A/N: Long time no see, people. Here you go - the latest chapter from The Eternal Storm. Last couple of months have been a bit hectic, but fortunately, we're back on track. Thanks to JaegarGypsyDancer for editing. Enjoy!

Probably should delete "weekly update" from the story description. It's an insult to everybody, including myself.

Chapter Four

John

A week ago, somewhere in the Milky Way Galaxy

I knew I've been hunted.

They weren't exactly subtle, jumping from out of nowhere, blasting at my ship with laser beams. I deftly avoided their fire, in the meantime preparing the vessel for another jump. I didn't want to engage in the fight. They were not my enemy, they merely followed the orders, just as I would do if I were in their shoes. I pressed my lips together, remembering the courtroom—

Something big hit the flank of my ship, and I shook my thoughts away. There would be time for that. Later.

The ship trembled and nosed over in a dive. I grabbed the steers firmly and pulled, trying to move it back to the position, when it took another hit. I cursed under my breath. The engine coughed, choked and for a second I stood there frozen, worried it would die, but fortunately for me, the armor held. I exhaled a breath I wasn't aware of holding and reached for control panel again.

"Ship damaged," a pleasant computer voice broke the silence.

What a surprise.

"Can we make a jump?"

"Highly advised against."

"Probability of failure? Percentage?"

"Eighty-seven point three."

"Should be enough," I muttered to myself and pressed a couple of buttons. The interface displayed a time counter. Twenty seconds. Shit, that's a lot of time in a space battle, I thought, glancing at the view from the rear camera. The hunter's ship was gaining on me. They spat out missiles like sunflower seeds, and I had almost no time to do more than avoid most of the rockets, couldn't even try to fight back. Another shake. One more and the cockpit would be pierced. All of the indicators blinked red, subsequent parts of the ship reported damage, sirens howled. What a mess.

"Sierra-11, do you copy?", a disarranged voice came from the speakers. "This is captain Nadia Reyne speaking. You are outnumbered. Surrender or you will be shot down."

I didn't bother with an answer, focusing on avoiding their attacks. Why can't the bloody thing count faster— Sparks exploded in one corner of the cockpit, illuminating the control panel with bright light.

"...two…one… procedure complete. Entering the slipstream."

"...Sierra-117, the poster says dead or alive. I get money for your body, so why don't you—"

I didn't learn what captain Nadia Reyne wanted to tell me. The ship jumped abruptly, leaving the hunter's vessel behind.

xxxxxxxx

"The planet's name?"

"Zorya."

"Location."

"Dellingr 520 System. Approximately eighty-three point five light years from the Earth."

"Far enough. Any info?"

"One of the Earth's colonies. Average temperature: two hundred eighty-eight Kelvin degrees. Zoryan year lasts one hundred ninety-seven days, one day lasts thirty-three hours. Population: humans, seventeen million. The only habitable place is a Northern continent called Alaska. Once every seven years becomes a popular tourist attraction because of the spectacular display of Aurora."

"Play the message from Dr. Halsey."

"Executing."

"John, I implanted the coordinates into the ship's AI. They won't be traceable. I'd recommend jumping a couple times to avoid the hunters' ships. The town's called Frozen Falls, your house is with number sixty-two. The woman called Michelle Namazi has got the keys. Lay low, don't speak with the locals, I will contact you soon."

"Prepare for landing up to five miles from Frozen Falls town."

"Not enough data to perform the action. LZ: in the North, up to a hundred miles from the coordinates."

"Execute."

"Highly advised against. The probability of success: zero point seven percent."

Time to test my famous luck then.

xxx

Wake up, Chief.

Beep. Beep.

I stirred in my sleep.

Wake up. I need you.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beeeeee...

The sound turned into a constant screech, piercing my ears, causing a dull throbbing in the back of my head. I blinked a couple times and tried to move. Mistake. Big mistake. Everything hurt, not just my head, but absolutely every last bone and muscle in my body. I forced my eyes open and stared at the bright blue sky spread above me. Did I make it? Is it Zorya?

I laid on my back among the remains of my ship, scattered across the burned crater. I groaned, tried to move my fingers first, then my arm. Slowly, agonizingly so, I turned to my side and stayed like this for a second, because searing pain shot through my whole body.

I really should stop falling from space.

Supporting myself with hands, I managed to scramble to my knees. With every shaking breath memories of the fall came back to me. The last thirty kilometers to the ground the ship covered in much higher speed than it could handle. Perhaps if I haven't continuously jumped and if the hunters haven't tried to shoot me down, I'd land just fine. The cockpit caught fire, and I couldn't do much at the time except for watching it rapidly burn, as the snow-covered ground approached with dizzying speed. I remember bracing myself for impact— and releasing a parachute, I think— but still, hurt like hell. Wasn't my first fall from space, but it was far from the best one.

I stood on shaky legs, slightly swaying. My knees buckled under the weight of my body and armor. Something's broken. It felt as if I had the whole Infinity on my shoulders, and it never felt that way before. I knew I didn't suddenly become weak, something had to be wrong with the neural connection between the armor and my brain.

"Shit," I exhaled, leaning forward. I felt droplets of sweat traversing down my scalp, my heart furiously raced as if it wanted to leap out of my chest, the blood in my veins turned to ice and— couldn't breathe—

I blindly groped for the off switch and, relieved, ripped the helmet off my head.

The crisp, snowy air felt refreshing and amazing on my face. I breathed in and out a couple times, forcing myself to relax. In… and out. Quickly my usual calmness returned, just like when I was in battle when I couldn't afford to lose precious time for these stupid… panic attacks, as Halsey once deprecatingly diagnosed. I remember mentioning that to her, very early in my Spartan career, and she said not to worry, cause she'd fix me up later. That later never came, I learned to handle that shit on my own as it appeared and seemed to manage just fine. A couple deep breathes usually were enough to set me back on my feet.

Soon I was ready to face anything again. I decided to wait until I was in a safer environment to deal with… things… happening to me when I was unexpectedly getting thrown into the action. It didn't last long, at least, and I had no time to wonder what it was. I had to get to Frozen Falls, get to the house and prepare the lab for Halsey's arrival.

We'll deal with it later, Chief. Get to work. Cortana's reassuring voice calmed me further and—

Great. Was I imagining things already? Was it that bad?

I turned my head to the left when I picked up a distant rumble of thunder. A snowstorm was coming, an indication of it a dark grey mass of clouds heading from the east. I strained my eyes, but the town Halsey mentioned was nowhere in sight. The far horizon was marked by dark shapes of rocky mountains with tops hidden under white caps of snow. On the most distant side of the valley I spotted an evergreen forest, but apart from that, no sign of life, no houses, no smoke from chimneys, nothing. With an annoyed grunt, I plucked my helmet back on my head and opened the maps file, searching for any type of settlement nearby.

Fifteen miles. Nothing. Fifty miles. Eighty. A hundred. Two hundred. Two and a half— wait. There was something. I used my Hud to zoom in at the tiny cluster of buildings. I checked the coordinates, and, jackpot. Frozen Falls was built in the shadow of a mountain, one hundred and seventy-three miles northeast from where my ship collapsed. I marked it on my map and tried to move a couple of steps.

Tried was a good word. I made just about one step and piercing pain shot through my knee. I fell face first into the fresh snow and grunted inaudibly. How had I not noticed what was with my knee before? Must have been in shock from the fall, I concluded, scrambling from the ground again, this time taking it easy on the leg. I attempted to run a health check, but given that something was wrong with the neural connection, it didn't work. Of course. Had to do a manual test. I took a careful deep breath, anxiously anticipating the pain from the ribs. Fortunately, it only hurt a little, so probably they were just bruised. There was something else that had me worried, and it was a dull throbbing in my side which I failed to notice before.

I gingerly groped around my side. My fingers were covered in blood from the wound caused by a massive shard of metal piercing my armor and my body.

"Fuck," I breathed. I looked at my leg, and, gritting my teeth, realized how unlucky I was this time. Another piece was crammed into my thigh a little over the knee. If it hit the kneecap, it probably wouldn't do any damage, as that part of armor was reinforced. Instead, the shard hit one of the most vulnerable spots.

No point in putting that off, Chief, Cortana said. It will only hurt more.

"Shut up," I exhaled, grabbing the shard protruding from my side.

No need to be—

A hoarse scream rolled through the valley, and it took me a second to realize it was me who shouted. Ripping that piece from my body without the help of armor's anesthetics was… hell. Real bad. And there was another one in my leg. Drops of sweat formed on my forehead and, absently, I reached to wipe them off, only to wince when I hit the visor of my helmet.

Deep breath. In… and out. I grabbed the other shard. This one was, thankfully, smaller and thinner, so it went out with much less blood than the first. I blinked a couple times, my vision blurred with sweat and tears.

Gotta move. Up you go, Spartan.

Patiently, I slowly rose to my feet. When the black dots stopped their graceful dance in front of my eyes, I grasped my side and started moving. A hundred and seventy-three miles was a long way to go and to stand in the middle of nowhere wouldn't make the far shorter.

Swaying, shambling, but at least moving forward, I started my walk through the valley.