Chapter 12

The hum of our engines and the vibrations kept me at ease as we flew through space towards the covenant flag ship. John started transmitting to me, private radio channel.

I flipped a switch, and spoke out to him. "I hear you John, is there a problem?" I asked him full on mission mode.

"Liz, are you ready for this? This is our first real mission, you feel completely up to it?" He asked me, the radio clacked a few times, but I made the message out. I thought on what he said, but before I could reply we came out of light-speed and could see the flag ship.

I switched back to open channel and started sending out the orders. "Alright we have maybe ten minutes before they send out ships. Matthew you take those engines out, we'll give you cover-fire. Alright Matthew, stay in center of formation, John, Ricardo you're on the outer right. Samuel and I will cover the left."

They did as I told them; forming as told and we flew around to the back side of the flag ship. In a few moments I saw the covenant ships flying at us from the hanger on top. "ALRIGHT BOYS, TIME TO FIRE!" I yelled out as we came within reach of the engines, I switch over to missiles and turned my ship around, shot them and turned back around.

I felt my ship shake from a direct hit. I smiled, and we banked right, avoiding flying into the ships back engines. The radio buzzed and Matthew came on. "Engines are destroyed, flag ship has been disabled."

"Alright, break formation, and regroup in the hanger." I ordered. They broke formation and we started flying up. A felt my ship shake as I was hit with plasma bolts. I barrel rolled to the side and flew up and settled behind him. I loaded the space banshee up with bullets until it blew up in purple clouds of energy.

I flew back up and landed on the hanger. The others were already there. "All set?" I asked as I climbed out my ship. The others nodded and had their weapons ready. Alright I'll slip in and signal you to follow when it's clear. We need to keep a low profile."

They nodded and prepared themselves for battle. I pulled my assault rifle out and had my battle rifle slipped over my back latched in. Four frag grenades, in my utility case. I jumped down and landed with a silent thud. I stalked through the shadows and found a sleeping grunt.

I stalked towards him and grabbed his neck and twisted it before he could alarm the others. I pushed the body into a shadowy corner and stalked towards a jackal that was typing a few things on a console of some sorts. I pulled him back, my hand over his mouth and kneed the base of his head. I threw him in with the grunt. Then I looked around and saw an elite with blue armor on a high platform. I lightly ran up the incline to the platform and jumped up.

I pushed him down and he fell, squirmed slightly and I pulled out a knife I stored in a sheath on my left shoulder. I knifed him in the back of his skull, right between his armor plating and skull. He stopped squirming and I rose, a tiny bit of his purple blood ran down my hand, and a lot on my knife.

I signaled the others and they fell down. The first one in was John, then Matthew, Samuel and lastly Ricardo. He held his side, like he had been shot. I ran over to him and looked him over. "Are you alright Ricardo?" He nodded and moved his hand.

There was no blood and he spoke simply. "I hurt my side on the impact; I'll be alright, you don't need to worry." I nodded.

"Ricardo, there's a console with some data, see if you can find anything useful." He nodded and started looking through it. He quickly typed a few things on it and a light came on in his helmet.

"I got it Liz." He said and I nodded.

"Nice kill Liz." John remarked after he looked over the dead elite.

"Let's get a move on; we need to get that data as quick as possible." I said ignoring John. I have to focus on the mission. We started off through the pathways. I ran down the hallway with the others behind me. I could hear movement up ahead.

"Get ready to fight!" I ordered, Samuel moved in front with a grenade launcher. Two large and heavily decorated elites were walking down the hallway that intersected with ours. "Keep one alive, we need Intel on were the command bridge is." I ordered and we started shooting.

The two elites pulled out light blue energy swords and charged at us. I shot at them with my battle rifle and the trigger got stuck. "SHIT!" I yelled and dropped it. One of the elites came at me; I knocked his arm away with my fist. He looked at me and growled, I kicked his jaw and then roundhouse kicked him. He staggered back and hit the wall.

I pulled my knife out and sliced his knees and arms. He roared with pain and I held the knife to his throat. "I have our captive, kill the other." They listened and I heard it fall against the metal floor.

"Alright, you have ten seconds to start talking. Where is the command bridge?" I threatened him. He growled and I pressed the knife closer to his throat. "Ten… nine… eight… seven… six… five…"

"Go to hell demons!" He growled, I tightened my grip and pushed the knife into his throat. He fell down silent and the others reloaded and we started to move. We got to an intersection and found a grunt sleeping. I pulled its head back and it woke up screaming. I tried once more.

"You have ten seconds to tell me where the command bridge is. Ten… nine…" It squirmed and screamed in my grip.

"OK OK! JUST DON'T KILL ME! IT'S TO THE RIGHT, ALL THE WAY DOWN THE HALL!" I smirked and twisted his neck. He fell silent and we started running that way.

Along the way something started to buzz. The floor began to shake and I heard a guttural roar. "Guys…. I think we should get ready. Samuel get in front, have that grenade launcher ready." They quickly got into position and I switched to my assault rifle. Ricardo had picked up some of those plasma grenades and had them ready to throw.

Then a large bulky creature came around the corner, accompanied by another. They had green energy building on their right arm and a shield on their left. I knew what was about to happen. I moved my hand to my utility throw a grenade."

"Yes ma'am." They all replied, the energy building larger. I kept an eye on it and saw Samuel aim at their feet.

I counted in my head, five four three two one! "NOW!" Samuel shot one grenade and I threw the bubble shield down. The grenades made it out and they landed at the feet of the hunters. They roared as the four grenades, both frag and plasma blew up. The plasma bullets they were charging up shot, and bounced off the shield. They went right back and hit the hunters, thankfully, that was enough to kill them.

We stepped out and climbed over the two bodies and continued on. "Anyone hurt so far? Ricardo how is your side?"

"It's alright ma'am. My energy sensors are going off the chart. The grunt must have told us the truth." He replied easily. I nodded in agreement and we didn't have another incident.

We could see a large door and it opened up for us. There was nearly a hundred of the covenant in there. They were working at consoles, standing guard, manning exterior guns. They looked at us and started shouting, and then firing.

I took cover behind a purple half wall. John on my side and we started shooting. I hit an elite and a few jackals. A grunt with a fuel rod started shooting at us rapidly. I switched to my battle rifle and shot it in the head. It fell back and off the platform it was on. "We have to get to the console up there. It's the main database!" Ricardo shouted over the gunshots. I nodded and motioned for John to cover me.

I jumped out of the cover and threw a grenade up there and sprinted up the side. I slid at the top and jumped over a gap. An elite with a sword met me when I landed. John shot it down before I was within its range. I picked up the sword.

I felt the pulse of it run through my hand. I twisted it in my hand and smiled. This is definitely will help! I ran at another elite and lodged the sword through his chest. I pulled it out and jumped back and kicked the feet of one out from under him. He roared with confusion and I stabbed him through the heart as he fell. One came at me while I did this and turned and kicked him off the platform. He fell down and roared the whole way down.

I waved at the boys below. "It's all clear, get up here before the others start shooting!" Though I had cleared the platform and it was slightly covered from the surrounding covenant. I wanted to get this over with. They ran up the ramp and came in. Ricardo immediately started working on the console.

"Have you found it?" I asked over the gunshots. John and Mathew were shooting grunts and jackals, I was trying to get the sword to turn off and Samuel was reloading his grenade launcher.

"I…. OK I GOT IT!" Ricardo exclaimed as he quickly typed on the console. He transferred the data to his helmet and started mining for important data. "Guys, I think I found some invasion plans. They are really encrypted, but I think it's for the planet Harvest."

"Take it and let's get out of here. We still need to set off-" I broke off at the sound of Samuel crying out in pain. I turned around and saw an elite with a sword. The sword was running through his side. His helmet fell off and I saw blood dripping out of his mouth.

I yelled with fury and lodged the sword through its face. I pulled it out and the elite fell down. Dead as dead gets. I dropped the sword and caught Samuel. "Samuel! SAMUEL! OH GOD! SAMUEL!" His green eyes were clouding and he became limp in my hands. I started shaking him, yelling his name.

John's hand appeared on my shoulder. He was looking down at Samuel. "I'm sorry Liz… he's dead…" I laid him down on the floor and held my breath. Then I calmed down. "We all knew this could happen. We have to make sure he didn't die in vain."

I nodded and stood up, picked up the sword and looked at the others. "Let's blow this ship to kingdom come! Ricardo can you override the systems life support? Or something else that will make this place blow up with enough time for us to get to ships?"

He didn't reply but turned back and typed furiously. "Got it, we have three minutes to get out. Don't worry we'll make it back in time." He started running though, and we followed. Leaving Samuel where he lay. His hands rested on his grenade launcher.

We could hear explosions in the distance and the floor shook. We turned the corner where we killed the sleeping grunt. A blockade of jackals blocked our path. I threw a grenade and they all died, we jumped over the dead bodies and sprinted farther towards the hanger.

I saw the shielded hole on the top, it was still open, but was starting to close. "Shit! Move it boys! Move it!" I ran up the platform and jumped up, my hands barely grasping the edges of the hanger. I pulled myself out and next came John.

Then Mathew, Ricardo was half way through, but the doors shut on him half way out. He screamed with pain and we tried to pull him out. "Take my helmet, it has the data. GO! YOU ONLY HAVE A MINUTE TO GET OUT OF THE BLAST RADIUS!" He yelled at us.

I could see the blood around him and heard gun shots on the other side. I took his helmet off and saw he was tan to, he had brown hair and kind eyes. But he was proud, not scared, a true Spartan. "GO!" He yelled before the air left his lungs. We turned and ran to the ships, climbed in and started the engines. I lifted off and started to get away when my ship started to shake. The place was going off.

I didn't look back, I couldn't. We got out in time and the channel remained open. "We made it…" Mathew came on.

"Yeah, but what about the others… I feel terrible about leaving Ricardo behind…" I said with a pained heart. I don't really handle my teammates dying well it would seem.

"Liz, we had to. If we had tried any longer we all would have died, and there goes the whole mission." John argued back at me. Trying to cheer my up but it didn't work.

"I was the leader of that assault! I let them down! I shouldn't be made squad leader again…" I growled back.

This time Mathew came on. "Liz, look it's not easy when teammates die, but there was nothing you could do. It wouldn't have made a difference if someone else was in charge. We got the data and that's all the matters. Don't beat yourself up over the unchangeable."

I thought on what he said and understood the wisdom and truth in his words. "You're right, let's just get out back to the facility and get the data to Halsey." I said and turned the com channel off. The hum of the engines soothing, and the pulsing of the energy sword I had taken, which was lying in my lap, calmed me down.

But the sight of Ricardo's operator issue helmet gave me determination to keep my next squad alive. Squad leader or not, I wasn't going to lose another comrade. Not to the covenant that's or anything else that might lurk out in the dark…