Chapter 2: Rude Awakening

Date: August 14th 2552

Time: 02:00 hours

Planet: Reach

Location: ONI Tower Base, command center

Mission: Secure the area

The front section of the cryogenics tube slid upwards with both a mechanical whirr and a loud hiss.

Specter leaned forwards, groaned and fell towards the floor. He tumbled out of the cold tube and landed on his hands and knees on the ground below. He tore off his MARK 5 UA/HUL helmet, revealing a young face with bright blue eyes and short blonde hair, tossed it aside and threw up.

A second spartan, larger then the others stepped out of his tube, which was on Specters right and swayed. He had tan colored armor with a secondary coral tint. He pulled his GRENADIER UA/FC helmet off and leaned against the tube, taking deep breaths as he did so.

"What's the matter Specter?" asked a third spartan, he had rust colored armor with a secondary steel tint "Ca-" he tore off his GRENADIER helmet and threw up in his tube, which was on the far left.

"Huh, like your any better Phantom." Specter replied, sitting with his back against his tube.

Three more Spartans emerged from their test tubes, two female and one male. The male removed his HAZOP helmet, revealing a young face with short black hair.

"On your feet Spartans!" he commanded, motioning towards Specter and Phantom whom had fallen over.

"Come on Spirit," Specter said, scrambling to his feet "it hasn't even been five minutes."

"We've been asleep for two months!" said one of the females, she had brown colored armor with a secondary sage tint "And you're already complaining for a rest."

"You know your just encouraging them Spook?" said the second female, she had sage colored armor with a secondary aqua tint.

"Cut the chatter!" Spirit ordered, brushing some ice off of his GUNGNIR shoulder pads and gesturing towards the ODST's "We have visitors."

The six Spartans ceased their bickering and turned towards the four, rather small looking, ODST's.

"Goddam I forgot how big we are!" Specter exclaimed taking a step back to create some room for the small figures.

"Your one to talk," said Entity, the Spartan with the tan colored armor "look at me!"

Entity spread his arms, showing off his enormous size and accidentally knocking Spook's shoulder in the process. He rolled his GUNGNIR clad shoulders, bent his GRENADIER clad knees and sat down on the edge of his tube. He leaned back and crossed his arms over his massive COLLAR/GRENADIER chest armor.

"It's a bit cramped in here," Poltergeist said, she was the one with sage colored armor "I can barely move my arms."

"You," Spirit said, taking command of the conversation "identify yourself."

"Sir!" Greaves said, snapping a quick salute "Lieutenant Greaves of the third ODST platoon!"

"Where are we?" Phantom asked, pulling a grenade out of his TACTICAL/RECON chest armor and inspecting it.

"Your in an ONI research facility." Greaves replied.

"Tower Base?" Specter asked, fiddling with his UA/MULTI-THREAT shoulder pads, his armor's primary color was steel and it's secondary color was maroon.

"That's the one." Greaves said.

"What's the situation?" Spirit asked.

"Tower Base has been compromised sir," Greaves said, beginning a recount of the events that lead up to the Spartans unfreezing "Then we barricaded the door." he finished, gesturing towards the blocked door at the end of the command center.

"Right," Spirit said "Spook, get on that door and find us a way out of here. Polt," he continued, using Poltergeists nickname "they've got injured, do what you can for them. Everyone else make some room."

Spook walked over to the door and effortlessly moved the boxes, which had been quite heavy for Taylor, aside. She crouched down next to the panel, pulled out a strange looking tool and set to work.

Poltergeist had walked over to Bright, she had exchanged a few jokes with her before examining her wounds.

"Excuse me sir," Greaves said, in an uncertain voice "do you mind if I ask a question.

"Fire away." Specter replied.

"I thought Spartan II's wore green armor."

Entity removed his helmet, revealing a strong kind face with brown hair.

"How'd you know we were Spartan II's?" he asked.

"I've worked along side Spartan III's before," Greaves said, recalling a previous battle "and they're all a lot shorter then you guys."

"Sure are." said Phantom, raising his helmet less head.

Phantom was South African, he had light brown colored skin, a bald head and dark brown eyes.

"The ONI ship that was dropping us off was attacked by a covenant cruiser," Specter said, pulling a grenade form his HP/HALO chest armor and tossing it between his hands "we got stuck on one of the lower decks and our armor was badly damaged by a breached chemical pipe."

"So when we got to Reach Halsey had six shining new armor sets made up for us." Entity said, finishing Specter's short story.

"But don't be fooled," Spook said from her position by the door "these suits aren't like that cheap stuff they give to Spartan III's. These are fully functioning mark five Mjolnir suits... Got it!" she finished, opening the door and stepping through to the next room.

Specter, whom was the closest Spartan to the door, followed Spook through to the next room. He raised his eyebrows in surprise as he entered.

"Wow," he said, looking around the thin room "they really don't like computers."

Every single one of the consoles and electronic devices running along the left wall had been smashed and strewn about the room by the enraged brutes.

"Looks like one of them was injured." Spook said, crouching down next to a purple blood stain.

Spirit walked through into the room, fitting his HAZOP helmet over his head as he did so, his armors primary color was teal and it's secondary color was aqua. He was wearing a TACTICAL/LRP chest piece and FJ/PARA knee guards.

"Phantom," he said, gesturing to the rust colored Spartan that had entered behind him "your on clean up duty. Scour the compound and find those Brutes, we don't need them sneaking up behind us."

"Sir!" Phantom nodded his head, rolled his HAZOP clad shoulder guards and exited through the far door, which had been torn from its hinges by the Brutes, pulling his helmet on as he went.

He loaded his weapon, which he had retrieved from his cryogenics pod, as he went.

"Specter and Greaves, your on point," Spirit continued "find us a way out. Entity you bring up the rear while Spook and Polt assist the wounded."

Polt, whom had heard the whole conversation over her radio, scooped Bright up, carrying her in both arms. Poltergeist wore an OPERATOR helmet to assist her medical activities. She wore a DEFAULT chest piece with FJ/PARA shoulder guards and GUNGNIR knee guards.

Simon dismissed Spook's offer of help, Poltergeist had used her tools to saw off the ends of the spike and she had also given him a few painkillers. He walked through and joined the Spartans in the next room.

Spook inclined her AIR ASSAULT UA/CNM clad head towards Polt. Spook wore a TACTICAL/LRP chest piece, where she stored her equipment, DEFAULT knee guards and HAZOP shoulder pads.

Spook, Polt, Taylor and Bright joined the rest of the Spartan's, pulling their helmets on as well. They arranged themselves in the formation that Spirit had described and set off through the compound.

Specter pulled his DMR from his back, checked its ammo, put his helmet on and stalked silently through the shattered door, followed closely by Greaves. The rest of group waited a few seconds before following them.

Specter made his way silently through the compounds deserted corridors, alert for the slightest sound or movement. He was like a ghost, flitting through the empty corridors and leaving no evidence of his passing save for an occasional puff of dust. Greaves on the other hand was like an elephant stomping through a forest. His footsteps rang out, loud and heavy on the metal floor and listening to his heavy breaths was like listening to a hurricane.

"Could he be any louder?" Specter thought, sweeping his DMR across the room in front of him.

He lowered his weapon, only slightly and made his way through the room, passing through a door at the other end. He turned left and walked twenty meters down the corridor, keeping close to the right wall. He reached a bend in the corridor, peeked around it and continued on.

After thirty minutes of walking they arrived at the loading door through which Greaves and his squad had entered.

"Spook, open that door." Spirit commanded.

"On it!" Spook replied, walking over to the panel on the left of the door.

Specter and Spirit took up kneeling positions by the right side of the door, aiming their guns, an assault rifle and a DMR respectively, at the door while Entity guarded their rear. Poltergeist stood by Entity, still holding Bright.

Spook fiddled with the internal workings for a few seconds and the large door began to slide to the left, revealing the war torn courtyard beyond it.

The sudden noise of the firefight in the courtyard was deafening. Specter fired off a few rounds from his DMR, using his superior eyesight to fell two grunts that were hiding in the middle of the courtyard.

Spirit gave the all clear.

"Go, go, go!" he yelled.

Specter sprinted out onto the square platform, followed closely by Spirit and Spook. They ran to the front of the platform and took cover behind the three separate protrusions that were spaced evenly along it's front railing. Spook, whom had taken cover by the far left protrusion, pulled a DMR off of her back and fired at a group of five approaching Grunts, killing three of them.

Specter had taken cover by the far right protrusion. He leaned out to the right, leveled his sights on a blue Elite that was darting from cover to cover in the middle of the rubble strewn courtyard and pulled the trigger five times. Four of the bullets hit the Elite in the upper chest, staggering him and shattering his protective shield while the fifth bullet lodged itself in between his eyes in a spray of purple blood. All of this was accomplished in under five seconds.

He pulled his head back behind the protrusion and turned to face Spirit.

"There are a lot of split mouths out there!" he shouted above the noise, he had spotted at least three squads of Elite's advancing through the damaged gate.

"Don't worry, I've got a plan." Spirit replied "I'm just waiting on the others."

He didn't have to wait long. About ten seconds after their conversation Poltergeist sprinted out onto the platform and deposited Bright behind the middle protrusion, crouching down next to her. Polt was closely followed by Entity whom took cover next to Spook.

"All right," Spirit began, switching his helmets radio to the squad frequency "heres the objective, clear the area and re establish contact with ONI high command."

"And here I thought it was going to be something difficult." Entity said, pointing his assault rifle at two careless Jackles and obliterating their chests in an explosion of purple blood.

"Specter," Spirit began "I need you to head up to the right watch tower and lay down some covering fire with that Sniper of yours."

"Yes sir!" Specter replied, killing three Grunts with some handy rifle work and setting off towards the right watchtower.

"Poltergeist, you head round the cat walk and do what you can for the injured marines," Spirit continued, holding his hand up as Poltergeist began to protest "it's where your talents are most needed. Most of the injured here won't survive the fight without medical attention."

"Fine." she replied, in a resigned tone, as she set off for the left catwalk.

"Entity, as soon as you hear Specter fire I want you and Spook to get down to the courtyard and clear it of hostiles."

"Sir!" Entity and Spook replied at the same time.

"What about us?" Greaves asked.

"I need you and your squad to hold this door until Phantom arrives." Spirit replied.

Greaves and Taylor took cover behind the right protrusion, previously occupied by Specter, while Simon replaced Poltergeists position by Bright.

Specter dashed between the protrusions with incredible speed, avoiding a hail of blue plasma fired by a blue clad Elite.

"Cheeky bastard." he thought, resolving to shoot the offender once he was in the tower.

He darted from cover to cover until he was hiding behind the protrusion next to the ramp that led down from the catwalk and into the courtyard below. There was a second ramp, leading up from the catwalk, next to the first that led up to the watch tower.

Specter waited for a break in the enemies fire and, once he heard one, sprinted out from behind the protrusion and up the ramp. He ran towards the steel door, which was ajar, at the base of the tower, holding his DMR in one hand. He slammed his shoulder into the door and burst through into the small room beyond.

He quickly shut the door behind him and pushed a row of lockers, with apparent ease, in front of it. He turned around and headed for a set of stairs at the back of the room. He followed the stairs to the top of the building, entering the top room through a trapdoor which was located at the top of a short ladder.

He emerged in a small, concrete, bunker like room. It was square in shape, had four slits along its walls which counted for windows and contained the bloodied bodies of four marines.

Specter walked over to the left wall, the one facing the courtyard. He pulled a dead marine, whom had three spikes lodged firmly in the center of his chest, away from the middle of the wall.

Specter removed his Sniper Rifle from his back and leaned it against the low wall in front of him. He picked up his DMR and placed it against his back, waiting for it to thunk magnetically into place.

He gripped the handle of the Sniper Rifle with his right hand and placed his left hand under the barrel. He brought the scope up to his right eye and examined the battlefield below.

He saw Spirit and the ODST's firing at a group of blue Elites, hiding in the middle of the courtyard, from their positions on the upper platform. He lowered his gaze and looked at the ramp below the platform, groaning as he did so.

"Wow, someone is going to have a hard time cleaning that up." he muttered, observing the group of eight slaughtered and dismembered marines lying within it. "Someone must have lobbed a grenade in there." he mused.

He switched his gaze to the covenant occupied side of the courtyard. He quickly spied four squads of four blue Elites, each one led by a fifth maroon Elite.

Specter took three deep breaths, leveled his sights on the nearest maroon Elite's head, whom was taking cover with his squad behind the destroyed gate and pulled the trigger.

There was a loud crack as the bullet was propelled out of the barrel. It sped across the courtyard, leaving a white streak behind it as it went. It crossed the courtyard in under a second and slammed into the side of maroon colored Elites head. It shattered it's shields and blew through the Elites head in an explosion of purple blood and brains before exiting out of the other side of the Elite's head and burying itself in a chunk of concrete.

As soon as the bullet hit the Elite Specter switched his sights to the other Elites and killed them in a similar fashion, scattering their squads and causing chaos in the surrounding Grunt squads.

There was a loud bang and Entity leaned out from behind his cover in time to see a maroon colored Elite, whom was taking cover by the ruins of the gate, drop to the ground. The first shot was quickly followed by three others and Entity saw three more maroon colored Elite's fall to the ground with large holes in their heads.

He nodded to Spook, whom was taking cover beside him and they vaulted the railing between the protrusions, landing with a thud in the courtyard below. They landed in front of the downwards leading ramp, there was a large pile of rubble in the center of the courtyard and there were other makeshift barriers and vehicle husks lying around the courtyard. There were two makeshift barriers about five meters in front of Entity and Spook, a burnt out Warthog on the left and a large chunk of concrete on the right.

A blue Elite had walked out from behind the wreckage of the Warthog, leading a small group of Grunts with him and was busy firing at someone on the left walkway.

Entity straightened up as the covenant squad turned to face him, pointed the muzzle of his assault rifle at the nearby Elite who was leading a squad of three Grunts and pulled the trigger. Entity walked forwards as he fired, sending a stream of bullets slamming into the Elite's chest while Spook fired her DMR at the Grunts. Two of the Grunts dropped to the ground, bright blue blood leaking from wounds in their chests, while the Elites shield gave out and shattered into a thousand blue pieces.

The bullets tore into the Elites unprotected chest, shredding it and splattering the ground with dark purple blood. Entity's gun clicked empty and he let the empty clip drop to the ground while Spook sprinted towards the remaining Grunt.

Spook crossed the space between her and the remaining Grunt with incredible speed. She lashed out with her left foot, kicking the Grunt in the wrist and knocking the plasma pistol from its hands. As soon as her left foot touched the ground she brought her right foot up and stamped down on the Grunts head, breaking its neck and crushing its skull.

She crouched down behind the large chunk of concrete on her right as a nearby squad of four, previously leaderless, Elites whom where taking cover by the base of the rubble in the middle of the courtyard fired at her. Entity took cover behind the Warthog on her left to avoid the same deadly hail of plasma, slamming a new clip into the butt of his rifle as he did so.

There was a large pile of rubble in the center of the courtyard which was surrounded by a low, circular, concrete wall about ten meters across. A Grunt had set up a plasma canon on the top of the rubble pile and was busy firing at a group of terrified marines when a bullet, fired from Specter's watch tower, slammed into the small figures head.

The Grunts head exploded in a shower of bright blue blood and brains, while its headless body tumbled down the rubble pile. The sudden death of the Grunt scared the Elites and they ceased their attack, ducking their heads and glancing warily around themselves.

Entity, switched his assault rifle for his shotgun and charged around the corner of the Warthog, heading straight for the Elites, whom were gathered at the base of the rubble pile. He shouldered the lead Elite in the stomach, shattering its shield and throwing it on its back before turning to his left and blowing apart the chest of a second one with his shotgun.

He turned one-hundred and eighty degrees to his left in time to see one of the Elites point their plasma rifle at him. Entity lunged forwards and slammed the butt of his shotgun down onto the Elite's hand, breaking the bones in it and causing the Elite to utter a gargled cry of pain.

Entity leaned backwards as the Elite swung its left fist at his face and Spook, whom was leaning out from behind her cover, fired two shots with her DMR. The bullets flew through the tiny opening between Entity and his Elite attacker and slammed into the chest of the Elite that Entity had shouldered.

Without his shield to protect him the Elite was powerless to stop the two bullets. They buried themselves deep in his chest, each one accompanied by a small puff of purple blood. The Elite fell backwards, the energy dagger on his wrist disappearing as he did so.

Entity, whom had been briefly shocked by this revelation, sprang back into action while Spook kept the fourth Elite at bay, engaging it in a short range firefight and keeping it behind the Elite that Entity was fighting.

Entity delivered a viscous front kick, with his left leg, into the elites stomach, lifting it a centimeter or two off of the ground and causing it to double over in pain. He brought his gun to bear on the winded Elites head and pulled the trigger, turning the Elites head into a purple mush.

He raised his head to look beyond the tumbling, headless corpse in front of him and saw the last Elite die as Spook sent five rounds into it's, obviously un-shielded, stomach and torso.

Spook ran over to Entity and they advanced around the left side of the low wall. They had journeyed about two thirds of the way around the side of the wall when a Wraith came crashing through the ruined gate.

It smashed aside a large chunk of concrete and a destroyed Warthog before advancing towards Entity and Spook. The Elite gunner, one of the lower ranked blue clad ones, was sitting in the gunners seat and upon seeing the two Spartans he uttered a cry and fired a stream of deadly plasma towards them.

"Shit!" Entity yelled "Over the wall! Go! Go!"

They dived over the wall behind them, landing in the dirt in the other side and quickly scrambled into a sitting position with their backs against the wall.

"Hey Entity, Spook," Specter said, using the squads radio frequency "you guys have got a Wraith incoming. You might wanna find some cover."

"Yeah, thanks, we noticed." Spook replied, ducking her head as low as she could as the Elite fired at her again.

"What the hell is a Wraith doing here anyway?" she yelled "The catwalk is protected by an overhang and plasma resistant protrusions! There's nothing for it to target!"

"It's probably just some dickhead Sangheili trying to win himself honor and glory!" Entity replied.

He raised his head, only slightly, so that he could see over the wall. The Wraith was sitting about ten meters away, pointing straight towards Entity and Spooks position while two squads of blue clad Elites took cover behind plasma barriers beside it, one squad in each side.

"They must have gotten barriers off of the Wraith." Entity thought.

The Elites had originally been hiding by the gate but had advanced after the Wraith had arrived. Entity's observations were cut short as the Elite gunner spotted him and opened fire again.

"Dammit!" he yelled, ducking back down behind the wall "Hey Specter! Can you hurry up and take this guy out?!"

"On it!" Specter replied "Sorry, I was busy helping out some defenders on the left ramp."

There was a loud BANG and the hail of deadly plasma instantly stopped.

"Thanks Spec." Spook said, using Specters nickname.

Entity nodded towards Spook and they vaulted the wall, just in time to see the Wraith fire a massive pulse of blue plasma at the right watch tower.

"No!" Entity yelled.

His shout was drowned out by the cheer from the two Elite squads.

Entity ran at the Wraith and hopped to his right to avoid a hail of blue plasma fired by one of the Elites on the Wraiths left.

Spook pulled a grenade from her hip, flicked the pin out with her thumb, held onto it for a few seconds and rolled it into the middle of the Elite squad. It detonated in their midst, destroying all of their shields and scattering bloody body parts across the courtyard.

"Entity, get back here!" Spook yelled as she saw more Covenant warriors approaching.

Entity spun around and sprinted back to Spook, stumbling as the second squad of Elites fired their weapons and the plasma bounced off of shield his shield. Both Spook and Entity took up their original places behind the wall.

Specter, having just shot dead three Elites, whom were taking cover behind a plasma barrier in front of the left ramp, shifted his gaze to the gate just in time to see a purple Wraith speed through it. He followed the Wraith with his scope, trying to figure out why it would enter such a place. He saw it pass several lines of advancing covenant before it reached the center of the courtyard and its gunner opened fire on Entity and Spook. Specter saw them dive over the low wall behind them and he switched on his radio.

"Hey Entity, Spook, you guys have got a Wraith incoming." he said. "You might wanna find some cover."

He shifted his gaze back over to the left ramp and swore, not hearing Spook's reply. Two blue Elites had occupied their deceased comrades plasma barrier and were getting ready to fire at the marines in front of them.

"Oh no you don't!" Specter said, firing his Sniper Rifle at them.

The first Elite was hit in the side of the head and his body was hurled, by the force of the bullet, against the wall of the courtyard, creating a large splatter of purple blood against the wall. The second Elite was hit under the arm as he raised his plasma rifle towards the marines. The bullet sliced through its chest and tore through its heart and the Elite collapsed side ways.

"Hey Specter!" Entity yelled, making Specters ears ring "Can you hurry up and take this guy out?!"

"On it!" Specter replied, shifting his sights to the blue gunner near the center of the courtyard "Sorry, I was busy helping out some defenders on the left ramp."

Specter tried to level his sights on the Elites head and, after watching as the Elites upper body jerked and shuddered from the plasma cannons recoil, transferred his sights to its chest instead.

He pulled the trigger and a bullet shot out of the guns barrel and whizzed towards the unlucky Elite. It hit the Elite's chest, tearing through it in an explosion of blood and burst out the opposite side, denting the Wraiths armor plating.

"Thanks Spec." Spook said, over the radio.

Specter was about to say 'no problem' when he saw the Wraith rotate to face him.

"Uh-oh." he said.

The arms of the Wraiths main canon suddenly folded forwards, propelling a massive blob of blueish-purple plasma towards Specters position.

"Not good!" he yelled.

Without thinking Specter released his grip on the Sniper Rifle, placed his right hand on the windowsill/wall in front of him and vaulted it, just avoiding the plasma shell.

He fell two stories to the roof of the compound, the sides of which created the walls of the courtyard, below him as the top of the tower exploded in a hail of masonry, concrete and charred hunks of marine flesh. The roof was occupied by a blue clad Elite and three Jackals with shields, all of them were standing on the edge of the roof looking towards the gate for some reason.

Specter rolled as he hit the roof, transferring and dispersing his momentum. He came out of the roll, drawing his knife from its scabbard on his chest as he did so and prepared for the Elites attack.

The Elite had activated an energy sword and, holding it in his right hand, he charged Specter, swinging it at him in a murderous downwards arc.

Specter stepped forwards onto his left foot and brought his left arm out in a knife hand block, checking the Elite's attack and swung his knife, which was clasped in his right hand into the Elites thick neck. A trickle of blood ran out of the Elite's neck and flowed over Specters hand.

He pulled his knife, with a shlick noise, out of the Elite's neck and kicked the corpses chest with his right foot.

The dead Elite flew backwards into the left Jackal's back, knocking it off of the edge of the building. Specter landed with his right foot forwards, he spun his knife so that he was holding the blade between the tips of his fingers and swung his right arm across his body, sending the knife spinning into the right Jackals chest.

It thunked into the center of the Jackals chest and the alien creature crumpled to the ground.

Specter reversed the direction of his swing once his hand reached the hilt of his pistol, which was strapped to his left thigh. He gripped the pistol with his right hand and brought it to bear on the last Jackal, which was now turning to face Specter.

Specter squeezed the trigger five times, the gun bucking with each shot and sent five bullets into the Jackals exposed chest, his shield was on his right wrist and he had turned to the left in an effort to see Specter.

The Jackal toppled backwards, blood flying from his five new chest cavities and Specter raised himself out of his fighting stance as rain began to fall. The fight had lasted about ten seconds.

Specter look over his shoulder, as a crack of lightning illuminated the dark courtyard, towards the destroyed watch tower.

"Heh heh... Heh," he laughed in a nervous tone "I was nearly MIA there."

He walked over to the left side of the roof, the side overlooking the courtyard and peered down to see Spook blow apart a squad of Elites with a well timed grenade.

"Nice throw Spook." he said, pulling his DMR off of his back.

"Specter?!" Spook replied.

"In the flesh." Specter said, firing five quick shots at one of the Elites that was suppressing Entity and Spook.

The Elite's shield shattered and he fell to the ground, leaking purple blood from two holes in his neck and chest. The rest of the Elites ducked behind the Wraith.

"Where the hell are these damn Brutes?!" Phantom thought, as he walked through the dark, deserted corridors.

He had been walking through the base for at least thirty minutes without seeing or hearing anything that might lead him to the Brutes. He was about to give up, thinking the Brutes must have left by some kind of back door, when he heard a loud crash.

He made his way silently towards the door, taking several sharp turns on the way. He came to an open doorway, pressed his back against the wall beside it and peeked in.

It was a bunk room and most of the bunks had been tossed against the wall, creating a large open area in the middle of the large room. Standing in the middle of the room were five large Brutes, one of which was bleeding from a wound in its arm.

"Found you." Phantom said, smiling beneath his helmet.

He checked his assault rifle, saw that it held a full round and leveled it on one of the Brutes.

He pulled the trigger, emptying the clip and sending thirty two rounds at the group of large gorilla-like aliens. Thirty of the rounds hit the two Brutes at the front, blowing large holes in their chests and arms and splattering their pack mates other blood. The two other bullets missed altogether.

The three remaining Brutes charged Phantom, roaring as they did so. He leaped to his left, reloading his gun as he did so and fired at the Brute who was rushing through the door way.

The Brutes skull was shattered as four bullets slammed into it and blood and brains flew everywhere. Another Brute emerged from the doorway and Phantom pulled the trigger. There was a loud clack as his gun jammed. He glanced down at it.

"Shit." he thought as the Brute slammed into him.

It carried him down the corridor, roaring as it went and slammed him into the wall. Phantom let out a yell and ducked as the Brute threw a lunch at his head. Phantom drew his knife from its scabbard and slammed up into the Brutes armpit. The Brute roared in both rage and pain and Phantom quickly silenced it by stabbing it's neck... Twice.

He pulled his knife out of the Brutes neck, letting the heavy corpse drop to the ground and threw his knife at the last Brute, which was charging towards him.

His knife sunk into the Brutes right shoulder. The Brute continues to run forward, hardly noticing the sharp steel object sticking out of its shoulder. It leaped at Phantom and he ducked to avoid it. It slammed into the wall and Phantom grabbed its left shoulder with his left hand and sent three powerful punches into its kidneys.

The Brute roared in pain and Phantom swept its legs out from underneath it with his right foot. The Brute crashed to the ground and Phantom stomped down hard on its head, crushing it's skull and killing it.

Phantom removed his helmet and took a few deep breaths. He out his helmet back on, retrieved his knife and scooped up his jammed gun.

"Useless pile of crap." he muttered as he headed for the loading bay door.

"Dammit!" Spirit yelled, pulling his head behind the protrusion as the Wraith fired a low, straight shit towards him.

"We need to get rid of that thing, it's keeping us pinned down while the Elites swarm and kill us." Greaves said.

"I'm on it." Spirit replied.

"Specter!" Spirit said "Can you see any weapons that might help us eliminate that damn Wraith?!"

"Hold on," Specter said "I'll see what I can find."

Spirit didn't bother leaning out to take a shot. There were no more Covenant left in his half of the courtyard, Entity and Spook had seen to that.

"Hey Spirit!" came Specter's voice "I've got you something, on the far left walkway by the ramp there's a rocket launcher."

"Thanks Spec." Spirit replied.

He made his way over to the left walkway, dashing between the evenly spaced protrusions and came to a stop by the last protrusion, overlooking the ramp.

He looked down the ramp and saw a dead marine, covered in burn marks and leaking blood, lying by the base of the ramp. The rocket launcher lay beside him.

"Crap," he thought "he must have rolled down there after he died."

Spirit glanced around the corner of the protrusion, saw that the Wraith was facing away from him, firing at the right walkway. There was a squad of three Elite's hiding behind the Wraith and another squad of four Elites were taking cover over by the ruins of the gate. The rest of the Covenant forces had fallen back.

Spirit pulled his head back behind the protrusion, took a few deep breaths and sprinted down the ramp. He was halfway down the ramp when the Elites by the gate spotted him. They fired their plasma rifles towards him and he dived forwards, dodging the blue plasma.

He landed at the base of the ramp and rolled, grabbing the rocket launcher as he did so. He came out of his roll facing the Wraith, with his weapon aimed straight at it. He pulled the trigger just as the Elites fired at him again.

The rocket flew into the back of the Wraiths chassis and Spirit staggered as three bolts of plasma slammed into his shield. He stumbled backwards and rolled to his right, towards the ramp.

One of the Elites threw an armed plasma grenade and it landed a few centimeters to Spirit's left. He turned around and ran towards the ramp. The grenade detonated as Spirit reached the base of the ramp and he was thrown up it, his shields barely holding out. He landed on his stomach halfway up the ramp and groaned. He shook his head and crawled forwards, shielded from the Elite's view by the ramps low railing.

He made it safely behind the protrusion, retrieved his assault rifle from where he had left it and sighed.

The Wraith exploded in bright purple flames and sent smoking prices of purple wreckage flying around the courtyard. The explosion obliterated the three Elites that had been hiding behind the Wraith. The Elites by the gate were the last hostile forces remaining.

Entity vaulted the low wall on front of him and sprinted over to the wreckage of the Wraith, taking cover behind it. Spook joined him and they both fired their weapons, over the top of the Wraith, towards the remaining four Elites.

The Elite that Entity fired at was caught out in the open and he soon succumbed to the onslaught of bullets, falling backwards as five bullets tore into his chest.

Spook had chosen to fire at an Elite in the far left whom had raised himself up to get a better shot. She sent three bullets into his chest, severely weakening his shield. Specter fired off a shot from his DMR, hitting the weakened Elite in the head and shattering its already weak shield. Spook seized her chance and sent three rounds into the Elites chest.

Entity pulled a grenade from his hip, primed it and threw it towards the two remaining Elites while Spook reloaded her DMR. One of the Elites scooped up the grenade and was about to throw it back at them when it detonated. It blew the unlucky Elite apart tore his squad mate in half, scattering purple blood and alien body parts everywhere.

Spirit jogged up to the gate in time to see a squad of five Grunts scuttle off down the street.

"On me!" he ordered, speaking into his radio.

Specter dropped from the roof of the compound don't into the courtyard, rolling as he land and jogged up to Spirits position. He arrived at the same time as Entity and Spook, closely followed by Poltergeist and Phantom.

"Glad you aren't MIA." Entity chuckled, slapping Specter on the back.

"Cut the chatter." Spirit ordered, not wanting his squad to lose track of the situation.

"We've secured the area but it's only temporary. Specter, get out their," Spirit gestured towards the street "and do some recon work, see what you can find out about the Covenants movements. Spook and Phantom, you see if you can establish contact with ONI. Entity and Polt, your with me. We're gonna make some room and establish a routine for these marines." he finished.

"And someone close that door!" he added, pointing towards the loading bay door.

*Hey guys thanks for reading and if you could please drop me a review then that would be much appreciated.