Chapter Nine: Beginning of the End

Requiem's Orbit, September 27, 2559, 3:34pm

Ginger tore his eyes open. The cryo tube was opening at a slow rate, and alarms were blaring all over the ship. Blood was splattered against all the walls, and bodies were laying everywhere. "What the hell happened?"

No one was there to answer him, so he decided to find out for himself. A DMR was laying on the ground in front of him, so he took the weapon. "Fireteam Rose?" he asked into the comms. All he got was static.

"You're alive!" a voice shouted.

He looked for the source of the voice, and his eyes settled on a teal figure projected on a holotank. "Destinee? What in the hell happened?" Ginger guestered to the dead bodies, Spartan and other UNSC personnel, that littered the floor. "I think I might have missed something."

Destinee frowned. "When the Infinity reached Requiem, those rebelling Spartans, or whatever they are, attacked the Infinity, and managed to kill most of everyone." She seemed emotionally unstable at the moment. "It was horrible fighting."

All that info took a minute to sink in. The UNSC's largest ship, the Infinity, had been attacked by a group of rouges who had retreated in a single frigate. When Ginger finally found his voice, he asked; "Who were the survivors?"

Destinee brought back a small grin. "Guess who."

"Lachlan."

"And Fireteams Rose and Violet," Destinee said. Ginger took her chip out of the terminal, and walked towards the hanger, stepping over half-decayed bodies.

"Anyone still on the ship?" Ginger asked, entering the first hanger to reveal that it was empty.

"Roland, but that's it," Destinee answered. "He transferred all the power into the bridge to prevent the rouges from activating the engines and escaping. He gave me a small amount to wake you up."

Ginger sighed as the second bay was empty as well. "Where do we go?" He asked.

"The survivors are holed up on Requiem, in the Covenant Remnants base," Destiee informed him. "And they too got hit."

Ginger sighed. "This can't get any worse can it?"

"Yeah, it can," Destinee said as she brought up the official casulty report on Ginger's HUD. "Look at the top."

"Lord Hood? You mean he's dead?"

Destinee nodded. "This is hard to imagine."

"So, what's the plan?"

A 3D model of Requiem appeared on his HUD. "We're going to finish what the Infinity was planning to do; destroy Requiem."

"Destinee," Ginger said in annoyance. "We can't. We don't have the firepower."

"Hear me out," she said, and she blew up the picture of Requiem to show three pillar islands in the middle of an ocean on the Forerunner planet. "There is a way to steer Requiem out of orbit, and into the nearby star," she explained. "There are two terminals that have to be activated to do this."

"One is on the largest island," Destinee informed him, highlighting the island. "The other is on the other side of the planet."

The third hanger bore fruit in the form of a slightly smoking Pelican. "It can still fly, right?" the Spartan asked his AI.

Destinee nodded, before releasing a breath. "It should be fine." She put on a concerned face as Ginger sat down at the controls of the dropship. "You do know that there will be a small amount of time to get off the planet after the orbit is disrupted, right?"

Ginger sighed as he ignited the engines. "I'll worry about that when I get there." The Pelican flew out of the hanger and into space. For the first time since the attack, Destinee saw the exterior of the Infinity.

Holes were blasted in the side, along with several missing sections of outer steel, exposing the interior to the void of space.

"Destinee, a single frigate could not cause that much damage alone," Ginger noted, as he flew toward the opening of the Forerunner shield world. "What footage of the battle is available?"

"None."

Ginger looked Destinee in the eyes through the comm screen. "Okay, so. The UNSC's biggest ship gets attacked and devestated by a single frigate, and there is not a single second of footage."

"Yes."

"Destinee, are you functioning properly?"

"Scanning...Affirmative."

Ginger sighed again. "This is not normal."

Covenant Remnants FOB Base, Requiem, September 27, 2559, 3:35pm

The ground quaked when a rocket impacted the Covenant barricades blocking that were being used as cover for the troops making a stand.

"Incoming!"

"Grif!" Simmons shouted. The maroon Spartan was crouching behind a barrier, holding his Battle Rifle tight in his hands. "You have to shout that before the rockets impact."

"I did," Grif said. "But my helmet speakers are lagging."

Eray and the Remnants were evacuating the base, while the Spartans and several Hunters and a few Jackal snipers were holding off the invading force. Bullets were hammering the barricades, completely forcing them into cover.

"Okay men, we need to make a charge," Sarge ordered, as he crouched-walked over to them.

"Um..." Simmons held up two clips and a couple of batteries for a Railgun. "This is all the ammunition that I have, sir. I even stole Grif's ammo as well, and that was used up a long time ago."

"Oh..." Grif face palmed. "No wonder this weapon wasn't shooting. I thought it was broken."

"Grif, you're the sniper bait," Sarge said. "Go out there and get shot. We need to know where the snipers are."

Lachlan army crawled over, shotgun tucked between his elbows. "Sarge, we need anti-aircraft fire," he ordered. "There is a Pelican heading right at us."

Simmons held up his Railgun. "I'm on it." He poked the gun out of cover, and located the incoming aircraft, taking aim.

"Any luck on locating the jammer's they're using?" Lachlan asked Sarge. The black armored Spartan moved into a squatting position, removing his helmet to wipe the sweat from his face.

"Both recon teams are KIA," the red armored Spartan replied.

Before Lachlan could respond, an expolsion echoed throught out the base. "What happened?" He asked to anyone who heard him.

"Rebels shot down the Pelican," Simmons answered. "It spiraled into the ground. Lovely sight." They sat in silence as they waited for...

"The artillery has stopped," Girf noted. "Why would they stop shooting at us?"

Tucker limped over, clutching his lower chest with a single arm, dragging his BR55 with the other. "They're invisible," he said, in a weak voice before collasping to the ground.

"What did he say about invis-" Simmons was cut off when twin plasma blades stabbed through his chest, hitting his heart and instantly killing him.

Several weapons were raised, aiming in every direction. "Switch HUD to thermal," Lachlan ordered, as his vison was turned green, with a massive red blob in front of him. A single shotgun shot later, the rebel was dead.

But, that was the only kill they got in before they were completely overwhelmed...

Covenant Remnants FOB Base, Requiem, September 27, 2559, 7:21pm

Ginger groaned as he woke. taking a few minutes for his vison to return to normal. He was still in his Pelican, but it had crashed straight into the ground.

"What the hell happened?" he asked wairly. Smoke filled the cabin, along and the controls were sparking.

"We were hit," Destinee replied. "We spun in, and hit the ground hard."

Ginger grabbed BR85 laying on the floor next to him, and made his way out of the Pelican. As he exited, he saw a rather interesting sight. Spartans lay dead all around him. Most had Beam Rifle burns on their heads or necks, but a few had SRS damage, and some were missing limbs entirely.

"Don't worry," Destinee said. "These are the rebels, not the UNSC Spartans."

"Good," Ginger muttered, as he saw the Covenant Remnants in the distance. He began the walk to it, heading up hill. As he got closer, the amount of rebel Spartan bodies seemed to increase. Apparently, the UNSC Spartans had held the hill.

At the top of the hill, there were more bodies, and Ginger heard Destinee let out a sigh. "These are the UNSC Spartans..."

Looking around, Ginger saw the bodies of Fireteam Violet and Rose, excluding Lachlan's. He must have survived. Ginger dropped his gun at the sight of Simmons and Grif, laying dead next to each other.

"I should have been faster," he said, taking the blame on himself. "They would have lived if had had woken up faster, right?"

Destinee was silent. "...yes, they would have, but you can't give up hope. "We're so close to ending this all right here. We have to destroy Requiem."

"What's the point?" Ginger asked. "The UNSC has been severly crippled, losing most, if not all, of it's Spartans. The Insurrection would move in a wipe them out within days. We lost."

"You're giving up? You can't!" Destinee shouted in his ear. "Last year, when the Covenant invaded Earth for the second time, did you give up? No, you and the Master Chief and Lachlan stuck it out, and fought to the end. And, now you're alone, and you have to finish the fight yourself."

"Just look around you!" Ginger snapped. "Everyone else is dead! I'm the last of the UNSC Spartans!"

"No, no your not." Sarge walked over from behind some rocks.

"You're alive?" Ginger asked. "Who else is?"

"I thought that nap time came before pants time," Caboose said, walking over next to Sarge, looking around at all the dead bodies.

"Still wished you asked?" Sarge asked. Ginger shook his head. "What's the plan?" Sarge put his Shotgun on his back, and folded his arms.

"Well...we only have on shot at this," Ginger said. "Destinee, pull up the maps on Sarge's HUD." Destinee nodded on the comm screen when she had. "We're destroying Requiem, and there are two places we need to go to do so." Two dots lit up on the map. "I'm going solo to one, while you, Caboose, and Destinee are going to the other."

Destinee shook her head. "No, I'm sticking with you," she said. "I already lost the first Spartan that I was assigned to. I'm not going anywhere without you."

"I'm not giving you a choice, Destinee," Ginger said. "You're going with them, and they are getting you out of here."

"What about you?" Destinee asked, looking away.

Ginger sighed. "For some odd reason, I get the feeling that I'm not coming back from this fight this time. And I want you off the planet."

There was quiet for a few seconds, and a waypoint appeared on Ginger's HUD. "I've marked the waypoints," Destinee said. "I guess I'm ready to go. I'm all packed."

Reaching behind his head, Ginger removed her chip, and handed it to Sarge. "Take care of her."

Sarge nodded. "I will." He pointed at the base. "There's two Phantoms in there, we can use them to get there faster."

Ginger nodded, and they walked into the base, and over to the Phantoms. Above them was an open roof, which allowed the dropships out. "As soon as you have activated the terminal there, get you ass back to the Infinity, and if I'm not already there, leave with out me."

"Understood," Sarge replied, heading for one of the Phantoms, Caboose in tow. "Do me a favor, and spare me the grief of having to lose my CO."

"I'll do my best," Ginger said grimly. "But don't get your hopes up."

They entered their vehicles, and took off, flying toward their destiny.

A/N: What's up? I'm back with the next chapter of this story. I'll admit that I wasn't exactly pleased with this story, I felt that I hadn't done so well. But, I'm gonna finish it anyway, so it doesn't bug me. So, yay!