Chapter Thirteen

1935 hours, November 5, 2552 (Military Calendar) \
African Desert, Kenya, \
Earth, Earthian Sol System

I...i--I have defi-d gods and demons...I am your sh-shield, I am y--r sword.I know you... --ur past, your futur-...--This...is the way the world ends.

An explosion blew the Banshee to pieces. Wolf Team scrambled as the spent SPNkr rocket launcher was tossed aside by Jessica-008. Two Banshees and a Wraith trailed the group as they sprinted toward their objective.

"Good thing they're ours," said Doug.

The team had managed to requisition the Covenant vehicles en route toward their target. The element of surprise was long gone, and not just for Wolf Team. Kai had received reports of enemy engagements from all but one Gamma Squad team. He decided it was best to move quickly rather than try to keep stealthing along their path.

"Enemy dropships two klicks ahead," reported Pascal-121.

The Covenant were surrounded, and their forces had been thinned from Project Hammerfall. Even so, the 285-man Spartan-III force was extremely small. Luckily for Wolf Team, the response on their section of the tightening net was relatively light. Two dropships' worth of Covenant soldiers would be fairly easy to dispatch.

Twin pairs of rockets screamed over Wolf Team Leader's head, toward the enemy contacts. The detonations barely rumbled from this distance, as one dropship tilted and careened toward the ground. The other vessel bugged out before the SPNkr's could be reloaded.

Sniper rifles clacked as the deposited troops fell easily. Two more banshees signaled their approach with their loud whine. As quickly as they were noticed, they disappeared in two explosive puffs of smoke.

"More enemy contacts, to the east!" cried Jessica.

A line of choppers appeared over a ridge of sand dunes. They sped toward Wolf Team's location.

"What the hell are those?" yelled Doug.

"Whatever they are, rockets, now!" yelled Kai.

The team let loose a volley of rockets, spending the remainder of their ammunition. Twelve detonations hit ten of the vehicles, but several remaining choppers continued on their murderous path. Half the choppers that had been hit were still on the trail as well.

"Snipers!"

More Brutes fell as the 15mm bullets tore through them; the beasts provided much bigger targets. The line had been decimated, but the remaining Brutes advanced. A cluster of speeders caught air over the next line of sand dunes. They came down – right on top of a mortar blast.

"Nice aim," Kai muttered under his breath.

The pilot of the commandeered Wraith had timed the mortar volley perfectly, and the choppers were no match for the superheated plasma explosion.

Two last choppers lit up the desert floor with their auto-cannons as they continued speeding toward Team Wolf. The Brutes both took aim at Kai. He dodged and ran over a miniature cliff as the heavily armored vehicles sped just over his head. They turned and took aim at Kai as he climbed back over the hill. One chopper sped ahead as it hit overdrive and attempted to splatter Kai all over the desert floor. It bore down on Kai until it lurched to one side and crashed. Kai looked back to find the Brute had been sniped somewhere in the face.

The second Brute roared and revved his speeder. The chopper bore down on Kai, this time catching him. Instead of crushing him, though, the Brute picked Kai up by his neck. He struggled in the beast's steel grasp. He could feel blood vessels begin to burst around his neck and face as the Brute squeezed. The beast tossed Kai ten meters into the air as it sped forward and came back around for the kill. Kai landed hard on his side, cracking three ribs and injuring several vertebrae in his neck.

He hobbled up to find the Brute speeding towards him. This time, the Jiralhanae would finish the half-demon off and avenge his brother. Kai ran as the driver gunned his vehicle toward him. He gasped for air as he tried to dodge. A fuel rod detonation lit up the desert floor as the hijacked Banshee pilots tried to stop the Brute. The chopper was right on top of him, when suddenly it and its driver exploded into bits of molten metal and bone. The blast sent Kai flying forward as he landed hard once more on his face.

Kai staggered back up to see Jessica and her smoking rocket launcher run up to him.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"Yeah," he coughed, "Never been better. I thought you were out?"

"I always keep a spare," she laughed.

"Alright, let's go!"

Jessica turned to run as Kai began his sprint. Kai barely had time to vocalize himself as Jessica screamed and bits of armor and human were blown onto his visor. A Brute had hit her square in the torso with a high-velocity grenade.

Kai forgot the pain in his side and neck.

The enraged soldier sprinted at the Brute as three more grenades bounced and exploded to either side of the Spartan-III. He came up on the beast fast, much to its surprise. Kai tackled the Brute and they toppled over in the desert sand. Kai smashed his fists into the Brute's face until the animal threw him off. Kai un-holstered his M6C pistols and fired madly at the Covenant warrior. It charged as bullets flew at it. The human berserker fell onto his back at the last moment, kicked the Brute in the stomach, and launched it over his head. As it crashed down, Kai reloaded his weapons before it could get up and shot the Brute in the face until it lay motionless.

The Spartan-III stood over the fallen Spartan for a moment, his armor shimmering in the moonlight as he breathed heavily and tears streamed down his face.

Let's go, Kai. She would have wanted us to.

He stood there for a moment longer. He then looked at the blinking NAV marker in his visor. They were still almost four kilometers from their target.

"Listen up, team. The deeper we go, the tougher the Covenant line will get. This is a suicide mission, and I'm going to change the parameters. Our new target is here."

A new NAV marker was placed just 50 meters away.

"We'll drop the Fenris nuke, set the detonator and bug out before the explosion. We're deep enough into enemy territory, and they've sent out their troops to the front lines. We'll take them all out."

"I don't know, that's going against orders–"

"Stow it, Doug. You know I'm right. We head to our primary objective and we're as good as dead. Hell, we might not even arm the damn thing in time. We might as well take as many of these bastards out and live to fight another battle."

Wolf Team still hesitated. They all hated to disregard orders, but they were being ordered by their leader.

"Alright. Let's find some working choppers and gear up to leave with speed," Doug relented.

"Alright. I'll set the timer for ten minutes," said Kai. "Gamma squad, listen up. Drop the package wherever you are and set to synchronize with mine. Package will hatch in ten minutes upon activation. Get out now!"

Static filled the line. Kai listened intently for a full thirty seconds. He was about to set the timer when he was interrupted.

"Roger that, Wolf-1. You better make it out! Hawk-3, out."

Kai wondered in despair why the Hawk Team Leader had not send the response. Doug swung by with his commandeered speeder as Kai set the timer.

"Activating timer now!"

Kai jumped on the nearest chopper and sped off with the rest of his team. Ten minutes later, the night sky was illuminated with the brilliant flare of the nuclear detonation. The choppers were all within range of the EMP, however. Team Wolf would have to walk the rest of the way.