Amy blinked and the ghosts were gone. The distorted section of wall was replaced with a smooth concaveness. Amy quickly swept her gun left and right as the battle raged on behind her. The perimeter had been shattered as the Hunters made their way further into the compound. Grunts and Jackals began spreading out and gunning down the remnants of Amy's team. One by one they fell in a hail of plasma and brute force from the hunters.

Amy's nerves were beginning to let go as screams of Marines filled her ears. Each one's death seemed more agonizing than the last. She was surrounded, Josh was unconscious and assuredly they would both be dead soon. Still, Amy ignored the force behind her, frantically searching for the specters that had briefly appeared.

It was then that Amy felt something being pressed to the back of her head. Knowing death had come for her, Amy closed her eyes in defeat, awaiting the Jackal to send a high-speed particle beam through her brain. Suddenly Amy felt the pressure on the back of her head ease, and turned to see what had happened. The Jackal stood there motionless. Blood appeared in a thin line across its neck as the Jackal's head began to tilt backwards. As the head began to fall, the wound opened up and showered Amy in purple blood.

Amy noticed another object being spotted with purple from the Jackal. She could not make out what it was, but the part Amy saw appeared to be the shape of a human leg. "An elite?" Amy mouthed the words a bit louder than she wanted to.

"Not quite." The voice seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere, as if a guardian angel was now standing in front of her. "Is he alive?" The feminine voice asked stoically.

Amy turned back to look at Josh who was still unconscious. "Yes, but he needs medical attention."

"You two find some cover. My squad will handle this."

---------------

Dr. Wilkes' covered his mouth with his left hand as his right reached out for the monitor. The doctor's fingertips touched Kiersten's monitor, then gently brushed over the image her video feed displayed. Amy looked as though the weight of the world was upon her. Her normally flowing auburn hair was wet and matted; clumped together by blood and gore that were slowly succumbing to gravity's wishes. A short boom attached over her ear and followed the soft contours of Amy's face, ending in a small microphone that was all part of her Comm.

Exhaustion adorned Amy's face as she stared intently at Kiersten's camouflage, unable to make out what she was looking at. The body of a dead Jackal lay in the video's periphery as the blood flow from its neck slowed to a trickle.

Edgar quickly opened a Comm link to Kiersten as she instructed Amy to find cover. "-012, I need you to bring those two soldiers to me."

"Negative doctor. Our primary objective is to eliminate the Covenant forces in the area. Once all hostiles have been neutralized, we will call in for evac."

"Dammit Kiersten I gave you an.." Dr. Wilkes paused as a blast from a Hunter fuel rod canon impacted near Kiersten's position, causing her sensor's to alter the apertures that made up the Dragoon's eyes. Kiersten then spun around and Edgar's feed showed the two massive hunters advancing toward her position, accompanied by more Jackals and Grunts as they continued to fan out from behind the largest of Covenant soldiers.

Dr. O'Brian had been watching the scene unfold as well, and placed a soft hand on Edgar's shoulder to provide some form of reassurance. Not knowing what to say, it was all Christy felt she could offer.

"I have to go up there, I have to help her…" Christy's hand moved abruptly as the words escaped Edgar's mouth.

"You can't go up there! The Dragoons will save her. We need to get to work on the next order of transplants. Trust in our work, Edgar. They will not let her die."

--------------

Amy began to speak, but noticed the bloodstained shape moving rapidly away from her. Slinging Josh into a fireman's carry, Amy took off for the tunnel. Her mind raced, asking too many questions for her to concentrate on any one of them.

Who or what was that? Another soldier? An Angel? A new Spartan?

Whatever it was, Amy was grateful for the assist. As Amy reached the tunnel's exit, she carefully placed Josh's body away from the edge so he would not be exposed. She then dropped down to her stomach and brought her MA5B to bear. With only fifty-five rounds left, Amy didn't know how much help she would be.

Amy began scanning for targets, and the scene unfolding in front of her struck a chord of awe and brought joy to her senses all at once. The courtyard was quickly becoming a scene of total carnage. Covenant soldiers fired wildly at ghosts as the Dragoons moved swiftly, their holographic synthesizers keeping their locations secret. Arms were severed and screams were silenced as smiles were carved across the enemies' necks.

The Covenant were being thrown into total chaos so much so that they started to become engulfed in friendly fire. A wave of energy cut through the Covenant ranks as the Hunters tried to find their targets with fuel rod blasts.

From her perch Amy eyed one of the moving forms, barely distinguishable from the environment around it. A small light was emitted from its back, just long enough to stir up dust from where it had been. The being was no longer there, and Amy lost sight of it as it launched into the air.

Dragoon -001, Nick, soared momentarily into the air. The specially designed heat sinks on the Dragoons' backs were primarily for rerouting and dissipating heat from plasma fire, but also served as an airfoil, keeping their trajectory consistent as they jumped. Nick's forearm blades extended perpendicular to his appendages, making him into an invisible and deadly Praying Mantis.

Nick touched down hard as his blades stabbed into the shoulders of an unsuspecting Jackal, then with a quick movement Nick ripped them from the creature and reinserted the left blade into another Jackal's head. Dragoons -006, -007 and -008, April, Mark and Riley were busy on the right flank carving up teams of grunts like Thanksgiving turkeys when a flash crossed the trio. Amy had been focused on the stumpy creatures when she saw the flash, followed by the appearance of three creatures.

They looked humanoid in form, but even at the fifty-meter distance Amy could tell they were made of some form of alloy. Amy marveled as the forms were quickly replaced with three Marines in battle armor. One was a female, with blonde hair that was centimeters beyond regulation as it emerged from the helmet's baseline. The other two soldiers were white males, although one had a dark tan. These were the default forms for the Dragoons, which would implement whenever they were damaged. It took much fewer pixels and less power to cast the images as it did when they blended with their surroundings, allowing the internal systems within to repair any damaged holographic micro-projectors.

The Hunter's blast had depleted their shields, but had done little damage to their bodies, as their Titanium-B armor held. Their temperature had increased to over one thousand degrees Kelvin, but was rapidly being dissipated as the trio continued slaughtering the hapless grunts.

---------------

Edgar quizzically watched each Dragoon's monitor as the battle raged. They seemed to be performing flawlessly, although Edgar still wanted his Daughter out of harm's way. A mile of Earth and rock separated them however, and the elevator which had carried the Dragoon's to the surface was totally concealed from anyone topside. The soldiers would have to be the ones to guide her down after the battle had concluded.

A sudden alarm sounded on three of the Dragoon's armor. April, Mark and Riley's screen flashed a brilliant white as the Hunter's fuel rod beam impacted their shields and depleted them. The monitors showed no fluid viscosity within their systems, however. The screen for each affected Dragoon began to return to normal as another warning sounded.

"Internal core temperatures for -006, -007 and -008 rising Edgar." Dr. O'Brian's voice was bathed with concern. "Something is happening with the shield regeneration process.. Scanning. Dammit, they are breaking into thermal runaway. Tell them to shut down before.." The three Dragoon's screens flashed white once more.

---------------

Three explosions rocked the courtyard as Dragoons -006, -007, and -008 went into thermal overload. Shrapnel from their former bodies were propelled through the air, dissecting through Covenant flesh and concrete.

A Hunter appeared from behind the protection of its massive shield and let out a roar of disapproval at the sudden slaughter. Suddenly a form appeared in front of it. Dragoon -012, Kiersten. "Alright big boy, how about we dance?" The mighty alien swung its shield in a wide arc, but coming up empty as Kiersten's jump propulsion system launched her over the towering creature. The Dragoon landed with a crouch and immediately sank her extended blade into the soft orange spot on the Hunter's back.

The towering creature turned in frustration as Kiersten slashed through the eel-like creatures that made up the Hunter's spine. The creature writhed grotesquely as it lost its body composition. Hundreds of wormlike creatures spilled onto the ground, each one squashed under the half-ton weight of Kiersten's frame. The Hunter's bond brother turned toward his fallen comrade, affording Amy the opportunity to fire. She quickly spent twenty of her remaining rounds into the Hunter's back and the last of the assault group's heavy fighters crashed to the ground lifeless.

The courtyard was suddenly eerily still. Kiersten turned to see smoldering craters where her team had been standing, fighting. Her sense of loss struck her as odd. "Why do I not feel anything?" Maybe this was her life from now on, the one of a soulless, heartless machine. Maybe that was what the war needed. It bothered Kiersten nonetheless, but she pushed it aside in her thought cores , the Dragoon leader then regrouped with her teammates, who also were seemingly unaffected by their loss.

Amy cautiously got to her feet as she surveyed the grounds below for movement. More soldiers began appearing out of thin air as the Dragoon's holographic imaging returned to their default modes. Amy counted.. Six of the soldiers fanned out along the courtyard's wall opposite Amy. Three others were making their way up the ramp and through the breezeway toward her position. One was a sandy-haired female while the other two donned regulation-short brown and black hair. All three looked well toned, although Amy concluded there was nothing real about their appearances. Slight image shifts accompanied their movements. Pixel movements here and there looked as though their skin was alive.

"Corporal Amy Wilkes?" The female announced in a questioning tone. "We are now under orders to take you to your father."

"My father?" Amy couldn't fathom how her father would know where she was. Oh how she longed to seem him again though. Due to secrecy within Section III he could never send her images due to fear of identifying symbols or landmarks being identified. All she knew of her father for the last few years was the closely censored words he managed to send via email. "I am Dragoon Master Chief Kiersten. These are oh oh two, Joe." Kiersten motioned right with her head. "And on the other side you have oh one one, Patrick. We are your father's work."

---------------

Dr. Wilkes noted that Amy's eyes suddenly fixed on Kiersten's camera. He could have sworn she was looking directly at him. He didn't want to communicate to his daughter through Kiersten, as he doubted the Dragoon had much sentiment in her. Hate or perhaps vengeance seemed to ride upon every word she spoke. Edgar didn't know if that was due to the procedure leaving something out from her former personality, or if that was her personality. Edgar also could not communicate directly with his daughter, as any communiqué from him being an ONI Section III employee to UNSC personnel was harshly punished for fear of information leaks.

Edgar was elated that he would soon be united with his daughter, but what had happened with the three Dragoons? Lines of code and images reflected off his glasses as he scanned algorithms and schematics for errors. Christy also ran over service logs for the Dragoons. "Edgar, there was a definite heat spike that seemed to originate from the shield generators. If I am reading this right it looks as though there is a via that may have allowed the convection from their heat sinks to the generator itself. It simply got too hot, and when it went to recharge the shields, it got locked into thermal runaway."

The implications Dr. O'Brian brought to light made Edgar feel nauseous. If what Christy said was true, the problem would have been caught and isolated within the zapper, as the shield regeneration test machine was so affectionately called. If true, their destruction was his responsibility. He had killed them for a second time. With a defeated sigh Edgar leaned over to a mounted microphone and pressed the Comm channel. "All Dragoons, this is Dr. Wilkes. Be advised there is a problem with your shield generators that led to the destruction of -006, -007 and -008. Suggest you turn them off until we can get you back down here for modifications.

Dr. Wilkes hated the diplomacy held within his voice. Not acknowledging the actual death of the soldiers, and listing them by the Dragoon ID's as if that was some façade to placate what he had done. Edgar cynically loathed that he never went into politics.

---------------

A buzzing noise began to fill Amy's ears as she looked away from Kiersten and scanned the courtyard. Like a swarm of angry bees, a horde of Drones burst over the wall and began to pour down plasma on the Dragoons below. Portions of the humanoid's forms began to glow red from the searing heat, then seemingly all at once, they jumped.

It was an awe-inspiring site as the Dragoon's jumped in the midst of the swarm, with the Covenant cruiser hanging lazily in the sky providing a remindful backdrop. Blades cut through the air as Drones fell by the handful, appendages severed and pouring blood. It was if the clouds released a torrent of beige upon the earth. Their dysfunctional wings grew weary, and the Drones resolved to the ground, as plasma colorfully illuminated the courtyard. The Dragoons skillfully landed in a semi-circle around the Drones, and unleashed their MIR's into the fold, reminding Amy of vintage mobster tactics with Tommyguns carving up rivals.

Assault weapons fire ceased from one of the Dragoons and Amy's eyes darted to -004, Diego's position. He lay in split pieces on the ground, a clean cut from an Elite's plasma sword had sliced the armor from left shoulder to right hip. Gels and liquids spilled from the warrior's cavities as its sustenance left it.

Static filled Amy's ear as her Comm's silence was broken.

All UNSC personnel. Slipspace rupture detected from Covenant cruiser in New Mombasa airspace. Seek hardened shelter immediately.

Amy felt her heart skip. She was not well versed in slipspace travel, but did know that a jump inside a planet's atmosphere was not supposed to be a good thing. The collapse of the slipspace field on the ship's exit would result in a major event similar to a HAVOK nuke being detonated.

"We have to get out of here." Kiersten already had Josh bridged across her back in a fireman's carry as she grabbed Amy's arm, urging her to follow.

"What about the others?" Amy asked as she turned to see the battle still raging in the courtyard.

"They will take care of themselves. We have to go… NOW."

Kiersten released her grip as Amy began to run behind her, flanked on either side by Joe and Patrick. They hurried down the embanked path and turned right into a narrow hallway that opened up into a rustic room. The room was small, easily mistaken for another hallway with three containers to their right. Kiersten walked over to the seemingly solid wall and pressed in a panel that a moment ago didn't seem to exist.

"I've got motion." Patrick commented. Suddenly Amy felt a searing pain and looked down to see two glowing blades protruding from her stomach. Her sight quickly faded to black as shock took over. The Elite pressed his armored hoof against Amy's back and kicked her off his blade, sending her lifeless body sliding into the newly opened elevator and smashing into the rear wall.

The Elite didn't know that the Humans were any different for each other. The Covenant warrior assumed the rest would fall just as easily under his blade. The Elite was quite shocked as each Dragoon turned off their holographic overlays to reveal their true form. This Elite had managed to sneak out of the battle to follow them, and now he would die for it.

Patrick and Joe lunged at the Elite, their coordinated attack putting -002's blade at neck level and -011's blade at the creature's waist. Purple blood exploded from both wounds as each of the Dragoons spun and shoved their blades through the Elite's shoulder blades, then wrenched them up through muscle and cartilage and bone until both the alien's arms separated themselves from the rest of its body. The Elite fell to the ground in a lump of twisted flesh and exposed gore.

Amy opened her eyes slightly and through hazy eyes saw Josh lying next to her. Dragoon -012, Kiersten, knelt over Amy examining her wounds. A single tear flowed from the corner of her eye and splashed on the elevator's polished floor. The cold floor felt in sharp contrast to the burning within her abdomen. Amy's lips pronounced inaudible words as the elevator descended further into the earth

I love you father…

A distant rumbling filled Amy's senses. It sounded so loud yet so far away. The elevator shook violently as the last light faded from Amy's eyes.

Thanks again for following along with my story. All reviews and comments are appreciated. I had originally decided to stop the story here and start a new one with these characters, but I think instead I will just keep going with this one. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!