Isabella climbed up to the AA gun's platform using the shield to protect herself and being fast. The grunts didn't have time to reposition themselves. With a spin kick and an outstretched arm, she kicked a grunt in the face and disarmed the other. Two shots each and both grunts were dead.
"He can come up now" she spoke into her mic
"He is on his way" Korai replied
"Why are we doing this again?" the door to the roof opened and two armed men were escorting a frail looking man to her position. "I see him"
"Stopping the covenant from sending reinforcements and buying us a bit more time. If we start a full scale evacuation of the city, start a fight…"
"The Covies either send reinforcements or bomb us all to bits"
"See, given enough time even the UNSC can learn"
"Nice one, I really can't wait to see you in person" the frail man finally made it to her and she helped him up the platform and let him work "you!" she pointed to one of the armed men "watch the stairwell, make sure nothing is coming up that way and you, you are on patrol. Report anything suspicious"
"Yes ma'am" they both echoed.
"What's your name sir?" Isabella asked the frail man
"Eng. Gideon Fitzroy" he replied fiddling his googles but still focused on his work
"How much time do you need Gideon?"
"Just give me five minutes"
"No problem, we've got nothing but time" Isabella stood up fully and surveyed the area. The city was a warzone, almost everything was on fire. Surprisingly the resident of the city were well armed and put up a fight, forcing the Covenant to advance cautiously. Still the covenant had shields, camouflage and plasma based weaponry, it was only a matter of time before what happened at the Lodge happened here. If she could read the patterns, the Covenant were moving in slowly from the outer edges, making their way towards the city center since it was a lot more fortified. Then she looked at the ship hovering menacingly in the distance, a Dreadnought in atmosphere, a sleeping dragon. Would what they were doing be able to keep it a bay?
"I'm done" Gideon finished with an authoritative slam of the access panel, there was a steady hum from the AA gun, a sign of his success
"Korai did you get that?" Isabella said and as she gave Gideon a thumbs up
"I hear him loud and clear" Korai replied over the radio "good job Lancer five"
"How about the other teams?"
"They weren't as successful"
"So what do we do now?"
"I, make do. You just get to the ground, vehicles are being dispatched as we speak"
"And after this I get my message?"
"Yes you get your message" Isabella nodded and moved towards the stairwell, signaling for the soldiers to form up on her, Gideon found a safe spot inside the group. Isabella activated the thermal overlay on her visor, cloaked Elites were a clear and present danger and there was no power to the building. They rappelled down an Elevator shaft, into the lobby and behind cover. There was an enemy patrol outside, she waited for the right time and started running, crashing into the Elite walking passed the door before he knew what was coming, with three powerful strikes her knife had pierced his skull. His buddies got over their shock real quick and started to fire, arm shield on, Isabella crossed the road in a flash and got behind a building. Her companions used the turned backs of the Convent to get a drop on them. It surprised her they could read the situation as well as they did, apparently some insurrectionists were better trained than others. The alarm for the city bleared and a disembodied voiced ordered everyone to the main shelter. Lines appeared on the road, giving directions to the uninformed. Korai sent out a broadcast rallying the armed officers to defend the civilians and escort them to the shelters. The once defeated city was alive with new purpose, civilians emerged armed and ready, surprising the covenant. One by one the covenant forces dwindled, in response the dreadnought hovering beyond the city, dispatched banshees and dropships. Isabella tensed up as the alien aircrafts approached, worst case scenarios running through her mind. She finally exhaled when a laser tore through the front line of crafts, like balls of fire they fell out of the sky. Covenant ground forces seemed rooted to the ground for a brief second, enough time to press home the advantage. A convoy pulled up just up the street from Isabella, two warthogs and three buses, it was more than enough.
As the last of the civilians loaded up, Isabella was reminded the ruthlessness of the Covenant, some pilots flew their banshees high up, they would be shot down but as they feel, the pilots would let loose everything they had and crash in crowded place. Now, some Elites would bail before the crash and as her bus pulled away, she hung from the door and noted the colours and armour configuration of these elites, nothing unique, they just painted the left or right arm of their armour in gold. as her convoy moved, Isabella eased up another degree and watched the chaos.
Her convoy was just about the reach the last checkpoint, the ones she had passed were hard to describe. men and women putting their lives on the line, fear and anticipation thick in the air. Most of them were just people, regular people. it was humbling. the exlopsion shocked her back to reality, a pelican had taken fire, lost an engine and was doing its best to land gracefully.
"captain, can you hear me?" korai said over her head piece
"I'm here" she rolled her eyes "what do you want?"
"that pelican you just saw crash, a very important person was in there and I need you to make sure he's OK"
"this wasn't the deal.."
"I asked you to help me save lives... people"
"and he's people"
"please, help me captain"
"I'm on it, I'm really getting tired" with that she was on foot and watching the bus go away "where is the crash site"
"I'm marking it now"
"I see it, I can do it on foot"
"you need backup ma'am" it was one of the soldiers that helped her with the AA guns speaking, the other was just behind him
"no guys, save me a sit in the bunker OK?"
"yes ma'am" she turned to leave
"not dying...its implied guys" she said with an invisible smirk
"we know, same goes for you" she nodded and was off, sprinting through buildings. at some point she was just behind enemy lines but she didn't engage, she darted across streets and into buildings and finding their exits. From her observations, the Covenant were starting to trickle in and it was only a matter of time before they reclaimed the city. she found a vantage point just before she reached the marker point. the fallen Pelican was in pieces, wings to one side, cockpit to the other, dead bodies spread out. 3 grunts, two jackal and an elite cleared the debris looking for a source of light. moments later they found it, man a squirming in an energy bubble and holding onto a small trunk. she noticed the man but also noted the gold painted arms of the covenant forces. maybe it was some kind of special forces? she couldn't be sure. they tried to burst the bubble with gunfire it didn't work, then an energy sword and that almost fried the hand of the Elite. as he growled in pain he barked at a jackal, it in turn seemed to be making a call, Isabella knew she had to strike and like always, take out the Elite first. she check her AR and felt for a plasma grenade she had salvaged from pervious fights. she maneuvered into position and with a pitcher's arm primed and propelled the grenade, it latched on to the Elite and she opened fire. twenty rounds in, a grunt and a jackal were down, the grenade went off ataking the Elite's shield with it and leaving the alien severly wounded, the next rounds were to put him down as she darted for cover behind a broken piece of wing. she reloaded as the remaining three peppered her cover and it started to melt, Isabella noted the strong pings of a covenant carbine, only then was she aware of the singhed hole in her armour and her thighs slightly warm. she holstered her AR,drew her pistol and armed her arm shield. she popped out from behind cover looking for her shot from behind her shield, she found the first grunt and three rounds later, it had hole in its head. As she turned to find the next grunt, a jackal kicked her shield and it threw her off balance, she staggered but gained her balance a foot or two away. she turned to look at her attacker, The jackal's golden arm shone as it squatted into a combat pose, energy knives crackled to life and the alien sqawked with anger. it leapt for her but she rolled out of the and drew her knife.
the arm shield broke as she slammed it into the jackals face and in a swift motion, pulled it in by the arm, stabbed it twice in the side, once in the neck and dragging the blade forward and out, letting the alien fall. she flipped her knife and caught it by the tip, turned and tossed it at the hiding grunt. she retrieved her knife and then the jackal's, then she trudged towards the energy bubble.
"You can come out now" Isabella said not looking at man inside. she fell to knees tired and stashing her knives.
"is it safe?" the man inside the bubble said.
"wait for covenant reinforcements, I'm sure it'll be much safer then "
"good point...lemme turn this off" the man fiddled with an orb floating in front of him
"you think" she got on her feet the bubble collapsed
"hi, I'm Malcolm, Dr Malcolm Dale " the man stuck his hands out
"Captain Isabella King, Korai sent me" she didn't shake his hand "anything you want to take with you? we have to go now"
"all I need is this"
"good, we are three clicks from the next checkpoint in this area, we can find transport there." malcom nodded in agreement "you ready to run"
"I like running, don't get me wrong but em...there are better ways" as he spoke, a warthog pulled up at the junction unmanned. "our chariot awaits" malcom started to drag the trunk " this would be better if I could carry this alone" Isabella rolled her eyes and helped him to the warthog.
"Korai, I have the doctor enroute to checkpoint November "
" thank you captain. you are clear to the bunker"
"Just one more captain, there are women and children from a hospital" Korai appealed over the comm link
"we are down to two checkpoints" Isabella ducked behind the barricade as plasma fire screamed overhead. "we are the heck are they?" two roads converged into a parking lot and from the parking lot a slow incline to the bunker's wide entrance. Isabella hunkered down behind a sand bag barricade on the same level as the bunkers door but forward and off the main road.
"almost with you" banshees were making bombing runs with grunts and jackals, weakening the checkpoints. it was a fight, a fight they going to lose.
"checkpoint Zeta, fall back" Isabella barked over the open line. the men didn't second guess, since she had arrived nobody asked her where she was from or who she was, the covenant had a uniting effect. the men at the checkpoint obeyed and started falling back, grunts following behind moments later. jackals with carbines sprang up on the barricades of Zeta's checkpoint and started taking shots at the retreating soldiers. the last bus came roaring through the zeta checkpoint , deformed metal and all, the driver intentionally aiming for Covenant on the road before he crashed into another vehicle. people driven purely by fear and adrenaline poured out the bus and contorted their way passed the metal rods that stopped vehicles from driving into the bunker. Isabella felt herself getting weaker and weaker but she just had to fight through it.
"Everybody that's the last one, you can close the gates" Korai broadcasted. it was all the people at the remaining checkpoint needed to hear, they didn't even try for a tactical retreat, they just ran away with all they had. massive plasma explosions rocked the remaining checkpoint as Hunters lumbered through.
Isabella was at the bunker's gate shooting down the road with the two men from for AA gun mission, as the last able bodied man limped passed. down the road was a blood bath, men burning to death and getting torn apart.
"malcom lock the door" Isabella screamed. alarms bleared as the gates closed in the slowest possible way
"Really?!" a soldier asked no one
" stay focused" Isabella kept her grouping tight with each burst that's when she saw him just from the corner of her eye, vaulting over cars and bodies with calm determination, the golden minor had his blades drawn. The doors wouldn't close in time maybe in 30 seconds or more, someone needed to distract him long enough for that to happen. the golden minor cut the metal rods blocking his way, a show of force as Isabella turned from behind cover and turned on her salvaged energy knives. she charged at him, slid under his horizontal strike, got on one knee and deflected the next two, they were so heavy, she felt like she was being battered around, her knives shattering into pink mist, he kicked her squarely in the chest causing her to fly backward,she caught her self and rolled to a stop. By the time she raised her head, he was lunging at her with a sword thrusting stance. she got under the attack and took some steps away to get her bearings. the gates were was almost closed and she could make it. he swung at her, she got under it again, moved to his side, gave him the strongest shove she could muster and took to her heels. The minor roared when he realised what she had done and drew his rifle. his aim was poor or maybe it was the nature of Covenant weapons or just plain luck but she was going to make it, if she took of the armour. a shot landed on her back and propelled her forward and almost made her fall. in one deft motion she cut the straps and the pieces of armour fell off as she side stepped into the bunker. she took steps back as the third reinforced door closed, she just looked at it panting. a holographic console came to life, a stylized monk floated over a stick in a meditation pose, the stick lit up like a progress bar and when it was full, the monk was standing and holding the stick.
"Well done captain" The monk said with a familiar voice, looking at Isabella
"Korai?"