Guilty Sparks

by General Rage

Fleeing from the glassing of Reach in the belly of the Pillar of the Autumn, the crew of the SR-2 Normandy find themselves stranded with their UNSC allies on a strange Forerunner constructed ring world called Halo with the Covenant hunting them. But Halo holds a secret, one deadlier than both the Covenant and Reapers combined... and it's hungry.

3. Reveille

Chapter 2: Reveille

September, 19th, 2552

The first question they always ask never changes. 'Do you dream in cryo-sleep?' Every rookie had heard the rumours, but few really believed until they had it happen to them. Some passed it off as a way for folks to ease you into the process. Cryo-pods were fraught with medical risks, allergic reactions and freezer burn among a few. Saying they would still dream on ice was supposedly just a way to keep you from worrying about that.

John-117, the Master Chief, knew different. They weren't rumours, you did dream in cryo-sleep. The truth was they weren't your regular dreams. The science behind it wasn't exact, but as near as he could tell they were mix between dream and memory. They intermixed into a strange collage, where you could recall the events had really happened but they were off somehow. Sometimes you flashed forward through strands of time, almost to the point of losing a sense of what the chronological sequence of the real events were. Other times the dreams were so bizarre you couldn't tell what was from memory and what was from your mind. Perhaps it was the subconscious working overtime, trying to tell you something. John didn't focus much on the psychological bend of them, however. He just tried to enjoy them while they lasted.

This one was familiar and pleasant. Eriandus II, his birthplace, a green field and a figure that seemed warm, inviting and loving. There were no words in this dream even though he tried to speak them. There were meant to be warm, nice words, like those spoken to a parent from their child, but they never manifested. The figure changed, turning to the more distinctive shape of Doctor Catherine Halsey. She was the person who had made him who he was today. A soldier, a leader, a symbol, at least that's what they told him he was now. Halsey had accomplished this by taking him away from his family and then giving him a new one. His fellow Spartans were his family now, what was left of them.

Then the image faded once more and turned to a newer face, Cortana or at least what looked like was her. They had known each other for awhile, but they had worked well together. He still wasn't entirely sure about her being plugged into his head of course. Despite the tenuous connection the dream implied, however, Cortana wasn't anything like the good Doctor. She was more brazen than her and never afraid to speak honestly. Almost as if she exhumed self-confidence. At least he would have a partner that was sure of herself.

Then dream took a sudden shift. Before he knew it, John was surrounded by the familiar armoured visages of his fellow Spartans. They all stood attention in front of the Cortana-like figure. Before long there was something else directly behind her. It towered over them all, ringing a blaring klaxon that shook the very dream. His Spartans rushed forth, guns at the ready... and then they were gone. In a flash of red light spewed forth from the mouth of the shadow they disappeared, turned to ash. His eyes widened in horror. It was a nightmare he knew was all too true. Whatever this thing was, however, was unclear but he didn't care. It was a threat and it needed to die. The klaxon rung again as he reached for his weapon, but suddenly something grabbed him from behind, latching onto his arm. He looked, another shadow, but different somehow. It was separate from the other entity.

Another tendril lashed and grabbed him around the waist as he struggled. Holding him in place a third tentacle lashed out heading for the Cortana figure. He reached out trying to grab it in vain. The tendril was stopped by the red light of the first shadow and suddenly the two entities were in a brawl of their own, with him in the middle. He tried to escape their grasp, reach the Cortana figure, hoping to find serenity and safety with her as the monsters clashed around him, growling, snarling and blaring. He felt weaker than normal as he wiggled away from the second shadow. He felt smaller, tinier, as he crawled towards the Cortana figure. Then, just as he made it over to her and reached for her hand, a bright light engulfed him.

---

Master Chief's eyes flickered awake as the casket doors rose up. Compressed cold air poured out from the open cavity of the pod and the waking world slowly came into view. He was back in the Autumn's cryo-bay once more. The mumbling voices of the technicians became clear as the dreary haze of the cold sleep fell away. The male voice of the head techie soon became clear as the fog faded.

"Sorry for the quick thaw Master Chief, but things are a bit hectic right now. The disorientation should pass quickly."

By the time he finished that sentence it practically was. He'd been in cryo-pods so much by now that it just felt natural by this point. The stiffness in his neck let up enough for him to peer up at the secondary techie up in the control room overlooking the room.

"Welcome back, sir," The young techie said cheerfully, waving at him through the glass. "We'll have you combat ready stat."

It didn't take long to register the situation at hand. The quick thaw, them getting him combat ready immediately, it was obvious enough that they had Covenant either incoming or here already. Since the techies were still relatively calm despite everything he could only guess they still had a little time. Still, the sooner he got out and ready, the better.

The techies seemed to agree, before long his HUD's health monitors were online. Chief was adjusting himself a bit by moving his neck back and forth, trying to work a bit of a cramp he had. In the middle of it the techie in charge said something about "freezer burn" and finally asked him to step out of the tube. Slowly Chief pushed himself up and climbed out of the pod, his feet hit the metal grating floor with a clang.

"Lucky you, got to sleep in an extra minute."

Chief's turned to the voice and with nothing to block his vision now he spotted someone lurking just beside his cryo-pod. Clad in similar green MJONIR armour, wearing an early prototype scout helmet, was Linda. Chief was pleasantly surprised to see her walking about, as the last time he laid eyes on her she was in a bad way from a sucker slash an Elite gave her. He couldn't show it with his helmet on, but he could in his own way. He lifted a finger to his helmet's mouth and Linda did the same, the personal Spartan code for a smile.

"You look better," he observed.

"Our new friends on the Normandy's got a good doctor and that medi-gel of theirs does miracles," she replied. "Never thought a ship full of aliens would be saving me to be honest."

"It is surprising," he agreed. "But let's hope they don't have to stick you on the slab again for a good while. What's the situation?"

The lead techie coughed slightly and motioned his head over to the optical diagnostic station on the right. He had a job to do too, best not to keep him waiting. Linda just nodded and began walking to the test area, the Master Chief in tow.

"Boarders, I think," she answered as they walked. "That's what your new friend keeps yapping about over the intercom. Come on, let's finish this up and get to the bridge."

It felt good to move around. Chief was already feeling the stiffness of the cryo-pod's side effects wearing off. He could still feel a bit of a sting of cold, but it didn't take much to ignore it. One of the first things he had learned in training was to work through the pain, he had to. Spartans couldn't look weak at any time.

The two Spartans quickly had their targeting sensors calibrated, looking up and across at four lights. A simple test, but they were short on time so they needed to speed through it. With that done they made their way over to activate their shields, they wouldn't get very far without them otherwise. As they did, Cortana spoke over the intercom.

"Fire teams: Report to defensive positions Alpha through Sierra. Sensors show inbound Covenant boarding craft. Stand by to repel boarders."

To many that would be a bad announcement, but Chief was just ready to get going. He had slept enough. He needed to get back to job, ASAP. That meant getting his shields online first though.

Linda stared up at the ceiling as she got in the energy shield test station. The large forked object soon began to spin around, and orange energy started flowing across her body.

"Never got to ask how you feel about getting a voice in your head," she told Chief as she stood there.

"I've already had Cortana in my head before, she's useful," Chief explained. "When she's in the suit she boost its capabilities tenfold. Having someone chatting in my ear all the while is a small price to pay for that."

"Yeah, I heard," Linda acknowledged as she initiated the shield recharge test. "Deflected a missile for you. Still, I'm glad Halsey picked you for it and not me."

Chief scratched the side of his head awkwardly, something he rarely did.

"Actually," he began. "She said she didn't pick me for it."

Linda looked over at him bewildered.

"Well then who picked you for the implantation?" She asked confused. "ONI command? Lord Hood himself?"

"Halsey didn't say," Chief admitted. "She said I'd find out in time."

Linda got out of the test square and let Chief take his turn. As his shields charged she continued the conversation.

"Well, I guess we'll need every resource we have left for this fight," She said solemnly. "After... you know."

"They're just missing in action for now," he was quick to tell her.

Linda shook her head. They both knew that was propaganda. MIA for a Spartan just meant they were never coming back period. You had to fool yourself into believing the opposite. What choice did they have though? It was easier to pretend they were still out there rather than to admit the truth. Chief had already updated the chart in his suit's on-board computer just before he entered cryo. He had added lot of MIAs to that list before he went under. At least Linda wasn't one of them, but that still left Fred and Kelly.

"It's not all bad you know." Linda tried to reassure him. "After they fixed me up and I went into freeze, I heard we have Spartan IIIs aboard. And then there's Commander Shepard's crew of course."

Chief didn't answer right away. He activated his recharge test program, the shields spiked loudly and dissipated in a burst of energy. An annoying little alarm rung in his ears as the warning lights flashed.

"It isn't the same, Linda," He told her glumly. "They're different."

"Yeah, they are," Linda admitted, before adding. "Doesn't mean we shouldn't work with them though. They're just as capable as we are. With how things are now we shouldn't turn a blind eye to back-up. And if I'm admitting that we're going to need assistance, that's saying something."

True, if Linda of all of people was telling him it wouldn't hurt to reach out a bit more than usual perhaps there he should take the suggestion into consideration. But Chief wasn't able to give an answer to her, as the techie in the observation room interrupted their conversation.

"Recharge is normal for you sirs," he said giving the thumbs-up. "Showing green across the board."

With the Covenant closing Chief realised he'd need a weapon and fast. Sadly the cryo-bay seemed devoid of them. He doubted Linda had any either if she had also just woken up. With any luck there was an armoury nearby though and if worst came to worst he'd grab a weapon off a Covenant. It wasn't too great a concern at the moment anyway.

His thoughts were interrupted by a message from the Captain himself.

"Bridge to Cryo Two this is Captain Keyes. Send the Master Chief and Spartan-058 up here immediately."

If Keyes was already summoning them before they finished things must have been getting bad real quick. He looked to Linda, trying to gauge her reaction and see if she agreed. Few could read Spartans, he could, he had to. She wasn't nervous, but he could tell she shared his concerns. The Covenant had to be moving faster than expected, how fast they couldn't say.

"Captain we'll have to skip the weapons test and-"

The techie didn't get to finish.

"On the double, crewman," Keyes insisted.

With an obedient "aye, aye" the Techie relinquished and turned to the Chief and Linda.

"We'll have to find you weapons later," he said.

Not two seconds after he said that though Chief heard and explosion from above. He instantly turned his head towards the observation room. Inside the techie overlooking them was panicking as he heard the rapping of talons on the metal door.

"Oh god! They're trying to get through the door!" He screamed.

There was nothing they could do. The observation room's door exploded inwards, knocking the techie back. He scrambled to the control console and tried to call security. Then Chief watched as three full on plasma blasts struck him square in the torso. A tortured scream came over the intercom and the poor techie fell to the floor as an Elite stomped into view. Poor guy, unarmed, he had no chance. It was typical of the Covenant, no prisoners, no mercy, no matter who you were.

It barely fazed him or Linda, even as the Elite tried to fire on them. The plasma just bounced off against the reinforced glass. The alien roared in frustration as the head techie called out for his friend, but they all knew he was gone. A fellow soldier was dead, always tragic. Chief wanted to kill the Elite for it, but he knew that without a weapon and with the Covie out of his reach it was pointless to dwell on that. They had to get to the Bridge.

"Come on, we have to get the hell out of here!" He told the Spartans.

He rushed over and opened the door of the room, ushering them out. Both he and Linda followed quickly, but the techie was already running ahead.

"Wait!" Chief called. "Slow down!"

By the time they were out in the hall the techie was on the other end down from them, frantically pressing at the pad of a locked door. It opened slightly and then an explosion rocked the hallway. A fireball blasted out from the doorway engulfing the crew member as the shockwave sent him flying into a wall.

"Damn it," Linda swore. "It's always the guy who runs ahead."

Their main route blocked by the now on fire doorway, Chief looked for a detour. He spied a pipe adjacent to them running along the ground. It was guarded mostly by gratings and beams but there was a large enough opening for them to jump over it. He pointed it out to Linda and the two quickly jumped over the pipe to the other hallway. The door here was still operable. They made their way through it without delay as Cortana shouted over the intercom about boarding parties swarming the ship.

As they ran down the hallway the wall exploded to their right, taking a terminal with it. Narrowly avoiding the blast they made their way out of hallway and into the wider corridor beyond. There they watched as helpless unarmed crewmen ran for their lives, plasma bolts zipping over their heads. The blast doors behind them were sealing up fast, but not fast enough for some.

One Crewman took a plasma bolt to the back of his head and collapsed dead at Chief's feet. Elites soon charged up the hallway, firing from the corner as the blast doors shut them off. No sense in going that way, so he and Linda continued up the hall. Another series of blast doors closed in front of them, but two crew members were still on the other side.

"Wait! Wait!" One called out

But there was no time to wait and no time left for him. A plasma grenade landed at the foot of the blast door.

"Back!" Chief shouted at Linda pushing her slightly away.

The device detonated and the explosion sent the two crewmen hurtling inside the blast doors just as they closed. A steam vent spewed out a cloud of liquid nitrogen and flung itself around wildly as the substance escaped the confines of its tube. Two more Elites fired madly at the blast doors, but the shots just bounced off them.

Chief eyed a darkened passageway to their left with a blue arrow on the floor pointing to it that said 'Bridge.' They had a direction now. He and Linda ran into the dark, guided only by the fire and flashing red warning lights to their destination. They could hear shooting and screaming up ahead. A good indication they were going the right way. The darkened hall ended with another door that opened and revealed another Elite, this time staring them both square in the face.

Even with two Spartans the Elite just bellowed at them in defiance. Good enough for the Chief, this was his chance to get a weapon. He punched the alien square in the jaw, forcing him to stumble back in the wall. Linda moved to back him up as the Elite tried to get his mandible back in place. He didn't get another crack at the Spartans though, as a series of bullets struck him. His shields spiking the Elite retreated down another passage way through a door.

Two Marines rushed out from the left, their guns still drawn. While Chief was disappointed in losing a potential weapon, he was impressed that they had driven off the alien and intent on hunting it down. You could always count on Marines to be so brazen and spirited.

"Keep going! Keep going!" One of them shouted at him. Perhaps in the cloud of his battle lust he didn't realise he was ordering a Spartan around.

Still, no time to correct him on rank, he and Linda had to get to the Bridge. They moved down the corridor where the two Marines had come from and after passing around a corner soon found a squad of the eponymous Devil Dogs holding a makeshift barricade. They fired upon the advancing Elites and Grunts as they tried to storm and take the position. They were holding their own, but the enemy was numerous. If only he and Linda had their own guns they could help, but as one of the defenders reminded him they had another place to be.

"Chief, Captain needs you on the Bridge ASAP!" He shouted over to him from the door to the armoury. "You better follow me!"

He and Linda obliged and followed the Marine through the armoury, now stripped bare and housing a number of gravely wounded Marines. Blood pooled around them as they groaned and hunched over themselves. Their guns had already been taken by their still able comrades. Chief was beginning to hope that Keyes at least had a gun by this point.

As they exited the armoury they found themselves in yet another battle. Marines were falling back behind a closing blast door. Elites were not too far behind with their grunt followers. They weren't facing off against unarmed deckhands now though. They were dealing with proper soldiers and as expected they met with predictable results in the end.

The grunts fell just inches before the blast door. Chief wanted to rush over and grab one of the pistols but it was already too late. The doors slammed, closing the Covies off from another path to the bridge.

"If they're already this far into the Autumn then we won't hold it for much longer," Linda warned. "I hope the Captain has an escape plan."

"Problem is, where are we going to escape to?" He asked her.

After following the Marine a few more feet down the winding halls of the Autumn they were finally on the bridge where Keyes was no doubt waiting. As they entered the Bridge they found it swarming with activity, deckhands at every terminal typing furiously and desperately trying to keep up with the status of the ship. Others were rushing between stations trying to respond to everything as it came. No easy task, but when did any day offer something easy? One deckhand slammed his fist against his screen in anger as a red light kept flashing in his face.

"Worthless piece of junk!" he shouted "Terminate signal damn it! I don't have time for this!"

"What's going on over there Crewman?" asked someone from around the corner at the front of the bridge

"Random signal keeps hailing us, Colonel Holland," the crewman explained "All I get is a bunch of gibberish and I can't determine the origin. I'm trying to cut it, but it keeps coming back!"

"Just isolate it from the system. We can't deal with it right now." Holland's voice ordered.

Chief and Linda just kept walking and let the Crewman do his job. Keyes had his own mission for them and there was no sense in keeping him waiting, not with the Covenant practically knocking on the blast doors leading to the Bridge.

There, standing in front of the command console and its screen, was the good Captain himself, clad in his military dress uniform and standing with his back to them. Beside him was a person Chief could only assume was Colonel Holland. He was wearing combat armour, which he had only just put on as he was still attaching his helmet's strap.

The only other person Chief recognized was there as well, wearing a different kind of armour than the one Colonel Holland was wearing. It was black with a big red command stripe across its arm and had low level blue lights adorned on the back. He wasn't facing the Chief either, more involved in looking over his weapon. Commander Shepard, the man he had helped get off Reach and CO of the Normandy. It was interesting to see him on the Bridge here and not the one of his own ship.

Chief also looked out the window briefly and saw the amazing sight that had become lost in the background of the fighting. A ringed structure floating in space, with what looked to be landmasses, an atmosphere and water adorning the surface, not exactly the kind of sight you expected to see every day.

"Captain Keyes," he said finally announcing his and Linda's presence to all there.

Instantly everyone turned to him. Shepard lowered his gun back into its holster while Holland looked over his shoulder as he snapped the helmet strap into place. Keyes quickly grasped Chiefs hand and gave it a firm shake.

"Good to see you, Master Chief, you too 058, things aren't going well," he stated

"Yes, we saw," Linda responded

Keyes looked to the other officers on deck.

"I believe you both have already met Commander Shepard and know of my Army counterpart, Colonel Holland," he said raising his hand to them "They're assisting in the coordination of efforts from the Bridge."

"Not for much longer though," the Colonel stated. "Only so much I can do up here to the point I get in the way. I'm heading down to help my troopers, Shepard was about to do the same with his people."

Shepard himself walked over to shake hands with Chief.

"Good to see you again, Master Chief," he said as he took the Spartan's hand. "Shame it's once again under less than pleasant circumstances."

"Same," Chief agreed, quickly getting the conversation back on track. "I'm guessing containment isn't work if you're both headed to the barricades yourselves."

Keyes only nodded.

"They're on every deck and ships are closing in for point blank shots," Keyes explained. "Cortana did her best, but we didn't stand a chance."

Cortana's holographic form appeared at that statement, staring out into the void of space. Her back was turned to the group, but Chief just knew somehow that she was arching a holographic eyebrow at the remark from the Captain.

"A dozen Covenant superior battleships against a single Halcyon-class cruiser," she proclaimed in a proud and snarky tone. "Given those odds I'm content with three..." she paused for a moment, new information flooding into her "...make that four kills."

Just as Chief remembered her, cocky as hell and proud beyond belief. Although given the facts, he found little reason to berate her. It was rather impressive she had killed that many given the odds. Cortana soon turned around, showing her smiling ever confident face to all present.

"Sleep well?" She asked him

"No thanks to your driving, yes," Chief replied, trying to get one up on her just a little.

The jab only seemed to embolden the AI though, her smile broadening at his words.

"So you did miss me," She said, her snark even more pronounced than before.

The brief reunion was interrupted by a powerful explosion that shook the whole of the ship. It threatened to topple over everyone still standing on the deck. Linda propped herself up against the back terminal to keep herself erect.

"I think the kid gloves just came off," she said as she righted herself.

Keyes quickly turned to Cortana.

"Report!" He demanded.

"It must've been one of their boarding parties!" She reasoned, finally appearing concerned. "My guess is an anti-matter charge."

The helmsman below the command console deck soon chimed in.

"Ma'am! Fire control to the main cannon is offline!"

"Captain the cannon was my last defensive option." Cortana informed Keyes.

Keyes shook his head exasperated. He was out of ideas, that much Chief could clearly see. It wasn't hard to guess his next course of action.

"Alright then, I'm initiating Cole Protocol Article 2. We're abandoning the Autumn."

A grim statement, but there were nothing else they could do now. They were just a floating hunk of metal without a gun. Holland was the first to jump to his feet.

"If we're leaving this tub then I gotta leave it with my boys." He stated firmly. "I'm heading down to round up everyone I can and get them out of here. Evacuation will need a coordinator in the trenches anyway."

"Do it," Keyes confirmed. "Just make sure you get off too. Grab a Pelican, jump in a pod, hitch a ride with the Normandy or the ODSTs, we'll need every officer we can get on the ground."

"As if you need to order me to get me to do that," Holland laughed. "I'm Army, we don't stay on sinking ships."

He readied his pistol one hand and saluted to the two Spartans along with Shepard.

"See you ground side Master Chief, 058, you too Commander." He said confidently. "We're gonna drench that ring in Covie blood together, you'll see."

Holland left quickly before anyone else could wish him luck. Not that he needed it. He seemed to know what he was doing. At least everyone hoped he did.

"I can have the Normandy on stand-by to carry as many Marines down to the ring as they possibly can." Shepard told Keyes, making his own contribution to the evacuation plan. "They may need some help holding the ship's position though."

"We can handle that," Chief assured, pointing to him and Linda

But Keyes quickly waved off the idea.

"No I have something else in mind for you, Master Chief," he explained. "I can't have you running the evacuation and it at the same time."

Chief would've asked for more of an explanation, but he didn't get the chance. Linda raised her hand up before he could speak.

"Well if you just need him for this I can assist the Normandy in the evac," She suggested. "I owe their medics my life after all."

Keyes gave it some thought and looked to Shepard who nodded in acceptance.

"Alright 058, you have the go ahead," Keyes agreed. "Head down to the hangar bay and meet with the Normandy's XO. I'll make sure she knows of your arrival."

"I'll need a gun first," she added.

Shepard reached into his holster and pulled out his pistol. The gun spanned out from its compacted form and the Commander tossed it over to the female Spartan who caught it with ease. Next he passed over a small ammo pack to her, which she also caught.

"It's a Carnifex, delivers a major punch," he informed her. "The pack has extra thermal clips. Slap one in when the first goes dry. I set it to inferno rounds. Should ignite any bad guys you come across."

Linda looked it over for a moment. Chief could imagine she was disappointed. She preferred sniper rifles after all. She eventually put the pistol into a holster, letting it close up once more, and turned to him. Chief didn't like the idea of her going off on her own, not after what happened to the others, but it wasn't his place to question. If the Captain had a more important mission for him, then he had to stay.

"Make sure you're on that frigate when it takes off," he said, practically ordering her.

"I will be, don't worry." she promised. "I'm used to going it alone, rifle or no rifle. Besides, remember our first day of lessons? Spartans are made for holding lines."

"Just don't end up like the ones in the story," he said, reminding her of the outcome of the tale. "We'll talk nostalgia later, for now get moving."

Linda saluted once and took off into the ship. As she did Keyes turned back to Cortana.

"Evac order goes for you too, Cortana," he said.

"While you do what? Go down with the ship?" She asked, her tone slightly mocking the cliché as she spoke.

Keyes put the pipe in his mouth for a moment as he turned to command screen.

"In a manner of speaking," he replied, taking the pipe out again and pointing towards the ring world. "The object we found, I'm going to try and land the Autumn on it. Anyone who can't get off and survives the crash landing can link up with the other survivors in good time with any luck."

Shepard perched his eyebrow at the idea.

"A crash landing in this tub doesn't sound like the best of options," he said. "Why not leave the ship for the Covenant? They don't use human technology anyway, it's not like they're going to turn it against us."

"I don't want to take the risk," Keyes explained "Besides, the ship's comm-relays need to be intact if we're going to send a distress beacon. That's our only way home."

But for Cortana the risk still seemed too great. Chief felt the same, she could easily pilot the ship in, there was no need to go manual to commit to a crash landing.

"With all due respect, sir, this war has enough dead heroes," She argued

"I appreciate your concern Cortana, but it's not up to me." He said steadfastly resigned to his decision. "Protocol is clear on this. Destruction or capture of a shipboard AI is absolutely unacceptable, that means you're leaving the ship. Lock in a selection of emergency landing codes, upload them to my neural lace and then sort yourself for hard transfer."

Cortana seemed to sigh at her failure to persuade the Captain as she responded.

"Aye, aye sir," she said despondently.

Cortana vanished from sight back into her console to do her work while Keyes turned to Shepard and Chief as they stood side by side now.

"This is where you come in, Chief," he began, as stoic and firm as ever. "Get Cortana off this ship. Keep her safe from the enemy. If they capture her they'll learn everything. Force deployments, weapons research... Earth."

Keyes delivered that last word with a more foreboding tone then Chief had ever heard before. There was doubt in his mind now how serious this situation was and how important this task was.

"I understand," Chief responded simply.

"Good," Keyes nodded "Commander Shepard will accompany you. I know Spartans can take care of themselves, but I won't take a chance on this. The Commander's unique skill set will come in handy, I assure you."

Chief looked at Shepard once, earning a respectful look in kind.

"Shouldn't he be with his men?" He asked

"I'm going to instruct them to return to the Normandy or look for the nearest escape pod," Shepard informed him. "Other than that there's really nothing more I can do for them. Besides, from what I hear from them it's bad out there, you might need some back-up."

Chief relented and nodded his approval.

"Very well Shepard," he said in the same almost monotone voice as always. "Glad to have you then."

Shepard looked at him, seemingly wondering if the Chief was glad to have him along. Truth be told, Chief was grateful for back-up, but he barely knew the good Commander and his thoughts were mainly about the safety of Linda. He knew this was where he was needed, but he didn't like the idea of doing this while a fellow Spartan was otherwise engaged elsewhere. In the end he just hoped the Commander was all Keyes said he was.

Cortana soon appeared on the console once more with her arms crossed. Her work was done and she was more or less prepared for departure.

"The Autumn will continue evasive maneuvers until you initiate a landing sequence." She explained, she continued in a less subdue manner. "Not that you'll listen, but I'd suggest letting my subroutines handle the final approach."

Keyes didn't respond to Cortana's advice and just nodded his approval at the completion of her work.

"Excellent, Cortana," he thanked "Are you ready?"

Cortana looked about the bridge one last time. One could only guess what her thoughts ultimately were about. Was she concerned about leaving her ship, her home? Was she concerned about Keyes' actions? Was she wary about being plugged into a Spartan again? Well, Chief knew that last one probably wasn't an issue, but he still wondered what was on the AI's mind. At last she sighed and accepted that it was time to go.

"Yank me," she told Keyes.

Keyes pulled Cortana's AI unit from the console and her image shivered before vanishing entirely from the pedestal. The slender device Keyes held in his fingers was now where she resided, her essence represented by the glowing circle of light that pulsated in the center of the device.

"Good luck, Master Chief," Keyes said as he handed to the Spartan.

Chief took the AI unit in hand and gently slid into the slot at the back of his helmet. Within moments a flash of data and information entered his brain. It tingled a bit. The distinctive feel of Cortana joining with his suit and connecting with him, a feeling he had only had once before on Reach.

It was hard to describe, your head being filled with another sentient entity. It went from feeling like ice water being poured into your skull, to a slight pain before it became numb and inviting. It was a mixture of weird and overwhelming while at the same time feeling familiar and right. He wasn't sure why.

He supposed it was partly because of what the neural network meant. The two now fully relied on each other, depended on one another. The joining made them one, made them whole. It was like being on a team again, but more insular. Another reason he didn't object too much to Shepard coming along, in some ways he preferred the company.

"Hmm, your architecture isn't much different from the Autumn's." Cortana piped up as the interfacing completed.

Chief, only slightly annoyed, stopped that train of thought before it went any further.

"Don't get any funny ideas," he told her firmly.

"I wouldn't dream of it. Just making an observation," said Cortana, somewhat apologetically.

With the interface complete Chief turned to Shepard.

"You got another one of those Carnifexs?" He asked

"I don't really bring many guns with me," the Commander admitted "Kinda slows me down."

Turning to Keyes, the Captain immediately read the Spartan's mind. He produced a UNSC magnum pistol, complete with scope sight and all save for one detail.

"I don't keep it loaded son," he admitted. "You'll have to find ammo as you go."

As grim as it was Chief admitted that probably wouldn't be a problem considering how bad things were going. He turned back Shepard.

"You've been awake longer, you lead the way," he told him

"I prefer point anyway," he complied. "Come on, let's get off this tub."

They left Keyes on the bridge and exited through a secondary door on the left side of the room. They were soon at a doorway that led to a large hallway, and just beyond they could hear sniveling scampering across the metal floor.

"That sound is always the giveaway," Chief stated.

"They're not much for stealth," Shepard added. "I've come to accept that."

Chief looked down and pistol ammo cartridge lying before him in the doorway. He quickly grabbed it and slapped the magazine into the gun.

"Sounds like three of them, maybe four," Chief reasoned.

"Easy enough," Shepard reasoned. "Let's do it."

Chief jumped out into the doorway first, hid pistol at the ready. Shepard was right behind him. The grunts in the hall were taken completely by surprise. They fired wild shots at the humans, but it was futile. Chief easily capped two grunts in the head, taking them out before they knew what hit them. Shepard handled the third one with a powerful swing of his arm, releasing a torrent of blue energy that rippled across the ground. The little gas sucker was sent hurtling into the ship's bulkhead, smashing his skull open and breaking his neck.

Chief looked a little puzzled at the display, but Cortana helpfully filled him in, remembering how long he'd been asleep.

"Yeah in addition to aliens his ship has people with crazy mass manipulating powers." The AI explained. "Don't call them psychics, they hate that."

Chief didn't have time to ask more questions. He already had his answer as to what Keyes had meant when he spoke of the Commander's 'unique' skill set. That and he could hear more fighting in the next room. Shepard snatched a plasma pistol of one of the dead grunts and made his way over to the entrance of a mess hall across from them. Chief soon joined him, just in time to see an elite with a squad of grunts rampaging through the mess hall, Marines shooting back in a panic as their lines faltered.

"Those Marines could use some help, Chief," Cortana stated aloud. "Do what you do best."

He would've said 'with pleasure', but it just seemed a bit cliché. Actions spoke louder than one-liners any day. He charged in, scooping up an assault rifle a Marine had dropped. Shepard joined in on his assault, firing a fully charged plasma bolt at the elite. The shot struck the alien officer square in the chest, his shields burnt out instantly.

The Elite backed up from the fight, moving to cover behind the doorway he had entered from. The Marines that were in the Elite's line of fire now had a bit of a breather as the grunts tried to follow their squad leader. They retreated to cover behind the tables of the mess hall and the metal barricade in along the wall.

As Chief approached he heard panicked shrieks, plasma bolts struck the ground outside the door and the little grunts ran back into the mess hall. Chief opened up with the assault rifle, easily cutting them down. Riddled with bullets their bodies fell one after the other, littering the mess hall entrance.

Their distracting presence gave their leader a chance to slip back in. He rushed through the door, firing his rifle at Chief`s position, peppering it with plasma bolts. The Spartan ducked low as the Elite slid across a table, smacking one of the Marines hiding behind it with his foot. Bleeding from the nose the young soldier hit the floor of the mess and dropped his gun. The Elite stood over him prepared to deliver a final blow when something struck him in the side causing him to fly back over the very table he had leapt over. Shepard, his hand still outstretched from his biotic throw attack, fired several plasma blasts at the alien, intending to keep him pinned behind cover.

"Chief, now!" Shepard called out.

The Spartan had already read the Commander's mind. He pulled out of cover and fired his assault rifle on the Elite at full blast. The Covenant officer, flanked both ends, tried to pull away but one the plasma shots hit him and killed his shields for the second time.

Angered, he stood up and tried to rush Master Chief, who had closed the distance with him. Several high velocity rounds slammed into the alien's body and the Elite fell back in a heap, oozing purple blood from his wounds.

Chief looked to the downed Marine and helped him to his feet. He gave the Spartan a thumbs-up, assuring him that he was okay. Chief then looked to Shepard. His pistol was now lowered, but still at the ready.

"Nice save," He congratulated.

"Good flanking," Shepard responded in kind.

Cortana, however, did not seem to share their mutual congratulations.

"Boys, I'm picking up movement on the suit's motion tracker just outside the room," she warned them "We're not done yet."

As if on cue plasma bolts flew over their heads, announcing the arrival of a second group of Covenant. Two Elites with their grunt companions stormed the mess from the back and raced between the cover of the tables to and fro as they fired. Shepard and the Master Chief quickly took cover behind their own respective tables.

"I'll get closer, you keep them occupied," said Shepard as he hefted out what appeared to be a shotgun as far as the Chief could tell.

"We'll see if I leave any left for you when you get there," responded the Master Chief daringly.

The Spartan popped up with pistol in hand and, aiming through the scope, zeroed in on the scampering squads of grunts and elites. He fired several consecutive shots in the path of one of the Elites while keeping the crosshairs on his head. The shields spiked wildly and died before another shot sliced through the Covenant officer's eye and finally downed him. He skidded across the floor and fell at the feet of one of the grunts. Chief's translator, built into the suit, picked up the gas sucker's cries in perfect English.

"They got the Sangheili! Run!"

The now dead Elite's grunts ran screaming out the way they came. The second Elite growled in anger at their cowardice and zeroed on Chief's position. Chief rolled to the side and away from the plasma bolts before popping back up and loading a fresh magazine into his pistol. He fired one the grunts protecting their leader as he advanced forward. He got two head shots each for the frontline grunts, their bodies slumped against the back table.

Amazingly the final grunt in the room still stood by his leader. He was his only protection now any way. The Elite did not seem to appreciate the reverence, for when the grunt moved closer to him the Covenant officer pushed him away and out of cover. Screaming bloody murder, the gas sucker jumped to his feet and fired on the Master Chief, running backwards into cover. He walked right into the barrel of Shepard's shotgun. The Commander had successfully flanked the enemy and an inferno round saw to the little methane breathing midget's demise. It ran into a wall as it back became inflamed, the pack exploded moments after, leaving the final Elite alone.

The grunt's untimely demise had distracted the hardened xeno-warrior and he turned to face the flanking attack only to have the Master Chief's boot strike him right in the face. Chief fired a full burst from his assault rifle into the down Elite before dropping on him hard. He smashed his fist into the alien's head, once to make a crack, twice to break the skull. Chief stood back up when the deed was done and looked to Shepard who had also come out of cover.

"Well you got one," Chief admitted. "Guess I'm getting a little slow."

"You're probably just still stiff from the freeze," Shepard told him reassuringly.

Cortana's audible sigh could be heard through the radio.

"If you could see me now my eyes would be rolling." She groaned.

Suddenly the grunts that had just run out came running back in with fire on their heels. It didn't sound like plasma fire though, it sounded like a heavy fully automatic assault rifle of some kind. Chief couldn't recognize the sound. Shepard seemed to though.

"That's a Revenant machine gun," Shepard reasoned "But only my people have that and none of them are on this deck! I checked."

The Commander already had his gun raised to the door across from them. Chief began opening fire on the Grunts as they rushed inside in the meantime. No sense in leaving loose threads. The little aliens were blasted against the walls as the impact sent them flying into the bulkhead. Moments later though a new threat emerged, but it didn't look like a Covie, not to the Master Chief at least.

It was bipedal, erect, was wearing some kind of black armour with crimson stripes and hefting a really big machine gun-like weapon. It almost appeared human, until you looked at the face and saw it had four eyes, bumpy brownish skin and sharp teeth. It shouted something incoherent to his suit's translators and opened fire on both him and the Commander.

Shepard quickly pulled out a submachine gun of some kind and used it to pepper the shields of the alien with inferno rounds. The heavy machine gun still let loose a torrent of fire as Chief sought cover. He switched to his pistol and popped back out to fire a single round. It cut deep into his shoulder, throwing his firing arm off balance. The momentary pause gave Shepard enough time to let loose another volley of inferno rounds from his SMG, igniting the four-eyed xeno on fire momentarily before he collapsed dead.

Chief got up and ran over to the body to give it a look, Shepard joined him.

"Scanning." Cortana spoke, a few moments passed before she spoke up "This species isn't in any of my data files on the Covenant."

"You won't find them there," Shepard told the AI. "Connect to the Normandy's codex entries, search Batarian."

After a few seconds Cortana piped up again.

"Ah, he's from your neck of the woods." She said, pleased to have a name to put to the alien's face "Yes, Batarians, according to your codex they're a race of four-eyed aliens with a caste-system government that runs on slavery. They also hate humans for reasons of national pride and their government has sponsored terrorist organizations that have been attacking human colonies ever since. They certainly have a lot in common with the Covenant."

"Even the Batarians don't openly engage in full blown genocide," Shepard corrected the AI. "That doesn't matter though, not now. This one didn't think to wear a helmet, it gave him away. Otherwise he would've appeared almost human. His friends may not be so stupid."

That did pose a problem, but luckily Cortana was on it.

"I've already scanned this batarian's bio-metrics," she said. "I'll send an identification run-time to all soldiers wearing helmet mounted targeting systems and connected to our battle net. That should be a significant amount of our forces and at least one person in every squad has someone with a helmet. I'll let them know what it's for. It should easily identify any batarians aboard."

Shepard just nodded once at Chief, and by extension Cortana.

"Do it," he said.

"Already did while I was explaining it," she informed him. "Now let's get moving. There are other Marines in trouble and we need to get to a lifeboat."

No arguments came from the Commander or the Chief. They left the mess hall quickly and made their way to the next section of the ship. There was probably a few lifeboat pods not far from their position they could use.

---

It felt so cynical. He hesitated to say ironic because he was never sure if he was misusing that term. The point was Kowalski had fought tooth and nail to get on this ship and now he was being ordered to evacuate it. According to what the others had said they were going to landing somewhere. Great, a whole planet no doubt full of Covenant they'd be stranded on. Was there anywhere you could go after you fell into the fire from the pan?

He should've expected as much. The Covenant weren't just going to ignore them and let them get away. They'd have to re-engage them, it was inevitable. Kowalski just wished it was on better terms. Presently he was in one of the armouries that dotted the ship. He had come here to get a better weapon than his standard assault rifle. Instead he and his squad found themselves pinned. The Covenant had gotten here first, intent on making sure their human adversaries lost their best equipment or at least most of it. This armoury was still stocked with shotguns and rifles, but they couldn't get to any of them.

Kowalski kept his head low as plasma bolts sped past him relentlessly. The metal of the gun rack was turning red hot with each shot. Just above Kowalski's head he could spy a Designated Marksman rifle, perfect for long range enemies.

Of course, life reminded him once more of how screwed he was. For every time he tried to reach up and grab the gun a plasma bolt just barely burned off his hand with a near miss. Each time Kowalski pulled back his appendage, clutching it close. He may have just avoided getting his skin melted, but he could still feel the biting heat. It was like hovering your hand over an extremely hot iron poker. You didn't get charred, but the heat was still there.

Corporal Ellingham, Kowalski's fellow squad mate and friend, was just across from him taking cover behind a gun locker. He had a shotgun on him, not the kind of weapon you needed when the bad guys were all the way over on the other end of the room. He had called for back-up from the others, but chances were they had their own problems now. It didn't help that had got no response from Sergeant Alec Taylor.

"You got any grenades?" Ellingham asked as a green plasma bolt struck the side of the locker.

"No, they're on that table just beside your locker in the line of fire," Kowalski responded, pointing to the table in question.

Ellingham could only respond with silent cursing and a stomp of his foot.

"We gotta fall back Kowalski, we ain't getting these guns," he said.

"I'm not going back to the Sarge without some supplies," Kowalski persistently stated. "We'll need them if we're going to get to the lifeboats!"

"We're not going to get to the lifeboats anyway if we're dead!" Ellingham argued.

But before Kowalski could continue to plead his case something opened up among the ranks of the Covenant themselves. A familiar blue vortex that wrenched two grunts off their feet followed by two bursts from an assault rifle cutting into their skulls.

Kowalski had been so focused on the xenos trying to kill him he didn't spot the alien that had come to help. Samara the Asari Justicar raced inside firing her assault rifle in tandem with a biotic attack that sped across to the side and slammed a jackal into a gun locker. The elite in charge of the attack quickly hunkered down behind one of the gun racks as the renewed offensive of bullets disrupted his attempts to keep the Marines suppressed.

Samara moved up between the Marines.

"Are you alright, Private Kowalski?" She asked

"Could be better," he admitted. "What exactly are you doing here though? I didn't even know you were still on this deck."

"I came with them."

The asari's head motioned to the front where an Elite and two more of his grunts were. Popping up through the doorway were Sergeant Taylor and Corporal Pearson. They had somehow flanked the Covies. Their assault rifles cut down the grunts as they ambushed them from behind, but while they were easy pickings the elite was not so easily crushed. Pearson had his gun knocked away by the enraged Elite and then kicked down to the ground. Taylor strafed to the side as the Elite turned back to him. Even with shields spiking he didn't seem to be letting up and plasma bolts inched closer to the Sergeant.

Quickly, Kowalski grabbed the DMR on the rack and fired two shots into the Elite's shields. Those high velocity rounds dropped the alien's protection and Samara served up another power of hers to keep him down. Her arm stretched out Samara let loose a devastating biotic ability that latched onto the Covenant officer and paralyzed him. This was Samara's reave attack, the most devastating weapon in her biotic arsenal. Kowalski wasted no time in exploiting the now disabled Elite and fired another three rounds into the alien alongside Taylor. The Covie lurched over dead at last and the armoury was secured.

Kowalski ran up to Taylor while Ellingham helped Pearson to his feet. He was groaning a bit from the wallop the alien's foot had given his stomach, but at least he hadn't gotten his face shot with a plasma rifle. He'd be beyond help then.

"How'd you get behind them?" Kowalski asked Taylor.

"Maintenance tunnel about a click or two down from the door cuts through to the adjacent hallway." Taylor explained. "We waited for Samara here to get into position and then closed the trap. Sorry we couldn't tell ya, I was concerned about the Covenant monitoring our radio traffic when you said they were waiting for you. I decided to keep it quiet."

Kowalski was just happy the Sarge had come in time. Now they had a whole armoury of weapons to pick and choose from. They'd be able to get to the life boats easy now, especially with Samara with them. Although that did bring up a question in his mind he still wanted answered.

"So what are you doing on this deck anyway?" He asked

"A Justicar's work is never done," she declared resolutely. "I was informed a number of Covenant had breached the barricades here and was attempting to stop them as well as give any soldiers a chance to escape. I found Sergeant Taylor under fire just moments before we got your message."

Kowalski was happy to see Samara, although he felt a bit disappointed that she had just been at the right place and time and it wasn't any other specific reason. He shook that off though, there were bigger issues at hand.

"You guys find Agley and Ramirez yet?" Ellingham asked Pearson as he dug in his pack.

"Nah, nowhere up here," Pearson relented "I think they're down at least two extra decks from us. There's too many Covies between us and them. We'll never find them in the crowd."

"Well we can't just leave them!" Kowalski shouted insistently.

It was more than just the typical 'no man left behind' mentality of the Army. Agley and Ramirez were part of their decimated unit. Only a few of them had escaped Reach, the thought of losing more was something no one could tolerate.

"I don't think we have much of a choice, Kowalski," Ellingham told him. "The longer we stay on this ship the bigger a chance we got of being overrun."

"Or missing the lifeboats," added Pearson. "If we haven't already."

No one seem to appreciate his attempt at a joke, as they all pretty much gave Pearson a stern look before returning to their conversation.

"We need to move forward and save those we can, that's all we can do, Private." Taylor explained. "Besides, Ramirez is a damn fine soldier. Agley's safe with him."

Pearson just snorted a bit at his Sergeant's words.

"I'm more worried about Ramirez being with Agley than the other way around." He stated rather abrasively.

"That's not fair, Pearson." Taylor told him sternly. "Agley's always been high strung and he's more recently been a lot of pressure."

"We're all under pressure, sir." Pearson reminded him. "That's not much of an excuse. I'm just saying what we're all thinking."

Agley had never been the bravest of Marines, but no one could blame him for being scared. When push came to shove he did prove himself capable, but even Kowalski accepted he wasn't easy to place your trust in. That had never been more pronounced than back on Reach. He had been grabbed by a bunch of Covies hiding in the ceiling of an old building, Drones to be precise. Ever since then his nerves had become shot and after the loss of most of the unit he hadn't gotten better. Once or twice the poor guy had woken up screaming in the night for one reason or another.

In contrast to Agley, Ramirez was the luckiest of them all. He was the rookie, so he hadn't gotten to know most of the unit before they got halved. Things just seemed to slide off his back after that and he adjusted pretty well. Not so with Agley. That made him a concern for Kowalski and everyone else in the squad.

"As sad as it is to say there may be nothing we can do for your comrades," Samara told them all. "However, my own teammates are also strewn about the Autumn. I cannot help them anymore than Ramirez of Agley. But with luck, perhaps they will be able to help one another."

Kowalski just gave a relenting sigh and nodded.

"I hope you're right," he said. "I guess we better get moving then, huh?"

"Well said, Private," Taylor agreed. "You too, Samara. Now let's get these guns together and haul some ass already."

---

It was a sorry sight to say the least. The main cannon's systems arrays were completely destroyed. The Covenant had wasted no time in blowing it. Now all that remained was a smoking hulk. Garrus shook his head what was left of the thing.

"And to think, I was only just helping tune it yesterday," he said sadly.

A warm hand was placed on his shoulder, joining him in his slightly depressed state.

"No amount of calibrating will fix that, buddy," said Sergeant Buck, trying to give the Turian a laugh.

"Well, no sense crying over it now," Garrus reasoned.

They moved away from the remains of the gun to cover the perimeter with the other two members of their group, Romeo and Dutch. They kept their guns peeled on the wide corridor ahead as well as the balcony that overlooked the area. All that was supposed to be up there were terminals that regulated power flow and targeting data. But with the Covenant aboard you never knew for sure.

"So what's the plan now?" Romeo asked them.

"Get back to Major Silva's position," Buck reasoned. "Hope we can still make the drop."

They had been on the gunnery deck discussing weapons upgrades and trading a few stories when the Covenant hit. They had tried to save the main cannon, but the Covenant had beaten them to it. An anti-matter charge erupted through the gun and now the Autumn was in serious trouble. They were in more trouble, however, as they needed to get back to the other ODSTs stationed near the back of the ship. The only way off for them was feet first.

"Do we really have to go all the way back there just to get off this ship?" Garrus asked.

"No lifeboats in this section," Buck told him. "Besides, it's the one place guaranteed to still have a few pods left for us to drop in."

"You're not just scared of taking a pod down are you, Garrus?" Dutch asked.

The Turian rigorously shook his head in denial.

"No, it's just I thought there was somewhere closer is all," he explained.

"Don't worry," Romeo assured. "It's not that bad, it's like a roller coaster ride. It'll be fun."

Garrus still didn't like the idea. Dropping from orbit in a tiny little metal box didn't exactly appeal to him. He probably had been spoiled after having a shuttle for so long that he had forgotten the combat drops in the Mako. That was the closest he had to an idea of what a drop-pod was like. The only difference between the two was that the pods were smaller than the Mako, a lot smaller than the Mako.

"No sense in just waiting around here," Buck told them. "Let's move out, keep our eyes open and stick to cover best we can."

They exited their cover and moved into the long corridor. They needed to get back to an express elevator that would take them back down to the ODST pods. Their initial hopes were that the Covenant had left the area, their job done, and were headed to more sensitive parts of the ship. Garrus could only guess one of those was the engine room and that Tali would get out of there somehow. There was little he could do about it now though as he was all the way up here.

As they neared a stack of crates near large targeting display they saw three people moving out into the open. They appeared to be human, from a distance.

"Hey look, friendlies," Dutch observed. "Maybe Silva got concerned and sent some reinforcements."

Garrus wasn't so sure, his eyes narrowed at the approaching gaggle of bipedal troops. They looked human, they had armour on, but something was off, the make of the helmets covering their heads seemed familiar. He looked to Buck to say something only to see a light flashing behind his visor.

"Something's not right," Buck spoke before Garrus could say the same thing. "My HUD is painting them in red, it doesn't make..."

He paused for a moment and gave Garrus enough time to see that the armour was not UNSC. He recognized it, he had fought people wearing it, but not from here. And as far as he knew they hadn't given out many suits to the Marines and Troopers.

And that left only one possibility.

"They're not humans!" He shouted.

That seemed to get the message across and Buck pushed Dutch towards the crates for cover. He followed him shortly, his timing couldn't have been better. The armoured soldiers opened fire and took cover along the targeting array. Garrus, himself taking up cover along the crates, recognized the gunfire as Striker assault rifles, krogan guns. These guys weren't krogan of course, but he had a good idea what they were.

"We got batarians," he warned the others. "They're aliens from my universe."

"I'm guessing they're the bad kind?" Romeo asked.

"Their main export is slavery, you tell me," Garrus chided.

Romeo edged out to get a shot with his sniper rifle, but quickly pulled back when he saw inferno rounds striking the crate.

"Christ, every damn evil xeno wants to burn our skin off," he growled. "We got a plan, Sarge?"

"There are only three of them for now, so we got the advantage," Buck reasoned. "They got some pretty good cover though. We need to pin them down or push them out if we want to get around to their sides and flank them."

"One good grenade lob should do the trick," Dutch figured. "You guys just be ready."

Pulling the pin on one of his grenades, Dutch stood out briefly to the left of the crates and tossed the explosive at the batarians. It smacked against the edge of the terminal and rolled forward. The batarians ran from the rolling little ball of shrapnel causing doom as it clinked against the floor among them. They bolted from cover and Romeo and Garrus didn't waste the opportunity.

As the grenade exploded the two marksmen picked their targets and fired. Garrus' Mantis sniper rifle broke through the shields of one batarian, blowing fragments of both his skull and brain out the side. Romeo aimed for center mass and fired two shots in quick succession. One cracked the shields, the other cracked the alien's rib cage. Romeo just hoped he had hit his heart. He wasn't keen on alien biology after all so he just made a guess that it was where it was supposed to be. In any case the batarian didn't get back up.

"One more," said Garrus, pointing at the corner the lone batarian was hiding behind.

Even with his friends dead the batarian was determined to press on. He fired bursts at the stacked crates, but the tide had turned now, the alien had lost momentum and Buck was determined to keep it that way.

"Suppressing fire on that corner," he ordered the others "I'm gonna make a break for the terminal and flank him."

There was time to acknowledge the order, they just followed. Buck ran up the hall to the terminal while Dutch, Garrus and Romeo opened fire on the corner. The batarian retreated back as pistol and assault rifle fire pelted his position. Buck managed to scramble behind the terminal for cover and placed his crosshairs on the alien's center mass. He suddenly spotted Buck and moved out slightly to take a shot at him. When he did. his suit became engulfed in a electrical flash.

"Shields are down, finish him!" Garrus shouted, pulling back his omni-tool from a successful overload strike.

Buck obliged and fired fire rounds from his DMR. The Batarian fell forward dead, his helmet slipping off as he did. Romeo finally got a good look through the scope of his rifle at what batarians looked like. He winced slightly.

"Ugh, four eyes and lumpy skin," He said, before adding mockingly. "They make you look pretty, Garrus."

"You're just jealous cause you don't have a fringe," The turian responded coolly.

Buck was about to stand up and rejoin the squad, but when he did he noticed a glint against his eyes coming from across the way on the overhanging level above. There weren't just targeting arrays up there anymore. He ducked back down just in time as a powerful blast of energy zipped out and struck the terminal. The line of energy melted the metal and steel, causing the terminal to spark.

"Covenant sniper!" he warned the others "Stay out of the open!"

With his friend in peril, Garrus cautiously left the crate stack and moved along the right wall towards the corner. With the dead batarian at his feet he readied the targeting visor over his eye. Romeo and Dutch soon joined behind him.

"You see where it came from?" Garrus asked Buck from across the way.

"Upper level," The Sergeant replied. "Careful, he's got our position zeroed in."

Garrus looked out momentarily scanning the upper level for potential discrepancies. Signs of movement or a glint of the sights or even the sound of the weapon charging could give the Covenant marksman away. However, when he believed he saw something move he quickly had to pull back as another shot of energy cut across where his head had been just seconds before.

"Guy is good," he admitted. "We're got to take his vision off me for a second if we're going to nail him."

"We could trick him into revealing his position," Dutch suggested.

Garrus agreed and turned back to Buck's position.

"Take off your helmet, prop it up with your gun," he told him.

He couldn't really see Buck while he was hunkered behind the terminal, but he could hear him moving about. The helmet soon rose up above the terminal's protective shell and Buck waved it around a bit. But after several seconds of a good clean shot, nothing.

"He's not taking it," Romeo observed, sounding exasperated.

"He's smarter than that," Garrus reasoned. "We can't wait around here all day though, so we need a trick he doesn't know."

"I really wish I brought smoke grenade now," Dutch grumbled.

While they didn't have that, it gave Garrus an idea. He poked his Mantis' barrel out and peered through the scope. He eyed the terminals and arrays that lined the hall and switched to armour-piercing rounds. If the Covie was in hiding then they'd need to take away HIS cover, mainly the dark of the second level.

Garrus fired several consecutive shots. Just as with Buck's targeting terminal from the energy blast, the screens and computers on the wall sparked and burst apart as the rounds impacted them. Bits and pieces of metal and embers spewed forth from their electronic housings and soon Garrus spied the outline of the enemy. Couldn't see much of anything in the dark but he could make out a distinctive silhouette, bird-like.

Garrus fired rounds at the shadow and watched as it bolted up and began to run along the upper level. He followed out into the open, firing on the darkness, trying to catch the fleeing alien, but to no avail.

"Jackal sniper, he's gone now," he told the others glibly. "Better move before he comes back.

Buck jumped out from behind the terminal, his helmet strapped back on.

"My thoughts exactly," he agreed. "We got bigger problems than him right now. Elevator is just there."

Buck pointed to a large grated door before them along the wall at the end. Quickly, the team rushed over and inside the compartment. Buck slammed his fist hard on the express button for the lower levels. As they did they could hear the distinct sound of rumbling and struggled to stand as the whole ship seemed to shake. It was a grim reminder of their larger predicament. They needed to get to the pods and fast.

---

How was it that this was the second time this had happened and again she was stuck in engineering? It almost seemed like it was the designated placed for her to make a stand on a ship that was being boarded. The Covenant had wasted no time in storming every deck and now the engineering room was next.

The crew hands stationed here had raided the armoury, taking up pistols and assault rifles where they could get them. They had trained with firearms when they joined the UNSC, but it wasn't their field. They weren't combat engineers after all, they were just meant to keep the reactor running. But boarders or no boarders that duty still stood.

Luckily they weren't the only ones defending engineering. There were some marines scattered about the section and potential reinforcements were on their way. They were Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, they were better equipped for this. However, it would be awhile before they arrived and from the sound of things they wouldn't make it in time.

So for now they were staying to hold the area until relieved. Once the ODSTs arrived they would take over the majority of the defensive action. Hopefully, they would be able to cover the engineers while they made a break for the escape pods. The ODSTs themselves had their own way out, so they didn't have to worry so much about them afterwards.

Tali slapped in a fresh heat sink into her shotgun. She, like everyone else, had heard the general evacuation orders and they had a way off the engineering deck so they weren't trapped, but they couldn't leave yet.

If the Covenant somehow blew the reactor no one was getting off the Autumn period. One could argue that the Covenant would never blow up the ship with all of them on it, but after witnessing what they had done to themselves and what they were willing to do to win, Tali wasn't about to take chances. Not with so many lives at stake.

She had offered to help organize a few members of the Engineering crew. It wasn't special privilege they had slapped on her. All members the senior staff were getting their own makeshift fire teams. She was Chief Engineer of the Normandy, so it only made sense.

First, they locked down the reactor. The Covenant wouldn't be able to compromise the core with the vent clamps in place, not unless they had special permission from the Captain himself. There was no way Keyes would do that for them, even if they asked nicely. That just left making sure any anti-matter charges they brought were useless. So they were going to set up an ambush.

Tali had her people positioned on the upper level overlooking the main entrance. They had sealed the secondary door just a few minutes prior. If they wanted to get inside quickly they only had one option. She had her pistol out and ready for when they did. One good shot from the phalanx and any explosive packing Covenant soldier would be down on the ground in a pool of blood.

"You think there are still some lifeboats left?" Asked one of the engineers. "I mean it's not like they're supposed to wait for us."

Tali turned back to the man, Jeff she believed his name was. He wasn't scared, but he did seem anxious. She had to agree with him. Evacuation was like a ticking clock and the second Keyes had issued it everyone had gotten a little concerned. They were losing the Autumn, they were in the middle of nowhere and the Covenant were bombarding them. They couldn't be blamed for feeling worried.

"Let's just focus on making sure we'll be able to reach the lifeboats first," she told Jeff. "Now, the second they cross into the kill zone we'll open fire. Engineer Redford already has his people standing by just across from us. They won't know what hit them."

"You sound like you've done this before," said another engineer, Rick was his name as Tali remembered.

"I've run into more ambushes than set them actually," she admitted. "You just pick this stuff up after awhile."

She wasn't sure if that inspired confidence. At the very least they didn't looked demoralised. That was a good sign. There was little time to properly figure it out though. The doors to engineering soon slid open and a grunt toddled inside, surrounded by a pack of his fellows. They made those strange heavy breathing sounds, whimpering as they came in.

Just behind them were two elites scanning the room for hostiles as they entered. There was a third alien though, one that was all too familiar for Tali. He didn't have a helmet on so everyone could plainly see, even though he stood erect and had five fingers instead of talons, he was not human. He was a batarian.

Tali should've known that after they had encountered the bosh'tets on Reach they'd eventually run into them again. Especially since they had pretty much decimated the Blood Pack, at least as far as they knew. The Covenant needed to fall back on some kind of ally after that. Thankfully even this one hadn't noticed what was going on. Soon enough he, along with the rest of the Covenant, walked into the awaiting crossfire of Tali and Engineer Redford's fire teams.

That was when they struck. Tali jumped up first and pointed her omni-tool out in front of them. Emerging before the brigade of covies was a rolling ball of energy It was the ever faithful combat drone Tali had affectionately named Chiktikka vas Paus. The drone quickly zapped the first grunt closest to it, momentarily calling attention to the front of the column. That gave the squads on either side a chance to take them even more unawares. They jumped up from cover and opened fire on the grouping of Covenant.

The grunts were quick to die first, of course. Bullets soaked into them from both sides of the corridor as Redford's team, armed with assault rifles and pistols, pumped lead into their bodies. Tali's people, firing from on high with the same weapons, focus on their leaders. One of the Elites took several pistol rounds to his shields before he could get to cover. The heavy set calibre rounds cut him down with ease as he attempted to fire back.

But the remaining Elite and Batarian quickly dashed for cover behind a free standing server terminal situated on the floor level. It didn't offer much in the way of cover on either side, but it was really all they could manage to get to. Meanwhile, the grunts that were still alive were running for cover, their focus mostly on Chiktikka as the little drone continued to hound them around the engineering floor.

Tali knew the little drone could take care of herself, so she focused instead on the pressing threat of the two still living enemy officers. The Batarian kept huddled just out of view, firing his assault rifle against the railing of the overhanging upper level. Tali kept her head down and out of view as she traversed to properly flank him.

All the while, the second Elite was pinning down Redford's team. Tali decided to take care of the Batarian first. It would free her up to take care of the Elite with Redford and the others. A quick change on her omni-tool's settings and she leapt up from cover. Spark ignited against the Batarian's shields and he found that they had been drained.

He didn't have time to ponder it though. The next second the laser pointer of the Phalanx was centered squarely on his head and a single shot from the high powered pistol blew his third eye clean out. The Elite looked back to see his four eyed comrade downed and now Tali centered her laser sight on him.

"Take him!" She heard Redford shout.

Tali had already obliged firing what was left in her thermal clip at the Covenant officer. The elite fired back with a hailstorm of plasma bolts, but assault rifle fire from behind and from the front overwhelmed him. It didn't take long before the outnumbered covie was perforated.

As the final Elite lay dying on the floor, Tali jumped the railing and landed upon the ground. There was one final Covenant soldier inside engineering. That being the grunt who had been in the middle of the pack and he was still carrying the anti-matter charge. He had managed to outrun Chiktikka, who had by now used up her energy reserves for her combat runtime. The little alien stumbled over himself, clumsily trying to fire back on Tali as she ran after him. She ducked and rolled forward, letting the plasma bursts pass harmlessly over her head. The grunt fiddled with his anti-matter charge, trying to arm it with one hand while charging his plasma pistol to full power with the other. Tali knelt down as she saw the distinctive green glow and put her laser sights squarely on the gas sucking alien. One shot was all it took. The round sailed through the air and caught the grunt in his temple. The giant green plasma bolt fired upwards, striking the ceiling harmlessly.

Tali rushed over to the body and pried the anti-matter charge from the alien's corpse. Redford and the other engineers soon joined her by her side. Redford, his distinctive ginger stubble and hair standing out among the others members of engineering, eyed the explosive device.

"Souvenir?" He asked her

"Never know when it might be useful," she said, securing the device and strapping it to the utility belt around her waist.

The charge had been disarmed, so it wouldn't go off prematurely. With any luck she wouldn't end up using it and maybe she could get a chance to study it, but she'd see. For now she turned back to Redford and the others.

"Well that's settled. Let's get to the emergency elevator and up a few decks," Redford suggested. "Maybe we can still hitch a ride."

It was then that the secondary entrance that burst open. A cloud of dissipating plasma rushed inside the room. Following it soon after was a full squad of elites, armed to the mandibles with plasma rifles. It didn't take them long to spot Tali and her fellow engineers. With the tables turned once more the engineers ran for cover as plasma bolts sailed past them. They were clearly out matched by the superior strength and numbers of the Covenant. From her position Tali could hear other members of the engineering crew making mad dashes for the exit elevators, their weapons churning out bullets at the enemy but to no avail. She spotted one deckhand across from their position get gunned down by two elites as he stood his ground.

Bravery wouldn't help them in this situation. They had already pulled back to the cover offered by the upper level, but it was clear they had to leave along the lines of the others. Plus this wasn't their fight anymore. Tali watched from above as a squad of ODSTs on the catwalks fired onto the Elites below. They had shown up in the nick of time and two Elites were gunned down by the impressive display of firepower the ODSTs were packing. The deadly rain of fire from above was their cue to go, they had done their job.

"Get to the emergency lift! Now!" Tali shouted at the others.

Her fellow tech heads seemed to have just been waiting for someone, anyone, to say that. They quickly left cover, keeping their heads low to the ground, as they made their way to the emergency exit doors. Of course pulling back meant the Covenant could just surge forward and that was exactly what they did. Three elites bounded up the ramp to the second level. Tali activated Chiktikka once more, hoping it would give her fellow engineers more time to get to the elevator. The little drone sped towards the enemy, powering up it shock capacitors. It fired a full blast straight into the face of the lead elite.

"That's right Chiktikka," Tali said to herself as she pulled back. "Go for the optics like I programmed you."

Tali kept her position behind a work terminal, giving the engineers cover fire as they made a beeline for the exit. Sadly it was a position she soon had to abandon. Chiktikka was a powerful and capable drone, but she was not invincible. Although injured the lead elite recovered, his shields taking the brunt of the damage from the little drone. Chiktikka was soon pummeled with plasma bolt after plasma bolt. Unable to retain her physical form from all the damage, the combat drone dissipated, leaving Tali on her own.

The quarian made a dash for the exit where the other crew hands were. The doors slammed shut behind her once she entered. Tali then used her pistol to fire into the locking mechanism. It wasn't elegant or permanent but it would have to do for now.

She was now inside the stairwell for the Autumn, which winded up towards the top of the engine room. Everyone on the engineering staff was currently on the bottom floor rushing out of there as fast as possible.

"Elevator is through the back door!" Redford said, pointing Tali towards it. "Come on!"

But as soon as Tali moved up, the door behind them was blasted open. From the sound of it the Covenant had used plasma grenades to take it down. The three Elites that had been chasing them stomped through the doorway as the plasma cloud vanished. They levelled their weapons at the group of engineers. Tali and Redford pointed their guns back, ready to fire. But they wouldn't have to.

There was a loud whizzing sound from above on the stairwell. Speeding into their view, for a split second, came a rocket. It slammed into the doorway, engulfing the Elites in a fire ball. Tali and Redford were surprised for a moment. None of them had a rocket launcher, but someone apparently did. Dropping down from above, Kat showed herself lugging a rocket launcher over her shoulder.

"Heard the engine deck was in trouble and wasn't that far away," she explained. "Figured I could help."

"Glad you decided to," Tali agreed "Now let's move before their friends come!"

They soon joined the other engineers through the door and found themselves in a rather large elevator shaft.

"This lift will take us up to a service deck just a few floors up," Redford told them. "There should still be some lifeboats there which we can use. Not sure if they'll have a pilot for us when we get there though."

"I can fly us out," Kat promised. "I've done some simulations before."

"It'll have to do," Tali concurred as they made their way towards the lift.

As they neared it however, plasma bolts forced the three apart. Three more elites had replaced the ones Kat had killed and were advancing slowly on their little group. All of them were armed with plasma swords, primed and ready to cut them down.

The engineers on the lift pointed their weapons towards the door, hesitating to pull the trigger with both Kat and Tali in the way. Tali popped out her shotgun and fired two quick blasts in the direction of one of the elites, taking him down with relative ease. Kat caught the attention of the second, firing her pistol at the Covie as he turned to her. He swiped at her with a sword, but the Spartan III easily ducked it. She delivered a powerful punch with her new synthetic arm straight to his gut and then followed up with a nasty uppercut that put him down on his back.

As Kat went to finish him off, Tali aimed her shotgun at the final Elite standing, but he charged, shoulder checking her. The gun went off harmlessly into the air and Tali fell to the floor. The Elite levelled his plasma sword at her head. Tali started to make a move for her pistol, hoping she was faster than the Covenant officer.

But once again, she wouldn't have to use it.

In the next second, an omni-blade stabbed straight through the Elite's solar plexus. He contorted his body forward in agony before the blade exited and rammed itself through his neck. He tumbled over sideways revealing someone slowly becoming visible from behind where he once stood. Appearing before Tali's eyes was the all too familiar hooded face of another of her friends.

"Kasumi?"

"Oh don't be surprised," the ever reliable thief said as her cloak vanished. "I'm always coming to save you lately."

Kasumi stretched out her hand to pick her Quarian friend up.

"Now, let's get off this tub shall we?" She said.

---

The Grunt scampered around the floor, firing wildly at the Marines outside the narrow corridor. He wasn't much of a match for them alone, but he was still a threat. That and he had an Elite friend in front him of him taking most of the direct fire. This was why the Master Chief decided to end it quickly. He slammed the butt of his rifle into the back of the alien's skull and watched him topple over. It didn't take much to kill a grunt, especially when you had modified strength.

He next fired a full stream of bullets straight into the Elite as he stood there. A powerful shotgun blast followed, courtesy of Commander Shepard who was standing beside the Spartan. It was a cryo round and with the Covie's shields down the alien turned to ice within moments. Chief wasted no time butting the flash frozen Elite's head in with his rifle. The alien crumbled before him.

"Think you could use bullets that could do that?" Cortana asked him."Would cut down on the mess we leave behind."

"So long as they stay down when I use it I'm fine with any ammunition," Chief admitted. "Although I guess less blood on my armour would be welcomed."

Chief turned back to the Marines who stared at him with awe.

"See I told you there was one on board," said one elbowing his friend

"Shut up," sneered the second Marine in a hushed whisper. "Don't embarrass us in front of him."

Shepard chuckled a little at the scene.

"Looks like you got fans," he said smirking.

"Blame ONI for that, we're the worst kept secret weapon ever," Chief replied.

Chief didn't mind being looked up to, although he could at times do without the wide eyed wonderment. He supposed it was inevitable though, they had always been designed with shock value in mind.

The brief respite lasted all of five more seconds when a sudden terrible rumble shook the ship. The Marines gripped their rifles tightly as they steadied themselves. A scratching groaning sound of metal on metal could be heard next.

"The hell?" Asked one. "Did something just hit us?"

"Move in! Back to the airlock!" The other shouted.

The two took off with Shepard and the Chief close behind. They rounded the corner and found themselves near the entrance to what looked like a lifeboat launch station. Two more Marines were guarding the entrance, but not for long. A plasma blast erupted from the airlock door, sending the poor soldiers flying clear into the opposing wall. Spilling out from the lifeboat airlock was a whole squad of Covenant, two elites and a pack of five grunts for each of them. Shepard and the Master Chief ducked for the cover of the door frame as plasma bolts flew at them. The Covenant began to back up from airlock, seeking the cover of some crates near the next bend in the corridor.

"Oh no you don't," Shepard declared as he jumped out of cover.

He slung his arm forward sending a cascade of biotic energy rippling across the ground. It sent three of the grunts flying up into the air, smacking against the ceiling. Shepard sprayed his SMG at them as they floated and ran forward towards the airlock entrance way in pursuit of the other Covenant. Chief covered him with assault rifle fire, he took down a grunt and caught the ire of a nearby Elite. The alien artfully dodged the Spartan's gunfire as he moved towards the Spartan.

Chief dashed out of cover, still popping off rounds as the alien closed. The Elite landed some hits with his plasma rifle and the Chief shields sparked, but he had already closed the gap between him and his foe by then. The Covenant officer threw out a punch but Chief easily dodged it by going underneath the swinging arm. He popped back up behind him, kicked him in the square of the back once and then fired a full magazine of rounds straight into the alien's back. The Elite lurched forward, his shields quickly dying from powerful kick made him easy prey for the bullets that followed.

But Chief was out in the open and it gave the still living Elite a perfect target. He felt a sting on his shoulder as his shields went down, a plasma bolt ripped across his field of vision. He fired back, even as the plasma began to singe and tear at his skin. Even through his heavy armour he could still feel the pain.

Cortana was quick to cut in with her own bit of commentary for the event.

"Keep your head down there's two of us in here now, remember!?"

Chief threw himself into cover along with Shepard within the doorway of the airlock.

"I remember," he told the AI, trying not to sound annoyed. "Thanks for the concern."

He looked up from his position and saw the inside of the airlock shaft. It definitely wasn't a human lifeboat that was docked in here. It was purple for one and elongated. The lights resonated with a blue glow and alien writing adorned the walls.

"They're using our lifeboat airlocks to attach their boarding craft!" Cortana shouted, seemingly amazed by the ingenuity. "We go out and they come in! Clever bastards."

"Marvel at it later, Cortana," Chief said as he stood up. "We need to clear this deck."

"Agreed," the AI responded, going back to a more reserved and matter of fact disposition. "Motion tracker suggests they're using the crates for cover by now. Sadly we don't have any grenades or this would be easy. Perhaps the Commander can help."

Chief looked to Shepard who shrugged.

"No grenades," he admitted. "But I got something."

Shepard looked out upon the open terrain and then launched another blue ball. It split in two and flew behind the crates. Two grunts were pulled out from behind, kicking and screaming as they floated.

"Nice trick," Chief said, genuinely impressed although one could not tell.

Switching to his pistol Chief fired two shots into the floating grunts and watched as the other Covenant fled the position for the other bend in the hall.

"More Covenant in the next corridor if the motion tracker is anything to go by," Cortana warned. "Be careful boys."

"No promises," Shepard responded.

He pulled out of cover and Chief followed. Pressing themselves up against the edge of the entranceway Shepard peeked out to get a look.

"How many?" Chief asked.

A few plasma bolts struck the bulkhead around Shepard and he retracted his head back almost instantly.

"Lots," he stated simply. "This is going to require a few more... advanced tactics, splitting their focus should do the trick."

"Commander, if you're suggesting a flanking manoeuvre I don't see how you could pull it off in there," Cortana informed him.

"Don't worry I'll manage," He responded. "I'll head in first, get them from behind, you just follow me in and take them down while they're focused on me. Let's go!"

Shepard was off before Chief could discuss the plan further. He ran around the corner and the next thing Chief heard was some kind whooshing sound. He followed and found the Commander at the very back of the hall in another bend in the hallway. He was behind a plasma drop shield with an Elite bearing down on him. In between the Chief and Shepard were a few more grunts, two more elites and the airlock to the right of the corridor.

Almost as if anticipating his question, Cortana chimed in.

"Don't ask me," she said. "There was nothing in the codex files about biotics teleporting. Just get in there!"

Chief needed no further prompting. He jumped up from cover and rushed forward, firing his pistol into the heads of two grunts. The little gas suckers went down hard. A third ran up to Chief firing, earning a painful strike across his face from pistol's stock. The gas mask flew off as the little stump legged alien fell against the ground.

The Elites stood in the Chief's way now, earning equal measure assault rifle bursts as he rushed forward. He tackled one of the elites to the ground and crushed his face in with the butt of his rifle. The second Elite fired on him with his plasma rifle, but Master Chief wrenched the weapon of the fallen Elite from his now lifeless hands. He aimed and fired the gun at Covie at full throttle, letting the weapon smoke and flare as it began to overheat. It was worth the burning sensation against his hand. The Elite's shields flickered and died as the bolts hit him. He was forced up against the wall where the cauterized wounds took their toll and the Elite slowly slid down to the floor.

The adrenaline rush quieted and the tunnel vision of combat faded, Chief stood up in time to see Shepard struggling with the final Elite. The alien was throwing punches at the Commander, trying to wallop him and then shoot him alternately.

Finally, the Commander got his shotgun stuck in the back of the Covie and fired a close range inferno round. The kept him down for good. When Shepard turned back to the main hall he was surprised to find Master Chief had already finished things on his end. At least that's what his face told the Spartan.

"Whoa," he said surprised. "You work fast."

"You're slow, you're dead," Chief responded, standing up as he walked back up to the Commander. "It's one of the first rules of combat."

"Yeah the drill sergeant loved pounding that one into me too," Shepard admitted. "Course you must've heard it for a lot longer being..."

Shepard suddenly clammed up as he looked the Master Chief, unable to complete his sentence fully. Chief looked at him confused, expecting him to continue. Although he had an idea of what he was about to say. He wouldn't have cared all that much if he just came out and said it. It would have been a change from people just tip-toeing around the proverbial elephant in the room. Sadly, Shepard wasn't willing to be that person.

"Never mind," the Commander stated as he looked away.

The short awkward silence that preceded the exchange was interrupted by the two Marines catching up to the two hardened veterans. One of them whistled at the handiwork spewed across the floors and walls.

"Nice job, sirs!" He said giving them both a thumbs-up.

"You better get going, Chief!" The other added. "We'll stay here and secure this airlock."

"Just be sure you get out on a boat when you can," the Spartan ordered them. "We'll need everyone down there on that ring."

The Marines just seemed to smile broadly and ran off to secure the area. Chief and Shepard began to make their way out of the corridor.

"Lifeboats are already gone here," Shepard noted. "I hope we haven't run out."

"My sensors are detecting several dozen more in this section alone," Cortana assured. "We'll have a ride if we hurry. Let's just hope that every pod that's left hasn't had its dock filled by a Covenant boarding craft by now. Otherwise we're in real trouble."

As if this wasn't already real trouble, Master Chief thought. Not even an hour after waking up, their ship had been attacked, covies were pouring through literally every hole they could find and their only hope of salvation was some strange ring planet floating in the void of space. What was that saying in the Navy of old? The only easy day was yesterday? If only everyone knew how true that was. Compared to Reach this was going bad way faster, and he just knew it was going to get worse.