Chapter 2

Date: August 13th, 2552
Time: 26:00 hours
Planet: Reach
Location: ONI Tower Base
Mission: Regroup and assess situation

Boom!
The ratatat of gunfire filled the steel corridor, soon accompanied by the sounds of grunts and falling bodies, sizzling blood and agonised screams.
Tie pushed himself onto his knees, his vision swimming and his ears ringing. Plasma bolts streamed past him and a few struck his shields, throwing him backwards.
He stumbled to his feet as more bolts sped through the jagged, gaping hole in the wall. They missed him by inches, splattering against the rear wall. Tie blinked and shook his head, his senses clearing and becoming sharp with the action.
He looked up and something slammed into his side. He was thrown down the corridor by the impact and came to a skidding rest against the body of an elite.
Boom!
A massive plasma shell, fired from the wraith outside the building, slammed into the spot where Tie had been standing not a second earlier. A wave of heat rolled over Tie but it didn't bother him, he was an Arcadian and if there was one thing Arcadian's loved it was the heat.
He rolled to his feet, unsheathing his magnum as he went. He pulled the trigger twice and sent two bullets whizzing towards the elite that was making its way through the hole.
They struck it in the chest and the blue alien scrambled back the way it had come, its shield flaring with the impacts.
"Twenty-seven!" Kora yelled, using Tie's nickname "Lets Move!"
Spurred into action, Tie spun on his heel and sprinted down the corridor, the floor shaking as the Wraiths continued their deadly bombardment.
He caught up to Kora and Ben, the man that had saved him only moments earlier and they joined him in his mad dash down the corridor. Three suits of Mjolnir armour blurred down the corridor, vaulting dead bodies and collapsed walls, their footsteps accompanied by the boom, boom, boom of landing plasma shells.
The screams of the dying chased them down corridor as marines were cut down by deadly plasma and lethal weaponry. Somewhere in the dark, damaged compound an Elite roared in victory.
"We've got company!" Ben announced, casting a gold-visored glimpse over his shoulder.
"Shit!" Tie swore, sending a heads up to Kora's HUD.
Five Elites had seemingly materialised out of thin air, they were clad in sleek white armour and each one carried both a plasma sword and a plasma rifle. Spec Ops elites. And they had the Spartan's scent.
Blue bolts of death screamed past the Spartan's ears, close enough that the fizzing of their plasma could be heard.
"Double time it Spartans!" Kora yelled, firing a blind shot over her shoulder.
Tie and Ben increased their speed to a pace that would have made Kelly proud, neither of them daring to take their eyes off of the ground for fear of tripping and falling.
"Where are we going?!" Tie asked, his breathing heavy.
Up until now Tie had simply been running with no direction, his only goal to avoid the enemy and stay alive. Which, seeing as how the entire complex had been compromised, was not an easy task.
"Supply room!" Ben replied, his voice emanating from Tie's helmet speakers "Just down the end of this corridor."
Tie sighted the door to the room and made a beeline straight for it, the cheers and grunts of the pursuing Elites close behind him.
The Spartans crashed through the door, skidding to individual stops. Ben raced to one of the lockers that lined the wall while Tie and Kora whirled to face the door, magnums at the ready.
The elites were fast approaching, their plasma swords throwing up sparks in their wake. Tie fired off three shots, scoring three hits and no fatalities and rushed to the door. He grasped the edge of the door amid a hail of plasma and slammed it shut, the bolts sizzling against its reinforced metal surface.
He rammed his shoulder into the door, bracing against the inevitable barge from the Elites. Which never came.
Whizz click!
"What the hell?" Tie muttered, before realisation struck "Son of a -"
He leaped away from the door just as it exploded in a storm of plasma and molten steel. His chest hit the ground hard, though his breath remained in his body. An Elite appeared in the doorway, its mouth open in a roar that was cut short as Ben dumped a locker on its head.
The Elite fell to the floor and Ben allowed the bloodied locker to fall upon its smashed head, blocking the vacant doorway and giving them some cover.
Tie scrambled to his feet and stacked up on the right side of the doorway with Ben mirroring him on the left while Kora set to work on one of the wall bound locker doors. Tie peeked around the shattered frame and sighted the remaining four Elites spread out around the corridor.
"I've got three rounds left," Tie breathed, nodding towards Ben and Kora "how are you guys doing?"
"Bone dry." Ben replied, tapping his magnum with a knuckle.
"Likewise," Kora replied, sheathing her empty magnum "I've got a few rifles over here, but its going to take some time. Lock's a stubborn bastard."
"I guess it's back to basics then." Tie smiled under his helmet, unsheathing his combat knife with his free hand.