Disclaimer: I own nothing from Halo.
Chapter Seven: Bittersweet Success
Hawkes led him back to a structure by a different route: it seemed plausible that more Covenant would be on their way through the path she had originally taken, especially if they'd heard the grenades go off. John hoped the aliens hadn't sent out multiple scouting parties, because if they had then all bets were off. The two made almost no noise as they slipped through the brush, and he found himself wondering a bit about Hawkes again. The mysterious lieutenant had a knack for stealth, and had demonstrated remarkable control when thrown into a terrifying situation. She'd kept her head, barely, but she'd done what needed to be done.
The 'she' in question raised a hand in warning: they were approaching the tower. Peering through the undergrowth, he saw a few less Covenant forces than there had been. More patrols were being ordered out, and if they waited long enough there might be a way in.
"The Covenant are scrambling, Chief," Cortana commented in his helmet. "Between Hawkes acting as bait and your ambush, they're definitely on the alert. I'm picking up orders for more troop deployments and increased patrols." The Chief frowned.
"Hawkes, we might have a problem." He relayed the information Cortana had picked up.
"Shit." The obscenity surprised him a bit, but then again, the lieutenant had a penchant for doing that. "They're going to find us in no time like that, us or the ship, or both." She was silent for a moment, but her next question was directed to Cortana.
"Cortana, do you know about the failsafe option for the Shadowstalker?"
"A remote signaling device triggering an auto-destruct sequence pre-set by the pilot. Why do you--?" The AI paused for a full minute when she realized what Hawkes was suggesting. John himself was surprised, and more than a little bothered.
"You're seriously considering destroying our ticket out of here?" he asked, disbelief clear in his voice.
"We don't have a lot of tactical options, Chief. As you said yourself, the Cole protocol is clear. And with the increase in Covenant patrols, it's only a matter of time before it's discovered. If I trigger the destruct sequence we could draw more of them away and find a way in the tower." It was hard to tell, but the ONI operative seemed bothered by that fact.
"And how will we inform the UNSC when it's safe to strike?" Cortana posed.
"The Covenant have to have a communications post set up somewhere. I've done a lot of research into their language and technology, as much as we have anyway. I might be able to send a burst transmission using their gear." Her helmeted her turned towards the direction the Shadowstalker was in. "I don't know what other options we have."
----
An explosion echoed through the stillness, and a column of fire and smoke rose above the treeline. A large grey Brute looked on in surprise and shock, as well as mild disappointment. This disturbance could not have come at a worse time: his patrols were spread thin and a number of his units had been decimated earlier by some lower life form. Reinforcements were en route, but wouldn't be arriving for a couple of hours. Still, he was confident that a single garrison would be enough to guard the Holy Monument.
"Send out all but a unit of our best soldiers," he growled to a lower Brute. "We are going to investigate this explosion, and perhaps find the parties responsible. Perhaps there will be fresh meat in the aftermath, seared to perfection." The other alien grinned, showing teeth, and began to do as he had been ordered.
----
Jessica watched as the dropships took off, feeling the deathly calm in her gut that signaled mission readiness. Yes, she breathed before turning to the Chief.
"I should probably go on from here alone. I can draw less attention."
"And just how are you going to combat a Brute or a Jackal if you're spotted?" he replied.
"I won't be spotted. Just wait for me to get back." Taking a deep breath, Jessica ventured off through the undergrowth. Fortunately it grew almost to the tower, but after that she'd be exposed, unless she could keep to the shadows.
----
John scowled inside his helmet, which in itself was unusual.
It wasn't like him to stand by and do nothing while a member of his team went on alone, even if that member was an ONI spook. Truth be told, he was also worried that Hawkes wouldn't make it out alive. Why does it even matter to you? a little voice asked.
I always bring my team back alive.
Is that all, or is it something else? Admit it, you can't stop thinking about her, especially not after you walked in on her workout!
He squelched the nagging little voice in his head with some difficulty; it bothered him that there might be more to his worry over the ONI operative.
"Cortana?"
"Yes, Chief?" Cortana seemed annoyed, and slightly bored.
"Do they know Hawkes is inside?"
"I haven't heard anything yet, but that could mean anything." She paused a moment. "Why do you ask?"
"Because for the first time in my life I'm thinking about disobeying orders." He could almost sense Cortana's excitement.
"Technically, she didn't order you to stay here, she just asked for us to wait. And in any case, Ackerson would probably owe us for bringing her back alive."
"Then let's go," John said firmly as he brought up his rifle.
"I assume you have a plan that won't get us killed?"
"Of course."
"Oh good, that's always nice to know," Cortana said; she seemed eager to cause some havoc.
----
Jessica slipped in amongst the shadows, employing all her training at stealth to the fullest. Oddly enough, she didn't feel as terrified as she had expected; instead, she felt a strange sort of calm, as if all the events of her life had been leading up to this. It wasn't something she'd thought would happen, but she'd use the small advantage as best she could.
A Jackal sniffed in front of her, and Jessica froze. The smaller alien moved forward, and she waited in the shadows. Come on, creepling. Just a little closer… Her arm shot out, wrapped itself around the Jackal's neck, and twisted. Thankfully, the alien made no noise when she broke its neck. Dropping the dead Jackal, she dragged it out of sight behind a cargo module, making sure to police its weapons and arm-shield. I might be able to use these, if things get bad. An open entryway beckoned to her, and she slipped inside the shadowy building.
This was almost too easy: there were no guards anywhere on the premises. Something's gonna go wrong, this isn't supposed to be so easy. Still, she met no opposition, but made extremely sure to keep herself as unseen as humanely possible. And yet, Jessica was still having minor difficulty: she was lost. Deciding to risk discovery, she opened a COM channel.
"Cortana, can you tell me how close I am to this archive?"
"You're nearly there. Just a few more meters and there'll be a room on your right." Jessica found the room, and froze as soon as she entered.
It was immense. Holographic projectors emitted pictures of planets, stars and suns. Landscapes and seascapes flickered in and out of sight, grasses alternated with rivers and deserts, and day cycled to night and back again. It was breathtaking, there was really no other way to describe it. Jessica paused a moment to make sure her camera was recording this: it was.
There were no shadows to keep to here: she would be completely exposed. All Jessica could hope for was a lack of cameras and the personnel that would normally be watching her. I need to find a control center, or something like it. What kind of archive doesn't have a catalog of all the stored information?
At the center of the room was some sort of control panel, only the controls themselves hovered about a meter above it. Jessica had no idea which control did what, and figured that it would be best to leave well enough alone. ONI can try to figure it out later. I don't want to risk corrupting any data before they arrive. Looking back regretfully at the control panel, she moved back through the maze of scenes from another era and back to the entrance; there was a communications center to find.
She had just made it to a shadowy alcove when the alarms went off.
"Cortana," she asked as calmly as she could. "What the hell is going on?"
----
John moved within clear sight of the remaining guards, calmer than nearly anything in this universe. This was what he did best: he was an offensive weapon, not a statue. Hawkes may have been able to get in the building, at least according to Cortana she had, but she would need help getting out, and would probably need help getting to the communications center and sending the message to the UNSC. The least he could do was provide a distraction.
The first target came into view: a group of Jackals facing the explosion site. He spared a few thoughts for the flaming ONI fighter before he opened fire. The Jackals never had time to react, but someone had heard the gunfire. Alarms started going off, and the remaining forces came right for him.
"Cortana, what the hell is going on?" Hawkes' voice came through deceptively calm.
"We figured you could use some cover," the AI replied smoothly over the sound of gunfire. John was almost relieved to hear Hawkes' voice was still alive, but uneasy with her next words.
"I thought I told you to stay put, but as long as you're here you might as well meet me at the communications center." There was a pause, and then she continued, "Make sure you both get here in one piece."
"We'll be there." Cortana killed the COM channel. "She's not too happy with us right now."
"I'll deal with that later. Right now we need to get to her position, before the Covenant do."
----
Jessica couldn't help but feel relieved when the Chief entered the room, assault rifle still smoking. Still, she scowled inside her helmet at the sight of his still-smoking battle rifle.
"I seem to recall ordering you to stay where you were, Master Chief."
"And I seem to recall Ackerson wanting you back alive."
"Can we deal with this later?" Cortana broke in before the argument went any further. "We need to send a message to the UNSC."
"Fine." Jessica turned her attention back to the controls. "It'll have to be a voice message, and I need to be the one to send it, or else ONI might think it's a trick."
"Get me into the system and I'll take care of the rest."
Jessica nodded, watching as the Chief pulled a data chip out of his helmet and inserted it into the Covenant equivalent of a data port. After a few seconds, Cortana's voice spoke, "Go ahead."
"This is RedHawk calling the UNSC Athens. Covenant stronghold OLYMPUS has been infiltrated. Forces consist of non-allied Covenant forces. Extensive Forerunner archive located at these transmission coordinates. No casualties yet, but Shadowstalker has been neutralized. Expect heavy resistance if ground attacks are launched. Dropping out of contact, expect no further reports. RedHawk out."
"Message sent. Do you think they'll come?" Cortana asked.
"Yes, if only because of the Forerunner archives. That thing's huge." Jessica waited until Cortana's chip was safely back inside the Chief's helmet before hefting her captured Covenant gear. "Let's get the hell out of here while we still can."
----
John had to admire the resourceful young ONI lieutenant: she adapted well to her captured Covenant arms, and used her shield as effectively as possible. For a non-Spartan, especially one who'd never gone up against the Covenant, she was fast and deadly with her aim. There had been an increase in Covenant forces since they'd entered the structure, but he'd been able to neutralize a large amount of them.
Hawkes was falling behind, apparently tired from trying to keep up. As short as they were on time, he still paused to give her a brief rest.
"We can't afford to stop, Chief," she panted. "If more Covenant show up we're dead."
"You'll be dead if you don't rest," he countered. Her helmet looked up, and he had to assume she was glaring at him.
"At this rate we'll never get out of here," she muttered shortly before straightening. "Let's go; if we can get to the trees we'll be fine, and have enough cover to hide." She started past him, so intent on getting them out of there that she completely missed the Jackal hiding in an alcove to her left. John saw the shot hit her right between her shoulder blades, and watched Hawkes stagger and fall against the wall. A few shots made short work of the alien, and he hurried over to the wall; the ONI operative was slumped over, biosigns moving erratically.
"Chief, get the hell out of here," she murmured.
"I don't leave a teammate behind." He moved to help her to her feet, but she slumped against him, limp and unmoving.
----
Jessica felt the plasma hit her squarely in the back; a sharp burning pain made itself known for a few seconds, then faded. Either the new blacksuit works, or I'm going into shock, or both. She mentally cursed herself for not paying attention to her surroundings, even as she heard the sound of gunfire. Sound's like the Chief's got things in hand. A few seconds later she heard footsteps approaching and saw him lean over her.
"Chief, get the hell out of here." I don't want you getting yourself killed because of me.
"I don't leave a teammate behind." She felt armored hands helping her upright, but she knew she'd never make it out: the signs of shock were setting in, cold and numb.
Just before she passed out, she heard him call her name.
"Hawkes!"