Phoenix and I stood on either side of the door, Phoenix with his hand over the controls. A bead of sweat ran across my forehead. I looked at Dragon and Crow, weapons drawn and ready, awaiting the door to open. I looked at Phoenix, who was watching me closely, awaiting the signal. I blinked my red acknowledgement light. Then my amber, Phoenix tensing up. Then I finally flashed my green light, Phoenix smashing the control panel to open the door. The door slid open, Crow and Dragon stepping in and firing. We couldn't see what they were shooting or what they saw at all. But the rest of us followed them. Fallen marched in after them, shooting between them. Lilith and Pink peeled off onto the wall next to us as Meteor and Athena peeled off to the right and left of the inside of the door. Finally me and Phoenix peeled around the doorframe and place ourselves between Crow, Athena, Meteor, and Dragon respectively. We had unleashed hell in the Corvette. We stayed stationary for as long as we could before the Covenant became too thick to fight head on.
I threw down one of my deployable shields, an orb of hexagonal translucent shields covered us in a dome, "Go Go Go!" I screamed, giving us each enough time to regenerate our shields before leaving the protection of the device.
I sprinted to the left, Athena on my tail. I jumped up to the nearest platform and kicked off an unsuspecting jackal sniper, his bird like cries being silenced as his head collided with the ground. I observed my surroundings while I had the small moment of rest, seeing a heavily equipped front line of Elites and grunts carrying greater weapons than usual. I saw though, there were little to no Covenant behind the front lines, leaving them vulnerable from behind. I was thinking when Sarah screamed into my helmet.
"Sam, behind!" she yelled, her face concerned.
I spun into a crouch and looked for who she'd seen, I saw nothing. I went to stand before I saw the slight shimmer of an active camo unit. I rolled to the left, just as the stealth elite swung his sword. I recovered from the roll and fired at the glistening elite, watching as his shield satisfactorily failed, revealing him in full. He charged again as my clip ran dry. I dropped my rifle and drew my magnum, crouching low as the elite collided with me. I grabbed one of his legs and lifted with my own, pushing him into the air. I shoved the barrel of my magnum into his stomach as I flipped him over my shoulder, letting off five rounds and slamming the elites back into the ground, the magnum having torn through his unshielded armor. I fired the two rounds left in the clip into his head. Insurance policy as they always told me in training.
I turned to face the covenant front lines again, looking for any advantage I could exploit. I looked to my left and saw a wall, but to my right were elevated platforms similar to the one I stood on now. I leapt across to the next platform, keeping my legs pumping as I landed, jumping across to the next one. A jackal sniper had taken interest in me, a needle flying past my back. I stopped my momentum and cut back, a needle now flying past my front. The needle rifle had zeroed me in, and soon enough he would be able to lead me properly. I raised my battle rifle which I'd recovered since battling the elite and connected my HUD with it's magnified scope. I found the jackal sniper's red "eye" in a darker corner. A purple line beamed from his gun, striking me in the chest and knocking me back, my shields flickering. I got back in the sights and found his eye once more, loosing off three rounds and continuing my run, not needing to check if my target was down or not. I knew all three rounds had struck just where I'd needed them to.
I leapt once more before reaching the final platform. I slid to a halt and saw just what I'd needed, a gap in their defenses. I dropped to the floor behind a stationary plasma shield, checking my ammo and running diagnostics before getting back in the fight. To my right, in the center were Dragon and Crow. Farther to the right, past them was Athena. Directly behind me from my sitting position facing the way we'd come in were Phoenix and Fallen, blasting away. I leaned out from cover and fired at a few grunts holding plasma pistols, picking of a few jackals from their flanks before leaning back in. I reloaded before peeking out again. I shot a grunt that was running at Phoenix with two grenades in hand, both primed, he dropped them and successfully killed another 5 grunts with the grenades. I smiled to myself, a great conservation of ammo if you ask me.
I moved forward to take up a position next to Phoenix and Fallen, "Hey, Phoenix, Fallen, listen up!"
They both took cover next to me and all three of us kept firing.
"On our right, about 1 O'Clock, there's a stack of fusion coils, you see it?" I yelled over the hail of gunfire.
Two green acknowledgement lights flashed in my HUD.
"Alright, I'm gonna need you guys to cover my advance. I'm going to use those to break apart their line, you guys pick apart the stragglers!" I said, receiving another pair of green acknowledgement lights.
I sprinted from cover, heading directly towards the neatly stacked fusion coils. Over my back, Phoenix and Fallen held back the opposition, forcing them into cover and suppressing them enough for me to run past. I slid into cover near the fusion coils, out of the line of sight of any more wandering eyes. I snuck up to the large pile of fusion coils, stacked precariously over the front lines. Phoenix and Fallen both ducked as the front lines realized their numbers advantage. Needles and plasma rounds whizzed over their head as I pushed on the stack. At first the weight of the fusion coils was seeming to be unmoving, but soon I was able to busge them. They leaned over slowly, starting to fall. I heard the grunts and jackals underneath scream as they fell on top of them. I hefted a fusion coil onto my shoulder and threw it as far as I could, throwing it down into the center. A stray bullet caught it and it detonated, sending grunts, jackals and elites alike sprawling. I rolled another one down the platform, continuing a stream of explosives for my team to fire at, eventually running out of both fusion coils, and targets. The rest of my team mopped up the stragglers, mostly elites that had been able to survive the onslaught, being taken down in focused fire. Lilith and Pink stumbled into the room, Pink holding Lilith up on the side where her leg hurt, using a gravity hammer to balance on her other side.
I motioned them up, to the next door where Phoenix was already waiting. We stacked up once more, this time on the walls and not in a bottlenecked hallway. I flashed my acknowledgement lights in a countdown once more, Phoenix pressing the door's control panel. Nothing happened.
"Uh, sir, we've got a problem." he said, looking at the panel in confused anger.
I sighed, "They locked the doors." I said, more of a statement than a question.
He nodded, sighing as well. Dragon stepped around and removed looked down at the control panel.
"Felicia says she can open the door. She will need a way into the ship's network she says." he said, everyone giving out a breath of relief.
Athena then stepped up, "I believe I can help with that. Nexus says that he can have the network open for Felicia in a few minutes."
"I'll keep watch for any oncoming covenant forces." said Sarah in my own helmet.
"Sarah's got our asses covered." I said.
"Looks like we have ourselves a plan." Fallen said, looking at the door.
A few minutes later Felicia was in, we once again formed up, Felicia ready to go. I blinked my acknowledgement lights again. When it hit green the door slid open, Sarah gained access to the room's security and Maxwell gained access to security all at once. We stormed the room, aiming at each corner and crevice and shadow. We moved forward, it seemed this room was empty.
"Escape pod's are the next room over." said Sarah, I relayed the information to everyone else before we got to the next door.
We stacked up for what we hoped was the final time, Lilith and Pink once again leaning against the wall just outside while we pushed up. Phoenix nodded and I counted down. Felicia had the door ready. As soon as the door opened Phoenix peeled in, I rolled in after him, followed by the rest of the squad. We aimed in trained precision, Phoenix checking the hallways branching off to our right. He moved up to the next hallway.
Sarah went over team comms, yelling at Phoenix now, "Phoenix, step back!"
He did as he was told, just as an elite's arm grabbed around out for him, he dropped his gun in surprise and grabbed the elite's arm, snapping it as he jerked it across the hallway's edge. The elite gave off an aggravated yell, his arm disappearing back down the hallway. Phoenix retrieved his gun and peeked around the corner. He went to pull the trigger, just as the barrel of his gun was sliced off, an energy sword coming into view as Phoenix slid back, dropping the mangled piece of scrap. The elite stepped forward and thrust the two prongs of plasma forward, Phoenix just sliding away. The elite shuffled, Phoenix now blocked off from us by the elite. I ran off of pure instinct in that moment. I drew my knife and charged the elite, jumping onto his back. The unsuspecting elite swung the sword dangerously close to my faceplate before I could lean away. He resorted to smashing me against the ship's walls, unable to pry me off with his broken arm. I dug my knife into the back of his neck and was met with a nasty surprise. This elite was wearing neck armor. I grunted in frustration and dropped my knife. I kicked out at his broken arm with my left leg, distracting him for a moment. I pushed myself up onto his shoulders and spun. I was now holding onto him with nothing but my legs, facing his front. I bent backwards and let my legs slip down, wrapping my ankles around his neck. I put my hands on the ground and used all the strength in my legs to flip him over me. He slammed into the ground with his back, my feet hitting the ground.
I quickly readjusted my stance to straddle the chest of the elite. I punched the elite once. Twice. Three times. I lost count. I punched until the elite stopped moving, until there was nothing there left to punch. I was breathing heavily, heaving in breaths of air. I sat back and looked down at what I had done. I saw the mangled face of the elite, all of which my frustration had brought.
"Sam…" Sarah said, her voice concerned.
I gulped before pulling in another breath. I felt two hands pull me up, I instinctively jerked before allowing the hands to help me to my feet.
"Easy girl, just me" said Phoenix, "thanks for saving my ass there."
I nodded at him, still breathing heavy. The rest of the team moved in and walked over the corpse, Crow bending to retrieve my knife and returning it. I sheathed the blade before staring down at the elite. Lilith and Pink staggered past to an escape pod. I waited for just a minute, looking down at what my frustrations had caused upon something living just like me.
If I could endanger something like this. Could I endanger my team?
I should have never let him out.
Cliffhangers, cliffhangers, ooh I love em'. Anyways, hope you guys are liking the steadily elongating chapters, soon enough I may have some 3000 word ones coming out. Now I know this isn't huge, but this story is like a continuous chain of one-shots almost. Have a good one!
Till next time
TheLooneyBin