1915, February 18th, 2543 [MILITARY CALENDAR]/ Planet Thrug, Gavlon City
It isn't until we're actually in the city that we realize the gravity of the situation. There is nothing. The skies are empty. No Banshees, no Phantoms and I've learned enough to know that's a bad thing. The Covenant are pulling out, which means that they're going to begin Glassing soon.
I begin to think this is a wild goose chase. Why would they keep him alive when they've killed so many? This city is lost. This planet is lost. It's better to cut our losses and-
A friendly IFF tag suddenly pops up on my HUD. It's a waypoint that sits three miles away. The tag reads P-333. Not hopeless after all.
"You see that?" 211 asks a moment after seeing it. "I'll be damned...he made it," Kia says. "Covenant prison yard. I'll bet we'll find more than him there," I say, looking up the coordinates.
As it turns out, the camp isn't as guarded as I thought it may be. Most of the Covenant soldiers had already evac'd out, leaving a small force behind. It seems like they're leaving them to be glassed.
The city is mostly empty, as well. No Covenant ships clutter the skies and no AA guns fire at us. It's completely deserted. How long do we have until they begin glassing? We had better hurry.
We find an LZ where I drop off Kia and 211. They begin their approach into the camp, assassinating targets as they go. It feels as if I'm overlooking something, but I quickly dismiss it as paranoia. As soon as the two give me the OK, I begin my approach and rise up over my cover.
The chingun flares to life and rains hell on the enemies below. Grunts and Elites alike scamper to cover and right into the waiting knives of the assassins. An eerie green glow shows that a Fuel Rod cannon had just been shot, and the blast grazes the cockpit and shakes the Falcon, forcing me to lose a few feet of altitude. A minute later, the Grunt falls from a knife in its throat.
And just like that, the camp was cleared. A quick sweep clarified this.
I pulled up higher and began to circle around as the two Spartans searched the camp. "What have you found?" I ask the Spartans. "A squad of Marines and an ODST," 211 answers. "Kia has called them evac. But..." 211's voice falters and I can hear him hesitating. "Parkson's not there," I finish grimly. "Yeah. One of the Marines said they got him into a Phantom. And another overhead the Elites saying something about a rendevouz. The Phantom left shortly after we arrived," 211 reports. "What about the IFF?" I ask him. "His helmet. He activated it before they took him," he answers.
So they have our teammate. Those bastards stole him. But not for long. We'll shoot down every damned Covenant Ship before they keep him.
"See these soldiers out. Then we're going after him," I say, looking down on the camp. "Roger that. Evac ETA, two minutes," 211 says.
I look up through black smoke to see a Pelican, cutting through the smoke like a phantom. It arrives and pulls around to let the soldiers inside. Three Marines act as escorts and give us the OK once they're aboard. "I saw a phantom four minutes out. If you hurry you can catch up. You had better hurry, admiral Harrison has issued an evacuation," The Marine tells us. "Appreciated, sir," I say.
I land and let my team get inside, then hurry and shoot toward where the Pelican just came from.
Soon enough, we cut through the smoke. But I see nothing. Nothing but fire and ruins. Maybe he's gone...maybe we'll never see him again. It's impossible to say where he is or what's happening to him. It's better to just-
"Bogey sighted!" 211 calls, snapping me out of my dark thoughts. "Painting it now." A red waypoint appears on my HUD, showing a tiny dot in the distance. But by the looks of it, it's a Phantom. Alone. Unguarded.
Without another word, I kick in the Falcon's afterburners and shoot after the Phantom. It only has time to slow down as I slow down and open fire with the Chingun, forcing it to turn on us. The plasma rounds chase us, but I veer sharp and avoid its shots. "211, you're going aerial," I call, climbing above the enemy ship. "Once I get above, drop down and get inside. Capture the ship and tell us when you're done."
Before 211 has a chance to argue or complain, Kia pushes him out once we're over the Phantom. I hear him land and roll. He slides a few inches before activating his grav boots and staying low.
I veer off and watch as he approaches the edge of the wing. There's a tense moment as he figures out what to do, but then he reaches down and pries open the hatch. He disappears inside and I can only imagine what's going on inside.
"I hope you know what you're doing, sir. None of us have done something like that before," Kia says from the back. "Sometimes you have to make the hard decisions...besides. He's an EVA. He knows what to do," I answer, hoping that he really does. Hoping and praying that he doesn't mess up and be killed.
All at once, the Phantom fires a stray round straight at the ground and dives sharply. It goes in for a nose-dive and seems like it's going to crash. But luckily it straightens out at the last second before ramming into a building and smoothly veers away. There's a tense moment of radio silence before 211 comes on, panting from the battle he just had. "Package secured, sir. Hostiles eliminated...heading for extraction. You might want to hop in. The Falcon isn't space ready," 211 says. "The Admiral called off all extraction ships."
"Alright. We're on our way," I tell him. "Kia, I need you to jump off and land on the Phantom. We're taking it out." Kia sounds a little startled, but obeys. "Yes...sir."
I level out a few inches over the Phantom and hear the thump as Kia jumps out. She slides to the edge and nearly falls off, but catches herself and climbs over to the waiting ramp which she lowers herself onto. "I'm jumping out. Keep it steady," I tell 211. "Sir...maybe I should just land first," he says. "No time. Do what I say," I say.
This has to be the craziest thing I've done yet. I'm going to leave the deactivated Falcon mid-flight and jump onto the top of a flying Phantom hundreds of feet off of the ground. If I screw up, I'm dead. But this is what being a Spartan is about, isn't it? Insane stunts. Defying the odds.
I calm my pounding heart and begin the deactivation sequence. This has to be fast and coordinated...I need to be ready.
As soon as the Falcon powers down my arm flies up and pushes open the hatch. The wind whips at my body and threatens to knock me off balance. The Falcon hits the Phantom's top, making it dive slightly. But then the Falcon begins to slide off. I push out of the cockpit and make a wild jump. Too late! I waited to long, damn it!
My heart jumps into my throat as the Phantom's top passes my vision and the smoke filled void below me fills my eyes. I reach out my arm and somehow manage to snag the edge of the wing. My fingers grasp for dear life as I swing helplessly. Not looking back down, I reach up with my other hand and grasp the edge and after taking a calming breath, I pull myself back up.
The wind on top of the phantom is fierce but I had activated my grav-boots which anchored me to the slippery surface. I keep crouched and look for the edge again. I can't see the ramp, but I know it's there.
A few seconds later, I'm inside of the Phantom and we're headed for space. I kneel down to catch my breath, trying to not think of how close I had just come to death.
"You're one lucky as hell Spartan," Kia says, smiling. "Yeah...thanks," I say, getting back to my feet. I remove my helmet and run a hand over the stubble on my head and taking a deep breath. I then see parkson, sitting against the wall. Once he sees me, he smiles. But the smile is tired and pained. I can see why.
His left eye is black and he has a large cut on his lip. Dried blood stains the top of his head and a bleeding head wound drips down his right ear.
"Good to see you safe, Spartan," I tell him. He nods and takes something from his belt then tosses it to me. "What's this?" I ask him, studying the small chip. He just smiles slyly. "You stole their information?" I ask in disbelief. He nods, still smiling. "Good work. I didn't know you had it in you," I say, laughing.
"Look outside. You might want to see this..." 211 says from the cockpit.
All three of us head to the open ramps and look outside, but it's a grim sight. Covenant ships are descending from the clouds, four Cruisers. All with their sights set on destruction. The last few Covenant enemies are fleeing, and just in time.
A shockwave of heat washes over us as their Glassing beams touch down and incinerate everything in their way. Their slow paths of destruction starts, just as we leave. I turn away from the grizzly scene and 211 closes the ramps.
The UNSC Faithful is waiting just out of orbit. They are hidden from the rest of the Covenant ships on the other side of the planet. We are met with force as two Sabres come to meet us. They swoop overhead and underneath, priming their weapons in an intimidation maneuver.
"Covenant ship, state your business here or be destroyed," one of the UNC Sabres says. "This is Spartan-211 of Fireteam Blue. We have captured this ship and are requesting docking permission aboard the UNSC Faithful," 211 answers. As expected, the Sabres don't answer immideatly. "We are reading a Covenant bio-signature aboard your ship," he says, sounding angry. Once we hear that, the three of us ready our weapons. 211 leaves the cockpit and joins us. "Reading a signature...here," Kia says, pointing her pistol at an access hatch. She slowly approaches it and opens it once she reaches it.
A...creature appears. It floats a few feet from the ground and has a strange harness attached to it. Several tentacles droop from its body and a snake-like head turns to look at us with large eyes. It emits a startled noise and bumps into the back of the "closet". "The hell is that thing?" Kia says, keeping her weapon trained. Parkson answers by motioning for us to lower our weapons. "Why? Do you know?" I ask him. He nods and hands it his gun. I am about to object when the creature just begins to take it apart. The speed at which is does that is surprising. It lays the pieces on the ground and pokes at them before repiecing the gun and giving it back to Parkson who smiles back at us. "Is that thing...an Engineer?" kia asks in surprise. Parkson nods, crossing his arms.
"Covenant ship. Confirm bio-signature," one of the Sabres says, the voice blasting from the open Cockpit. 211 quickly gets back and answers. "Bio-signature confirmed. It's an...Engineer. Non-hostile," he says. "Confirm, Engineer?" The pilot asks, sounding confused. "A floating...alien. I'm not sure what it is. The Captain might want to have a look," 211 says. "Docking permission granted. Welcome home, Spartans," the second Sabre says. The two ships pull off and leave the Spartans to dock.
The soldiers working in the hangar are all shocked to see a Phantom pulling into their hangar. A few even pull their guns, coming to greet them with hostility. "Weapons down," I tell them, not wanting to get shot.
The ramps lower and Parkson keeps the Engineer behind him as we leave the ship. "Spartans? What the living hell are you-whoa! What IS that?" A Marine exclaims upon seeing the Engineer. "He's an Engineer, apparently. Non-hostile by what we can tell," Jackson explains. "We'll take this from here, soldiers," another Marine says upon approaching the ship. "Captain Lorenzo and Admiral Harrison want to see this thing."
Parkson steps aside to let the Marines take the Engineer which was following him, but it makes a startled noise and recoils back behind Parkson when the Marines try to take him. Parkson takes one of its tentacles and gently strokes it. He runs a hand down its side, smiling warmly. The engineer looks at him, seemingly communicating in some way, and then leaves his side to follow the Marine escorts.
I raise an eyebrow at Parkson who just shrugs.
The medics check us out after a few tests and discharge parkson with some bandages.
We then head to the mess hall to pick up some food, which is very welcome after our last mission.
Eating with all of the other soldiers around me is...unnerving. We keep getting stares and I notice that others are muttering about us. Some aren't saying nice things, either. I know none of them will attack in such a public place, but I still don't like it. Are Spartans really this uncommon? I've seen plenty. But that has been in Spartan-specific stations.
My bed is a welcome thing. I don't even bother to remove my boots before falling into it. At times my bed has seemed hard and cold, but now it's the most welcoming thing.
It isn't until I sit up and truly look at my team to see why we were getting stared at. We look ghostly and tormented. Everyone's eyes are sunken and blood-shot. Our faces are very dirty and we just look like hell. I guess that's what being in the field does to you. Fighting as much as we did, traveling, running on nothing but adrenaline.
But we're home now. And that's enough safety for me. I fall asleep with a smile on my face, glad for some peaceful rest.