Iconium Plateau, Ascella IV, Ascella System
March 19, 2558
Austal crept to the next outcropping with lightrifle in hand, glancing upwards to see the overflying phantom pass above with a hum of its engines. A rattle of gunfire was heard as it fired one of its secondary plasma cannons out at something unseen. Moments later; he saw another one of those angular promethean gunships follow the Covenant dropship, firing its chin blasters repeatedly as it was raked with white hot bolts from the alien gunner.
Eyes on his motion tracker; he pressed on.
More fighting had broken out between 'Xiva's men and the prometheans as Eon Four had gotten the attention of the latter party and ran away, intentionally heading right for the other faction.
Hopefully, their skirmishes would give them enough time to head to a safer area.
Then the bad news of 'Xiva; their quarry had escaped while the team was distracted with getting Lusana out. Pine said that tracks in the dirt had pointed him in his direction.
So the pararescueman had doubled back to the part that he had already cleared in an attempt to keep tabs on their target. As of now; he had no such luck.
"How hard can a big ass elite be to find out here?"
He came to a section that was particularly narrow, leading to a corner about twenty feet across with the taller rocky sections towering above.
Something caught his eye and he zoomed his armor's scanners onto it.
It was the Vahkai sword; lying down against one of the rocks. There were dings and dents all along its formerly smooth surface that showed its age and the symbols carved into the blade reminded him of old samurai swords he used to see at some of the sushi bars in Cravate.
The slightest sound immediately gave it away.
Turz 'Xiva lunged from his hiding place, using his hammering arms to swing wide. Austal ducked just in time to avoid that blow that probably would've broken a few bones in his body. He used the sangheili's overextension to place a kick right at his stomach. The Vahkai barely flinched from the blow and grabbed Austal by the throat.
Marcus' eyes bulged in complete surprise that his foe wasn't even felled before a strong arm threw him against the wall, losing the forerunner rifle in the process. The hit jarred his bones and he barely exhaled in time to avoid being winded and having to reinflate his lungs.
"How about I make this even? Hmm?" He proposed, casually walking over to the propped sword and handling it as if it were a toy. "It would be an honor to have a Spartan's blood spilled all over it."
"I'll still be one over you," Austal spat back, slowly getting up. Interestingly; 'Xiva allowed him to do so.
"I believe death is indefinitely many times…"
"What?"
'Xiva scoffed, "It matters not to me. You shall pay for the deaths of my ship and men on Requiem. Then that traitor Jul 'Mdama shall suffer too."
As he stepped forward, Austal lunged himself. One of his two sting knives were in hand and he aimed it in a stab right at an armor gap in the armpit.
Striking armor, the knife might as well have been made of plastic against the metal ten times as tough, but he noticed that the Vahkai's armor had many visible spaces in between that exposed some vulnerable points. While it wouldn't outright kill him, a stab in one of those spots was bound to hurt. Since both combatants were moving accurately, he had to move with tact.
Austal had knife fought before, both in sparring and real combat. There was a bit of a thrill to it; standoffish and utter determination was key factors in whether you came out unscathed or even at all.
The heated blade easily punctured the undersuit, sliding into the muscle with a sickening wet sound. 'Xiva visibly shook from the blow, letting out a sharp cry of pain. With them so close together, it limited the sangheili's ability to swing the large sword.
Austal wasted no time from the attack to deliver a hammer strike of his own with his free hand at the alien's neck. He didn't want to give an inch of leeway from the sangheili's much larger sharp weapon. It wasn't an energy sword, but its wicked design and sheer speed that he had seen one swing meant it would have no trouble bisecting him.
'Xiva's free hand popped out after he wrested it from Austal's grasp and his long fingers wrapped themselves around the Spartan's hand. Marcus fought back, straining his eyes and mouth to try and win back over the test of physical strength. While he was a Spartan, capable of beating elites through strength, the Vahkai were no ordinary sangheili and Turz was simply too strong.
The Sting knife was tossed away, landing in the dirt. Austal was too locked in the hold to make a break for it. The Vahkai's armor had many grooves and indentations in its sides, mostly for cosmetic reasons, but it also allowed the Spartan to hook his fingers and swing around to the larger being's back, straddling him like a rider aback of a beast.
'Xiva swung his body wildly in an attempt to thrash the smaller Spartan off and Austal quickly dismounted, jumping up when he saw him getting ready to slam his back into the rock wall.
He landed smoothly on his feet right in front and turned around, drawing his sidearm in one fluid motion.
"Don't move."
To his credit, 'Xiva actually remained still. While it would take nearly an entire clip from his A9 to fully down his shields and pop him with one shot, the threat was still present. Smartly, the sangheili surrendered the sword.
"On your knees."
'Xiva huffed, "I may be unarmed and surrendering, but I will not be taken captive by a human,"
"Shut up."
"If you insist. Why don't you just shoot me instead?"
Austal would've loved nothing more.
Except he was out of bullets. He never claimed to be ammoless and from what the sangheili perceived, he was unaware of an unloaded gun.
Before either could do anything further; the air became split with crisscrossing beams of hardlight bolts. Several of them burned their way through Austal's shields, causing them to flicker even as he slid on the ground, going right behind a man-sized boulder for cover.
'Xiva saw his adversary break for cover just as the promethean group spotted them at the dead end's entrance. He too sprang right into action, scooping up his sword and diving right behind the same rock.
Austal lunged out, right as the Vahkai rounded the corner. The sudden tackle took the both of them right into the open, where the gray constructs quickly acquired their two targets, peppering them with more fire.
Marcus' alarm blared in his helmet and he saw his shielding bar lower to roughly a quarter.
'Xiva threw him off and swung his big blade at a couple projectiles aimed his way. The weapon's smooth surface amazingly deflected the hardlight, glancing off and ricocheting into the rock wall, where it left a small smoldering crater.
One of the prometheans decided to run towards him, swinging a metallic arm rapidly. 'Xiva quickly sidestepped the attack before bringing the sword right back down, cleaving the thing in two.
Austal watched in disbelief at his foe, having to give credit to the speed, style and panache he had given off.
A forerunner weapon was thrown to him. Instinctively, he caught it, recognizing it as a suppressor.
"Make yourself useful," The Vahkai slashed another one right in half, "I would rather not be the only one these things are shooting at."
Austal was not trusting him at all, but the number of prometheans standing between them and the exit was numerous and both were aware that neither was going to make it out alive without the aid of the other.
It had been a little while since he had used a suppressor in a War Games simulation. A fully automatic hardlight rifle that could saturate a wide field of fire with multiple shots. Its fire rate was terrific in close quarters but its effectiveness diminished at longer ranges.
He came out shooting, hoping the weapon would have enough energy to eliminate 'Xiva's shields once this was over. The first target of his exploded and he pivoted to shoot another one. Other prometheans turned from the giant sangheili to the smaller Spartan, having already much difficulty in taking down one.
With a mighty roar, 'Xiva grabbed one of the lanky constructs that had jumped on his back, throwing it over his head and planting the sword right in the robotic being's chest. It let out a synthetic sounding scream before its disintegrating death took hold.
He was in the middle of blasting another one as one of its partners decided to pull an orange spiked ball out from its belt. It tossed it in their direction, leaving a bright trail in its wake.
Both of them had to guess that it was a grenade of some sort when it landed on the ground and expanded to create a sparky field that shimmered in the air.
As he tangoed with his next opponent, he reached down to its waist after smashing the stock of his suppressor into its body and stole one of the grenades.
There was a button on the side, which seemed to be the way it was armed and he underarmed it towards another three that were moving to join the party. They vanished into the field, amber sparks dancing over the ground before winking out in the darkness.
Before long, the two had made work of their attackers and as the opposition wore down; they were already plotting their next move to subdue the other.
'Xiva's came first when Austal saw the blade coming up to swing. He ducked the blow just in time while still fighting the last of the prometheans. In one motion, he grabbed the droid and tossed it towards his attacker while rising back up and squeezing the suppressor's trigger.
The flurry of hardlight bolts pelted both others as 'Xiva pulled the promethean off him and threw it violently to the ground. It shook for a moment before the glow in its head faded and it lay still.
"Hmph," He huffed, "Maybe it does pain me a little bit when I kill you."
He rushed Austal, who had still kept on a stream of bullets before the sword lashed out. It didn't slice the weapon in half, but the tips snagged onto a section of it, ripping it right out of his hands.
"You were lucky I was going to wait until we killed EVERY one of them." Austal reminded as he ducked another blow. Even from the few minutes of endless combat; the sangheili didn't seem fatigued at all.
"The helioskrill who strikes first does so because its need for superiority outweighs its need for patience." He paused, raising the blade back up in a ready stance, "Old sangheili proverb."
"So I'm just dirt huh?"
"A necessary claim yes. Had you and your Spartans not interfered, I would have finally disposed of Jul 'Mdama!"
"So we're after the same guy. You sure you don't want help? I mean, we did work pretty well together."
"Enough talk human."
"Oh come on, what's the harm?"
"The glory for the kill is mine. 'Mdama's head is already at a hefty price and I shall finally be the one to bring him down and restore peace of Sanghelios!"
As he raised a fist in declaration, Austal used the distraction to his advantage. As he had thrown the promethean towards 'Xiva, he pilfered another one of those grenades.
The same one that was flying in the Vahkai's direction.
It exploded right in front of his face, causing the shields to flicker.
Out of fury, 'Xiva spun around, swinging his blade wildly. Marcus jumped back, spraying another volley of suppressor fire before it clicked.
Out of ammo.
He looked up to see the sangheili lunging forward, eyes set on beheading him with nothing else in mind.
"I'm sorry Gabrielle,"
The crack echoed through the tall walls of the valley as 'Xiva's body jerked from an invisible impact.
The shotgun bellowed again, knocking its victim back off balance.
"Austal!" Fowler cried out, rushing over to his friend, "Are you alright brother?"
"Yeah,"
"Good. Cause you're in better shape than him,"
"Where's everyone else?"
"Ross and Blake got Lusana on a makeshift stretcher. We're gonna move while enemy activity is focused on one another to a second extraction point." He looked at 'Xiva. "I see you found our friend. Wish I didn't have to shoot him. My ass is gonna be roasted for that."
"He was about to come after me and I was definitely outmatched. I could've used your help five minutes ago."
A small river of blood flowed just beside their boots as 'Xiva slowly and shakily extended a hand towards his blade, lying just a few feet away. The two slug rounds from the shotgun had blown their way past his shields and ripped through the armor as if it were paper. Blood and bits of bone had been nicked, causing such grievous injury, it was a miracle that he had survived.
Fowler shook his head and gently placed a boot on 'Xiva's hand. "I don't think so bro. You shouldn't have crawled away from your seat." He handed the shotgun to Austal, "All yours."
'Xiva stopped, letting out a guttural growl as he barely moved his eyes up to his soon-to-be-murderers.
To Austal, it was a necessity. Depending on the individual of course, he would normally feel a bit of pity for someone who didn't make it that he had fought alongside. Even as enemies, the two had forged a temporary truce to battle the superior number of prometheans with few weapons of their own.
Without Fowler's intervention, 'Xiva might still be trying to bisect him with his sword, so there was very little remorse for Austal here to execute his former ally; if he could call the Vahkai that.
"Here's an old human proverb for you." He stuck the muzzle into the back of the sangheili's neck. Turz growled and tried to move, but his body seemed to be immobile, so all Marcus got was a stare of defiance, a last act to intimidate his killer.
"Say hello to my little friend,"
He pulled the trigger.
Thanks for reading and reviewing, you give my writing purpose.
MWIM