Author's Note

A bit of a short one, but if it continued any longer it would encroach on the next chapter, so I cut it here. Next chapter is going to be action packed, I assure you all.

Again, thank you to everyone who has reviewed up to this point, and rest assured I read them all and take into account and consideration the points people make.

Uploaded

01/29/2023

LEGEND BELOW

"Chief, that's not a good idea..." = Normal speech.

''You're you, don't let it control you...'' = Normal thoughts.

Chapter 11

Infinity in trouble

Rated-M

M rating for blood, eventual mentioning of gore and other body parts, and language.

Red lights flashed across the bridge, a low yet consistent warning alarm blaring in the background. Contact had been lost with all recon birds roughly an hour ago, and all further attempts to reestablish communication with them had ended in failure.

Del Rio was not happy.

Everything had gone downhill so quickly, so fast, he was forced to rely on his decades of experience to create a way out of this pit he and everyone had landed in, metaphorically and physically speaking.

Infinity was down, but not out. He wouldn't let it end here, nor now. He refused.

The source of the sudden power loss to the ship had been identified during their descent to the surface, a Forerunner gravity well forcing all ships in atmosphere down. More than that, however, it was quickly deduced that for some unknown reason it had only disabled them, and not the Covenant who'd also entered.

He'd had every available egghead down in the engine room working around the clock to bring the damn engines back online so that they could get off the ground again.

If being completely grounded in a god damn starship wasn't enough, soon after the crash some strange orb had appeared outside the hull and had begun scanning the ship. Connection to multiple outside weapon systems had been lost, and they were unable to ward the odd ship off. The only saving grace was the fact that it hadn't attacked them.

That couldn't be said the same for the multiple Covenant Cruisers he'd detected heading their way. Lasky was supposed to gain the coordinates for the gravity well, the object keeping them grounded. Although the gravity well wasn't what knocked out the engines, it would prevent them from escaping from the planet.

However, not long after he'd sent them out, he'd lost all contact with their birds. And suddenly put into a situation where he was forced to defend the immobile Infinity, his first officer would be forced to survive on his own with whatever help he could acquire down there.

The UNSC wasn't coming to help, seeing as no distress calls had made it back to earth yet, if they even would. Even if they did, help would not arrive in time, this far on the other side of the galaxy, it would take far too long for anyone useful to show up.

He was cornered.

And now, he had to put his faith in his new Spartan Fours, the super soldiers who many of which still required far more training to be at their combat peaks in their Generation two combat suits.

Everything had simply gone from bad to worse in such a rapid manner, it was almost too much to handle.

Yet, something happened.

In the darkness of their plight, a familiar iff tag had managed to slip its way through the near total communication blackout, something that his ship's A.I. immediately brought to his attention. And suddenly, he felt that fighting spark in his old bones igniting once more.

"Captain Del Rio, I've detected the presence of Spartan Petty Officer John 117 on the surface, approaching the last known location of First Officer Lasky." The monotony of the droning alarms was only broken by the silky voice of the Infinity's ship-board A.I., a slender beautiful woman whose form was a soft alluring yellow. She was usually known to dawn alluring and olden time themed apparel, had decided to forgo that entirely.

Perhaps taking a bit of a thing after the blue A.I. of which was known to accompany the Spartan she'd just detected on the ground.

Andrew spun around, thoroughly shocked by the A.I.'s words.

"Come again Aine?" The older man asked, approaching the large holographic display that was centered in the command deck.

"I've just received a suit diagnostics report from Spartan 117, reads alive. His suit pinged off of a recently downed relay and only just now reached us. Last known coordinates show him directly below Commander Lasky's last known, sir." Aine explained with a floaty, delicate manner.

"The Spartan's alive…?" He breathed, surprised from the sudden revelation. "The distress call we received hours ago?" He asked suddenly.

"I believe it is very likely it was him, sir." Aine continued.

Andrew turned away, staring out the massive window to the outside of the ship. He clasped his hands behind his back, a pose he often took when he suddenly found himself developing a plan on the fly. His eyes narrowed, aged battle hardened eyes regaining that light he'd begun to lose after many years of service.

"So, he's really still alive…" He muttered, eyes narrowing. "If he's truly still out there, then I'd really appreciate his help right about now." He stated openly.

"Communications are still spotty Captain. I've already preemptively tried hailing him to no avail. All communication with Lasky is still lost." Aine explained, voice tinged with slight distress. "On your orders I shall continue to-"

Andrew turned, intrigued by her sudden silence. "What? Have you got something?" He asked sharply, approaching her. He stood over her, staring down impatiently at the yellow A.I.

"Strange… Suit diagnostics show the Spartan has suffered fatal wounds, all life readings ceased at 19:00 hours, only to be fully restored by 19:10 hours. Intriguing… Perhaps his suit suffered a fatal error…" Aine trailed off. Before the Captain could inquire of her further, a new signal appeared. "Captain, I'm regaining communication with Commander Lasky's squadron."

"Patch me through." Andrew ordered, filling away the information just learned to research later. "Lasky, do you read?" He asked aloud, patching into the coms network.

Silence met the captain. The man's face tightened. "Lasky I need you to respond to coms immediately! All ground forces are to return to Infinity immediately!"

Silence met him again. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "All units respond to coms!"

"Captain, the frequency has changed." A bridge crew member informed suddenly. Andrew sighed heavily.

"Changed to what frequency? What frequency, damnit!" He snapped.

Then finally, the connection was made.

"Infinity, this is Commander Lasky! Pelican recon teams are down, I repeat, all birds are down! We've got numerous casualties and wounded, we need immediate assistance, over."

"Finally…" Del Rio sighed. "Did you get the coordinates to that gravity well?" The captain asked immediately.

"Affirmative sir, but we're going to need a bus out of here!" Lasky's voice came through, appearing patchy.

"Make it happen!" Andrew ordered sharply.

"Captain, I've lost them. The interference has appeared again." Aine reported calmly. It would be a hot minute before connection was reestablished…

"Ready?" The Master Chief asked as Samus finally caught up to him.

She didn't say anything, but gave him a firm nod in affirmation. He nodded back.

"Good. Lasky said he needs help clearing an LZ." The man said gruffly, facing the exit of the cave system. "We're not getting back to the Infinity without helping here first. Maybe this could be a chance to prove yourself to them."

The Hunter's eyes narrowed, stepping forward to stand shoulder to bicep with the Spartan. Her gaze was focused on the forest ahead of them, judging the surroundings she had found herself in.

"Samus?" He asked, gaining her attention. He didn't say anything more, but the way he was looking at her gave her the impression that he was worried about her.

At least, that's what she gained from his stoic silent demeanor.

"I'll be fine." She muttered lowly, pushing away to move forward on their shared objective. Standing around not helping was going to only serve to make her feel worse than she already did.

The man didn't say anything, simply talking hold of a spare rifle that had been laying around before moving in after her.

"Chief, I'm picking up distress calls from near your location." Lasky chimed in over local coms. "Think you both can head their way, give them some help?"

"Affirmative sir." The Spartan nodded.

"Is your friend planning on sticking around as well?" Lasky asked, genuinely curious.

"She's sticking with me, yes." He replied.

"Is she any good at clearing landing zones?" Lasky asked.

"She's great at blowing literally everything sky high, so in a manner of speaking, yes." Cortana chimed in with a tight short laugh, clearing her throat a moment later.

Lasky could be heard sighing over the coms. "Well.. Just make sure she doesn't go leveling the forest. That won't make finding a good LZ any easier…" He sighed, giving the nude blue A.I. the impression that he was pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation.

"Don't worry sir, I'll keep an eye on her." Cortana happily replied, tone jovial.

"I can hear both of you…" Came Samus' low irritated voice over the same channel. Deciding to not give them the time to respond, she continued. "Lasky?"

Lasky coughed, clearing his throat. "Go ahead…?"

"Samus." The Hunter clarified. "There is a clearing not far from here. It will be large enough to support three of your Pelicans. I will move forward and clear it." Samus clarified, voice level.

"I'll send an alert out, make sure no one mixes you up for the enemy." Lasky said after a moment. "I've had a little too much friendly fire for the night…" He sighed, coms going dark.

Samus' gaze narrowed behind her baleful red visor as she sped off into the forest, rushing past the marines and soldiers who'd been pinned down there. Sticking around and lingering beside a whole platoon of beings her body informed her that was prey, wasn't a smart idea. She was already fighting what some would consider a losing battle, no need to make it even more difficult.

Far in front of her she caught sight of a knight pinning down a poor soldier unable to escape its grasp. Before it could skewer the woman, Samus appeared before it, grabbing its blazing hard-light blade with her claws, stopping it short. In its surprise it dropped the marine, the woman not hesitating to scramble backwards. The moment the woman was clear of imminent danger, Samus' hips shifted sharply, body twisting as she suddenly turned and used that immense physical strength the Master Chief had come to expect from her, and yanked the Promethean Knight up off the ground, over her shoulder, before slamming it into the ground. She pinned it with her foot, preventing its escape as she instantly yanked on its bladed arm, ripping it clean from its socket.

The mechanical beast roared at the loss of its limb, but met a swift end as her hand sped forward, grasping its throat with so much force that she nearly tore it off entirely. A few moments later and it was sucked dry, turning to dust.

Samus let out an exhale, a pleasured tone hinting from the sound of her voice. The Master Chief did not want her to wound and or dismember the men and women of the UNSC stranded here, and as such and requested she limit the use of most of her more dangerous weaponry.

Unbeknownst to him, that request might as well have been for her not to use any of her weapons, save for the Power-Beam. That weapon did little against the Promethean's, so she resorted to her strongest melee available. As she was now, her Metroid draining abilities was simultaneously one of her strongest weapons, and also one of the safest. All she had to do to avoid accidentally killing someone was simply avoid touching them.

With that in mind, she stepped towards the combat, placing herself between the approaching Promethean's and the human soldiers who were pinned down behind her. She watched with bated breath, standing completely out from cover which served to draw the fire away from the weakly armored soldiers and to her.

"Soldiers! Your orders as to stay behind me, and out of my way." Samus called out, throwing a passing glance behind her. Her orders, strange and weird as they seemed to the men and women of the UNSC, they found themselves unable to speak up against them when forced to witness her quite literally stand in the middle of the crossfire, passing hard-light rounds slamming into her exposed backside as she addressed the people.

Seeing her unfazed by attacks that would rend human flesh like paper made them listen to her without question. It also helped that the update Lasky had told her he'd send their way had already hit them, and they had identified her as a friendly immediately.

"Yes ma'am!" The soldier nearest her exclaimed, offering a quick salute before backing to better cover.

"You heard the lady! Move like you have a purpose!" The woman Samus had saved by brutally dismantling the Knight exclaimed loudly, taking cover behind the green armored Bounty Hunter as a new slurry of glowing hard-light bullets reined down upon them.

Samus waited until she was sure they were better covered, before zeroing in on the nearest threat. A Knight had gotten too close for comfort, and had given up long raged battles in preference to rush her headfirst.

She frowned, eyes narrowing as it approached. The moment it was within her range she lunged, flashing forward with a devastating flying kick, cracking her armored leg across its face with earth shaking power, only reinforced by the use of her thrusters. The armor of the knight shattered into a thousand pieces, the Forerunner defense A.I. falling to the ground dead.

Samus stood back up, turning her attention to the next enemy. For the first time since confronting them, the Promethean's showed a level of sentience not seen before as they backed away from the red baleful glare she leveled at them. It seems even mindless drones can feel fear.

To make her threat more present, the thrusters on her back blazed to life, ready to greatly increase the power of her next melee encounter.

Seeing as she had the enemy temporarily quelled, she turned her attention inwards towards her coms. "Chief, now is your chance to take them out. I'll pull their attention." Samus called out over local coms, relaying her plan to both the Spartan and the forty men and woman who had taken cover in the foliage behind her.

"Understood." Chief muttered, voice appearing in her ears.

"Yes ma'am!" A chorus of voices announced behind her.

Samus focused, drawing in a deep breath. She needed to keep her eyes forward, and focused on the mission. There were many people here that were unprepared to face the Promethean's, and beyond them were a large plethora of wounded men and women who needed her help. The Master Chief could probably clear the area himself given enough time, but it would be extremely difficult to do so while protecting everyone else as well.

So, she decided it better she defend while he continued with the mission.

This back and forth continued until they had managed to maneuver the soldiers to a deeper section of the forest, the one Samus had decided worthy of an LZ previously.

Upon reaching the outside of the area, they were once again blocked by a large Forerunner structure serving to segregate the forest from the large open cliff side. There was a doorway that lead straight to the exit, but it was locked down tight.

As Cortana directed the Spartan up to the doorway, Samus ushered the men and women up to the door to join him, gaining the high ground.

And not a moment too soon.

Just as the soldiers had finished setting up multiple ground mounted turrets, the energy wave signifying the approaching Promethean'a once again lit up the forest.

Worry and concern was rapidly mounting throughout the gathering of wounded and tired soldiers, but she was going to stamp it out here and now.

"Keep your heads down and your eyes forward! No one is dying here!" Samus announced loudly, jumping through the air to land at the base of the battlefield.

If she could manage to keep anything from approaching the door, then she could prevent any more loss. This far from the door, she wouldn't have to worry as much about friendly fire, as she landed on the forest floor, arm cannon energy changing to a sparkling white blue.

Not a moment after she landed did the first wave come, spawning right on top of her. In a flash of light, twenty Prometheans appeared around her, roaring up at the defiant humans.

Samus didn't even hesitate, and the robots had little time to respond to the Hunter's presence, as she littered the nearest foes with a salvo of Super Missiles, the very ground shaking beneath them all from the plentiful amount of explosions.

Those that survived had tried to rush her, but she brought the crawlers to a swift end with powerful kicks that only served to display that her large thighs were not only for show, as her armored shin literally tore the robotic crawler in half. The others she ended with a ground shaking stomp that rendered the four legged creatures into a pile of shrapnel. Her ruthless and brutal melee sent the rest scurrying away.

"Spartan! Coming your way!" Samus exclaimed over coms as a group of newly spawned Knights rushed the hilltop, blades poised to cut the soldiers down.

She knew he could manage those few, especially with the soldiers focusing fire upon them. So she turned her attention back upon the larger majority before her, Crawlers and Knights growling and snapping at her like rabid beasts.

She had faith in him to handle himself, knowing that he had more time in the field than even she, and by a large margin as well. She put trust in him to do his job, and do it well.

"Door's open." The Chief called out. "Clear them out." He turned his attention to her, she nodded. The Spartan provided the soldiers covering fire as he ushered them through the doorway, meanwhile Samus finished off any threats remaining in the area.

Upon clearing the area, she moved to catch up to the Spartan, making sure no one was left behind.

Once they'd arrived at the clearing, the Spartan immediately cleared the area before inferring with Lasky.

"Copy that, Chief. Pelicans are on their way now." The first officer's voice sounded over coms. A few minutes passed in relative silence, the soldiers she'd defended prior having gone back to rescue the wounded and usher all to the landing zone.

Upon seeing the drop ship's arrival, Samus took a step away from the entire group, keeping a distance as the Spartan offered to assist in maneuvering the wounded aboard.

Only once everyone had boarded the ship did she move to join them. Yet, she found her feet stayed as she approached, suddenly immediately uncomfortable with the idea of being in close quarters with a multitude of people, wounded or not.

She didn't trust herself, she couldn't trust herself. It was one thing when she was able to know be around, free and open. It was different if enclosed in a tight space, unable to escape if she lost control of herself.

"Samus, climb aboard." Suddenly he was there, standing on the ramp of the Pelican, holding his hand out to her. She locked gazes with him, and she knew immediately that he could sense her rapidly growing distress at the proposition of being surrounded by numerous other people.

But, she felt some of that growing distress fade when she realized he'd be there.

So, she again placed her trust in him, something she'd found herself doing increasingly often. She stepped forward, reaching out to grasp his hand with her own, and again found herself comfortable within his grasp, her Metroid powers refusing to bring harm to him despite being in direct contact with his body.

The moment she was on board the pelican took off, lifting up into the air. The moment they were in the air, Samus separated herself from the rest of the crew, placing herself as far away as possible. She found herself standing on edge of the open ramp door, magnetic boots keeping her rooted to the metal floor.

The forest behind them disappeared into the darkness as they left the cursed place behind, moving to somewhere safer.

At least, she had originally thought anyway…

"Mayday mayday, code red! Hostile elements attempting to gain entrance to the Infinity bridge! All units return to Infinity immediately, that's an order!" Captain Del Rio's voice lit up the coms, the sounds of a fierce battle raging in the background could be heard over the Captain's voice.

Samus' sigh was audible, but the Chief didn't comment.

"Chief, Samus, I'm redirecting the Spartan fours to the Infinity! Chief, I'm giving you control over the ground forces stationed at alpha foxtrot!" Lasky's voice informed over the radio, echoing throughout the pelican.

"Understood, sir." Chief grunted.

The pelican lurched as it changed course, making a new heading for the Infinity.

Chief turned to the alien Bounty Hunter. "Change of plans. We're heading to the Infinity. The pilot's going to put us down as close as possible, but it's going to be a walk. Any closer is too hot to land. Once we land, I'm going to take command of the Spartans stationed there." The man explained, knowing that even though she wasn't looking at him, she was listening intently to his every word. "You ready for another fight?" He added after a moment.

She wanted to say no.

She'd been running and fighting since they landed, and although she was no longer human and did not have to adhere to the plentiful amount of weaknesses that humans suffered from, exhaustion was one that she still had to worry about.

Although she'd been continually rejuvenated by the energy intake, it was constantly offset by the energy the infants inside her took from her body to stay alive and continue growing larger.

Nevertheless, she knew now was not the time to rest, and she knew she had to continue fighting until they managed to secure the Infinity and escape this god forsaken planet.

So, with that thought in mind, she wanted to go all out and get this thing over with as fast as possible.

Naturally.

"Just point me in the right direction." Samus intoned, glancing at the massive side of the Infinity as it came into view. They were landing somewhere near the backside of the ship, away from most of the heavy resistance.

"I'll handle the charge leading up to the ship, I want you inside providing the captain assistance. You have much more firepower than anyone else here, and now is the time to use it." The Master Chief explained.

"Understood." Was all she said.

He nodded.

"I'll let the captain know you are coming." He said.

When he looked back, she was already gone.

Chapter

11

End