Well, That Was Quick! Glad To See People Care About This To Some Degree! Well, Here's Part 2 As Promised! (Still Jacob's POV)

"3!" And With That, We We're Off Like The Land Was Being Glassed Behind Us. The Landing Pad Explodes With The Cover Fire Promised To Us. Axel, Mickey, And Hammond Were Shooting Down Anything That Got In Our Way. The Elite Warrior I Was So Intent On Taking Out Turned To Us, Aimed His Carbine, And Was Knocked To The Side Dead With A Stream Of Vapor. Nice Kill Steal, Hammond.

I Activate My Helmet Communicator With The Rest Of The Team. I Hear Everyone Picking Their Targets Out To One Another. "I Got That Jackal!" "I'll Take Care Of The Elites." Then I Hear Mick Say, "Right Then, I'll Just Keep Mowing Down The Grunts." I Know He Loves Headshotting Those Things.

By Now, Sam's A Good Few Meters Ahead Of Me. Guess That Warrior Armor Is Paying Off. We're Almost To The Entrance, But….. Wait. When Did That Wraith Show Up?!

"Hammond, See That Wraith?!" Sam Yells. "Yep." "Pop The Hatch, Will Ya?" The Wraith Fires A Mortar, And I Dodge It By Inches. A Second Later, Another Sniper Shot Rings Out, And The Entrance To The Cockpit Flies Off. In An Instant, Sam Changes Direction And Charges The Wraith.

"Jacob! Get In The Cruiser!" Yells Axel. He Doesn't Need To Tell Me Twice. I Dash Into The Beam Of The Gravity Lift, And I Rise Up.

As Soon As I Get Up, There Are Elites, Grunts, And Jackals Everywhere. They're All So Excited About The Attack, They Forget To Look At The Grav Lift As They Ready Their Weapons. Before Any Of Them Wise Up, I Hide Behind Some Crates. "Sam?"

"I'm Fine, But That Wraith May Be In Some Trouble." A Second Later, Sam Shoots Up The Lift, While A Resounding BOOM Sounds From Outside. "Hope That Elite Likes Frag Bits In His Wraith-Or What's Left Of It."

"Get Over Here, Before Anyone Sees You!" I Hiss. Sam Dashes Over. He Always Did Do Things Quickly. He Whispers To Me, "Right, So Where Do We Blow This Thing?"

"Well, Here Would Be Alright, But It's A Bit Hot, And The Bomb Would Probably Be Noticed By The Time We're Out Of Here."

"So We Should Get A Little Farther In?"

"Exactly."

Suddenly My Comm Unit Lights Up. "Sam! Jacob!" It's Axel. "I Think The Covies Figured Out Were Mickey and I Are. We're Going To Have To Fall Back To The Evac Point, And Hammond Is Changing Position To Avoid Notice. You Won't Have Any Cover Fire For About 10 Minutes, So You'll Have To Stick In There. I Suggest Planting The Bomb And Hiding There For A Bit, Than Making A Mad Dash Out."

"Understood Sir. We'll Stick It Out Here." I Turn To Sam. "Right Then, Let's Find A Better Position." I Peek Out And Preform A Quick Scan Of The Area. By Now, The Room Has Somewhat Cleared Out As Troops Went Down Below To Secure The Area On The Ground. Looks Like A Few Wraiths That Were Being Stored In The Area Also Went Out. However, The Last Vehicles In The Cargo Bay, A Triplet Of Ghosts, Still Remained. Perfect.

I Duck My Head Back In. "Okay, So This Just Got Harder And Easier," I Start. "Most Of The Troops, As Well As The Only Ground Vehicles On The Ship Most Likely, Have Left. However, There Are A Few Ghosts Left That Will Get Us Through Those Forces. There Are A Few Elites And Grunts Left, Although We Should Be Able To Take Em' Out Quick.

"Then Let's Do It!"

"Right, We Should Take Out The Elites Before They Alert Everyone. Then, We'll Get The Grunts."

"Okay, On 3. 1…..2…..3!"

We Leap Out Of Our Cover And Instantly Start Unloading, Sam With His Assault Rifle, Me With My Railgun. Within Moments, The 3 Elites Are Down, And The Grunts Are Panicked. While I'm Reloading My Railgun, Sam Does The Honors Of Taking Out The Grunts. "Be Careful Not To Let Any Down The Grav Lift!" I Remind Sam.

About 60 Seconds Of Us Leaving Our Cover, All Hostiles Are Eliminated. We Move To A Door, And It Opens. The Hallway Is Empty, And We Creep Slowly Through The Corriders Until We Reach A Larger-Than-Average Door. It Opens, And We Find Ourselves In The Middle Of A Massive Room Jam-Packed With Containers Filled With Hot-Pink Rock.

"Wow…" Breathes Sam. "So This Is Our Target…. Crates And Crates Of Explosive Needles."

"And Also The Perfect Place To Plant The Bomb," I Respond. "If We Do It Right, We Can Rig It So When We Detonate The Bomb, We Can Start A Supercombine Chain Reaction That Will Not Only Add To The Boom, But Also Eliminate Any Crystals To Be Salvaged!"

"Perfect! So Where Do We Put It?"

"Hmm… Inside A Container Would Be Ideal… That One! I'll Start Planting The Bomb, Meanwhile, You Open Every Crystal Container You Find. That Way The Reaction Will Be Easier to Set Off."

"Right."

"While He Moves Away, I Walk Over To The Container. I Open It Carefully, Then Remove The Bomb From Its Magnetic Latch On My Back. "You Know," I Think To Myself, "I Think This Is How Master Chief Got Rid Of That Forerunner Ship That Destroyed New Phoenix's Population." I Place The Nuke Against The Crystal, And Tell It To Sync. This Is Why I Brought E.O.D. Armor, It's Meant For This. It Could Handle Excessive Radiation If Necessary. A Panel On My Wrist Armor Opens Up, And I Start Punching In Commands And Timings.

"Hey Jacob, You Alright In There?" My Com System Crackles.

"Yes Hammond, We're Fine. The Bomb's Almost Planted, And Sam's Helping By Opening Containers."

"Good. I've Got Eyes On the Landing Zone, But It Doesn't Look Good. There Are A Few Wraiths And Ghosts In The Area, And It Won't Be Long Before They Realize That You Guys Disappeared. You Have A Way Out?"

"Yeah, We Found A Few Ghosts In The Cargo Hold. We Should Be Alright If We're Quick."

"Right Then, Let Me Know When You Leave, Hammond Out."

I Check The Bomb One Last Time. It's Set To Go Off In 20:00 Minutes, Or As Soon As My Suit Gives The Word. "Sam?"

"Yeah? Bomb Planted?"

"Affirmative. Let's Get The Heck Out Of Here."

"Terrific, I Reckon I Got Through About 20 Containers." His Southern Accent Shows Through. Remarkable How Almost All Of Our Team Is From Somewhere In The Southern U.S.A.

I Punch In One Last Command On My Wrist pad, Activating The Timer. We Meet Up, And Slip Out The Door. A Little Ways Down The Hall, We Come Face-To-Face With A Pair Of Elites. Warriors.

Seconds Later, I'm Reloading My Railgun, And Sam Is Examining The Bodies. "Hey, Lookie Here! Found A Hologram Module! I'm Takin' This Home!"

"Come On Sam, We Have To Get Out Of Here!" A Minute Later, We're Back In The Cargo Hold, Hopping In Two Ghosts. "Hammond?"

"Still Here. You Coming Out?"

"Yeah, Like Now. The Bomb's Going To Go Off In Max 15 Minutes."

"Alright Then, GO!"

And We're Off-Again. We Rocket Out Into The Lift, And Seconds Later We're Tearing Past-Or Over- Any Covies In Our Way. Suddenly, A Banshee Swoops Over Us At Full Speed. Crap, I Think It's Trying To Follow Us, Get Rid Of Our Way Out. Darn, These Guys Are Smart, They Must Have Realized We Didn't Have Anything With Us, And Had Done Something Inside!

The Banshee Continues To Follow Us, And Is Then Joined By Another. Then, A Bolt Of Blue Connects With The Banshee, And Then Another. The Thing Explodes Just As We Make It Into The Jungle. And What Do We See But Axel And Mickey In A Gauss Hog, With Mick At The Wheel! I Forgot That We Brought That!

"You Gonna Stare At Us Or Leave?!" Axel Yells. We Immediately But On The Boost Out Of There While Axel Swivels Around And Takes More Pot-Shots At The Other Banshee.

Inside The Landing Zone Control Tower

(-) Sangheli And Unggoy Translator Activated (-)

"Where Are They?!" The Commander Elite From Chapter 1 Was Pacing Again, And Was A Lot Madder Than Before. Mainly Because A Pair Of Humans Had Managed To Dash Straight Past His Trained Troops INTO A Ship! "As Near As We Can Tell, They Are Leaving As Quick As They Can, Sir," Responded Another Elite, Sitting At A Monitor.

Then, An Imperial Grunt – The Same One As Before – Ran Up And Said, "Sir! We've Just Received Word From One Of The Officers On The Carrier! He Said That No One Ever Saw The Humans, And He Suspects They Planted Something On The Ship!"

The Commander Thought For A Second. "That Would Explain Why They Are In Such A Hurry To Leave…. Alright! There Isn't Any Choice!" The Infuriated Elite Growled, And then Said, "Evacuate The Area. We Have Plenty Of Other Weapons, If We Have To Lose The Needlers For Awhile, Then So Be It. The Humans Have Won This Day." He Then Growled Under His Breath, "But I, Harr 'Latel, Will See To It These Demons Are Destroyed The First Chance I Get."

Back Outside

"Woo! There's Our Ride!" Sam Yells As We Pull Up Next To A Pelican, Hidden In The Forest. A Few Moments Later, Hammond Shows Up On A Mongoose.

"Glad To See You Made It!" She Says.

I Pull Up The Timer On My Helmet's HUD. 7:34 And Counting. "Right, Let's Get The Heck Out Of Here!"

We Hitch Up The Hog, And Pile Into The Pelican, With The Mongoose Inside. Axel Takes The Controls, And We Lift Out Of The Forest. When We're About A Mile From The Landing Site, I Direct Everyone's Attention To The Rearview Camera Of The Pelican. I Flip Open My Wristpad, Punch In A Few Keys, And The Timer On My HUD Dials Down To 0:00. Precisely 2 Seconds Later, The Carrier Explodes In A Massive BOOM of Orange And Pinkish-Purple. I Turn To Everyone In The Hold, And We All Say The Same Thing: "Mission Accomplished."