Elster stirred.
Her mind flashed images of death ahead of her. Bursts of weapons fire rang in her ears again and again. The familiar rumbling thunder of an autocannon roared in the background, intermixed with night-unintelligible cries from comrades in arms. Jet-black uniforms clashed with silver-grey in a blur ahead of her and her stomach felt warm. Like blood trickled down her uniform.
A blurry figure appeared ahead of her, calling out a name she did not recognize and checking on her. The thunderclap of a main cannon's shockwave struck her chest, knocking the air out of her lungs. She saw the shell trace through the odd darkness, only to set alight the world with a detonation. The enemy, whoever they were, replied and the machine next to her shattered into shards of steel that washed over her body, the warmth of the fire too much to bear.
Light flashed and the girl felt the familiar weight of an assault weapon in her hand. The snap of bullets whizzing past her ear. The rumble of that autocannon from below. Azure water lay in the distance, a seaside resort, torn asunder by whatever war this was. She blinked and turned, to see the blurred figures, clad in combat uniforms. She could faintly distinguish smiles. They now sat around what looked like a campfire.
A name rang out in her ears again, unrecognizable, though familiar. The voice who spoke it was distorted, but audible. Female. Warm.
"Lilith."
Itou, another word rang in her mind. She felt a hand slam into her shoulder and jumped awake, fingers wrapping around her pistol's grip out of instinct. She looked up to see the Army medic looming over her. The woman took a knee and asked, semi-concerned, "You good? You were moving 'round quite a lot..." to which Elster nodded. She sighed and rubbed her eyes, then her gaze swept right. She noted some of the Troopers sat within the garage were keeping themselves occupied with maintaining their kit, that there was a vehicle that was taken apart in the middle, on a lift, and-
She blanked, eyes widening. Then, she looked up at the Medic and asked, "Where's Corporal Travis...?" as she noted that the young man was missing. Standing to her feet, Elster gazed down upon the spot where he had been sat and the Medic hummed. It was clear she knew where Travis had gone. And Elster could hazard a guess as she picked up her Assault Rifle. She looked to the Medic and stated, "Why wasn't I woken up?"
"Corporal felt it'd be unnecessary to drag you outta bed," The medic replied, slowly shifting her rifle to better rest on the magnetic lock on the armor. Noting Elster's look of concern on an otherwise deadpan synth-skin face, the medic stated, "He took half our squad with him to the Relay... See if they can't get it back online with our radioman, who was apparently a Telecom engineer before shit went sideways on Harmony."
Elster sighed deeply, rubbing her eyes, then murmured, "Why do people do stupid things like that...?" before shifting and pausing. The sound of heavy footfalls echoed from outside and every single man and woman in the garage tensed, grabbing their weapons off the floor. Elster squinted, put her helmet on and looked at the Motion Tracker. Grey dots for now.
She leaned against the door as the Troopers found positions to hold the line, aiming their weapons. The Medic sat beside Elster, weapon ready, then whispered wishfully, almost like a prayer, "Maybe they're friendlies and our IFFs are borked...?" to which Elster rolled her eyes. Could just as easily have been civvies or local wildlife, but no point to take the risk. The Medic whispered again, slightly saddened, "Fair..." as she looked over her rifle.
The Replika prepared to pop the door open. The corrugated metal most definitely couldn't take any AP round hits, but she still wanted to identify the hostiles outside, not just empty a mag or two and find out she killed Civilians. She shifted her left foot and heard a sharp clink as she kicked away a spent casing. Looking down, her eyes shot wide open. She grit her teeth.
The first Needle Rifle shard punched through the door, followed by a flurry of plasma weapon fire and more needles. The steel melted away, opening the door up as the Troopers took cover. One of them caught a blast to the face and tumbled over, head a fine scarlet mist. The others, however, managed to stick to cover. The Replika pulled out a grenade and tossed it past the door as more fire streamed in, before she heard several creatures squawk with surprise. The frag's explosion rocked the building, dust falling from the ceiling in lines. Elster had also picked up the birds squawking in pain, collapsing.
She was the first to poke out of cover, pying the corner and opening fire. Bullets started flying as training the Replika didn't even know she had kicked in. Firing bursts at the enemy to determine where they were through the smoke, she soon caught sight of two rounded blue lights with cutouts on the left and right 'sides'. Green shined through the smoke, as well as the flashing of blue energy shields. As the smoke cleared, she could finally make out the Covenant troops' silhouettes. A pair of the tall bow-legged bastards and... Birds. Right, she'd just killed a few.
"Fucking hell, Jackals and Elites!" Called out a Trooper, firing his rifle.
The Troopers around her joined in, the Medic poking out and firing from a prone position that covered most of her body behind the concrete pillar Elster was hidden behind. Both of them fired on full-auto, while their designated marksman fired at the exposed hands of the avian-like predators hiding behind active shields that resembled old medieval ones, except made as if of magic.
A round punched through one creature's four-fingered hand and disarmed it, its plasma pistol clattering to the floor in front of Elster. It squawked and cried in pain, exposing its mohawked head before another 7,62mm round from the DMR punched clean through its wide-open left eye and out the other side. The bird-brained creature collapsed, but the enemy Elites quickly seemed to reform the line.
Advancing in a sort of phalanx, the surviving Covenant troops pushed, with the tallest ones at the rear, giving orders and firing their plasma rifles at them. One had fired for so long, Elster now noticed, that he had to cool the weapon. Two vents popped out of the side and dark-blue ionized gas, clearly superheated by the rapid-firing of the weapon, ejected out the sides.
Elster poked out again and opened up on fully automatic. This Elite wore blue armor. The full magazine she emptied into him caused his shields to burst and two rounds punctured the chest plate it wore. It roared to the skies, its mandibles splitting wide open in pain, anger, or both, before it glared at Elster and aimed. The girl was quicker on the draw, pulling out her pistol and firing one round.
The Elite's head was split in two by the .50 SAPHE bullet. It tumbled over, dead before it even hit the ground, with a thunk that was audible even through the gunfire. The group, however, could not celebrate. There came the audible noise of alien engines. Ahead of them a bifurcated dropship appeared, its rear-mounted plasma cannon firing toward them. The building shook under the barrage as the Troopers and Elster still fired their guns.
"Fucking hell! Spirit, dropping in reinforcements!" The Medic called out as she ducked into cover and reloaded her rifle, slamming a fresh mag into place and racking the bolt. The ammo counter reset and she poked out again. She pulled a frag off her belt and threw it between the Aliens, causing them all to scatter. The surviving Elite, however, pushed forward instead of jumping out of the way.
It charged Elster, grabbing her by the throat and slamming her against the ground, before powering on what looked to be an energy dagger in its left gauntlet. It lifted its hand up and was about to strike at the girl, before the Medic opened fire. The shots burst the creature's shields and distracted it, allowing Elster to punch it square in-between its split lips. She grit her teeth and watched it stagger, kicking it off and aiming her pistol at it. She put three rounds into it. Two in the chest, one in the head, just as the new enemy reinforcements waddled in.
Another pair of fragmentation grenades flew out from the ranks, explosions shattering the bodies of diminutive aliens with rebreather masks and giant tanks on their backs. Beside them, more Elites marched in. Elster barely had time to scramble back to her feet and reload before they poured in, firing their plasma weaponry into the place. A burst of needles struck another of their Troopers, piercing the chest plate, energy arching off each shard that was close together.
The four shards detonated, splaying the man's chest wide open. That left them down to four Army troopers and Elster. She grit her teeth as another trooper took a green bolt to the arm, fell to the floor and still fired his weapon, only to get offed by another bolt vaporizing his chest. The Medic swore to herself and said, "It's fucking hard enough to treat patients, you assholes!" then opened fire again.
The Replika focused on taking out the short, stout little enemies that advanced on them. Bursts of fire to their heads seemed to do the trick, each collapsing, dripping a fluorescent azure blood from their wounds in contrast to the prune-purple of the other two alien groups. The Elites and the 'Jackals' as they were called. The girl grit her teeth and covered the Doc as she reloaded.
The DMR rang out again and another creature's head was busted open by the round, but the enemy was closing in and overwhelming them. This wasn't good by a long shot. Elster wondered if she should try and take them to press the advantage, but that would get'em all killed. She assessed the tactical situation while opening fire to suppress the enemy's advance.
"Someone gotta call!" A Trooper called out.
"I'll do it..." Elster murmured, then called out, "Cover me!" as she switched on her radio, hoping that there was some reinforcements on short-range. She spoke, "This is Three-Charlie, UNSC Army Fireteam under attack by Covenant forces, requesting backup!" then ducked as a needle punctured through one of their troopers' shoulders and knocked him on his ass. The others provided covering fire for the Doc as she ran to help. The girl called out again, "Repeat, Three-Charlie, UNSC Army Fireteam is under heavy attack! The Covenant are on Reach, I repeat, the Covenant are on Reach! We have wounded!"
She grit her teeth as a needler round exploded next to her, then poked out again, knelt and fired at the head of an Elite with her automatic weapon. The monster once again tried to rush her, slamming into her and slashing at her with its energy dagger. It clipped her face, a sliver of synth-skin burning off. She grit her teeth, headbutted the bastard, kicked him and managed to puncture his chest with the sharpened heels of her legs. It collapsed, wounded, before she finished it off with a burst from her assault rifle.
Her own blood mixed with the purple blood of the Elite she'd just executed when a splatter hit her cheek. She wiped it off and took cover, gritting her teeth... Before pausing as she heard a deluge of gunfire fill the air outside. She stood up, noting three more golden dots on her Motion Tracker, before the Medic poked up and said, "Holy fucking shit... SPARTANs..."
Elster was only familiar with the Human supersoldiers through reading up on their MJOLNIR Armor sets, courtesy of Doctor Halsey's manuals.
When she saw the first of them walk in, clad in that dark-blue mix-and-match MJOLNIR set, even she had to admit she was awed to see it. The seven-foot-tall Supersoldiers walked inside and gazed around, pausing only upon sighting Elster, with their leader, the blue-wearing man, walking up to her. She noted the tag above his head said 'NOBLE', followed by his rank. He towered above her and he was one of the middle-height ones. There were two more behind, one clad in dirty white armor with blue accents and a tall guy who looked like he'd work with the Mynahs, carrying an LMG.
The girl immediately snapped-to, saluting the Commander ahead of her, who shook his head and said, "At ease. You the one who sent the Distress Signal, trooper?" as he looked around. The medic tended to the wounded, the few surviving Troopers rested now, cheering weakly for the SPARTANs' arrival and there she was, in front of him. Upon receiving a confirming nod from Elster, the man asked, "Good. What's your name?"
"Sir, Corporal Lilith It-"... Elster blanked, eyes widening. She wasn't Lilith Itou. No... She felt a slight migraine coming on, before she closed her eyes shut tightly and shook her head, "N-Nevermind, sir, sorry... Private Elster, LSTR-512, callsign Three-Charlie-Six. Formerly of the Penrose-512, currently working for the UNSC as a repair Replika for various items... I and 3-Charlie were on our way to the Visegrad Relay to repair it when we..."
"... Those Troopers we found dead in the field," The big man spoke, "They were your team?"
"Sir," She nodded.
"Got it... Three," The Commander spoke over Radio, stern, sharp and focused, "Get the Falcon Two and Four took to Visegrad back to our position. It's being retasked to evacuate the surviving UNSC soldiers here," and, upon receivign a confirmation, he gazed upon Elster, asking, "How familiar are you with our systems, Private? Colonel Holland told us we should expect to meet a 'newcomer' when we were tasked for Visegrad."
"I can repair anything you give me, sir," She replied, straightforward, "Including com equipment. I think it's why I and my team were going for Visegrad."
"Then Two may find some place for you. Sorry to take you away from the Troopers, but we're going to need our own repairwoman," NOBLE Actual spoke factually, looking Elster right in the eye, despite the fact the girl couldn't tell that from his visor being polarized and completely opaque. He looked back to his teammates and ordered, "Five, Six, on me. We're taking the Private here and headed for Visegrad. Three, bring it down and pick us up."
The group exited out into open air, with Elster noting the dead Covenant. The Jackals she'd skewered with frags were still there, bleeding from the wounds caused by Shrapnel. Dead ahead, Elster soon saw the mountain range around her. With muted awe at the pure beauty of another, alien world, she shifted on her feet as the Commander stopped two Troopers and said, "If you don't mind surrendering some extra ammo for her."
"Sir," The two soldiers nodded and removed magazines from their belts, handing them to Elster. Taken out of her fugue, the girl gladly received the extra mags, slotting them into her armor's pouches, before looking up as the clap of rotors against the wind and the faint whirr of four turbofan engines reached her. Looking up, she saw the UNSC Falcons touching down, with one of them carrying a SPARTAN with a Sniper Rifle, green armor meant to match his surroundings, a ghillie hood and an SRS-99/99 AMR in hand.
"Take it this is the other Newbie we're picking up today?" The Sniper quipped as Elster and Noble One, Five and Six ran up to the chopper. The first Falcon lifted off on their left, flying off back toward FOB with the loaded injured. Elster hummed, watching their comrades depart, before looking at the SPARTANs as the vehicle flew beside the mountain range, above a mountain road and next to a slew of energy farms in the form of wind turbines.
"Noble Two, Sit-Rep?" The Commander requested over Radio as everyone checked their guns.
Jun looked at Elster and said, "Freq 33,1. That's ours. Switch to it if you're gonna be working with us." and the girl complied, quickly thumbing through the channels in her helmet, seeing the changes displayed on the helmet's HUD. At the same time, she gave a thorough check of her rifle and mumbled something to herself. Why had she said the name of a person she knew nothing about? Was it the personality matrix of that person that she was seeing? She had heard rumors, but...
No, she shook her head, then listened in. "... Dialed up my torch. Cut a way through. may take some time..." Oh, the door was stuck. Great. Elster suddenly felt a hell of a lot more tense about the oncoming fight. She felt the aircraft take a turn to the right and readied her weapon, tense, before looking at the SPARTAN sat to her right. The man was cool as a cucumber, weapon gripped firmly in his hand. He was carrying an AR, too, and the wide visor of his EVA Helmet told the girl all she needed to know about him.
As the aircraft swung in past one of the mountaintops, Elster laid eyes on the compound. A parking garage of some sort with a storage area lay to the left of the main building, while the outer 'greeting area' inside the gates was lined full of abandoned civilian trucks and bearing a rather large centerpiece resembling an umbrella under which a few vehicles were parked. The main building itself was bulky, looked like it was built out of sturdy concrete and held the direct link to the massive four-prong Antenna Dish sat at the summit. Plasma fire struck the walls as an advance Covenant team was engaging a sole SPARTAN sat by the main door.
The Commander looked to her, then said, "Gear up, Trooper. We're going in."
"Break's over, Six," Noble Five quipped jovially, lifting the .50cal LMG he carried with him while staring at the SPARTAN next to her. As the aircraft swung in and touched down. The soldiers piled out of the vehicle, with Six motioning to her to follow. The SPARTAN hefted his rifle and opened up on the first group of Covenant troops they met, wasting the bastards with shot and shell.
Six and Elster had quickly cleared the area of a first wave, before the Commander called out, "Private, up front," making Elster turn toward the door. She nodded and ran up to them, her toolkit still hanging off her side. She saw Noble Two crouched and working on the gate controls while the Commander started, "This is Elster. The one Holland told us about."
Two cast a quick glance toward the girl, then hummed and said, "If she can help me fix this mess, she's more than welcome to..." dismissively. Actual gave the girl a nod and paused, before looking up. More Covenant Dropships were coming in, which meant Elster needed to move fast. She knelt beside Two, then stuck her head in and looked into what she needed to do.
"Circuits aren't just flash-fused, two wires are completely fried and unable to take commands," Elster noted.
"I noticed," Two replied, a bit aggravated.
"Let me fix it. Focus on defending the door..." She stated, sharply, focusing on the repair work. The SPARTAN scoffed, but Elster was already working. She added bluntly, "I have a Bypass method I used once before on board the Penrose. Similar issue... Couldn't find spare parts, but it helped us in the long run..." to which Two nodded. Plasma and Needle rounds started flying in, slamming into the door as the SPARTANs scrambled to defend the base.
Gunfire echoed, the rattle of assault rifles, DMRs and the heavy machine gun carried by the biggest of them, not to mention the bark of a shotgun and the laughter of one of the SPARTANs. She eyed the fuses, squinting at the wiring as she pulled out another repair set with a spray. Calmly, she began applying it to the wiring itself. She ducked as a bolt of Plasma struck just above her head, shards of molten concrete raining down around her and onto her armored frame. She turned around, quick-drew her pistol and put a round right between the eyes of the diminutive alien that shot at her.
"Someone keep her covered!" The Commander ordered. Between her and the enemy, Noble Six stepped almost immediately. His assault rifle chattered as Elster quickly turned back to work, utilizing her VISR system to ensure she could properly see what she was hunting for in there. Coupling the supposedly-cut wires together, she used the spray to fix them, before hitting the button on the console. The top screen lit up green.
Elster called out, "It's fixed! Get inside!" before drawing her Assault Rifle and going to provide cover fire. First one in was Two, while Elster opened up in bursts to keep the enemy suppressed. Next came Six, then five, then Four and One. Five, however, held the door, continuously firing his MG toward them until it shut. Soon after, metallic thumps began to echo as the Covenant troops fired at the door, a thick vault-like door.
The Replika sighed, relieved, as she lowered her rifle and looked back at NOBLE Team. Two looked to her and admitted with a hint of a grudge, "Not bad..." before the rear door popped open. One and Six gave the girl nods of approval, while Five patted her on the shoulder as they walked inside. She hummed, noting the darkness of the place, before turning on her VISR.
"Can't see a damn thing..." One murmured, "Turn your VISRs on..."
As they took a left down a Hallway, Two said in a low voice, "Control room... Go easy..." while something pinged on their Motion Trackers. The SPARTANs pushed inside, clearing each corner, before taking another left to the sight of one of the only functioning lights in the place, a destroyed console filled with scars from the Covenant's energy weapons and a corpse laying on the floor, clad in a parka, with greying hair, a tac-pad on his left arm and two cauterized, precise holes through his back. Two ordered, "Six, check that body. Trooper, with me. If we're going to be fixing something..."
Elster followed Two up to the line and scanned to the right, noting a longer, darkened hallway and a wounded Army troo-... "Travis?" The girl stared, dumbfound. The young Marine bled from the injury in his side, plus two more he had received to the arm and leg. She looked to Two for approval, before getting a nod. Following that, she marched up to the man and took a knee beside him.
He flashed a weak smile at Elster, stating, "Hey, Els."
"Why didn't you wake me up?" She asked with half a mouth as she pulled a medical kit off the wall and opened it. She slotted in a fresh biofoam can to the biggest of the wounds and squeezed, causing the man to grunt in pain, before pulling an autoinjector with morphine and sticking it in his neck. The man breathed in, grabbing onto Elster's hand, then relaxed, breath softening.
"Didn't wanna disturb ya... Not after your first mission with us starting out like such a clusterfuck..." He replied calmly, patting her on the shoulder.
Elster shook her head, "It doesn't matter..."
One knelt beside her and asked, "How bad is it?"
"From what I can tell, sir? Fairly..." Elster replied bluntly. Travis laughed, then coughed and shook his head.
"Damn, not even gonna lie to make your friend feel better...?" He then quipped. Seeing as Elster didn't reply anything, he chose to wait to see what the Commander was gonna ask him. Calmly, she stood up and moved around to secure the area, turning back to see Two yank something out of Six's hand with a degree of malice. She hummed, looked it over, then pocketed it, whatever it was, before Five spoke.
"Got a live one over here!" He called out to his teammates, gently lifting a young woman with brown hair and dark-brown eyes, clad in a leather jacket, turtleneck and jeans. She got lifted to her feet as she punched at the SPARTAN, yelling at him. Five spoke calmly, "C'mon, out ya come!" before setting her down and holding her with both hands and stating, "We're not going to hurt you."
"Jorge," One arched a brow behind the helmet, or so Elster figured.
"I got her," He stated, then set aside his MG and held her as he stared at her, "Keep still and I'll release you..." while the girl still struggled. Elster blinked, feeling the hairs on her neck stand on-end for some reason. She held her rifle close, narrowing her lips. Six noticed her tense up and gave one small tilt of his head to the left, showing her to move in closer.
The girl Jorge held looked up at him and spoke in Hungarian, fear audible in her voice, "Még... Itt vannak." which caused the SPARTAN-II to stiffen up nigh-immediately. Elster didn't understand what that meant-She gasped as three of those tall, hunchback xenos dropped in, one swinging its long energy blade toward Jorge as he covered the young woman. Lifting her rifle, she opened fire as the Elites charged forward.
One of them pinned Noble Six down, while another swung his sword and aimed for Kat's head. The girl was quickly pushed out of the way by the Commander, who was firing away at the enemy with Elster's help as Four demanded, "What's your status, over?!"
"WE'VE BEEN ENGAGED!" Carter called out as he fired. Six punched one of the monsters in the face, then deflected an energy dagger aimed for his face. Kat aimed and opened fire with her pistol at the Elite that had pinned Six down. It scrambled off the SPARTAN as soon as the Commander and Elster kicked it off, before rushing forward and grabbing Travis. Both the Trooper and the girl they'd found started screaming while Carter slid Six's weapon to him. Carter called out, "Bad guy, coming out, Emile!"
The SPARTAN reloaded and aimed, with Elster right next to him, calling out, "Travis!" as she saw the man being dragged away behind the door. Carter grit his teeth as the girl screamed on and on. Elster wanted to run after him, but the Commander put a hand in front of her face and looked around. He turned to the girl, who said, "We have to go, sir! Now!"
Carter grit his teeth as Emile called out, "Tango blew past me! Permission to pursue!?"
"Negative, Four, stay on the door! Two! Handle her! Five, Six, Private, clear the hole!" The man ordered sharply, signaling them forward with one movement of his hand. Six reloaded, looked to Elster and nodded as Number Five rushed past them. The trio pushed inside, each taking an angle. Six and Elster each took an angle as Jorge closed the door behind them. The dark corridors were only lit by the girl's VISR system as they pushed, firing away.
They encountered squads of Grunts ahead, their weapons barking loudly as the enemy force fell back deeper into the hold of this place. Elster didn't care at this point. She advanced with the SPARTANs to save one of the people she'd managed to befriend. She couldn't save the rest of her squad, but she could at least get to Travis in time. She kicked down a Grunt, her 'foot' piercing clean through the creature's face and staining with blood.
Following that up, she lit the area ahead up with assault rifle fire, while, from Six's direction, a fragmentation grenade flew. She watched the SPARTANs take blasts of plasma to their Energy Shields, which caused a flaring gold color to appear in her vision. The shields, however, withstood the hits very well, the SPARTANs returning fire with MG and rifle fire.
The girl pushed up to a corner and took cover as a flurry of plasma rounds flew through. Soon joined by the two SPARTANs of Noble, though, the girl pushed in behind the cover of two shielded individuals, plasma striking shields and getting the return fire of actual 7,62x51mm and 12,7mm rounds fired from rifles and a Machine Gun respectively. Several of the Grunts panicked, throwing their weapons away as the SPARTANs charged in.
The Jackals, meanwhile, tried maintaining a defensive line. Tried. Their leading officer got stuck with a plasma grenade right on the exposed hand carrying the gun. The radioactive explosive tore the Phalanx into pieces, causing them to scramble all around. The birds that ran were shot in the back. The birds that held their line were shot in the front, their shields disabled by the electromagnetic pulse of the plasma grenade.
Pushing deeper, the SPARTANs soon found themselves in the midst of an open room where the server towers of the place resided. Below and on top of a platform across from them lay a dozen of them, cooled by what seemed to be either liquid nitrogen or some other substance that gave the room a misty hue. Jorge showed the girl to hold up before she rushed headlong. He threw a flare toward the other size, long-arming it, before stating, "This oughta drag'em out!" as he lifted his LMG
Indeed, a pair of Zealots popped out of cover, one of them already firing a heavy weapon at them. Boulders of scarlet-glimmering plasma struck the walls around the SPARTANs, shaking the place, while Elster took cover. She drew her pistol and switched on the weapon's SmartScope, aiming via the two-times zoom toward the Elites, the camera at the top letting her shoot over cover.
The gun thundered and she felt it in her wrist. She'd nailed a Grunt, then another, then another. These guys wore full face masks instead of just the normal gas mask, but that didn't help them. She emptied her magazine by sniping out the enemy's supporting elements with her pistol, reloaded, holstered the gun and took out her Assault Rifle again as she, Six and Jorge pushed forward through a narrow walkway on the right of the server room and into the other size.
One of the Zealots was met by focused fire from all three soldiers. He aimed his concussive weapon at Elster, who dodged by combat-rolling off to the side as the first blasts struck her position. She then watched as Six engaged the bastard up close, slamming into it and shoulder-checking it against the wall, causing it to drop its weapon. The SPARTAN then pinned the barrel of his assault rifle to its chest and opened up, emptying a full magazine into the beast he held in place. Its shield and the SPARTAN drew his knife, puncturing the hide that covered muscle and slitting its throat in one move.
The monster gargled blood and collapsed, dead, onto the floor. Six ducked as plasma shots came in reply, then drew his pistol and one-tapped the Grunt that was firing at him. Elster then pushed forward under cover from both Five and Six, rifle raised and with full intent of getting to Travis. As she passed the last of the server towers, she gasped and fell backward, dodging the swing of the last Elite's energy sword. It narrowly missed Elster and cleaved through the tower on her right, before the Elite refocused on her and snarled, all four of its mandibles opening as it glared at her, mimicking an impossibly-large human smile.
She rolled to the side as it swung down, cutting into the steel floor, then jumped to her feet and grunted as the monster gave her a full-on close-fisted punch to the face, causing her to stagger. It then sliced upward with the blade and Elster felt the burning heat of the plasma blade searing the synth-skin on her chest. She gasped, staggered back and saw her armor plate had been cleaved, deep enough to leave a mark.
Before she could even aim her rifle and before the Elite could strike again, though, Six pounced onto its back, clambered up in a flash and planted the tip of a massive combat knife into the back of its skull, twisting the blade and causing the monster to collapse, dead, in front of the girl. The SPARTAN looked at her, flicked some of the blood off his knife and sheathed it, before nodding.
Jorge gave the girl a pat on the shoulder and said, "Not bad for a rookie," before radioing in, "Actual, this is Five. Targets neutralized."
"Copy. Kat needs you three to reset a junction. Should be close..." The Commander replied as Elster already marched toward the rear room on the platform. She looked around, not for the junction or the obvious generator to her right, but for a certain someone. She scanned the room twice, then paused as she saw it in a dark corner. Laying in a pool of blood, a corpse.
Her heart, robotic as it was, sank. She walked up to the corpse, sliding her rifle onto her back, then took a knee beside the man that had died with plasma blade injuries. He lay there, pale as bone, his armor torn asunder and burned by plasma weaponry and the gut wound, marked by still-glowing lilac needle crystals. She put a hand on his shoulder, closed her eyes and lamented leaving him alone, before sighing deeply and shaking her head.
Solemnly, she leaned forward and retrieved his dog tags, sliding them into a pouch, before standing up just as Six reactivated the junction. He and Jorge looked to her as she stood up, turning to face them, before Jorge asked, "You doing alright?" as he saw the injuries. The cut on her cheek and the blade strike on her breastplate. He then saw the tags hanging out of her pouch and the dead Trooper and whispered, "Oh... I'm sorry..." with remorse behind his voice. She gave a simple, weak nod, before showing them to lead the way. Six and Jorge looked to one-another, then to her and replied with nods.
The trio walked back into the control room, with Elster walking up to see what Kat was doing so she could help. She sighed deeply, wanting more to keep her mind off Travis's and her new unit's death than anything else. Replikas, despite appearances, were used to working in what was called 'Cadres'. Groups of their own kind, or some times mixed groups, wherein they would interact and live with others. Certainly, she loved Ariane and she had been the biggest part of her Cadre in a while, but... There was something...
Her mind flashed yet again. A bloody puddle around her. She lay there, wounds burning, all whilst being cradled by one of her own. Soothing words, though unintelligible to her, were spoken, the blur of her mind blocking the face of the comrade that held her up. All she could hear now were her words, spoken with remorse, as the blue skies of Vineta grew dark above them, "You've done a lot... You can rest now, my dear... I'm so sorry..."
She felt robotic elbow knock into her own. Woken out of her stupor, she turned to Kat, who asked, "Are you okay...?" with some degree of worry which was masked by impassivity. Elster nodded, blinking. She felt something warm trickling down her face, but ran a hand and saw it was nothing. She shook her head, to which Kat started pointing at various wires and spoke, "I'm going to need your head in the game... Look, we're splicing the overland bundle here. Have to give Carter a direct line to colonel Holland back at HIGHCOM."
Whatever that flash had been... She did not want to put Ariane through a similar pain as the person in it... Ever...
"Got it..." The LST Replika replied as she got to work, aiding Kat with her toolset. She checked how many polyurethane repair sprays she had and noted to herself she still had a plentiful supply. Sticking one such poly-spray into her chest cavity, onto the open injury she received and through the armor plate, she pressed the trigger, feeling the sting of the spray patching her injury up.
Kat looked at her, unbetraying of any surprise she might've felt, and asked, "That like... Biofoam for you?"
"Repair spray... Polyurethane..." Elster replied calmly, setting the empty spray aside and continuing her work by utilizing specialized tools to splice into the thing. Kat hummed, nodded and helped her, all the while the others were talking in the background. The SPARTAN seemed to eye her every once in a while, calmly making sure the girl was doing proper work.
She sighed, then looked past her, at Six. She shook her head and said to Elster, "I'm Kat. Kat-B312."
"Aye, ma'am. I saw your tag..." Elster stated, then hummed as she worked on a section of the splicing, "... Elster. LSTR Unit Five-Twelve, of the ship with the same number. I am not UNSC, nor UEG."
"Obviously," Kat stated bluntly as she clipped two wires and made sure they linked properly, "The UNSC hasn't built Androids yet... Still, you have a reason for serving with us? Didn't you just arrive...?"
"Yeah..." Elster hummed, "How do you know that?"
"I hear what I hear," Kat whispered with a shrug, "Hey, what're you-?" She started, pointing at what Elster was doing. She coupled a junction of fiber wire with another and spliced them together utilizing a small welding torch. The console above whirred to life as the antennae reconnected with the transmit. Taking a moment, Kat hummed and gave an approving nod, "Good work."
"Thanks..." Elster replied.
Kat looked back as she stood up and said, "Sir. We have a link. It's patchy, but it's there... Can I ask something?"
"Shoot," Carter nodded.
She pointed at Elster and asked, "Can we get her assigned to us? Should ease my workload a lot if we have more things to repair. She's smart enough."
"I'll talk it out with Holland. Go," He tilted his head to the right. The two women nodded, with Elster being surprised that Kat would even request such a thing, before they walked out. Carter cleared his throat as the line grew clearer bit-by-bit, wondering just what'd gotten into Kat to request that they transfer a Non-SPARTAN to NOBLE. Sure, he could guess an easier workload, but it wasn't like-
"... I'm barely getting you!" Holland's voice took his mind out of its little fugue, the man clearly worried, "What's the situation, over?"
Carter spoke aloud, "Colonel, this is Noble One. There are no Rebels... The Covenant are on Reach."
"... Come again, Noble One? Did you say Covenant?" Holland demanded, his fear palpable even over the com line. Carter hated delivering bad news...
"Affirmative, sir. It's the WINTER CONTINGENCY," He shot back. He didn't wanna believe it either...
Holland's words voiced Carter's own thoughts perfectly, "God help us all..."