Iconium Plateau, Ascella IV, Ascella System
March 19, 2558
The long streaks of gold hardlight continued to pepper Eon's position as the couple of metallic forerunner soldiers pressed their attack.
Bailey burst fired her assault rifle, more on the thought of conserving ammunition rather than defeating them outright. The autonomous constructs switched position, crisscrossing up to cover points closer to her.
No grenades, only one rocket for the Pilum launcher and roughly enough ammo in her guns to kill an elite.
Yeah, things were getting stale pretty fast.
"You better hurry up," She called back to Ross Pine, "I don't know how much longer I can hold them off for?"
"They're just a couple robots right?"
"Would you like to work under gunfire?"
Pine's fingers danced through the wiring he was using to stabilize an unconscious Lusana, "You make a good point. I'll work faster."
One of the soldiers made the mistake of remaining in the open for too long, giving her enough time to put two bursts into a cheek in the armor. It shook as the plating took critical damage and exploded into amber ash when another three round burst went through its head.
"Okay, I'm ready!"
"About time," She aimed downrange again to take out the other one. As if right on cue, there was another plethora of promethean constructs that were approaching from the back entrance, "We need to move!"
"Eon Three, what's your position?"
"We're about two and a half klicks in front. I've found Austal."
"And 'Xiva?" Pine asked.
"Dead," Austal said.
"I see. What's the sitrep on exfil?"
"Vociferous is dispatching a pelican escort down to the surface for an emergency evac. We'll probably have only thirty seconds."
"What's the rally point?"
"End of the plateau. She's coming in about ten mikes."
"Then we better hustle."
"Not gonna happen!" Bailey turned around to fire at the fresh group of constructs that had just crested the opening to their position. "We need to move now!"
"Austal, continue on the path to the evac point and get it secured. Fowler, back with me. Bailey needs some help staving off our friends."
"I'm on it," Eon Three said, "En route."
Bailey primed her last frag grenade and tossed it at the entrance. Upon seeing the handheld explosive, the few skinny soldiers at the front dived for cover.
"Ready?" He gripped the makeshift stretcher out of poles and netting from inside the pelican. A lot of extra craftwork under pressure had to be added in order to compensate for the Spartan's increased weight.
She looped her hands through one of the wires, putting around one of the hooks at the pole's end and grabbed the other side. Turning around, she raised her pistol, providing cover fire.
"Go!"
As fast as they could, the two moved the Lusana stretcher down to the other end of the clearing. By now, the prometheans doubled their pursuit, seeing their quarry about to get away.
Fowler had met them just as they went into the next narrow crevice and pumped his shotgun. As the first few crawlers that ran ahead of the soldier pack came into view, he was there to greet them with a hailstorm of buckshot. The soldiers following quickly broke file, moving straight to cover and taking sporadic shots.
Austal came on the comms, "I'm here at the set rally point. There's a couple of these forerunner aircraft loitering around right here. Pegging them for an airstrike."
"Copy that."
Maneuvering through the narrow confines was tricky. As a Spartan that could twist and contort through narrow openings, it was a trivial matter.
Having a huge seven foot stretcher with a half ton Spartan that had to be immobilized was another story. Although neither Bailey nor Pine wanted to cause additional damage to his body, there was no way they were going to get through this without scrapes or bruises.
Fowler kept a bit behind them, spraying any promethean that jumped into the open with his SAW. The few crawlers dashing out of cover were blown apart, while the smarter soldiers stayed back, returning fire. After another long tongue of gunfire, his weapon's bolt clacked open.
"Shit," He cursed, throwing the ammoless weapon down and drawing his sidearm. "I'm out!"
His magnum barked again, overloading another soldier's armor and taking it out.
"Last mag," He called to his cohorts, "Then we'll have to fall back to Austal's position!"
Pine and Bailey continued their hustle, finally getting around a narrow turn. The clearing was a tantalizing twenty steps away.
"Almost there!"
Austal rushed over, grabbing the side of the stretcher.
Just at the same corner, one particularly bold soldier quickly closed the distance, firing a beam weapon that had light projectiles bouncing off the rocky surfaces.
"Aw shit," It was too close to pull out his shotgun, so he lashed out, snagging the barrel of the scattershot and jerking it aside just in time to avoid being cremated.
He gave the robot a savage elbow before smashing the forerunner weapon against its user. It exploded into fine sparks. The energy shotgun was scooped up and he fired the remaining charges, allowing it to ricochet through the narrow confines. A few unlucky crawlers were felled to its particle barrage.
He flipped it open breech style and thumbed in the last few charges he had.
The attacking aircraft up ahead quickly ascended, right before a missile crashed into its hull, creating a deafening explosion.
Fowler heard the familiar engines of a pelican.
"Our ride's here!" Austal shouted, "Fowler, we're out double time!"
Brett looked at the advancing promethean forces, all of which had seemed replaced despite him thinning it out earlier.
Like a blur, the pelican and a pair of broadsword escorts accelerated overhead. The dropship quickly lowered altitude, spinning around and deploying its hatch. Inside, the Spartans could see a paramedic team awaiting them.
"Go! Go! Go!" Pine ushered everyone inside. Austal and Fowler brought up the rear onto the ramp, firing their weapons at the first prometheans that had broken out into the clearing. As the constructs returned fire, the aircraft's ramp slid shut and the pelican quickly rocketed out of the sky.
The team of medics swarmed over Lusana, who had been put on the floor in the middle. Each man or woman…none of them could tell through the thick armor and visored faces nodded calmly and seemed to be conversing on a private channel. They had gotten to work just as he was aboard, using specialized tools from kits to remove parts of the Spartan's MJOLNIR armor.
None of the Spartans paid them much attention, they were all slumped over, exhausted from the harrowing survival ordeal.
"Please tell me we don't have to do anymore of this critiquing of Spartans," Fowler wheezed, shaking his head, "They won't let us hear the end of it."
UNSC Vociferous
Another medical team was awaiting them when Vociferous finally came into view over Ascella's orbit. They quickly, but orderly lifted the limp Spartan on the stretcher and moved him out of the bay towards the infirmary.
Eon wanted to follow, but the insistence of the medics told them that he was going to be immediately whisked into the operating room for surgery. Although they wouldn't be able to see any of the procedures, none of the Spartans refused to go and debrief until they had gotten word of what state their leader and friend was in. The nurses had no choice but to allow them to wait outside.
Just in the waiting room of the infirmary, Eon stood, sat or paced uncomfortably as the dark cloud of Lusana's condition continued to linger over their heads.
An hour passed…then two…at the three and a half mark, Austal decided to head down to the mess hall and bring back four meals. To the surprise of the staff, each Spartan leaned against a tall counter beside the reception desk and ate in silence. Their minds were elsewhere.
Just as the time of four hours of waiting had elapsed, one of the doctors finally came out, calmly explaining the situation for them. Much to their relief, the Spartans dispersed, now reporting several hours late to their debrief.
The news to Lusana and his family was not going to go well.
Ross Pine, fresh out of the showers and in a clean Spartan undersuit, drummed his fingers on the desk as the screen call finally established a connection with the recipient.
The dark-skinned woman was dressed nicely, as if going to an evening out. She had a velvety strapless dress and was currently kneeling down, tending to a young boy that had handsomely groomed hair and a dark suit.
"Yes?" Her face brightened when she saw the familiar person on the other side, "Oh hello Ross!"
"Mrs. Lusana," He smiled back, "How are you and the kids doing today?"
"We're just about to go out for a mom and kids night at a steakhouse. And please, I've told you before, call me Annie. Missus makes me feel old."
"Of course Annie." Pine promised, "Listen, I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but I feel like this is something you have to know."
Annie Lusana wouldn't have married their squad leader if she wasn't capable of handling things like these, "Is he?"
Ross shook his head, "No, he's not dead, but he came pretty close." He sighed, trying to let her know the best of what happened without compromising classified details, "Annie, we were on track to capture an elite warlord and during our extraction, our aircraft was shot down. While most of us escaped rather unscathed; Tony took the worst of it and we found him pinned underneath the wreckage. When we pulled him out, he had received an open fracture to his leg and lost a good amount of blood. He's currently out of critical condition, but still in intensive care."
"Is he awake?"
"I'm afraid not. We're heading back to port soon and when we do, we're sending him home. He's going to need at least a couple months of therapy."
Annie shook her head, "You know this will devastate him."
Ross nodded, "I know. I've been with Tony for years now and I can certainly tell you that he's not going to take it well. But there is some good news; if all goes good during his rehabilitation, then he has the chance to come back into the service by mid to late June at the earliest."
Pine glanced over his shoulder to see Austal and Blake Bailey standing in the doorway. Like him, the younger Spartans had taken off their scuffed armor and tossed away the undersuits for a fresh one.
"So he may need some space and time to heal from the wound. I know you and the boys will be there to support him through every step. It's not going to be easy, but everyone here on Eon is pulling for him."
"Thank you Ross. Really."
He nodded, "Of course Annie. Say hi to the boys for me."
"Will do," She shut off the connection.
Austal stepped forward, rubbing his head, "You wanted to see me sir?"
"Yeah," Due to Lusana's absence, their commander at the Shock Development Group had neglected to issue a replacement in lieu. Ross Pine had led soldiers before as an ODST and was the team's secondary leader. "The Office of Naval Intelligence has decided that it will handle the further matters concerning Turz 'Xiva and the Vahkai from here forward. We've been ordered to return to New Corsica and reassigned for a upcoming operation in a couple of weeks."
"Any details?"
"Nada."
"I see."
Ross Pine turned to Bailey, "Spartan Bailey, I have to admit that while you were on this team, I had my doubts about you." He glanced over at Austal, "We all did."
Bailey held her breath as he removed a tiny box, opening it to reveal a pin of a golden eagle with a thunderbolt and arrows clutched in its claws.
While she recognized it as the pin of the Spartan branch to signify their membership into the elite soldiers, there was a second banner just underneath.
The words read; "E Sempre L'ora"
"It is always the hour," Austal said, "And it's yours."
Ross smiled, "You've earned it. As soon as we get back to New Corsica, we're going to celebrate if she accepts."
"Of course I accept!" She made a fist and grinned right back at them, "You know…I've always wanted to have something like this and you've given it to me. A family."
"Well then let us be the first to welcome you to the Thirty Seventh Special Shock Development Group."
So a couple things; I've changed my name now. Something I can correlate to better than My Wunderwaffle iz missin. Feel free to still call me that if you like.
Second, I've ran into writer's block with this story, but really want to get it off my chest so that I can continue on with future projects and trying not to go two steps ahead of my normal pace.
Thanks for reading and reviewing, you give my writing purpose.
Brav