Chapter 9: Backdoor Deal

Solorai Mountains

Maya groaned as she slowly got up from the ground. Pain shot through her entire body as bruised and broken body parts screamed in agony. From what she felt, Maya deduced that she had several broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder, and a minor fracture in her right leg. She didn't even want to guess at the possible internal injuries.

Just a few feet away, she could see Jonesin, Wolfman, and Cutter suffering from similar injuries. Like her, they were just beginning to regain consciousness.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said for the Warthog. It was crumpled up and laying on the ground like a discarded toy. There was simply no way that vehicle would ever run again.

"Situation report." Wolfman groaned, nursing a sprained wrist.

"I'm okay, but pretty banged up." Jonesin replied weakly.

"Same here." Cutter said.

"I think I need a bit of help here." Maya looked at her dislocated shoulder.

"I got it." Jonesin limped up to her. "This may be a little painful."

"Just do it."

Jonesin nodded and quickly popped Maya's shoulder back into its socket. Maya suppressed the urge to curse and scream from the pain.

"Okay, lets figure this out." Wolfman said. "It won't be long until pursuit finds us, and I'm pretty sure any chances of taking Finn's escape ship are FUBARed. That means we've got to get to Gotha and go to ground there. Hopefully we can elude whatever's left of Finn's commandos and find a way off this rock."

"That's a good idea." Cutter said, looking up the mountain. "Because I think we've got company."

The rest of the squad looked up to see a contingent of Scarlet Soldiers bearing down on them, their bright red armor standing in stark contrast to the woods around them.

Unfortunately, Maya had apparently lost her carbine in the fall, so the only weapon she had on hand was her sniper rifle. Though conditions were less than ideal, Maya was still very skilled with the rifle and managed to take down three soldiers as they tried to make their way down the steep cliff.

"Come on, lets go!" Wolfman yelled as he fired his carbine. "Fall back through the forest!"

The remains of the squad fell back as the pursuing soldiers fired on them. Even, with her injured leg, Maya still found the strength to run at full speed. She could feel the adrenaline surging through her veins, masking the pain.

Suddenly, several miles behind them, the entire mountain range imploded. It looked as if the entire mountain was lifted in the air by several feet, and then the entire structure collapsed in on itself as the base under it had all of its supports vaporized by the initial explosion.

Alarmed, the Scarlet Soldiers suddenly stopped their advance and turned to see the spectacle. This gave Maya and the others a chance to fall back and disappear into the forest.

Gotha

Meanwhile, in the nearby city of Gotha, the tremors from the distant explosion finally reached the city. Buildings shook, car alarms went off, windows shattered, and there was general panic all around. Most of the citizens, thinking that they were being struck by an earthquake, quickly ran for cover. The few that managed to get a good look at the distant mountains were shocked to see parts of the mountain range crumbling and collapsing into themselves, sending massive landslides down the slopes. Emergency services were swamped by the sudden cries and requests of the wounded and the panicked.

However, nobody in the madness bothered to take the time to wonder how such a catastrophe could have happened. As far as they were concerned, it was a freak act of nature.

Sobrai Mountains

Mogran gaped as he saw the mountain collapse. The bastards had decided to destroy the entire base rather than let it fall into his hands. What made things worse was that Mogran still had a number of men inside the base when it was destroyed.

"Sir, orders?" One of his men asked.

"Track the bastards down. Take no prisoners."

"Yes sir!"

Meanwhile, further down the mountain, Maya and her wounded squadmates struggled to try and gain as much distance between them and their pursuers. Unfortunately, the increasingly constant gunfire behind them meant that the Scarlet Soldiers were quickly catching up.

However, that wasn't their only problem. Maya felt an odd burning sensation in her chest. Suddenly remembering the odd crystal she was carrying, she quickly dug the box out of her pocket and gasped.

The rough handling and fall of the Warthog had cracked open the crystal's protective case, where its deadly radiation began to leak out. It was pretty much a done deal that she was irradiated with a lethal dose of radiation, and chances were good that it may have spread to the rest of her squadmates.

"Wolfman, we have a problem."

Further up the mountain, Mogran and his men continued their pursuit. He looked up in the sky and noticed a golden band of light highlighting the horizon. It was almost morning, which would give his troops a serious advantage since they would be able to see better in daylight. In addition, his expected reinforcements should be linking up with him very soon. Once that happened, Mogran would have the manpower to encircle and trap the UNSC soldiers trying to escape.

"Shit. I believe that means we're not going anywhere then." Wolfman sighed as he inspected the cracked box. "I guess the best thing we can do is destroy this thing and suffer the joys of radiation poisoning."

At that moment, rifle rounds whizzed past as the Scarlet Soldiers began to catch up. Fortunately, there was a nearby barn that could afford them shelter. Maya and the remnants of the squad dashed inside, slamming the doors shut. The thin wooden walls wouldn't put up much resistance to a high velocity rifle round, but they were better than no cover at all.

"Cutter. Rig up anything you can on that artifact and this barn. If we can't find them off, we'll this on our terms."

Cutter, knowing that this was going to be their final stand, nodded and began bringing out the last of his explosives.

"Okay, Maya, Jonesin. You're with me. Let's show those sons of bitches why you don't mess with the UNSC." Wolfman loaded his rifle and took position on a nearby window.

Jonesin and Maya took similar positions. Maya aimed her sniper rifle at the woods ahead. She could see the muzzle flashes of individual soldier's weapons fire as they charged in. However, they were still several hundred yards away, too far for accurate fire from an assault rifle, but well within the reach of a sniper rifle. Plus, the flashes only served to make it easier to spot them. By the time the Scarlet Soldiers cleared the treeline and were in effective range of the barn, Maya had already fired twelve shots, felling just as many enemies.

At that point, Wolfman and Jonesin began firing as well. However, they were too few to hold off all of the soldiers outside, and the Scarlet Soldiers quickly achieved fire superiority, pinning down the squad and advancing. Suddenly, a machine gun burst ripped through the flimsy wooden walls, shredding through Maya's thigh and striking Cutter several times in the chest.

"Shit!" Wolfman cried. He tried to come to the aid of his wounded comrades, but was tied up with a knot of soldiers trying to break their way through the barn door.

Meanwhile, Maya was laying the ground, trying to stem the bleeding from her thigh. She looked over to Cutter who had fallen next to her. He was in a very bad shape too, with multiple holes in his upper chest armor and just as much blood coming out of them.

"Here's… the trigger…" Cutter gasped as he handed a detonator to Maya.

Maya took it and noticed that Cutter had suddenly fallen silent. She looked again and saw him lying on the ground with an all-too familiar blank look in his open eyes.

However, Wolfman and Jonesin never realized that their comrade was dead. They were quickly and mercilessly cut down by massed assault rifle fire just seconds later. Maya tried getting up, but it was no good. She had just lost too much blood. She looked up, and with her fading vision, she could make out a grizzled old man standing over her.

"Just hand over what you stole from us," The man said, "and I promise we'll make it quick."

Maya stared blankly at the man, and then thought about her fallen comrades, both here and lost under the mountain.

"No." She said as she pressed the detonator.

Unknown

Maya's eyes snapped open for what seemed like just seconds later, and she found herself floating in a black void. She was beginning to wonder just where she was when a mysterious voice seemingly answered her thoughts.

"Interesting. In destroying the Slipstone in such close proximity to yourself, you were squeezed into Slipspace along with the stone."

Maya looked around, but could not see anybody.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"I am called Scohar." The voice answered, "Normally, such conditions would have killed you, but you are incredibly fortunate."

"What are you talking about?" Maya asked, dumbfounded.

"You have the rare opportunity to see the universe beyond what your human senses are capable of."

Maya felt that she had to ask the obvious question, "Why?"

"Unfortunately, my… colleagues… have basked in their power for too long. They have become ignorant and overconfident, even in the face of an impending threat."

"What does this have to do with me?"

"I have been keeping a close eye on you, Maya Wellings. I know that when given the power, you will not abuse it. You have seen the excesses and sins of yourself and your race, yet you seek desperately to correct them."

Maya had no answer to that.

"If you decide to take my offer, you will understand. However, like all things, a price must be exacted."

"I'm not liking the sound of this." Maya said.

"Your price is that you must forsake everything that had previously tied you to the physical world. Your family will never know what has happened to you. You will eventually fade from the memories of everybody except for those closest to you. You will be introduced to a world where you will be met with criticism and mistrust from all sides. This is a grand game, where the stakes mean the difference between the life or death of the universe itself."

Maya was silent. She didn't know what to do.

Undisclosed ONI facility

"It looks like everything went according to plan."

"Oh yes, everything went perfectly. It was a little more costly than I would have liked. Good special forces teams are hard to come by these days."

"What about Finn? It's quite obvious we've got some rogue elements."

"Unfortunately, there's not much we can do. If this were peacetime, I'd have them removed without a second thought. However, the people involved are incredibly good at what they do and if we are to win this war, we need men like them."

"I'm wondering sir… what exactly did we get out of this? I mean, we lose a valuable asset and the chance to recover an alien artifact. What did we gain?"

"Information, of course. It's not going to be MAC cannons, nuclear warheads, or even Spartans that will determine the course of this war. The most powerful and most important weapon has and always will be information."

"You're not going to tell me, aren't you, sir?"

"Of course not. Dismissed."

AN: Hm, sorry if this chapter seemed a bit rushed, but my current college schedule has just been complete HELL, which of course affects my fic writing ability. It was partly that and also so I could get this little story arc DONE. Now I can concentrate on my other two fics. P