Ch. 5 - Escape
As the horrific hybrid of 734 Adjutant Instinct & the Proto-Gravemind began to explode & overpower the Flood Research Facility's core that it had wrapped itself around the surviving Elites had no time to cheer for victory, for the entire facility was shorting out. An explosion opened a door on the other side of the room.
"Quickly!" cried Rtas 'Vadum pointing at the new exit. He & his brothers-in-arms ran for their lives with the room blowing up around them. The hallway was filled w/ the Flood creatures & Sentinels fighting each other, reverting back to normal now that each's leader was dead. They reached a door that had only opened halfway.
"Avo, help me with this door!" called Crae. Siya also joined him, as the hall around them was making very strange noises over the fighting of the former allies, & this made him very nervous.
"This can't possibly get any worse!" cried the burned Minor. But it had, the Parasite had won its skirmish with the Sentinels & turned its collective attention towards the escapees. Roaring & screeches from the terrifying Combat Forms grew louder as they drew closer. Tsu fired his rifle at the creatures in a horrified frenzy, angering the monstrous Elite Combat Form. It used its powerful tentacle arm to slam Tsu into the wall, knocking him to his knees & dispatching his shield, then the form got ready for the finishing strike, but, suddenly, Vse let out a blood curdling roar & activated his blade. W/ extraordinary speed he sliced the mutated Elite in half, then stabbing the Infection Form in its chest. He then helped his brother up, who thanked him. Tsu then picked his rifle up & his shield recharged.
"I think I got it!" exclaimed Avo as he sparked some wires. The door slammed close.
"Oh, you got it alright." said Siya sarcastically.
"It's green on red, not blue on red." Crae said as he pushed Avo aside. The door opened & the group hurried through it, being pursued by the Parasite's monsters. Just as the Elites got through the door it exploded on the Combat creatures.
The Elites continued to run for their lives throughout the falling apart facility. Then they came to a fork in the hall.
"Which wa-" the Arbiter tried to ask but was cut off by one of the halls' ceiling caving in. Down the other hall came more Flood. "I guess we go up." The group quickly scaled the rubble to the next floor, then ran through a hole in the wall to the outside.
"Finally, fresh air!" exclaimed Saros. Suddenly, an Enforcer covered with Combat Forms came into view & crashed into the ground, destroying the machine & attackers.
"Siya, activate the homing beacon!" Shipmaster 'Vadum ordered. Siya did so.
"Some Phantoms should arrive in 15 minutes." he said. Several Carriers stumbled out of the wreckage of the same wall the Elites did, one tripped & fell over, exploding, causing a chain reaction. Now a swarm of Infection Forms came at them.
"By the gods!" the 'Redar siblings said simultaneously.
"Destroy them!" cried the burned Minor. The 'Redars quickly cremated the crawling creatures with their beams. The squad started to run towards the place where they 1st landed here on this planet. A few Sentinels & Combat Forms created an opposition, but were defeated. Finally, the Phantoms showed up.
"Quickly, everyone get on board!" Ordered the Arbiter. As the Elites gathered in the ships they could hear the humming from earlier, only this time it was much, much louder.
"Hurry, back to the Shadow!" Exclaimed Rtas. The Phantoms flew as fast as they could to escape the planet. When they left the atmosphere the overloaded facility finally blew. A huge explosion destroyed an entire part of the planet, w/ the occurring shockwave hitting the escaping Phantoms.
"What was that?" cried one of the Assault Carrier's crewmen. The shock wave had even struck the Shadow of Intent!
"Good job everyone," the Arbiter said, now back on the ship, "those that died this day, died as heroes."
"Indeed," added the Shipmaster, "now we all really need to get home. In fact, I don't think I ever been so home-sick before." The Elites cheered in agreement. With the corrupted Research Facility destroyed & the survivers safely on board their ship, the iShadow of Intent/i opened a Slipspace portal & headed back to the Elites homeworld, Sangheilos, with the crew awaiting their next battle.