"Run! RUN!" Six was yelling. John was sprinting right behind him, and a handful of marines were following the two. And behind them was a LEGION of Covenant. When Six and John had sought out the source of the smoke, they had stumbled across a lifeboat with a few survivors. Over the next hour or so, they found two more lifeboats, each with a couple of marines. When they reached the third lifeboat, however, they gathered the attention of a squad of Sangheili, and they soon alerted an entire fighting force of the Spartans' presence. Now they were being hunted.
The only good news that came out of this search, minus the dozen marines that they found, was that Cortana figured out that the Covenant had secured the Pillar of Autumn. Of course, the only good thing about this was that Captain Keyes was still alive. The bad news was that the Covenant had captured the entire command crew. Not exactly the best trade off, but that was the closest to good news that anyone had gotten since the crash landing.
One of the marines tripped and fell to the ground, then disappeared into the horde. He was dead, surely. What a terrible way to go.
"New traffic on the Covenant battlenet." Cortana suddenly said. "I've found Captain Keyes! He's being held on a Covenant cruiser, the Truth and Reconciliation, a ship I disabled before we abandoned the Autumn."
"Any idea where this thing is?!" Six said as he ran.
"The Truth and Reconciliation touched down on a desert plateau roughly three hundred kilometers up-spin." Cortana replied.
"Fantastic. We can get there in no time!" Six said sarcastically.
John looked behind them. The horde was still running, but not in the group of 6 or so dozen that they were before.
"The bulk of the Covenant are retreating!" John yelled.
Six looked behind him to see how many were left. Not nearly as many as before.
A marine pulled out his Battle Rifle and shot as he ran. He killed an Elite, then turned and kept running.
"Good shot, kid!" Six yelled back, and he turned his head forwards and kept running. As soon as he turned his head, Six nearly tripped over a log, but he jumped it and kept moving.
Echo 419, AKA Foehammer, was getting ready to pick up the Spartans and the soldiers. It landed at least twenty yards in front of them, and opened its back so everyone could get in.
"There's our ride! Get aboard, and let's get out of here!" Cortana said.
"Way ahead of you." John said. "C'mon everyone!"
Every soldier in the camp, including Clancy Maegan, ran to the back of the ship. Every one of the two dozen-ish marines fit into the ship, though it took some squeezing in.
"We should move out, Lieutenant. And then we'll need your help on our rescue mission." Cortana said.
"You got it, ma'am." Foehammer said.
And with that, they took off for the Truth and Reconciliation, to save Captain Keyes.
A few hours later…
"The enemy has captured Captain Keyes, and are holding him aboard one of their cruisers, the Truth and Reconciliation. The ship is currently holding position approximately three hundred meters above the other end of this plateau." Cortana said.
"So how do we get inside the ship if it's in the air?" Clancy said. "The Corps issued me a rifle, not wings."
"There's a Gravity Lift that ferries troops and supplies between the ship and the surface. That's our ticket in." A soldier, Staff Sergeant Parker, said.
Foehammer touched down, and Cortana continued her briefing.
"Once we get inside the ship, I should be able to lock on to the tracking signal from Captain Keyes' neural implants." She said.
"Everybody out!" A marine said.
"Hit it Marines, go go go!" The Staff Sergeant said. "The Corps ain't payin' us by the hour!"
A group of marines, Six and John got off of the ship. Among the marines was Clancy.
Six chuckled to himself. "You know, everywhere we are, you seem to follow. One hell of a coincidence."
"Sure is, sir." Clancy said as he wrapped his worn and bloody knuckles around his assault rifle.
"Your surname is Maegan, right?" Six asked Clancy.
"Yes sir, it most certainly is." Clancy replied.
"That name is familiar. Did you have any family on the Autumn, Clancy?" Six asked.
"Um… Y…Yes sir. My sister." Clancy replied with his voice coated in new sorrow.
Six didn't notice the tone of his voice. "Where is she now?"
Clancy paused.
"She's dead." He said.
Six immediately tried to comfort him. He took off his helmet and looked at Clancy.
"I'm sorry, Clancy." He said as he put a hand on his shoulder.
Clancy shrugged it off. "I'm fine, don't worry about me."
"Trust me, I know what it's like to—"
"You don't. You'll never know. You're lucky." Clancy replied.
"I do, and I'm NOT. I've lost everyone I've ever cared about. My entire squad was killed one by one, and it's my fault. I could have saved every one of them, but I didn't. Don't put your sister's blood on your hands. It was those ugly bug motherfuckers, not you."
Clancy sighed. He looked Six in the face.
"Then don't blame yourself for all of your loss. My sister's death WAS my fault. I could have been there with her in that lifeboat, I could have saved her." He said.
"And died along with her? Get your head out of your ass, Corporal. You're here now, and you are one goddamn tough sonofabitch. Get through it. I did." Six told him.
Clancy looked at Six, sighed again, and looked forward. He had a point.
"I'll try." He said.
"Good." Six said back.
The squad was getting close to the Truth and Reconciliation, and the surrounding area was swarming with Covenant. Elites, Grunts, Jackals and Hunters all over the place.
"Stick to the higher ground on the right. We should be able to recon the Covenant position without being spotted. I'm detecting Covenant Stationary Guns near the next pass. I recommend using your Sniper Rifle to take out the gunners while I call for Marine support." Cortana said.
She started communicating over the radio to Staff Sergeant Parker.
"Get ready to move in to support us, Sergeant. Lieutenant Noble Six is going to covertly take out as many of the Covenant as he can. He has the most experienced stealth training out of anyone here, so don't open fire until you hear the enemy return fire on us. That should let us keep the element of surprise." She said.
Six was ready for just about anything at this point. But deep down, in his gut, he knew for an absolute fact that this was going to get really ugly.
And quickly.
Sorry for the short-ish chapter this time, didn't have enough time as the school year is coming to a close. I swear, pulling my grade up in math is about as easy as debeaching a whale with a shotgun.
Six gave Clancy a little bit of hope, so that's good.
I'm thinking, If people like THIS fanfic, I wonder how I would do with another? If anyone in the comments has any ideas or stories that they'd like to see, I'd be happy to oblige. A specific rule though;
No MLP, please.
Keep reading, dudes and gals!
~Husky