Under cover of darkness, amidst the plateaus of a desert plain, Echo-419 and her payload of Marines and Spartans slowly flew toward the landing site of the Covenant Cruiser Truth and Reconcilliation. The massive enemy ship, its hull gleaming purple in the starlight, hovered menacingly over the plateau, the marks of the Autumn's MAC shots still visible on its side armor plates.
"Got a few good shots in, I see?" Elster commented, looking upon the vessel's damaged form. Cortana gave a light affirmative chuckle as the aircraft swung in for landing. Chief racked the bolt of his rifle and looked over to Linda, who was screwing on a suppressor to the end of her sniper rifle's barrel. Elster checked her own gear, then knelt by the rear hatch of the Pelican.
Cortana began, "Captain Keyes is being held aboard that ship. The Cruiser Truth and Reconcilliation. His transponder and lifesigns are still reading strong, same for the Marines captured with him. As Elster observed, I got a few good shots off on it before we had to abandon ship, so them landing to repair has given us the window of opportunity necessary to move in and retrieve the Captain."
"Uh, question," One of the Marines aboard started, "How the hell are we getting aboard it?"
Johnson hit him over the back of the helmet and pointed at the belly of the Covenant vessel, stating, "There's a gravity lift ferryin' troops and supplies to secure the plateau while they conduct repairs. It's two-way, so we're headed up it and into the ship's belly," and turning to Chief and Cortana. "I get that about right, ma'am? Cuz I have a feelin' I did," He smirked proudly.
"Dead-on, Sergeant," Cortana replied jovially, "Elster. You good?"
"Green across," The girl replied, then looked over to the damage on her shoulder. She told them, "I'll be using the SPI's camouflage to scout out a route ahead through the enemy lines. You folks just trail behind me as best you can," before humming. She drew her machete and quickly sharpened it against the thigh plate of the SPI suit, nodding approvingly when she saw enough of an edge. She stowed the weapon in its sheath and clipped it closed, then turned to Linda, "Mind watching my back, ma'am?"
"No problem," Linda replied, cradling her sniper.
She activated the camouflage and jumped down, then started skulking forward, making sure to shield the damaged shoulder plate from view. As she crept forward, the girl could make out various Shade plasma turrets sat across the multitude of elevated areas, guarding bridges from amidst desert foliage and rocks. The Grunts operating the guns chittered and chattered, while Elster activated her visual feed to give Cortana and the other LOS to what she was seeing.
Moving forward, she heard Lilith whispering, "Never been on Stealth Ops like this before. You think we'll make it?"
"It'll be fine," The Replika replied after making sure she'd shut off every piece of communication and her speakers. Lilith moved beside her at a walking pace, like she was on a stroll. It almost made Elster feel ridiculous. Almost, until Elster remembered Lilith was invisible to everyone else and she was slowly and steadily losing her god-damned mind due to Persona Degradation acceleration.
She crawled past a patrol of Grunts led by the standard Elite and grabbed and stabbed a Jackal before it could squawk for help. She then radioed, "Multiple guns across the entire area. Marking them now..." before she put several markers via her HUD on the enemy plasma turrets. She then climbed up the side of a cliff and approached one of the turrets, drawing her blade again.
Climbing onto the back of the turret, she grabbed the Grunt by the mask and slit its throat, leaving it slumped back into the turret's system to make it seem like the little guy was still on guard duty. She jumped off the gun turret, then slowly crept around it and eyed the next one over. She prepared herself to move, until the swing of an Energy Sword took her out of her stupor. Or was it Lilith yelling, "Duck!" loud enough to wake her to that oncoming hit?
She ducked under the strike, coiled, then jumped off the edge of the cliff back down to the lower area, looking up to see the Elite that had swung at her. His active camouflage flickered has he scoffed, blade glimmering erratically. He shut the blade off, scoffed and disappeared with his active camouflage, causing Elster to sigh and call out, "Chief, Linda. Situation update:Possible Covenant Stealth Teams... The Elite that nearly took my head off didn't seem too happy to see us."
Climbing out and marching, she joined the Chief and the Marines just as the Spartan and Linda took out the enemy patrol teams with sniper rifle fire. The shots rang out across and bounced around, probably causing confusion amidst the Covenant's garrison for where the rounds came from. The Marines and ODSTs supporting them on this op just watched, Johnson taking puffs from his cigar as he cradled a shotgun. He looked to Elster, who was staring with a degree of confusion at the shotgun, then quipped "I like to keep this baby for close encounters..." before flashing a grin.
Elster shrugged and nodded, then followed the group as they pushed deeper into the canyons around the plateau, through Covenant patrols and defense units. It was terrifying just how cleanly the Spartans wiped the floor with the enemy, to the point Elster only had to scout the target areas out before letting Linda and the Chief do the heavy lifting. Cortana spoke into her radio, "You doing okay, Elster?"
"Just bored," The Replika replied as she knelt beside Johnson again, rifle at the ready as Linda's sniper rang out, "Seriously, who knew having two Spartans would make this mission a cakewalk...?" She then murmured to herself as she watched Linda's majestic sniping skills in action. She wanted to comment on the fact that they maybe should let some stuff be for the Marines and her, because she was already seeing Bisenti and Dubbo playing paddycake while Johnson simply smoked his Cigar and kept his eyes open.
Cortana chuckled, "It is how it is."
The Spartans stood up and the group continued their advance, Lilith humming a tune in Elster's ear. Or, well, her head. Elster hit her helmet and sighed, then blinked and looked back. She turned about just as a strange waviness in the air took her attention and she opened fire. Bullets sparked off the shield of the Spec-Ops Elite that nearly took them by surprise. The Marines and Johnson swiveled about, too, with the Sergeant firing half the mag tube of his shotgun.
"Same Elite's been tracking us since we dodged his hit," Lilith told Elster, "We gotta move to that Lift."
Elster kept her rifle trained on where the Elite had gone missing, then fired another burst to pin it down, bullets striking and chipping stone. The group continued forward, pushing deeper into the Canyon itself with their weapons at the ready. They found the Gravity Lift platform and noted the bright purple light that encased it all around, as well as the high ground around.
The Replika warned everyone, "That Elite might have a trick up his sleeve..."
And the group tensed rather obviously. As Linda started her work on clearing out the enemy's defenses around the Grav Lift, Elster kept an eye open for any disturbance in the air that could signify an active camouflage Elite sneaking up on them. She scanned her sector beside a tense Sergeant Johnson, who told her, "Y'know, when I signed up for the Corps, the enemy didn't have any fancy-schmanzy active camouflage... They had two sticks and a rock like the rest of us, but they hid in crowds and used terror tactics..."
"Heh," Elster(and Lilith, in her head) let out a chuckle, "Frankly, I fancy fighting Aliens more, sarge... Beats having to shoot a human being."
"I agree wholesale," Johnson replied, "After 27 years of this bullshit, I don't think I could put my crosshairs on another man or woman from our species without hesitatin' and getting myself and my squad killed," before he quickly started loading whatever shotgun rounds he'd expended on gunning for the camouflaged alien bastard. It wasn't long before both heard a spine-chilling callout, though.
"Hunters!" Linda called out.
Elster turned on her heel toward the landing where the Grav-Lift touched the floor and watched two Hunters and a platoon of Elites descend from the ship. The hulking masses of armor and eels stomped forward, beady targeting sensors locking onto them. Both lifted the Fuel Rod cannons on their arms and charged, Chief calling out, "Scramble!" before grabbing the closest Marines and jumping over the edge with them.
Two bright-green explosions blossomed where Elster and the others had been and two Marines had been caught by the blasts, vaporized in an instant. The wall of stone behind them had been cratered, radiation and heat still simmering as the melting rock fell in globs. The troops scrambled for cover as the Elites aggressively engaged them with their plasma rifles from up close.
The Hunters stomped forward, charging their cannons for a second volley as a Marine fearfully cried, "To hell with this, man!" but remained in Cover. He poked out and fired at the lumbering beasts, bullets ricocheting off of the alien battle-plate that kept them safe. The alien pivoted toward where the shooting was coming from. Elster gasped, grabbed the Marine by the collar and jumped out of the way as their cover melted in a flash of heat and skin-prickling radiation.
The girl watched the second Alien slam its shield down onto a Marine that was trying to change positions, vivisecting the man in a gruesome sight. She swore to herself, drawing her Magnum and aiming for its exposed midsection. She planted two good Magnum shots into its hip, vaporizing several eels in a dangerous display of accuracy, but it got the creature turning to face her. As well as its bondmate.
Both turned and aimed, then fired.
Elster ducked, rolled and sprung to her feet, running toward an Elite. She opened fire, aiming for the head. Three shots, two cracked its shield, one its skull. It sprawled to the floor. Elster felt her mechanical heart go into overdrive as the Marines around her, Johnson included, engaged. The Chief and Linda were fighting the Hunters, with Linda sniping Elites in the meanwhile.
Linda sniped an Elite clean between the eyes, drew her MA5 and turned to engage. She opened up, bullets zipping through the air and ringing against the battle-plate of the Hunters again. She chopped her left hand forward and Chief gave a nod, before utilizing his enhanced strength to surge forward. The ODSTs and Marines around focused on taking down the small-fries. The Elites.
Johnson rushed an Elite, pinned the barrel of his shotgun against the Alien's chest cavity and pumped out five shells right into it. Purple blood spattered his face as the monster collapsed, with him soon switching targets and weapons. Firing his pistol three times, he nailed another Elite whose shields were down. He reloaded his shotgun quickly, then rallied the Marines and Shock Troopers, surrounding one of the Hunters and pumping it full of lead.
The alien roared angrily as bullets hit its exposed sections, then swung its shield. It struck and cut another Marine in half, forcing them to back off further, before turning and charging toward Johnson. The Sergeant grit his teeth and rolled to the side, pulled out his pistol and put two more SAPHE slugs into the beast just as it cracked another man's skull open.
Its midsection exploded, spraying orange blood and eels all around as it collapsed. Johnson grit his teeth and said, "This is some fine mess you got us into, Captain..." as he pulled a fragmentation grenade off his belt and threw. He watched Elster charging the second Hunter, which was enraged by the death of its bondmate. She worked to support the Spartans.
Johnson, however, noticed the incoming and called out, "Elster, on your ass!"
The girl swiveled about and rolled out of the way just as the decloaking hand of the Elite Spec-Op that had been hunting her, Chief and Linda appeared. In one fluid motion, the Elite swung the blade toward Elster, cutting a gash into her suit's chest plate and damaging more camouflage plates. The Elite disappeared before either the Spartans or the Marines could open up on it, but Elster gripped the breastplate and called out, "I'm good, I'm good..." As Linda and a Medic ran to check on her. She murmured to herself, "I just repaired this thing..."
Lilith sighed, "I have a nagging feeling that asshole's gonna be a pain going forward..." while she watched the last Hunter explode. Elster replied with a hum of agreement as Linda lifted her to her feet. She patted Elster on the chest, then looked around the place at the corpses and blood marking their engagement here. The woman slung her sniper onto her back, exchanging it for her MA5, then looked to John. The Chief gave her a nod.
Cortana radioed, "Echo Four Nineteen, we have a few casualties. Request you bring in the support team," before sighing. The AI knew there was something going on in Elster's mind. She could feel the alterations the girl was suffering even from here, strangely enough. She just didn't bring it up because it probably wasn't conducive to their current well-being to get their engineer Section-Eighted.
As Foe Hammer replied affirmative, the aircraft swung in and deployed another platoon of Marines to reinforce them. Johnson, who was loading his shotgun, stepped onto the Grav-Lift alongside Chief, Elster and Linda and asked, "You folks ever been aboard a Covenant ship before?" with all the calm of your average joe discussing the damn weather. Elster had to give him props for that, she thought.
"I have," The Replika said calmly as she entered the lift, "It was purple."
A few snorts echoed, one female. Alexandra joined the gang on the lift and gave the Sergeant and everyone else a quick salute. The Grav Lift activated and Elster felt herself become weightless. She, the Spartans and Marines suddenly were lifted up into the belly of the beast. A white flash covered them as they were teleported inside and, suddenly, the group was standing inside one of the ship's multitude of massive cargo bays.
Compared to the Covenant Corvette Elster was aboard, this place suddenly felt like a maze. Looking up, the girl saw various floor and doors, not to mention dozens of boxes, stored vehicles and even a couple of the enemy's famous Wraith Tanks. These models looked like a different pattern or make, but they were still menacing, even turned off. Elster, however, snapped out of her momentary fugue and joined the Marines in a circle formation, each gun covering a different angle.
"Already not a fan," Linda quipped, "Remember the first time we boarded one?"
"Yeah," Chief replied, though the Replika could detect a glint of sadness behind the Spartan's stoicism. So, they'd boarded a Covvie ship like this before, too. Interesting, she thought, then listened to the Chief as he asked, "Cortana, status? Did you lock onto Captain Keyes's transponder signal?" while scanning the room. No Covvie Ambush the moment they came up. Weird.
"I'm putting up a NAV Point with an estimate location, though I would suggest we head for the ship's bridge. It'll be easier for me to locate him if we have access to the schematics of the Cruiser," The AI replied. The Spartan nodded, lifted his right hand and index, then spun it in a concentric fashion. The Marines and Elster all stood to their feet, weapons at the ready.
As the group began to move forward, advancing in a narrow column through the ship's interiors, they went through the first door. Chief and Linda took the lead, both pieing each side of the corridor with their rifles before giving the clear. Two Marines pushed forward next, each covering a direction of the corridor. Then, came Elster and the rest of the platoon, Johnson and Alexandra close beside her.
"Straight up," Cortana said. Chief led the group up a hallway ramp, past an intersect point with a supporting pillar around which elements of the ship's inner structure had been exposed via removed floor panels. Intricate, fiber-optic circuitry that made human tech look primitive yet again, all arrayed so neatly, one would think a religious sect was far more careful with their stuff than they let on.
Pushing further up, the group met their first contacts:A platoon of janitorial grunts, from the looks of things. The Unggoy, stout, shouted in surprise and went to draw the plasma pistols off their hips. Each received a bullet in the head from the group, with Linda scoring several headshots of her own. Johnson commented, "Leave some for the rest of us, ma'am," while grinning.
"This place is way bigger than I thought it'd be," Lilith commented, "Makes that Corvette we were on look like a tiny cargo ship..."
"And the Penrose, claustrophobic," Elster whispered to herself as she thought of Ariane. Part of her wondered if she was still alive and how she was handling being underground for so god-damned long. Shaking that thought off so she could focus on the mission(despite a short, bitter laugh from Lilith,) she pushed with the Chief now, kneeling beside him as they pied another corner. A few more contacts came through the hallway, but were quickly dispatched.
Cortana hummed, then said, "Hold it at this door... I'm seeing a lot of movement on the other side. Seems like this is the Cruiser's hangar bay," as she started hacking the door. She told them, "I'd be ready for anything, honestly. Covenant BattleNet's in a frenzy about us 'desecrating their holy ship' with our presence. Hearing a lot of insults thrown at the fact we were even on the Halo..."
"Heh, fucking hinge-jaws," Elster laughed with an undisguised disgust for the aliens. She blinked, wanting to ask Lilith where that came from.
She knew, so she pushed it deep down. She braced for the moment the door popped open, loading a fresh magazine into her rifle like the other Marines. Her shield flickered and she looked to see some of the damage she got when she was slashed across the chest must've gone to the armor's shield generator. Great, so she was not gonna be able to cloak anymore and her shield would be failing.
Wonderful...
She racked the bolt of her rifle, then, the moment the door opened, she broke into a sprint alongside the Spartans. Taking in the sight of the cavernous multi-level hangar of the ship, the Replika noted that a drop ship was parked nearby. Covenant soon opened fire from all levels, forcing the groups to scatter into cover, Elster firing bursts up at the Elites, Grunts and Jackals firing down on them from above.
Linda drew her sniper and took down several of said targets, two of which fell just in front of them. The Replika poked out of cover and gunned down a pair of grunts, then pulled and primed two plasma grenades, long-arming them toward an enemy position. Two thumps and the radiation-filled flashes of plasma grenades washed the enemy in a baleful blue light.
The Replika gave two chops of the hand toward Linda, then poked out and opened fire, providing cover for a trio of Marines to join the Sniper, Alex included. The young woman knelt beside Linda, reloaded her rifle, then pulled out a grenade, thumbed the pin release and threw it into a crowd of advancing Grunts. The subsequent explosion dealt with them.
She stood up, used the cover she was behind as a support for her rifle and fired the full magazine at an advancing Elite. The rounds cut through its shield as she focused fire, then several punctured it. A plasma round skimmed over her head, partially melting her helmet and forcing her back into cover as her shots went wide. Linda noticed the Elite without its shield and put a slug from her pistol into its head.
The accuracy of Spartans was terrifying. Elster wasn't a slacker, either, but to consistently hit headshots like that was sort of terrifying on another level for the mechanoid. Cortana said, "I've unlocked the door on the far side! Move! We've got another couple levels before the Bridge!" and the Spartans jumped out of cover. They moved almost like blurs to the naked eye, snapping Aliens' necks, shooting and or pinning and killing them with little remorse. The Marines and Elster pushed up behind them, watching this happen.
One Spartan-II could clear out this place alone no problem. Two of them were just meant to cause maximum psychological damage to the Aliens, Elster figured. And a part of her that was deeply intertwined with Lilith's more warlike personality laughed enough for a smile to creep up from deep below on Elster's face. She lifted her rifle and fired a burst dead center-mass into a Jackal's chest, causing it to collapse.
As they burst through the doorway, the Spartans held back to guard the Marines' entrance. Two of them caught needler rounds in the back from a Jackal, but Linda managed to snipe its hand, then split its head in two with her rifle. Elster scrambled and dragged both injured Marines into the hallway as the door shut, then let their Corpsman check on them as she and Alexandra covered the front.
"Cloaked!" Lilith called out. Elster's hand shot out almost instinctually as she grabbed Alexandra by the collar. Two cloaked Elites appeared ahead. Plasma bolts and needles zipped past the two just as the Replika dragged the girl into the cover of her flickering shields. Chief and Linda moved up front, taking shots to their own shields and putting down the Spec Ops squad with deadly accuracy.
Alexandra breathed heavily, then smiled and said, "Thanks, Sarge."
"Don't mention it," She patted the girl on the shoulder, then stood to her feet and joined the Spartans up front as part of the shield wall. She grabbed the shield gauntlet of a dead Jackal off the floor, lifted it in front of herself and the Spartans and activated it after mashing buttons on it multiple times. She said, "I'll be your mobile cover, Chief! You two just get us to the Captain!"
Chief patted her on the shoulder as a confirmation, while Linda drew her sniper. Johnson hollered, "Marines! Form up! We're pushing through, hard and fast!" before watching the Corpsmen lift the wounded to their feet. The group pushed through the door as plasma rounds struck the shield, causing it to glow a burning red. Elster fired her pistol via Smartscope link as they pushed on, tracers flying over her head and the Sniper Rifle roaring repeatedly.
Elster watched the aliens fall, the Elites ordering tactical repositioning of their troops while Grunts panicked and Jackals forced themselves to form Phalanxes to try and counter them. The shield gauntlet on the girl's hand began to overheat, flaring. She shut it off and switched to her own rifle, the Spartans giving her a space right between them to open fire and cover her own sector.
The Marines behind them moved as fast as they could, keeping pace with the Chief and his team while firing their weapons to suppress or kill the enemy. The group moved like an Assault Squad of the Eusan Volksarmee would and Elster's mind danced in memories of the bloodshed during trench warfare. The blades glistening in the light of the shattered moon of Vineta, the troops charging forward with little remorse to meet the Imperials and their technological hubris.
When the shield cooled, Elster became the wall between her allies and the enemy's fire again. The gauntlet took shots and flared, but never failed as they advanced to the next floor, then the next, leaving dead Covenant in their wake, though sadly with casualties. A corpsman caught a plasma bolt while they went up a ramp, two Marines met a grizzly end to a plasma grenade...
Every loss metaphorically weighed on the Replika. She could see it weighed on the Spartans as well, by how much more aggressive they became. Even Linda's concerted Sniper shots came in quicker succession. The fact she was hitting every single one while on the move and climbing around variable geometry was a true testament to her skills as a sharpshooter. Elster was glad to be part of this team. They'd make it back to Reach yet...
... So she could at least get some closure? No, Lilith, not that, Elster thought. So she could find Ariane.
She scoffed, then grunted as a needle round struck through the waning shield gauntlet and nailed her in the shoulder. It shattered off her own shield, but the followup didn't, embedding itself into the damaged battle plate of her armor, just above the stomach. She felt it explode, but the strange adrenaline-like rush she was feeling momentarily prevented her from feeling any pain, should it be there.
She cast a quick glance down and saw no oxidant leaking. Good. Lilith even whispered to her that they were fine. They needed to keep pushing, even as plasma and bullet were being exchanged between the boarding party and Covenant security detail. By the time they'd made it to the bridge, Elster, Chief and Linda had all taken damage to their armors, with Linda commenting, "I should've changed with Will..."
"He's busy building up the defenses of Alpha," Chief replied as they pushed up to the door. The group sent a second to reload their weapons, with Elster feeling up the extra damage on her armor. This was gonna take ages to fix up, but at least the plate held enough for a couple needle rounds. Her shield had also come back, but she'd burnt out the gauntlet.
She tossed it aside as Lilith said, "That's our mobile cover gone... And I'm sensing a lot of new contacts past this door."
Elster didn't need to sense them. She had a Motion Tracker like the Spartans did. She looked to the Chief, standing to her feet and asking, "Sir, how're we getting off this boat after we've got the Captain?"
"We either call Foe Hammer, or commandeer that Drop Ship we saw," Chief replied, "Make our own exit."
Cortana chimed in, "Better grab the Spirit. Safest bet to confuse the Covenant. Their Net's in shambles about us making it as far as we did anyways..." while trying to unlock the door. She gave a signal to the team to wait, which meant Elster could settle down for a moment, sighing deeply as she checked her gear over again, pistol included. Plenty of ammo left, she thought to herself. If she expended it all, she could just nab a Covenant weapon off the floor and use it.
She looked over to Alexandra, noting the girl was a bit twitchy due to the adrenaline spike in her system. She approached, knelt beside her and asked, "You got someone waiting for you, Alexandra?" only to watch the girl turn to face her. Despite the wide, bloodshot eyes, Elster could see just how tiring this was for the average human being. She was running out of breath herself, but she was a machine. She could more easily recover.
The girl swallowed, trying to calm herself, then nodded, "Yeah..." before pulling out a photograph. A young, redhead woman with a smile cradled a baby in her arms, with Alexandra hugging her in full Dress Blues. Elster smiled at the sight, taking her helmet off to reveal some extra scaring on her synth-skin, though nothing too detracting. She gave the girl a gentle elbow.
"You'll see them again, Alex. We'll make it off this hell," The girl reassured her. She then looked a little better adn chuckled, "The kiddo's cute. Yours?"
"Yeah. Medical procedure, in-vitro fertilization and all, plus some small gene tampering here and there to match both of us," Alex snorted, "She's a Wu-McClelan through and through... Thoroughbred and all... Heck, last I heard from Sarah, she's walkin' now..." before she narrowed her lips and seemed to force down the tears that were forming at the corners of her eyes down. It was clear to Elster she was worried she wasn't making it off this place.
"What's your wife working as?" Elster tried to change the subject.
Alex cleared her throat, then said, "Reyes-McLees on Mars. Retrofit designer for the UNSC Navy. Hell, if you look into it, I'm sure some bit of the Autumn's redesign has her name stamped onto it," with a smile. She looked at the Sergeant and smiled, "That woman saved my fucking life... After a bad row two years back. Had a bad case of psych issues after a mission went pear-shaped... She came into my life just at the right time."
"Your wife's keeping you safe even from that far away," Elster chuckled, then her smile turned a little sad, "I know how that is..."
Alex hummed, then gave her Sergeant a gentle elbow, stating, "I heard about your wifey, too, Sarge. Don't worry, if everyone says she's fine, she's fine..."
"Thanks, Alex," The girl nodded. She heard the seals of the door hiss, then slid her helmet back onto her head and patted her on the shoulder, "Alright. Asses in gear. No time to reminisce..." only to lift her weapon. Alex hit herself in the helmet twice, cocked her jaw and stood up, joining the breaching team alongside Sergeant Johnson, Bisenti and a few others, Spartans and Elster included.
The moment the door slid open, a dozen guns lit the room. The cavernous control room of the Truth and Reconciliation became the site of the quickest firefight yet. As the guarding Elites rushed to counter the intrusion, the officer on the bridge powered his sword and barked orders, only to pause as he saw the Demons and their little Imps following along.
Elster slammed against an Elite, then grabbed it by the head and slammed her head, helmet-first, against its jaws, shattering teeth and the somehow disrupting his shield with her own. She drew her Machete and, with one swipe, hacked off the Elite's head. She gasped, however, as the Energy Sword-bearing officer barreled through another pair of Marines, cut them down with his sword and then charged and pinned Elster to the rear wall grating.
Grunting in pain, Elster watched as the Elite was immediately being peppered by UNSC rifle fire. Its shields whittled down as it swung wildly at the UNSC forces, managing to catch another three Marines. It was Chief's prompt intervention that took it down. Two shots to its hand from Linda sent the shattered hilt of the sword to the floor. The Chief followed by grabbing the arm, twisting it and snapping it, before throwing the Elite over his head and immediately grappling its neck. He turned his torso quickly and a sickening snap-pop echoed through the room.
Then, all was silence. Chief pushed up to the holographic control surfaces situated on the raised platform where the Officer had been while the Marines, Linda and Elster secured a perimeter. She joined the Spartan up top, watching as Cortana was parsing through the ship's data. The AI looked up at her from the holographic pedestal, then smiled and said, "Harder life than engineering, eh?"
"Ha," Elster let out a single, dry sound to resemble a laugh, "It's a rollercoaster..."
"You're doing fine," Chief replied, half-reassuring, half-deadpan, "Noble Team must've taught you well..."
"Heh. Adapt or die, sir," Elster replied, staring at the holograms dancing around them with a hint of muted awe. Were it not for the fact that this was one of the ships that had probably burned Reach and the fact that this was an alien vessel, the woman could almost find herself lost in here, too, much like Cortana probably could. It wasn't long before Cortana gave a nod and the Chief yanked her chip and slotted it back into his helmet.
A NAV Point flashed on all HUDs... A squad of Marines chose to hold the Bridge as the others moved out...
A few more hallways later and the team breached the Brig. The Chief towered over a dying Elite as it crawled toward the console in the middle of the room full of energy-shielded cells. He put a slug into the back of its head, then moved over toward the console while the others pushed the corpses out of the way. Hitting a few buttons, the doors opened.
Chief stepped into the Captain's cell as the other Marines marched over to help their buddies. He extended his hand to Keyes, who berated them, "Coming here was reckless! You two know better than that!" then took Chief's hand. He stood to his feet, sighed and dusted himself off, "Thanks... And good to see your comrades here as well..." before walking out with Chief. He pointed at the Marine POWs and ordered, "Lock and load, Marines. We're getting off this boat."
"Yessir!" The POWs replied, grabbing the weapons of dead Covvies off the floor.
"Captain," Johnson saluted, "Lookin' a little worse for wear, sir. Your medals are a bit scuffed."
"Heh. Good to see you, too, Sergeant," Keyes replied with a smirk. He knelt and picked up a needler, then said, "While we were stuck in here, I overheard the Covenant talk about this ring. They call it 'Halo'..."
"One moment, sir. Accessing the Covenant BattleNet..." Cortana replied. Elster stepped up beside the Chief and Linda, then gave the Captain a nod. Keyes replied in kind and gave her a gentle pat on her shoulder, before sighing. The AI then said, "According to the data in their networks, the Ring is an object with a deep religious significance. If I'm analyzing all of this purple-prosey wording correctly, Halo is some kind of weapon, one of vast, unimaginable power..."
Keyes seemed distraught, scratching his chin, "Then it's true. They were talking about deployed Search Teams on the Ring's surface looking for the place's control room. One of them even said that whoever controls Halo controls the fate of the Galaxy... This is bad news for all of us. If they find the Control Room..." and he sighed, "Chief, Cortana, we're gonna need your help to get off this ship. We'll start looking for the Control Room ourselves later. Keep taps on their BattleNet."
"Yessir," Cortana replied.
The Captain ordered, "Chief, take point..."
The Spartan did as ordered, leading the group through hallways they already cleared and back into the bridge, then past it. Cortana radioed, "Foe Hammer, we've retrieved the Captain and all other POWs and we're headed for one of the landing bays. Can you make it to us?"
"Negative, Cortana. I've got Covenant air patrols on my tail and I'm starting to find it a lot harder to lose'em. Sorry..." The woman replied, wary. The blaring warnings of her Pelican's systems echoed through the com to notify them that she was telling the truth. Well, that complicated the issue of escape, but not by much, Elster figured. They still had one way off this boat.
"Understood, Foe Hammer... Guess we're finding our on way off. Wonder if that Drop Ship's still docked."
As it turned out, it was. The Spartans moved up, with Cortana warning, "We're gonna have to unlock it. Make it snappy, Chief. I'm detecting Covenant reinforcements en-route to our position..." to which Chief did as asked. Elster moved up beside him and covered as he undid the magnetic lock keeping the Spirit in place, as well as the active shield keeping them from heading out.
Keyes climbed aboard with the Chief and Elster, the latter performing as quick and thorough a check as she could to make sure the ship was running smooth. Keyes took the controls and seemed to get acclimatized to the hologram symbols quite quickly, simply bringing the ship about and saying, "Everyone, aboard!" as he settled it next to where the Marines were. Everyone else jumped aboard, with Linda coming in last and weighing the ship down a little.
"Give us a minute, sir. I'm trying to help Cortana interface with the ship's systems..." Elster said. They had some data on Spirits. Not enough.
"No need. I'll take this bird out myself," Keyes grinned, then cracked his knuckles and grabbed the controls again, shifting the craft to try and get out through the open, unshielded bulkhead. Elster hummed, then sighed and looked over to Chief. The Captain hummed as he seemed to be getting acclimatized to the systems, dipping forward a little and nodding approvingly.
Cortana gasped, "Captain! Hunters!" as a pair appeared on the top floor of the hangar. Keyes grinned, then pushed the throttle forward, utilizing the weight of the ship to splatter the creatures and narrowly avoiding a pole in the middle by utilizing the open space between the ship's two troop compartments. He pulled back the throttle, bringing them back and aligning them with the exit. He was good...
"Nice flying, sir," Elster quipped, then sighed and sat herself down as they flew outbound from the Truth and Reconciliation.