TIME UNKNOWN, January 25th, 2543 [MILITARY CALENDAR]/ Hovorta System, Planet Juve.
I am suddenly aware of a sharp feeling near my ribs. I open my eyes and it takes a moment but my HUD flickers to life. My armor unlocks as soon as I gain consciousness and my arms fall from the air and land at my sides.
I roll to my side and find a sharp piece of metal threatening to stab me. I sit up and grab the metal and find that it was my knife. It had come out of its sheath after I landed and I must have slid onto it. A cut on my back clarifies this.
The pelican had ground to a stop once it hit a very large boulder. The boulder didn't move for the ship so once it hit, the pelican flipped before slamming back into the ground. I was thrown from a hole that was created once the bird crashed and I ended up a few yards from the crash site.
Ignoring the pain, I climb to my knees and find my Assault Rifle still clipped to my back. I replace my blade into its sheath and manage to get to my feet despite the heavy weight that drags down on me. It takes a few minutes, but my suit finally comes back online and the weight lifts and becomes nothing.
The ground that was dug up from the Pelican is soft as I walk over it to get to the bird itself.
There's a gaping hole in the left side which is sitting in the air. The whole thing had flipped onto its side, breaking the right wing completely off. The chin gun lays in pieces a little ways away and pieces from the hull lay scattered around the crash site.
Inside of the cockpit lays parkson, slumped over in the seat with the entire cockpit half collapsed on him. His visor is cracked, revealing dark red hair that is matted with blood from a head wound.
I clear the rubble from his body and then take him out and put him on the ground. After removing his helmet a shallow cut to his upper forehead is revealed. Hardened biofoam had formed on his waist from a broken canister, protecting him from a piece of metal that would have skewered him inside of the cockpit.
I treat the rest of the wounds with biofoam and make sure he's in a safe position before setting off to find the others.
I send out a call over the TEAMCOM, but no one answers. After looking for the good part of 30 minutes I find 211 in a tree. He had pulled himself up into it and treated his wounds before passing out. His shotgun lays next to him, fresh rounds loaded into it but the gun itself has its safety on.
I retrieve the Spartan and bring him back to the crash site, making sure to bring his gun as well.
A few minutes later Kia appears, holding a case which holds a sort of computer. "Thought I heard something," she says and sets down the computer. "What did you find?" I ask her.
"Nothing that we didn't already know. Covenant got to this planet years ago, shortly after Harvest was hit. Glassed all of the cities they could find, there's nothing left here but forests and mountains," She says. "Will we be able to contact the UNSC for a ride out?" I inquire.
She looks a little troubled before nodding. "Yes...but that Supercarrier is still in orbit. It's sending down periodic patrols. It may be a while until they stop looking and leave. I don't know if the UNSC can fight off a thing that big. And we may not be able to tell them it's here," she says. "So we're trapped," I confirm.
She nods but then looks at her computer. "There are a few places here that were raided but not glassed. We could find essential resources inside of them to wait this out," Kia says. I nod and look to Parkson who still hasn't awoken. "We'll need to wait until they can walk. Keep an eye on the radar, make sure they don't find the crash site," I tell her. "Alright," she responds and goes to set up an area for herself and her equipment.
Parkson awakens a while later with a sort of groan, clutching his stomach as he pulls himself into a sitting position. "Welcome back," Kia says to him. "We've crashed. The Covenant are in orbit, and we can't contact the UNSC yet. Once 211 wakes up and recovers, we're going to head out and look for resources."
Parkson nods and takes off his helmet, frowning at the large crack. He sets it down and goes back into the cockpit. He rummages around before finding a short of chip and slides it into a port in the back of his helmet. "What's that?" I ask him as he returns. He simply gives a sort of sly smile before pulling out some rope from his belt and tying his helmet to his waist. I give him a curious look before shaking my head.
Parkson patches himself up and dries the blood. His armor took a heavy hit, but nothing it hasn't taken before.
"We need to find a way off of this planet. Maybe try to contact the UNSC," Kia says, standing behind me. I look over my shoulder and shake my head. "The Covenant will still be looking for us, assuming the captain was able to initiate the Cole Protocol," I say. "He did. I made sure," Kia says. "We may have to take a covie ship. I'm sure there may still be something left on this planet to get us out," I say and look to 211. "As soon as he wakes up, we can go look."
About a half hour later, 211 wakes up with a very bad headache. He doesn't take help but insists we set off as soon as possible. So within ten minutes, we have gathered what we need from the Pelican and have started walking. We decided that staying at the crash site would be a bad idea. After about fifteen minutes of walking, we hear the distant humming sound of a Covenant dropship. We had gotten out just in time.
There is miles and miles of forest. Tall trees, overgrowth, and humid weather. Granted it's hot and i'm beginning to sweat, but being hot is better than being dead. We continue to bear the weather and keep going.
I've come to notice that there is quite a number of wildlife in this forest. Birds, primates, and predators. They watch from a distance, call from above, and veer quickly out of our way. I've never been out like this before. Even the forests we were dropped into during training were never this serene. The only thing that stops us from relaxing is the fact that we're being hunted by the Covenant.
The sun is high in the sky and beating down on the leafs. I can hear a stream in the distance and what sounds like the calls of a bear. The animals on this planet are strangely like the ones that we were taught about in our classes, the ones from earth. Maybe they were exported? But it's good because we mostly know how to deal with the predators we come across.
Two hours later, we spot the first signs of a settlement. Rubble is strewn around the outer edges, but then we reach the inner destruction.
The ground is charred and has a slightly reflective look to it. Buildings are crumbled, the shells of destroyed cars litter the streets and sit inside of blasted houses. It's a nightmare scene. But standing tall above the ruins is a fallout shelter. It's charred and looks rough, but it still stands. It is set into the ground, with only seven feet of steel showing above the ground. The entrance is sealed shut, but Kia has the right equipment to unlock it.
We carefully make our way through the rubble and ignore the sun bleached skeletons that are strewn about the carnage.
Once all four of us reach the shelter, Kia gets to work on the door. It doesn't take her long to get it open. The door unlocks with a hiss and slides smoothly open. The room inside is dark and rusted. The lights had gone out a long time ago and dust particles swirl about in the sunlight. I step inside first, weapon aimed and ready.
The smell is what hits us first. Thick and musty, like something that hasn't had fresh air in a long time. But then comes the smell of death. It's strong and assaults our senses. I fight the urge to gag or turn my head and turn on my helmet's flashlight.
The sunlight seems to falter not far from the entrance as the darkness eats it up. We find old consoles that went dark a while ago. Primal weapons such as bats and boards with nails are laying on the ground. My flashlight sweeps over something and I go back to look at it. "Ugh," I grunt in disgust as I see a decaying body draped over the doors inner controls. Kia comes over and carefully take the body down and examines it. "Estimated death seems to be two months ago. He's in the advanced stages of decay," she says. "Died from substantial blood loss. Someone shot him." She pulls a bullet from his back and turns it over. "He must have been in bad shape. This is a pretty weak bullet. Normally could be pulled out without any real damage." She drops the bullet and I swallow the bile that threatened to rise. The body stunk. Bad. I've never really had to deal with rotting bodies before.
"This leads to the inner area. I'm assuming the gathering courtyard," 211 says as he pushes open a heavy metal door that was slightly ajar. Parkson finds a partial skeleton hanging onto the door. Her hands were stuck to the latch and she was just hanging there. "Died from bullet wounds. Shot to death," Kia says after a quick examination. "I have a bad feeling about this," 211 says. "We can only find out if we go deeper," I say, glancing up at the vents that labels this hallway a decontamination chamber.
We reach the other end and Kia opens the door. We are met with a dimly lit chamber with walkways spanning the upper level. A sort of balcony is suspended over the ground level and a decaying banner is hanging on the wall above the balcony. A sort of small stand sits on the edge of the balcony. The stand is attached to what I can only assume are sound systems. Metal benches are set on the ground floor and a few decaying bodies are sitting in them, or laying.
"Poisoned," Kia says without even examining the bodies. "Slow acting. Took at least an hour for them to succumb. Looks like it was a mercy killing after the life support systems failed. Or before."
On the upper level, we find the doors lead to rooms. And inside the rooms are people. They are all dead. In the first room, a man sits slumped over next to his bed. A pistol of sorts sits next to his hand and he's leaning against the wall. It's not hard to find out what happened since there's a large hole out of the back of his head.
Parkson has to turn his head as we enter the next room. A woman sits on a bed, her head leaning against the wall. Two smaller bodies sit on either side of her.
We quickly leave that room, but I can tell it shook us all up. We don't have to look in any of the other rooms to tell what happened. It was a mass suicide to beat the failure of the life support systems.
We delve deeper into the bunker and find more living quarters. All empty. But inside one of them was the logs from the head of security. It sat on a neatly made bed. The room was clean and looked like it could be lived in.
Kia unlocks the data-pad and hands it to me after looking it over. The first log is a response from the head of the bunker, a man named Alkira, stating that less than half of the citizens arrived alive. Alkira ordered a full compliment of the citizens.
But four entries ahead is where everything began to happen. It was two and a half weeks after the first entry.
SUBJECT: Unrest
DATE: September 2542
Officer Salvyr reported of at least nine fights in the last week between the citizens. We are running out of food, Alkira. We only have enough rations to feed everyone for another month. You had better find a way to get that door open. The Covenant are not out there anymore! I don't know what you're picking up. But it's not the enemy. I don't know how much longer we'll last like this.
The entry was troubling. And it sounded like the door had gotten stuck shut. Or maybe the one named Alkira had sealed it and refused to open it? The next entry was dated a week after the last.
SUBJECT: RE: Rations Order
DATE: September 2542
What the hell are you thinking?! We can't just kill them! Stop this idiocy now! We're falling apart at the seams. There have been at least three murders just within this last week. Please, Alkira. Rethink your decision.
"Sounds like their leader decided to limit the number of people to feed. Not an easy decision. And probably not the right one," Kia says. I look through the last few entries but they're all replies to reports from other security officers. "Nothing else important," I say and toss down the datapad. "I don't like where this is going. I have a feeling I know just what's behind that last door," Kia says. "Only one way to find out," 211 says and backs out of the room.
The hallway is fairly long and lined with doors. The overhead lights flicker, threatening to fail and flood the hallway with blackness. The door at the end of the hall is a large heavy door with multiple bolts and locks. But they're not too secure, and Kia easily breaks in. 211 confirms it as their armory. Racks of weapons and ammo containers fill the room. There's a blacked window at the far end that looks like the shooting range. I open it and instantly regret it.
The smell hits me like a brick wall. I gag and just barely manage to remove my helmet before I violently vomit. I double over, resting my hands on my knees, breathing heavily which makes it worse. "Holy hell!" Kia exclaims in surprise, jerking back as if she had just been hit. "Oh that's disgusting," 211 groans as his flashlight spots the source of the smell. Parkson gives a sound of disgust as he sees it as well. I replace my helmet and let the smell filters adjust. I look up and spot the giant pile of bodies. Some are skeletons, others are just barely starting to decay. I spot what must have been the chief of security laying with the bodies. "That's not right," Kia says. "I think I've seen enough," 211 says and backs out of the room. We follow him and seal the door again. "I think I know damn well what happened in here," Kia says as we leave the armory. "I'm starting to assume," I say, trying to shake the sight of all of those bodies. Children, women...
We backtrack and soon find the leaders room. Its sealed very tight and it takes a good round of explosives from Parkson to crack. Once inside, there's a sort of round desk with a chair in the middle. Sitting in the chair is what looks like the body of Alkira. The man's hair is still intact, but once Kia goes to examine the body, the head falls back. His throat had been slit almost all of the way through. Kia grunts in annoyance as she looks around the room. "Here," She says, handing me a datapad.
I open the entries and find the real reason for all of this. The first entry is labeled right before the cheif of security's. It calls for a full compliment of civilians they had rescued. The second entry tells a man named Rozen Rodrigues to seal the doors and keep them shut. The third entry, dated a week after the last, tells of Rozen reporting that the Covenant were trying to break in. Alkira called for a complete lockdown, but Rozen refused. So Alkira did it himself and threatened punishment if Rozen disobeyed again.
Once I open one of the entries, I know it means trouble.
SUBJECT: Rations Order
DATE: September 2542
I am ordering all security personnel to gather these specified citizens [ATTACHMENT ENCLOSED] to be taken to the armory's shooting range and dispose of them. They will not be warned. If anyone tells the citizens of their fate, they will join the citizens. This order is to be carried out ASAP. Disobey me, and you will die.
"This guy lacked in kindness. That's for sure," Kia says after reading the entry. The next entry seems panicked, troubled. It's addressed to the men who I can only assume are the mechanics of the bunker.
SUBJECT: RE: Life support systems failing
DATE: December 2542
You had better keep the life support running or else you're going to be the next ones to be sacrificed! We only need one to keep the systems up. The others are easily disposed of. Use the beds in the empty rooms if you need to. Just keep it running!
The very last entry didn't make sense. It spoke of names I didn't recognize. There wasn't a subject, and the date had been erased. There was an apology in there somewhere, but it was lost in the non-sense. "At least he got what he had coming to him," Kia says, resting a hand on her hip. "The wound is too deep. This wasn't a suicide," 211 notes, looking at the body. "Too fresh. he survived a good while after the systems failed."
After 211 says that, I hear something. It was the cocking of a gun. I instantly bring my AR up. My team responds by doing the same.
All four of our lights shine into the hallway, lighting up a single figure. The man is dressed in baggy clothing that looks filthy. The man himself looks just as bad. Dark bags sit under his eyes and he has a slightly crazed look, like he's been living with only himself for a long while. He doesn't have any hair but a scraggly beard hangs onto his face.
Even though this man looks like he couldn't hurt anyone in this state, we still keep our weapons trained on him. Mostly because of the Magnum he has aimed at us.
"Well aren't you a sight," Kia says. "Shut up!" The man snaps. "You don't know what I did. He asked for it!" The man's hand goes up to point at the dead body.
"What do you mean he asked for it?" I ask, trying to keep him calm. "He said 'Manda, just kill me. I've had it.' So I did!" the man says in a high crazed voice. Just then, a little girl timidly steps out from behind the doorway and grabs the man's leg in fear. "Sarah! I told you to wait outside!" The man snaps. "But there were baddies out there," the girl says. The man curses and darts away, picking up the girl as he does so.
We chase him, but he had disappeared. "The Covenant. They followed us in," Kia says, checking her Tac-pad. "Be prepared for a fight. We'll try to sneak out, but this bunker isn't exactly big," I say and turn off my helmet's light. My team follows my lead and we're cloaked in absolute blackness.
Soon enough, the sound of talons clanking on the metal ground sounds through the hallway. The rapid breathing of the Grunts follows the Jackals. The glow of the Jackal's shields is easily spotted. The tailing Elite barks out orders, his voice ringing through the empty base. It's obvious that they're not going for stealth.
We've left the leader's room and are most of the way out, but Parkson makes us stop right before the small party came through. Parkson pauses before gesturing forwards.
I lead them through until another disturbance makes me stop. We find a small nook in the wall to take shelter in. A couple of Jackals suddenly appear, weapons sweeping the hallway as they walk forwards. They don't notice us and soon we're out of the hallway and nearing the exit point.
There are very few reinforcements guarding the door, so we leave without troubles. Or so we thought.
We had been very careful to not make any noise, or be detected in any way. But without warning, Parkson goes down.
He is shoved backwards and lands hard on his back. His hands fly up and grab something invisible. We are about to help when a glowing energy sword activates right next to his head from the arm he was grabbing. The cloaked Elite roars in fury as Parkson gets his legs up and kicks his attacker off. We get him behind us and face the Elite. We can see him weighing the odds, but he finally takes off back into the bunker.
"Back into the forest! Double time!" I tell my team. We make it into the tree line just as the shouts of Elites and Jackals fill the air.
"To recount on what we learned...we found a fallout bunker with dead inhabitants. The leader killed everyone because of both greed and ration shortages, and then the leader was killed by a crazed outsider?" Kia says as we walk through the forest. I nod in confirmation. "Sums it up," I answer. Kia shakes her head and readjusts her grip on her rifle. "We have a lot to learn..."
It takes a few hours, but we finally contact the UNSC. It's a hard line to keep, but we keep it up long enough to call for evac. We are told that there are quite a number of Covenant ships in orbit and they wouldn't be able to get a pelican down for at least two days, so we would have to hold out until then.
And it isn't until seven hours into our second day on the planet that we realize that we're being hunted.
We had accidentally doubled back on ourselves and Parkson, our tracker, points out a footprint. It's large and looks alien. "Sangheili," Kia hisses. We all instantly tense up and I tell them to keep calm and pretend like we never saw the tracks.
We proceed to a town that Parkson had scouted out earlier and find it completely empty. As the others, the ground is scarred and slightly reflective, showing signs of having been glassed. The buildings are crumbling and some are completely destroyed. It's obvious to track the glassing beam's track. It had followed the largest road but cut across and destroyed a number of large buildings, reducing them to a mound of rubble.
We proceed to set up in a partially destroyed building for a rest. At this point, we are all hungry. But we don't have any food, and any food in this town was probably already rotten or already ransacked. So we stick to water to quench our thirst and hunger and keep on alert for the ones tailing us.
It takes a few hours for the Elites to make their move, but when they do we're ready for them.
It's dusk and the light of the day is fading quickly. The city is silent with the exception of the wildlife that slowly begin to settle down. If we didn't know that we were being hunted, it would have been relaxing.
During the few hours that we had waited, we had moved to three different buildings. In one, we found canned food that had been preserved and rationed it out. It was refreshing, even though it was very stale.
As we are switching out watches, a single shot rings out and 211 goes down with a cry. He had been sitting just outside of the doorway, watching for enemies. He hadn't seen what I did just before he was shot. I had almost called it out, but it was too late.
I dive back into the building, gritting my teeth as a second shot nearly cuts a hole in my arm. Beam rifles...
211 had pulled himself behind cover but his vitals were fluctuating dangerously, signaling he was badly wounded. There was more than one sniper, 211 was out in the open, and Kia and Parkson had gotten pinned on the top floor. I was on my own.
"Are you conscious?" I ask 211 over a COM link. "For now...I'm losing blood. I spotted at least two snipers before I went down," he responds. He sounds close to fainting, a bad sign.
None of us had ever been shot by a Beam Rifle before. And now I'm beginning to see what it does. In some way, I'm glad I wasn't me who got shot first. But the fact that my teammate is down and injured overweighs my needs. I'll have to risk getting shot to get 211 into cover.
"How are things up there, Kia?" I ask the female Spartan. It takes a few minutes for her to answer, but when she does it's right after a sniper shot rings out. "Shit..." she curses over the COM. "Not good, sir. I've spotted at least five snipers. They send a squad after us."
"Try and cover me. I'm going for 211," I tell her and take a few breaths before launching myself out of the door.
I instantly take a sniper round to the leg, but pull myself behind a concrete barrier before the sniper can try again.
The pain is horrible. It burns like crazy and my leg is throbbing. But I need to ignore it if I'm going to get 211 out alive.
A sniper round from Kia rings out and I hear a distant alien cry. "Got one," Kia calls over the COM. "Move forward quickly before they refocus."
I take her advice and rise from cover. I feel exposed, standing above my only safety. But Kia had me covered and I safely make it to the inside of a building.
To my surprise, I find 211 leaning against the wall on the inside. He's holding his stomach. To my fear, he isn't bleeding, which means he has suffered plasma burns. "Nice to see you...sir," 211 says. The pain in his voice is hard to bear but I push down my emotions and crouch next to him with my only biofoam canister. "You'll be alright, Spartan," I tell him, doubting myself. 211 chuckles, which turns into a grunt of pain. "Tell that to my stomach," he says.
I spray the biofoam onto his wound and he inhales sharply before letting out a breath.
"Sir, I just got a call. Evac will be arriving within fourteen minutes. They found a break in the line and have sent down a pelican. I have informed them of the snipers and they have a team of sharpshooters waiting to help," kia tells us. My heart leaps with hope and I have to take a moment to refocus. "Alright. Tell us when they're here," I tell her.
A sniper round whizzes over my head and slams into the far wall. I curse and duck lower to avoid being shot.
It's a tense few minutes, occasional sniper fire from both my team and the covies up on the roofs. But the silence is broken when two Covies appear out of nowhere.
It was a last second decision, more instinct than anything. But I have a sudden urge to check on the up stairs room. And as I am climbing the stairs, I hear the floor creak. It might have just been a coincidence, the old building settling. But it makes me turn around just in time to see the shimmering form of a cloaked elite just behind me. My hand flies out and catches its cloaked arm just before it can hit me. The Elite roars in anger and swings his activated energy sword for me. I barely manage to dodge the blade and shove the enemy hard. he stumbles and falls down the stairs, thudding hard as he falls all of the way down. I grab my own energy sword and jump down the stairs after him.
Once I reach the bottom, I find another Elite holding 211 by his throat and saying something to him. 211 is grabbing the arms of the Elite in desperation, too weak to fight back. A second Elite appears behind me and I manage to get the two in front of me. They're all Spec Op soldiers, but only one has an energy sword. This is a fortunate break.
The one with the energy sword says something to me and then to his companion who replies and takes out what I can only assume is a Plasma Pistol.
The Elite with the Energy Sword stops his approach and points at my own Energy Sword and says something again. But when I don't respond he make a swiping gesture and then gestures to his partner who lowers his weapon.
I know I haven't learned much about culture, but at this point, I had realized the leader was challenging me to a fight to the death with Energy Swords.
I look at my sword and then to the Elite. I mimic the swiping gesture at the Elite gives a roar and backs up, getting into a fighters stance. I do the same and wait for him to make a move. The other two Elites are watching in anticipation. The one holding 211 had dropped him to the ground and was keeping him pinned with a boot to his back. I wanted so badly to help him, but ignoring these two in front of me would be my downfall.
We circle each other for what seems like forever, but finally the Elite strikes first. It was a test blow, a quick jab. But it nearly cuts into my arm. I twist aside just in time to avoid being cut. And as I do so, I bring my own energy sword around and watch in frustration as the Elite twists away from it. The Elite laughs suddenly goes for my head. I duck the blow and push off of my heel and roll under his guard. I come up quickly and land a lucky blow to his leg. The Elite cries out in pain as the sword slices across his upper leg. The Sangheili then hisses and I know he's done playing around.
He delivers four quick, sharp blows. I manage to dodge them, but the fourth catches me off guard and he slices my ribs. I cry out in pain as the sword cuts into me, leaving a sort of burning pain. It doesn't cripple me, but I almost fall victim to another hit. Pushing through the pain, I lunge forwards and manage to land another lucky blow to the Elite's arm. I completely cut off the shoulder piece and cut into the arm, disabling it. Another hiss of pain follows, but this time its followed up by a dirty kick to my stomach. The hit was hard and I slam into the ground, the air knocked out of me. Before I can recover, the Elite pins me with a foot to my neck. The ugly beast towers over me, his energy sword inches from my head. His mandibles split and he roars at me in victory. But he hadn't realized that I still had my energy sword.
Before the Elite can notice, the sword slices into his leg. The Spec Ops roars in agony and stumbles back, falling to one knee. I quickly get up and throw my energy sword into his neck, killing their leader.
The partner roars in rage and goes for me. But I retrieve the blade and quickly kill him with it by taking advantage of his blind rage. Unfortunately, the third Elite wasn't as stupid. He comes up from behind me, using his cloaking to keep hidden. He shoves me hard and I land on my stomach, the wind once again knocked out of me. A boot lands on my back and I can feel the muzzle of a gun being pressed to my back. It begins to heat up...but a single ear splitting crack sounds off and the Elite topples to the ground.
I am expecting to see Kia, but when I look up I see an ODST. He's fairly tall and has a sniper Rifle in his hands. "I see you needed help," The soldier says with a fairly deep voice that could easily fit a villian. I look to 211 who was still on his stomach. "He needs it more," I say, pulling myself up onto my arms. A second ODST appears, poking his head into the room. "Good. You found them. We got the other two, they're in the bird now," The second ODST says. I see a name on the first ODST's armor, Austin Rex. "Austin," I say to the soldier. "Make sure he gets treatment first."
The ODST nods and calls in for the medics. "Are the Snipers dealt with?" I ask the second ODST who crouches down to help 211. "Yeah. Little bitches were hard to deal with. But your sniper is a good shot. I'd hate to be in her crosshairs," the second ODST says with a chuckle.
Now that the adrenaline has drained, I feel the true pain of my wounds. The shot to my leg is burning like hell, and stinging as well. I can feel blood beginning to form on the wound, a good sign that I hadn't suffered plasma burns. My ribs where hurting like hell, but they were bleeding too. No plasma burns. But 211 wasn't as lucky.
I managed to sit up and watch as they take out 211 on a stretcher, sighing in relief that he would be taken care of.
Austin helps me to my feet and I make it outside where Kia was relaying the mission to what looked like a sort of official.
"Sir, this is admiral Reefs. He is in charge of the UNSC Torrent," kia says. I instantly snap a salute, which spikes the pain in my ribs and makes me grunt.
"At ease, Spartan. You all have suffered a lot today. Spartan, your EOD has taken a heavy hit and has to be transferred to a medical facility. Your second Spartan will have to be taken care of as well, and you should do the same," The admiral says.
My heart stops when I hear the news about Parkson. "He what?!" I demand, temporarly forgetting I was talking to an admiral. "Sniper got him in the chest. I wasn't able to protect him well enough," Kia explains. "Damn it..." I growl. "Where are we being shipped to, sir?"
"Jarfell. It's near Reach and it has plenty of military help. You'll be riding on my ship until we get there. Someone will be contacting you about reassignment after the loss of the Surragate. But it will be a while. Expect at least a week of recovery time, Spartan," The admiral says. I snap a weak salute. "Yes sir," I reply to the best of my ability.
The admiral leaves VIA a second pelican and we board the other and leave as soon as we are seated.
Three pelicans had arrived, a medical one, the admiral's, the ours. 211 and Parkson were taking away in the medical one and we leave with the third.
As we left the glassed planet, there was this nagging feeling like I should remember it somehow. I don't know why...but that first city felt familiar. Like somehow I've been there before. And one of the decaying bodies also seemed familiar. It hurt me to see it. But I don't know why...
Never-the-less. We're safe now. Out of Covenant space and on our way to somewhere where we can finally relax. So why do I still feel tense?