Chapter 24: Svenson

Svenson ducked as a grenade exploded behind him. He turned and saw a Grunt in the distance, presumably the one who had thrown the grenade, charging toward him. The Grunt fiddled with a plasma pistol before starting to raise it at Svenson. He raised his assault rifle, but the Grunt's head exploded before either of them could pull the trigger.

"Hey, soldier!" a voice called out from the other direction, where Fireteam Foxtrot was holed up.

A small Marine from the position was waving at him. From what Svenson could see, he was a medic. Svenson picked up the pace, sprinting the rest of the distance to the Fireteam. He slid across the ground and into a trench.

"Who the hell are you?" the medic asked as Svenson crouched behind the side of the trench.

"Name's Svenson," Svenson said in between deep breaths, "from Fireteam Delta."

"Delta?" the medic asked. "Last I heard you were on some top secret mission."

"It's a long story," Svenson said, not wanting to remember the details. "But I'm all that's left. Fireteam Charlie didn't make it out either."

"Shit," the medic looked down, "the Corporal was hoping for a lot more. But I doubt anyone's left in the area. The only signals we've been getting have been distress calls."

"Yeah, I followed yours. I'm all you're getting for now."

The medic nodded. He glanced further down the trench where the rest of the Fireteam was before turning back to Svenson.

"My name's Aristos Petrou, but you can call me Ari," the medic said. "Talk to the Corporal, I've gotta get back to the wounded."

Svenson nodded. He crouched through the trench as Ari left, he spotted Corporal Santiago firing over the side with a BR-55 battle rifle. Once she got down to reload she noticed Svenson.

"Who are you?" Santiago asked, a confused look on her face.

"Private Matthew Svenson," Svenson said, "I'm from Fireteam Delta."

"The rest of your Fireteam with you?" Santiago asked as she inserted a fresh magazine into her gun.

"No," Svenson said with a sigh, "those monsters got them."

"Huh. That's too damn bad. Luckily for us those monsters are tearing through the Covenant. Unluckily they hate us too."

"I came here to help, and to hopefully get off this ring."

Santiago turned back to him, her face turning to a look of judgement. Svenson felt like he had said the wrong thing.

"Our orders are to take this ring from the Covenant," she said sternly.

"Do you really think we can do that?" Svenson asked. "From the very beginning we've been outnumbered and outgunned. Even if those creatures weren't out there infecting everything we still wouldn't be winning here. One ship against a Covenant fleet."

Santiago turned away for a few seconds. "Fireteam Delta… You were with Fireteam Charlie at that weapons facility, yeah?"

Svenson nodded. Ari didn't know the mission he'd been on, but clearly Santiago was important enough to know the details.

"Captain Keyes was with you, then. Did he make it out?" Santiago asked.

"As far as I know, I'm the only one that made it out," Svenson said with a sigh. He was glad he wasn't dead. But he wished he could have brought the rest of his Fireteam out with him. He wished he could have fulfilled his promise to Faraday.

Santiago looked away again. "I fully planned on dying here with the intention of making a difference."

Before Santiago could say anything else, the ground was shaken by an explosion. Svenson peeked over the wall of the trench, and he saw an operational Covenant Wraith at the bottom of the hill. It was coming toward them.

"Corporal!" a voice shouted from the other side of the trench.

"I see it!" Santiago shouted back. She stared down the scope of her battle rifle. "Shit. The Covenant isn't driving that thing."

Svenson squinted, and zoomed in with the rangefinder on his helmet so he could see better. The hatch on the Wraith was open, and indeed he could see the lumpy chest of a monster peeking out of it. The Wraith's main cannon fired again.

"Scatter!" Santiago shouted.

Svenson rushed to the other side of the trench alongside Santiago. The giant blob of plasma that the Wraith fired out exploded right where they had been standing, the force from the explosion threw Svenson onto the ground. If they hadn't moved they would've been vaporised.

Santiago turned and reached out with a hand. Svenson took it and pulled himself back onto his feet.

"You know how to use a rocket launcher?" Santiago asked.

"Yeah, but-"

"Good. Grab one, take that thing out."

Svenson nodded and moved behind Santiago. He watched two other Marines pick up rocket launchers and leave the trench. Svenson found one and lifted it up. The thing was heavy, but it was easy to lift. He made sure the tubes were loaded before he followed the other Marines out.

"Backblast clear!" one of the Marines, a woman, shouted. Svenson made sure not to stand behind her when she fired.

The next Marine fired at the Wraith. Svenson lined up his shot with the launcher's scope, aiming right at the Wraith's hatch. The first two rockets hit the Wraith in the side, and it began to turn toward them. Svenson fired.

The rocket sailed through the air, and exploded just above the Wraith's open hatch. A chain reaction began to rock the Wraith from the inside, and a massive explosion of blue flame finished the Wraith off.

"Bloody hell, those things can drive Covenant vehicles?" the other Marine, a man with a thickly-accented voice said.

"They can probably drive ours too," said the woman.

"Get back inside, quick!" Santiago shouted from behind them.

Svenson and the other two retreated back into the trench and set their rocket launchers down. When Svenson looked around he noticed there weren't any more rocket tubes, those were the only ones left. These guys are really running dry…

"No casualties," Santiago said with a sigh of relief, "that was a close one."

"Corporal," Svenson said, approaching Santiago. "Sir."

Santiago stared at Svenson. He could tell she knew he was right about leaving. She shook her head. "I'm getting a message out, I'll see who's next in the chain of command. I'll make my decision then."

Svenson nodded. He really didn't want to stay there any longer, but he would power through anything if he had to.

"For now, grab a rifle and shoot any more of those monsters that try to attack us," Santiago said before finding a laptop and accessing it.

Svenson nodded. He found more magazines for his assault rifle and took them before heading back through the trench.

More creatures had been coming through the trees in the distance, but it seemed like the Covenant had given up on Fireteam Foxtrot. Svenson had been shooting monsters for an hour, and he had gotten to know some of the members of his new Fireteam.

There were eight members, though they had started out with twelve. Corporal Santiago, who took over as the fearless leader when their Sergeant had been killed by a Jackal sniper. Lance Corporal Griffith, the woman who had joined him in taking out the Wraith. Private First Class Donnely, who had also helped take out the Wraith.

Private First Class Raine, who was a sniper. Privates Jericho, Hunter, and Lovell. Hunter and Lovell were wounded, but they would hopefully make it. Then there was the medic, Ari, who Svenson had already met. Now Svenson was the unofficial ninth member, though he wasn't sure how to feel about it. It was nice to feel included, but it only made him feel more like he had abandoned Fireteam Delta. If I stayed with that Elite I probably would've been abandoning the entire UNSC.

"Team!" Santiago shouted from down the trench, "huddle up!"

Svenson scanned the treeline. There weren't any more monsters coming for them at the moment. He stowed his rifle and joined the others around Santiago.

"There's a message broadcasting through the local battlenet," Santiago said once everyone was there. "It's from Cortana."

Svenson tilted his head. He'd heard the name Cortana before in briefings. Cortana was an AI onboard the Pillar of Autumn before the ship crashed onto the ring. Now she was assisting the Master Chief. Glad to know he's still out there.

But the little morale boost from knowing the Master Chief was still fighting was cut short.

"The Master Chief is going to destroy the ring," Santiago continued. She glanced at Svenson. Guess we are leaving this place after all.

"They're planning on infiltrating the Autumn and detonating her reactors, which is more than enough to destroy this place and kill everyone and everything here. But we've got time, and I've got a plan.

"Covenant took hold of a couple D80 Condors. They pulled 'em out of the Autumn and are holding them at a base six klicks east of our position. We only need one, but if we get it we can get the hell out of here and never come back."

The Marines of Fireteam Foxtrot looked around at each other and nodded. Svenson felt a mix of emotion. Excitement to be away from this hellhole, sorrow for leaving his friends and Fireteam behind, and dread for the nightmares he was sure to experience.

He wasn't going to let anything get in the way of the mission. He wasn't going to let his new Fireteam down.

"Any questions?"

There were a few murmurs between the Marines, but there were no questions. They all shook their heads.

"Good. Everyone grab everything you can. We're setting out as soon as possible."

Svenson checked to make sure he was well stocked on ammo and rations, but he wouldn't feel good taking more from the Fireteam. He grabbed an ammo box and lifted a rocket launcher over his shoulder. It was a little much, but he wanted to earn his worth.

After only a few minutes, Fireteam Foxtrot set out for the Covenant base, and hopefully after that, freedom. Svenson silently chuckled to himself as he followed the Fireteam into the trees around them. He knew getting off the ring wouldn't be enough to say they were free, but that was the best thing he could think about.

Freedom.