Chapter 14:
Without a moments hesitation Dark Wolf leaped off the Warthog and ran over to Jewel, slung her over his shoulder and then ran for his life.
"Let's go!" he yelled to Mage and Holmes, "Start up the Warthog!"
Holmes leaped into the driver's seat and revved up the slightly broken Warthog while Mage jumped into the gunners seat again. Dark Wolf put Jewel in the passenger seat, then clung to the side of the Warthog as Holmes stomped the gas.
A distance away from the Elites, Holmes slowed and turned on the radio, "Hello, this is the Noble Team; we're under fire from a squad of Elites and have an injured team member, here. We need backup, repeat, we need backup!"
The radio crackled, "Copy that, Noble Team. Pelican is in the air towards your last recorded position. Over and out."
Holmes looked at Dark Wolf, who was clinging to the roll cage frame around the cockpit. "Backup is on its way!"
"Great. Now how do we survive long enough for them to get to us?" said Dark Wolf as he looked back at the charging team of Elites.
"We keep ahead of them. Elites can't exactly chase down a Warthog, can they?"
A trio of Elites blasted through the squad on Ghosts.
"Yeah, me and my big mouth," grumbled Holmes and stomped the gas again.
The Warthogs tires spun for a second on the gritty ground, but caught and the team sped away from their three pursuers.
Mage swung the Gauss around to face the three Elites, and pulled the trigger. A bolt of energy blew out one of the front gravity lifts on the first Ghost. The vehicle flipped over and exploded, killing the rider. The other two opened fire with their plasma guns, spraying the landscape with blue energy.
Just then, Dark Wolf noticed a Pelican coming in.
"Holmes, turn around!" he yelled, "The Pelican is headed for our last recorded position, which is the anti aircraft gun!"
"You're crazy, Leutinnant," said Holmes, but he hit the brakes and spun the Warthog around. Then he stomped the gas, propelling the Warthog back between the two Ghosts. But as the Ghosts whipped by, one of the Elites leaped off its Ghost and right onto the Warthogs Gauss.
"Whoa!" yelled Mage, Elite pulled itself closer to him along the Gauss, "That's close enough, pincer-mouth!"
The Elite hissed angrily and pulled out its energy sword.
Mage ducked to the left, narrowly avoiding a blow that would have taken off his head. "I said that's close enough!" he yelled, and pulled his shotgun off his back. The Elite swung its sword again, and Mage stepped back, allowing the sword to swipe the Gausss chest brace off.
Then Dark Wolf reached around and shot the Elite in the back of the head with his assault rifle.
Mage shoved the alien corpse off the Warthog, "Darn it, I had him!"
"Yeah, right. He was about to get you through the chest," said Dark Wolf as he pointed his gun back towards the squad of Elites, "And I'm not letting that happen again."
Mage sighed in exasperation; he could take a couple of Elites. Unfortunately, he got his wish as the Warthog plowed back through the squad of Elites on its way to the Pelican. Several of the Elites copied their now dead brother and leaped onto the vehicle, where they attempted to kill the crew.
Holmes simply shoved the Elite trying to stab him off the side of the Warthog. Jewel was in no shape to take on the blue and gold Elite climbing up her side of the Warthog, so Dark Wolf blasted it in the face. Unfortunately, Mage had to contend with four Elites, who were all climbing up the rear of the Warthog.
Mage spun the Gauss around and fired it, turning one of the Elites into a flaming corpse that fell off the Warthog. Another Elite in red armor snarled angrily and swiped the barrel of the Gauss of with its energy sword.
Mage immediately whipped the Gauss back around and smacked the Elite in the jaw with the sliced up back of the gun. The Elite grunted and grabbed the Gauss, using the weapon to pull itself towards Mage. Mage then, of course, pulled out his shotgun and blasted the Elite through the mouth. Another Elite in green armor pulled the now dead one Elite off the Gauss and stabbed at Mage.
Mage dodged the stab, then turned back to face the Elite just in time to see Dark Wolf shoot it twice in the stomach then shove it off the back of the Warthog. The green Elite tumbled onto the back of a truly massive Elite, just as it finished pulling itself up onto the Warthog. The Elite wore pure black armor with red highlights, and bellowed in rage as its dead comrade tumbled down its back and off the Warthog.
Before Mage or Dark Wolf could do anything the Elite stabbed Mage through the chest.
Mage stared dumbly at the plasma blade protruding from his chest, then looked back up at the Elite wielding it.
"Well, better say good bye," he said, then he swung the shotgun up and around, bringing it down on the Elite's elbow. The Elite howled in pain and let go of its energy sword, which Mage immediately pulled out of his chest.
Mage turned around and saluted Dark Wolf, "Good to have worked with you, sir." Then he turned around and sliced the Gauss off its rotary plate and shoved the destroyed weapon into the Elites face. Then he jumped onto the Elite as well, and the two tumbled off the back of the Warthog.
Dark Wolf stared in dismay as the grappling combatants receded into the distance. Mage would die even if he survived the Elite and the fall. Being stabbed through the chest was not a flesh wound.
"We're at the Pelican, sir!" yelled Holmes. Dark Wolf turned to see that they were indeed underneath the Pelican. Holmes hit the brakes and the Warthog screeched to a halt. The Pelican swooped down and turned around, it's loading bay open. Inside a medical crew waited for Jewel.
"Let's go!" yelled Dark Wolf. He jumped off the back of the Warthog and scooped Jewel out of her seat, then ran for the Pelican.
With a mechanical hum, the remaining Ghost whipped past, spraying plasma bolts at the flaming Warthog and the Spartans.
"Go, sir!" Holmes yelled, "Get Jewel to the Pelican! I'll hold off the Elites!"
Dark Wolf leaped into the Pelicans loading bay and gently put down Jewel on a waiting stretcher. The medical crew immediately rushed Jewel towards the front of the Pelican, where they locked her stretcher to the wall and began treating her leg. Then Dark Wolf realized that Holmes wasn't in the Pelican.
"Holmes!" he yelled and rushed to the bay doors. There was Holmes, firing DMR gun at the Ghost as it swept past again. Holmes looked up at the Pelican when he heard Dark Wolf.
"Go, Dark Wolf!" he yelled. The Ghost came back for another pass, and Holmes leaped onto the front. There, he kicked the piloting Elite in the face, shoved it off the Ghost, and jumped into the driver's seat.
"Why? You can still get in here! There's still time!" Dark Wolf said.
"No there isn't! That Phantom came back around and started dropping Revenants!"
Dark Wolf looked towards the approaching squad of Elites in surprise. Indeed, there were three Revenants at the head of the group. As he watched, the Phantom flew back over head, dropping another Revenant as it passed.
"If that thing keeps dropping Revenants, then soon they'll have enough firepower to shoot down the Pelican! Just go! I'll keep them back long enough for you to get out of range!" yelled Holmes.
Dark Wolf sighed in resignation; Holmes was right. If the Pelican didn't get out of there soon, the Revenants would be able to shoot it down.
He looked to the front of the Pelican, where he saw the medical team treating Jewel and the cockpit. Suddenly, the pilot looked back at him.
"We have to get out of here now!" called the pilot, "If we don't, those Revenants will shoot us down!"
Dark Wolf sighed again.
"Let's go," he said, "let's get out of here."
The pilots head receded back into the cockpit, and the Pelican began to rise.
Dark Wolf looked back out the bay doors, just as they began to close. His last view of Holmes was him racing towards the Elite squad at top speed, its plasma blasters blazing. Then the bay doors closed with a final boom, cutting off Dark Wolf's view of Holmes.
Dark Wolf leaned against the wall of the Pelican.
"Why do they all have to go Lone Wolf?" he asked.