"Not a fucking chance…" Archerson growled out as Garrett walked in with his team.
"Status?" Garrett asked.
"fucked as of now. Take a look" Archerson said and motioned to the screen as everyone huddled around the soldiers.
The Covenant were setting up AA batteries and shade turrets all around the exterior of the Ark, now uncovered.
"same as before, let's just hope this doesn't create a portal…" Fred said as he watched for energy readings on the screen.
"do they have a dreadnaught?" Garrett asked.
"nothing yet, just phantoms, and sadly… one assault carrier" Halsey stated.
"are you kidding me?" Kelly asked.
"I wish I were Kelly, but unfortunately they have found a way to adapt the teleportation field to bring in a starship. And there is something very wrong with that ship as well" Halsey said gravely as she pressed a few buttons.
The Assault carrier was emitting sensor pings on all frequencies, sending data beyond the range of the Milky Way cross points. They were communicating, or so it showed.
"there can't be…" Archerson swallowed hard.
"there hasn't been a response yet for the request for reinforcements in this dimension, but that may only be a matter of time, something we are sorely lacking right now. We have to put the Ark on hold for a bit and do something even higher priority. Spartans, ten hut!" Halsey barked as all green armored soldiers stood at march stance.
"you will neutralize that carrier, we cannot allow them to gain more troops to repel us, we simply do not have the manpower, nor do the federation soldiers assisting us know truly how to fight Brutes. The other problem is if there really is another covenant force out there, then the elites and grunts have not yet broken away" the doctor sighed out, tired of the situation already.
"we could persuade them to join us instead of fighting, help us defend against the brutes and gain control of the Ark" Gad told her.
"I would rather not even have to gain first contact with them at all if we can, hence the assault on the carrier Lieutenant" Halsey told the elite, as he shifted on his hooves.
"what are we supposed to do then?" Shion asked.
"there is something else just as important for your team Shion. Your Team, along with T-elos and KOS-MOS, are to neutralize as many AA batteries as possible, punch a hole for two pelicans to raid the carrier and land. I don't have to really explain just how important it is to give those two pelicans an opening. If they are shot down, we will have just lost our Blue Team" Halsey gravely told her.
Shion and KOS-MOS both stared up at Garrett, whose face was still covered by his helmet.
"It's suicide for them! You're sending what, seven Spartans to take on a whole starship?!" Shion yelled out.
Every ODST laughed, hard.
"Hun, I don't quite think you realize just how scary even two of them are when they don't have to cover our asses. Seven of them… I really pity the bastards who have to take them on" Michaels chuckled.
"add on the fact they've just been given brand new armor and weaponry, I'd say seven is too many. Any of you big greens wanna come have fun with us downstairs instead? Volunteers much appreciated for the party we'll be having" Archerson joked.
"we'll pass, thanks. Besides, we gotta work on the fireworks display" Fred said before making a hand signal over his visor, a two finger V smile.
The ODSTs chuckled before Halsey turned on a schematic of two bombs.
"these are the LF3 Limpet Mines you will place inside the ship Spartans. One will be placed outside, the other will be placed inside the engineering section. These mines are fragile, I don't have to tell you just how careful you need to be with these explosives" Halsey said coldly.
Garrett looked over at Fred before he motioned with his hands an explosion sign. Fred nodded and made the hand sign "big."
"alright. Let's stop talking and move out. You have your orders" Halsey finished. Everyone filed out of the briefing room and out to the Elsa's AMWS bay as the Spartans locked their weapons to their backs and sides. T-elos and KOS-MOS checked their ammunition on their chain guns as Shion and the rest made sure their weapons were set up. The ODSTs loaded clips into their rifles and placed their helmets over their heads, checking pressure seals and rigging harnesses.
"we're dropping you guys off soon. LZ is gonna be hot, get set to come out swinging!" Mathews barked over the intercom.
"everyone ready?" Archerson asked as he looked at his team and Shion's.
"good to go!" Jr. yelled out.
"I am ready" KOS-MOS responded with a nod.
"let's move out" Ziggy solemnly said.
"let's do this!" Shion pumped her fist in the air.
"loading up, flying high, good luck you guys. Blue Team going dark in 5" Garrett said over the radio as the Spartan's disconnected from the channel for their own Trans communications net.
"touch down! Go go go!" Mathews yelled as the bay doors opened as federation ships landed nearby, dropping their marines alongside the Elsa.
Everyone piled out and ran as mortar fire erupted nearby, taking out 2 federation soldiers on impact. The Elsa Lifted off the ground immediately as the ODSTs split from Shion and the others and ran for a hillock.
"there's the first target!" Jr. pointed as an AA battery fired a plasma round, punching through the side of a federation dropship.
KOS-MOS and T-elos ran forward, aimed at the power core discharging from the bottom and opened up with their guns as the others returned fire with nearby brutes.
"look!" Momo said just as two pelicans dove out of the Elsa, gaining altitude.
"we don't have much time" Shion said just as the AA battery exploded and showered the area with super heated metal and plasma.
"we need to move faster!" Archerson yelled over the com just as the hell jumpers took out another AA gun.
"three shades! Heads down!" Ziggy yelled as the group ducked behind a barricade and landed on a dozen brute bodies.
"oh god…" Shion wrinkled up her face at the sight of the carnage just as a spike grenade flew by the side and detonated harmlessly nearby.
"they'll get better at throwing those things soon! We need to move!" Jr. yelled as he fired over the top, KOS-MOS and T-elos diving out and running full speed towards the shades. Two choppers rolled over a hill to intercept them, only to suddenly be blasted from a long range Spartan laser.
KOS-MOS looked up to see a slight green speck aiming something at the back of one of the pelicans, now the size of a fingernail in the sky.
"we've still got two more AA turrets! We have to take them out!" Archerson yelled.
"we're pinned! We can't move out! KOS-MOS! T-elos! Take out those turrets!" Shion barked out.
KOS-MOS leapt just as the lead shade fired, came down on the left side and ripped the side panel away just as the brute grabbed it's spike rifle. She dodged to the right as he fired, growling as she grabbed his wrist and snapped it before throwing him out and snapping his neck in one swift movement. T-elos fired an entire clip from her chain gun right into the second shade, shredding it's armor and killing the brute just as the third shade aimed at her landing point.
"T-elos! Look out!" KOS-MOS yelled and knocked her out of the way just as the white haired woman aimed her pistol and fired three rounds through the break in the side armor, right into the head of the brute.
"huff thanks…" T-elos mumbled out before getting back up and sprinting. The Helljumpers had just handled an armored column of AA wraiths and were moving towards their third turret.
"what's holding you guys up? We just about done on our side, finish off those other two!" Archerson barked out.
"Well we would fair better if we knew just what these brutes were capable of! They're throwing-" Shion tried to explain quickly as another chopper rounded the hill and fired.
"choppers at you? Yeah, it's called rockets. Use em" Archerson said before a long lance of fiery death lurched from a small tube in the distance, followed by a wraith exploding. Apparently the ODSTs came better prepared than Shion's group.
"the hole is wide enough now, blue is making a dash for it, brace yourselves" Halsey said over the com channel. Both Pelicans flew straight at the carrier as it fired it's weapons at them. They banked and rolled, dodging as they flew, just as a flock of banshees shot out to intercept them.
Just as the banshees were about to fire, multiple rounds flew out from federation AMWS, covering their movement and acting as interception. The pelicans winked green in response then dove towards the open bay door that the banshees flew out of, just before the shield started to reinitialize.
Both pelicans skidded across the bay floor and seven Spartans rolled out, guns blazing.
"good luck you guys" Archerson mumbled out.
"what the hell?! Oh no… the carrier is gaining altitude, it's trying to exceed orbit!" Majah said as she checked the power signatures of the covenant ship.
"you can't be serious, they're going to try and… well shit…" Archerson gravely said.
"what? What are they going to do?" Shion asked.
"glass the planet" Megan said.
"glass it? What do you mean?" Momo came onto the conversation.
"I mean fire every one of their plasma based weapons to char the continents and boil away the water, destroying the atmosphere, and killing all life… melting the dirt and sand all over the world equals glassing. Glass the planet. I hope the Spartans realize what's about to happen…" she finished, staring up at the ship becoming a spec in the sky.
--
Garrett and blue team ran full speed, shredding a path through any brutes they came across towards engineering. The brute shots were starting to wear down their shielding, as the Spartans took time outs to recharge their energy banks.
You feel that? We're heading through atmosphere… Linda thought.
That isn't good… we gotta double time it! Garrett responded and the Spartans charged, threw a slew of grenades through the door of engineering before diving for cover. A wave of spike grenades answered in turn towards where they used to be.
Covering fire, 2 sec burst, 30 meter danger close. Clear and burn through, prep for package delivery Garrett ordered. 6 lights winked green as Kelly blurred out of cover and dove towards an exhaust port for the engines, hacked the safety locks and opened the shielding cage. The reactor hummed loudly as the cage opened, followed by her hands deftly activating the limpet mine she was carrying. Linda's aim rang true throughout most of the fire fight, as every sniper round was either in the head or heart of the brutes.
Garrett sprayed rifle fire towards a brute trying to flank them just as Linda felt rather than saw the grenade fly towards them, before Fred caught it mid air and returned it in a counter throw.
Mine primed and hot, we need to get out of here Kelly thought.
Fallback suppression fire, advance backwards, timer Kelly? Garrett thought.
5 min, plenty of time Kelly responded back.
5 sec fallback covering fire, leap frog every 2. Return to pelicans Garrett ordered just as a brute leapt onto him, his senses dulled somewhat. He rolled with the furry hostile against the wall, blocked a punch that would have shattered a normal man's arm on impact, exchanged a kick to get the brute off him just as the door closed 2 feet from him, cutting him off from the rest of his team.
Hacking the system, it may take some time to get the door opened considering we don't have an AI with us… Ash said thinking back to Athena who didn't want to go anywhere near a combat zone with "barbarians."
Negative, fallback to pelicans, I'll find another route.
Six lights winked green, although warily. They knew he could survive the drop from the ship with his secondary armor package, they simply worried the ship would shoot him out of the sky without the pelican's flares and chaff launchers to cover his escape.
--
Majah tensed as she saw two pelicans flit out of the carrier flying above, only to register six life signs inside, and the designation number 003 wasn't among them.
"Lieutenant, no life sign showing of the MC, verify" Majah said over the com.
"Lieutenant is finding another route out of the ship, was cut off mid dust off from blue team. Should we belay his orders and return and gather?" Fred responded.
Majah sighed and thought for a moment. Shion and the rest of the crew down below waited for her response.
"negative, if he says he can find another route, so be it. Return to ship, defensive cover inbound, prep for flak nearby, bumpy ride ahead blue team" Majah told them.
"roger that, friendly fire nearby, careful on the perimeter, chaff launchers are chattering" Fred told her.
I know how to do my job Spartan… Majah thought annoyed as she keyed in the coordinates for a cover strike. The back door of the Elsa opened up, revealing four brand new recently set up "Thundercracker II" AA MAC 32 Cannons, each loaded with specially hardened quadratic armor piercing high explosives.
"fire for effect" Majah barked as her ear mics closed off all sound outside of the cushions as the cannons roared to life, firing as fast as the dock cage could recycle it's clip connection. 3 of the first 4 rounds barely flew by the pelicans, waking the Spartans up. The rounds flew within feet of the armored hulls, before hitting incoming torpedo fire following them.
"verified, rounds are precise… covering fire effective" Fred told her. Majah smirked, as she could hear the lilt of his uneasiness with the rounds being so close, as well as the respect he just had for her capabilities.
You boys and girls aren't used to having MY kind of skills backing you up… she chuckled to herself.
Suddenly, the limpet mine went off.
"verify! Spartan 003 has left the ship?! Do you have contact with MC?!" Majah yelled into the com. Silence for a few seconds.
"Negative… no contact… nothing flew out of the ship…" Fred responded solemnly.
"no…" Majah clenched her fists near the keyboard. Tears started to well up in her eyes.
"blue team return to Elsa, mission effective…" Majah said, her voice tinted with pain.
"hang on! I've got something…" Linda said over the com.
"is that a dumpster?" Ash gawked as he saw what looked like a metal canister burning through the atmosphere with what looked like multiple grav pads attached to the outside.
((Hocus, Hocus Pocus Song))
A small head poked slightly out of the lid, looked around with a gold visor, realized where he was in accordance with the rest of the universe, and closed the lid.
"HAHA! HE IS! HE REALLY IS IN IT!" Fred yelped to everyone around him.
Suddenly, what looked like debris, skipped against the side of the dumpster and sent it spinning quickly around, but still entered correctly through the atmosphere.
"oh that must have been fun…" Ash mumbled as Garrett sat inside the tin can he was in, bracing himself against the sides as the whole world continued to flatten him against one of the walls.
"be advise ground teams, container is heading towards… Shion, Spartan 003 is moving towards your direction, get ready for an interesting… surprise…" Linda desperately tried to say without laughing.
Shion looked up to see the flaming box hurdling towards them, the grav pads pushing each way to keep the thing maneuvered.
"Garrett! Garrett are you okay?" Shion asked through her com rig.
"Just peachy…" Garrett groaned inside his make shift drop pod.
"isn't he gonna slam into the ground though? Won't that… you know, kill him?" Allen asked. Shion thought over that for a moment before looking back up, distress in her eyes. The dumpster headed right towards the ground, but started to slow quite rapidly, the grav pads pulsing quickly now, before reaching the ground, the lid opening, and out falling a green armored soldier, upside down, before the dumpster shot into the air again, minus half a ton of Spartan.
Garrett rolled over and looked up, only to see the dumpster coming down for a return visit, on top of him.
"Not my day…" Garrett mumbled and rolled out of the way, just as the dumpster slammed into the ground, apparently missing a few grav pads that had ripped off from the reversal it had recently done. He stood up, holding his head and wobbling, trying to keep his bearings.
KOS-MOS and crew ran up to him, watching him wobble on his feet from the interesting flight he had just had.
"wouldn't it have been easier to steal one of the enemy's ships?" Archerson said.
"all broken. Hold that thought…" Garrett said before popping his helmet seal and promptly vomiting on the ground.
"I thought all Spartans were Zegee trained to handle those things" Megan whispered.
"you didn't spin for 9 minutes through an orbital re-entry in a brute trash can" Garrett responded before wiping his mouth on his armored sleeve and putting his helmet back on. KOS-MOS smiled slightly at the comedic traveling Spartans seem to use when the correct vehicles were not available to them.
Garrett sat down for a second, closing his eyes to get his head straight.
Blue team, Blue leader is in the land of the living, no posthumous rank increasing today Garrett thought.
Nice entry into the world, I don't quite think I've ever seen such a spectacular display of flying in my life Kelly laughed.
That thing looked like it was more reliable than the standard ODST drop pod… maybe we should use those from now on Ash said trying to stifle a laugh.
"MC, verify your status immediately" Majah barked an order over the com.
"Blue leader is alive and well, no wounds apparent, apologies for the scare" Garrett responded.
"Blue leader, next time there is a change in plans, you will alert me immediately do you understand?!" Majah barked at him.
"understood command, slipped my mind under current circumstances, won't happen again" Garrett responded, sighing.
"maybe you should be placed through the basic communications and command protocols again to keep your brain sharp so it doesn't!" Majah yelled.
"will take any reprimand necessary… Mission complete, returning to Elsa" Garrett responded.
"welcome mat is open, I expect a debriefing in 3 Spartan" Majah said before cutting the link and sighing. She ran a hand through her hair before blowing a baing from her face, relief etched in her eyes.
--
3 hours later
--
Spartan 003 walked into the briefing room only to find Majah standing there.
"ma'am, Blue Leader reporting for debriefing as ordered… and any reprimands command has in store for me" Garrett stood at attention towards her. She sighed and turned around.
"at ease" she said as he stood at casual stance.
Silence filled the air as Garrett still looked straight ahead.
"full ease Master Chief" Majah sighed out. Garrett looked at her with a sad expression on his face.
"sorry. I was protecting the team, I didn't mean to-" she cut him off.
"you always worry me like that every time you go on another mission after seeing me. When will you learn you don't have to scare the living crap out of me to make me notice you?" Majah slightly chuckled.
"Certs, it really WAS the only form of flyable protection I could get my hands on. I'm being honest" Garrett told her.
"you can't be serious, middle of a covenant carrier and you couldn't find ONE phantom that was functional?" Majah gawked at him.
"brutes aren't known for being mechanically inclined."
"that is true, they always have to rely on those floating engineers they have… or had" Majah said as she thought back to the engineers leaving for the elites ships and abandoning the fight against humanity. Many of them were killed, but what survived the elites protected.
"or the drones, but with them gone it's not like they can keep their ships in full functioning status" the Spartan said as he looked around. He heard footsteps coming down the hallway and turned. The rest of blue team entered into the briefing room as well as Shion and her gang.
"Mission a success" Majah told them as Jr. jumped and hollered, Archerson barking in approval and the ODSTs visually sagging in relief. KOS-MOS watched with interest as the UNSC soldiers all congratulated each other on a job well done.
"It's not over yet though, we still need to get inside the Ark. We'll need to be well rested up before we can attempt that, with the loss of the carrier the brutes will be closing up their defenses, tightening patrols and increasing soldier accounts to block off any attacks. We'll be hard pressed" Halsey said behind everyone.
"I agree. We should get some rest before another attempt to go in" Majah told everyone.
"alright, take 5 everybody, don't get too rowdy or I'm gonna be the one who throws you out in the combat zone. Naked" Archerson barked at everyone. The Helljumpers laughed.
"is he really serious?" KOS-MOS asked Garrett.
"doubtful, it's his way of telling everyone to take it easy" Garrett responded, towering over her in a black shirt and fatigues.
"you've learned a lot about the Helljumpers since your time working with them huh?" Majah asked.
"you pick up a lot about the normal workings of Marines compared to a Spartan layout, they don't have the same tech to play with compared to me, so it's mostly figure out how to make something complicated like cutting through a door fairly basic, turning it into setting a charge and blowing it off it's hinges" Garrett told her.
"doesn't that make a lot of noise?" KOS-MOS asked.
"apparently you don't get to play with many new explosives here KOS-MOS. The advancement in high explosives has come a long way where we come from compared to here I'm guessing. We can set a charge to pop hinges of a door, letting it fall and make it look as if the braces just snapped on their own. From what we've noticed of your tech here, it isn't that advanced. Relying on worm holes to get from point A to point B? shielding on ships involves kinetic barriers? The weapons on most of your ships granted is useable, laser cannons and the like, but with our tech it's become simply point defense. Laser cannons are a thing of the past, directed plasma weaponry, MAC guns, the new Archer XII missile systems, all of them far exceed the combat capabilities of the current federation fleet we've seen. We're not even talking about some of the more interesting weaponry the Spartans carry…" Majah explained to her.
"like what?" Shion asked, overhearing the conversation.
"well, for instance, a singularity ignition rifle. Currently in prototype phase, and probably will never be used. Hopefully. It's based on the halo technolo… oh shit" Majah went silent as she covered her mouth with her hand. Garrett looked at her oddly.
"when were you going to tell me about this new tech as well?" Garrett asked.
"it's just a prototype weapon system, it was a jump point for newer tech to be worked on, it's nothing to worry about" Majah tried to calm him down.
"if it's based on Halo weaponry then it can't be good for anything, nor would it be a good idea for us to find out on our own mid fire fight" Garrett told her.
"what does Halo weaponry do?" Shion asked.
"Halo was a fortress world, a large ring world placed at multiple juncture points in the galaxy to coordinate a full sterilization of the flood's food. The Halos would activate and send a neutron pulse capable of killing all organic life within a 25,000 light year radius, continuing the said pulse by sending a communique to the other Halos to fire in unison. What you effectively have is a sterile galaxy with nothing living in it, well, at least nothing living that's large enough to sustain the flood" Majah explained.
"who would create such a weapon?" Shion exclaimed.
"the forerunners, our ancients if you will. They did it to save the galaxy and other galaxies from the flood infesting and eating everyone. They sacrificed themselves in the process to do this. It's a terrible weapon, one that hopefully will never be used again" Majah told her.
"you're dimension seems… rougher… than ours…" Shion said.
"we've had to go through a lot, not just the gnosis you've fought, at least you were able to fend them off on some level. We couldn't even do that at the time, our technology tier was far lower than the covenant, they brushed us aside every time" Majah looked away solemnly.
"still, that's a terrible weapon, I'm surprised anyone would build something like that. There had to be some other choice they could have made instead of killing everything!" Shion exclaimed.
Majah sighed. Halsey chipped in. "that was their last resort Shion. They had nothing left. We were able to get fragmented data from the Ark before Spartan 117 destroyed it. The last battle for the forerunners was between their 114 million ships versus the flood's 784 billion. They were outnumbered. They did what they needed to do" Halsey told her.
"that many ships?! Incredible!" Shion gawked.
"the forerunners were a tier 1 civilization Shion, they were planet building people, fleets of that size were nothing. And yet they still died. They fought to protect earth because we were there, something they wanted to protect. We still haven't figured out if they protected us because of our evolution being similar to theirs, or our genetic makeup being similar. We do know that the Ais that watched over the left over technology call us "Reclaimers" and that the Spartans are considered the fore front activators of the rings" Halsey finished.
KOS-MOS and Shion looked up at Garrett, who crossed his arms over his chest and watched their expressions.
"similar to how KOS-MOS stopped Zarathustra and saved this universe, a Spartan stopped the Halos AND the flood from destroying humanity. However, we only saved our Galaxy. We still don't quite know if we finished the flood or if there is a looming threat past the rim. The only thing we can do is fight off the remaining covenant that won't accept their journey is false and rebuild" Halsey told them.
"hopefully we'll have a chance to do that here as well" Shion said.
"we'll help where we can until we leave, after that, your future is in your hands alone" Halsey told her.
KOS-MOS looked up at Garrett. They were nearing the completion of their journey. Afterwards she would never see him again. Her heart was tearing itself apart knowing that her new friends would disappear from her life forever once everything was done.
--
((This is a really short chapter as I'm just getting back into this story, sorry for the long wait, I've actually been working on a short film work up involving a sort of harry potter flick (not harry potter directly, just a funny little skit involving why they don't fly with their broomstick bristles forwards like ancient witches did in history :3 ) anyways, sorry if this looks garbled and half written, will probably redo it later with more effort if I get around to it. As for the flying dumpster part, it's a hats off to bungie's secret dumpster flying move you can do in Halo 3 Campaign))