Chapter 32: Svenson

Even when he was away from the gunfire, Svenson found his ears ringing every time the guns stopped shooting. He still heard them as if they were right next to him, and he heard the screeches of the monsters over them.

Another sound filled Svenson's ears, rotors and jet engines. A UH-144A Falcon soared through the air, and landed in the middle of the plaza. It carried a squad of army troopers, who quickly piled out of the VTOL as soon as it touched down. Sergeant Nagata made her way to it before the pilot could climb out of it too, and Svenson followed her.

"I need you back in the air," Nagata said. "There's a Covenant comm jammer out there and I need it found ASAP. Once you've spotted it, you come right back here and tell me where it is."

"Understood, ma'am," the pilot said.

Nagata stepped back, and the Falcon lifted away from the plaza as quickly as it had arrived. At the front of the plaza, the guns stopped shooting, and silence fell over them. It appeared the Flood had stopped pushing them. Maybe they weren't the mindless zombies that they appeared to be, and that they finally learned that pushing their defences was a bad idea.

"Even animals learn where not to stick their noses," Nagata said when she realised the shooting had stopped for a while.

Svenson felt the ground shake around him. Something in his mind told him that some kind of massive Flood form was approaching them. He reached for his assault rifle as he turned and realised that it was just Simone approaching them, who had let a trooper take his place on the warthog's gun. The spartan didn't seem to notice how on edge Svenson was.

"What's the situation, Sergeant?" Simone asked.

"Comms are out," Nagata explained, "I've sent a bird out to search for Covenant jammers, hopefully they'll be back shortly."

"And if it does find one, how will we deal with it? What is the threat that these… things pose to us?"

Simone's voice was unreasonably calm, especially for the situation they were in. Svenson wasn't surprised the Spartan didn't know the true threat of the Flood, but even then there was no way that the Spartan wasn't freaking out in some capacity.

"You haven't realised… have you?" Svenson asked. "What we're fighting..."

"No, why?" Simone asked.

"These creatures are parasites," Svenson said. "Those things you were blasting used to be humans, and Covenant. When I was on Halo-"

Svenson stopped himself, and glanced at Nagata. She nodded to him, giving him permission to speak freely.

"When I was on Halo, those things could so much as scratch you," Svenson said, horror creeping up in his voice as he remembered what happened to Fireteam Delta. "And you would turn into one."

Simone's blank stare told Svenson nothing about what he was thinking, as usual. That only frustrated Svenson.

"I'm thinking we send you Spartans alone, along with Svenson," Nagata said.

"Wait, why me?" Svenson asked. He hadn't realised that his fear had left him until it came back.

"You're the only one here who has fought those things," Nagata said. "You escaped an underground facility filled to the brim with those things. If you go with the Spartans, you can stop them."

Nagata made a good point, but she didn't know about the Elite. Nobody did yet, Svenson still hadn't planned on telling anybody. He realised that everyone who knew about his part in the battle of Installation 04 would think he was some kind of badass, when in reality he wouldn't have made it anywhere without the Elite that helped him. At least this time he would have two Spartans at his side.

"Yes sir," Svenson said. He didn't have a choice anyway, it was a direct order from a superior.

All there was to do now was wait for the Falcon to return, and to dread the task ahead of him.


A little over an hour had passed since Nagata had sent out the Falcon, and there had been no more attacks from the Flood. There was audible gunfire in the distance, but nothing near them. It didn't sound like human weapons either. Looks like the Covenant's plan has backfired, Svenson thought.

The sky had darkened significantly, though Svenson knew it was impossible for it to be night time so soon. Smoke from the crashed carrier in the distance had covered the sky, turning the clouds dark shades of blue and black. The sun lit up the land far off on the horizon, making the sky above the city look almost fake.

The sound of the approaching Falcon filled the plaza again as it landed. Svenson had been keeping watch with the rest of the troopers as they awaited the next attack from the Flood, but now it was time to take out that jammer.

Simone and Ezekiel had joined him and Nagata as they approached the Falcon, waiting for the pilot's report.

"There's a parking garage between here and Bay plaza," the pilot said. "Just at the corner of West Point and Adama street. The jammer is on top of the garage, and so are several covies. I tried getting a shot off on the jammer, but they've got heavy weapons and flak shades."

Neither Svenson nor the Spartans knew where that was, but Nagata seemed to know exactly the place that the pilot had described.

"Alright, it's gonna be a long walk," Nagata said.

"We're not taking a hog?" Simone asked.

"No, that'll attract too much attention," Nagata said. "We don't want the covies or the Flood knowing we're on our way to that jammer."

"Understood," Simone nodded.

"Stand by for air support," Nagata said, turning back to the pilot. "I'll fire off a flare once we alert those covie bastards, that'll be your signal to come help us out. We'll make sure you don't get shot down as long as you make sure we don't get killed."

"Understood, ma'am," the pilot said.

"So you're coming with us too?" Svenson asked.

"Pretty sure I'm the only one here that actually knows this city," Nagata said. "Rosenfeld will keep watch around here while we move out."

"Alright then, we'll stick close to you," said Simone.

Nagata nodded. She pulled the DMR off her back and gestured for Svenson and the Spartans to follow her. The Sergeant moved quickly and led them out of the plaza. Svenson thought he could already see the parking garage over the tops of the buildings, but he couldn't tell.

"I'm not expecting this walk to be all sunshine and rainbows," Ezekiel said as they left the defensive line behind.

"Neither am I," Nagata said, not taking her eyes away from the street in front of them. "Still trying to gauge how bad this might get."

The group moved into the alleys behind the buildings to hide from whatever prying eyes might be watching the streets, but the heavy footsteps of the Spartans made moving quietly impossible. They were going to get noticed sooner or later.

The four of them moved for nearly twenty minutes without any sign of enemies before the Spartans came to a sudden stop. They gave the other two soldiers a hand signal that meant there were enemies nearby. Svenson's motion tracker wasn't nearly as good as the Spartans', so he just took their word for it, and crouched behind a corner.

Simone spoke, but his voice didn't come out of the Spartan's helmet. Svenson only heard it through his radio.

"The contacts aren't moving like they know we're here," Simone said, "but they're straight ahead of us, there's no avoiding them."

"Straight ahead is the only way right now," Nagata whispered. "How many are there?"

"At least fifteen."

"God damnit, that's way too many," Nagata sighed. "If there's contacts in the alleys, there's no way it's safe to take the main road."

"Let's see what we're up against first," Svenson suggested. "It could just be a bunch of Grunts."

"Why not," Nagata shrugged. "Come with me, Spartans stay here."

The two Spartans nodded to Nagata, and Svenson followed her ahead in the alleyway. They both moved very slowly, and very carefully. So much as a bag rustle would give their position away.

The alley brought them to the edge of a canal in the middle of the city that had been drained of its water. The railing at the canal's edge was tall enough for Svenson and Nagata to hide behind and peek over to see what they were facing.

Six Elites stood in the middle of the canal, four of which had been stripped of their armour and weapons. The fighting may have died down a little, but Kujo city was still an active warzone. This didn't make any sense. What Svenson saw next made even less sense, something that took all of his strength not to start panicking.

Five Flood combat forms stomped around the area as if they were unaware of anything. They didn't try to fight the Elites, nor did the Elites try to fight them. Are they working together? Svenson wondered.

He quickly glanced at Nagata and he could see she was as horrified as him. She exchanged the glance with him before they both went back to see what was going on.

When Svenson realised that each of the combat forms had previously been Elites, he was able to deduce what the remaining four contacts were. And when he saw them, he never hated being right as much as he did then.

The two armoured Elites had disappeared beneath Svenson's vision, but they returned each with two infection forms at their sides. They both said something in their language that almost sounded like a prayer before the infection forms leapt on the unarmed Elites and began burrowing into their chests.

It was a horrible sight, but Svenson couldn't bring himself to look away. The four elites screamed in agony as their bodies were repurposed to suit the Flood's needs, while the two armoured Elites stared on with an expression that almost looked like pride.

Nagata tapped Svenson's shoulder, and they quickly retreated back to the Spartans. They both looked in the direction of the canal, past the two soldiers' heads. Clearly they had heard what was happening.

"What the hell is going on over there?" Simone asked.

"The Covenant and Flood are working together," Nagata said, the tone in her voice sounding like she was holding back vomit.

Svenson realised that she hadn't actually seen the infection process until now, and he envied the two Spartans who still hadn't seen it.

"They're deliberately infecting their own soldiers," Nagata continued.

"I still don't know much about what we're facing, but I assume that's something that shouldn't be happening," Simone said.

"On Halo those things infected everything," Svenson said. "Humans and Covenant."

The worst thoughts began to set in in Svenson's mind. Not only had these Covenant brought the Flood here, but they were working together in some capacity. If they had found the means to control the Flood, or to at least communicate with them, it would be over for the whole galaxy. Not just humanity.

"We need to take that jammer down and blow this planet the fuck up," Ezekiel said.

"We'll have to take the main road," Nagata said. "They're gonna spot us no matter what, but we're not surviving in that canal with that many enemies."

"Alright, we'll follow the main road single file," Simone suggested. "I'll be in front, Ezekiel will take the rear. You two stay between us."

"Works for me," Nagata shrugged.

Simone moved out to the main road immediately, and the rest of them followed closely. The simple walk along the fronts of the buildings was extremely stressful, and going across the bridge over the canal was going to be significantly worse. That was where they were guaranteed to be seen.

The footsteps of the massive Spartans were loud, no matter how slow they moved. Svenson only hoped that they sounded louder to him than they actually were. Other than that, the world was still. They were surrounded by a silence only broken up by the sounds of distant gunfire and screams every few minutes.

As Svenson predicted, everything fell apart as soon as they were halfway across the bridge. The first sign that they had been spotted came in the form of a screech in the canal below them.

Four Flood forms jumped onto the bridge, two ahead of them, and two behind; each one formerly an Elite. These were the ones that had been deliberately infected. Svenson felt the urge to shout out that they had been spotted, but everyone already knew.

Simone opened fire on a combat form as soon as it landed, as if he had predicted where it was going to be. Ezekiel and Svenson turned to the combat forms that had landed behind them while Nagata and Simone engaged the two in front.

Ezekiel and Svenson fired at the same time as the combat forms sprinted toward them, though Svenson was the first to actually kill his target. Ezekiel blasted the other form with his rifle, tearing out chunks of its flesh and its limbs. Svenson aimed for the creature driving it, the lump in its chest, and killed it with a single burst of his rifle.

Nagata took out the legs of her target, though the Flood form was barely stunned by it. The thing frantically climbed across the ground, aiming to get as close to Nagata as it could so it could strike her, and turn her into one of them. Nagata was able to finish it by killing the infection form in its chest with a shot that seemed almost accidental.

Simone ran up to his target after tearing its limbs away with his rifle, and he used his enhanced Spartan strength to beat the thing's body into a pile of pulp, only stopping when he was satisfied that it was dead.

It was evident that Svenson was the only one there who knew how to properly take the things down, it wasn't like anyone else had fought the Flood before. There wasn't any time to explain however, as more combat forms had grouped up on the other side of the bridge. And these ones were armed.

"Behind me!" Simone shouted.

The Spartan positioned himself so Svenson and Nagata could take cover behind him as globs of plasma impacted and dissipated on his shield. It was the only cover they had on the bridge. Ezekiel grabbed his grenade launcher from his back and sprinted forward, taking the brunt of the enemies' fire.

With only two shots of the grenade launcher, there was little left of the combat forms that had grouped up to stop them. Svenson and Nagata assisted Simone in gunning down whatever forms that had survived.

"Alright, let's move!" Simone shouted.

The four of them sprinted the rest of the way across the bridge, there was no longer a reason to move slowly and quietly. The four of them pushed into the next sector of the city and moved quickly into the alleyways; once they were there, they could slow down again.

"Motion tracker is clear for now, but that was a lot of commotion," Simone said. "And the covies in that parking garage definitely saw that."

"Then let's hope you Spartans are as tough as everyone says you are," Nagata said teasingly, though there was a hint of worry in her voice.

"If you brought us here to take on a Covenant army by ourselves, you may need to lower your expectations a bit," Ezekiel said.

The group was able to move past a couple more buildings before the hum of a Phantom approached them, which prompted them to stop moving. The alien dropship hovered over the main street, dropping soldiers to secure and search the area.

Simone signalled with his hands toward a door in the back of a building that had been slightly cracked open, and the four moved as silently as they could through it before the Phantom could lift off and search through the alleyway. Ezekiel slowly closed the door behind them.

The building they had entered was large, it seemed to be some kind of library. Everything inside was still in pristine condition, there weren't even books scattered around like one would expect in an abandoned city. The interior of the building would have been a lot more disastrous if it weren't for the Spartans' warning.

The four moved to the other side of the building and waited as the sound of the Phantom came closer. They huddled by the door that opened to an intersection at the front of the building, and they waited for the dropship to move.

The wait was agonising. Every second felt as long as a minute. Svenson couldn't tell how long it had been until the Phantom finally moved. Svenson could see it as it hovered above the intersection. A spotlight had been mounted on its main cannon, and it shone through the windows.

Svenson had to close his eyes and pray to whatever God was up there for them not to be spotted. But his prayers weren't answered. The Phantom must have seen that something was out of place. Simone stood up the second it fired, taking the huge blast of plasma to his side and pushing the door down with little effort.

"Run!" Simone shouted.

Svenson, Nagata, and Ezekiel ran out into the intersection. To their left was the Phantom, which used its plasma cannon to tear through the front of the library. To their right was a squad of Covenant soldiers, a mix of Elites and Jackals.

Svenson fired at a window in the side of the next building, and narrowly avoided the incoming fire from the Jackals as he dove through the shattered glass. Nagata was close behind as they sprinted through the building, and as the Phantom ripped the front of it apart.

Burning debris showered Svenson and Nagata, but they continued running for their lives. The Phantom turned its sights away from them, giving them a second of respite as they ran out into another alley. Svenson spotted Ezekiel charging toward it with his grenade launcher in hand. He fired at the Phantom's main cannon, ripping it into pieces with a single explosion.

"Keep moving!" Simone shouted to them as he started to lag behind. The Spartan turned toward the approaching Covenant horde with the clear intent to kill them all. "We'll catch up!"

"Parking garage ain't far, let's go!" Nagata said.

Svenson and Nagata navigated the alleyways, leaving the sound of gunfire and explosions behind them. The hum of the Phantom started to approach them again, but this time it sounded wrong. Like it was struggling to fly.

It was soon apparent why, as Svenson and Nagata watched the Phantom spiral out of control and slam into the side of the parking garage.

"Spartans, what the hell just happened?" Nagata said, slowing down.

"I boarded the Phantom," came the voice of Ezekiel. "Didn't go as well as I would have liked."

"Alright, stay put! We're almost there," Nagata said. "Simone, where the hell are you?"

"Like I said, catching up," Simone replied, his voice quickly cut off by the sound of gunfire. "We've got more of those monsters on the way. I'll meet you at the parking garage."

"We need to help Simone," Svenson said. "He-"

"He's a Spartan," Nagata said. "He can handle this."

"He doesn't have a clue about how to kill these things," Svenson said. "He needs help."

"He'll make it. Now let's go, we're wasting time."

There was no time to argue, and Svenson wasn't the kind of person to argue with his superiors anyway. But he couldn't help but worry, there might end up being too many Flood for the Spartan to handle. Have faith, he had to tell himself, if you figured out how to kill them, Simone will too.

On the way toward the parking garage, Svenson and Nagata were stopped by a pair of Jackals. They stood side by side, blocking the alleyway with their defence gauntlets, and they opened fire just as the two soldiers turned the corner where they stood. Nagata had just barely managed to avoid a glob of plasma to her gut.

The Jackals grumbled something to each other, and Svenson could tell they were approaching him and Nagata by the light from their defence gauntlets. Svenson grabbed a grenade, primed it, and tossed it around the corner. One of the Jackals slapped the grenade with its shield, sending it back toward Svenson and Nagata.

Nagata grabbed Svenson and threw him aside as the grenade exploded, though it hadn't gotten far enough around the corner to actually shower them with any fragments.

"Nice fucking thinking," Nagata cursed as they both got back onto their feet.

"Hey, it didn't kill us," Svenson said, trying to look on the bright side.

They rounded the corner again, and the Jackals stood disoriented. Their gauntlets were taken offline by the explosion, leaving them mostly defenceless. Nagata and Svenson gunned both of them down before they had a chance to recollect themselves and fire back.

Once the Jackals were dealt with, Svenson and Nagata continued on their way to the parking garage. After a sprint that felt much longer than it actually was, they had arrived right next to it. Unfortunately for them, the entrance to the parking garage was on the main road, which was where Simone would be with a horde of Flood on his tail. But they couldn't wait in the alleyway.

Nagata took point, moving around to the entrance and getting inside quickly. Svenson watched their backs, and quickly took cover inside.

"Ezekiel," Nagata said into her radio. "Where are you?"

"Fifth level," the Spartan responded. "Lots of bad guys up here."

"Hold them off as long as you can," Nagata ordered. "If things get too hot, make it down to the ground level. We're inside."

"Yes sir," Ezekiel said. "I'll keep the bastards away from you."

"Simone?" Nagata said next, to no response.

Svenson glanced outside and looked down the main street, where he saw Simone sprinting toward them with a horde of combat forms at his back like he expected.

"He's down the street," Svenson said, gesturing toward the Spartan. "We should give him some help."

"Agreed, but watch your fire," Nagata warned. "I'd hate to be the reason a Spartan ends up dead."

Svenson loaded a fresh magazine into his rifle, and he opened fire on the combat forms chasing Simone. Nagata did the same, though she still wasn't aiming for their chests.

"Aim for the tentacles in their chests!" Svenson shouted over the sound of gunfire. "That's how you kill them!"

Nagata didn't say anything, but Svenson noticed her adjust her aim. Simone stopped as he got closer to the garage and turned, joining the two in gunning down the approaching horde.

Svenson noticed a short movement out of the corner of his eye, and he moved back into his cover as quickly as he could just before a beam of energy shot past him.

"10 o'clock high!" Svenson shouted to Nagata as she moved into cover.

Nagata reloaded her rifle and opened fire on a Jackal sniper that had climbed on top of a building across the street. She took it out before it could get another shot off.

"Good call," Nagata said.

As Svenson reloaded his weapon he spotted multiple squads of Covenant coming down the other side of the street.

"We've got more incoming from the south," Svenson said, "I see three Elites, fifteen Grunts."

"Fuck," Nagata said with a sigh. "I should've brought more men."

Svenson wasn't going to argue with that. Though he knew that they wouldn't have been able to make it as far as they had sneaking around if they had brought more people with them, there would have been a lot of casualties.

He looked up at the ramp behind them that led to the second level, where he saw an area that overlooked the ramp across from it. They would be able to fire down on any Covenant forces going up the ramp from there before they would have a chance of firing at them first.

"We need to move up to the second level," Svenson said, pointing to the overlook.

"I see, good thinking," Nagata said. "You first, I'll cover you and wait for Simone."

Svenson nodded, and he sprinted up the ramp. He turned as he reached the top and saw that Simone had made it just in time. They moved up the ramp next, but the Covenant had been too close behind. They wouldn't make it to the overlook in time.

The Covenant squads moved in their standard formation, with the Grunts ahead of the Elites, which made things just a little easier. The first few Grunts rounded the corner of the garage's entrance, and Svenson opened fire on the little aliens, making sure to keep his aim clear of Nagata and Simone.

One Grunt fell before they all opened fire, striking Simone in his back and tearing apart the wall Svenson was using as cover. Svenson took out another Grunt as the Elites came into view, and as Nagata and Simone made it to the top of the ramp.

"Get to your position, I'll hold them off," Simone said.

Svenson stood and did as the Spartan said, making it to the other side of the second level so he could pick off the Covenant as they came up the ramp. Simone took cover where Svenson had as he let his energy shield recharge.

As Svenson grabbed a fresh magazine to load into his rifle, he realised he was running out of ammo. He only had one full magazine left, and the others in his backpack were either half empty or didn't have much left in them. Hopefully he wouldn't have to expend too much more ammo now that Simone had rejoined them.

"Ezekiel, get down to the second level," Nagata ordered the other Spartan as she crouched next to Svenson.

The Covenant forces began to make their way up the ramp, all their attention focused on Simone, who sat in cover waiting for them. As soon as they came into view, Simone leapt out of his cover and fired at the Elites. Each Elite manoeuvred around the Grunts as they returned fire on the Spartan, using them as cannon fodder to take the bullets.

Svenson and Nagata both primed grenades, and dropped them into the cluster of Grunts that made their way up the ramp. Before the Grunts could realise what had just dropped on them, they violently exploded, covering the ramp in chunks of flesh and pools of bioluminescent blood.

The Elites had moved away from the grenades before they exploded, but Simone didn't take his finger off the trigger. He gunned down the Elites one by one, moving side to side to dodge incoming plasma fire.

"Svenson!" Nagata shouted as she fired behind them.

Svenson turned around to see two Flood combat forms approaching them, which had jumped all the way to the second level from the ground. Svenson wasted no time in raising his rifle and blasting the approaching combat form just before it could slash at him. Nagata took out the other at the same time.

"7 o'clock!" Nagata shouted.

Svenson turned around and saw what almost looked like an ocean of infection forms climbing into the parking garage, far more than he had ever seen on Installation 04. He expended what remained of his magazine into the horde as he backed away, his fingers shook uncontrollably as he reached for his last full magazine and loaded it into his gun.

Across from where the infection forms had climbed through, two more combat forms jumped up to the second level, both armed with plasma rifles. Without thinking too much, Svenson grabbed his last grenade and tossed it into the horde of infection forms as he turned his attention to the combat forms. The explosion took out the majority of the infection forms, and Nagata started picking the rest of them off.

Svenson managed to dodge one shot as he fired at the combat form closest to him. And just as he brought it down, he took a shot straight to his chest, and another to his abdomen. Simone approached the second combat form, and slammed his fist straight through its chest, killing it instantly.

Svenson dropped to a knee. He almost instinctively clutched the area he was shot at, but he was able to stop himself. He didn't want to burn his hand too.

"Svenson?" Nagata asked.

He glanced down at the burns left behind by the plasma rifle, and breathed a sigh of relief. His armour had melted away, but it had stopped the shots from making contact with his skin. One more shot and he would have been dead.

"Just burns a little," Svenson grunted, getting back to his feet.

"Stay behind us," Nagata said. "We're not going to lose you."

"Yes ma'am," Svenson said without any hesitation.

Svenson let out several deep breaths, and started removing the damaged armour plating from his chest and abdomen. He had been shot before, but the rush he felt from taking hits and living would never change.

A door swung open on the other side of the second level, and he and Nagata drew their weapons, waiting for an enemy to come through. But it was just Ezekiel, who had finally decided to show up. Simone, Svenson, and Nagata made their way to him.

"Shit, did I miss it?" Ezekiel asked disappointedly as he walked in.

"Did you seriously take the fucking stairs?" Nagata asked.

"Yeah, Phantom took out the ramp and the elevator," Ezekiel said.

The Spartan was nearly covered head to toe in all kinds of blood. Svenson was beginning to question just how many Covenant soldiers were in the upper levels, but he realised that most of them were most likely dead now.

"Looks like you didn't miss much," Simone said, taking position behind Svenson and Nagata.

"Yeah, there shouldn't be much left guarding the jammer," Ezekiel replied. "Let's go."

"You take point for this one, Ezekiel," Nagata said.

The staircase was crowded, it clearly hadn't been designed with a Spartan in mind let alone two of them. It was no wonder why it took Ezekiel so long to get down there. In time, they reached the fifth level. Taking the stairs all the way to the top wouldn't be an option.

Brutalised corpses of Covenant and Flood alike were scattered around the floor, chunks of flesh and puddles of blood turned the scene into something of a nightmare. Ezekiel was evidently not as graceful of a fighter as Simone, which led Svenson to wonder how the two even ended up working together in the first place.

"I expect there to be more Covenant on the top level, but the way there should be clear," Ezekiel said.

"We gotta go before more Phantoms arrive," Nagata said. "We're not getting that quick extraction if they do."

"Alright, let's move!" Simone exclaimed.

The two Spartans sprinted ahead, and Svenson and Nagata had to push themselves to even keep up with them. All the sprinting and the stress from the constant fighting was starting to take a toll on Svenson, but stopping for a rest for even a moment would mean death.

They reached the ramp to the seventh level, and crouched so no Covenant forces could see them from the overlook above the ramp.

"Spartans, you're up first," Nagata whispered. "Prioritise those flak shades, I'll send up the flare as soon as they're down. Svenson and I will take out the jammer."

"Yes sir, we'll get it done," Simone replied.

"Damn that jammer, we're so close I can't even read my motion tracker," Ezekiel grunted.

"Stay focused," Nagata said. "The air support will cover asses in case there's more covie reinforcements. Now go."

The two Spartans sprang into action, both sprinting up the ramp and taking fire immediately. Once Nagata decided that the Covenant had been sufficiently distracted, she moved up next with Svenson behind her. As soon as the roof was no longer above them, she took her flare gun off her belt and fired it into the sky.

The jammer was directly ahead of them once they reached the top of the ramp, and they sprinted the whole way there. Svenson was solely focused on shutting the jammer down, he barely noticed the plasma flying at him. Fortunately for him, the Spartans were taking down every Covenant soldier that even tried to shoot in their direction.

Nagata dropped to the floor with a painful screech as a glob of plasma slammed into her hip, which wasn't nearly as armoured as Svenson's chest was. There wasn't time to make sure she was okay, though a plasma round to the hip was lethal. Svenson nearly tripped over her, but he caught himself as soon as he reached the jammer.

The jammer was the same kind that the Covenant had deployed in New Alexandria on Reach, and he had taken out a fair share of them during that battle. Though he couldn't read the Covenant words on the display, he knew exactly which buttons to press to initiate the self-destruct sequence.

He rushed back to Nagata as the jammer's core exploded, who thankfully was clear of the splash zone of the debris. Nagata's hip was melted, but she would live if they got her medical attention quickly.

"How bad is it?" Nagata asked, not looking down at her wound.

"It's not that bad, you're gonna be okay," Svenson assured her.

The Spartans rushed over once the area was clear. Ezekiel crouched next to her and set his bag down, which he had medical supplies in.

"Contact Rosenfeld," Nagata said. "Let her know comms are back up. And see if you can get William on the line too."

Svenson nodded. He looked in the distance at where the rally point was, and he could see the Falcon approaching. If there were any Covenant or Flood left on the ground, it would take them out.

"Rosenfeld?" Svenson said into his radio on a direct line to the Sergeant. "Sergeant Rosenfeld, come in."

"Corporal Svenson?" Rosenfeld responded quickly. "Seems like your mission was a success."

"Yes ma'am," Svenson replied. "We have one casualty, Sergeant Nagata is wounded. She'll need immediate medical attention at the rally point."

"Understood, get over here quickly. I'll contact the Tigershark and see how soon we can get out of this hellhole."

"Understood ma'am, Svenson out," Svenson said before dropping the connection.

"Hello? Who's there?" William asked, answering immediately as Svenson called him.

"William, it's Corporal Svenson. I need you to talk to the intelligence down there again, it's urgent."

William took much longer to respond than he did to answer Svenson's call, which was not a good sign.

"I haven't been able to talk to it. Not since it blew that ship out of the sky. Believe me I've been trying and trying, but it just isn't responding to me."

Svenson sighed, and looked back at Nagata. She would probably keep urging William to try, but Svenson knew it was far too dangerous. He didn't want to put William in any more danger than he was already in.

"It's not safe to remain on New Tampa anymore, you need to get aboard the Pelican and get to the UNSC Tigershark. You'll be safe there."

"I can keep trying-"

"Doctor. You do not want to stay here. The situation is far out of control. For your safety you need to get to the Tigershark now."

"I… I understand. I'll get moving now."

"Good. Stay safe, doctor," Svenson said before dropping that connection.

As the Falcon arrived to ferry them back to the rally point, Svenson signalled the troopers and the Pelican that waited by the mountain. Ezekiel carried Nagata aboard the Falcon, and Svenson and Simone took seats next to each other.

With that mission done, Svenson was finally beginning to feel some hope that they would make it off New Tampa alive.