Chapter 5 – 0834 hours
It was late afternoon, and the assault was to commence in moments. As the ready signal, I was to toss a grenade into a group of Flood, which would tell the turrets, designated Alpha Team, to commence firing. I sat there in our trench, surrounded by those who had Battle Rifles and Carbines, all of whom were designated Charlie Team.
"Here goes nothing," I said to myself as I pulled the pin. It made a clearly audible chink which alerted the nearest Combat Form. I hurled the grenade at it and readied my rifle. Luckily, the frag found its mark, buying me a few seconds. "Go, go, go!" I shouted into my radio, which triggered a hail of turret fire that fell onto the Flood. While they were shooting at the turret emplacements, several invisible Elites, who were designated Bravo Team, snuck in and began to thin the Flood's numbers with rockets and slashing.
"Bravo Team is in! Charlie Team, attack!" I ordered as I rose from my trench and charged. Battle Rifles and Carbines found their marks, disabling many Flood. So far, the battle was leaning greatly in our favor. Picking the Flood off from a distance had greatly reduced their numbers, so when it turned into close combat, Charlie Team moved in with ease. As I was running I noticed a Combat Form run at me in the corner of my eye. Almost immediately after, a burst of BR55 shots flew in front of me and connected with its weak spot, rendering it useless.
"This thing's good, but I still want to use my Sniper on them," Davis chimed over the radio.
"You're good with both of them, and that's all that matters," I commended. A Carrier Form was coming at me, so I just fired at it until it blew up. Once the Infection forms came out, I wasted them as well. I checked my six and saw a Combat Form charge for a group of Grunts. I drew my Pistol and fired once, plugging a .50 caliber round into its chest. It began twitching and rolled into a small ditch. I fired again, ending its miserable existence.
After a few moments, the firing slowed to a halt until the very last of the Flood were dead. Upon realizing this, everyone started shouting for joy. Johnson somehow found me despite the chaos of the celebration.
"That was one hell of a battle, wasn't it, sir?" he asked.
"Damn straight. We owned those sons of bitches," I replied. I turned around to retrieve my rifle when I spotted an Infection form run for the dead Flood in the ditch. "Watch this, Johnson." I followed it to the ditch where it had entered the Combat Form, which began twitching. I drew a grenade, pulled the pin, shoved it into the Flood's mouth, and walked away. I was about ten feet away from the ditch when I heard a loud bang. "I've wanted to do that to a Flood since I first heard you talk about them. Arbiter, how's the Phantom?"
"Severely damaged, but I believe we can jury-rig it to get us to your ship in orbit," Arbiter replied.
"Get to it. Brenda, give me a casualty count."
"Uhh, looks like about… a hundred and fifty Flood dead, sir, but I don't see why that matters," Posada replied.
"It doesn't, Posada. I meant how many friendly casualties were there."
"Oh, ok. Let me go check, and I'll be back in a few minutes."
"You do that. Listen up! I want those turrets down here and set up in defensive positions. Everyone needs to reload or recharge their weapons. Destroy the Flood bodies and administer medical care to our wounded. If you don't have a job, you're collecting weapons or on the lookout for approaching hostiles. Posada, do you have a casualty count now?"
"Yes, sir. We have seven with minor injuries and twelve who are out of action but in stable condition. No men down."
"None dead? Excellent work, people. Miranda, contact the Colonel and notify him of our status. Arnold, get an estimate of how much weaponry we acquired and report back to me as soon as possible." I removed my helmet and took a drink from my canteen. "Ah, that tastes so good after a firefight. Want some, Sergeant?"
"Don't mind if I do," Johnson replied. "Yeah, that sure does hit the spot. Here comes Keyes." I turned around to see Miranda hand me the radio.
"Good afternoon, Colonel. Lovely day for a return home, don't you think?" I said.
"Excellent work. From what I've heard, you have successfully captured a Covenant vessel from the Flood, and with no casualties. I must say, I'm impressed. The Concrescence will be waiting for your arrival, and I will be the first to welcome you…" Another voice interrupted him.
"Colonel, we have incoming Covenant cruisers. We can't tell an exact number or if they're controlled by the rebels or not," the voice said.
"What?!? Looks like we have no choice. We're going to have to get close to Halo. Lieutenant, you need to repair that Phantom as soon as possible, because we may have a lot of trouble on our hands if those cruisers aren't full of friendlies. Over and out." Fuck me sideways, I thought.