Section III: The Floating City
1020 hours January 31, 2552 (Military Calendar)/ Procyon System, Interior of Unknown Forunner Planet
The UNSC Righteous Conviction had become freed of the force that had drug it inside the unknown world over half an hour ago. Every man and woman of the crew of over eleven-thousand kept a vigilant eye out through various windows and camera monitors; they knew something was going to happen eventually. The marine pilots were already in the cockpits of the pelican drop ships in multiple hangers even the Spartans'. The ones piloting the Spartans refitted drop ships had volunteered to so they would not have to leave the pelican behind or waste troops to guard the drop ship when the Spartans left it.
John told them to be careful but at the same time he thought it was a good plan. It would keep more boots on the ground or at least the floor of their destination, the floating forunner city the surrounded the planet's core. Pelicans were ready to airlift hundreds of troops to the city and drop vehicles and supplies if need be. Since the Righteous Conviction was a colony ship it was also equipped with large portable bases that it could deploy at the drop of a hat. Unfortunately since the bases were so large, that meant that there would be very few places to land them if any. The ship was also large enough to house equipment to help repair damaged UNSC ships including the ship itself.
Saline then spoke to John who was still in the ops room staring at the city "all forces are ready and waiting captain."
John nodded and turned to face her ghostly image "What about the covenant?"
Saline had a slightly troubled look about her "it would appear that the covenant also made it to the core though the bulk of their forces is still outside the planet or passing through the outer shell as we speak. They have several frigates accompanied by an Assault Carrier on the other side of the interior however." John looked down at his helmet; his eyes admired the large rounded features. He turned it to look at the top which had a rise on it which was decorated which many tiny dents. The triangles that adorned the sides of the rise had long since faded from black to a dark grey. He turned it once more to look at the angular breathers on either side of the mouth area, these allowed him to breathe and operate in hazardous areas, still in perfect condition. He noticed the small out dent on the forehead of his helmet. It had a single dent in the center of it from the time he charged and head butted an elite, knocking it out cold.
John smiled and chuckled quietly to himself as he remembered the fond memory, the marines and ODSTs called him 'Ram' for weeks to come. He then looked at the thin golden visor with dark alloy underneath that covered the nose that was surrounded by armor. The crimson paint on his entire suit of armor had many white and black scratches on it from years of service, a small dent here and there. He was only twenty-six years old but he had been a Spartan and served for over six years since he was twenty along with his wife, Alice who was the same age. John held his helmet underneath his arm as the door slid open and he stepped out into the lonely corridor.
As soon as he stepped out however he was pulled to the side suddenly, causing him to drop his helmet. He soon found himself slammed and pinned to the wall as a pair of lips came crashing into his in a fierce deep kiss. He let it happen because he only knew of one person who would pull him aside while he was alone like that. He opened his eyes during the kiss and there she was, Alice. He knew she would do something like this eventually considering he couldn't even remember the last time the two could just sit down and talk, at least not without being shot at by the covenant.
John closed his eyes and eased into the kiss as a lone tear crept down his cheek, he didn't even have time to think about how much he missed her anymore let alone tell her because of the war with the covenant. As the kiss continued he remembered all of the fond memories he had with her, before they became Spartans. They grew up together and their families had been close friends and lived together under one large house since they were very young. They were best friends growing up until they turned sixteen and fell in love. Two years later they got married and two years after that they enlisted in the experimental early testing stage of the Spartan IV program. The program would go into full swing and become incredibly successful in the years to come. John rose in rank swiftly as did Alice and the terms of their enlistment stated that they would always serve together in the same unit up until John became a naval captain and was assigned his own ship. After that there was no chance of them being torn apart and would always be nearby whether it be on different continents or even planets in the same system if John had any say in the matter.
As Alice's lips slowly left John's his lips, he shuddered briefly under her absence. He slowly opened his eyes once more to notice that Alice's eyes were damp, indicating that she had been crying. It melted John to his core to see her like that but there wasn't much he could do to comfort her, at least not until their mission was over and they could actually rest. Alice then surprised John by reaching up her ungloved hand and wiped away at his eyes. She showed him her damp finger and it was only that John realized he had been crying as well. He dried his eyes as did she as he picked up his helmet and they continued to the hanger.
While Alice pulled her gauntlet over her hand and carried her helmet she turned to the captain and asked "how long have we been married John?"
He then turned to her with a warm smile as they continued walking "ten years, six months and three days.
Her mouth opened into a wide smile while she chuckled lightly "so you've been keeping count too? But I'm a bit disappointed."
John turned his head slightly to look at her with a raised eyebrow "why so disappointed?" he asked.
Alice then leaned on his shoulder and whispered "you forgot to count the hours, minutes and seconds we've been married" into John's ear.
The Spartan leader then laughed loudly before replying "isn't that a bit much?"
Alice's smile grew a bit wider "not for me….ten years, six months, three days, nine hours and thirty-five seconds, thirty-six, thirty-seven…"
John then raised his hand "alright, alright I get it, you got me this time. I owe you a drink when we get back."
Alice lightly jogged ahead of him a few feet before turning around and walking backwards "make it two and it better be the good stuff that I know you have stashed away for celebrations…captain."
John's smile grew wider "deal, I've been wanting an excuse to open one of those for a while now.
They straightened up as they entered the hanger and slung their helmets onto their heads, with a hiss followed by a pop the two Spartans' helmets sealed themselves with the rest of their suits. John then spoke through his helmet to Saline "Alpha and Gamma companies are to advance via pelican to the city along with Spartan teams Echo, Foxtrot, Sigma, and Saber. Deploy the twenty-third Shock Troop Battalion of ODSTs"
He ordered. Saline's voice broke through his internal speakers so that only he could hear her "aye sir, I have something I need to ask however." T
hat got John's attention "shoot" he said as he hefted his assault rifle and a BR55HB SR Battle Rifle onto his back, the powerful burst fire weapon was equipped with an optic scope suited for longer range engagements. Saline then spoke "are you ok sir? I saw you and the commander in the halls via the cameras, crying. If you two need some time alone together I could temporarily take over commanding our forces for you."
John froze in his tracks before smiling under his helmet and answered "thanks Saline but I'll be fine, and that alone time for me and Alice will have to wait until we have some breathing room from covenant forces."
Saline's holographic form suddenly appeared next to John "Then I at least recommend taking me with you captain."
He replied instantly "no can do Saline, I need you here coordinating the defense of the Conviction while I'm groundside."
Saline crossed her arms "there's no doubt going to be many forunner defenses and doors down there that your teams won't be able to open, I'm the only one on the ship who can do it."
John knew she had a point "all right after we secure a foothold and I find something I'll come back for you, until then you're staying here."
Saline looked pleased about his answer "aye aye captain."
Alice then approached John with her assault rifle out "so where am I going?" John looked up at her before replying "you're staying here, I need a capable leader in charge of the ship and I need someone with ship to ship and groundside combat experience both of which you have, so please…remain here" he pleaded. Alice swiftly hugged him tightly, she knew he just didn't want her in harm's way and on board the conviction was the safest place possible in their situation.
"Okay…" she said "…just be careful down there."
John returned her hug and replied "I will." Alice then stood and ran straight for the bridge while John finished packing his gear into the many pouches he carried on his armor before.
John climbed into one of the Spartans' pelican's aft compartment where the troops sat. The drop ship was filled with Spartans and ODSTs. John yelled over his helmets speakers which also tied into the ships. "Let's send those covenant bastards to hell!" Then entire ship was excited as marines yelled Hoorah throughout the interior of the ship and in multiple air vehicles. The pelican's engines roared to life as the hatch of over half the pelicans on the ship closed. The hanger bay doors opened and literally hundreds of pelicans soared out of the side of the ship shaking violently like swarms of angry bees.
The drop ships moved incredibly fast towards their destination just as Saline contacted John "Sir Covenant forces are deploying towards the opposite end of the city.
John replied "let them try to stop us, tell the bridge crew to open fire on any covenant ships that get within range."
Saline took a moment to reply "they've been notified sir." White streaks trailed behind all of the pelicans as they flew towards the city. Within ten minutes the pelicans had reached their destination and landed in what looked like streets below towering sky scrapers at least to human eyes. Hundreds of marines, ODSTs, and Spartans piled out of the drop ships. Some of the drop ships dropped off vehicles ranging from Warthogs which were armored jeeps with mounted chain guns on the back and Scorpions, the UNSC's main battle tank. There were also Mongoose ATVs dropped off for reconnaissance operations. John climbed into the driver seat of one of the Warthogs as two Spartans occupied the gunner position and one the passenger seat.
Three ODSTs did the same with another 'hog' that was right behind them. Suddenly John pressed his foot down on the petal causing the Warthog to make a squealing noise as the massive tires spun. The monsterous jeeps took off in between forunner structures looking for anything of interest leaving trails of dust in their wake. The armored jeeps passed by many path ways that branched off from the 'road' they were on. As the warthogs continued their journey John checked the names of the Spartans in his warthog.
Chief Petty Officer Jill Riley was the Spartan operating his warthog's chain gun turret. John remembered reviewing her service record. Over twenty high risk missions accomplished since becoming a Spartan which was nothing out of the ordinary for a Spartan. She did however hold off a small army of covenant forces with improvised mining explosives along with two other Spartans while a spaceport was evacuating civilians on a mining colony. Her reputation was good for not leaving anyone behind and was open minded to unconventional tactics. John was glad to have her along.
The Spartan in the passenger seat to John's right is Petty Officer First Class Thomas Brady, a veteran of three large scale battles against the covenant before becoming a Spartan. He was an ODST before hand and had an exceptional combat record. He was also known for speaking his mind and contradicted orders more than once when lives were at stake. He was a soldier with heart and John appreciated that. The two Spartans had identical Mjolnir Mark VI armor including helmets that resembled the Mark IV helmet that was adapted for Mark VI armor. Both sets of armor were olive green much like a majority of John's Spartan forces aboard the Righteous Conviction. He had requested the special Mjolnir armor for his Spartans to make them more effective instead of using the standard armor given to Spartan IVs. The armor itself was extremely expensive along with the sheer number of Spartans that were stationed on John's ship made this project costly. The project itself however had proven to be well worth the costs as John's Spartans had a reputation for accomplishing high risk missions with little to no casualties.
John's warthog abruptly stopped as he came across a very large pillar like structure similar to the ones he encountered on the outer shell. This structure however was easily five times bigger than the previous ones. It looked embedded in the massive wall to left of the path that the captain was on. The building had a similar looking door as before. "Well well, what do we have here?" John quietly asked. He then stepped of the jeep as did the two Spartans accompanying him. As he approached the door John clicked a button his helmet "hey Alice we found a large structure that looks like the ones we saw before, I'm going to check it out."
Alice replied quickly "the area around you is clear for now we expect that to change very soon so be careful, I'll send Echo team to provide support."
John turned to face the three ODSTs "You three are with us, leave a beacon for Echo team to follow."
One of the ODSTs, Brian Taylor, a gunnery sergeant snapped a crisp salute "yes sir!" he said. The ODST quickly went to work as he took a small metallic box like object from his backpack and placed it on the ground. He pressed a green button next to a red one which made the box unfold. Four leg-like clamps extended out and elevated the box as the top opened up to let an antenna extend skyward. The antenna had a small curved fin that expanded around the antenna creating a small satellite dish that began to spin slowly. "Beacon's up captain," the man reported.
John nodded before moving towards the door "all right we might find more of those defense drones inside so keep your eyes peeled and your heads down." He placed his hand on the center of the door and the center glowed green before the door split open. "Let's move" he said. John and his team walked deeper into the facility, down clear ramps that looked as if they would fall through when stepping on them.
As the team approached another door John heard Amy speak over their com link "sir, be advised, multiple phantoms are in bound to your location. Echo team is not far behind, maybe two, three minutes out."
John replied "thanks for the heads up Amy but don't bother following if there's too many for you to handle. Tread carefully."
John proceeded to place his hand on the opening mechanism as Amy radioed back "will do captain." The doors slid apart with a hiss as John's team entered the room, assault rifles raised. The room looked to be a large chamber with what looked to be a medium sized terminal at the far wall. John approached it slowly and examined it. He looked about the holographic interface and saw different geometric shapes riddling the display. He reached up and pressed and yellow outlined green hexagon. Suddenly the structure began to shake and the walls behind the terminal began to move. The walls parted to reveal a long dark passage way. John walked towards it and activated the flash light that was on his assault rifle just below the barrel. He scanned down the passage way but saw no further movement. His team went down the hallway and came across another large chamber. Without warning, lights flickered on all over the chamber alarming the ODSTs who raised their rifles to look around.
John looked over his shoulder and laughed "you boys seem pretty jumpy" he said.
Sergeant Taylor was the first to lower his rifle "well, we're not incased in armor like you Spartans. So I don't feel like getting shot at."
The captain chuckled before replying "point taken." He then noticed something at the center of the room. There was horizontally stretched hexagonal platform in the center of the room. It stuck a few inches out of the floor and had two pillars on either side that connected from the floor to the ceiling. John also noticed a small terminal on the platform. Upon closer inspection revealed the platform to be some sort of elevator. John then contacted Alice "looks like we found an elevator that will take us deeper into the facility."
Alice was quick to reply "noted, but perhaps you should wait for Echo team John."
John stepped onto the platform as did the rest of his team "no time, we need to find what the covenant are looking for and fast. Echo team you read me?"
Amy soon spoke up "loud and clear sir…." Amy's voice was cut off by an explosion.
John became worried "Amy?! Status report, do you need reinforcements?"
Amy soon spoke again "negative, we got caught by a banshee and our bird was hit. No casualties. We've engaged covenant forces not far from your position."
John turned back to the door his team had entered and was on his way towards it before Alice spoke once more "John don't worry about Echo, I had four Hornets not far behind them, they'll be fine."
John replied with worry evident in his voice "no way, I'm heading back right now. Echo team hold on!"
John's helmet buzzed with static followed by the sound of more explosions and the short screaming sound of covenant plasma rifles. "….we'll hold position and wait for you captain. Wright! Keep your head down damn it!" John and his team were outside almost immediately afterwards. All six of them loaded into their hogs and were backtracking to Echo team's location.
Within two minutes John spotted Echo team's crashed pelican, its right wing was nearly a melted, flaming slump from where the engine had been hit. The pelican was covered in many scorch marks from plasma. He then spotted an elite clad in silver armor hefting a large, bulky, orange cylinder that had a hook in the back which went over the creatures' shoulder. That was the fuel rod cannon, a covenant rocket launcher that fires green nuclear plasma torpedoes. If that thing fired on Echo, there would be no doubt that some of them would die. John tried to press his foot down on the petal even further only to find out that it was as far down as it could go. As John approached the elite he let go of the steering wheel and began to lean out the side of the vehicle. Within another few moments he braced himself and leapt out of the fast moving vehicle towards the elite. John tucked and rolled across the ground with a loud thud and began sprinting towards the elite at his maximum twenty-nine miles per hour. The elite leveled the green glowing large weapon on his shoulder and aimed it at Echo team's location and ignored the warthogs that just moved past him. Just as it squeezed the firing mechanism the elite heard the sound of metal hitting metal.
John reached out, grabbed the elite's arm with one hand and the large weapon with the other. He pulled upward causing the alien to point the gun to sky and fire. Heat washed over John as the large green plasma projectile left the weapon's chamber. John pulled his right fist back and straight punched the elite dead center in the head causing it to stumble backwards and drop its weapon. The elite tried to right itself from the dizziness it felt from the concussion John most likely had inflicted. John took this opportunity to charge the creature attempting to tackle it and give himself more control of the situation. The elite despite its dizzied state noticed John immediately and charged him as well. Both warriors locked arms around each other as they grappled and struggled to get an advantage over the other. John had heard the elites were just as strong as the Spartans physically but he never got into close combat long enough to find out. This time was different however; the alien was just as strong as John. He let up for a second to bait the elite in and as soon as he felt himself being pushed he maneuvered himself to be slightly under the creature. John then pushed up with all his might, lifting the slightly larger alien off the ground with a hefty grunt.
John then threw the large creature to his left. The alien flew and rolled five meters away from John. John then ran and dove with his elbow outstretched attempting to drop the weight of his thousand pound armor on the elite in a single elbow drop that would kill it instantly. The elite managed to roll to side avoiding the fatal blow that caused a large dent in the floor. It stood up on its reverse jointed legs just as John righted himself as well. The elite looked as if it were smirking and extended its right arm. From the triangular bulge on top of the creature's gauntlet an electric blue spearhead like plasma blade extended from it. The blade itself extended to over a foot long and would cut through John's armor like paper. John drew his knife as well from its sheathe on his left shoulder and positioned himself to counter the elite. The elite poised to strike and leapt forward with its blade out. John charged as well except he dropped to the ground and slid between the elite's legs with his knife outstretched. His knife caught the alien's leg causing it to trip and fall.
As John turned over and began to get up the elite threw its leg outward and struck John in the head. The mighty blow sent John off his feet and knocked his helmet off. As he fought a wave of dizziness accompanying the blow he looked up to see the elite standing over him preparing to strike its plasma blade down on him. "And now you die demon" it said in a deep voice. John then heard a loud crack followed by a stream of smoke leading to the elite's head as sniper rifle fired and killed the creature. The elite's purple blood exploded from where the bullet exited and it fell to the ground, not moving.
John looked to his left to see Alice crouching in the back of a pelican wielding her SRS-99 AM rifle. "Move!" she yelled "I'll cover!" John didn't have time to question why she was there he just got to his feet and put his helmet back on. John pulled his assault rifle off the magnets on his back and started charging down the small hill to Echo team's crash site. He leveled his assault rifle while running and fired in short control bursts that caught grunts and jackals who had their back to him. The aliens were alerted to John's presence as they turned to fire. One of the jackals however was met with a rifle round to its head. It fell over next to two of the grunts as they tried unsuccessfully to hit the red Spartan with their plasma weapons.
John continued his assault while Alice picked off one of the elites. When he was close enough John pulled out a Frag grenade, he pressed the button to prime it and tossed it in between multiple jackals and grunts that were still facing Echo teams pelican. The grenade detonated sending shrapnel and bodies in several directions. A few more shots and the last of the covenant platoon had fallen dead.
As John stepped over many bodies of the aliens he approached Amy and noticed his team behind her. She looked a little worse for wear with her armor having charred spots all over it. Otherwise she seemed perfectly fine. "You all right?" John asked.
Amy nodded hear head before she spoke "yeah no casualties but the pilot's pretty banged up, we treated as much of his injuries as we could but he needs immediate evac." She pointed her thumb over her shoulder towards the injured man who laid on the ramp of the downed pelican and clutched his side. John heard Alice's pelican land and he made a quick 'come here' gesture to her. Alice ran up to John and placed her rifle on her back.
"Sorry, I know you wanted me to stay on the ship but I thought you could use a hand."
John depolarized his visor so Alice could see his eyes as he cocked an eye brow "I had everything under control before you showed up." Alice laughed "yeah? Tell it to that hinge head who was about to carve you up like a turkey."
John smiled as he replied "looks like I owe you another drink huh?"
Alice then strode past him towards the injured man but placed her hand on John's shoulder for a second and said "damn straight."
John laughed "all right when this is over, till then keep your head in the game." He then joined her in walking to the injured man. As they both got close to the man they read Besenti on the upper part of his body armor, he was a regular marine pilot. John pulled up the man's Career Service Vitae. James Besenti was the man's name; he had an impressive record for only being a corporal. Participating in several high risk operations while flying under fire as diversionary tactics for civilian evacuation ops."How are you holding up Besenti?" John asked.
The marine choked before replying "I've been better sir. But just before my bird was shot down I saw phantoms heading to those ruins you were in." John made a mental note of what Besenti said.
He then turned to Alice "get Besenti to your pelican and escort him back to base then meet up with us at the ruins with the rest of Saber team." Alice nodded before gently picking Besenti up and carrying him off.
As they left Amy walked up to John "I hope Besenti will be all right, he's a damn good pilot. When that banshee fired its torpedo it would have hit the back of the pelican and probably would have killed me and half of Echo but Besenti turned the bird and the shot hit close to the cockpit. He saved the lot of us."
John turned back to Amy and nodded before speaking "remind me to give that man a promotion when this mission's over. He's earned it."
Amy nodded "will do captain."
Jill then came running up to John "sir, the hogs took too much fire and are a no-go."
John looked at her "then it looks like we're walking Spartans." He raised voice to get everyone's attention "all right boys and girls our rides are fried and we're on foot; we're heading back to those ruins! Move it!" he yelled. The Spartans and ODSTs made their way back to the ruins ten minutes later. As they approached however they noticed several phantoms leaving the area. "the hell?" he asked.
Brady then spoke "looks like they're running captain."
John nodded lightly "yeah...keep your eyes open."
As John and his team made it back down into the ruins where he was before Echo went down he spoke again "those covies wouldn't bug out for no reason, keep your eyes sharp people." They began moving through the passage way in the wall before John stopped at the edge. He turned the corner slowly and saw two jackals holding their round plasma shields on their right arms and four grunts. They looked relaxed and were not alert. John then whispered "let's follow them and see if they lead us somewhere," he said. John and his team followed the aliens down the elevator after it went down first. They continued their pursuit of the creatures through many large dimly lit corridors and through multiple large doors that they could probably fit a scorpion tank through. The pathways had led them deep underground, almost a full mile.
The aliens soon came to a halt just outside of a large trapezoid shaped door. The door slid apart and the jackals and grunts walked through. John followed close behind as did his team and just before the door shut they slipped through and hid behind a low wall. The room was a massive spherical chamber, there was a large green globe floating in the center with a ring around it and a walkway that lead to a platform in the center of the room. They continued observing the covenant forces. John counted one elite, four jackals and six grunts. John began to think about what to do before he noticed the elite approach what looked like a red holographic console just under the globe. He continued to observe the elite as it appeared to be frustrated. It seemed as though the elite could not activate the console as it pressed at a large triangular button. 'Power shortage maybe?' John thought. He then made up his mind, wipe the covies and try to access that forunner console. He turned his helmet speakers off and spoke over TEAMCOM . "Smoke em'" he said. Shortly after the thundering sound of assault rifle fire filled the chamber as the jackals were the first to be killed. The elite was surprised as he turned around to see the humans gunning down his warriors. The elite let out a loud roar as it returned fire. The screaming of the bolts of plasma discharge from its rifle reached John's ears as he ducked behind the wall narrowly avoiding the plasma.
Amy rose up and opened fire, pelting the elite's shields. As she did a grunt primed a plasma grenade and tossed it toward the Spartans. "Move!" John yelled as he dove to his left out of the cover he previously had. The rest of the Spartans began to except for one.
William Wright turned to see the ODSTs. 'They won't make it.' He thought as he ran to the ODSTs. In one movement he picked up and threw two of the ODSTs a few meters away and turned to help the last one. As he turned however, the plasma grenade landed at his feet. The grenade detonated enveloping Wright and the ODST in a bright flash of blue. Wright flew backwards and hit the ground; much of his armor including most of his chest had been burnt clean off along with one of his arms from the elbow down. The ODST was nowhere to be seen, he was completely vaporized by the plasma.
"Wright!" Amy called but Wright didn't move. 'Damn it' John thought before he remember he remember his situation. He had no cover and his assault rifle was on the ground while the elite had a clear shot at him. Quickly John dove for his weapon just as the elite fired. Two bolts of plasma struck John in the side. His shields quickly dissipated as heat washed over his side. John grabbed his rifle as he landed and turned towards the elite. He opened fire on the creature. The first bullet struck home as it hit the elite dead center in the head which might have killed it if its shields were down. John continued his onslaught as the elite did the same. Many of the elite's shots had missed except for one that struck John's left shoulder pauldron. The plasma melted a large dent in the alloy but John did not let up. He continued fire until his assault rifle clacked. 'Empty' he thought as he reached up and pulled the battle rifle off of his back while getting to his feet. The last few bullets from John's assault rifle had broken the elite's shields causing it to stagger backwards. John leveled his weapon and aimed through the scope directly at the elites head. Before the alien could react John squeezed the trigger.
With a short thundering burst the bullets struck the elite and chipped a piece of its helmet off. The elite staggered back even more as John walked forward while continuously pulling the trigger peppering the elite with bullets. John kept firing until his magazine was empty and the elite laid in a bullet riddled heap. The meter in John's HUD began to fill back up with a humming noise as his shields replenished themselves. He proceeded to grab his assault rifle and check the TEAMBIO screen in his HUD. It showed Wright's vitals had flat lined and the vitals for lance corporal Robert Hanson had completely vanished. He shook his head before approaching the console the elite's body was next to.