it. "It's feels like Christmas." Jun said as he took a portion of the ammo. Six came over and took the other portion. "Thank God for these stolen UNSC weapons, otherwise we would have to scavenge covenant weapons." Jun groaned just thinking about it. "Man, you are telling me. Let's move."
As they loaded up and moved on, Jun halted Six from going forth up the hill. "What's wrong?"
"Covenant know of our position, and they could have something bad posted over there. We have to play the long range game. Let's go." Jun said, with both getting into their separate spots on the hill. They looked down range and saw two shade turrets aim their way. The elites and the shades began to unleash all colors of plasma over to their location.
"Shade! Fire and maneuver, Six! Hit 'em from the side!" Jun yelled, firing and killing two Sangheili Rangers before they could jetpack over. "Already ahead of you." Six said as he blasted the head of the elite minor controlling one of them. He then ducked down and shifted to the left side of the hill so that he could pop back up. Jun was over on his far right, sniping at anything that caught his eye. Some elites decided to retreat back behind their hill, but the ranger squad were persistent.
Six popped back up and looked around, soon being fired upon by the second shade. He quickly snapped on the grunt piloting that one and popped it in the head before ducking back down as his shields drained really low from the shade shots. "Damn, those shades melt down our shields."
"Just don't get hit then Six." Jun said as he strafed to his right up the hill, taking out a ranger on the way. "Got a nice frag for you!" Jun yelled as he tossed a grenade into a group of jackals, sending their blood and corpses into the surrounding area. "Hahahahaha! I really should be keeping score. I swear." Six went over the hill with Jun in order to catch the enemies on the other side. He didn't want to give them too much of a break.
Switching to his DMR, he peaked over and saw Majors, running with a squadron of grunts and jackals as per usual. "How many of you bastards are there?" Six asked as he and Jun Let the ballistics do the rest of the talking. The sly filled with different colors of blood, spraying onto the ground. The valley echoed with the sounds of ballistic and plasma rounds being exchanged, and the two Spartans continued to fight through every bit of enemy they came across. He had to get ahead of Iro if he wanted to ensure a nice pathway to a supposed victory. His army had to be stopped before it crushed them.
Banshees flew overhead as the two Spartans cleaned up the filth, littering the beautiful grounds of reach. Surprisingly, they did not attack. That in itself was more fishy than anything. "Lotta air traffic around here, Six. I think we're getting warm." As Jun said this, they continued pushing forward. They covered each other when reloading and mowed through the covenant forces stationed in their sector. The more they pressed, the more Jun had a feeling that they must have been getting closer. Six looked up after ducking down to reload, and saw the tail end of a corvette in the Sky behind the rock wall up ahead. When Jun got down to reload, Six signaled him about the ship above before covering him. "Noble Two, we have eyes on at least one Covenant ship." Kat didn't waste any time to respond, "Solid copy. Don't stop now." Six and Jun didn't waste time either, as they both pressed onward, taking out more and more covenant as they pushed. They tossed whatever grenades they came across right back at them and backed or stabbed the heads of anyone who got too close. The raw teamwork that the two assassins were putting it gave the covenant little to no chance of winning. "The bodies just keep piling." Jun said, causing Six to chuckle. "It's mostly grunts and jackals. All the elites were mostly at the beginning of our recon. There isn't much left this way. Just cannon fodder." Jun didn't really argue. As they dispatched the final foe, which was an Elite Major, they realized that they had began to run dry on ammo.
"Yes. Clear. Perfect fucking timing huh?" Jun said laughing, both catching their breathe after having sheer adrenaline keep them going. "You can say that again." Six said back, placing his DMR in his back. He looked up at the corvette and traced it down the rock wall. He could see an opening that they could crawl through to see what's on the other side. "Let's go through this little crawlspace, see what's on the other side." Jun and Six go on and get down on their stomachs and crawled forward. They eventually reach the end and look down to see a drop, and a massive Covenant landing zone is shown ahead of them in the distance.
"Jackpot." Jun said, with Six following him up. "Transmitting visual." Jun eyed the entire landing strip near the spire. "You seeing this, Kat?"
"Confirmed. Receiving Noble Three and Noble Six's live visual of a Covenant strike force." Kat said back, but Jun got a little heated seeing such a massive strip formed.
"That's no strike force, it's an invading army. Six wasn't joking when he suggested the idea that they could be hiding something here, but just look at that! If we're gonna smother this thing, we need to go in hard and fast." He explained, and Six nodded.
"Agreed. All recon teams disengage and fall back. Sun will be up in a few hours... and it's going to be a very busy day." Kat said one last time. "Roger, Noble Three and Six disengagement underway." Six said as they crawled out of the outcrop.
"Time to make this dreadful walk back. We gotta get out of the dark zone if we want evac." Jun said as they started making their run back, walking over the bodies of each and every enemy they had slaughtered. "You go up ahead Jun, make sure nothing is waiting for us. I got our Six." Jun chuckled at that bit if irony and name olay. "Roger Sam."
"Easy Headhunter, let's not go rampant." Six said back jokingly and rather smug, knowing that Jun knew he didn't like to use his name. Jun then chuckled as he went up ahead over the hills, making a clear path to the gate. All had been quiet now. The only sounds being heard was that of the vehicles over by the strip, and safe to say the corvette behind them. He followed behind Jun from quite a distance, heading back out of the gate and heading to cross the bridge. As he followed Jun, he activated his radio, "Thaya? You there?" He asked in Sangheili.
He was once again greeted with nothing but static on his end. He had wondered if it was simply just too late, but upon checking the time in his tac pad it revealed to be barely half past four in the morning. He looked behind him at the facility as he crossed the bridge and saw nothing but littered bodies of hunters, grunts, and elites. He didn't see the marines that he left behind.
Eventually making their way through the trails, they make it back to the pump station, where they made their first standoff against the covenant upon finding the marines. Of course, there was nothing there as Jun had given him the all clear from up ahead. The marines were also not in sight, once again.
"Six? Six are you there?" a voice said, coming through his radio rather quietly. "Thaya? Are you alright?" He asked intently. "Yes, I am fine. You just came in abruptly while I was working over a plan, and it startled me is all. What's going on? I have heard some chatter from Iro that something ominous has been going on."
"Jeez you are up late or… early. Anyway, I cleared out several different strongholds down in the dark zone. We spotted the landing strip and have seen his massive army there. Me and noble three managed to take out many covenant forces, albeit with the help of some marines, but it proved to be just a little too much at once. We handled it of course, but you were not fooling around with this Marshal. His army here could prove to be quite fearsome if we do not act. We are retreating for now, and once the sun arises, we must attack the spire and take it out." He explained, hoping she wouldn't have any detest to the plan.
"Sounds like you worked this out. It is probably the best plan you have if you wish to smother his opportunity at gaining the prophets attention. He has already been gaining enough, so it won't hurt to give him some negative notoriety." She responded. He sighed of relief as he trekked down the trails away from the pumping station, having to now head across the fields where the Gúta still lay dead, already starting to turn more pale. "Glad to hear we aren't thinking too rash, but I won't lie to you Thaya. Your forces are intimidating…" He said, growing more worried at the thought of this plan going south.
"The covenant has always decided to display their numbers and brawn more than their keen intellect and tactical battle strategies. That's why I am such an outcast compared to other higher ups, because I take careful steps in strategies rather than going all in like Iro. Worry not Six, I believe that you'll do what it takes to make this work. I'll try to give you any information I pick up when you attack, because Iro will surely figure out his army is under attack the minute you arrive. He may be foolish, but he is a field marshal after all." Six smiled a bit under his visor.
"Yeah, you are probably right. Me and my team will make sure that his army is stomped. Any information you can provide will be helpful so we can adapt to the situation." He said, walking down the trail that leads to the outer part of the complex. "As I said, I will do what I can. You just make sure you stay safe. Who will I go to if you were to perish?"
"Look Thaya, I am not trying to get you on our side so much as to make it look like a brainwashing. I just want your species to realize the evil of the high prophets so you can be better than who you are now. Surely if the sangheili break away, others would follow suit? Anyway… if I were to perish here on reach, then I would hope you would continue to do what you think is right. Be better than what they covenant made you out to be, and restore the ways of your people back on Sanghelios." He explained, hoping his point actually came across.
"I understand… Thank you." was all she said, and in the softest voice she could possibly muster. Very different from her strong, noble type she has normally. She was very content with his words, and she supposes that if things were to turn south, she must completely abandon the covenant all together. After all, her true reasoning of joining was still a secret.
"Tell me Thaya, because my head hurts trying to grasp it... Why did you join the covenant? Truly? You have been the only one I have come across that truly is conflicted in motives. Any others who have shown signs of disent have been quote on quote, 'dealt with.' So tell me truly why you joined if you seemed so conflicted that you would actually listen to my words and join me. I know your people and their history have role, but yours runs deeper." He explained, causing Thaya to nearly stutter as she was dumbfounded that he asked that question. It was either a coincidence, or he can read minds. It took her a good minute before her voice came back through, with Six wandering through the complex to get to the other side, where he and Jun's mission truly began.
"What I told you was mostly the truth… me and many others had to join. We would be disgraced and maybe even punished for not joining the covenant if we were perfectly able bodies. Our joining of the covenant may very well have been a disgrace in itself from the information you have told me and from what I have gathered. Even though these reasons are true, t-there has been one I kept from you and everyone else. Only one person knows of my foolish reasoning for joining the covenant and striving to become the highest rank possible."
"I won't tell anyone about this Thaya, you can trust me. I have kept any trace of you from ever being discovered. Your existence is not known to my squad. I trust you, so do you trust me?" He asked, not really caring what the answer is as he feels as if they trust each other well enough. It would just be nice to hear it.
"I trust you Noble Six, worry not. Now, my real reason for joining the covenant is actually because of family. My father, Kalo 'Vadamee, is a council member. He is a proud and noble warrior for Sanghelios, and a stoic representative for our species on the council. Sure, there are many other council members which include the San'shyuum, the high prophets, and other Sangheili Councilors, but my father has been renowned as an excellent warrior. Worthy of being a sword of Sanghelios. It is still true that hold no ties to the covenant at all, but one person would hold my respect, and that would be only my father." She stopped, and Six took in all that she has said. It explained her reason for being in the covenant much more than anything else. Afterall, she was a female. The covenant did not have any female Sangheili in the covenant and Thaya is a special case simply because of what he assumes to be a goal to prove to her father that she can be strong.
"Father wanted a son to surpass him when he got together with mother. I was their only child, and I was not what father wanted. He was around whenever he could be. He loved me… just not as much as mother. When I got older, I asked mother many questions. Too many to tell you in a single day, but I did ask her why father was distant so often. When she told me his reason, I wanted nothing more than to prove him wrong. I wanted to prove to father that I could be the son that he wanted by being stronger than he or any son he would have had. I have not seen father ever since I joined the covenant, and word has not been passed to him because the Prophet of Truth has told me so. The High Prophet told me that if I wished to please father, I must do a tremendously incredible feat and confront him about it myself. Now that I have learned of our treachery and our belief in the lie that is the great journey, I can no longer look up to father. I actually do not know what to do if I were to confront him now…" She finished it off with her tone trailing into that of a somber one. Six did not know how to react, as he himself doesn't have parents. He was orphaned after all.
"I… I am sorry. When I first spoke with you out in that forest. I talked about how your reasons for joining the covenant were surely different from the others because I could just feel it as we fought. I could tell as we spoke, you were a black sheep. You were unique compared to everyone I have done battle with… well… to elite standards." This made her laugh just a little bit. Six continues on, "I don't know how you could go about this. You have a love for your parents, and I wouldn't know a thing about that honestly. I was an orphan from a young age. The love of parents was something I never received. The only love I had was the love for the hunt. It's why I am the way that I am." He explained, using honest truth to describe how he really felt with that topic.
"I understand Six. I just wish that father hadn't have been in the covenant. I never knew that I would turn my back to the covenant, but at the same time I didn't expect not too. You said it yourself, it was blatant that my mind was foggy and different from the others. Just… what shall I do?" Six didn't exactly know the best answer to that, but he tried the best he could to give out a good one.
"You need to do your best at remaining a secret in almost everything that you do, all the while listing accomplishments to keep the covenant off your back. You must be an active role no doubt, but you must also act as a spec ops unit would. Anything you do could negatively impact your family, and I'm sure you don't wish to see your mother perished after returning to Sanghelios. If you have to, go missing in action. Disappear from their battle network completely in order to assure that you won't cause any commotion. That is the best possible solution, a fall back plan if you will."
"Yes… thank you. It is easier said than done I'm afraid." Six walked through the complex and up some cliff sides to where he originally started his recon. Jun was way ahead already scouting while also searching for a signal to call in evac without falling into the dark zone. "I know… and I'm sorry I dragged this onto you, truly. War makes you do things, and for some reason when I wanted it to stop, when I wanted someone to listen, you were there. Fate made it you, the most unique Sangheili soldier in the entire covenant."
They both chuckled. "You flatter me. It was indeed a very peculiar situation, but I'm glad you knocked some sense into me. We will end this, and we will make sure the high prophets suffer and horrible death." Six smirked as he walked on. "I like the sound of that. Anyhow, I have go. Recon is over, and we have a mission starting in a couple of hours. We will take out this damn dark zone and it's spire."
Thaya also smirked to herself. Iro would surely look like an impudent fool should his army be reduced to ash. "Yes, I'll see you off then. Until next time Noble Six. Remember, I will let you know if something drastic happens."
"Right, understood. Until next time Thaya." He said, flipping off the button to speak so that no more noise could come through from his end. Her static had ended, as he had done the same. Both ends will always be ready for transmission, and they were now ready for the day to come in the morning.
"Jun, you get a good signal yet?" Six asked through coms as he trudged over to him. "Already on their way. Kat picked up our location and sent a bird for us. We will be set here in a few minutes." Six nodded as he pulled out his sniper, making sure that if he and Jun needed to, they could dispatch any fools worthy of trying them after a successful recon mission.
They stared at each other for a few seconds before laughing and bumping forearms. Seemed to be a warrior/Spartan thing that they liked to do. "That was fucking outstanding Jun. We just blew through their forces like it was nothing! We gotta team up more often." Six said with Jun nodding. "Amen to that. It's nice having another headhunter around." Jun was gonna follow it up but Six caught him before he could continue. "Easy Jun, I told you I am not a headhunter." He explained, laughing as the two can finally unwind.
"You can't tell me that with the marksmanship skills you have on top of stealth, close combat, and lone wolf skills, that you aren't a headhunter. No way." Six raised his hand up, shrugging his shoulders. "What? Come on man, I just worked for ONI, that's all. I was not a part of the headhunter program." Jun nodded. "Yeah, you are right actually." Six threw his hand up.
"So now you agree? Good. Let's keep it that wa-"
"I think you are better. I think whatever program you were a part of was simply that, better." Jun said out of nowhere, interrupting Six and putting him off. "What? I just did some special training with this damned CEO of mine and became a solo Spartan three. That's it, nothing special." Jun shrugged. "I don't know Six, you seem to know a lot of extra things compared to most. Including Elite language and the structure of their society. You know a lot about the covenant as a whole, it makes even Halsey seem a bit off. I don't think you are some ordinary Spartan three with special training. I think you are something that Noble needed, that HUMANITY needed. The covenant is a fearsome enemy, and we were made to combat them. True, we also have the Insurrectionist forces but they don't pose as big of an enemy compared to the covie bastards orbiting above us this instant. The covenant have special and secrets weapons yes? Well guess what, we have ours. We need to do everything possible in order to combat the covenant. We will beat these bastards." He ended his speech, and Six didn't really know what to say. If only he knew that Six was indeed finding ways to get secret weapons on their side. To Six, his secret weapon was information, otherwise known as Thaya 'Vadamee.
"So many speeches today…" He said to himself before responding. "Damn Jun, I forget how passionate you are about stuff like this. I'll drink to that, we will beat the covenant." He said, once again bumping forearms as a Falcon was seen coming inbound. "You ready for the strike?" Jun asked as Six eyed the Falcon.
"Yeah, I'll make sure they blow that son of a bitch sky high. Count on it." Six said, causing Jun to smile and chuckle a little bit. "Proving my point man, you are something else." Jun said to himself as the falcon arrives to pick them up.
It was gonna be a long morning for Noble. They had quite the assault on Iro 'Ronam's forces and everything had to be perfect. So many things could go wrong, and this worried Noble as a whole. Colonel Holland had faith that this mission would be successful, but it was all up to Noble team to ensure that.
Jeez, I'm sorry for taking so long friends. Thanksgiving happened and then I started working outside more on like my land and refurbishing my pontoon boat and such. I had quite a bit of fun doing this chapter, and it was quite long too, so hopefully you guys enjoy. Love y'all and thank you for the support, it really keeps me going. Have a good one!
~Red