Flight

(Part Two)

(Disclaimer: I do not own Halo)

James watched in anticipation as the Elite and twenty or so Grunts with a pair of Jackals wandered into the mess hall from the door opposite him. He, Tyler, and Donald were all crouched in a darkened doorway and monitoring their HUD's as well as watching.

"I count twenty-three, Corporal," Tyler said unnecessarily.

"Yup," James said thinking quick. "When they get about halfway across I'm going to lob a pair of grenades at them. Then Donald will lob a pair after those first two go boom. Tyler you're going to cover us while we move forward."

"Ready to use that shotty?" Donald asked with a chuckle. James answered him with a dry chuckle of his own.

When the Elite was a little ways past the half way point; James lobbed both grenades slightly past him and ducked as they blew up. The first pair took out several of the tightly packed Grunts and both Jackals. The second pair took out over half the remaining Grunts leaving only eight which Tyler started picking off ruthlessly with controlled, well aimed burst of fire. James darted into the room with Donald close behind.

He closed on the Elite who roared a challenge at seeing him. James grinned behind his face mask as he opened the Elites rib cage with a blast from his shotgun. He racked the gun and gave him another to the head for good measure as he passed. He stood there feet planted racking and firing it as fast as he could acquire targets. Donald came up behind him firing in short burst from his submachine gun. Within moments all the Covenant troops were down.

Tyler moved warily into the room to join James and Donald. "That was insane," he said in an awed voice as he looked at the destruction they had caused. "These Covenant bastards aren't so bad."

"Not like this," James allowed, "But when you've got a trio of Elites backed up by over fifty Grunts and a half dozen Jackals then it becomes a problem. We got lucky with this one." Bunker came over the radio then informing him of Fatima's death and he tried to hear both conversations at once.

"Corporal, we lost Fatima," Bunker was blunt as always.

"Shit," James said, "I'm assuming enemy presence is light down there?"

"Yes, Corporal we're continuing on with the mission," Bunker radioed back.

"Take no more chances then you have to," was all James said before turning back to Donald and Tyler.

"Roger that," Bunker said sincerely.

"Yup," Donald said still talking to Menendez, "Take out the Elites and then the Jackals. Take out the Grunts as you have to or leave them to regular Marine infantry. The Elites are the commanders."

"So it's kinda like cuttin' the head off the snake then?" Tyler asked.

"Something like that," James allowed, "Let's keep moving the bridge is right down the main hall on the other side."

"How do you think they got this deep in the ship Corporal?" Tyler asked.

"No telling," James said, "Bunch of other airlocks on this ship not to mention the few windows are probably all busted out."

"Like in the bridge," Donald said pointedly.

"Yes, like in the bridge," James said with a sigh. 'Fuck my life.'

***

They were even luckier then James had originally thought because it was a straight shot to the bridge from exiting the mess hall. And it was empty. 'Finally something went somewhat right today.' He was tired all of a sudden, the adrenaline slowing. He left his men in a doorway and approached the bridge doors. One was partially open and looked to have been cut, but James couldn't be certain because the whole thing looked to be charred.

"Definitely could've come in this way," James called over the comm. link.

He stood along the wall and carefully peaked into the room. He waved for his men to come forward and then entered the room in a rush. Nothing, it was clear of enemy personnel. James stood at ease and scanned the room noticing that the windows were in fact blown out and several corpses still remained strapped to their chairs where they had died.

"Uh, Corporal Dawn," Tyler said uneasily. James' motion tracker had begun showing red dots as soon as he spoke.

"You two handle our uninvited guest until I finish," he told them. The dots suddenly began multiplying and James cursed before turning to toss Donald his remaining grenades. "Hold them," was all he said before turning his attention back to the bridge. He found the podium for the AI crystal as soon as the firing began.

As he was pulling the crystal Bunker came over the radio asking for permission to alter the time on the Nukes.

"No," was all he had time to answer before dodging a plasma blast. "Set it for thirty and haul ass back to the birds wait until the twenty five minute mark and leave without us if you have too." He still hadn't told Donald and Tyler about Fatima and didn't plan to until they were safely out of there.

He pocketed the crystal and turned back to his men. "Alright, time to go," he said.

"Uh, maybe you should look outside," Tyler said. Donald laughed.

"This is our time to shine," he said, "Just watch and learn kid."

James was grinning ear to ear and pulled a small explosive charge the size of his fist from his gear. It was studded with ball bearing. Tyler just stared at it.

"I've got a half dozen of these babies," James told him. "Always leave 'em with a bang."

He tossed it into the hallway and detonated it before tossing another right after it, detonating that one while it was still in the air. He charged out, shotgun at the ready and began blasting everything that moved in the smoky haze.

Tyler was in shock as they ran straight through the enemy forces left after the two blast. He ran right behind Donald who was right on Corporal Dawn's rear. 'Freakin' insane,' was all he could think.

They were halfway back before James slowed down from a dead sprint. He was winded but didn't want to stop completely. They were one turn away from the hanger when they spotted two green dots in front of a dozen red ones. They heard the roar and James sped up, turning the corner in time to watch Bunker being advanced on by an Elite.

James didn't stop as he sent the eight gauge shell into the Elites head. It dropped and the three of them systematically destroyed the remaining Covenant troops. James sent Bunker on his way carrying Menendez even though he knew he was hurt, but he couldn't afford to give up somebody who was perfectly good enough to fight. They managed to board the Pelican and were exiting atmosphere when the ship blew.

James laughed, "Think about how surprised they must be."

"Yeah, for all of two seconds," Donald said.

The rear ramp closed as they started pushing for space. They made it back to the Kiowa and put Bunker and Menendez into the hands of waiting Corpsmen.

"Where's Fatima?" Tyler asked looking around for him.

"He's dead," James said as Donald let out a huge sigh. They all three removed their helmets and tucked them under their arms after shouldering their weapons.

"That's shitty," Tyler said morosely, "We were in the same company at boot camp. Used to run into him at the ODST School too."

"Yeah," Donald said, "Join the club. My brother went down a few years ago, and a half dozen friends from high school are all dead too. Just wait, and if you survive you'll be missing half your class at the ten year re-union."

James walked off to the medical clinic on board ship to check on his two men.

"Corporal Dawn," Donald said in a low voice, "Has his Uncle, only cousin, and only sister serving too. Not to mention he's lost almost every friend he's ever had."

"That's tough," Tyler said looking at his corporals back.

"Yep," Donald allowed, "Now let's forget this sad shit and get some chow."

"I want a shower first," Tyler said as they headed for their teams room.

"Weapon, chow, then you," Donald pointed out.

"Yeah," Tyler sighed as Donald headed for the tables to clean weapons.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A/N: I know its a lot longer then Part One, but there is always more to tell with the main character. I'm working on the continuation which is in full swing so please be patient. If you enjoy the story or have any comments or thoughts at all about it please do leave me a review. Any suggestions for events or characters are welcome and appreciated as well, I can always use them later when I get writers block.