Halo: The Path of Reclamation

by soulguard

Book 3: The Human Covenant war has shifted and time is more crucial then ever, as Earth is completely under the rule of the fierce Brute campaign. Can the last human efforts stop Truth's war machine? The final chapter of the Halo Side Trilogy has begun

8. Stand and Retreat

Level 8: Stand and Retreat

Camp Eden
The Box // Military Sector Alpha
Central Egypt
November 2, 2552

Rose exited the stairwell and walked into the bunks. She placed a hand to a locker and reached for a clean jumpsuit. It was great seeing Eric again, and even more heartwarming knowing that things between them had changed. Her earlier fears of stepping over Kim's grave had been calmed for the moment. Eric was accepting her, and oddly enough, she was accepting him. She smiled inwardly at the thoughts of being happy with the Eric after she pushed him away in college. She quickly pulled out the jumpsuit and began take off her clothes, but her hands began to nervously shake. She watched her hand and attempted to ignore it. She undressed and pulled on the suit as the door to the room opened. Rose turned to see who had entered but suddenly noticed that her vision was becoming increasingly blurry.

"What… is …" Rose fastened her last button as she watched two of the Spartan III close the door behind them. Her eyes grew heavy with every second and her knees began to give out. She looked at the Spartans oddly and struggled to remain conscious. She slowly crumbled forward and was caught by one of the Spartan III.

"Forgive us, ma'am." The female Spartan stated through her SPI Armor's external speaker. Rose lost consciousness in the female Spartan's arms. "We have our orders." Rose slipped into a deep sleep as the young female Spartan tossed Rose over her shoulder. "Begin venting the room. I'll carry her to the ship."

"Roger." Stated the other Spartan. He pressed a switch on the wall and fans began to vent the invisible sleeping gas from the room. The Spartan turned on his com. "B021, prep the ship for dust off in ten."

"Roger. Watch your six down there. The Major has not confirmed our launch sequence yet." The third Spartan III signaled over the line.

"Understood." He returned as he followed the other Spartan III and Rose's unconscious form. They quickly made their way out of the Section III barracks unobstructed. As they exited the building they stopped near a parked warthog and quickly, yet gently, laid Rose in the back.

A burst of static sounded in the females Spartan's ear as she powered on the hog. "B017 do you copy?" She recognized the voice.

"I copy Major."

"Do you have Santos?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Good. Deliver her to the Pelican and stand by for your secondary objective."

"Roger ma'am. Is Spartan 087 inbound?"

"Negative, 017. She is disobeying orders. If the Black Ops can not retrieve her, you will have to pick her up on your way to Mombasa."

"Understood ma'am." She turned off her com and turned to her partner. "You copy that?"

"I wonder what happened?" He replied. "A Spartan does not disobey orders."

"I don't care about that." She replied as she steered the Warthog toward the Camp Eden underground airfield. "This may delay our mission time if we have to wait. Soldiers are dieing in this war and we have to baby sit Doctor Santos."

"Ease up, Kate." He calmly replied. "We'll get into the action soon enough."

"Dave is right, Kate." Replied the other Spartan over the com. "We'll show everyone what we can do."

"I know, Greg." Kate sighed to her Spartan III partners. "But you heard that report from Onyx. The rest of Beta Company… gone."

"We don't know that." Dave added sharply. "We lost communications before we could confirm anything. Don't jump to conclusions. Besides, Admiral Hood sent reinforcements; the other Spartans."

"Spartan II's, Dave!" Kate barked. "They don't value us. They should have sent us…"

"They don't know about us." Greg replied over the line. "Hood and the other brass do not have a clue that we exist, Kate, you know that. How can we be ordered into action, if they don't know we're here?"

"Calm down guys." Dave interjected. "Unlike the rest of the world, we know what the Covenant wants, and we know how to stop them. Once the Major and Spartan 087 get to the Pelican, we'll head off to Mombasa and save the world. Doctor Santos will setup that last of her enhancements on the armor for 087 and that will take care of everything. You'll see. It'll be that simple."

Greg added over the com channel. "If it were that simple, don't you think the Major would have told us to simply ask Santos to come with us… instead of kidnapping her? Sorry Dave, I don't share your clear view of this plan. Something isn't right about it."

Silence followed as Kate powered the hog toward the Airfield. They approached the gate and Dave tossed a blanket over Rose. The guard looked at the two mysteriously armored soldiers and waved for them to stop.

"Who are you?" The guard nervously questioned as he looked at his reflection in Kate's golden mask.

"Airfield Permit number B-7411-7 Gamma." Kate stated the words firmly and said nothing more.

The guard keyed in the combination into the data pad. The screen on his pad flashed with instructions and he read them to himself. His eyes grew wider with every sentence.

The guard looked up nervously. "You can proceed directly to Airfield seven." The guard placed a bright yellow sticker on the hog's front window, a sign that they were clear to enter any section of the Airfield. Kate remained silent and sped into the airfield, leaving the guard questioning what he had just read.

Another guard approached. "Mate, you look like you just saw a ghost. Were they Spartans?"

"I think so. But they had clearance permission from Major Rawlings and ONI. Section III."

"What?" The other guard questioned in a shocked tone. "Section III… what the hell is that?"

The guard replied. "Spooks, bro. Spooks. They don't exist." The two guards watched as the file on his data pad suddenly began to delete itself; erasing all traces of the Spartan III entrance into the airfield.

- - - - - - - -

Troop Supply Territory
Camp Eden Civilian Defense Net
Abu Simbel, Egypt
November 2, 2552

Fallen human and Elite soldiers littered the battlefield as Flood infection forms crawled atop their corpses. The bodies convulsed and stood to their shaky feet as the alien parasites took control of their lifeless forms. They knelt into the sand and picked up the weapons that had been dropped by the former hosts. With a blood curling gargle, a scream of hunger and rage, the new Flood combat forms charged toward the Allied defenses of Abu Simbel.

Kelly barked orders as the surviving Marines and Elites retreated to the third line. "Alpha, Beta and Charley teams, guard the left flank! Delta teams maneuver to the right! Pull back the wounded!" An RPG zipped across the line, yet it was incoming. "RPG! Somebody take out those weapons!" Kelly gripped a BR-55 from a fallen marine and took aim at the closest charging flood. She side stepped as its lifeless form careened into her line. She put another round into the creature for safe measure and then turned back to the approaching horde.

Simyaldee cut into the line. "Gridolee, take a unit and dispose of those combat forms! Black Ops, reposition for covering fire! Wraith and tank units fall back to the Airfield and assume position with the Unggoy!"

Kelly cut in. "We'll give you as much time as we can, but you have to move quickly!" She stated to the retreating wraiths and scorpion tanks. Kelly's shield flashed as SMG rounds pinged against her. She let the rounds hit her and leveled her rifle. The Flood combat form was too far away for its sub-machinegun to be affective. She fired several bursts and toppled the creature easily.

Gridolee stood at the side of several blue armored warriors. "Aim for the parasite in their chests, brothers!" The Elites pulled down their Carbine projectile rifles and took aim on the flood forms carrying the RPGs. "Focus on the heavy weapon carries! They are the most dangerous!" Several rounds fired from the Elites weapons, filling the flood forms with numerous holes, but the Elites' accuracy were not up to the standards of the Mirratord. One Flood form stumbled backward yet took cover and was able to fire a single round. The RPG puffed from its holster and flared toward the allied line. Gridolee watched as it streaked through his team and into the mass of human marines behind him. The explosion was dull and full of white and red mist. The humans' screams were drowned out by the roar of constant gunfire along the defensive line. Gridolee snatched a carbine from one of his kin, took aim, and split the parasite's infection form perfectly. The combat form with the RPG crumbled to the ground, dropping the heavy weapon onto the sandy ground.

"Level the area with holy fire!" He ordered the Elites. They all tossed grenades into the pack of crumbled Flood forms, to ensure that they would not rise again. Gridolee raced back to the main line to see how much damage the RPG had caused. As he approached he could hear the screams of the wounded humans. The lucky ones died when the rocket impacted. The unlucky ones cried in agony from missing limbs and painful wounds.

"Damn it!" Kelly roared as she backed up to the crater of bloody sand. "Alpha team, shift to my six! Pull the survivors out of this hole and get them back to the Airfield!"

Simyaldee tossed several grenades into the Flood horde and looked over the scene of wounded humans. "Lieutenant, reposition your men to compensate for the wounded! Black Ops, stand at my side!"

Gridolee looked over the chaotic battlefield. The gargling roars from the flood, screams of fallen warriors, and the constant sound of swarming infection forms crawling toward them filled the air. This was not going to be an easy victory, and Gridolee knew it. He was given one simple task; to stop the five Combat forms from getting off a clean shot, yet he failed. There was a time when he rejoiced in the sight of human blood, but now they were his allies, and despite the humans' flaws and weaknesses their fate was sealed by his mistake.

"I should have taken the shots myself." Gridolee mumbled.

Kelly heard the words in Sangheili tongue, but her language software easily translated. She turned toward him and grabbed his vest. "You were given an order, warrior! Get your men into position!" Kelly's grip shook him to his core. The power of the MJOLNIR Mark VI and Kelly's augmented strength was undeniably powerful.

Gridolee snapped to attention. "At once!" He waved for his unit to join him as Kelly sprinted to the left flank; the Flood had found a soft spot in the line and they were hammering the marines repeatedly.

Kelly dived into small outcropping and pulled down her shotgun. She loaded it with a full stock and primed a round into the chamber. "Status!"

"Corporal Malone is dead, ma'am!" A frantic Private muttered. "Those damn things are using small arms fire! We're pinned down and can't out flank them!"

Kelly examined the terrain and noticed that the Nile River curved North at their location, plus there was a substantial cliff that fell into the river. "We have a natural wall to our left! Muster your men, medium range weapons …."

"My men?" The private questioned.

Kelly ignored him. "We'll displace to fifty yards east."

"But Chief, there's no cover!"

"Black Ops, status!"

"It's getting hot, Chief, but we're holding."

"Has Gridolee woken up yet?"

"Yeah, he's throwing his muscle around as we speak."

"I need you and 08 to meet me at the left flank. Double Time. Notify Simyaldee that you are relocating."

"On our way."

The com died and Kelly stood and fired into a pack of charging flood forms. Two dropped quickly but the others pressed forward. The Marines stood at her side and fired in succession, holding off the Flood charge for the moment.

Kelly knelt and reloaded. She watched as the flood patiently stood in the distance as they attempted to regroup for another charge. "Clever little bastards." She mumbled. Shuffling sand caught her attention and she watched as the two Black Ops raced toward her.

"ODSTs?" The Private at Kelly's side questioned. Not knowing what to think of the modified ODST armor of the Black Ops.

"Not even close." Melanie replied to the Private as she knelt on the line. "What's the plan, chief?"

"We have to keep the Flood away from the River." She stated calmly. "If they realize that the River flows north toward the Airfield…"

"Damn… they could catch us blind sided!" Mathew blurted out.

"The Flood attack en masse." Kelly added. "We give them enough bait and they'll charge. We'll be the bait and draw them away from the River. We'll focus on the combat forms with weapons. "

"Let's get some!" A soldier cheered.

"Advance and then retreat back to the main line!" Kelly stated as she darted toward the Flood mass. Several marines ran to her side, firing madly into the stunned Flood. Seventeen soldiers stood and dashed into the clearing, firing wildly into the Flood's numbers. The Black Ops quickly took aim on the Flood forms with weapons, they were a threat even at long range. Melanie's riffle barked repeatedly as she charged toward the edge of the Flood mass.

With their super athletic speed, Kelly and Melanie were the first to reach the Flood's numbers, stopping less then ten feet from the disfigured masses. Kelly dropped a grenade into the crowd and began to back peddle toward Simyaldee's central line. Melanie repeated the gesture.

The Flood took the bait.

"Retreat!" Kelly shouted over the team channel. The marines turned and began to flee, stopping periodically to fire. But Kelly and the Black Ops never turned their backs. Steadily they backed away in a hurried pace, firing with focus at anything that came too close. Kelly's shield's sparked several times from Flood fire, but the Black Ops quickly took the creatures down. Mathew grunted as an SMG round split the fabric of his thigh. Blood began to trickle, but he stayed focused and maintained fire.

Kelly heard him grunt. "Are you still mobile?"

"Roger. It just caught me by surprise."

"If we need to run, can you?" Melanie asked as she fired into the flood.

Mathew calmly replied. "At about eighty percent."

"Not good enough." Melanie sternly stated as she slapped in a fresh magazine. "Fall back with the marines, now. I'm not loosing you because of a flesh wound." Mathew gritted his teeth in frustration and pulled out two additional Assault rifle clips. He grabbed Melanie by her belt and put the two magazines in her ammo stock before he turned his back and limped away. He quickly joined the retreating Marines.

"Spartan 087, Spartan 087! Do you copy?" The transmission was filled with panic. Kelly recognized that it was the voice of the Lieutenant leading the Longsword squadron.

"I copy…" She quickly began to reply, but the frantic airmen cut her off.

"Unknown Covenant Cruiser, inbound! I repeat, unknown classification inbound! There's too many Brute Seraphs to handle…we're out gunned up here! The Brutes are pushing us back!"

Kelly looked upward as the dogfight raged on, and she noticed that the contrails for the Longswords were quickly being reduced. The Brute's were finally showing their muscle.

She lowered her eyes and continued to focus on the flood. "Lieutenant, I need your best call on the situation up there." Kelly radioed back.

"We can hold for another five minutes, tops. My men will fight to the end, unless you have a better idea. But that ship is launching countless Seraphs at us"

"Simyaldee, copy!" Kelly broadcasted.

"I see it!" Simyaldee replied. "The Brutes could decimate this entire area with one barrage from their plasma cannons. But that ship has yet to fire."

Kelly grabbed Melanie's shoulder in order to let Melanie know that she was lowering her weapon, in order to assess the situation. She quickly looked toward the Southern horizon and zoomed in. The Covenant ship slowly stalked closer. It was low to the ground and looked liked like a rolling mountain, but it was clearly a ship. Its silver streamlined hull reflecting the bright midday sun.

"What type of ship is that?" Kelly questioned over the com. Melanie continued to back peddle and fire, guiding Kelly's hand and telling her to move. Melanie was Kelly's guide for the brief moment that she needed to analyze the battle.

"That…" Simyaldee Paused as he glared at the ship closely. "... is a Jiralhanae assault carrier. Heavily armored and carrying a large amount of infantry. Each Fleet has one such ship. Truth must be seeking something from your civilian area if he would send this ship here. That would also explain why they have yet to bombard us. They indeed are looking for something."

Melanie cut into the line. "Last time I checked the Ark was about three thousand kilometers south of here." She fired more rounds and then added. "The just left Eden two three days ago, why come back?"

Simyaldee huffed over the lines. "This can only mean that Truth has taken full control of the Ark location. He has no need for additional troops. He sent them here to find something."

Kelly cut in. "If Truth has taken control of the Ark site… damn it."

Melanie quickly jumped into the conversation again as she dropped another depleted clip from her BR. "Whatever our next move is, do it now. I'm on my last clip."

Kelly knew something was awkward about the ship. "It's not a standard Covenant Assault carrier. Weapons?" She questioned into the transmission. Dealing with the new incarnation of Brutes was going to become a brand new form of war. She pulled her hand down from Melanie shoulder, cupped her weapon and began to fire at the Flood once again. Melanie hopped back a few extra feet and began to fire with her standard side arm, after tossing her empty BR to the ground.

Simyaldee commented. "The ship has minimal external arsenal, standard Plasma weaponry, however it has double the amount of Low Orbit Insertion Pods. The Jiralhanae assault carrier can deploy four hundred ground infantry in one passing. It was designed primarily to deploy overwhelming ground troops and support."

Kelly added as she began to reload her weapon. "Why haven't we seen this before?"

"The Jiralhanae have never been fully utilized in the Covenant Armada until now. This ship and its armament are unique. This is the full arsenal of the Jiralhanae war tactics; overwhelming odds in order to overpower their opponents."

"I guess even the Forerunners used them as infantry." Melanie sighed. Thinking back to what she had learned about the various classes of soldiers used by the Forerunner's Empire. "Shit. We have no idea what to expect from a fully deployed Brute ground force, Chief. What's the call?" Melanie fired her magnum in a repetitive fashion, aiming solely at the Flood infection form inside the massive host bodies.

"For thirty years we've been fighting you." Kelly sternly added over the line. "And in all that time, the Brutes have been sitting and waiting; conserving their numbers and equipment? It seems like they pulled the wool over your eyes."

Simyaldee furiously glared at the distant ship. "The Brutes were scouts and scavengers, used only to gather the artifacts left behind by the Forerunners in their quadrant of the Galaxy. We would not allow them to fight at our side because of the sins they committed against our kin. We have been blinded for so long. Even the eyes of the Mirratord have been shielded from this. I knew their forces were large, but not of this magnitude." Simyaldee clinched the hilt of his twin blades. His eagerness to attack the Brutes held steady only by the distance between him and the approaching ship.

"How many soldiers can that ship carry?" Kelly questioned into Simyaldee's ears.

"Four thousand troops." Simyaldee replied.

Kelly switched channels. "Lieutenant. Return your squadron to Eden, refuel and stand by for orders from Fleet."

"Roger that."

The Marines all looked upward as the fighter squadron of Longswords and Banshees broke off from combat and began to retreat. They all questioned what was going on. They could not see the lurking ship in the distance.

"Simyaldee, I recommend we retreat?" Kelly sighed over the com.

Simyaldee lowered his head. "I was on the verge of making that decision as well."

Mathew cut in. "Retreat? Chief, what do you mean?"

"I mean, the Brutes have won." Kelly added as she turned to the marines. She changed her frequency to a wide channel. "Everyone, load up on the tanks and fall back to the Airfield for immediate extraction. 08, get the marines to the airfield, double time."

Simyaldee accessed his channel. "Elder, the Flood are in pursuit of our forces and a Jiralhanae assault carrier is on the way. We are retreating from the area. Tell the Unggoy to prepare a defensive stand until the human extraction teams arrive.

Kelly turned to Melanie. "The mine field?"

"Twenty yards behind the main line." Melanie fired her last round. "I'm out!"

"Move!" Kelly and Melanie turned and began a full sprint across the field. Marines began to fire passed them, giving them cover fire. "No time! Run!" Kelly screamed to the marines. The Marines stood and began to flee. Simyaldee held his line for a few additional seconds but then waved for his Elites to retreat. The Elites all turned and raced behind the humans, eventually passing them. Simyaldee back peddled, waiting for the two humans to join him. He found it impressive that they alone were able to hold off an entire wave of Flood forms for nearly a minute.

Simyaldee joined them and began to flee. "You held the Flood long enough for your team to retreat. Impressive."

"I've dealt with the Flood enough to know what makes them tic." Melanie shouted. "Kill the gunners and the rest will become hesitant to attack."

Kelly, Melanie and Simyaldee sprinted through the mine field, kicking sand up at their heels. Behind them roared the flood, hundreds of gargling and knowledge hungry creatures that were eager to rip their bodies in half. Melanie slowed her pace, and began to unclip her trigger.

Simyaldee also began to slow in concern for the human, but Kelly eased his nerves. "She's got the detonator. Keep running." They crossed the field, but Melanie knew they needed more distance. The Lotus patch she setup would produce enough destructive yields to kill anything within a hundred feet; unlike the cluster of bombs that nearly killed Eric, this patch was more spread out.

Melanie watched her distance and then at one hundred yards she stopped, turned, and grinned. "Boom baby." She tripped the switch and gleefully watched as several dozen lotus mines went active. A chain of puffs and echoes filled the area in a rapid succession of spats, as each mine exploded a tenth of a second after the next. The Flood were vaporized in a matter of seconds, as the gore of parts littered the sky and ground. Fragments rained downward as Melanie marveled at the carnage.

The dust settled, and beyond the mine field stood the surviving flood forms. Melanie smirked, but she knew she couldn't kill them all. She turned and began to run again as the Flood began to regroup and pursue. They had bought themselves more time, but that was all they had… time.

Kelly stopped as she jumped onto a tank and assisted Melanie onto its side. "Good job, that should slow them down a bit."

"Four minutes tops." Melanie replied.

"Fleet, this is Spartan 087 requesting immediate Evac of Abu Simbel Troop Supply territory." She banged on the tank, and the driver began to follow the retreating human and Elite forces toward the airfield.

"087, the Elites are in command of that region, we can only pull out the human troops."

Kelly froze. She clinched her fists and struggled to remain calm. "Sir, I am requesting immediate Evac of all support from Abu Simbel. Requesting any additional troop transports you can spare."

"087, Fleet can not extract Elite forces. They are on their own…"

"Damn it, they are risking their lives as much as we are! Pull them out!" Kelly roared; her patients and discipline tossed to the wind.

The voice on the line changed. "I never thought I'd hear a Spartan demand that we aid the Elites." The voice was unfamiliar to Kelly, but it was clearly a senior officer in the UNSC. "You were given an order to return to Eden, and you ignored that order. Now, you're telling me that you we shouldn't leave the Elites behind? How many of the Elites standing beside you killed humans? How many of them still hold a grudge against us? Can you guarantee me that each of those Elites are trustworthy and not a spy for the Covenant?"

"Sir, I need them if I am going to establish an offensive against the Brutes. They have an assault carrier inbound and…"

"An offensive?" The man questioned. "087, has it not occurred to you that we lost this battle three days ago? The moment Truth and that Forerunner ship entered Earth's atmosphere, it was game over. The Brutes occupy seventy five percent of the Earth's surface and we are on the retreat. Problem is we have no place to run to! Now, get your ass on a Pelican and fall back to Eden, as you were ordered. I am sending six Pelicans… six! And they will be instructed to only extract human combatants and non-com. Any Elites that approach the Extraction LZ on the Northern edge of the Abu Simbel airport will be seen as a threat and eliminated. Do you understand my orders?"

Kelly bit her lip. "Yes Sir."

"ETA to Pelican extraction is Ten minutes." The man sternly stated. "I drastically advise you not to be late. Fleet out." The signal cut and Kelly sat motionless.

She turned and looked over her shoulder at the group of nearly sixty Elites following behind the fleeing human forces. The part of Kelly that had been fighting the Elites for more then twenty five years demanded that she follow orders without question, yet she couldn't. Simyaldee sped up and approached the tank with his Specter.

"Did you hear?" She questioned to Simyaldee.

"Indeed." He calmly replied. "Do not fret over us. We have the means to defend ourselves. This union is built on unstable ground. Trust will take much time to earn."

"I did what I could." Kelly stated as she turned on her team channel to the Marines. "Evac in 9 minutes."

"Sir, may I add that I do not agree with this." Melanie sternly stated. "Fleet and HighCom do not understand the situation. I've fought by Simyaldee and Gridolee's side for almost three weeks now, and if he trusts the men under his command then so do I."

"We have our orders." After a quick junket to the airfield, Kelly watched as the Marines policed the wounded and double timed it the few hundred yards to the LZ. To the south of the Airfield, the Grunts were keeping the flood at bay with stationary plasma cannons and shield units. "Lieutenant Simyaldee, I have a request. Move your troops north, toward Camp Eden. I don't think you'll want to be here after we leave. I think they plan to level this area."

Melanie looked at Mathew. "They wouldn't."

"Yeah, they would." Mathew replied.

Melanie turned to Kelly. "Chief?"

"I could hear it in his voice. They plan to Nuke this site. It's the only option they have to slow down the Flood and the Brutes. Most of our forces are scattered across the globe and the fleet was gathered at Mombasa, but if they were defeated, then all we can do is protect what ground we have left."

"A Fury Tactical Nuke is clean." Melanie added. "But useless against a Covenant ship's shields. It's pointless."

Simyaldee huffed. "Give the enemy no ground to occupy. If you must retreat, leave it barren; standard operations that your forces have employed on countless worlds."

"When you're trapped in a corner, deploy your last resort." Melanie sulked.

The Spartans and marines gathered at the North end of the Airfield, while Simyaldee began to instruct the Grunts and the last of his Elites on the situation. Wraiths, specters, ghosts and Phantoms began to be loaded as the Sangheili Defense Zone prepared to abandon their post, but several packs of Grunts continued to fire into the Flood, slowing them down as much as possible and giving the escaping units as much time as they could.

Kelly and the Black Ops watched as seven Pelicans quickly soared into the region. "Seven?" Kelly questioned to herself.

Six of the Pelican's landed at the LZ, but one Pelican drifted several yards away. The Marines quickly began to load the wounded and civilian workers into the six Pelicans as Kelly and the Black Ops approached the seventh. The ramp lowered and a figure in all Black ODST fatigues stepped down the ramp.

"19?" Melanie questioned.

"The one and only." He replied confidently. "I heard there was an extraction operation being launched to Abu Simbel, so I caught a ride." Eric tossed Melanie and Kelly fully loaded assault riffles and M90 shotguns.

"Good to see you on your feet, Sergeant, but you missed the fun." Kelly stated as she shook Eric's hand.

"Missed the action?" Eric questioned. "I don't think so. I see a Covenant Ship inbound and a few dozen Grunts fighting off the Flood. I think the battle is just getting started."

A lone grunt ran down the ramp behind Eric, sniffing the air as it came into view. "Me ready." Palab stated to the group.

"Palab!" Melanie excitedly stated. "Are you okay?"

"Me fine." He added as he climbed down the ramp. Kelly watched him as he looked into the distance at the line of fighting Grunts. She noticed that his wound had completely healed, and that his concern quickly turned to his grunts. "Me not like this. Me warriors too far from support units. Could be cut off if Parasite flanks them."

"You're right, we need to pull them out. But if HighCom drops a nuke on our heads?" Melanie questioned.

Eric rested the barrel of his battle riffle against his shoulder. "They will. They gave the deployment code to a Longsword just after we left the airfield. It's a standard Clean-Slate operation. We have five minutes to Evac before they drop the tactical nuke. I say we pull out the rest of Palab's Grunts and make a break for it."

Kelly smiled behind her face mask as she turned on an open com channel. "Simyaldee, things have changed."

"I'm sending the Elder and my ground troops to the North. What is your status?" Simyaldee questioned over the line.

"Palab and 19 just arrived, and it appears that we are going to disobey a direct order. First, we rescue the Grunts, and then we make our way north with your forces."

Simyaldee sped toward the last Pelican as the other six began to lift off, carrying the last of the human forces back to Eden. At Simyaldee's side were several ghosts and specters, while the wraith units continued to move north at their best speeds.

Simyaldee dismounted his ghost and looked to the Grunt King. "Report, Sergeant."

Palab stood tall and gave Simyaldee his utmost attention. "Me okay. Human doctor say me can fight. Honorable human tell me what his kin plan to do here. Me think we should leave, but me not leave me Unngoy behind."

"Agreed." Simyaldee stated as he turned to his ghost units. "Make several speed passes through the Flood. Keep them distracted. Be careful and swift, we can not afford to loose any of you."

The Elite piloted ghosts powered up and accelerated toward the southern end of the airfield. Palab quickly mounted another ghost and the controls adjusted to his height. He could barely see over the forward panel, but that wasn't going to stop him from going to his Grunts' aid.

He gripped the helm, and throttled behind the Elites. "Me go as well."

Simyaldee radioed back. "I will assist the humans in pulling out the Grunts."

Palab sped toward the line of grunts and opened a team channel to his kin. "Everyone! We are retreating. The Elites will provide cover as you pull back! Get out of there, we don't have much time!" The barks over the channel registered quickly with the grunts under his command and they began to dismount their turrets. The grunts began to flee as the Elite ghost units plowed into the front lines of the Flood.

Palab quickly raced toward Migpap, his young disciple. "Fall back to the North end of the Airport."

"What about you?" Migpap shouted as he fired his needler into a charging combat form. The creature exploded from the overflow of embedded needler crystals and Migpap cheered as he reloaded the spent crystal rounds.

"You have your orders. Pull the rest of our troops out of here!" Palab accelerated and sped into the Flood along with the other Elites. Flood fragments scattered in all directions as he spun around for another pass. His forward cannons spat its constant poundage of superheated plasma as he plowed into several more. He had to be cautious, however. The Flood's jumping ability would make them dangerous at close range, and at any moment one could pounce on top of him. He was constantly changing course, and making sure that his ghost didn't fall apart from constantly running over the masses of Flood.

Simyaldee stood with Eric as the Pelican powered up. "How many can this vehicle carry?"

"We'll fit all of the Grunts." Eric stated as he patted the pilot on the shoulder. "We'll make them fit. Your ghost units can drive out of here on their own, as well as the Specters. You will need to be at least two miles away when HighCom drops the nuke."

"Very well, Gridolee and I will assist in guarding the grunts retreat. I leave their evacuation to you." Simyaldee stepped from the Pelican ramp as he passed Melanie.

"19, we've cleared all ground forces and civilians." Melanie stated. "Also, the heavy weapons vehicles are clear of the blast radius. We have two minutes until the nuke is dropped."

"Good." Eric stated calmly.

"19. Are you sure you should be out here? It hasn't been long enough for your wounds to fully heal, and…"

Eric cut off her statement. "Prep the ramp, and man the turret. We're going to pick them up." Melanie nodded and pulled out the powerful swivel arm carrying he turret at the end of the bay. The Pelican rose and began to slowly drift toward the running grunts. Melanie counted forty of them and wondered if they could all really fit.

The pelican lowered to the ground and young Migpap waved the Grunts inside. "Let's go!" He shouted in Grunts speak. Quickly the bay of the pelican began to fill and the Grunts kept coming. "Get close, make more room!" Migpap shouted inside. The Grunts began to crawl on top of each other and an alarm sounded in the cockpit.

Eric watched the pilot turn the alarm off. "What was that?"

""Just the weight alarm. Not a problem." The pilot stated. "Are they onboard?"

Eric turned around and was greeted by the eyes of at least three grunts that were sitting in the cockpit. He couldn't see passed them as they were crawling on top of each other. "05, status."

Melanie pulled back the ammo loader on the chain gun and began to fire into a group of combat forms that came too close. "Almost ready! A few more and we can leave!" She fired over the Grunts heads and wiped the field of the combat forms that had come too close.

"Hurry!" Migpap shouted as two grunts tossed grenades at a combat form. The Grunts turned and waddled hurriedly into the pelican. "We ready!" Migpap said to Melanie.

Melanie raised the ramp a few degrees to help scope Migpap into the belly of the Pelican. "Go go go!" She shouted into her headset. The Pelican moaned as the engines powered to full. The pelican slowly lifted off and groaned as the ship's hull disagreed with the weight.

The pilot sighed, "Forty grunts equals the weight of one standard Scorpion MBT? Where's the math in that?" He questioned as he adjusted the engine's output to compensate for the weight.

Eric opened his transmission. "Simyaldee, Palab, we're clear! Evac now!"

- - - - - - -

Several hundred feet above of the Abu Simbel airfield, a Longsword pilot and his copilot began there bombing run. The copilot adjusted his sights and zoomed into the center of the airfield. "Sir, there's a pelican down there!"

The pilot looked into the display. "They said all Pelican's had been cleared. Call it in and ask for orders."

"HighCom, this is V-903 on Clean-Slate operation. We have confirmed visual of one Pelican and dozens of Elite troops in the area. Requesting status."

"V-903, you have your orders. Deploy operation Clean-Slate, as directed." The transmission was crystal clear.

"God." The copilot mumbled. "Sir, the bird is moving! It could be the flood!"

"No look, the grunts are loading into it. Magnify that picture." The copilot zoomed in as grunts jumped aboard the pelican.

"Should we wait until they clear?" The copilot questioned. "I don't think there are any humans down there."

"Scan local channels." The pilot ordered.

The copilot scanned the channels and a transmission came through.

"05, status"

"Almost ready! A Few more and we can leave!"

"Sir, they're human!" The copilot chimed. "Why the hell are they risking their necks for the grunts?"

"Hell if I know!" The pilot replied in shock. An alarm sounded on the radar. "That Covenant cruiser in the distance isn't wasting anytime getting here either. They just launched an attack wave of Seraph's at us. We can't wait. Get ready to deploy the package."

"Go go go!" Came another shout over the radio.

"Simyaldee, Palab, we're clear! Evac now!"

The co-pilot looked into his targeting display. "Deploying package in 3-2-1…"

The Pilot felt the Longsword shift as the bomb bay released its small football sized package. He quickly banked the ship away from the region and accelerated away from the incoming Brute seraph squadron.

"Sorry guys, you're on your own."

To be Continued…