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.

5. Not a Natural Formation

Chapter 4: Not a Natural Formation

"We're coming in too fast!"

"Damn, airbrake failure! They blew too early! I'm losin' her! Brace for impact!"

The transmission cut out and replayed. The same lines repeated once more.

"We're coming in too fast!"

"Damn, airbrake failure! They blew too early! I'm losin' her! Brace for impact!"

Guilty Spark had been playing the message as fast as he could process over and over. It was the one thing he was able to gleam from the crashing ship. More accurately, one of the escape pods that had ejected from it, a fact he had deduced not long after he compiled the audio file.

"We're coming in too fast!"

"Damn, airbrake failure! They blew too early! I'm-"

Spark cut the file. He needed to focus and it gleaned no information that he could use.

"So disappointing." He said despondently to himself. "The first contact in thousands of years and it's blown from the skies by those other ships in the region, such a shame."

He floated over to the nearby console and activated it. He had already determined that the giant vessel, Pillar of Autumn, had crashed on a rocky cliffside on a distant side of the ring. He doubted there were many survivors there, and the words spoken from the escape pods the ship had launched were not doing much to raise his spirits. If only the ships that had arrived earlier had not moved out of weapons range behind the gas giant, he would have been able to destroy them before they caused any harm to the human ship. Sadly, once they had engaged the humans there was nothing he could do. Enabling the defences would paint all nearby ships as targets, and he could not do that now. With so many of the other vessels here they would potentially destroy the ring for all he knew. Protocol could not allow that. He would need to find another way to get rid of them.

For now he focused on finding the humans, if any of them were still left. He looked over the console screen, expecting the worst, but to his delight signatures popped up all over the screen. Even at the human crash site! Yes, the humans were alive! Today was not a loss after all. At the very least it wasn't boring anymore.

"Most exciting!" he said jubilantly "I must make preparations for contact. So much to prepare, so little time, but protocol must be followed before initiating contact with them. We cannot stray now."

There was no one to talk to, not here, but Guilty Spark didn't care that he was voicing his thoughts aloud. Not when the promise of his creators was finally being fulfilled. His boredom was at an end. He had someone to talk to, someone to tell him everything, someone to be judged by, at long last. This was going to be wonderful.

---

This was disastrous, he knew that there would be potential human survivors who would make it to The Ring, but he had not expected so many of the escape pods to land there. The humans had infested Halo and the longer they waited the harder it would be to get rid of them. And that was only one of his problems.

Thel 'Vadamee's eyes were glued to the human locked away in the cells. The feed from the Truth and Reconciliation showed the scruffy pitiful little animal hobbling around his tiny cage. He looked up at the ceiling and walls. He didn't seem to be showing much in the way of fear concerning his present predicament. He didn't look threatening, but Thel wasn't taking chances. The Truth and Reconciliation had been disabled in the battle over The Ring. Considering it was still undergoing repairs the ship was hardly of strategic importance. It was the perfect place to house the human until he decided what to do with him, after dealing with the Batarian who had captured him, of course.

Thel turned from the screen, looking down at Lieutenant Commander Vorvak from his command platform. The batarian seemed unmoved by the Sangheili's grimacing stare. The Prophet of Empathy was nearby, he wasn't very happy either from the looks of it. Good, something they could agree on perhaps.

"Your orders were to locate the Normandy and ensure its destruction." Thel reminded Vorvak. "You instead abandoned your mission, fled the battle and brought back a human alive! Where in my orders, Lieutenant Commander, did I request you return with prisoners?"

"Not just any human," Vorvak said unflinchingly and with the utmost confidence, "this human is the Normandy's pilot. He will be of no difficulty to hold indefinitely. Our files suggest he is inflicted with a rare human disease that makes him extremely frail. His bones are practically glass."

The Prophet of Empathy suddenly turned back to the screen where the prisoner was displayed and took a harder look at him.

"That would explain quite a bit." He observed, as his neck stretched out towards the screen "Still, what use is he to us? Human capture is reserved for high value targets or if the Inquisitor wills it. We should simply put the animal out of his prolonged misery and ours before he defiles our ship any further with his stench."

"That would be a waste," Varvok spoke up again, "as the pilot of the Normandy he is privy to the inner workings of the ship. He is also no doubt aware of the capabilities of both the Normandy and her crew to a greater extent than our current intelligence. Such information could further assist us in our efforts to destroy the ship and deal with Commander Shepard's team."

Thel admitted to himself that knowing more of the enemy would perhaps be a boon to their cause. Still, he wasn't so sure about how knowledgeable this sickly looking creature was. Then Varvok pointed out something else to him.

"Shepard will no doubt attempt to retrieve his pilot as well." The batarian continued "His loyalty to his crew will drive him to seek him out. He'll come to us now, making it easier for us to deal with him."

It seemed to be a sound idea, but Thel didn't want to put all his hopes on Varvok's little impromptu plan. The pilot would be useful for information perhaps, but the chances of the False Shepherd figuring out where they were holding him seemed incredibly unlikely. There was a chance though, however scant he believed it was, that the human would come. Varvok claimed he knew how the "Alliance," as the humans called themselves in his dimension, operated and that the False Shepherd was no different from any standard human in that regard. Thel didn't think much of the batarian but he could agree there. For all their heathen traits, the humans did sacrifice much to save their kind. They were predictable in that sense. That did not mean Varvok was suddenly forgiven for disobeying orders.

"Next time I give your men an order, you follow it." Thel informed him sternly "Regardless of potential loss of life, you do not retreat until I tell you to."

Varvok's face at that remark revealed much about what he thought of that. Such a sacrifice was beyond his capabilities. He was unwilling to lead his men into certain death. The reason was obvious, he didn't believe in the cause. That was apparent in all batarians, they had only joined to kill humans. They cared nothing for the Forerunners or the Journey or even why the humans had to die, just that they needed to be exterminated. They reminded him too much of the Jiralhanae, and Vorvak was no different.

"I will do what I must in service to this alliance," Vorvak replied. "I will uphold our end of this partnership, but I will not put the lives of men before it."

Thel didn't appreciate the subtle insubordination, but he had given up long ago trying to beat it into the four eyed imbeciles. The Prophet of Empathy was less willing to simply let it go.

"Your men serve the Covenant now, their lives are ours to do with as we see fit!" He said, his long neck rising up in anger. "You should be honoured we're even letting you see the magnificence of Halo as well as begging us to let you set foot upon it to cleanse it! Instead you make snide remarks against the Covenant's will! You're here at our expense, never forget that."

Of course he didn't try to defend his command, what did Thel expect? Empathy seemed to take offence at everything, considering all forms of insults as some form of a personal attack. Even if it was directed at someone else. Bluster, not that Thel would call it such aloud. For his part, at least Varvok was keeping a relatively cool head, as evidenced by his even handed response.

"You'll need every available man to search Halo for the human survivors." Varvok reminded them both. "That includes my men and our varren. If you think you can manage better without them, be my guest."

Empathy probably would've tossed the batarian out, but Thel realised he needed everyone on deck if they were to resolve this quickly. He also recognized the importance of the varren. The reptilian beasts would be able to track the humans down with ease, he'd need them.

"Very well Varvok," Thel spoke up before the Prophet could respond. "You will have your second chance to prove your worth."

The Prophet of Empathy seemed incensed at being cut off.

"What?!" he shouted in disbelief. "We're going to let him on the Ring after... this!"

"Not unsupervised, your Excellence." Thel assured before turning to the command console and opening a channel. "Send the Kig-Yar in now."

The doors to the bridge opened wide. The metal floor clacked as the bird-like feet of the Kig-Yar walked in. He was hunched over, lugging a focus rifle across his back as he walked in. His body and head were hunched forward. His brown skin dotted with little pecks and scars across his body. His armour was etched with a good number of lines that he had scratched onto it over the years, indications of his long career. His purple-bluish feathers were adorned in that usual mowhawk-style his kind wore them in, but unlike many a Kig-Yar they were much cleaner. The targeting visor on his head was currently on, but he switched off the holographic eye piece before standing straight. As straight as any Kig-Yar could stand at least. He stared up at Thel, cocking his head slightly side to side.

"Welcome to the bridge, Zek." Thel greeted grimacing. "Do you know why I've summoned you?"

The Kig-Yar merely shrugged and repositioned the rifle over his shoulders.

"I can't say I do to be honest." Zek replied in his wispy scraggly voice, sniffing slightly through the nostrils in his beak. "I can only guess it's something important if a Sangheili wants to talk to me. I thought I was beneath you all last I heard."

Once again the Prophet of Empathy saw fit to insert his own form of order on the Kig-Yar, rather than let Thel handle him. The Prophet slammed his bony little fist onto his floating miniature throne. It was getting extremely predictable and annoying how often he kept interrupting.

"Watch your tongue, pirate!" Empathy ordered. "Or do you want your snide remarks to land you in the brig once more?"

Thel stepped out in ahead of the Prophet on the command deck, trying to reassert his own authority. Zek looked unhinged by either display. He was so typical of Kig-Yar, so cocky, brash, sure of himself and arrogant. Above all they were defiant of any authority but their own. There was a reason they were so low in the hierarchy within the Covenant, second only to the Unggoy as the lowest ranking species in fact. They weren't soldiers, they were criminals, opportunists, but they had their uses regardless. At least they weren't Jiralhanae, for they possessed a semblance of intelligence in those greedy skulls of theirs.

"Your report claimed you encountered the Normandy crew three times aboard the human ship," Thel explained to Zek. "Three times you faced them. You even reached the Normandy itself. Yet you failed to kill any of them before you retreated."

Again, the Kig-Yar just shrugged nonchalantly.

"Everyone has bad days, Supreme Commander." He answered simply. "You can't expect to kill your prey on the first shot every time. That's especially so when they're all accomplished marksman in their own right."

"That sounds more like an excuse than anything. Not to mention a compliment towards the enemy." Thel replied, crossing his arms in disbelief and subdued anger. "Your record claims you're far more capable than this. Could it be you're just slipping?"

That finally seemed to touch a nerve with Zek, his eyes narrowed as he looked up at Thel.

"Rest assured, next time will be different." He swore.

"You'll get the chance to uphold that promise." Thel answered, motioning to Varvok. "You will be accompanying Lieutenant Commander Varvok to Halo. Your mission will be to assist him in hunting the humans on the surface and of course reporting on his actions as well."

No sense in hiding it from Varvok, the batarian was smart enough to figure it out on his own. Besides, Thel wanted him to know Zek was watching him. A Kig-Yar Sniper was a dangerous set of eyes, no matter what side you were on. Zek for his part gave the batarian a wizened look upon learning of his mission.

"Oh so that's why he's here." Zek noted "Does that mean I can't bring my crew along then? They'd appreciate the fresh air if nothing else."

Thel rolled his eyes, to think a pirate would have the audacity to request something from him of all people. However, it did offer the opportunity to get rid of Zek's men for awhile and put them to use.

"Tell them they're permitted onto The Ring, but they are your baggage." Thel warned "As are Varvok's men for him. Now go, both of you."

Zek and Varvok were quick to walk off, eager to get their jobs done. Maybe for different reasons, but so long as they produced results Thel didn't care.

"Heard batarians got some mean rifles," Zek spoke in delighted voice at the prospect fo using one as he walked out of the bridge. "Don't suppose I can't try a few."

"We'll see, Zek." Varvok responded, seemingly unmoved by the request. "It will depend on how well you can pull your own weight."

"Hardcase, huh?" Zek responded, feigning disappointment. "And here I was hoping you'd be different from the sangheili and lacked a stick up your ass. Oh well."

Thel could just hear Vorvak groan as the doors shut. Good, Zek was his problem now. Although the Prophet of Empathy didn't seem to appreciate the arrangement as much as he did.

"I don't like letting those batarians and pirates work together." He grumbled. "Let alone being allowed on Halo with true believers."

"Our fleet is large, but we took significant losses in the battle with the humans." Thel reminded him. "We must make do with what we have."

Empathy swivelled his throne back to him, an angered look on his face.

"If you had waited for the Jiralhanae ships to ready themselves to follow us we would not have to make due." He declared.

Once again the Prophet showed why they needed his people, they weren't strategists, nor did they understand war.

"And the humans might have reached Halo first." Thel reminded him. "I made a calculated risk. Besides, we do not need those savages to resolve this. The sangheili will carry the day as we always have. We simply need to coordinate our forces to overwhelm the human survivors quickly before they can establish a firm presence on Halo."

"Perhaps you are right," Empathy admitted slumping back in his chair, "but that will require pulling teams away from excavation in order to initiate such a rapid response. I'm not sure if that is preferable, perhaps we should consult the Oracle first."

Thel merely nodded. It would be a good idea to ask it what they needed to do. After all, excavation was just as important, but the humans were a threat. He just hoped that the Oracle saw his side of the argument. He pressed a few buttons on the console and opened another channel, this one took awhile to establish considering the range the connection needed to travel. In moments, a holographic image appeared on the screen. It showed the image of a sloped headed many legged machine with one large eye surrounded by three smaller ones on either side of it in the center. Thel looked to its previously damaged appendage and saw their repairs were practically completed. No doubt the new weapons system was already installed and the Oracle was almost at full working capacity once more.

"What is the purpose of this transmission?" it demanded to know "Do you have news of excavation?"

"No, Great Inquisitor, not presently I am afraid." Empathy stated, sounding more humble now than he had all day. "We wish to inform you the humans have arrived as you predicted and we were able to destroy their ship. But many survivors of the vessel fled to the surface."

Thel quickly cut in.

"We will need to act quickly before they establish a foothold on the surface." He began. "Our ships are moving to intercept their landing sites now to hunt them down, but I believe we will need a more rapid response. Therefore, I suggest we halt excavation and commit all resources to-"

The Inquisitor did not even bother to let him finish.

"There will be no halt of excavation." It declared loudly. "You will continue on the course already set. Use all forces not already previously engaged on the Ring to hunt down the humans, but excavation shall continue unabated."

"My lord," Empathy stated, "perhaps the Supreme Commander is correct. Isn't cleansing Halo more important than uncovering its secrets at the moment? It is what the Forerunners would desire, would they not?"

"You will not presume to speak for the Forerunners." The Inquisitor announced. "Excavation will continue or you will not see the illumination of the path and the Journey will never begin. Use available converted at your disposal however you see fit to make up for your lack of resources. Eliminate the humans and the Normandy crew by whatever means, but excavation will continue. This exchange has ended."

The Inquisitor terminated the communication. It was rather distressing for things to be so final. At least for him, Empathy didn't seem to care.

"We best move the converted into position then." He said simply. "Nothing more we can do."

"This is not an advisable strategy, your excellence." Thel warned. "We give them a chance to escape."

"The Inquisitor has been right so far, Supreme Commander." The Prophet replied his tone unchanged from before. "If it says the Forerunners would wish us to continue excavation, we shall continue excavation. Besides, once we have unlocked the secrets of Halo the humans will be powerless to stop us in any case."

It was pointless to argue, but Thel still didn't like it. He just hoped what they could commit to the fight would be enough to deal with the humans before they spread like an accursed virus and contaminated this ring further. Maybe the Prophet was right, the Inquisitor hadn't led them astray so far and if excavation did indeed unlock Halo's secrets killing the humans would be moot. The Greatest Journey of all would begin and the humans would no longer be a problem.

---

It took awhile for the throbbing pain in his head to stop feeling so acute. It took even longer for the inky blackness to recede and for his eyes to finally focus on the world around him. He could hear something prodding him awake a voice, no two, trying to get his attention. Eventually the world came into focus, or more accurately the helmet of a super soldier staring down at him.

"Commander Shepard?" Came a female voice from the radio. "Commander Shepard, can you hear me?"

Shepard's eyes finally opened wide and he could see Chief clearly at last. The pain in his skull returned as he brought a hand up to his head. He got a better view of his surroundings. He had been pushed into the back of the escape pod, just along the edge of the door that had now been blasted off. He could see the other Marines in their chairs, but they weren't moving. The only person that was active, it seemed, was the Master Chief himself.

"Surprised you survived," Chief told him. "I at least had armour lock."

"I've had worse." he swore as he moved his head around slightly. "Crumbling platforms over bottomless pits, getting dropped at a steep angle inside an APC, hell I'm surprised I don't have more bruises."

"Can you move?" Cortana asked through the radio. "Can you get up?"

Shepard rose to his feet, gripping onto the edge of the doorway of the pod to keep himself balanced. It took a moment, but his legs soon solidified and his knees stopped shaking. He looked to Chief and, by extension, Cortana.

"Anyone else make it?" he asked them both.

Chief didn't answer, all Shepard saw a slight tilt of the head. Cortana gave the grim news for him.

"No, just us." she replied sadly. "There was... there's nothing we could've done."

Cortana seemed more upset about the loss than Chief did. She struggled to retain her composure just speaking of the dead Marines, while he remained stoic. Then again, Shepard couldn't really see his face, so who really knew what he was thinking right now. He was good with body language, but the Spartan exhibited little to none.

Regardless, the tragedy of it all was apparent to anyone who could see the lifeboat itself. Shepard looked at the bodies of the Marines in the pod, all dead, slumped in their seats. It didn't matter that they were buckled up, when the air brakes failed the force of the impact did them in. The fact he had laid flat to the floor and shielded himself with his biotics at the last minute were both probably the only factors that had kept him alive. He just hoped it had been quick for the less fortunate Marines.

Like Cortana said, there was nothing more they could do for them. They were on their own. Shepard slowly stepped out of the pod, following Chief as he walked over to an unfortunate pair of Marines that had gotten thrown out of the escape pod when impact blew the door off. They were lying just a few feet away, their equipment and ammo strewn about. One of them was the soldier who had asked Chief if they were gonna make it. Chief bent down next to him in the dirt and dug around his neck for his dog tags. He pulled them off quickly and stood back up as he placed in a compartment on his armour.

So far, it was the closest Shepard had seen the Spartan show a reaction to what had happened.

Shepard now looked up from the dead Marines. The grisly sight was contrasted by what he saw around them. Magnificent pinewoods stretched up to the sky, their bristles a dark shade of green. A dozen yards away from their crash site was an astonishing waterfall crashing down into a rocky little pond. The sunlight glistened against it and the rocks, accenting their natural splendour. It almost felt like a regular little forest clearing or valley on earth, or it would have were it not for the truly alien skyline.

When Shepard's eyes traced upward to look at the horizon and was instantly reminded of how truly alien this artificial world was. The horizon looped around him, it did not end, it just kept going in a circle. He could actually see an island and a continent directly across from him. Directly over him he could see the other side of the ring world itself, marking sky above his head. It was awe inspiring.

He had joined the Alliance to see more than just the paltry few colony worlds humanity had settled in their short time among the stars. Never in a million years would he have guessed he'd have seen something like this.

"This is amazing." He said aloud at last before shouting, "You can see everything. I bet it's even clearer during nightfall!"

A million questions were already flooding his mind, but he didn't get the chance to ask any of them. While Shepard had noticed briefly the Spartan taking in the scenery as well, Chief nevertheless called him back to the situation at hand abruptly.

"We can't be the only ones who got off the Autumn." He stated. "Can you contact your ship, Commander?"

Shepard tried, placing his finger up to his ear, but all got was static. He clenched his teeth slightly before lowering his hand.

"Static," he exclaimed "don't seem to be getting a signal otherwise."

He momentarily feared the worst before Cortana reassured him.

"I can't raise anyone on our channels either." The AI chimed in "It's possible the Covenant are trying to jam our frequencies or maybe the ring itself is making it difficult. I'll keep trying to raise someone, but unless it's short range I doubt we'll pick up much of anything until I solve this."

Shepard hoped that Miranda got the Normandy out. She wouldn't have risked the lives of those Marines and the crew indefinitely. She was stubborn, but she wasn't stupid. No, she got the ship out of there, he knew she had. Once they resolved this communication problem they'd be able to call in pick-up and hopefully link up with any survivors on the ring.

Shepard's concerns about the fates of his crewmates were forcibly put aside, however, as Cortana piped back up once more.

"Warning, I've detected a Covenant drop ship on approach." She told them "They must be looking for survivors."

Chief looked over to the left and Shepard joined him by his side. They saw a bridge spanning a crevice that cut through the earth and the side of the cliff. On the other side of the bridge was an incline dotted with trees that led up into the hills above them. They stared out past the cliff itself and could see a single dot closing in fast on their position.

"I recommend moving into the hills." Cortana told them. "With any luck they'll think everyone aboard this pod died in the crash."

"Better than staying out in the open I guess." Shepard agreed.

He ran back to one of the dead Marines and grabbed his sidearm. A pistol was the best he could do for now beyond his shotgun. Chief was already halfway across the bridge when he was done. Shepard wasted no time in rushing after him. He caught up to the Spartan just as the dropship flew clear over their heads. Hopefully they hadn't seen them. The undercarriage turret that swivelled bellow the cockpit didn't seem to target them if that was any indication.

The two made their way into the shadows along the incline that led into the hills. Momentarily they stopped under the trees and looked back towards the pod. The U-shaped dropship had already landed and the full contingent of grunts and Elites spilled out of it. The aliens made their way over to the pod and began to search it and the surrounding area. Shepard saw one of the grunts kick the dead Marines on the ground one after the other, trying to see if they were really dead. An Elite pushed the little gas breather aside, his talons clutching around the tiny alien's face and throwing him back. The Elite's method of testing was more to the point. He simply shot the dead bodies point blank with his plasma rifle and moved on. As the Covenant officer ordered the grunts to search towards the waterfall, Shepard looked to the Master Chief.

"You ever notice how crap they treat those little guys?" He asked the Spartan.

Chief did not answer, but Cortana did. Shepard was getting used to that already.

"Covenant hierarchy has them at the bottom." Explained the AI's voice as it filled Shepard's ear through his com-link. "No one respects them. They're probably the only members of the Covenant that don't even want to be here at all."

Shepard remembered, he had read the files ONI and the UNSC gave them. It still felt weird to Shepard though, even the Blood Pack seemed to treat their vorcha better and they were seen as just as expendable by the krogan. He tried to put it out of his mind, but every time he saw it with his own eyes he was reminded the Covenant wasn't so easy an enemy to grasp.

Looking closer he only saw two Elites in the group. They were both talking with each other now as the grunts scurried about. Even though Shepard hadn't changed his mind about getting to higher ground, he was surprised to see such a small search party. Given how badly the Covenant wanted to keep them off this ring, he expected a few more.

"Only two squads, there's gotta be more nearby," he reasoned quietly.

"Covenant search parties don't stray too far from each other." The Chief concurred. "There's definitely more nearby. Chances are they split from the larger group, only reason they'd do that though is if there was another pod close to this one."

That meant there were probably more survivors nearby and no doubt in need of a good deal of help themselves. As if that wasn't enough incentive to get moving, the next sound they heard was a terrible screeching through the air. They looked up and saw two purple aircraft cutting swaths through the skies above them.

"Banshees," Cortana warned them, "they're widening their search pattern. Let's keep to the shadows and get moving up into the hills."

Shepard and the Master Chief complied and kept moving up the incline towards the top. They left their little lifeboat behind, along with the bodies of their compatriots. There was nothing more for them here, there were no doubt others who needed their help.

---

From where she sat, Tali couldn't see the ground rushing up to the lifeboat, but she definitely felt it when they touched down. The air brakes may have slowed them down, but the way the pod slammed into the dirt gave her and everyone else a good jolt. She gripped onto her restraints tightly as the lifeboat skidded at least five feet across the soil before finally coming to a stop. The rough landing brought to mind all those times they dropped the Mako out of the Normandy back in the good old days. This had only been a slightly less harrowing experience, because at least the prospect of Shepard driving afterwards was in no way involved.

"Ugh, worst rollercoaster ever." Kasumi piped up, practically groaning as her head bobbed back and forth. "Thank God I had a light breakfast or I'd be upchucking right now."

Tali thanked all those hours she spent in the simulator on the Flotilla. Father had always insisted she needed to work up a resistance to motion sickness on re-entry if something ever happened. While her head was still spinning, she wasn't nauseous, so that at the very least she could thank him for.

Tali lifted her restraints and stood up. Slowly of course, you didn't want to get lightheaded and collapse back down into the seat. She reached over to the manual release lever and pulled it down. The lifeboat's doors opened up with a hiss and before long everyone was piling out of the crashed pod.

Tali was at the front of the group as it exited. She saw that they had landed in a small enclosed valley with high walls, a few trees dotting the area and a giant pile of rocks covering a hillside to their immediate right. Above them Tali could see the ring, the entire ring, stretching across the sky like a band or a ribbon suspended in the air. This place had certainly earned its spot in the "weirdest places I've been" category quickly. It ranged somewhere between the Collector Base at the center of the galaxy and the Prothean ruins on Ilos.

Tali's gaze towards the alien skyline, however, was interrupted by Kat's exit from the lifeboat.

"I thought you said you could fly this thing?" Kasumi spoke up, looking away from the ring herself to give the Spartan a condescending look.

"I said I could fly, I never said anything about the landing." Kat responded somewhat forcefully. "Besides, we're alive aren't we?"

Not something you could argue with, although Tali probably would've preferred landing near the other pods in their group. At least there would be strength in numbers then. Now there was just their little band against whatever this ring had to offer.

Kat was quick to point out it wasn't all bad, even though no one had said so yet. They were all thinking it of course. That's why the Spartan must've felt it keen to remind them of the rocky hillside by pointing to it.

"And we landed next to a good defensive position." She said, finishing her thought. "We should be able to hold out till pickup. As crash landings go I say we turned out fine."

Tali decided she'd get on ordering that said pickup already. No sense sticking around for any Covenant search parties to find them. It was easier thought of then done though as she soon realised. Her optimism towards the prospect of a speedy rescue was dashed when as all she ended up getting back in her attempts to contact the Normandy was static. Wincing slightly at the noise, she turned off the com and looked back at the assembled group behind her.

"I can't raise the Normandy," she said begrudgingly. "I'm getting a signal, but everything is static."

"You don't think they're..."

Tali wouldn't let Kasumi finish that thought. They couldn't think like that, none of them could think like that. Not now. She wouldn't let them.

"Miranda wouldn't keep the Normandy on a sinking ship. She got off with the Normandy, I'm sure of it." Tali told her. "If I can boost the signal I can cut through the interference and-"

Tali was unable to finish her attempt at consoling her little group of humans, as a loud boom cut her off. At first she thought it was some kind of bombardment, but the truth became evident rather quickly. Tali looked up to where the sound had come from and saw something aflame in the sky coming down close to their position fast.

It wasn't a weapon blast at all, but something entering the atmosphere of the ring. As it came closer to them, Tali realised it was an ODST drop pod. She had never really seen one in person, but she had looked up pictures and she recognized the outline. The pod was headed in hard and in its last moments of flight directed itself towards the top of the rocky hill. Tali heard the crash and saw a ton of dirt get kicked up from up on top like a miniature mushroom cloud.

"Move up!" Kat ordered, immediately taking command.

Tali let her, she was still a Lieutenant Commander and she didn't want to lead anyone anyway. It wasn't her strong suit. The group moved up through the rocks to the top of the hill and found the drop pod resting ankle deep in the dirt. Everyone crowded around the pod, but not too close, the door could explode outward at any moment. You didn't want a slab of metal smacking you clean in the face.

The metal housing of the pod was still seared and smoking from the re-entry process. They only got about a good ten seconds of looking at it before the door of the pod popped clean off, steam poured out from the inside and out stumbled a single orange armour clad big ODST with an assault rifle in hand. Tali instantly recognized him.

"Dutch?" Tali asked amazed. After all, what were the chances out of all the ODSTs that one of Buck's squadmates would land near their crash site?

Dutch looked up to the sound of the quarian girl's voice and chuckled a bit before waving his hand real quick.

"Tali, small ring world." He said jovially, but still catching his breath. "Sorry for dropping in unannounced."

"An extra gun is appreciated." Kat assured him.

Dutch looked briefly to the Spartan, but Tali caught his attention again with another question.

"Where's the rest of your squad?" she asked him. "I thought ODSTs dropped together."

"Yeah, but we ran into some debris on the way down." Dutch explained hastily. "And if that didn't make us change course enough this group of Covenant Phantoms did. They were headed planetside, same as us, and we had to break off our designated drop path to avoid them. Scattered the whole squad from the looks of it, they could be anywhere in this valley by now."

Either way they were stuck with each other for now. Tali explained the problem with their comms, and Dutch apparently had the same with his. Wherever the rest of Dutch's team were they had no idea where he was. Not like Sergeant Buck could've helped them anyway, he probably had his own problems by now.

The whereabouts of Dutch's fellow ODSTs would have to wait though. A strange low hum caused Kat's eyes to dart to the sky in a panic.

"In the rocks, now!" she ordered.

Everyone dashed towards the cover of the rock and shadows. It didn't take long to see Kat's reasons for concern. Flying a few miles overhead was a flight phantoms cresting over the ridge above them. Given Dutch's story perhaps they should've expected them. They seemed to be just scouting the area for now though, so there was no direct threat. Unfortunately, while they could hide, the lifeboat was out in the open. That would be enough to warrant further investigation.

However, despite all the reasons to do so, the Phantoms kept on flying. Why, Tali couldn't figure out. Perhaps they were not loaded down with Covenant soldiers. Maybe they were just on a supply run. One thing was for sure, they or some of their friends would be back to check on things if they had seen that lifeboat. And they most likely had seen it. More importantly, if there were Phantoms in the area then there were Covenant nearby somewhere. Kat seemed to agree with Tali's thoughts.

"Covenant are swarming the valley by now." Kat wagered as she peered out from the rocks. "We best get all our supplies from the lifeboat and be ready for a siege."

The Spartan looked to the Quarian.

"Tali, you keep trying to cut through that static." She told her "I'll see about contacting what's left of the Autumn's crew on my end."

The only real hope they had was for their friends to come for them. There had to be other survivors, they had to be nearby and they had to be coming for them. What other chances did they have? Sticking it out here was going to require a lot of patience and even more luck. But Tali knew one thing for certain, if Shepard was out there, and he was, he'd come for them. He always did.

---

Varvok could understand the reverence for this ring from an aesthetic point. In fact he himself was in awe of it. What he couldn't understand was the Covenant's seemingly fanatical desire to kill all of the humans that were currently trapped on it. In fact he couldn't understand a lot of what the Covenant did. Their motivations for hating humanity seemed incredibly circular in their logic. Just by existing they were an offence? They were somehow deemed unholy by the gods? They weren't even given the option of converting to the faith? Considering the Covenant was made up of several different alien races why they singled the humans out he could never figure out beyond the vague religious beliefs of their new allies.

At least he and every other batarian he knew had legitimate reasons for hating humans. They were upstarts and stealing what was rightfully the Hegemony's. What better reason was there to hate them? It made more sense than saying they were a blight or an affront to the Gods or whatever.

Then again he had never been very sure of the Covenant. On the surface they had a lot in common, until he got to know them. And being stuck with them for months already he had really gotten to know them. They were arrogant, fanatical, disrespectful and intolerant. They were like every krogan stereotype to the nth degree and they almost seemed proud of it.

At times, Varvok thought of discussing the wisdom of allying themselves with these genocide hungry fundamentalists with Balak. Was it really worth putting up with them just to get some payback against the Alliance? But then, Varvok remembered he had had that conversation. Maybe they were not in those exact words, but he had brought similar concerns to Balak and each time Balak always said the same thing back.

It was worth it, the cause was worth it and the batarian people were worth it. He told Varvok to suck it up and do his damn job, so Varvok did so like the good soldier he was. Besides, Balak hadn't been wrong before right? Why doubt his judgement now? At least that's what he told himself.

At least for once the Kig-Yar he had rode down to the ring with weren't completely belligerent. Zek had introduced him and his men to his crew rather smarmily though, calling them "The Four Eyed Crinkle Head Brigade" before introducing his men as their "hatchling-sitters for today." It was an annoying first introduction. He was being mocked by a damn bird, and one that was shorter than him, and worst of all he had to take it.

But while he thought this was going to be the start of a painful trip to the surface, Varvok was pleasantly surprised to find that Zek was more interested in checking out his beam rifle and headset scope. At least he seemed to take his role as a sniper seriously. From what little time they had spent with each other so far it had been the only thing he showed any sense of passing professionalism about. He certainly wasn't your regular Covenant soldier, it was kind of refreshing.

Zek's ship was a corvette, although it had under gone some upgrades according to the Kig-Yar in the past few months. For one, better shields courtesy of mass effect technology. Also it had been fitted with a single heavy plasma turret along the front. They were supposedly only reserved for battlecruisers, somehow Zek had gotten it onto his Corvette without sacrificing mobility. That couldn't have been his doing or any of his men. They didn't seem incredibly tech savvy. Gun savvy yes, tech savvy no.

The corvette had entered the atmosphere and had begun ferrying Zek's crew along with Varvok's men down to the surface proper. Whether it was batarian shuttles or those U-shaped dropships the Covenant liked so much didn't matter, so long as they all got down there.

The view from the surface of the ring world was certainly unique. Although given how odd this place appeared to be that was no surprise. He had to admit, it wasn't much of a stretch to believe this place had some kind of religious sort of awe to it.

When he stepped out onto the surface with his men, he saw that the Kig-Yar had already gotten to work setting up a little base camp. They had pop-up shields, a few shade turrets for good measure and even some gun pods strewn about. Zek was directing the set up as well as keeping watch over the area. Varvok approached him as he told his men to help out their little bird friends. He wanted to talk to his counter-part for the moment, see if he had some sort of strategy to give regarding hunting down the humans. Probably not worth the effort to ask, but he had that kill count strewn across his armour for a reason.

"So do we even have an idea where to start looking?" he asked the Kig-Yar.

"I got my people up in the ship scanning for human beacons," Zek assured "they'll let us know and then we can go running off to murder people to your heart's content, Lieutenant Commander."

Well that was a blunt, but Varvok had gotten use to the surly attitude.

"Hopefully we can find most of them out in the open." Varvok added "Should make sniping them from afar easier."

"What would be easier would be burning this whole damn valley with the sangheili's giant plasma guns and just forgetting it." Zek replied snappily. "But I suppose that would be heretical and not kosher, so it's hard way for us instead. Whatever, it just means less space on my armour in the end."

Varvok was rather surprised by the offhanded way Zek just seemed to mock the Covenant religion. He hadn't really seen that before, although he had gotten hints of it back on the Command ship.

"A bit cavalier of you, don't you think? Suggesting a course of action that calls for the burning of the surface of a sacred piece of your religion is heresy, isn't it?" he asked.

Zek just seemed to scoff at the comment, not even bothering to hide his discontent.

"My religion, ha, please." He responded in a sarcastic tone, snorting through his beak with disdain for the insuation. "Don't insult me, Lieutenant Commander. I'm not here because of that garbage anymore than you are. I'm here for the same reason every other kig-yar is here, profit."

Admittedly, Varvok hadn't done much research on the lower class members of the Covenant hierarchy. Balak said getting on the Sangheili and Prophets good sides were the only things that mattered since they were the de facto leadership. Everyone else wasn't a concern, so Varvok focused more on pleasing them than anyone else. But Zek's words were confusing to him.

"I don't see much profit in genocide to be honest." He informed him.

"And yet here you are, funny how that works." Zek replied in his usual sardonic manner. "You see, we joined the Covenant because when they started bombing us we realised cutting a deal to be their go-to assassins was better than getting slaughtered. We did the covert dirty work for a long time before we accidentally stumbled upon some human colony and then we get stuck in this. But they pay us, so we're still here. They're giving you batarians something you want, so you're still here even though you obviously don't like them. It's just how the galaxy works. Everyone has a price."

Zek walked away from Varvok, moving towards a large rock formation. He jumped up on top of it and began surveying the area with his telescopic visor. Varvok was close behind. What could he say? Zek had caught his attention. Plus he was eager for a semi-civilised conversation with a Covenant soldier, and this was certainly better than being told constantly how he was an unbelieving heathen,

"You don't sound like the kind of kig-Yar who would just up and sell out for credits." Varvok informed him as he looked up to the top of the rock.

"You'd be surprised what cold hard credits and plunder rights can do to one's sense of self-governance." Zek replied. "Besides, I still get to crack little derisive comments now and again. So long as they pay, I follow."

"I don't buy that." Varvok told him in disbelief. "I was in the same room during our talk with the Supreme Commander and the Prophet, remember? They locked you in the brig, more than once from the sound of it. It can't just be because you made a few rude remarks."

Zek sighed in annoyance at the continued pestering and jumped down right in front of Varvok. The look on his exasperated face said it all, but true to his nature he mouthed off anyway.

"Look, I'm here to do a job. I'm not here to make friends. And I don't need to justify my existence to you or anyone." He began to bark back at him, poking him in the chest as he did. "The long and short of things is that I took this job for the same reasons my ancestors took it, to save my hide from getting plasma bombarded to crispy giblets. So now I hunt humans, make sarcastic quips to piss off the Sangheili when I can and never ask questions about why the hell they think stuff like this stupid ring is important. I just take my payment and go about my business."

His questions weren't over, in fact he had more now, but Varvok supposed that pressing him further was just gonna get him a harsher tongue lashing. Luckily, he didn't need to say anything to get things back down to a more civilised level. One of Zek's men did that for him by interrupting things.

"Boss!" he called out as he ran forward, his energy shield at his side. "Word's come down from the ship. They detected a number of human lifeboats entering the atmosphere, not to mention a few larger transport craft. They said they looked to be moving to the south of our position."

Zek was instantly snapped out of his mood, turning to his fellow kig-yar with a less angered sneer and a more pleasant demeanour.

"Good, no sense keeping them waiting for us." He said as he continued to speak to the Kig-Yar. "Round up the men then, Retz. We're going for a nature hike."

Zek only briefly looked back to Varvok as he left with Retz. He didn't need to tell him to come along, he had to. The kig-yar was just making sure he'd follow. And of course he did, summoning his fellow batarians as they prepared to make their way to the humans' positions.

"The kig-yar just got us a lead, men." he informed them all through the comm-link. "I want everyone ready to move now. The longer we wait the greater chance they have to gain a foothold in the area."

---

They hadn't been walking long, but it had been eerily quiet. The shrill shrieks of the banshee aircraft had vanished, giving way to more natural sounds. Well, as natural as anything was on this ring at least. Master Chief had remained pretty quiet for most of the walk. Although every now and again Shepard thought he heard him talking in a hushed tone, but he doubted it was to himself. He could make out a word or two now and again, about 'lifeboats' and 'patrols' and 'command.' Other than that, Shepard couldn't hear the conversation. Slightly perplexed, he finally spoke up.

"Excuse me," he began, catching the Spartan's attention. "I don't mean to interrupt but... are you two having a private conversation in front of me?"

Chief, again, said nothing, but Cortana answered for him, speaking aloud over the radio.

"We meant no offence, Commander." She assured. "Me and the Chief were simply discussing the likelihood of survivors evading Covenant patrols and if I had made any progress with establishing contact with command. I haven't by the way, working on it though."

"It wasn't really that important." Chief added, before he quickly changed the subject. "We should keep moving."

Shepard had been hanging back a bit before, but now he caught up to the Chief with a brief run. They got close to a small rocky ledge that led deeper into the valley. Chief dropped down first, slowly followed by Shepard. He was now able to get next to the towering Spartan with ease, plopping right beside him.

"If you don't mind me saying, you seem less chatty now." He said. "I mean on the ship..."

"I was complimenting your skills." Chief explained simply. "It's just good battle conduct."

Man of few words this one, Shepard thought. He knew this wasn't the time to ask questions, although he had plenty, but he was starting to wonder if Chief would answer any of them if they did have time. He didn't even seem to be annoying him, at least not on the surface. He wasn't a mind reader after all. What was weirder was how Cortana was a lot more forthcoming than her human escort.

Before Shepard could think of the matter further, Cortana piped up again.

"I've detected a lifeboat beacon up ahead." She said, somewhat excitedly. "We should check and see if there are any survivors."

It didn't take long to confirm if there were survivors. As they moved forward towards a bend in the rocks, they heard plasma and gunfire coming from up ahead.

"UNSC assault rifles," Chief noted aloud, "we're close, just around this bend."

Chief ran off once more and Shepard had to keep up once more. Rounding the bend they saw two squads of Covenant, consisting of grunts and Elites. Their dropship was just taking off and they were exchanging fire with a large structure just ahead of them. They could see Marines running about on the upper level of the structure, firing down on the Covenant below as they tried to swarm the protruding construction. The Marines were tough, but they looked to be getting hammered by the barrage of Covies.

Then a familiar shot rang out, a loud bang from a gun. Shepard instantly recognized the sound of the shot.

"That's a Mantis," he realised.

Looking up at the structure he saw one of the defenders stood out, because he was the only one with grey-plates for skin and a large bony ring surrounding his upper torso. His rifle cut down a grunt as it hobbled along the ground, no denying it now.

"Garrus is with them!" Shepard shouted out amazed. "He got off the Autumn okay!"

"Let's make sure he stays that way." Chief added.

The Spartan was quick to rush into battle, assault rifle drawn and at the ready. He fired into the backs of two grunts, rupturing their methane tanks after a spray of rounds. One rocketed into a tree, smashing his skull in. The other died from the bullets cutting into his back, but his corpse scrapped along the ground until the pack exploded.

It caught the attention of two more grunts who had barely enough time to charge their plasma pistols and fire a few shots before the Master Chief lobbed a grenade into their midst. The explosion took out the two aliens as a cloud of dirt and shrapnel enveloped them. Chief ran to a tree for cover, his shields already recovering from the few meagre hits he took.

Shepard hadn't been hanging back and watching this just unfold, not his style. While his Spartan counterpart broke left he went right towards a clump of rocks on the other side of the clearing. The Covenant who had taken shelter there soon noticed his approach and the little grunts fired needles and plasma bolts at him.

They were joined by one of the Elites, who added his own fire from his plasma rifle. Shepard didn't bother to waste time with firing from a distance. He closed the gap with a powerful biotic charge that flung him clean into a grunt clutching a needler. Then, still brimming with biotic energy, he slammed his fist into the ground and let a nova wave either strike down the grunts or force them from cover.

Sadly, the Elite braved the storm and launched himself off the top of one of the rocks towards. He fired downwards with his rifle, forcing Shepard to roll to the left lest he be perforated. Nova drained your biotic barriers meaning there was nothing to protect him from getting filled with plasma holes. Shepard pointed his shotgun back up to the Elite and fired two inferno charged rounds at the Covenant officer. Both managed to hit and drain the shields of the alien, but when Shepard went for a third shot all he heard was a click. Out of thermal clips already, crap. He must've used most of them on the Autumn.

The Elite, sensing his chance at an easy kill, charged. With no other option, Shepard mustered all his might to send a biotic punch careening into the Elite before he could pummel the human commander to death. The tremendous point blank blast of biotic power sent the Elite flying clean into the rocky wall of the clearing and yet amazingly, not but two seconds after, the alien was standing up again. Shepard quickly changed to the powerful UNSC magnum pistol and fired two rounds into the Elite. One struck his shoulder, the other his head. Brains now pouring from the hole in the Covie's skull, the Elite collapsed dead.

Chief in the meantime had engaged the grunts Shepard had scattered as well as the remaining Elite overseer. The Elite roared at the death of his partner and motioned his decimated forces to attack the Spartan. Chief stepped out from his cover behind the tree, and using his own pistol, tracked the grunts as they rushed his position. He caught one in the head and another in the neck, both fatal shots, but a third grunt struck the Chief's shields with a fully charged plasma bolt.

"Compensating with emergency recharge!" Cortana shouted aloud in his ear.

But it would prove to be unnecessary. Bullets rained down from above, halting the grunt charge dead in its tracks. They collapsed dead on the ground within seconds. It wasn't hard to figure out where the shots had come from, but Chief looked up anyway to see the Marines, Garrus and what appeared to be a single ODST giving him knowing nods or thumbs up.

That of course just left the Elite to deal with now. The alien zigzagged across the ground, avoiding the gunfire from on high. He kept focused on the Master Chief as the Spartan tried to move back for cover. Shepard, watching the scene, thought it would be easy to catch the Elite off guard so he launched a shockwave at the Covie. Instead the Elite easily tucked and rolled away from the powerful biotic attack and fired on Shepard for good measure, forcing him to duck down into the rocks.

His momentary misplacement of attention, however, gave Chief the opening he needed. The Spartan closed the distance with the Covie and struck him square in the face with the butt of his rifle. The Elite stumbled back, but retained his composure and recovered his stance. It didn't last long though, as a furious barrage of bullets cut into his shields, Chief practically emptying the remaining magazine into shields and then his body.

When the assault rifle went click, the Spartan let the magazine fall to the ground. The Elite was bleeding profusely, but he would not give up. Full of holes and barely able to stand he raised his plasma rifle to fire off two feeble bolts at the Chief. None of them would hit. The Spartan brushed the gun aside and delivered a powerful punch straight to the alien's skull. The Elite collapsed, blood pooling around his head from the traumatic final blow.

"They never do just stay down, do they?" Cortana asked him rhetorically when it was over.

"Nope." He replied simply.

With the battle over Shepard ran up to the Chief to greet the excited defenders now pouring down the ramp of the massive structure that towered above them. Among them were Garrus and an ODST. While he couldn't see his face through the visor, Shepard recognized the armour. It was Sergeant Buck, funny seeing him here as well.

"The cavalry has arrived!" announced one delighted Marine looking at the Master Chief. "Good to see you sir. I was starting to think we were the only ones who got off the Autumn. Welcome to the party."

The Marine was brushed lightly aside as another of them joined the ranks. He was an African-American with an Army's cap and thin upper lip moustache, holding an assault rifle like Chief's. Shepard recognized him too, Sergeant Johnson... who had previously jumped into his hammerhead hover attack vehicle and fired a few missiles off from it. Of course that was to help get them off Reach, so Shepard didn't mind too much in the end.

"Quit crowding him, Bisenti," Johnson told the other Marine. "And mind your protocol. He ain't the only Superior Officer here after all."

Sergeant Johnson then nodded to both Chief and Shepard at the same time.

"Commander Shepard, Master Chief, good to see you both sirs." he began. "You just up and saved our asses from the plasma torch. Our lone alien friend here swore you'd find a way to show up all along though."

That gave Shepard a bit of a grin and he turned towards Garrus beside Buck.

"Really? That much faith in me, huh?" he asked the turian.

"You do tend to eventually gravitate towards trouble." Garrus elaborated with his own cocky grin. "I figured you'd be along eventually."

Shepard was just glad to see that Garrus had gotten off the Autumn alive. He could handle a few of his patented good natured jabs. He then turned his attention to Buck.

"So how exactly did you end up here, Sergeant?" he asked

"Helping him not crash." He explained, pointing to Garrus with a good natured rib of his own. "We almost hit a bunch of Phantoms on the way down. When we spotted this tower here giving off flares we used it to guide ourselves in."

Shepard looked back up to the tower and watched as it fired off one of the aforementioned energy flares straight into the sky. He had no idea what the purpose of it was. Maybe these things were generators, powering sections of the ring world to keep it stable. Tali would probably have ideas of her own by now.

That brought up other concerns though.

"Have you seen or heard from any of the others?" he asked Garrus worriedly.

"No, nothing." Garrus responded, the smile fading from his mandibles, replaced by one of deep concern. "Tried reaching the Normandy but all we got was static."

"Same here." Shepard concurred in a similar downtrodden tone.

While he was concerned for the others, he knew they could hold their own. He just wished they could contact for pick up. Then he could search for them all directly instead of just shuffling around here in the dirt.

"What exactly is our situation, Sergeant?" Chief asked of Johnson.

Johnson motioned to the tower and began to lead them all back up the ramp.

"It's a mess sirs." he explained. "Far as we can tell we're scattered all over this valley. We called for evac, what little good that did with the static, and Buck and Garrus helped hold the tower, but until you both showed up I thought we were cooked. Thankfully, we're still in pretty good shape, due in no small part to your other Crewman."

They arrived on the upper level of the structure and Johnson motioned his head over to what he was talking about. Crouching along the side of the massive flare shooting device in the center of the platform was Mordin, tending the wounds of a few Marines.

"Needle damage extensive." He said examining one of the Marines' limbs. "May require amputation."

The Marine's face went white with fear. Mordin quickly suppressed a chuckle.

"Joke. Ample appliance of Medi-Gel will suffice. Apologies for minor scare." Mordin quickly took a small breath. "Taking mind off pain."

"Could you please not make jokes anymore." The Marine asked "Like... never."

Mordin then noticed Shepard, as soon as he was done applying the medi-gel he stood back up and walked over to the Commander.

"Shepard, good to see you." He said in his usually upbeat and rapid tenor of speech. "Hope your landing was better than ours. Sudden stop was most distressing. Surprised managed maintain faculties. Imagine skipping breakfast helped."

"Good to see you too, Mordin." Shepard replied. "But I think our touchdown was pretty damn bad. Loss of airbrakes."

"Pity." Mordin relented. "At least in one piece. Never would have made it here on broken leg I imagine."

At least that was two of his crew that were safe, as safe as anyone was out here with the Covenant hunting them. The question was now, how were they going to find the others or for that matter get out of this valley alive.

"Is there any chance that even with the static someone will know we're here?" Shepard asked the group.

"Whatever is jamming the signal seems to be focused along lines of communication." Cortana assured. "If I could pick up the lifeboat's tracking beacon someone else could easily pick up on it too. If there are other people searching for survivors then they'll pick it up on their equipment. They may not be able to contact us at first, but once they get in range the static should dissipate and we can alert them to our presence."

"Then we defend this position until evac arrives." Chief reasoned.

The Spartan looked over to the valley beyond the structure they were on. From here you could see the massive gas giant that the ring orbited as well as the accompanying moon. Below they could see the three drop pods that Mordin, Garrus and Buck had used to get down to the ring embedded in the soil. To the left was a strange pair of tubes that arched out of the ground and back into it. More than likely they were part of the tower's underground mechanism. To the right a small box-like structure that was sticking out of the ground. There was no entrance. It was just a smaller platform with a ramp leading to the top. And just beyond a cluster of trees in front of all of this was the lifeboat itself, its beacon their only chance of escape.

"Covenant will no doubt realise something is up when their men don't check in. We best get ready." Chief informed the others.

Shepard looked to Garrus on that note.

"You wouldn't happen to have a few extra thermal clips would you?" he asked.

"I'm always bailing you out aren't I?" Garrus asked snidely as he reached into one of the storage compartments on his armour and presented a few to Shepard. "Lock and load, Wade, I think this day is gonna be a long one."

---

Tali hated it when her suspicions were right. Okay, to be accurate she hated it when all her negative suspicions were right. The ones involving impending doom and getting killed by any of the crazed monsters they encountered on a regular basis. This time it was about those blasted Phantoms they had seen. They were coming back and they weren't alone. There was a new dropship in the flight, one of the U-shaped ones. Tali could only imagine that the Phantoms had gone off to pick up some heavy equipment, mainly tanks. She couldn't really see though, not with the naked eye. So she looked through the UNSC Pistol she had scavenged from their pod's wreckage.

The scope on the handgun got her a better view, enough for her to see that the Phantoms weren't carrying anything new on their undercarriages. So why were they coming back, unless they were going to act as air support or something. Well they'd just stay in the rocks and keep out of the crosshairs of their plasma turrets. The plan called for it anyway. The twisting narrows of the rocks made them ideal for close quarters combat. As long as they remained inside their natural fortress the Covenant would have to come to them. That way, any superior numbers the Covenant used against them would be broken up and they'd have more corners to hide around.

Along with Tali's pistol, they scavenged what weapons they could from the lifeboat. They included a sniper rifle from one of the overhead compartments and a shotgun that Dutch had packed along inside his ODST pod. Tali, because she was running low on Thermal clips anyway, gave her weapons over to both Kasumi and Kat. Kat took the Phalanx and most of its thermal clips while Kasumi what was left to replenish her guns. Dutch gave Tali the shotgun. She was already comfortable with the shell-based weapon as she had used it before on Reach. She had just hoped that Dutch wouldn't need it. But he assured her he'd be fine without it.

Everyone else in the group grabbed any pistols or assault rifles they could, one of the Marines took the sniper rifle of course, although no one expected to get much use out of it since they'd be staying within the rocks until pick-up. But it would have its use nonetheless. There was a big open space along the field before the Covenant could get within shooting range of the rocks. Enough time to fire a few rounds and maybe thin their numbers. Tali went up to the front of the lines with most of the others, Kat and Dutch were covering their own entrances while Kasumi was... well somewhere. Tali had long gotten use to her tendency to disappear and reappear seemingly at will. Didn't mean she was out of contact with her though.

As the Phantoms closed in the U-shaped dropship veered off to the right.

"Kas," Tali spoke up on the comm-link, "do you have visual on the other dropship?"

"Yep, it's moving to the clearing right of us and just... hovering. Huh, it's like they're waiting."

Kasumi's confusion was shared and Tali looked back to the Phantoms. They weren't landing either. But their bellies did open up. A light exhumed out of the exit hatch of the phantoms and just as quickly things began to pour out from them. They looked like little sacks of flesh, with jutting little bits of flame pooling around them. Tali followed them to the ground with her pistol scope, and soon learned the terrible truth.

Hobbling up among the trees and the small little incline along their position were several reddish hunchbacked creatures. Through her scope, Tali could see some kind of backpack strapped to them with tubes filtering down to their little stomachs. Fire poured from their maws as wires and metal mesh surrounded their faces. But Tali could still see their eyes, now coloured dark red and menacing. Their screamed loudly and flames exploded from their mouths, spraying into a powerful and sustained blast of fire. The Covenant had just shown them a new husk, grunts turned into walking flamethrowers.

"Well that's just perfect isn't it?" Dutch asked with a shrug, not at all seemingly phased by the appearance of these things. "They're gonna smoke us out. Just when you hope the Covenant have resigned themselves to beating you with overwhelming numbers they throw you a curveball."

"We can't let them get inside the rocks." Kat said quickly, sounding a lot more serious than the ODST nearby. "The flames will turn this place into a barbecue pit if we let them. We either draw them off or hold them back."

The flamethrower grunts were already pressing on their position. No time to pick who was going to do what and Tali had already come up with a plan. She knew how volatile the regular grunts' methane packs were. Now their bodies were basically packing explosive gasses. Despite the horrendous changes their weaknesses were the same.

"Aim for the bulging humps on their backs!" Tali shouted at Kat and Dutch. "I'll draw them off!"

She didn't even wait for the typical cry of 'wait' or whatever Kat was screaming by now. Despite Dutch's hardiness and Kat's experience, she felt she had the best chance. Unlike them, she had extra back up. Chiktikka appeared on the battlefield, scanning for targets as Tali moved up to the middle of the incoming flamethrower grunts. They hobbled forward nearing the quarian with flaming spit dribbling from their mouths.

It was then Tali realised they could do more than just spew fire. With a sickening hacking sound the nearest husk spat a lob of molten liquid towards her. Whether it was metal or an implanted device she had no time to postulate. She jumped to the side as the infernal loogie passed by. It hit one of the rocks, causing a piece of it to melt right off the stone.

One more thing to avoid with these things, she thought, good to know.

Tali raised her shotgun and fired a single blast into the husk's bulging hump. It didn't take much to rupture it, much like a regular flamethrower tank. Tali backed away slightly, anticipating the inevitable explosion that would kill that thing and any of his friends nearby. The husk writhed and screeched, spewing fire everywhere with its mouth and mere seconds later exploded in a brilliant blaze of orange.

But beyond that it wasn't your regular explosion you would encounter from a pyro-trooper. The bulging hump ripped upward, releasing a tower of flames. Something she believed Humans would liken to a pyrotechnic display at a concert or those Roman candle fireworks as they called them. The flames ate the little husk from the inside out, but the other husks nearby barely even registered what was happening. What few sparks landed on them did nothing to set off their own humps. Their skin was seemingly flameproof and the death of their comrade produced little shrapnel that could puncture their packs.

It certainly was an upgrade from previous flamethrower troops. Was it some kind of personalised self-destruct system or just how they were designed by the Inquisitor? Mordin could no doubt tell her more if he was able to do an autopsy, but right now all Tali knew was that at the very least her shotgun could kill them.

So Tali took aim at another of the husks as they crawled forwards. She fired a blast of buckshot, punching through his hump with ease. Again his hump punctured and he went off like a firework. Another of his friends shot a stream of fire at her and Tali moved back as the flames hit her shields.

Chiktikka joined the fray, firing a powerful chain-lighting attack. The electrical charge seemed to travel up the metal tubes, igniting whatever gasses or liquids inside the hump within moments. The creature exploded from the inside out, fire engulfing the huskified grunt while the ones beside him were unharmed.

Even protected by her shields and her suit, Tali could feel the heat resonating from the hobbling beasts. She fired three shots in quick succession, each cutting through a husk with ease. The growls of the ones still alive could still be heard through the emolliated screams of their comrades. Tali wouldn't let up, people were counting on her. The more she aggravated these fire beasts the more they'd be drawn to her instead of the others in the rocks.

One of the husks readied another molten spit attack, she could tell from the way the creature's head went back. An idea in her head she tried to time her shot right. When the creature's head came back straight she fired a buckshot blast and watched as the spread ripped the husk's face clean apart. The molten metal burned off the flesh, revelling what was left of the original grunt's skeleton. It plopped down dead on the ground with its hump pointed to the side.

"Time for a little battlefield experiment." She thought aloud.

She gripped her shotgun careful, reloaded a shell and then fired at the hump just as another line of husks crawled nearby. The hump exploded like a Roman candle once more. While the fire didn't ignite the little hobbling creature directly in front of the blaze, the kinetic force of the blast made it fall onto its back. While it wiggled and jostled around trying to right itself, the already dead grunt husk rocketed across the ground smacking other husks into similar positions.

They were easy targets for Chiktikka now, who had been zapping the little monsters left and right, sending towering infernos into the sky. The husks seemed to ignore the little drone, not recognizing it as a potential threat despite all the damage she was inflicting. Chiktikka's new victims now founds themselves being launched into the air as their own packs ignited and threw them into the sky.

Tali moved over to the lifeboat quickly as another blast of fire rocketed towards her. It hit the lifeboat instead, burning up the metal into the red within moments. She poked her head out again to fire another round, taking out yet another of the little monsters, but more just seemed to keep coming.

"Well, I wanted their attention." She said to herself.

But as the grunt husks closed in fire erupted from the rocks. Bullets whizzed out and struck the incoming turned Covies. Tali looked back to see Dutch, Kat and the rest of the Marines adding their own fire to her counter-attack. It was certainly doing the job, puncturing the humps of the husks and causing their usual self-combustion, but it wasn't much better than her previous methods.

The sporadic fire wasn't entirely accurate though, some bullets simply ruptured the husks' stomachs or the tubes leading to them. Yellow liquid poured out of them, pooling around the now twitching creatures. Again, Tali didn't think it was much good. If only they had a few area of effect weapons, maybe that would help. Eerily enough, a certain ODST must've read her mind.

"Tali!" shouted Dutch. "Use this on'em! This should thin them out!"

Tali saw a little ball get tossed her way. She grabbed it to reveal it was a grenade ready to have its pin pulled. It was a good thought by Dutch, but in all honesty she wondered how really effective a single grenade could be. She may get three or more, but there were still plenty coming. Looking back to the flamethrower grunts, however, Tali once more noticed the pools of liquid surrounding the dead husks that had caught bullets to their stomachs.

A thought occurred to her. Could it really be that simple?

She switched to her pistol, clutched the grenade in one hand and dashed out of cover. She fired a few stray shots at the husks, aiming for their stomachs this time with the more precision aim of the pistol. That same yellow liquid pooled out and Tali saw her moment to act. She pulled the pin in the middle of her run and tossed it towards the liquid and the line of enemies.

The grenade's explosion ignited the flammable liquid, led straight back into the ruptured bellies of the husks, and this time the explosions from them were the ones she had originally hoped for. The little husks blew like fuel barrels instead of just being engulfed in flames. The other husks were ripped apart by instead of simply going off like organized controlled fireworks. Chunks of flesh and metal flew everywhere and a blazing fire wall covered the area. Tali had been right, it was that simple.

She returned to the rocks to see Kat shaking her head for a moment.

"Next time try not to wing so much." She warned, before adding in a much commending light, "Good job by the way."

The quarian looked back to see if it really was a nice job. The grunt husks did appear to be all dead, their bodies acting like little fuel barrels when their safety feature was bypassed. But that still left the traditional Covenant and Tali had a feeling more of those things would be on their way. No matter, they'd be ready for them this time.

She looked back to Kat and nodded simply. No sense in basking in the praise, they weren't out of this just yet. Kasumi was kind enough to remind them.

"Heads up gang!" she warned "Dropship is actually landing now! Guess they got bored of the fireworks show."

---

Kowalski hadn't been in many simulated lifeboat drops, none of them had done the real thing any justice. It was like being on a roller coaster, but with no sense of up or down before the final moments. Unlike a roller coaster though, there was only one giant terrifying fall. One that made your face feel like it was gonna be ripped off before your Adam's apple decided to eject itself from your throat. The sudden stop at the end was only slightly lessened by the air brakes, but at least he didn't throw up. That would've been really embarrassing, especially with Samara sitting across from him.

Kowalski had never been happier to get out of a vehicle in his life. He managed to avoid the cliché of kissing the ground, but it was hard not to think about it. Their lifeboat had crashed down into a large forested area, if Kowalski didn't know any better he'd have thought they were in some evergreen forest in Oregon back on Earth. Of course the big red gas giant in the sky as well as the fact just looking up gave him a view of another continent miles away from him reminded him that they weren't in Oregon.

Sergeant Taylor didn't like that they were so exposed out here. With no place nearby to take shelter in, they quickly decided to pack up and get moving. It wasn't the best of ideas as the homing beacon on the lifeboat was probably their best chance at rescue. But if they found some kind of structure or natural landmark to bunker down in nearby perhaps any rescue teams would be able to guess where they were hiding. Of course, that relied on them actually finding shelter.

After half an hour of trekking, however, they had found little.

"Does every tree seem the same to you?" Pearson asked out of the blue.

"I'm pretty sure we're doing just fine." Taylor told him. "So long as we aren't seeing Covenant or hearing them we're in the clear."

"That could just mean they are well hidden." Ellingham added as he kept pace behind the Sergeant.

Taylor gave a little exasperated sigh. It was a good point, but perhaps Ellingham should've just kept it to himself. There were at least four other Marines in their group after all and scaring them wasn't going to be very conducive to their efforts.

Samara had taken point, suggesting she had long acquired certain tracking skills which would be helpful. Taylor let her, if only because it wasn't like he had any better ideas. He couldn't really see anything beyond the thick canopy of trees, no one could. It was just forest for miles around.

"I will find us a way to safety." She had promised after they touched down.

Kowalski, for his part, had had faith in her abilities. He didn't think that her biotics somehow gave her all knowing super powers or anything, but he she seemed to know what she was doing, like she had done this too many times before. Justicars, according to her, had to be good trackers, they had root out their targets from wherever they hid and an overwhelming desire to protect the innocent. When she said she'd find them a way out, he believed her. He couldn't help but believe her.

Samara's quickened pace at the front of the group suddenly slowed. She stopped and kneeled towards the forest floor. Taylor and Kowalski were the first to approach her as she moved her hand just above the soil. They could see the outline of a footprint, a rather large one, pressed into the earth. It had two large fingers and a bulging heel.

"The heck is that?" Kowalski asked, confused at the footprint.

"I am unfamiliar with the animals of this universe," Samara reminded him calmly. "But it is fresh, and it moves in that direction."

Samara began to follow the print, cautiously but surely. Kowalski was close behind followed by the other Marines. Only a few minutes into their changed course and the trees began to thin. There was also the sound of rushing water and something grumbling or moaning that was neither Covenant nor human from the sound. No, too big to be either. Before long, the trees gave way to a clearing that was nestled between the treeline and a rocky Cliffside at the back where a waterfall poured down into a small pond that gave way to a creek. The falling torrent of water gave off a brilliant little rainbow as it cascaded down, but that was not what caught the eyes of all who were there.

Drinking from the waterfall's creek bed, were four large yellowish creatures two pronged forelegs and two large spanning hind legs. Their necks were somewhat long, their faces more slender as they shaped along their snouts. They had a stubby little barely existent tail, but it was hardly their most outstanding feature. Running along their backs were three large spikes. One more hooked spike at where neck and shoulders met and two large ones that followed it down the back, the middle the biggest of them all. One of the creatures, its mouth lapping up the creek turned to see the newcomers briefly, dripping water from its mouth. It barely paid them any attention before returning back to its drink.

"Holy crap!" Ellingham said with childish wonder. "Fucking dinosaurs!"

It was a sudden assertion of the facts, one that many were sceptical to buy so easily.

"Uh, wait, can we really call them dinosaurs?" Pearson was quick to ask. "I mean, I don't think that's how evolution works to be honest."

"Looks like a thunder lizard, walks like a thunder lizard," Ellingham rattled off rapidly. "I say it's a dinosaur. Don't ruin my inner-child's sense of nostalgia, Pearson."

Kowalski had to admit the appearance, save for the lack of a giant tail and fewer spikes, was uncannily like that of a stegosaurus. Although amazed by the discovery, few attempted to get near. Yes the animals didn't appear to be hostile, but so did a rhino before it charged. Of course, Samara took the risk. The asari walked forward cautiously at the animal. Again it lifted its head and moved it towards her. She stretched out her hand when she was close enough and carefully touched the tip of the beast's nose. All the massive lumbering lizard-like creature did was stare for a few moments before returning to the watering hole with its fellows. Samara turned back to the other Marines.

"It is alright," she assured "they do not see us as a threat."

The Marines approached cautiously, the creatures continued to ignore them. Out of the trees now they could see the sky more clearly again. Taylor was already looking towards the waterfall's cliff face.

"Maybe if we climb up we can get a better view of the valley." He suggested.

"Don't see any places we can grab onto, Sarge." Pearson said looking at the rock wall.

While some discussed what to do next and others got a quick drink from the creek, Kowalski and Samara kept watch over one of the giant saurian-like beast. A few were leaving the watering hole and moving to graze the various bushes and grasses nearby. Some, however, went to pick at the pine needles on the trees.

"Bet you've seen a lot of funny looking animals in your time." Kowalski said to the asari cheerily.

"Asari over six hundred see many things," she admitted. "but creatures like these are peculiar."

Kowalski gave her a bewildered look.

"Why? Because they should extinct or something?" he chuckled.

"No, they are peculiar because this world is an artificial one." She explained, still sounding serious. "I did not expect we would find much in the way of actual life upon it."

He hadn't thought about that. All he knew was that was staring a pseudo-dinosaur that lived on a ring shaped world. It was hard to keep it all straight when you worried about getting killed by the Covenant who had shot you down. Samara seemed to be a lot more focused than him at least, probably had something to do with her experience.

"How'd you know they wouldn't attack you?" he asked her.

"Truthfully I was not entirely sure." she admitted. "They appeared to be seemingly docile to me at first I suppose. It is most likely they have few natural predators on this ring. Given the nature of the situation it was prudent that I test their docility first. The Code compels us to put ourselves at risk first before innocents."

Kowalski smirked at that. Marines weren't exactly something you'd call innocent.

"That's not exactly what I'd call us to be honest." He laughed. "I mean we're not exactly angels here. Ellingham's got a dirty mind, Pearson is snide jerk half the time... we're named Devil Dogs for a reason."

"Yes, I looked at the source of the nickname." Samara quickly responded. "Your predecessors earned it from their enemies when they refused to surrender the remains of a burned out and destroyed wood. Truthfully I do not understand the human affinity for naming courageous acts after demonic imagery."

Kowalski struggled to find the right words to elaborate on that habit.

"I guess it's our way of demoting them, that we can conquer evil by stealing the labels ourselves or... something." He hastily and sloppily attempted to explain. "I don't know. I wasn't all that great in sociology."

This earned a slight smile from Samara.

"If that is the case, Private Kowalski, perhaps your Marines are more akin to the Justicars than you think." She said. "At least you are in spirit. While you may be a crude group, and certainly not without blood on your hands, I know that none of it is that of innocent blood. The Covenant are a wicked enemy and deserve to be punished for their sins. If you did do anything dishonourable, however, the Code would call for your death."

Well that was a quick mood killer. Kowalski gulped at the slight warning. It wasn't a threat. It was just a statement of fact. One he had almost forgotten about. Samara had long explained there were many aboard the Normandy she'd have probably killed already if it weren't for her oath to Shepard.

Thankfully, Samara added a quick little add on to ease his mind.

"But knowing you, I highly doubt such an event would come to pass." She informed him in her usual regal manner.

Kowalski gave her a bit of an eyebrow at that.

"Do you... just do that to scare people or something?" he asked her in as sincere a manner as he could muster.

Samara shrugged, biting her lower lip a bit as she did.

"Sometimes a Justicar has to find certain ways to amuse herself, admittedly." She responded, trying to remain sounding serious. "There are not many activities we can participate in. The Code implores us to inform those we meet of certain dangers they could encounter. It is a fortunate happenstance to be sure."

He could see a slight smirk on Samara's face at that. He didn't have the chance to call her out on it before he heard a shout from behind.

"Ellingham, get off that thing!"

That was Taylor. Kowalski looked back with Samara to see Ellingham had somehow climbed up on top of one of the creatures. He was clutching to the large central spike, peering into the distance. It didn't seem to mind his presence for it was far too busy grazing to do anything about it. Sergeant Taylor wasn't having any of it though.

"Ellingham, I'm ordering off that thing now!" Taylor shouted up. "This isn't a frickin' rodeo, you can't just ride whatever animal you happen to come across!"

"But Sarge, you wanted a better view of the area!" Ellingham shouted back down. "I can see right over the trees and I think I've spotted something!"

That quickly changed Taylor's tune.

"What is it?" he asked curiously.

"Some kind of blue flare," Ellingham said as he tried to describe the sight. "I don't think its Covenant. It's just going straight up into the sky. It goes off every few seconds. It's over to the... west, I think."

Where was north on a ring planet anyway? Ellingham got around the problem by pointing, but no one got a chance to discuss whether to go towards the flare or not. Before they could weigh their options there was a strange alien howl from the woods. The Four Spike backed animals' behaviour shifted from calm to alert. Within moments their heads all shot up at once and looked towards the sound. In seconds they bolted from the watering hole, picking up speed quickly as they made a dash for the forest.

Everyone had to move to get out of their miniature stampede, Samara and Kowalski especially since they were right beside one of the creatures. The second they saw the thing move, Samara rolled to the side while Kowalski dove for cover. The creature stomped straight past them, stepping on the ground they were standing on only moments before.

The creatures could fit through the densely packed woods, but they didn't hesitate to smash through trees to get away from that watering hole. And leaving with them was an unlucky Marine along for the ride. For when the beasts had panicked, Ellingham had tried to hold onto the spike, instead he flipped off its back, barely missed the first hooked spike on the way down and landed, legs split, on the neck of the now frightened plant-eater.

As he tried to shout 'whoa' and 'stop' through his pained breath, that strange howl called again. Before anyone could ask where it had come from the answer presented itself. Barrelling out of the woods on the opposite side were several smaller creatures, roughly the size of a small human. They had no forearms, but they did have two power three clawed legs and a body that resembled the raptor dinosaurs from those old movies. They had no eyes but their giant heads sported a set of massive terrifying jaws. Their tails swished back and forth and they sniffed the air frantically.

"That is the ugliest looking alien monster I've ever seen." Pearson whispered as he stared at the strange creatures. "And I've seen grunts without their masks."

Every single head in the small pack of vicious looking creatures turned straight towards Pearson and the Marines.

"Oh you and your fucking mouth, Pearson." Kowalski groaned.

The freakish creatures roared in unison with each other, opening their gaping maws.

"Time to go!" Taylor shouted.

He didn't need to repeat the order twice. Every Marine bolted for the treeline, trying to catch up with the giant plodding spike backed creatures and Ellingham. Samara stood her ground momentarily, unleashing a powerful throw blast that knocked the walking mouths into the water. They splashed around in furious recourse, trying to escape with all their might. Samara quickly joined the rest of the Marines in their escape.

True, they could try to shoot the things, their little pack outnumbered them and they weren't about to risk getting eaten alive by those monsters or waste bullets trying to shoot at them point blank. That and they were just downright scary as fuck. For Kowalski he didn't mind running just a little bit. They needed to get to higher ground or at least get some distance from these things first. With any luck maybe they'd lose them and they could save their bullets for the Covenant. Maybe they'd take down one of the four giant spike backs and leave the rest of them alone. Either way, running away just seemed like the better idea for the moment.

---

Running away was no longer an option. Not that it had been one in the first place.

"Heads up! Covenant dropship coming in! Over here!"

Private Mendoza's warning caught everyone's attention within seconds. Before he even finished saying "dropship," anyone who could still carry a gun and stand was running to his position at front end of the upper platform. They looked out into the area they had dubbed the 'The Front Yard' and watched as the U-shaped dropship made a pass along their position. It was headed towards the right side of the lifeboat crash site, behind a few sparse trees.

"Didn't take them long to figure out their friends were dead." Garrus observed.

"Hitting them as they get out of the ship is our best chance." Chief told them all. "I'll go right, you go left, Commander."

Chief vaulted the edge of the platform and landed on the ground below with tremendous sound. He barely missed a beat, as if the drop had only been a few meters instead of half a story. Shepard was still wondering if the Spartan had given him an order or a suggestion. Regardless he decided to back him up in whatever he was planning. He took the ramp down though. He didn't want to attempt the same stunt as the Chief and break his leg.

Shepard moved across the open area, past the ODST pods and towards the cover of the downed lifeboat. He could see the Master Chief as he made his own way across the yard. He was already at the treeline, moving among the pines with careful footsteps. Shepard pressed himself against the edge of one of the lifeboats, waiting for the dropship to lower and open its doors. He had a pretty good view of the landing area. With them flanked on both sides perhaps this little defence action would be easier than he thought.

The dropship soon lowered itself to the ground. The hum of its engine was a foreboding sound to be sure. Within seconds of touching down the doors to both sides of the dropship opened wide. The Master Chief was more than ready for it. On his side of the ship were two jackals and a single Elite. While the jackals casually jumped down to the ground, the Elite practically threw himself out of the ship, eager for battle. He'd never get the opportunity to showcase his skills.

The Master Chief had procured a plasma grenade from the fallen of the previous assault. He activated it and tossed the device towards the Covenant officer as he left the ship. The grenade arced perfectly and stuck to the upper torso of the Elite. The look of shock on the alien's face was soon engulfed by a brilliant blue flash. The jackals nearby crouched under their shields as soon as they saw what had hit their supposedly fearless leader. They withstood the blast, backing away as it pummeled their shields. To the Chief it didn't matter, he could handle these two easily.

The explosion was Shepard's call to action. At the same time the grunts on the other side of the dropship had piled out. The explosion spooked them and made them run forward, guns out and ready but screaming like mad. It never seemed fair to Shepard to attack these guys, maybe it was their squeaky voices. He was instantly reminded how little his pity mattered when he stepped out of cover and made himself the focal point of their panicked dash. They hobbled sideways as fast they could, firing plasma bolts and needles as they did. Shepard's barriers took a few hits, something he couldn't afford. He quickly sent out a pull attack to drag one of the grunts into the air. He fired two shots from his pistol, taking out the struggling gas sucker.

Shepard made a dash after the remaining grunts. They immediately began to run backwards, knowing best not to bite off more than they could chew. Shepard biotic charged forward through their ranks however, taking out the furthest grunt with ease. As the Covie fell back to earth, broken and battered, his friends made a run for it in the opposite direction. Shepard finished them off with two clean shots to the back of their heads as he peered through the scope.

The Master Chief in the meantime dealt with the jackals. They protected themselves from his assault rifle as he charged up the hill. Their shields easily absorbed the bullets. They fired back with their plasma pistols in rapid bursts, but the Spartan powered through them, even as his shields began to flare.

The jackals began to back up as the Spartan closed in, but he was too quick for them. One tried to bash the Spartan with his shield, only for the human super-soldier to lurch back quickly before delivering a devastating kick to the alien bird's chest. He was sent hurtling into the dirt, while Chief turned to his partner in crime. The jackal wasn't quick enough and as the Chief swung around towards him, the Spartan pressed hard on the trigger. The assault rifle peppered the jackal and he soon lay upon the ground, dead. The one Chief had booted away stood back up defiantly, shield at his side, unable to lift it up.

"First one's still moving!" Cortana shouted in his ear.

Chief quickly turned, bringing out his pistol to fire a single shot into the jackal's head. He plopped on the ground dead. Shepard was just a short few feet away from the dead Jackal, surrounded by dead grunts, but neither would get the chance to compliment the other on their double-pronged attack.

By now the dropship was back in the air and its plasma turret was opening up on them. Streaks of purple plasma struck the ground and both the Master Chief and Commander Shepard ran to cover as the turret chased them. No sense in firing back up at the thing, they had no weapons that could take it down. They ran towards the pair of tubes. The dropship eventually stopped firing and let them be. It flew away into the sky above, leaving its now dead former occupants behind.

"Why doesn't he just stay and try to take us from the air?" Shepard asked the Chief. "He's gotta know we have nothing that can take him down."

"The Covenant aren't very creative." Chief explained "Everything is designed for a specific task and they don't like going out of their comfort zones. And if they really wanted to do that they'd just send in a banshee."

"My guess is that they don't really consider us a threat." Cortana added to the conversation. "We're a small fire-team that's cut-off with no support. They can take their time, even if it costs them men."

So they were toying with them, Shepard hated it when the enemy was like that. No wonder the Inquisitor wanted them to replace the Collectors. They already acted like their own people were disposable. Sure enough, they sent in more meat to the grinder rather quickly.

"Another dropship is coming in!" Mendoza yelled aloud over the radio. "Left side!"

"Reposition Marines!" Johnson ordered. "This weird-ass tower is now property of the UNSC and they ain't invited to come on over!"

They were nearby to the next incoming dropship and in perfect position to flank. There was clearer path up the hill through trees to what appeared to be the next landing site.

"Switch sides," Commander Shepard told the Chief. "I'll go right, you go left this time."

Chief just gave a nod and moved to the left back towards the tower structure. Shepard readied his shotgun and set it to cryo-rounds. It didn't take long for the Covenant to land, and this dropship was packed with them. There was a large assortment of grunts accompanied by two jackals and two Elites, certainly a lot stronger than last time.

Most of the grunts raced down one side of the hill as Shepard charged up to meet them. However he was soon spotted by one of the Elites who directed a jackal and two grunts to deal with him. The jackal took position in front of the Elite, acting a shield, while the grunts openly charged the human. Shepard let a throw attack knock the little gas suckers to the ground, the powerful biotic wave sending them flying. He fired up at the jackal with his shotgun as plasma fired rained down upon him from the Elite's rifle. The bursts stung at the shields, bur the cryo rounds from the scimitar seemed to force the jackal back. The Elite saw where this was going and joined his comrades in the assault on the tower. This left the jackal to fend for himself.

"No sense of loyalty, some warrior race." Shepard growled as he fired another burst up at the Jackal.

This one caught the jackal in the arm, freezing it solid in seconds. This was really unfortunate for the jackal considering it was the arm his was holding his gun in. Shepard closed the distance and with one quick smack of his shotgun the jackal's skull caved in. The alien fell dead. Shepard only looked down for a moment before a blue plasma bolt whizzed by his head. He ducked into the cover of a nearby tree. He only got a glimpse of the Elite who had fired it before he continued to run towards the tower with the others.

"There's a whole bunch of bad guys coming your way, Garrus!" Shepard shouted over the comm.

"See them and I'm handling it." Garrus assured him right back.

One Mantis round sounded out, taking apart the head of one of the grunts moving up. A second one cut two of the gas suckers down with a bullet that sliced through one's head and then the other's heart. Garrus smiled a little and moved to his next target.

Down on the ground below, the Master Chief had already engaged the enemy. The first grunt he ran into got his head caved in with the butt of a pistol. The second got a bullet lodged in his brain. They weren't the real threat though. The two remaining Elites and the single jackal were the real danger. The two Covenant officers already had the Spartan in their sights. They opened up with plasma fire, but the Chief's shields held long enough for him to get to cover of a nearby tree. Rolling out and to the side he was now alongside the Elite. He fired a full stream of rounds from his assault rifle and they collided with the shields of the red-armoured Elite. The Elite turned as the bullets struck him and fired on Chief's position. He landed a good shot, bringing the shields down a full third, but that was hardly enough to stop him.

Chief jumped up from his kneeling stance and charged straight into Elite, slamming him into the metal tubes that arched out of the ground. He plugged his assault rifle straight into the alien's chest and fired a burst. The Elite screamed and punted the Master Chief off him. He slid across the ground, stopping himself by thrusting his hand into the ground like an anchor. The Elite was bleeding badly and it looked as if the Chief's running charge had broken his shoulder by the way the alien's arm had gone limp.

"Taking plays out of the Commander's book now, are we?" Cortana snarked. "Not as effective without the biotics."

Chief simply brought out his pistol and fired four bullets straight into the wounded Covie. The already strained shields died and the final two bullets did their job. The Elite collapsed to the ground face first.

"Needed a finishing blow." The Spartan responded to Cortana.

"And now you're just trying to show off." The AI chuckled.

A plasma bolt cut across his field of vision and Chief dove back into the cover of the trees. The blue Elite peeked out of his cover behind his rock from up ahead and continued to fire on him. Chief tried to aim, but he didn't have much of a clear shot. He looked up at the tower that was right behind the Elite and not too far away.

"Does anyone have a clear shot on this Elite?" he asked over the comm.

A trail of smoke dashed out from the tower moments later and struck the Elite clean in the back. He was forced out of his cover the concussive blast, pushing him forward and out from the rock.

"All you need do is ask, Master Chief." Garrus said over the comm.

With that the Spartan moved out of cover, his assault rifle held high. He fired a stream of rounds at the Elite, halving his shields. The Elite roared and tried move to higher ground to the left of his position. Instead he was struck by a spark of electricity, again from atop the tower. It drained his shields entirely.

This did not deter the Covenant officer as he tossed a plasma grenade directly at the Master Chief. The Spartan saw the arc and quickly dove forward as the grenade hit the ground where he was moments before. He pulled out his pistol as the grenade exploded and fired everything that was left in the clip at the running Elite. Two of the rounds slammed into the alien's back and fell to the ground dead.

Chief stood up and heard more plasma fire from behind. The final jackal was slowly moving towards his position, but constantly turning back to protect his rear. When the Jackal turned around to fall back, his shield over his head, a shotgun blast struck him and encased his body in ice. Shepard ran out into the open soon after and struck the frozen jackal once with the butt of his weapon.

"Looks like we're clear again." Shepard observed.

That's when the distinctive humming noise appeared once more.

"For about five seconds." Chief quickly added.

The new dropship passed right over the tower this time, heading straight to where Shepard and Chief had entered the valley. Mendoza was quick to point out what everyone was already thinking.

"They're trying to flank us!" he said.

"We beat their asses last time they tried." Johnson declared. "Position yourselves around the ramp Marines, they try to get up we'll bottle neck them in there."

In the meantime both Shepard and the Master Chief made a break for the new landing site. They didn't get too far before they spotted Mordin and Sergeant Buck already taking up positions behind a tree.

"You two get in close while me and 'Doc Frog' keep you covered." Buck told them.

"Would prefer if used 'Professor Frog' for nickname, Sergeant." Mordin interjected. "Proper title. Worked hard for dissertation."

"Fine, 'Professor Frog', whatever." Buck replied, somewhat frantically, he did not want to deal with sematics it seemed. "Deal with ugly hostile alien murderers first, please?"

"Gladly." Concurred Mordin politely.

The salarian turned to the descending dropship and as the doors opened unleashed an incineration blast from his omni-tool that sped towards the enemy occupants. The two poor little grunts inside burst into flames on contact and screamed in agony as the fire overtook them. Their methane tanks exploded shortly after, injuring a third grunt nearby.

"Forces sufficiently halved." Mordin shot off. "Not difficult. Move in, Shepard."

Shepard quickly nodded and rushed forward with the Master Chief while Buck looked on at Mordin's omni-tool anxiously.

"You know where I can get one of those?" he asked. "They seem to do everything for you guys."

"Indeed. Reminds me of first chemistry set." The professor said smiling. "More use against living targets lately, however."

Buck's look of interest turned to one of that appeared disturbed.

"You just... randomly say these things out of nowhere do you?" he asked.

"Thoughts faster than mouth at times." Mordin explained. "Did paper on salarian metabolism's effect on proper-"

"I was not expecting an answer," Buck told him going back to aiming down the sights, "let's just kill us some Covies."

Already, the grunts had swarmed the field, firing barrages of plasma bolts left and right. The Elites directed their underlings alongside them, firing up on the balcony as the Marines tried to get shots off. Their focus remained on Shepard and the Master Chief though. No doubt the Elites had already determined who the greatest threats were by now.

That didn't deter either of them. As Buck and Mordin opened up on the onslaught of Covenant, the focus of the alien marauders was split between the tower, and the two groups on the ground. Shepard used that to their advantage, letting a shockwave tear across the ground towards the grunts. The biotic wave sent them flying and to finish them off Shepard let a pull attack strike one of them as the biotic energies swirled around the methane breathing alien. The biotic detonation left the remaining grunts dazed or completely devastated.

Buck fired into the expanse of Covenant soldiers, the spray of his submachine gun cutting the grunts down one by one. The Elites remained behind their cannon fodder for the most part, avoiding gun fire where they could and letting their shields absorb the rest. By now the dropship had risen into the skies as well and had opened fire on the defenders below. The Marines on top of the tower scattered. Shepard and the Master Chief were forced to take cover as the purple plasma rained down on them. Eventually the dropship took off, leaving the Elites and what few grunts remained to fend for themselves, but the brief reprieve gave them time to recover.

Shepard took cover behind one of the trees nearby as the plasma scorched the bark. Branches and pine needles fell all around him as he changed magazines in his pistol. Chief remained out in the open, firing on the grunts as he moved across the field.

"This isn't going so well!" Shepard called out to the Spartan. "Toss a grenade, I got a plan!"

The Master Chief obliged and threw out a frag-grenade into the mess of Covenant. The Elites easily rolled away while the grunts ran. While the resulting explosion did little to harm the Covenant, it did separate the Elites and distort their focus. That gave the Commander his opportunity.

Shepard biotically charged forward, aiming straight for the Elite on left. The strike knocked him against the side of the tower. Angered, the Elite struck out with his plasma rifle as a melee weapon. Shepard side stepped the attack and let loose a powerful biotic punch that sent the Elite hurtling away. He was headed for a collision with the Master Chief as the Spartan raised his arm up to deliver a powerful blow to the alien's skull. The Elite slammed into the dirt with a terrible crunch before the Spartan stepped on his neck and sprayed a blast of bullets into his torso. He looked up and saw the remaining grunts. They stared briefly at the corpse of the Elite and then at Chief. Suddenly they screamed in absolute terror and ran for their little lives.

"He's gonna kill us all!" Cried out one of the cowardly gas breathers.

"Leader dead! Run away! Run a-way!" Another shouted.

"Little people first!" One screamed out in response to that statement.

Buck fired after the grunts as they fled and the Marines up top joined in. Chief and Shepard let them go, the others could clean them up. The last Elite was the real danger. Currently he was over to their right screaming incoherently at his fleeing expendable soldiers. He even fired at a few of them himself, even as they were cut down by the Marines or Sergeant Buck. He then turned to Shepard and the Master Chief and unloaded his plasma rifle at them. The two ducked for cover in the rocks as the Elite's weapons blasted out plasma bolts at a rapid rate.

Suddenly the weapon stopped firing, smoke poured from its orifices and the enraged Elite struggled to force it work once again. The Elite had seemingly lost his sense of composure as he didn't even let the weapon just cool down before using it again. He impatiently tossed it aside and pulled out his plasma sword. With a bloodcurdling battle cry he charged forward towards the rocks, his blade held high. Shepard and Chief fired at him as he approached, but they stopped suddenly. The Elite would too moments later, as an electrical pulse struck his back. The attack shocked his nervous system to the core and his hands clenched together tightly. A pistol shot sounded out the next second and he collapsed to the ground dead, a giant bullet wound in his skull, the exit wound coming out of his eye socket. Standing over him was Professor Mordin, omni-tool in one hand and a Carnifex pistol in the other.

"Nice work, Mordin." Shepard congratulated.

"No trouble." Mordin assured. "Faced blood-raging krogan in STG. Far more aggressive. Needed more than single shot and heavier calibre of weapon than this."

"Let's just be glad that Elites don't regenerate then." Shepard added as he walked out from behind the rocks.

With the attack routed, Buck returned to the field. He joined Shepard, Mordin and the Master Chief near the clump of rocks.

"I took them all down to be safe but I don't think they were gonna come back either way." Buck told them. "So you think that's all of them?"

"Unfortunately no, Sergeant." Cortana cut in in a grave tone of voice. "I've already detected more dropships coming in. Looks like another full frontal assault."

From how Cortana sounded, there was more to it than that.

"How many ships Cortana?" Chief asked.

"Two are coming in fast," she warned "and my guess is they're loaded for bear. They're not the concern though. Bigger target if the sensors are right, probably a Phantom. I think they've grown tired of a lack of air support."

That meant more Covenant. And probably something worse if a Phantom was coming in. Shepard switched his shotgun to inferno rounds. He looked to the others as he heard the humming of the dropships getting closer.

"We got a plan, Commander?" Buck asked.

"Yeah, basically try not end up like the guys at the Alamo." He said, trying his best to lighten the mood and failing.

"Davey Crockett never had to worry about flying saucers I think." Cortana said anxiously. "Then again he didn't have mass altering powers or automatic weaponry, so maybe we have better odds after all.

"That's the spirit, Cortana." Shepard told the AI jovially. "Let's get into position. We ain't done yet."

---

Kowalski was surprised that these things were still after them. For not having eyes, they seemed to know exactly where they were going. They probably had some kind of super smell-o-vision or something that kept them from running into trees or losing their prey. It made the situation even more absurd. Here he was running from an armless, eyeless mouth with legs and tail and the mouth was actually catching up. These things would almost be comical if they weren't so damn terrifying and persistent.

But no Marine would be worth his salt if he let himself be outrun by a mutant alien dinosaur. They zigged and zagged through the foliage and trees, never running straight for too long if they could help it. They didn't want them catching up. Every once in awhile one of the group fired back on the creatures before continuing to run, no one could be sure if any of the bullets hit, but they were hoping to scare them away.

Samara was more successful in holding them back. She remained at the back of the group, sending out biotic throws to push the creatures back. They always seemed to get back up though, or there were just more to replace them, who could tell. Point was the efforts slowed down the pack of predators a bit, and that was helpful.

Before long they had eventually caught up with the small herd of the spiked back creatures. That meant in turn they had caught up with Ellingham, who was still clutching onto his unwanted mount for dear life. He had no idea why these things running, Kowalski tried to keep pace with the rampaging beast to fill him in. It was hard though over the tremendous thundering footsteps of the spiked creatures. Kowalski got around it by firing up into the air with his pistol, drawing the attention of his friend and making him look back.

"The hell is going on?!" he screamed at Kowalski.

How Ellingham expected him to know anymore than he did, Kowalski wasn't sure. But considering they and the spike backs were running it was probably easy enough to figure out they were running from something. Kowalski just pointed to his back to show Ellingham exactly what that was. Sure enough just a few behind, clawing and leaping through the trees, were a few members of the eyeless sharp-toothed mouths on legs chasing after them.

"Oh fuck all kinds of duck!" Ellingham groaned.

The creatures kept on their course and Kowalski was forced to duck low as one jumped clean over him. Thankfully it seemed that the creatures weren't after him, they were going for the big meal, namely Ellingham's spike backed friend. Kowalski kept trying to keep pace with the chase and watched as the toothy maws of the monsters kept biting at the giant beast's heels. The spike back stomped and thrusted it's back legs at the creatures, trying to get them to leave it alone.

One of the mouthed monsters jumped up and snapped its jaws tightly around the flesh of the beast. A groan of pain sounded from Ellingham's ride and try as it might the beast couldn't shake the predator. That's when it aimed towards a tree and slammed its body into it as it ran. The blind carnivore slammed into the tree and was ejected from its prey's backside, trailing the blood and flesh it had bitten off.

Kowalski jumped to the side just as the sightless creature slammed hard into the forest floor right where he stood. The Marine ate dirt and scrambled to sit up, only to see five or so hungry looking little monsters sniffing him down. One charged to attack, when a bullet struck it clean in the brain. Pulling him to his feet from behind was Sergeant Taylor, pistol in hand.

"On your feet, Marine!" he ordered. "Devil Dogs aren't on the menu today!"

Kowalski kept pace with Taylor and saw Ellingham on his spike backed beast once more. He finally had enough courage to sit up straight on the thing. Kowalski watched in as Ellingham swivelled himself on top of the beast, and to everyone's surprise the beast responded by moving in the direction the Marine pivoted. Ellingham directed the creature away from the trees and into a more open area. When the moment was right he jumped down, landing in a heap, but at least not smacking straight into a tree. Kowalski and Taylor rushed over and got him to his feet quickly.

"How the hell did you know that was gonna work?" Kowalski asked.

"Honest to God I was winging it." He proclaimed.

There was the growl of several more of the blind creatures as they bounded up the path. The Marines decided to hold the conversation elsewhere and ran in the opposite direction of the herd. With any luck the sight deprived monsters would keep going after the main course instead of them. Sadly, they didn't need to look back to know they were still being chased after. They could hear the quick-witted feet right behind.

They soon found the other Marines along with Samara. They were huddled around a set of trees and logs as a makeshift defence against the creatures. Everyone had their guns pointed at the forest, ready to kill whatever members of the pack had gone after them.

"Whites of their eyes, sir?" Pearson asked offhandedly as Taylor vaulted over the log and joined them on the firing line.

"Don't get cheeky with me, Pearson." Taylor warned. "You were the one who got their attention in the first place, remember?"

Kowalski took position beside Samara, who already her assault rifle at the ready.

"A singularity should be able to concentrate most of them into a confined area." She told him. "Concentrate your fire there."

"No problem." Kowalski said. "You set'em up, I'll knock'em down."

The creatures were now in sight and bounding up towards their position. They prepared to open up with everything they had, decimate the entire pack if they had to. One of the beasts opened its maw wide as it rushed in, aiming directly for the Kowalski as far as he was concerned.

Then, all of a sudden, a shot rang out and the head of the creature just exploded. It fell limp to the ground and another powerful shot rang out, striking near another of the beasts. The creatures finally gave pause, stopped their charge and looked at their dead pack member. Deciding this meal was not worth the risk, they turned back, running back down the path.

The Marines and Samara looked on astonished.

"Well that ended abruptly." Ellingham noted. "Who fired that?"

Everyone looked to each other but no one claimed credit. Samara looked back towards where she thought the shot had come from and pointed up at the tree.

"There." She told everyone.

They all turned suddenly to see a smoking gun peering out of the tree branches. Lurching out of the pine needles was not a human face, but one that sported a big old flashlight.

"Samara-Justicar," Legion said staring down at the Asari. "Are you uninjured?"

"Yes Legion, thank you for the timely placed sniper shot." Samara nodded politely.

"You and the other organics appeared to be in need of assistance." Legion replied. "We were more than willing to help. We must retreat to a secure location. Come with us."

Legion jumped down from the pine and motioned them all to follow. As if they had a choice. It was either the robot assassin or the alien dinosaurs again. Right now, Kowalski preferred the robot with the gun and an actual eye.

---

Plasma burned the steel of the ODST pods as Shepard kept himself crouched to the ground. The jackals ducked in and out of the trees, keeping their shields up high, and they were only a third of the problem. The second dropship had come down over the hill to the left and the Covenant were already piling out, about to flank their position.

And then there was the Phantom, hovering over the battlefield while every gun aboard blasted away at their position. It only had a few extra jackals and grunts aboard, but what it carried under it was the real danger. Moments after arriving it had dropped a Revenant, the Covenant's light assault craft. It may have only been a single vehicle, but it was enough to cause problems. It pelted their area with red plasma blasts that it lobbed through the air. Everyone was forced to stay down whenever they heard the cry of an incoming shot. One landed just feet away from the pod Shepard was using for cover.

"So much for hoping they'd get bored with trying to kill us and leave." Shepard thought aloud to himself.

Mordin was taking shelter behind the pod next to Shepard. He took a few momentary peeks out into the yard, only to reel back when needles came rushing towards him. As the purple shards stuck themselves into the side of the pod, Mordin turned to Shepard.

"Ground forces pushing forward." he informed the Commander. "Most pressing problem is air support. Any defence problematic as long as it remains."

"We'll handle it when the time comes, Mordin." Shepard promised. "Right now just focus on their ground assault and stick to the plan."

The jackals and grunts pushed forward into the front yard unopposed, thinking this mission was all but wrapped up. But they were in for a shock. Waiting in between the arcing tubes on the left side of the yard was the Master Chief and Sergeant Buck. On top of the smaller block platform to the right, were Sergeant Johnson and Garrus. They had kept out of sight for the most part, but the second Covenant horde charged into the kill-zone they opened up.

Chief and Buck opened up, both throwing a single frag grenade into the mix. They landed at the feet of a grunt and a jackal respectively. The twin blasts ripped the aliens to shreds and with that every gun cut into the Covenant. Garrus lined up a shot with a jackal's head as he scurried about trying to find his bearings. The bird-alien collapsed to the ground, twirling slightly before landing on his stomach. One of the grunts saw the sniper shot and directed the others in his little squad to fire back. Garrus ducked into cover as plasma bolts struck against the steel.

"Well they got their focus back quickly." Garrus observed.

"Ugly little midgets aren't as dumb as they look, trust me on that." Johnson warned, but he didn't sound that serious. He then added, "They are the first run away when they see the Marines after all. That is the smart reaction."

With a chuckle Johnson moved out of cover and fired a full magazine of rounds down into the Covenant forces. He cut through two grunts easily and a jackal before he could get his shield around to protect himself. The Sergeant jumped down from the platform and into the fight proper. Another Jackal charged at him, but he kicked him in the shield, knocking him down before plugging him with a burst from his rifle.

"Respect the Corps you ugly sons of bitches!" he cried out.

Garrus stayed in his position and covered Johnson. A man like that needed a good sniper covering his back. Garus fired another shot, blowing off the head of another grunt as it tried to fire a fully charged plasma pistol at the Marine.

Luckily for Johnson he wasn't the only person on the field. Mordin and Shepard had jumped out from their cover. An inferno blast set ablaze three grunts as they made their way up the field. Mordin took careful aim with his pistol, popping the heads of three Jackals one after the other. One shot to their gun arm and another to their heads took them down relatively quick and had proven the most effective way of neutralizing them. Shepard let a Shockwave ripple across the ground, knocking a number of grunts into the air.

By now the Elite that had been aboard the dropship had charged onto the field with a pack of jackals and grunts following him. Shepard was surprised, an Elite that led from the front. That was something new for once. Then again maybe he just had confidence in the plan, that and perhaps the arcing red ball of plasma heading their way.

"Pull back to the tower!" Shepard ordered as he fired off his shotgun towards the Elite.

Johnson was the first to oblige, although he never turned away from the field of battle. He kept looking on, firing into the alien hordes as he backed away. Mordin followed, running with Shepard back to the ODST pods and then the tower as the giant flaring red ball of plasma collapsed down on their position.

Chief and Buck, who had been firing into the Covenant for this long, pulled away from the fight as well. They ran along the little artificial canyon the tubes made and out the other side. They arrived just in time to see the flanking Covenant from the second dropship passing the exit. A single Jackal, with his shield turned in the opposite direction from them, signalled that the Covenant were closing their noose. Chief pulled out his pistol, stuck it into the Jackal's head, and pressed down on the trigger. With the alien's brains blown out, Buck exited the tubes first and opened up on the Covenant attackers, taking cover behind a rock.

"We got to keep them from getting to the back of the tower!" Buck shouted aloud over the sound of his submachine gun.

Chief simply joined the ODST and strafed along the breath of the incoming Covenant. He tossed a grenade into their ranks as he did, successfully killing at least three grunts in the resulting explosion. Meanwhile, Buck kept his eyes glued to his gun's sights. He fired individual bursts at each incoming jackal's shields, again, where their hands were uncovered. He popped their heads, one by one, as they lowered their protections and allowed him a clean, easy headshot. But once the two Elites appeared it was time to fall back.

Garrus in the meantime had stayed in his position and shifted his focus to the Revenant. It was driven by, interestingly enough, a grunt. Not something Garrus suspected, but it made things easier. He got a lock on the driver's head through the trees and fired. The grunt slumped out of his seat and the Revenant collapsed onto the ground.

"Mine now." Garrus muttered to himself as he jumped down from the platform.

The Phantom, in the meantime, continued to fire upon the tower and the retreating humans. It began to slowly inch forward. It was going to strafe them from above soon enough. Its grunt gunners fired forwards as the Elites and their remaining forces advanced.

Buck ran up the ramp at the back of the tower with Chief in tow.

"Elites at the back door!" he warned.

"I got the front covered," Shepard told the others as he stood next to the front-side ramp. "You keep our backs clean!"

The Marines repositioned somewhat, leaving Shepard, Johnson and Mordin to face to large group of bad guys coming up the ramp. The Elite was still leading the charge and few of the grunts and jackals remained on the ground to side.

"You take them when I get him off the ramp." Shepard told Mordin and Johnson.

With that, Shepard let loose a powerful shockwave that sped down the ramp. The Elite was knocked off, although when he landed on the ground he didn't seem all that injured. The same could not be said for what few forces had followed him up. They fell or were thrown down the ramp and became easy prey for Johnson and Mordin to fire upon.

Shepard now charged down smacking into the Elite as he tried to get up. The Covenant Officer was thrown into an ODST pod, but he still stood tall. Shepard fired two shots from his shotgun at point blank at the alien, but he just tucked and rolled away. The Elite then slashed at Shepard's face, missing him by inches, before kicking the Commander to the ground.

Grunts and Jackals surrounded Shepard now, and there wasn't much choice in what he had to do. He raised his fist, charged with biotic power, and slammed it into the ground, unleashing a powerful Nova blast. It sent the nearby Covenant flying and the forced the Elite to dig his claws into the ground to keep himself from being flung further across the ground. Shepard rushed over to the Elite and fired two inferno rounds from his shotgun straight into the alien's backside as he tried to stand up. That finished the job nicely.

It did not stop the two Elites from getting up onto the tower though. The Marines fell back as the Covies pushed their way up, their shields damaged but still very capable of fighting. They growled at the humans, muttering alien curses as they stared them down. Chief merely punched the first one square in the face, forcing him to stumble backwards. Then he fired the rest of his magazine into him, killing his shields and then forcing him to fall clean off the side of the tower.

He couldn't confirm the kill, for there was a second Elite who body-checked the Spartan into the tower's dividing wall. The Elite took aim with his plasma rifle to finish the Spartan, but Sergeant Buck ran up, slashed into his side with his knife and then stuck it into the alien's leg. The Elite was in pain, but not dead. It growled as it pulled out the knife and tossed it aside.

"Yeah, should've gone for the neck." Buck grumbled, pulling up his submachine gun. "Not my smartest move."

The Elite fired his plasma rifle, but Buck dove backward and let off a stream of rounds that trailed up the Elite's chest and then struck him in the eye. The Elite stumbled back, clutching at his injury with his hand. Chief got back up and punched him hard in the back of the skull. The Elite finally crumpled to the ground.

The Spartan walked over and pulled Sergeant Buck to his feet.

"Nice shot." He told the ODST.

"Got lucky," Buck responded humbly. "What about the first one though?"

Chief looked back and the saw the rest of the Marines firing repeatedly down at the ground below. They didn't stop until they had to change magazines.

"I think he's dead now." Mendoza called over to the two. "He ain't moving."

"Ah, shoot him like a dozen more times just to be sure." Buck suggested with a bit of a smile.

More plasma fire rocked the tower suddenly. The Phantom had closed in on the structure, forcing everyone nearby ran to cover. They piled behind the dividing wall of the strange flaring device as plasma rained down on them from the Phantom. They joined the Master Chief and Buck in huddling down.

"It's gonna come around. You guys know that right?" Bisenti asked them all.

"We just need to take out the guns and we'll be okay." Shepard replied.

"Not gonna be easy to land a plasma grenade on that big gun they have in the nose." Buck noticed.

The Phantom began to peer around the edge of the tower. Its grunt gunners prepared to take aim. Then the Phantom was suddenly rocked from a red plasma blast. The Phantom turned around, its gunners picking out a new target, the commandeered Revenant now piloted by Garrus.

"Little high, better aim lower." Garrus observed.

He aimed at the undercarriage and fired, sending a powerful stream of red hurtling towards the Phantom. It struck the middle of the Phantom instead, killing both of the grunt gunners as the plasma exploded inside the aircraft. Their little bodies were thrown from the dropship and smacked into the ground.

But the Phantom still had its big automated gun and unloaded it on the Revenant. Garrus fired another shot as he moved the little assault craft back. This time the blast struck the cockpit and the Phantom shuddered once more. But it did nothing to stop the relentless barrage of plasma from its cannon. The Revenant took excessive damage and Garrus jumped from the vehicle before one of the shots caught him. The Revenant was soon after demolished by the plasma blasts as Garrus rolled from the doomed vehicle.

The Phantom now took aim at Garrus proper, ready to finish him off. The turian was prepared to make a dash for safety, the smaller structure was nearby. He could make it, maybe, if his luck held out. But as the Phantom charged its gun, two missiles sped out of the sky and struck it. There was a burst of flame and then a blinding flash as the entire Phantom blew up, flaming debris fell from the sky. Garrus looked up to where the missiles had come from and saw a familiar and welcomed sight. The SSV Normandy, flying low and slow through the sky above.

"Damn I love that ship." He grinned up at the frigate.

Something else crested the horizon with the Normandy, a Pelican dropship. It was carrying a warthog as cargo on its back-end. A voice cracked over the radio as everyone ran into the field alongside Garrus.

"This is Pelican Echo 419. Anybody read me?" Asked a calm, yet bold, voice over the comm. "Repeat: Any UNSC personnel respond."

Cortana was very eager to speak up on behalf of the survivors.

"Roger, Echo 419, this is Fire Team Charlie. We read you. Is that you Foe Hammer?" she asked the Pelican pilot.

"Affirmative," replied Foe Hammer in kind. "I didn't expect to hear from you, Cortana. Does that mean..."

"Yes, I'm with the Master Chief right now," Cortana confirmed. "as well as Commander Shepard and some of his crew. Can you patch us into the Normandy?"

"Way ahead of you, Cortana." Foe Hammer replied.

Shepard put his finger to his ear as the Normandy circled about overhead.

"Commander, we were starting to get worried." Miranda's voice spoke up. "I hope we weren't keeping you waiting too long."

"No trouble at all, Lawson." Shepard assured, still sounding rather serious as he spoke to her. "Give me a headcount, who got on board?"

Miranda was quiet for a moment before answering.

"Jacob managed to get a Pelican off the Autumn." She began. "I assume his group is with him. We got several dozen Marines and Troopers off the ship before we disembarked. Jun and Linda are with us."

Shepard looked to the Master Chief with a simple look. He wasn't sure if the Spartan was relieved to hear his teammate was alive, but something told him he was. The way he looked up at the Normandy was a giveaway. But Miranda had bad news as well.

"We... couldn't wait for Joker." She explained.

Shepard's head sagged at that unfortunate fact.

"He probably got to an escape pod." Shepard assured. "He's around here somewhere. We'll keep looking for him and the rest of our team. Have you been able to contact any of them?"

"No," Miranda informed him. "We are getting a few potential lifeboat beacons to the west of here. They could be there."

Shepard wondered if there could there actually be a west on a place with no actual pole or concept of south. He figured he'd let it slide, he'd discuss proper terminology later.

"Then you see about that cluster while I hitch a ride with Chief back to command." Shepard ordered her. "With any luck we can organize another search party for the others and..."

There was a sudden rushing sound through the air high above. Everyone looked on high to see two blazing trails of fire rushing through the clouds. They were more lifeboats, two to be exact, they had only just broken the atmosphere from the looks of it.

"When those lifeboats come down the Covenant are going to be right on top of them." Cortana warned everyone.

Shepard looked at Chief, but his decision was already made. He still felt like he needed his approval. The Chief just nodded.

"Lawson, disengage the Hammerhead." He ordered. "I'm gonna need a ride."

Cortana contacted Foe Hammer again over the radio.

"Foe Hammer, we're going to need your Warthog." Cortana explained. "Me, the Master Chief and the Commander Shepard are going to see if we can save some soldiers. You transport the survivors to safety in the meantime."

The Pelican came in for a landing as the Normandy sped by and let the hammerhead drop from the cargo doors. The Pelican touched down and let the Warthog drop to the ground.

"Here's you Hog, Cortana." Foe Hammer said jovially. "Saddle up and give them hell."

Garrus gave Shepard a little shake of his head as they moved to secure the hammerhead.

"So much for getting out of here soon, huh?" he asked.

"You're just angry because now you have to suffer my driving aren't you?" Shepard asked in return.

"That's part of it I guess." The turian admitted.

---

They didn't have to walk very far to get to where Legion wanted them to go. The woods soon opened up into a clearing where a large tower that shot out a blue light was embedded into the side of a cliff. A lifeboat was not too far away from the tower close to a clump of rocks. Nearby the lifeboat was the scarred familiar face Zaeed Massani, checking over his assault rifle. When he spotted Legion, Samara and the group of Marines approach he walked towards them.

"Legion said there was a lifeboat beacon nearby, didn't think you'd be on it, Justicar." He greeted.

"Hello Massani," Samara replied. "We did not expect to find you or Legion either. Is there anyone else with you?"

"Just the Krogan and two other Marines." Zaeed answered.

In fact, Grunt and the two Marines were quickly running up to the new group. Kowalski was the first to figure out who they were as they got closer.

"Holy shit! Ramirez and Agley! You're not dead!" he said with delighted surprise.

"Great, now I owe Tubbs a fiver." Pearson grumbled.

"HA!" came a laugh that could only be Private Tubbs.

Ramirez didn't seem to mind the betting pool comment, letting it drop as he explained what had happened after they got off the Autumn. His landing hadn't been any better than theirs, but at least they had found shelter.

"We thought the air brakes were gonna snap half-way down." he began. "But luckily we haven't seen hide nor hair of the Covenant since we got off the Autumn. That gave us time to fortify our position here a bit. "

"Well the Covenant can't be completely avoiding this area. They must know we're here." Sergeant Taylor reasoned. "Maybe they're stretched a little thin, could be a sign that a lot of people made it off the Autumn."

"For all the good it does." Zaeed spoke up. "We still don't have a way to link up with them. Legion has been trying to boost our beacon's signal with DOT's help. Something about redirecting the signal through the platform's systems, other than that we got no means of contacting anyone on our position."

Samara turned to Legion with concern.

"How far did you manage to get the signal's range?" she asked.

"Double the current output." Legion answered. "Program DOT warns that any higher frequency signal risks being picked up by Covenant."

"Then we hold out here until rescue arrives." Samara reasoned.

Kowalski wasn't going to argue with that, better than wandering back out into the wilderness of this strange ring world. Everyone else seemed to be in agreement. They had already encountered alien dinosaurs, who knew what else was out there. They weren't here to start exploring. Their job was to get back into the fight. With any luck, help was coming, and soon.

---

Chief's moved his head back and forth a bit as he shifted in his seat. The Warthog had stopped dead in its tracks in front of what looked to be a large open hole in the middle of the rock.

"What you think, Cortana?" he asked.

"Well this is cave definitely not a natural formation." Cortana stated aloud. "So someone built it, which means it must lead somewhere."

"Bit obvious isn't it?" Chief asked once more, trying not to sound condescending.

"You asked the question." Cortana replied haughtily. "Besides, the lifeboats were headed past this ridge and I don't see any way over that giant wall of rock so we need to head through. And this is the only way from the looks of it."

Buck chuckled in his seat a bit as he sat beside the Spartan.

"Your little AI is a feisty one ain't she?" he asked the Chief.

The Spartan didn't respond, not out of disrespect but because he honestly had no response to give. He instead looked over to the hammerhead, parked right beside him.

"You sure about coming with us, Commander?" Chief asked.

"If my people are out there than there's no real question about it. Me, Garrus and Mordin are along for the ride." Shepard replied over the radio.

"And my squad's other pods are in this area." Buck added. "I'm not leaving without them."

Chief looked back to the lone Marine who sat atop the machine gun turret. He had come with the Warthog, he just gave a thumbs up. So it was settled, through the cave it was. They sped through the opening tunnel, the Warthog leading while the Hammerhead trailed behind. Chief was somewhat glad Shepard had come along with his hovercraft. It was armed with missiles and that would definitely prove handy if they ran into more Phantoms or something worse. Cortana offered something just as, if not even more handy.

"While we were fighting them I managed to hack into the Covenant battlenet." She explained, although not sounding all that proud of her accomplishment which was odd. "That confirms it, they must be the source of static if they're unaffected while UNSC channels are blocked unless in close proximity."

"You sure they can't track your hack back to us?" Buck asked the AI.

"No Sergeant, I don't think so. They're actually transmitting over open channels." Cortana explained in disbelief. "They don't think we're capable of listening in, so they won't bother to look. We should show them who we're dealing with."

"That's the plan, Cortana." Chief assured as they sped into the darkness of the tunnel. "That's the plan."

---

AN: The Halo level has been split into two chapters because I realised it was going to be long otherwise. Again, expect this to happen a lot considering our cast size. I wanted to at least get one of them up before Christmas, so here we are. I think of this chapter as Halo in a nutshell, hopelessly outgunned, stranded on a mysterious alien world, hunted by your adversaries and vicious monsters. Although I'm pretty sure none of you expected to see a Dinosaur chase straight out of the Discovery Channel when you started reading this. More on that in the profile page.

Two announcements, before regarding names. I have finally decided upon a proper name to encapsulate this series. Thanks in part to ever so patient editor Crow T R0bot who actually gave me the name idea. Both Tomorrow and Sparks are now part of "The Wormhole Chronicles," which was the least generic and appropriately name I could decide upon. Again, thank you Crow for being my outside the box thinker on that.

Finally, we have a new Covie Husk! YAY! Even better, I'm giving you all the chance to name it! I have three name ideas for you to choose from:

-Imps

-Spitfires

-Demon Spawn

I like all three, so write in your choice via your reviews or a PM and the one with the most votes will be the name of our new Covie Husk. And look for more Covenant Husks on the way, including a few new variants of the Hunters, who being giant worm colonies present so many great opportunities. Thanks for reading and have a Merry Christmas!