There was clearly something pressed on his body, trapping him under whatever collapsed structure they had escaped from. He used all of his force to shake the debris off him, he coughed a few times and placed his hands on the ground. Slowly, he firstly brought his weight on his knees before attempting to stand on his feet. Dust and flames greeted him, nothing else. The Titan could hear faint cries in the distance.
"C-Chief?" He rasped out, scanning the environment to try and spot the Spartan.
From below another piece of concrete, said warrior rose. John had something tightly pressed against his chest. Two pairs of eyes opened and a small mouth coughed more dust out, tiny arms wiggled in confusion while the hatchling they saved rumbled.
Memories came back. Jake breathed a sigh of relief and approached the Spartan, posing a glove on his shoulder. "You okay? Ward of Dawn is strong, but it cannot sustain physical damage for that long."
Ghost appeared near his shoulder and ran a scan on the three.
"I'm fine." John responded. He offered the Eliksni hatchling and Jake got the memo; he switched roles while Chief collected his weapons. The Titan merely stared at the four eyes watching him with innocent curiosity.
"It'll be a challenge finding that caretaker." He sighed. "In the meanwhile, we're gonna need a name for this little fella. We can't leave him here." He then weakly chuckled. "I don't suppose you've got any suggestions, Chief?"
He received a shrug as answer.
His floating companion clicked. "How about a nickname for short? He's a hatchling, a small Eliksni. And we called their kind Fallen for many years. I say Smallen is perfect. Just something to classify him with until we find his caretaker."
'Smallen' wheezed out of his mandibles.
"Can you wrap your claws around my neck, buddy? I can't shoot with my hands occupied." A small nudge in the right direction was more than enough for the hatchling to understand what the giant wanted. Smallen slowly wrapped his tiny claws around the Guardian's neck, while the latter reloaded his modified battle rifle.
"Won't be able to use supers or move around that fast. So every bullet and action counts from now on, Chief."
"Affirmative." Pumping another magazine into his assault rifle, the Spartan joined his side and they walked out of the destroyed door. The Guardian kicked it and it detached from its loosing hinges.
Reynolds snapped his scope up but relaxed immediately after. "Sirs!" He blinked in confusion at the tiny alien peeking from Jake's shoulder. "Uh, I'm not gonna ask questions about that." He cleared his throat and passed the palm of his hand on his mouth, getting rid of some blood. "Got a few wounded, but we should be able to pack up and proceed down the road."
A marine in particular groaned. "Shit! I've got a broken rib."
"You wanna bleed out?" The medic kneeled beside him asked.
"Uh, no…"
"Then I've gotta keep pressure on the wound."
Jake saw Reynolds narrowing his eyes at an apparently functioning camera hanging from the ceiling. The Sergeant fired a single burst of his Battle Rifle and destroyed the device. "Could be watching us, sir. Had to." He was clearly referring to the Covenant. Master Chief and the Guardian followed the human into the back room. "Settle down, Marines! And somebody hit the emergency power, for God's sake! I can't see a damn thing." Reynolds finished the sentence with a cough.
The lights around them powered up, shining and revealing the resting shapes of various Warthogs. It was some sort of garage or weapons cache hidden deep within the mountain. Ghost scanned the vehicles to check their functionality while Chief collected nearby human grenades to gear up.
"I can't shoot with Smallen on me, Chief. You'll have to take the big gun." He ignored the dead panned looks the marines sent him when he pronounced the Eliksni's nickname. Chief nodded and climbed on the Warthog, the Guardian opened the driver's seat and settled the young alien on his chest. Turning on the engine, he cracked his neck and tested the pedals. Everything worked out just fine.
"I intercepted a transmission from Commander Keyes. She will join us in the town of Voi. Better get there fast." Ghost announced before retiring to his dimension.
Smallen chirped with glee, as if agreeing with the little light's statement. Reynolds nodded and helped the wounded getting on the back of the nearest transportation. "You heard the Ghost! We're gonna join our comrades in Voi and make the Covenant pay!" With that, he punched the button on the wall in front of them. The double doors slowly opened.
Jake drove with patience at first, still feeling his muscles a bit sore from the impact in the elevator. No amount of 'healing' Ghost could do would help that particular handicap all Guardians had. The ceiling cracked every now and then, the red lights indicating the path flickered on and off, and the ground rumbled loudly; all because of the Covenant bombing Traveler knew what.
"Second squad, coming through!" A soldier in one of the other Warthogs following them yelled over the comms. There were three jackals with shields and a single grunt blocking the exit, the afternoon light glinting in the distance and shining on a mountain. Jake hit the accelerator and ran over the aliens, two of them jumped out of the way just in time before being gunned down by the Warthogs following their own.
It all played like a game of cat and mouse. The mouse being various platoons of Covenant, a Lance being in this case the targetted tango near the wreckage of an UNSC ship. The cat being the Warthogs. They used the miniguns strapped to their backs to combat the targets at a distance, while the drivers often ran over any available alien. Fight and run, fight and run. When the situation became too hot, the Warthogs simply circled around a cover and went back into the fight as the attention was drawn to another vehicle.
It was… pretty effective, actually.
Smallen held tightly to his chest as the Warthog rolled left and right with each maneuver. The hatchling was desperately trying to bury his little head into his armour. The Titan thanked the Traveler for the Eliksni's tight grip or else he would have driven with one hand while the other held the young alien.
Reynolds spoke on the comms as they made their way deep within the valley. "Chief, Guardian, still can't get the Commander. Comms are a mess, Pelicans are scattered. Best thing now, get some distance between us and the base. Brutes are gonna be looking for survivors."
"Copy that, Reynolds. We're-"
"WATCH OUT!"
He barely had the time to move the wheel on the right and avoid the plasma shot. It impacted with another Warthog behind their column. It exploded in a milion pieces, the corpses of the poor bastards inside were sent flying in every direction. Smallen shrieked in fright. A Brute holding a plasma cannon grinned and cheered at his accomplishment, bumping a fist in the air. His smaller buddies around him joining as well. They were taking refuge near a crashed Phantom.
Ordering Ghost to transmat The Chaperone, he abruptly stopped the Warthog in front of the aliens. He quickly aimed the shotgun at the pack leader and fired.
CRACK!
The slug pierced through both the armour and the Brute's skull. The jackals and grunts looked at the corpse and then at the Guardian, then back at the corpse before finally each other.
They started running for their lives, but were mowed down by the miniguns.
Jake flip cocked his weapon, getting rid of the empty shell and inserting another through the motion.
"Let's get moving."
"I repeat: My convoy's been hit. I've got wounded-We're on the Tsavo Highway about-east of Voi. Someone, anyone, please, respond!"
Ghost sighed. "I cannot establish a proper connection with the Sergeant. I have tracked his location though. It's not far from here, we better save him and the marines trapped."
"The Highway is just ahead." John suddenly spoke. "How is… the hatchling doing?"
Strange for him to ask something so sentimental. Better to indulge him before he changes his mind.
He stroked the Eliksni's covered head and heard him purr in delight. "He's fine." Jake made Ghost open a comm channel with Reynolds as they made a turn on the left. "Sergeant? Stacker and his marines are currently trapped and under heavy fire. We've got two Warthogs remaining not including mine and a vehicle for the transportation of the wounded, tell those soldiers to prepare shooting. We'll need all the hands available."
"Copy that, Guardian."
A Warthog engaged in a firefight on the Highway was suddenly destroyed by a Chopper joining in from up a hill, followed by another model immediately after. Jake and the other two drivers stopped their Warthogs to form a straight line and allow the machine guns to have a proper visual on the Covenant vehicles, while the last transportation waited in the far back for a safe passage. The Titan and the marines dismounted and attacked with no hesitation the troops.
Too bad the Guardian couldn't directly face the danger, he switched Chaperone for the UNSC magnun and stood in the far back to 'snipe' the tangos. He had to admit, the weapons of this universe weren't a total disaster. Especially the magnum. Sure, the Battle Rifle's rate was high but the bullets the magnum had in its chamber could easily mow down anything in its path.
"Clear!" He announced after scanning the environment for any remaining enemy. "Get the wounded off that car and let's join Stacker, marines!"
Said Sergeant jogged to the Spartan and Titan, he placed his hands on his knees and panted. "We were en route to Voi. Banshees jumped us, started strafing… pretty much ruined our day. Hehehe."
The tunnels were blocked by what Ghost identified as an Anti-Vehicle barrier. No way for the Warthogs to proceed forward, though it could be traversed on foot. "There should be a generator powering it on the other side. Destroy it, and the Warthogs will be able to continue their journey." The generator was apparently a simple purple box. He brought his fist back and punched it, sparks flew here and there. Smallen, who was peeking from his shoulder, drew his body back to avoid contact. The barrier was then disabled, but a projector displaying Truth annoyed them all.
"The Gods will not begrudge our excavation. By uncovering this relic, we add homage to their glory. When the dust settles, we will all see what I already know: here lies the Path, the start of our Great Journey."
BANG!
Everyone shifted their gaze on the Master Chief, whose shotgun had its barrel smoking.
"You're right about one thing, Jake: he talks too much."
Jake grinned behind his helmet.
The Warthogs continued along the Tsavo Highway through the tunnel. As soon as they got out a strong rush of wind engulfed them all. A CCS-class Battlecruiser soared ahed, increasing the power of its thrusters and avoiding a skirmish with a group of Banshees. The comms buzzed on with chatter.
"Commander. This is ONY Recon One-Eleven. The cruisers above-they found-"
"Say again, Recon?" Keyes asked. "You're breaking up."
"There's something in the crater, Ma'am. Something beneath the storm."
"Continue broadcasting those communications, Ghost. I want everything traced in case they've got anything important."
The road was filled with bars blocking the way to the Warthogs and also broken. "We'll have to continue on foot." Chief and Jake helped the wounded traversing the void below them, although it was mainly the Guardian with his double jump doing most of the work. The next sector was a base containing various equipments: from weapons to radios. It was all quiet… too much quiet.
Intimating his comrades to keep their eyes open, he helped them settling the wounded against the walls in the base. As they rested, Jake called Ghost and waved him towards the nearest and most intact radio. "Are you able to establish a connection with Keyes?"
"I can. But the Covenant might be able to track us. We're chronologically about three hundred years away from our time, remember? And the Traveler didn't visit this humanity."
"A chance we're ready to take. Right, Chief?" The Spartan nodded at the question directed at him.
Ghost's beam connected with the circuitry, at first a static sound was emitted from the electronic device until a voice, Keyes' voice to be exact, came out of it. "Master Chief? Guardian? Finally, a good connection! Truth has excavated a Forerunner artifact, we assume it's the Ark."
"Keep pushing to the town of Voi, you two!" Johnson joined in. "Resupply birds will meet you in the next valley."
"Are Mithrax and the Arbiter okay?"
"One second, Jake." Keyes hummed. "There! You can talk now."
"Jake? Thank the Great Machine! We assumed the worst."
"The Eliksni did, actually. Us Sangheili know when a warrior has truly been defeated."
"We're fine, Mithrax." He smiled. "And I have a package with four arms and four eyes wrapped around my neck to deliver." Smallen crooned in response when the Guardian patted his small head.
"Praise the Great Machine..." Mithrax took a deep breath. "I'll notify the caretaker about the hatchling's wellbeing. We'll wait for you at the base-"
"WRAITH! GET DOWN!"
He and Chief rolled out of the way when a plasma shot impacted itself against their previous position. It tore both the radio and the wall of the compound they were taking cover in. Jake groaned in frustration at the Covenant tank and the platoon dropped from a Phantom.
"Sleeper Simulant." He simply demanded.
Three shots, less than a Fallen Spider tank. The Wraith exploded in a blue light.
For once he was glad the enemy wasn't super developed in tech or had paracausal abilities.
Keyes' Pelican slowly ascended on the now cleared landing zone. Many alien corpses rested at his and Chief's feet. The Spartan rested his rifle on his back while the Guardian transmatted the weapons away in his inventory.
"Lord Hood. We made it."
"Music to my ears, Commander. What about the Ark?"
"Fully uncovered, sir."
"Then we don't have much time. Marines? The Prophet of Truth doesn't know it yet, but he's about to get kicked right off his throne! You will take our city back. And drive our enemy into the grave they've been so happily digging. One final effort is all that remains."
The Guardian and Master Chief approached the edge of the cliff. They watched a Covenant Courvette patrolling the zone around the 'Ark' along with smaller ships. Smallen switched positions to rest on Jake's chest as he clicked his mandibles in awe at the panorama before him. They glanced at the Eliksni Skiffs suddenly raising and joining the UNSC ranks.
"I have seen a similar conflict back at the Tower when the Red Legion invaded." He looked at each Pelican and Skiff. "Ghaul had an ace in the hole. He brought a device to sever the link between the Traveler and the Guardians. We were left with no powers." He paused. "I wonder… does Truth have a similar card ready to be used? A Plan B in case everything else fails?"
Chief remained silent for a moment. "Whatever he has got, we'll make it through. Together." He turned around and headed for the opened hatch of the Pelican, leaving the Guardian to his thoughts.
This is a race against time.
Author's note:
Meh, I don't have anything else to write for this mission.
On the other side of things, I just couldn't resist ever since Splicer! I HAD to insert a baby Fallen as secondary character in this story. And use the same meme that was created with their reveal.
LOL.
Until next time!
Gino out!
