The crew of the Longsword was still recovering from their crash landing in the Covenant flagship's hangar, but they had no time to rest. About a dozen fearless, or at least slightly less afraid, Unggoy were now approaching the crashed ship that now sat against the wall.
"Shield reenergizing in place over the launch bay." Cortana said. "External atmosphere stabilizing."
"Alright... looks like we're trapped here for the time being." Six said. "Now we really have no choice. We have to make it to the bridge."
Locklear stood, limbering up. He was acting explosive; he was as ready as he would ever be. "Yeah!" he said, loading a fresh clip from the duffel bag into his assault rifle. "Let's rock!"
As John rose to his feet, he couldn't help but wonder how one could be so... energetic. It boggled his mind. He looked over to Six, standing confidently. Without his prosthetic arm, he was going to need cover. Of course, he handled himself above and beyond well back on Installation 04, when they were trying to reach the Longsword in the first place, but that was then. John was exhausted, but he could only imagine how Six was feeling.
"Six." John said.
"Yeah?" Six replied.
"Are you going to be good for this?" He asked, pointing to the metal stump where the prosthetic was severed. "With your... situation?"
"I was wondering the same myself, to be honest." Haverson said.
Six nodded. "I've lost this arm twice." He said. "You don't see me retreating. I'm tough, and you can all count on that."
Haverson nodded. John simply pulled his shotgun from his back and pumped it. When Six said that he was alright, he was alright. He didn't doubt his word anymore.
Just then, the Unggoy outside of the ship began to open fire, hitting the windshield and the sides of the ship. The shots left burn marks on the exterior and melted the outmost layer of the windshield, turning it molten hot. Several dozen more Unggoy were hiding behind docked Seraph fighters in the hangar, popping out only to fire more plasma at the ship.
"We're going to need to get out of this thing before one of them gets smart and shoots the fuel tank." Clancy said.
Six hadn't thought of that. It would take two dozen shots maybe to burn through the metal surrounding the fuel tanks. once the fuel leaked out, a steaming charge of plasma would easily ignite the flammable liquid. They were sitting ducks.
"I got 'em." Polaski said, flipping a switch on the dashboard. The ship raised up to a stationary position, and Polaski dragged her finger across the screen of the frontal view camera. Six knit his eyebrows, unsure of her plan, until he saw what was on the camera's screen.
"Guns clear." Polaski announced. "Bye, boys."
The 120-milimeter cannons began firing towards the legion of Unggoy, the enormously powerful rounds ripping through their bodies like tissue paper. Their green, phosphorus scented blood splattered on the floor as the guns swept across the hangar three times, automatically targeting any new foes that entered the camera's sights. Seraph ships exploded as Polaski fired missiles and shot fuel tanks, killing hiding Unggoy and flushing out the rest to face extermination. Those left after the cannons stopped firing ran for their pathetic little lives, screaming and waving their arms.
As the cannons cooled off, Polaski undid the straps to her seat and stood up, stretching.
God damn, that was cool.
"Is there atmosphere in the bay?" John asked.
"Scanning." Cortana replied, remaining silent for just a moment afterwards. "Traces of ash, some contamination from the melted ship hulls, and a lot of smoke, but the air in the bay is breathable, Chief."
"Good." John said.
"Alright. We're going in." Six said. "The Chief will lead. Locklear, Clancy, you're up with him. Sergeant, Dave, you've got the rear with me. As for Polaski and Haverson, you two will watch our sides."
"You'll need to take me, too." Cortana said. "I've pulled a schematic of this ship to navigate, but the engineering controls have been manually locked down. I'll need direct access to this ship's command data systems."
John's suit had a slot in the back of his helmet where an AI chip, made of titanium alloy and crystal, could be inserted. Even with his helmet on, Six could see the hesitation in John's expression through bodily movements. He understood why. Cortana had been invaluable on Installation 04, and the two Spartans likely would not have made it out alive without her assistance. But, recently, she had been acting... different. A little twitchy. That might have been because of her time spent in the databanks of the Installation, but it was still something to keep in mind. John finally moved up to the dashboard and pushed a button, ejecting Cortana's AI chip from the Longsword, and inserted it into his helmet. When she was in his suit, she had a direct link to his vitals, his shields and the damage done to his armor. With the use of some hacking techniques on the Pillar of Autumn, she was able to locate a direct connection to Six as well. Whenever she was inside of John's helmet, she could see through their helmet integrated cameras, check their heart rates, and warn them of incoming danger. The only time she had been unable to warn either of them was the time that Six first lost his arm. She wasn't expecting something so unpredictable.
"Still plenty of room in here, I see." She said. Six chuckled at the joke and drew his magnum, his finger ready to unlock the safety. John ignored her and nodded towards the rest of the crew.
"Let's go." John said.
Sergeant Johnson hit the door release, and the hatch aft of the ship opened up, raising about five feet. John, being almost a full foot taller than anyone else in the group, had to half-crouch under the opening, his seven foot stature putting him at a disadvantage. Six simply had to duck his head, as he was, coincidentally, six feet and six inches. Everyone else walked through the hatch with their guns either ready to be drawn or drawn and ready to fire. A rustling sound could be heard behind them, and Six turned to investigate. Before he even got the chance to pull out his magnum and shoot the Unggoy hiding next to the ship, Clancy already had a single deadly bullet out of his DMR, and the Grunt dropped in an instant, its methane fuel tank exploding and releasing the gas into the air.
"Nice shot." Six said.
"Damn right it was." Clancy said with a slight grin.
John held his arm out, stopping the crew. "Six," He said. "Radar. Look."
Six looked down to the bottom left corner of his HUD system. Along with the eight bright yellow dots, including that of himself, Six saw three red ones up ahead. Hostiles.
John took cover at the double doors that they were supposedly behind and turned the corner, shotgun raised. Engineers floated a foot above them, working on the ceiling with small machinery.
"Stand down." John said. Engineers were harmless, floating Covenant creatures. Based on several autopsies in the UNSC databases, they floated using gas produced in their bodies. They were relatively harmless, and posed no threat. There was no point in shooting them if they weren't going to hurt the crew in any way, so John lowered his gun.
"Funny that there's no welcoming committee yet." Cortana said. "I looked over this ship's personnel roster: three thousand Covenant, mostly Engineers. There's a light company of Grunts, and only a hundred Elites."
"Only a hundred?" Six asked. "That's odd. I would expect more from such an enormous vessel."
"It has thousands of Engineers, she said?" Haverson asked. John nodded. "Then this flagship likely isn't a war ship. War ships are usually occupied majorly by soldiers."
"You could be right." Six replied. "Either way, stay frosty."
John waved the team into the hallway, and they followed close behind. The hall was filled with mist, caused by plasma damage to the pipes. Engineers were scurrying around, fixing the breaks in the pipes and welding them.
Assault rifle fire came from behind Six, and he turned, ready to face an enemy. Locklear was aiming down the sight of his rifle, and two Engineers lay dead in front of him. He fired another burst into the dead aliens, an unnecessary action.
"Don't waste your ammunition, Corporal," Sergeant Johnson said. "They may be ugly, but they're harmless."
"They're harmless now, Sarge." Locklear replied.
Six sighed. "Would you rather waste good ammo on something that won't hurt you, or use it something that's coming at you with a deadly weapon?"
Locklear looked over. "Well-"
"Don't waste the ammo. Try to make every shot count, Corporal." Six said, gesturing towards him. "Otherwise, you could get into a situation where you wish you hadn't. Got it?"
Locklear lowered his gun and nodded reluctantly. "Yes sir." He said.
They advanced down the hallway, the alien metal of the walls shiny enough for Six to see a dim purple reflection of himself if he focused on them.
The mist thinned near the end of the hallway, and a hexagonal door sat closed at the far wall.
"That will take us to the main corridor," Cortana said. "And from there, to the bridge."
The Chief waved Locklear to the right side of the door and Johnson to the left.
"Lieutenant Haverson," John called out. "You're our rear guard, swap out with Noble Six. Polaski, hit the door controls. Hand signals from now on."
Haverson nodded, lazily saluting as he and Six swapped positions. Polaski to the hexagonal door's side panel, ready to breach the door. She shot John a thumbs up as she readied herself to open it.
John looked around briefly, making sure that everyone else was ready. When Six met his gaze, he nodded.
"Go." John said.
Polaski reached up to the panel, but, before she could touch anything, the hexagon shaped door opened wide. She took a step back.
On the other side of the door stood a squad of eight Sangheili. The one in the front had a plasma rifle, and John and it were practically touching noses. Two of them had overshields, another held an energy sword, and the remaining four were equipped with concussion rifles and plasma pistols. Six recognized seven of them to be Elite Zealots. In close range combat, they were some of the toughest and heartless Sangheili in the entire Covenant army. The average Zealot instilled great fear into its subordinates and it's enemies, and their penchant for blood was great.
The one standing toe to toe with John, however, was a Field Marshal. They were stronger than Zealots, and a whole lot nastier.
Before even a quarter of a second passed, Six's gun was raised and firing, a bullet striking the cranial shields of the Sangheili with the energy sword. John, Locklear and Clancy were the next to raise their guns, Six beating them to the shot by a little less than a second. The energy sword Sangheili charged at Six, who met the attack with another bullet. As the Sangheili took its first step, Haverson and Polaski drew their guns and fired. Haverson's plasma pistol round collided with the Field Marshal at the same time that John's buckshot did, making the leader hide behind his Zealots.
All of that happened in the time period of about two seconds.
The remaining members of the crew opened fire, and the hallway turned from quiet and misty to loud and dangerous in an instant. An overshield Elite with a needle rifle aimed at Clancy, who it turn aimed at the Marshal. Dave fired bullet after bullet from his assault rifle as Locklear did the same next to him. Sergeant Johnson fired short controlled bursts at the energy sword Zealot. John pushed his shotgun against one of the plasma pistol Zealot's chests and blew a hole in the shields, pumping the shotgun as the Sangheili lost balance, then shot another shell into its face as it hit the ground.
Six ducked under the first swing of the energy sword, the Sangheili who held it getting fired upon from multiple sources. The first overshield Zealot fired the concussion rifle, which Clancy narrowly ducked, and raised its leg in a frontal kick, sending Clancy sprawling. He aimed up and fired a continuous and steady clip of DMR bullets into the overshield, breaking the first layer. Behind Clancy, Haverson and Polaski were dealing with problems of their own, a particularly vicious Zealot fighting the two of them at once. Haverson wasn't a great fighter in close quarters, but he wasn't without a plan. He held down the trigger of his plasma pistol, overcharging the battery's power, and released the trigger. The gun became scalding hot, which Haverson nearly dropped, but the overcharged blast downed the vicious Sangheili's shields in an instant. Polaski raised her pistol and fired three rounds into its forehead, and the body dropped to the floor.
Johnson and Locklear were now back to back, and they fired upon the first overshield Sangheili without rest, breaking through its normal shield layer and exposing its armor. Six looked past the sword Zealot for just a moment and saw the second overshield Sangheili helping the Commander it his feet. Six grabbed the swinging Elite's arm in the middle of its slice and rained bullets into its face, killing it. He snatched the energy sword out of the dead Zealot's hand and slashed the nearest Elite, the overshield Sangheili that Clancy, Locklear and Johnson had been shooting, and ended its life.
"Watch your six, Six!" Clancy shouted.
Six whipped around, pistol raised, and fired at the second concussion rifle Zealot, who was taking interest in him. It fired a shot at Six's feet in response, who rolled out of the way. John got behind the Zealot, drew his knife, and stabbed it in the trachea, busting the remaining hard light shielding and piercing its armor. He ripped the knife sideways along its neck and the Sangheili dropped to the floor, trying to stem the flow of thick, purple-blue blood. It was a useless attempt.
The Field Marshal had picked up a fallen plasma pistol and was dual wielding it with his plasma rifle, firing charged blasts and short controlled bursts at the crew simultaneously. Locklear emptied his clip on another of the three remaining Sangheili, and then realized that the Marshal was behind him. He gripped his gun tightly and smashed the stock against the Marshal's chest, doing significant damage to the shields but not quite enough to break them. The Sangheili released its wrist blade and stabbed at Locklear, who raised his gun in front of his face to block the attack. The blade stuck itself through the metal of the assault rifle with ease, as if the thing was made of butter, but it stuck there. Locklear twisted his gun and broke the blade off of the Marshal's wrist, and Dave came up from the rear wit his assault rifle to finish it off.
The Marshal whipped around and smacked Dave as hard as it could, sending him crashing backwards into the wall and making him drop his gun. This Sangheili's reflexes were incredible. Locklear threw down his own busted gun and pulled out a rather large knife, aiming for the Marshal's throat. The Sangheili grabbed Locklear's wrist in mid-plunge and roared in his face. The Field Marshal grabbed Locklear's side with its other hand and began to lift him off of the floor. Locklear was struggling to push the knife closer to the Marshal's face, simultaneously coping with the pain of the Sangheili's almost bone-crushing grip like a true soldier. But he was losing the fight.
"Surprise, you snaggletooth bastard!" Dave shouted as he got up. He jumped on to the Marshal's back and began to choke it. The Marshal let go of Locklear and focused its attention on the more prominent problem, backing up into the wall with force as it made a grab for Dave's arms.
Six finished off the second overshield Sangheili with his energy sword, then turned his attention to the Marshal, who had gotten a grip on Dave's arms. It flipped Dave on to the floor in front of it, knocking the wind out of the marine, and drew its other wristblade, ready to strike. Six charged across the room with his sword extended out like a lance. He drop kicked the Field Marshal in its toothy maw, and Dave rolled out of the way of Six, who landed almost on where he was. Six stood to slash at the Sangheili, but it recovered at the last second, batting the sword away and grabbing Six by the throat. It slammed him against the wall as the rest of the crew finished off the last Zealot. The Marshal looked behind itself, realizing its situation, and decided that he would have to hurry.
In the next five seconds, the Marshal would make an enormous mistake:
Underestimating Noble Six.
Six pressed his feet against the Marshal's shoulders and pushed, causing the Sangheili to lose its balance. Bullets ricocheted off of its newly recharged hard light shielding as it slowly drained. Six punched the Marshal in the face as hard as he could, releasing its grip on his neck, and roundhouse kicked it in the chest. He grabbed his energy sword off of the floor and lunged.
The sword pierced its remaining sheilding and armor, stabbing it directly in the stomach. He ripped the sword in a diagonal motion towards the Marshal's left shoulder, slicing its heart and lungs into pieces as the blade came out. The Sangheili collapsed to the floor, almost in two pieces, and died.
Six, breathing heavily, dropped a now drained energy sword on the Marshal's corpse.
"...Fucking asshole." He said.
Ten meters down the passage, a dozen Spec-Ops Elites rounded a corner.
"You've got to be kidding me." Locklear muttered.
"Sergeant, get the door controls!" John shouted, pulling a grenade from his belt. He pulled Polaski out of the Sangheili's line of fire, plasma hitting the wall behind her, and pulled the pin out of the grenade, priming it. He tossed it through the door underhand, the explosive rolling across the floor like a baseball. Sergeant Johnson bashed the door controls with the butt of his gun, and the doors slammed shut in an instant.
A dull thump, the grenade's explosion, echoed from the other side of the door.
"Cortana, we need an alternate route to the bridge." John said.
"I'm already on it." She replied, and a blue NAV point appeared on John and Six's visors.
"Alright." Six said. "Stick close, everyone."
As they walked back down the corridor, Dave tapped Clancy on the shoulder.
"Hey, dude?" Dave asked.
"Yeah?" Clancy responded.
"Remind me to never mess with him." Dave said, pointing at Six.
Clancy gave him a funny look. "Trust me, I don't think that you'll forget."
Sorry that I haven't been updating recently! I'm juggling something around in my head, and I need to figure out how it will work before I write it. Regardless, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter.
100 followers, though! Wow! I honestly never thought that I would get this far!
Have a nice day, Wolfgang!
~Husky