Chapter 20: Flight of the Spartans
Author's Notes: I feel like an asshole right now. I can't believe that I almost cancelled the story! I came [holds index finger and thumb about 1 inch apart] this close to submitting the chapter with the note that I was cancelling the story! Then I smacked myself in the head "YOU DUMBASS! THESE PEOPLE LOVE YOUR BOOK! YOU CAN'T QUIT NOW!" So, anyway, on with the almost-cancelled story!
NOBLE Team followed Sergeant Johnson below the ops center to a lightly stocked armory. "We couldn't get ahold of much, but what we did get we have a lot of scattered throughout the base." "Grab what you need, NOBLE. Remember: we leave on the last Pelican out of the hangar." Everyone took their preferred weapons: Carter: a DMR and Magnum. Kat: an AR and Magnum. Jun: a Sniper Rifle and DMR. Emile: a Shotgun and Grenade Launcher. Jorge ripped a machine gun off of the nearby stand and grabbed a pair of Battle Rifles. James, now Noble Six, again, took an AR and a DMR. "Let's get to that hangar."
NOBLE Team left the ops center and entered a corridor filled with Covenant, all focused on a Warthog facing NOBLE. "Light those bastards up!" NOBLE opened fire, killing half of the Grunts before taking cover as a barrage of plasma and pink needles flew at them. "How do we get out of this one?" "Like this, James." Emile primed two frag grenades and tossed them into the air. They landed in the middle of the Covenant squad and detonated, killing the rest of the Grunts, 5 Jackals, and 3 Brutes. James jumped into the chaos, killing 3 Brutes, and 2 Jackals before his shields collapsed. The rest of the team took pot shots at the survivors, killing them off before they could even ground James.
"Damn. Reminds me of a combat sim I ran as a trainee on Reach, although the Brutes and Jackals were Elites, and there were about 13 of them." "Did you kill them all?" "Yep." "Shit, Emile. Did you use a gun at all?" "Nope. Just this." He pulled his kukri out of its sheath on his right shoulder. "He did. I watched him do it. I also killed the last one as it stabbed him through the chest with an Energy Sword." "Jun, he never stabbed me." "The computer doesn't lie, Emile. It killed you, fair and square." "Alright, you two. Let's get a move on."
The Hangar was a pure firefight: marines desperately holding the line against numerous Brutes, Jackals, and Grunts, Phantom dropships with more Covenant piling out by the minute, and now NOBLE entered the fray, gunning down 3 Brutes and 5 Grunts before the Phantom's heavy plasma turret opened fire, pinning the team behind support struts in the hangar. Emile loaded a grenade into his launcher and fired at the turret, using the secondary EMP to disable the turret. The Phantoms fled the hangar, probably to make room for more, and NOBLE emerged from cover and obliterated the remaining Covenant.
The last Pelican dropship was lowered from the ceiling and the bay door dropped. "Everyone in! Next stop, Voi." NOBLE Team and the few remaining marines in the hangar boarded the dropship, which promptly took off at full burn to the abandoned town of Voi. (Their battle is next chapter)
In the command center, the Master Chief and Red Team were helping Johnson prepare a bomb that would destroy the base. "We've linked it to smaller charges throughout the base. Nice little going-away present for the Covenant." "Brutes have taken the barracks, marines are trapped inside. They do not treat prisoners well." Johnson led Red Team to the exit of the ops center. "Get to the barracks, find those men." John took point and led Red Team down a small corridor and into a maintenance bay occupied by 6 Brutes, a Chieftain among them. "A fresh scent. Must be close." The Brute's heads darted around as a high pitched whine filled the room. The Chieftain never notice the laser pointed at its chest until Jerome's Spartan Laser discharged, tearing through the Chieftain and the Captain behind him. "Weapons free!" The Chief unloaded a shell from his new shotgun into the gut of one Brute while he beheaded another with his knife. A blaze of machine gun fire, another Spartan Laser shot, and two rockets later, the Brutes were a bloody mess on the floor.
They exited the room and entered the cave system that linked parts of the base. They heard plasma fire up ahead. "You do yourselves no service serving the Prophets! Repeal your ways! Or all your hives shall burn!" When they reached the Arbiter, he had killed all of the Drones. "The barracks is near, Spartans. We must hurry." They opened the door to the barracks and a marine was thrown into a nearby pillar. There was a group of Brutes up ahead, mercilessly torturing a marine, obviously fresh out of boot camp. "NO! PLEASE!" "Look. It has soiled itself." Jerome shouldered his Spartan Laser, but the Chief pulled it down. "You'll kill the marine, too. Let me." The Chief sprinted forward and blasted a hole through the Brute Captain's heart with his shotgun. Its shields took the brunt of the impact, but a few pellets pierced its heart, killing it without making an exit wound. The marine dropped to the floor, picked up a M6H Magnum that he had probably dropped, and put four rounds into the nearest Brute's head. He then pulled his combat knife and drove it into another Brute's neck. "That's for Alistair." "Damn, he's good." "Yeah. When they start making SPARTAN-IV's, he's getting the first seat that isn't reserved for a II or a III. Hey, kid! What's your name?" "Corporal James Rodriquez, but my friends call me 'Alcatraz'because I'm great at making traps." (James Rodriquez is his real name. Look it up.)
The Arbiter had ignored the conversation, instead focusing on the Brutes that were converging on their position. "More Brutes!" Rodriquez stole a grenade from Jerome, primed it, counted to two, and threw it. It blew up as it rolled into the center of the Brutes, killing all three. Two more marines joined the group as they finished off the Brutes. "Alistair?! I thought you were dead for sure!" "When have I ever been that easy to kill?" "When we fought Brutes." "Good point." There was a huge gash across one of the marine's chests. "You gonna be okay? That's quite the gash." "I've dealt with worse." "Like what, Sarge?" "Classified." "Bullshit." Sergeant Daniel Alistair glared at the Corporal. "That's 'bullshit, SIR' to you." "Let's get going to the evac point."
The evac point was just ahead when a pack of Brutes with jetpacks ambushed the group. "OH, COME ON! LEAVE US ALONE!" "Quit bitching, private, and start shooting!" Jerome reached for a frag and came up empty. "God damnit! Chief! Toss a frag!" The Master Chief grabbed a grenade off of his belt, pulled the pin, counted to 1½, and threw. The grenade exploded behind the Brutes, throwing shrapnel into three of the Brute's jetpacks, venting the fuel inside, and sending the Brutes smashing into nearby walls. The rest were cut down by a hail of machine gun fire from Alice-130. Sgt. Johnson joined them as a Pelican descended. "Brutes… ambushed the ops center… couldn't hold 'em off. They deactivated the bomb." "We'll go back and reactivate the bomb." "Good luck, Spartans." Johnson jumped on the Pelican as it ascended, and Rodriquez helped him in as the hatch closed.
"This is Sergeant Daniel Alistair to all UNSC personnel still in Crow's Nest. The last remaining exit is a garage underneath the hangar. Good luck." "Alright, Spartans. Let's get back to the ops center and arm that bomb. The last of the Spartan II's, minus Jorge-052 and James-005, turned and walked off toward the ops center.
