Chapter Twelve
1300 Hours, September 19
2547 (Military Calendar)/
Aboard Covenant Seraph
Arcadia Atmosphere
Axton could vaguely make out the Covenant seraph, slowly approaching Arcadia's atmosphere. It had taken off from Abaskun city, and the Spartan could see the swirls of smoke beginning to form from the large colony. The Covenant seemed to depart before the majority of Abaskun was burned, hopefully leaving a trace of life in their wake.
The pelican he rode in had a small dent in the front windshield, which he had been told the Innie caused. The Spartan briefly wondered who this strange woman was, causing such a mess and then disappearing into the wilds of Arcadia only to be captured by the Covenant. He realized it didn't matter who it was, so long as the Covenant never got their paws on whatever she carried. General Walkers had instructed him to kill the rebel, or at least destroy her chip. He knew there would be no time to wipe it before the Covenant rained hell on them, so sparing her life had never been an option.
As the pelican slowly gained on the seraph, Axton hung from the side of the aircraft, leaning out the open door to peer over the running forests. He imagined this planet was beautiful before the first attack, the cities flourishing and the people thriving. Now, it was only a matter of time before the relentless Covenant returned to kill the rest of the planet.
"Axton, are you ready?" Saratoga whispered in his ear.
"You're asking me if I'm ready to jump out of a flying aircraft onto one filled with hostile aliens?"
"I'll take that as a yes. When you jump, you'll land on the right wing where you can get in through a maintenance hatch. So don't miss." The AI said teasingly, but with a hint of genuine concern in his voice. Axton knew he wouldn't miss; the endless days of flight training on Reach and augmentations had given him impeccable skills in all categories of combat. Although, this was the second time they'd be leaping from a pelican in the past thirty-six hours.
"Is this bothering you? I mean, we are solders, not mercenaries."
"It's a mission Saratoga. Nothing more, nothing less."
"The rebel is just a child."
"A child that made their choice." Saratoga quieted after that. Of course Axton had bothered over it, he could kill an entire army of Covenant without a second thought, but other humans were an entirely different story. Since his career in the UNSC, he'd only fought the rebels a handful of times, usually being assigned to a task involving the Covenant. He knew he would go through with killing the rebel, but that didn't mean he approved of it.
The Spartan could now make out the details on the Covenant seraph, its horse-shoe shaped structure and metallic purple shielding growing larger the closer they became.
"Ready up Spartan; we're almost in range," the pilot announced from the front seat. Axton surveyed the inside of the pelican, checking his guns and combat knife strapped to his armor. Thirty seconds to go. The pelican was just half a click away from the Covenant vessel, rising above it so they were not detected.
As soon as the rounded curve of the craft came into view from the side of the pelican, the Spartan sucked in his breath, launched himself from the edge and careened into the open air. Extending his limbs to balance himself, he fell for another few seconds until the seraph was in reach, colliding with the side and grasping for a handhold. He began to slip off the rounded hull, before latching onto the small ridges in the ships armor and clinging on for dear life. Carefully, Axton crawled back to the top, searching for the maintenance hatch.
"It's three meters to your left!" Saratoga shouted, barely audible over the roaring wind. Axton could see it now; barely rising above the rest of the hull. He slowly shuffled towards it, covering the distance in two strides. He shoved his armored gauntlets into the crack at the top of the hatch, and hauled back with all his strength, careful not to lose his balance. After a moment of struggling, it slowly curved open, allowing just enough space for the Spartan to slip in, scraping his armor along the way. He landed heavily in a small dank room, one door leading out to what looked like a hallway. They must have wound up in the storage room.
"Smooth, Spartan. Follow the curve, it'll take us right to the pilot's quarters." The AI informed him, a small blue marker appearing in the corner of his visor. He sighed internally at Saratoga, pulling his shotgun from its holster on his back and edging silently towards the open hallway. Peeking around the corner, traces of Covenant whispers drifted to his suits sensors.
"We are approaching the docking bay Commander."
"Prepare the human for transport."
Axton knew if he allowed them to board the corvette his chances of reaching the rebel were drastically reduced, not to mention getting off of this hunk of metal alive. It was now or never. He hoped whatever was on that file was worth it.
The Spartan quickly made his way towards the control room, hugging the walls and remaining in the shadows, even when the seraph shook from turbulence. As he grew nearer, the voices grew louder, and he could see the long silhouettes of two elites and a handful of grunts. Axton slid his knife from the pocket on his chest, shifting his shotgun so he could grip them both, and readied himself. A moment of apprehensive stillness passed, the aliens seeming to sense something was amiss.
All at once, Axton burst from the corner, earning a cry of surprise and rage from the elites. He sliced through the necks of several Unggoy and crushed one's skull with the butt of his shotgun before they even realized what had happened. He leapt at the nearest Sangheili, shattering its energy shield with brute force and jamming his sharp elbow into the alien's jaw. It tumbled to the shiny floor, clawing in agony and attempting to clear the blood from its throat. The Spartan landed atop the fallen elite, diving out of the way as an energy sword arced down and sliced the air where he had just been, lodging into the dead elite's chest cavity. The commander snarled in anger, mandibles parting in a vicious howl.
"Heretic! You dare intrude on this vessel!" The cackling and buzzing of the sword seemed louder than the screeching alien, but thankfully remained lodged in the carcass even when the commander yanked on its hilt. Axton fired once into the elite, breaking his protective shields and staggering him backwards. The elite quickly recovered, launching himself toward the Spartan in a desperate effort to save his own skin. He waited until the elite was close enough, then knocked his arms away and struck him in the neck with the blade, going through and through. Like his brother, the sangheili crashed to the floor, gurgling until the life seeped out of him. Axton wiped the blood from his knife and slid it back in its holster, turning to face the last remaining figure.
She was young, Axton guessed she couldn't be more than twenty, and hell had she been through the ringer. Every piece of exposed skin was either cut, bleeding, or missing entirely. There was a bullet hole in her arm, which seemed to have reopened and gushed down the length of her body.
"Well, only one way to find out if it's her," Saratoga said, a strange quirk in his usually monotone voice. Axton nodded, and came forward to pull the helmet from her head. The woman immediately yanked backwards, a surprised and muffled cry coming from within confinement of the helmet. He slid it off once she quieted, noticing the cold ridge on the back of her head.
"Are you Raven Stone?" he asked, keeping his weapon clipped to his back.
"Yes."
"What's on the file?" Saratoga piped, coming through Axton's speakers. Raven paused for a moment, green eyes narrowing.
"I don't know, its encrypted. But if you're asking me, that means you don't know either. Tell me, Spartan, what kind of file is on a UNSC base that the UNSC doesn't even know about?"
"One that an Insurrectionist shouldn't have." Axton pulled the gun from its holster, and pointed it right at her. He could see fear creep into the pits of her eyes.
"Listen, you don't have to die today. Take out your chip, and turn yourself in. Prison beats wherever you're going, and they won't go so hard on you if you make it easy." The red-haired woman shook her head.
"I can't. The NACC is connected to me as I am it, if I take it out, I'd be a drooling vegetable. No memory, no emotions, no thoughts. Just emptiness. I would suggest you go ahead and kill me, but the second this locator beacon turns off, the Covenant will know something is wrong and be waiting for you inside." She announced, shrugging her shoulders and leaning back against the hull. Axton thought about it, General Walker's had said to destroy the corvette in orbit if at all possible, and if he waited to kill her until they were already onboard, the Covenant would have no idea he was coming. It was the best case scenario.
"Well then, it looks like we are doing this together." Axton said, removing the weapon and standing to look down on her. Raven offered an unhappy grimace and glared towards the wall. Fine, Mister Spartan, I'll play your game. But believe me when I say this: only one of us is getting off that ship, and it's not going to be you.