Chapter 35: Svenson

Medics had gathered in the plaza just before the falcon arrived, and they wasted no time in pulling Nagata away. Sergeant Rosenfeld was there to meet them as well. With Nagata temporarily incapacitated, Rosenfeld was their new boss.

"Welcome back," Rosenfeld said with her usual professional tone. "We still haven't been attacked since you left, but we don't plan on standing down any time soon. How were things out there?"

"Not good, sir," Simone spoke first. "Even without that carrier, the Covenant are still here in large numbers."

"What about these other creatures?" Rosenfeld asked. "The Flood?"

The two Spartans turned to Svenson, as neither of them had an answer to that question. As far as everyone still on the planet was concerned, he was the expert on the Flood.

"They're working with the Covenant," Svenson said. "On Alpha Halo they attacked UNSC and Covenant alike, so I don't know what's going on here."

"And according to the reports from Alpha Halo, they can't be stopped," Rosenfeld said.

"That's correct. I suggested to Nagata that we nuke the entire surface of the planet, but if we try that then we might end up like that carrier."

"I heard. And I also heard you sent William away," Rosenfeld said.

Svenson would have expected her to be mad, but her tone remained as professional as it always was. Whatever her thoughts were on Svenson sending away the one person that could communicate with whatever was running this planet, her voice didn't make them clear.

"I did. He's a civilian, and it's not safe for any civilians to remain on this planet," Svenson said.

"So he is. But we're going to need to find another way to communicate with that intelligence," Rosenfeld said.

Svenson couldn't think of any other options they had. As far as they knew, that intelligence could only speak to William. If that was true, then there would be no choice but to put his life in danger. But if it wasn't true…

"I can do it," Svenson said, almost on impulse. "Get me over there and I'll figure out how to speak with it."

With that request, Svenson had managed to break Rosenfeld's professional demeanour. Now she looked at him with a confused expression.

"No offence, corporal, but do you even know what you're doing?" she asked.

"Would anyone else know what they're doing?" Svenson asked. "No. But I'm the only one here who was on Alpha Halo, that has to count for something."

Svenson looked between the two Spartans as Rosenfeld considered his request. They had been there for the entire conversation, completely silent and unmoving. It would have been easy to forget they were there if their presence wasn't so large.

"Once the Tigershark gets here and we get our people aboard, I'll send you over to the mountain outpost," Rosenfeld said after a long consideration.

"Thank you, sir," Svenson said.

"For now, you three get to hold the line," Rosenfeld ordered. "We can't afford to rest until we're off this rock."

"Yes sir," Svenson and the Spartans said in unison.

More troopers had gathered in the plaza since they had left to destroy the jammer. They had significantly more guns to hold off any attacking Flood, but more food for them as well if even one broke through.

Svenson took position behind the fortifications at the entrance to the plaza, while the Spartans climbed onto the rooftops of the buildings surrounding it. Even though there was one entrance, the Flood could still come from anywhere.

The silence that fell over the plaza was occasionally broken by the sounds of distant gunfire, again it came from Covenant weapons. Maybe the Flood was only working with some of the Covenant, and that others were still fighting against them. Maybe the ones that fought the Flood would be open to some kind of truce, like the one Svenson had formed with the elite on Alpha Halo.

But if that truce had taught him anything, it was that not every elite was the same. If there were more elites out there that shared a common enemy in the Flood, that didn't necessarily mean that they would want to work together with the UNSC. Whatever the answer to that was, Svenson didn't have the time or the guts to find out.


Hours passed with still no sign of the Flood, or the Covenant. The distant sounds of fighting became too distant, and Svenson couldn't hear them anymore. He wondered if whoever was fighting had managed to leave the city, or if they had finally lost to the Flood.

He was becoming so jumpy with anticipation that he almost fired his weapon when rain started to fall around him. The only time he had left his post was when he was issued new armour for his chest and abdomen, and to get more ammo for his MA5C. Aside from that he hadn't moved a bit.

The rain hitting him didn't feel as good as it had when he was out of his armour, but it still felt refreshing. That was about as much good as it would do though, it also made it harder to see, and to hear if something was coming.

Another trooper came up to Svenson's side, one he recognised from when he was searching for the scientists under the mountain. Lampkin, her name was. She startled him when she spoke.

"Looking a little jumpy there, corporal," Lampkin said.

"So you decided to sneak up on me?" Svenson asked, not taking his eyes off the road in front of them.

"Yeah, just keeping you on your toes."

The rain was starting to get so loud that they nearly had to shout to hear one another. A flash of lightning lit up the city for a split second, and the following thunder drowned out every other sound.

"Any idea when the Tigershark is gonna get here?" Lampkin asked.

"Don't know!" Svenson responded. "Why are you asking me?"

"Because you're the only one who has talked to the Sarge for the past few hours! And I'm not going near those Spartans!"

"What, do you not like them?"

"Just don't trust 'em, sir!"

The sound of an approaching falcon was the only thing that drowned out the rain. A second falcon landed in the middle of the plaza, and dropped off more troopers. It was beginning to look like every trooper that was in the city was there now.

"Didn't think they would find more survivors!" Lampkin said, watching the troopers pile out of the falcon. "Good on them!"

Svenson nodded, and turned his eyes back to the road. His mind went back to what Lampkin said about the Spartans.

"Why don't you trust them?" Svenson asked. "The Spartans?"

"You really think some guy would just agree to being pumped full of super soldier drugs and given the most expensive armour known to man without some kind of ulterior motive?" Lampkin asked. "I sure don't!"

That made Svenson realise how remarkably little he actually knew about the Spartans. He had never questioned where they came from or why they existed, he had just always known that they were there. And he was glad they were there.

"They're not just 'some guys'!" Svenson said. "If they weren't trustworthy, then they wouldn't have all that shit! And they're soldiers like you and me, we all work together to protect humanity!"

"Yeah, whatever sir," Lampkin said with a sigh.

Svenson hoped he could change her mind, but it wasn't clear if he did or not. But Lampkin got him thinking more about the Spartans.

Were they UNSC soldiers that were singled out and given advanced training? Or was there something else to their story? Clearly they weren't just random people taken in off the street. At least Simone wasn't, he still wasn't sure about Ezekiel.

The rain began to let up a bit. Nobody needed to shout to hear each other anymore, and visibility was slowly returning to normal, but the storm wasn't over. Another flash of lightning lit up the city as Svenson scanned the rooftops ahead of him. Another flash, and he could see something on one of the rooftops.

After another flash of lightning he saw it clearly, it was an infected elite. Multiple infected elites. With one more flash of lightning, they were gone. Svenson wasted no time in reaching for his radio.

"We've got incoming," Svenson said. "There's Flood on the rooftops, I repeat, Flood on the rooftops!"

The familiar high-pitched shrill of a Flood horde pierced Svenson's ears. Flood forms of all kinds of shapes and sizes jumped over the buildings in front of the plaza, and pushed the defensive line.

Svenson was thankful for his helmet's ear protection as machine guns and rifles went off all around him. He fired almost aimlessly into the approaching Flood, no matter where he shot he was guaranteed to hit something.

"Birds get the hell into the air, we need support!" Rosenfeld shouted over the radio.

The trooper manning the machine gun to Svenson's right was hit in the side with a bunch of shots from a Covenant needler. He dove away just before the trooper exploded. The explosion didn't touch him, but pieces of the trooper's body went everywhere.

He tried not to look at them while he slung his rifle over his back and climbed onto the back of the warthog. You've seen worse than this, he told himself over and over.

The two falcons in the plaza took off, and began ripping through the Flood horde with their guns. Svenson saw two more troopers fall to plasma fire as he manned the warthog's machine gun. He found two Flood combat forms armed with plasma pistols, and gunned them down before they could take anyone else's life. He fired at their bodies until there was nothing left, making sure they wouldn't be able to get back up.

The number of attacking Flood began to dwindle, and soon they were all dead. There were so many dead bodies and chunks of flesh that it looked like God had vomited all over the street. Svenson wasn't sure he wasn't going to vomit, so he turned away. The sight of the previous gunner's remains wasn't much better however.

"Status?" Rosenfeld asked.

"Not seeing any more movement," one of the falcon pilots reported. "I think we got 'em all."

"Stay in the air and sweep the area, I don't want another attack like that to hit us."

The pilots obliged, and both falcons began to circle the area around the plaza.

"How many of these fucking things are there?" Lampkin asked, who had remained close to Svenson during the attack.

"A lot," Svenson said, stepping down from the warthog for a moment so he wasn't surrounded by a gory mess. "Covenant have been deliberately infecting themselves. And every trooper that isn't here right now has probably turned into one."

Even though the attack had gone by quickly, there were a lot of Flood forms that they had just killed. The only advantage they had against them was that they were brittle.

"How the fuck are we supposed to win this?" Lampkin asked.

"We're not supposed to," Svenson said. "The second one of those things steps foot onto a battlefield, it's over. There is no winning."

"I thought the Covenant were bad," Lampkin sighed. "May God help us all."

As far as Svenson was concerned, if creatures like the Flood were allowed to exist, then God wasn't real.


Svenson found Rosenfeld in a tent at the back of the plaza, where she watched over a holotable they had set up. He saw a projection of the planet with the UNSC Tigershark above it, but a few Covenant ships still remained in orbit. So that's why it's taking so long.

"What are you doing back here, Svenson?" Rosenfeld asked.

"Just came to see what the situation was like," Svenson said. "Though I think I'm starting to get it."

"Yeah," Rosenfeld sighed. "I was hoping they would all turn tail and run after their carrier got shot down, but they're still here."

The Tigershark stayed on the opposite side of the planet from the Covenant cruisers. There was a considerable distance between the cruisers and the planet, perhaps they were at a point they deemed safe from whatever had shot down the carrier.

"Can the Tigershark pass between the cruisers and the planet?" Svenson asked.

"Not without giving them an angle to shoot it down," Rosenfeld said. "Their best bet right now is travelling to us in atmosphere. It's slow, but it's the safest way we have out of here."

The Tigershark was the only way they had off the planet. The rest of the fleet was destroyed, and the rest of the UNSC had no idea what was actually happening on New Tampa. And with the fighting at Earth, they wouldn't even be able to spare another ship to help them. An idea began to form in his head that he was sure was a terrible idea, but one that might work.

"What if they were to slipspace jump on top of us?" Svenson asked. "Right above the city."

"Are you crazy?" Rosenfeld asked. "You know how inaccurate our slipspace drives are, right?"

"They're inaccurate because of how hard it is to plot jumps at large distances," Svenson said. "This is just them going from one side of the planet to the other."

"Forgive me if I don't believe that just because you're a marine."

"Hey, at least float them the idea," Svenson said, raising his hands. "They don't have to try it, but it's the best bet we have right now."

Svenson was fully aware of how crazy his idea sounded, but he figured it was possible. Though maybe trying it with their only means of getting off New Tampa wasn't the best idea. But it was all they had. Whether it didn't work, or they didn't try it, they were dead anyway.

"Those carriers can carry tens of thousands of soldiers," Svenson continued. "And no matter how many of them that crash killed, the dead can still be infected by the Flood. And those Flood are going to be on their way to this city right now, so by the time the Tigershark gets here it could be too late."

That was what seemed to get Rosenfeld to at least consider the idea.

"The Covenant are at Earth and they're destroying everything we have left of our fleet," Svenson continued. "And if we don't fix this situation now, then the whole galaxy might be doomed. I'm not exaggerating."

"Alright, fine," Rosenfeld said in a way to get him to stop talking. "I'll let them know of your plan. No promises about anything though. Now get back to your post."

"Yes sir, thank you sir," Svenson said before retreating out of the tent.

He heard Rosenfeld order one of the falcons to scout the wreckage of the Covenant carrier as he left. He didn't want to be right about the tens of thousands of soldiers aboard the ship being infected and descending upon the city, but deep down he knew it was going to happen. Sometimes I hate being right.

Svenson returned to the entrance of the plaza. The remains of the troopers who had died had been cleaned up, though the warthog was still stained with blood. Even though everyone went into the corps expecting to see terrible things happen to their people, it still hurt seeing it anyway. And it never got better.


Another couple hours later, and the sleep deprivation was really starting to hit. Most of the troopers had begun taking adrenaline shots to keep themselves awake and alert, but they were in very short supply. Svenson opted not to take any because he felt that the others needed them more than him. At least if another attack came, the sound of gunfire would be more than enough to keep him awake.

The falcon sent to scout the carrier's wreckage had returned. The scorch marks and damage to the craft was enough to answer the question, but the pilot had confirmed it anyway. As far as they could tell, every single Covenant soldier left aboard the carrier had been infected, and they were on their way to the city.

God damnit I hate being right, Svenson told himself again.

The smaller attacks were bad enough, each one cost the life of two or three troopers. When the infected forces from the carrier finally made it, everyone left would certainly be dead.

"The Tigershark is gonna do it," Rosenfeld said. "They just need time to calculate the jump. This is something they can't mess up."

"Got it," Svenson said.

"Once they're here they'll launch their pelicans, and we'll get everyone aboard as quickly as we can. Then you'll get your ride to the mountain."

"Understood, sir."

To Svenson's surprise, Rosenfeld left her tent with a rifle. They both walked to the defensive line and took positions behind cover. He didn't know why, but he had just expected her to stay behind in the tent the whole time.

"I guess it's a big day for crazy ideas, corporal," Rosenfeld said.

"I guess so," Svenson said.

"The reason no ship has done something like this before is because it's stupid, insane, and incredibly dangerous. But if the Tigershark pulls it off, then it'll be making history."

Svenson looked up into the sky, waiting for the Tigershark to appear at any moment. He was tired of living through huge historical moments, but this one was something he could be proud of. At least, if it worked. If it didn't, then Svenson was sure his name would be shamed for centuries to come as the one who accidentally let the Flood take over the galaxy. I guess if the Flood do take over the galaxy, humanity won't be around to shame me for centuries.

"Well, you can't tell if something doesn't work until you've tried it," Svenson said.

"I suppose that's true," Rosenfeld said. "But we start living life like that, we're all gonna end up dead."

"Then let's hope this is the only time we'll have to do something like this."

"I doubt it's gonna be," Rosenfeld said with a disappointed sigh.

The storm eventually moved on, and the low temperature of the New Tampa night made Svenson's uniform freezing cold. With that and his sleep deprivation combined, Svenson wasn't sure if he would be able to hit anything.

Two voices started coming through Rosenfeld's radio at the same time, Svenson recognised them as one of the falcon pilots and the captain of the Tigershark. They both spoke over each other, it was impossible to tell what either one of them were saying.

The only word Svenson was able to pick out was: "Movement."

One of the falcons circling the plaza violently exploded, and crashed into one of the buildings in front of them. The second came to a stop, and then rushed for cover at the back of the plaza.

"God damnit, Lima-6 what the hell just happened?" Rosenfeld shouted into her radio.

"You've got lots of movement incoming!" came the voice of the remaining falcon. "Looks like a shell from a scorpion hit Lima-5."

"Since when did the Covenant drive scorpions?" Rosenfeld asked.

A memory came back to Svenson from the battle on Alpha Halo, when he and Fireteam Foxtrot held off an assault from Covenant wraiths. Only the wraiths weren't being controlled by the Covenant.

"It's the Flood," Svenson said. "They took one of our tanks."

"Those damn things can drive?" Rosenfeld asked, her voice full of disbelief.

"Yeah, they can do pretty much everything we can do."

Another scorpion shell flew past Lima-6, which the falcon managed to narrowly avoid. It dodged a second, which slammed into the side of a building.

"They've got another tank, I repeat, they have two tanks," Lima-6 said.

The tanks didn't yet have a view of the plaza. When they did get there, they would kill everyone. All they could do was hope that the Tigershark got there soon. Lima-6 set down in the middle of the plaza and the crew piled out of the VTOL.

"As long as those tanks are there, we can't provide air support," the pilot said as he stepped out of the cockpit. "Whoever is driving them, they're good shots."

"Understood," Rosenfeld said. "Just help cover us here."

The pilot nodded, and gave the Sergeant a quick salute. Each member of the falcon crew grabbed a rifle and joined the defensive line as they waited for the next wave of Flood to arrive.

Like before, Flood forms began to jump over the buildings. The ensuing firefight was deafening as army troopers and Flood forms armed with guns fired on each other. Troopers and Flood fell alike.

The monsters pushed hard against the defensive line, and this time they had to retreat. Infection forms leapt over the barricades, and climbed onto the warthogs. Svenson watched the gunners turn into combat forms in seconds, and he watched the dead troopers rise against their former allies.

Simone dropped into the plaza, crushing the ground under his feet. He sunk his fist into the closest combat form, and shot several more in the chest like Svenson had shown him. Ezekiel joined the battle on the ground too, and rushed into the horde of infection forms with little regard for his well being.

Then the scorpions had arrived. They ploughed through the defensive line, and fired on the troopers that fled deeper into the plaza. A high-explosive shell killed an entire squad in an instant, another sent Simone flying across the plaza and brought the Spartan to his knees.

Svenson fought as hard as he could. Not for a moment did he take his finger off the trigger unless it was to reload. He was down to the spare magazines he kept in his backpack, and it wasn't going to be close to enough.

Flood forms Svenson hadn't seen since the containment facility on Halo had arrived, large piles of flesh with legs and backs lined with spikes. They fired on the fleeing troopers, with one hitting Rosenfeld. The Sergeant's neck exploded, she was killed instantly.

A sound more deafening than any gun blew out Svenson's ear drums, and the plaza was lit up in a bright flash. The sound was so loud that it seemed to even stun the Flood. Svenson didn't need to look to see what it was, he took his moment to grab Rosenfeld's radio.

"Tigershark! We need an airstrike at South Central Plaza trailing north! Danger close! Now!" Svenson shouted. It was the kind of thing he had only heard his superiors shout, he hoped that they would listen to him.

The crack of the Tigershark's coilguns was barely audible over the ringing in Svenson's ears. He ran, and fired behind him at the infection forms that attempted to chase him. The plaza was soon covered in explosions as the frigate rained down hell upon the Flood.

Hordes of the creatures were blasted away, and both scorpions exploded the instant they were hit by the barrage. It was carnage unlike anything Svenson had seen before, even on Reach.

The plaza was left in ruins, covered in a haze of smoke and organic remains. Svenson sat on the ground, clutching Rosenfeld's radio in one hand, and his gun in the other. Everything had happened so quickly, it seemed like it was just another nightmare.

He didn't know how long he sat there. When the pelicans from the Tigershark arrived, they took the dead and wounded with them first. Someone grabbed Svenson's arm and pulled him up; when he looked to see who it was, he saw the face of Faraday.

"It's over," she said to him. "You're safe now. We're all safe now."

Svenson wanted to hug her, to feel the warmth of another human's embrace after so long. He almost did, he would have if reality didn't hit him.

"Wake the fuck up, corporal!" Cas said, shaking Svenson. "Do you hear me?"

The pilot's voice was scared, as was his expression. Svenson would have felt bad for him if he wasn't scared too.

"Are you alright?" Cas asked when Svenson looked at him, lowering his voice.

"No," Svenson said.

"Alright… let's get you out of here."

Cas gave him a solemn look, and then nodded. He led the marine out of there, away from the remains of the battle. He set Svenson down in a seat at the back of the pelican, and strapped him in.

Svenson looked out of the pelican to see if everything that just happened had really happened. The aftermath of the battle was still there, but the way everything seemed to move in slow motion still made it hard to tell if he was dreaming or not.

When the dropship's door shut, Svenson closed his eyes, and hoped to wake up somewhere else.