Chapter 8: Svenson

"They just keep coming!" Wade shouted over the sounds of the gunfire and explosions going off all around them.

"Aw hell, another dropship is inbound," Arceneaux's voice came over the radio. The squad was split up, the Corporal was too far away to be heard by everyone.

Svenson looked up into the ring's red sky, and sure enough he could see the tuning fork shaped Covenant dropship descending into the clearing around the grey metal tower the Marines were taking refuge in.

A patch of grass exploding next to him brought Svenson's attention back to the fight. He was with Kamal and Wade, in front of them was a line of Jackals pushing towards them, their bright shield gauntlets made the rest of the world seem much dimmer than it actually was. None of the Marines had grenades, taking the Jackals down would be tough.

Wade raised his MA5B assault rifle and fired, snagging the exposed hand of one of the Jackals and causing it to stumble, Svenson finished it off with a shot to the head using his M6D. The power of the hand cannon caused the Jackal's head to explode, coating the grass and the aliens around it with its purple blood.

"Shit, look out!" Kamal shouted.

Svenson didn't have time to see what Kamal was shouting about, and he dove away from the position he was taking cover at. He heard the buzzing sound of the Covenant dropship's plasma cannon firing. Shit, I need to get inside.

The interior of the tower was small, but it was protected. The closest entrance was only a few feet away. Svenson got to his feet and ran, he slammed his eyes shut as he heard the plasma cannon firing again, fully expecting this to be his end. But it wasn't the end for him.

He heard Wade scream. He glanced back and he saw the Marine, pelted by giant globs of superheated plasma firing out of the Covenant ship. He didn't make anymore sounds as he died, his body and armour melted from the extreme heat.

"Jesus," Svenson swore under his breath.

"We just lost Wade, we had to pull back," Kamal said into his radio at Svenson's side, he hadn't even realised that Kamal had been right behind him.

"Shit," Svenson heard Arceneaux's voice, "alright. We're pulling back to the structure as well. Think you can give us some cover?"

"Yes sir," Kamal responded. He tapped Svenson's shoulder, "come on, let's go."

Svenson nodded and stood up. He slapped a fresh clip into his M6D and stowed it for the MA5B on his back. The two Marines moved up the ramps in the tower's interior, passing all the weapons and supplies they managed to get off the Autumn. They passed Faraday as well, still out cold. He didn't want to leave her alone, but it was safer on the inside of the tower than outside of it.

The second level of the tower was high up, and very open. Kamal and Svenson moved quickly across its flat surface and towards the side that Arceneaux and his group was holding. They were pinned down by multiple Elite-led Grunt squads.

Kamal crouched down, resting his rifle on the top of a metal panel they were using as cover, Svenson did the same.

"Let's light 'em up," Kamal said before pulling the trigger.

Bullets sprayed out from Kamal's assault rifle, showering the Covenant forces in hot lead. Svenson aimed at one of the Elites as they realised what was going on and fired, stripping its shields down in seconds and tearing its chest apart with the gun's bullets. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a bright green explosion, some of Kamal's shots detonated the gas tank on one of the Grunt's backs, taking out two more of them in the process.

"Yeah! Take that, gas-suckers!" Kamal shouted.

With the Covenant now focused on the two Marines hitting them from the high ground, Arceneaux's group joined in the battle once more and opened fire on the Covenant soldiers. The once green grass was soon stained with various shades of blue and purple, and Covenant bodies littered the area. The fighting then died down, the last echoes of gunshots became silence. There was no whirring of Covenant dropships approaching either.

"Think we got 'em all," Arceneaux said into his radio, giving Svenson and Kamal a thumbs up from the ground. "We're coming up. I don't think they're gonna give us much time to rest."

Svenson sighed, standing up from the cover and reloading his assault rifle. He was glad they were even getting a moment of rest, the past hours had been nothing but non-stop action. Every moment he could spend not worrying about dying at any second was a moment he cherished. There weren't a lot of moments like that in his life, even as a child.

The war with the Covenant had been going on since before he was born on Draco III, and he was able to get off the planet before the Covenant had even attacked it. Even though the planet wasn't entirely destroyed, everything Svenson had known was gone. His parents, the places he grew up in, the people he grew up with.

His original reason for becoming a UNSC Marine was because he wanted to see if he could make a difference. He felt that if the UNSC simply had enough manpower they could beat the Covenant back. But he was wrong. He'd known that ever since he'd left boot camp. Now his reason for continuing to fight was to avenge everyone that had been lost. Not just the people close to him, but anyone who was killed by the alien menace.

How times change… he thought.

"Great work," Arceneaux's voice came from behind Svenson, prompting him to turn around.

"Thank you, sir," Svenson and Kamal said at almost the same time.

"We got a distress call out, it's only a matter of time until the cavalry shows up," Arceneaux said, "Hanoi took a hit from one of those carbines, thank god it wasn't a plasma round. Stevens is making sure she doesn't die so for now we're down four."

"Let's just hope Faraday snaps out of whatever she's in," Kamal said.

"You don't think the Covenant picked up on that distress call, do you?" Svenson asked, tilting his head slightly to his left.

"Whether they did or not, I know they'll be back," Arceneaux said, "the only problem is I don't know when."

As if Arceneaux had just summoned them, the mechanical alien whirring of Spirit dropship sounded over the cliffs around them. Maybe the sound of multiple dropships, Svenson couldn't tell.

"How about now?" Kamal commented, turning off his rifle's safety.

"Everyone inside!" Arceneaux shouted, waving his arms towards the entrance to the tower.

All the remaining Marines under Arceneaux's command made their way into the tower just as the Spirits showed themselves, hovering over the cliffs. Svenson couldn't see them anymore, but the sound of their engines was too loud to ignore.

"Everyone loaded up?" Arceneaux asked in a whisper.

"Yea, we're ready," Kamal said for all of them.

Arceneaux waited. The distant sound of footsteps coming closer put everyone on edge. But they still waited, if they moved now they would be torn apart by those Spirits' cannons. Like Wade did…

The sound of the dropships' engines amplified for a moment before beginning to grow distant. They were leaving.

"Alright," Arceneaux began whispering again, "Jilani, go with Svenson and Kamal, everyone else is with me. We are holding this fort until reinforcements arrive."

"Same plan as before?" Kamal asked, his voice as low as Arceneaux's.

"You know it," Arceneaux replied with a grin.

Once the sound of the dropships could no longer be heard, Arceneaux motioned for the Marines to move out. Svenson, Kamal, and Jilani sprinted back out to the tower's second level. Already they could see squads of Grunts approaching.

"Let's hit 'em hard!" Kamal shouted.

The three Marines lined up and fired their rifles down at the approaching group of Grunts, tearing them apart in a hail of bullets and spattering the grass with bright blue blood. Out from cover behind the Grunts came an Elite clad in shiny crimson armour.

"Big one!" Jilani shouted before she rolled away.

The Elite aimed a plasma rifle up towards the Marines and fired, effortlessly using the big gun with only one hand. Svenson jumped out of the way before any of the plasma rounds could hit him. He didn't want to end up like Gerrel.

Svenson got back up and looked for the Elite, but it was gone. Gunshots sounded from underneath them on the ground, now Arceneaux and his group were busy.

"Shit, where'd the Elite go?" Kamal asked.

"There's ramps on the sides of the tower, he might be on his way up," Jilani said, reloading her rifle.

"Agreed, let's move," Kamal said, reloading as well.

The three Marines rushed towards the ramp on their side of the tower and glanced down. Nothing was there. Maybe it went after Arceneaux…

Svenson's ears were suddenly filled with the sound of something splashing, and he turned around just in time to see Jilani falling to the ground. Behind her was the crimson Elite, standing with its plasma rifle aimed towards them.

Both Svenson and Kamal blasted the thing with their assault rifles, hopefully at least throwing its aim somewhat off. The Elite glowed blue as their bullets pinged off its shields. Though it wasn't getting hurt, they were at least slowing it down. At least they thought they were.

The Elite sprang forward, throwing its plasma rifle aside. It tacked Kamal and punched him in the gut, knocking the wind out of him. Shit shit shit shit shit shit. Svenson didn't want to shoot the Elite in case he might actually hit Kamal, so he charged forward and kicked it in its side.

The Elite's shields popped, and it swiped Svenson off of his feet. Svenson grunted as he landed on his back, his vision went blurry for a few seconds. The Elite had gotten off of Kamal without killing him, but now it stared angrily down at Svenson. Well, he assumed it was anger.

The massive alien soldier roared, raising a fist to strike Svenson. He closed his eyes, but all he saw was the Elite on the Pillar of Autumn. The memory was vivid, he could still pick out every detail of the thing's face. He wished he couldn't, but sometimes he just couldn't control his own brain.

Svenson was so lost in his thoughts that he could barely hear anything, not even the sound of a gunshot coming from behind him. He felt a liquid spray onto his face, he thought it was his own blood even though he didn't feel any pain.

He opened his eyes. The crimson-clad Elite was still standing there, but now it had a hole in its face. Purple blood leaked from it and stained his armour. The thing then began to tip forward.

"No, no, no, no, no!" Svenson shouted before the massive alien landed right on top of him, knocking his breath out of his stomach for just a moment.

Surprisingly it wasn't nearly as heavy as it looked. He put his hands on the thing's sides and pushed it away. Kamal was still on his back, catching his breath. Jilani was still on the floor as well, her backpack had taken the brunt of the plasma round that hit her. Svenson turned around, and there she was.

"Guys! I lost Faraday!" Arceneaux's voice shouted over the radio, "she just disappeared!"

"Corporal?" Svenson replied into his own radio.

"What? What is it?"

"I found her."