Marcus ran out into the corridor, which was filled with soldiers and generals running in all directions. Chaos filled the air and he began frantically looking around for anyone else he knew or any of his group. He moved to the side of the corridor as a squad of marines ran past, sergeant John leading them, and a marine accidentally ran into Matthew.
"Marcus!" someone called and he turned so he was facing the left end of the corridor to see Tyler standing with Stinger, Alice, Tanya and another woman taskforce soldier against the left wall of the corridor, waving to him. "C'mon, man!"
Marcus nodded and pushed his way through the corridor to them. When he reached them, they ran down the corridor to a kind of intersection and turned left into a smaller corridor that led to a large blast door, which closed as they ran towards it. When they reached it, the door opened automatically for them and they ran through into the armoury, which was a large square shaped room that was about one hundred and ten feet long and seventy feet in width. In the left corner of the room next to the doorway were two fenced off power generators and another door was on the right wall near the other end of the armoury. Scattered along the walls of the armoury were crates with weapons on them or attached to the walls. There were machine guns, rifles, grenades, pistols, you name it. The door on the right wall near the other end of the room closed as they entered the barracks and around the barracks were several other marines. As Marcus' group separated to get their weapons, one of the marines, who had a kind of camcorder thing attached to his shoulder, looked up at them quickly before he resumed loading ammunition into his weapon.
"Ah, good, another squad of taskforce soldiers," John said. Marcus, who was getting a few fragmentation grenades after collecting a battle rifle and a few clips of ammunition, looked over to him and ran over to him. The others, who had all got their ammunition, joined him.
"What are our orders, sarge?" Tyler asked him.
"We need to get the workers of this base out of here quickly," he said. "Problem is, most of you guys are busy protecting the perimeter, so you all are pretty much all that's left that can help evacuate the workers," he turned to Marcus. "You lead them, Marcus," he said. "Head over to the landing zone you arrived to the planet on and defend it against any Covenant,"
"Yes, sir," Marcus replied. "Alright, let's go,"
He led the squad out of the armoury and into the warzone outside. Several explosions erupted overhead and a banshee, with a trail of smoke emanating from the rear of the main section of the fighter, zoomed over the armoury and disappeared from sight. An explosion followed a moment later. Several blasts flew up into the air and the screams and shouts of Human soldiers and Covenant soldiers fighting nearby filled their ears.
"Where abouts is this landing pad?" Tanya asked.
"Follow me," Marcus told her and he ran around the armoury and ran the armoury towards a large warehouse which he remembered was the one he had entered when he had come here. The others followed.
As they did, Tyler noticed someone else with the group. There was another woman in the group running next to him. She had brown skin and was about 5ft 11 with a pretty face that had small blue eyes, a small nose and soft red cheeks. Her body was athletic and she had black hair which was just visible through a cream coloured hijab she had over her head and she was wearing a green bodysuit.
"I didn't know you were part of our squad," he said to her and she looked at him.
"I'm not really," she replied. "I just saw Alice and I joined up with her. I used to work with her at the TechCorps," she held up her hand to him. "My name's Alima,"
He shook her hand. "Tyler," he replied. "Never heard the name Alima before,"
"It's Arabic, you idiot," Alice said as she ran alongside them. Tyler blushed.
"Oh, I-I knew that," he said, trying to act as if he had where her name had originated from.
Alima and Alice rolled their eyes and the three ran on after Marcus, Stinger and Tanya. When the group ran around the corner of the warehouse, they saw the remains of a large metallic landing pad scattered on the ground. Several pelicans were scattered around the desert-like landscape, parked on the ground with their landing gear unfolded and holding the craft in place as many marines, medics and workers rushed to and from the pelicans. Several large AA missile turrets were placed about the sides of the enormous landing zone.
"Hey you guys! Over here!" a sergeant near one of the pelicans shouted, waving his arm at them. Marcus led the group over to the sergeant. "Glad you guys could make it here," he said to them. "We've got word of Covenant forces heading towards the landing zone. A wraith and a few ghosts might be among them so you guys need to get to the outer housing estate and hold off their advance,"
"Wait, what do we do about the ghosts and the wraith if they're among the Covenant?" Stinger asked.
"Don't worry, there's team of heavy weapons soldiers there already," the sergeant reassured him. "Alright, get moving, quick,"
"You heard him, let's go," Marcus said and he led the squad through the crowds of workers, marines and medics, Tanya almost getting lost as she was stopped by two medics quickly trying to load a wounded worker onto one of the pelicans but, thankfully, she managed to quickly re-join the group, towards a small long rectangular building with a small doorway on the side facing them and two long steel walls coming out of the sides, no doubt separating the base from the estate for the workers.
The group ran through the doorway into a long rectangular shaped room, which took up the whole of the interior of the building, and ran down it towards a long corridor that led to a doorway at the end. The squad ran down the corridor towards the door at the end, which opened as they approached it.
"INCOMING!"
BOOM! An explosion erupted a few metres in front of the doorway, the force of the blast throwing the squad to the floor. As they picked themselves up, a few marines ran out from one of the small square shaped houses, which was set in a fenced area with a small patch of green grass in front of it, as were all the other houses, which made this estate look like a small residential area outside Las Vegas, and fire a barrage past it into a large open desert-like area.
"C'mon, we better go help!" Marcus said.
The squad ran out into the battle zone. A few explosions erupted all around them, one blowing apart a parked SUV, another landing on a house and destroying it completely, as they headed towards the squad. One of the marines saw them as he reloaded a clip of ammo into his weapon.
"Oh God, we're glad you're here!" he said, relieved.
"What's the situation?" Marcus asked.
"Huge force of Covenant heading across from a weapons testing area towards this place," the marine told them. "Too many Covenant to count and I think there's a wraith with 'em as well,"
"Damnit!" Marcus cursed under his breath. "Alright, don't worry. We're here to help,"
The marine nodded. "Head inside," he said, pointing to a hole in the side of one of the wooden square shaped houses.
The squad ran through into a small square room with a small bed against the right wall with a small bedside cabinet next to it. A tin holographic device placed along the floor along the next wall was for a holographic television to come out. In the corners of the room were several plants and there was a corridor on the right wall, just a few feet down from the bed, that led off to a kitchen and a bathroom. There was a small hole in the ceiling that showed the sky to the squad inside the building. On the wall next to the bed was a small window that showed the view of a small dirt road and, beyond that, the great expanse of desert-like landscape that seemed to stretch on in all directions, and scattered across it were the remains of several UNSC warthogs and mongooses with the occasional Covenant ghost or banshee in sight as well Several dead bodies of Human and Covenant soldiers were scattered about as well but what really caught the eyes of the squad were the moving Covenant soldiers, heading directly towards the house!
"Spread out!" Marcus ordered and he and Tanya aimed their weapons out through the window next to the bed across the desert-like landscape as Stinger and Alima took one of the windows in the kitchen nearest the wall that bordered the entrance room and Alice and Tyler took the other window near the wall that bordered the bathroom.
Marcus' eyes scanned every part of the desert-like landscape in front of the house. In the sky above the landscape were several Covenant seraph fighters engaged in dogfights with the UNSC long sword fighters. Several fell out of the sky and crashed to the ground, exploding in pillars of fire, but still the dogfight continued on.
Suddenly, Tanya fired a burst of ammo out across the landscape at the remains of a ghost.
"What is it?" Marcus asked her.
"I saw a Grunt," she replied.
Suddenly, more bursts of gunfire exploded, though they came from outside. A second later, a tall and bulky figure rose up from behind the remains of a warthog and charged out towards the house, firing a barrage of blasts as it went. It was an Elite dressed in light blue armour, marking it as a minor. Marcus fired a burst of ammo at the creature, hitting it in the chest. The Elite roared and staggered sideways, falling to the ground. Another burst of ammo flew out from behind the side of the building and struck the Elite in the head, killing it.
"Oh crap!" a voice from somewhere outside shouted all of a sudden.
"What is it?" another replied.
"The wraith is back! It's coming in from the east!"
Marcus and Tanya's eyes went wide and Tanya pulled herself forward, with Marcus grabbing her around the waist and holding her forward, to look out of the window. Her breath was instantly taken from her. The marine who had greeted them was right. Hovering a few inches above the ground was an enormous seat-like shaped vehicle. The wraith, and it was heading straight towards them, just fifty feet away!
"Oh no!" Tanya said, pushing herself back into the house. "Where are those special weapons soldiers?" she asked Marcus.
"I don't know," he replied.
BOOM! An explosion filled the air and Marcus looked out of the window, quickly glancing left to see the others in the squad also looking out of the windows of the house, to see the back of one of the houses a few metres right of the one they were in collapse to the ground. The wraith had fired a mortar blast at it. Then, Marcus went wide-eyed when it turned towards their building. Luckily, a grenade landed on the vehicle and exploded and the wraith turned towards the building it had just fired on again, hoping to finish off those it had not killed the first time it had struck the building.
Marcus withdrew back into the building and ran to the hole they had entered the building through and stuck his head out to see the squad of marines taking cover behind the other half of the still standing house that had been hit by the wraith.
"Sir," he shouted out and the marine that had talked to him when they had arrived looked at him. "Where are the heavy weapons soldiers?" he asked.
"Here, man!" another voice piped up before the marine could reply and two marines ran out from behind him towards the house, one carrying a rocket launcher, the other two large crates of rocket ammo. However, as they were about half-way to the house, a barrage of blasts suddenly hit the ground all around them and the two ran as fast as they could to the house, Marcus moving out of the way as they dived the last few feet into it.
"You guys alright?" Marcus asked.
"Yeah, thanks," one of them replied.
"They've set up a plasma turret emplacement!" Stinger's voice shouted from the kitchen.
Marcus and the two marines stood up and looked out of the window with Tanya. Stinger was right. Placed either end of the remains of the ghost, which Tanya had fired on, was a plasma turret with a deployable Covenant plasma turret which stood on a single thin, diagonal-like stand that was attached to the top of a circular platform about the size of the palm of one of Marcus' hands. The Grunts fired at the window and the four ducked, narrowly avoiding some of the blasts as they flew over their heads, hitting the walls and ceiling.
"Jeez!" one of the marine said. "We won't be able to take out that wraith as long as those things are there,"
"Don't worry," Marcus replied. He ran into the corridor and shouted out: "Guys, concentrate your fire on the two plasma turrets near the remains of the ghost!"
A few shouts came in reply and Marcus and Tanya ran to the window and open fired on the ghosts' remains with the others also firing as well. One of the grunts was hit and yelled loudly as it flipped backwards onto It's stomach, dead. The other Grunt squealed and ran from the turret, hoping to hide behind the remains of a nearby warthog, but failed as Tanya fired a burst of ammo at the creature, killing it.
"Alright, It's clear. Go!" Marcus said to the marines with the rocket launcher. They nodded and ran over to the window, Marcus and Tanya stepping aside to give them room.
"Alright, lock onto the wraith!" the marine with the rocket projectile placed on his shoulder said to his comrade, who nodded and moved the weapon slightly to the right before stopping.
"Right, load the weapon," he said and the marine behind him loaded the rocket projectile into the rocket launcher.
"Alright go!" the marine said, patting his friend's shoulder before ducking down and covering his ears. Marcus and Tanya crouched and also covered their ears.
A whooshing sound filled the air in the house, followed by an explosion and the marine, Marcus and Tanya looked up out of the window to see the wraith now a pile of metallic remains on the floor, a huge hole in the middle of the front of the vehicle. Part of the mortar blast cannon was scattered on the ground behind the destroyed vehicle. The Covenant soldier that had been piloting it must have been blown apart completely by the projectile.
"Nice one!" Marcus said. "Is that the last of the Covenant?" he asked himself, looking out of the window and looking around.
He got his answer when a small craft suddenly shot out from behind the remains of a banshee. It was a ghost and piloting it was a Grunt. Then, another four more ghosts followed from behind the remains of other vehicles scattered up and down the desert-like landscape.
"Quick, reload!" the marine with the rocket launcher placed on his shoulder said to his comrade, who scrambled frantically to reload the heavy weapon.
Suddenly, one of the Grunts giggled evilly and fired a barrage of blasts from the ghosts' cannons at the window. One of the blasts struck the marine with the rocket launcher in the face, throwing him backwards onto the floor.
"JAKE!" the marine behind him screamed. "YOU COVENANT BASTARDS!"
Seething with anger over the death of his comrade, the marine grabbed the rocket launcher, loaded a shot into it and fired a rocket at one of the ghosts. It missed and hit the warthog remains behind it. The Grunt laughed at the failure of the marine to hit his vehicle and responded with a barrage of blasts at the window. The marine ducked and most of the blasts hit Marcus' bodysuit, making it light up. The holographic meter appeared above his wrist and the level in the bar was yellow and blinking bright red. Then, it rose up to the top, turning green before the holographic meter finally disappeared.
The marine with the rocket launcher loaded another shot into his weapon and fired again, this time hitting his target. The ghost that had fired at the building and killed the previous marine had tried swerving to avoid the rocket but failed to move quickly enough and the rocket hit the middle of the ghost. An explosion filled the air and the ghost broke in two, falling to the ground with the crash. The body of the Grunt fell to the floor alongside the remains of the vehicle, dead.
"LOOK OUT!"
BOOM! Another explosion rocked the house, only this time it happened on the roof and, before the three could blink, the ceiling caved in. Dust and smoke filled the air and they dived to the floor covering their heads as the rubble rained down from above.
Finally, after a moment's quiet, Marcus gingerly lifted his head and looked around.
"It's alright," he said and the marine and Tanya lifted their heads. All three of them looked up and saw a larger hole in the ceiling.
"Wonder what did that?" the marine asked himself.
"Watch it! Ghosts!" a voice shouted from outside.
The marine with the rocket launcher jumped to his feet and ran outside through the hole. Tanya stood up and brushed the dust off herself.
"We better go," she said to Marcus, who shook his head and brushed the dust out of his black hair, and she ran outside after the marine, stopping by the hole and firing bursts of ammo from her battle rifle. Marcus turned and ran down the corridor to the kitchen.
"Guys, c'mon!" he said. "We're getting out of here!"
He ran back down the corridor with the rest of the squad in tow. They ran through the hole to see another marine lying dead on the ground a few feet away near the remains of another ghost with the body of the Grunt that had been piloting it lying alongside it. The other three ghosts were nowhere to be seen.
"Where the other ghosts?" Marcus asked.
"They've retreated," Tanya replied. "We killed this one and they fled,"
Then, their ear radios crackled to life.
"KZK…this is base to all soldiers near the worker estate," the voice said. "You are advised to evacuate. I repeat, evacuate! Get to any remaining pelicans and flee to the nearest ship. Good luck, out.
"Well we better get going," Alice said.
Marcus nodded and the squad ran back towards the rectangular building, which was smoking along the sides and roof, having been struck by several blasts, as the other marines quickly headed towards other buildings scattered up and down the fence. The door to the long corridor section opened as they approached it and they ran into the corridor to the room at the end. When they reached the room, they saw a large hole in the ceiling and a pile of rubble on the floor below the hole. It was quite a shocking thing to see, as a reminder of how powerful a normal Covenant blast from a phantom or banshee or wraith really was, but they shook the image out of their minds and ran over to the doorway at the other end of the room and ran through so they were back outside.
Ahead of them, the landing zone was almost cleared, apart from two pelicans, one of which was just taking off, the landing gear folding itself back up as the craft flew east away from the landing zone, disappearing over the smoke columns. On the last pelican, a few medics were loading the last of the wounded onto the craft. The squad ran over to the pelican.
"Glad you guys could make it," one of the medics said. "C'mon, hope on board and let's get outta here,"
They nodded and climbed on board. There were three wounded marines on the pelican, who were placed on the resting area seats, with two able bodied marines standing near the cog pit door. As the squad climbed on board, Marcus heard a familiar voice talk from the cog pit and he rushed down the resting area to the cog pit. Sitting in the pilot's chair was a familiar face.
"Brian!" he exclaimed. His friend turned and smiled at him.
"Glad you're alive, Marcus," he said. "Sit yourself down, we're heading off to the Axiom,"
Marcus nodded and sat down on one of the end seats of the right side of the resting area. The others either sat down next to or across from him or stayed standing up at the end of the pelican. A few moments later, the pelican jolted slightly as it rose into the air. When it had risen about twenty feet into the air, the pelican flew forward away from the base.
Across from him, Tyler and Alima, who had sat down across from him waited for the pelican to reach the Axiom. As Tyler sighed and rested his back against the metal wall of the pelican, he noticed Alima with her eyes closed and was talking under her breath in Arabic. He had a faint idea of what she was doing.
"Praying?" he inquired.
She opened her eyes and looked at him. "Yes. It's tradition to pray five times a day,"
Tyler smiled. "I don't really believe in any religion," he said. "But-" he rested a hand on her shoulder. "Can you do me a favour?"
"Of course,"
"Pray for both of us,"
She smiled at him. "Of course,"
Tyler smiled back. "Thanks,"
"Holy God!" Stinger said.
Marcus, Tyler and Alima looked up from where they were sitting and they got up and walked down the pelican, stopping alongside Stinger with Tanya and Alice. All of them were shocked about what they were witnessing.
The scene in front of them was a greater view of the warzone. Many buildings were on fire or were destroyed. The remains of many UNSC and Covenant craft were scattered about the ground and were engaged in dogfights in the air. They watched a pelican fall out of the sky with a burning wing and a half destroyed rear section. It crashed into the ground and exploded, no doubt killing everyone on board.
Tanya sighed. "I can't watch this," she said and she walked back to the other end of the resting area and sat down.
Tyler and Alima joined her. Marcus looked on a little longer, watching another pelican be blown out of the sky and two seraph fighters launch two dive attacks on a group of buildings not far from the base before he decided he could no longer watch what was happening and walked to the end of the resting area again and sat down and buried his face in his hands for a moment before resting his head on his hands, filled with disbelief and sadness.
He could not believe this was happening! This could not be happening! Reach was supposed to be a formidable planet and with the taskforce, it was supposed to be very difficult for the Covenant to seize, but that did not look like it was the case. In fact, it was the complete opposite, and the worst thought for the UNSC and Humanity. It was being taken swiftly and quickly and by the rate it was falling, there was no chance it would last through the night. He just had to face it. It was over for Reach and the taskforce and everyone on the planet. It was over. Just over.
Marcus sighed and reached into his chest pocket, but felt nothing in there. He could have sworn he had it i-his eyes went wide with realisation. Oh no!
H-he had left it in his bag back at the base.
Back at the barracks
The corridor of the main base was completely shot up with large holes in the walls and ceiling. Wires were dangling out from the holes in the ceiling with sparks coming out of them and there were several dead bodies scattered about in the corridor. There were a few spots of blood on the wall and the door at the left end of the corridor where the barracks door was on had been caved in during the fighting. A worker lay in the small room on the other side of the doorway, a single blast wound on his chest from where a Jackal had fired on him.
Then, three tall and bulky figures emerged from the left corridor in the intersection and walked down the corridor. They were Elites, all dressed in gold armour and all wielding plasma rifles.
"The Human taskforce soldiers are thought to have been dwelling here somewhere!" one of the Elites walking behind the leading Elite growled.
"It is much displeasure to us that they have already left!" the other following Elite replied. "If we could have at least been secretly placed here, we could have killed them all in their sleep,"
"Yes!" the leading Elite said. "Especially those ones who attacked our ship and destroyed it!"
These Elites had been lucky. They had managed to escape an attack by five taskforce soldiers on a scorpion tank yesterday that had resulted in the destruction of their CCS battle cruiser. Fury had gripped them since then and they had been dying for revenge, and they could have well and truly gotten that revenge if they had, as the first of the Elites to speak had put it, been secretly dropped onto the planet.
The three Elites stopped outside the barracks door and the leading Elite pounded it hard with his foot. A small dent appeared in the door and the Elite kicked it as hard as he could and the door opened having been damaged and malfunctioned. The three Elites stepped into the barracks, scanning it with their eyes to make sure there were no Humans waiting to ambush them.
"Search the room!" the leading Elite barked at his two comrades. "Find anything useful, and try and also find anything that may lead us to the destination of the five meddlers!"
The other two zealot Elites nodded and one walked off to the left side of the room and the other to the right. The leading Elite walked down the room. Behind him, he heard his other two comrades riffle through the beds and belongings of the taskforce soldiers. One of the Elites turned over the bunk bed he was searching, creating a loud crash, and picked up a bag that had been placed on the floor underneath it and began searching through, throwing out a small book and a pistol and several holographic photo holders.
"It is just Human rubbish, sir!" the Elite said. "I cannot believe they keep these kind of things!"
"Just keep searching!" the leading Elite barked.
He reached the single bed at the end and saw the plans for the CCS battle cruiser laid out on the bed. He looked at them, growled and tore them apart and then, out of anger, overturned the bed and caused it to break as it hit the floor.
Human Meddlers! He thought with fury and gritted teeth.
He turned to the bunk bed next to it and saw a small backpack placed on the top bunk bed. The Elite grabbed it and tore it open and poured out what was in it onto the floor and began moving the items about with his foot, trying to see if there was anything useful in there. Just a book, a photograph in a picture frame of a young woman with brown hair and a young man with black hair and a small pistol with several clips of ammo. Nothing useful!
The Elite turned to the next bunk bed and flipped it over, causing the mattresses and the pillows to fall out onto the floor. Another bag was placed underneath it and the Elite grabbed it, tore it open and poured out what was in it onto the floor. It was still the same things. A book, a holographic picture holder, which held a holographic photo of a young man with black hair and young woman with brown hair, and a pistol with a few clips of ammo, still nothing usef-
Wait! The Elite looked down at the holographic photo and picked it up and looked at it. That young couple...they were... He looked down at the picture frame in the pile from the first bag he had torn open and picked up the picture frame and looked at it from the holographic photo. They were the same, and… He squinted his eyes a little and looked at the face of the man.
It was him! He…he was one of the Humans who had been in the force that had attacked their ship yesterday. Anger filled the Elite and he grasped the picture frame so tight that it snapped in two in his hand. He thought about doing the same to the holographic photo but it was then he recognized the woman as well.
"I saw her…not just a few moments ago," he muttered to himself.
They had been dropped by a small ruined house several minutes earlier before coming to here, which they had just missed a couple of Human pelicans taking off by mere seconds, and they had seen several dead Human soldiers and some of them had the same uniforms these soldiers they had fought yesterday had on. Among them was this woman, and if she and the man he had seen yesterday were in a picture…
The Elite growled in satisfaction. Oh, this was going to be a perfect way to get back at that meddler Human.
"Sire!" one of the zealot Elites called and the Elite turned to look down the room towards them. "We have just received word; the Excommunicator is preparing to begin firing,"
The Elite nodded. "Very well. I have all that we need here," he held up the holographic photo in his hand. "Let us leave this wretched place," and they ran out of the barracks to quickly get to a phantom before their ships began firing.
Back on the pelican
Marcus sat staring down at the floor worryingly. He could not believe he had left probably one of the most cherished things he had in his life back at the base, which was now probably being torn apart by the Covenant. Oh, this was just great! It had the photograph of him and someone very important to him. Her. Anya.
"Alright, everyone back there, hang on!" Brian's voice called from the cog pit. "We're nearing the Axiom,"
A glimmer hope seemed to fill those in the resting area. They were getting close to getting off of Reach and to safety. Tyler and Alima smiled at each other, both ecstatic that they were getting to safety. Tanya looked up from where she was sitting, which was a few feet up from Marcus, and looked through the cog pit door to try and get a glimpse of the Axiom.
"Echo 543, this is Delta 075," Brian's voice said from the cog pit.
"Roger that, Delta 075. We have wounded on board and are heading towards the Axiom," a voice replied from the cog pit radio.
"Copy, Echo 543, we have seven taskforce soldiers on board and will be joining you to the Axio-"
Whilst Brian had been replying, Marcus happened to look up and saw a seraph fighter fly towards them. His eyes widened with fear but before he could shout out to Brian, who had just stopped talking, about the danger…
BOOM! The pelican was engulfed in a fireball and it shook violently. Fire seemed to pour into the resting area, engulfing everything. Several men and women in the resting area screamed. Marcus yelled out and fell to the floor. He heard Tanya and Alima scream and Tyler shout back in reply. Someone knocked into him.
Then, after what seemed like forever, the fire finally died down and Marcus looked up from the floor to see several people also lift their heads up. Tanya, Tyler and Alima had fallen to the floor whilst Stinger and Alice had fallen onto the seats on the left side of the resting area, Stinger shielding Alice's body with his.
"Everyone alright?" one of the marines asked as he sat up from the floor.
"Yeah!" was the reply
Suddenly, one of the marines shouted and pointed out through the resting area entrance. At first, Marcus, who looked to where the marine was pointing, thought it was another seraph fighter, but when he looked out through the resting area entrance, he saw it was worse, much worse. It was a trail of smoke and that could only mean one thing
"This is Echo 543, we have taken a hit to our rear and have sustained damage to our engines!" Brian's voice shouted from the cog pit as he struggled to gain control of the pelican as it began to shake violently in mid-air.
A smaller explosion erupted on the side of the craft, shaking it violently, and Stinger and Alice fell off the seat, as did one of the wounded marines, who Tyler and Alima caught to stop him from being hurt.
"Mayday! Mayday!" Brian shouted. "This is Echo 543! We are going down! I repeat, we are going down!"
The craft suddenly shot forward as if it been thrown like a pebble being tossed and began to tip from side to side slightly. Marcus looked up from the floor and saw the other pelican Brian had been talking to about three hundred feet behind them. Then, as if it had lost all power, it flew forward again, though this time the ground seemed to get closer.
"EVERYBODY HANG ON!" Brian yelled out from the cog pit.
Everyone either dived to the floor and covered their heads or placed themselves over their wounded comrades, trying to shield them with their bodies.
The last thing Marcus could remember was blackness.