Alpha Down Chapter 5

Kuri opened his eyes before a white armored Spartan. His name was Alpha. Alpha. Alpha. He said the name several more times in his head before he heard his voice.

"You're up! Come on, we've got to move. There's Covies moving in our position, and they're not stopping for anything," Alpha helped him up.

"Okay.." Kuri shook his head, trying to clear his vision, "What happened? Where are we?"

"No time, we've got to move, now!"

Kuri looked around. He was in a small, boxed room that had shelves on either side, and an entryway in front of him. That entryway led to a small door that Alpha had locked. There was a shelf next to Kuri, and he saw his helmet on it. At that moment, he realized his helmet was off. Alpha motioned for Kuri to get down, and he ducked behind one of the shelves, taking his helmet with him. Without putting it back on, he peeked over the edge of the shelf. He could see the door, and an Elite came up to it and banged on it a few times. One of his allies approached him, told him something, and then they both walked off, realizing the door was locked shut.

"Okay, change of plans, they might know we're in here," Alpha said, "They're probably going to get something to blow the door down, what do you think we should do?"

"We should surprise them. Did you see how many there were?" Kuri put his helmet on.

"Yes, there were two Elites and four Grunts."

"Okay, we wait in here, and hide when they come in. If they spot us, we hit them with everything we've got and make a run for it," Kuri shook his head clear.

Kuri hid behind the same shelf, and Alpha hid behind one right by the door. They waited, and a hissing noise was heard as the door slid open, and a pair of Elites stepped into the room. Kuri waited a few moments, and after hearing some chatter from the Elites, risked glance up from behind his hiding spot. The two Elites had their backs to him, and Alpha was nowhere to be found. The door slid shut, locked, and the Elites walked off into some other room. More time passed, and then Alpha appeared from his hiding spot.

"Two Grunts," he said in a quiet voice, "We're going to open up the door, and take them out."

Kuri nodded, and Alpha pressed the lock on the door. The door slid open, but the two Grunts hadn't even suspected the Spartans to snap their necks from behind. Alpha hid the bodies behind the locked door, and then led Kuri down a hallway that that got continuously smaller until the ceiling touched the floor. The two Spartans were on their stomachs, crawling forwards. Alpha felt around for a latch, pulled it, and the floor opened up into a hangar with a Pelican dropship. It had a large, square appearance with it's large under-wing engines, and it's nose mounted machine gun. The rocket pods looked unloaded, and there waren't any rockets in the hangar. Alpha climbed in the back and went through to the cockpit, and Kuri followed. From the looks of it, they were inside of a mountain. The hangar had a large opening in the side, where the Pelican could leave. Maybe they could escape!

Alpha gripped the control rods, and pressed the ignition. Nothing happened. He flipped a few switches, and then pressed the ignition again. Nothing. He pressed some more buttons and flipped another switch, then tried the ignition a third time. Still, nothing.

"Something is wrong. If I am correct, this ship is missing an ignition," Alpha said.

"What do you mean?" Kuri asked.

"I mean, the whole entire part that actually starts the engines up, is missing. If it were damaged or malfunctioning, we would at least hear something clicking or whirring or something."

"So, why isn't there an ignition?"

"Well, these things are built with them installed. Someone must have removed it."

Kuri looked back at the empty hangar through the back end of the Pelican, "Like who" He asked, "Like an Elite?"

"No, I'm not sure the Covenant are that savvy about human tech. It'd have to be a human. Maybe the people here before needed a replacement before the Covenant attacked," Alpha flipped all the switches back and turned to exit the ship.

The two exited the ship and looked for another exit. The only visible one was the one in the ceiling, and the one the Pelican was supposed to go out of. Their only choice was to go out of the Pelican's exit. They climbed the small ledge and slid down the side of the mountain. When he looked up, Kuri could see a blizzard moving in. He took a last look at his surroundings. All he could see in front of him were several small rock formations forming passes and canyons throughout one large canyon. It was pointless. The two stumbled on for what seemed like hours, using the rocks and mountains as guidance, trying to get to the back to the building that they had started in. The cold was starting to get to them in their armor.

After some time, Alpha walked into something. It was smooth, not rough like the side of the mountain. He looked up, and saw before him a structure. Not the one they had started in, but a smaller one in the side of a pass. They entered, and found a small supply UNSC supply crate, and a still Elite on the ground next to it. Kuri looked at it closer, it's armor was different. The Elites he had fought before were very sleek and phantom looking, but this one looked like a big and tough Elite you might see as some alien bar or something. It had little armor, and it had a muscular body.

Alpha knelt by the body, "This guy must've worked out a lot." he said, "but there's no bullet holes. Just, a weird burn mark."

Kuri looked at him, "Like a plasma burn? Or a fire burn? Could've been some accident or something."

"They would've taken the body if there were others around, don't you think?"

Kuri took a look at the mark Alpha had pointed out. He was right, it wasn't a plasma burn. It looked more like an electrical shock mark than anything.

Alpha took a look inside the supply crate, while Kuri pondered over the Elite.

"Is he even dead? I should check for a pulse," Kuri said, "Where are their big veins? Maybe the wrist?"

Kuri checked for a pulse like he would for a human. Nothing.

"I'm not an alien, how would I know how their bodies work?"

Kuri left the body alone and check the supply crate with Alpha. Inside it were two MA5B assault rifles, a hand grenade, two small medical supply kits, a pair of binoculars, and a few days worth of dehydrated food.

"Take what you need, we'll rest here, and then move on when the blizzard clears. I left the grenade and binoculars in there for you, if you want them."

Kuri reached into the crate and took a rifle, and checked it's ammo. It was unloaded, and only had one magazine in it's storage compartment. He only had one on his belt, and he had lost all of his other weapons. He put the grenade on his belt and put the medkit on his back, and then put the binoculars around his neck. The food wasn't needed, Kuri was a Spartan, and didn't require food as often. When he looked into the crate to check for anything he missed, he saw something underneath the bags of dehydrated food. A small, green, T shaped object was now in Kuri's hand.

"Alpha, come here. I found something," Kuri called to him.

"Give that here, it's dangerous!" Alpha warned, and Kuri hurriedly handed it over to him.

"What is it? It doesn't look dangerous."

"It's the key to a super-weapon, a weapon on a galactic scale... A lot of people are after this thing..."

Unknown to the Spartans, another entity had entered the room.

"What kind of weapon?" Kuri asked.

Alpha and Kuri turned around to face the small, metal orb that floated behind them. A red light came from it's core.

"It's called Halo, my dear Reclaimers."