Remnants

by General Rage

From Halo's ashes, a mismatched Alliance is born. UNSC soldiers now serve alongside both Batarian deserters and shifty Jackal Space Pirates. Now Shepard and Master Chief have to keep these strange bedfellows from killing one another before they can stop an emergent new threat to the galaxy. The Next Swashbuckling Chapter of the Wormhole Chronicles.

8. Brigands of a Feather, Steal Together

Chapter Seven: Brigands of a Feather, Steal Together

People will Steal Anything. Sometimes they don't even know what they're Stealing

-Dan Istvan

As she stood in the Fallen Serpent's hangar bay, Miranda decided that as of that moment she hated Shepard, probably more now than usual. Of all the missions to give her, why Zek? Why stick her with him? What did he say again? "They know you'll be watching them like a hawk," was what he claimed. As if that would be enough to deter them from doing anything stupid. Maybe, but that still meant she had to tolerate the Pirate and his insubordinate, disorderly crew or reprobates. Oh she'd make sure they wouldn't get away with anything, she'd do her job. When she got back though, she was going to give Shepard a piece of her mind for stick with this group of idiots.

Already they were proving her low expectations accurate, boozing up with their damn ichor as they were getting ready to go. They were like a bunch of drunken frat boys, acting like they were going out for a sporting event and not an actual mission. Granted, none of them were getting completely inebriated, but they were buzzed. They were the type of drunk that made you think you could jump from the barstool to the opposite table. Probably good for say, an ancient Viking warrior perhaps, but not an actual seasoned operative like herself.

Worse of all of course, was Zek, who was trying to pump his little band of knaves with watching some stupid looking old TV show. By the looks of the strange rubber monster with the frill and weird silver and red giant, it was Japanese in origin. The various pirates gathered around the holoscreen, cheering at the fight and pumping their fists. When the giant tore the frill off the monster, Zek shouted aloud with glee as his men cheered.

"Yeah! Fuck him up! Punch his skull in, Ultra!"

It was ridiculous, the most insane pre-battle ritual she had ever seen. It took every ounce of willpower she had to not just bolt out the door and leave Mordin or Tali in charge of this nonsense. What kept her rooted was the simple fact she had too much pride. She wasn't about to let these stupid pirates get he best of her. She was staying and dammit she would make this work somehow. Hopefully that would mean muzzling Zek, that would be rather enjoyable.

"You keep glaring like that it's gonna stick that way," Kasumi spoke up as she slinked in beside her.

"I think it's a bit late for that, Kas," Tali joked. "This is her default setting at this point."

"You two are adorable," Miranda grumbled sarcastically. "Perhaps you should form a comedy duo in the future."

"Tempting, but sounds like way too much work," Kasumi argued. "Unless I could rob the art museums of the cities where we perform, too much pressure otherwise. That would raise way too much suspicion anyway."

Miranda sighed, this was typical of Kasumi. She liked to joke, she liked to tease, it was her way of coping with stress before missions. At least she was on though when chips were down, but she still didn't missions as seriously as she did. It was probably why she seemed to get along with the Jackals so much, they had a lot in common besides the profession of thievery. Miranda's eyes looked to the holoscreen again, more images of rubber monsters being pounded into the dirt by a giant humanoid.

"Your handiwork, I assume?" She asked Kasumi in a deadpan tone.

"Joker isn't the only one who likes to watch vids in his downtime," the hooded thief replied with a smirk. "I have the advantage with my greybox of course. You haven't experienced Japanese Monster Cinema until you're smack dab in the middle of the action. Still looks pretty good on a holoscreen though."

The Jackals suddenly cheered at the scene of giant humanoid vaporizing a monster with some sort of beam.

"Ah, they have the best battles compilation I made a while back on," Kasumi noted. "All of Ultraman's Greatest Fights in one convenient package."

"They've certainly taking a liking to it quickly," Tali observed.

"Reaction of Zek's crew not surprising," Mordin argued, coasting in beside the three women. "Not entirely. Jackal species, AKA Kig-yar, naturally attracted to violence. Inevitable given culture. Society based on competition. All forms of competition. Economic and monetary gains not exclusive preferences. Sporting events purest expression of a species' competitive nature. Conflict presented on screen, while fictional, similar to wrestling matches as well as other martial arts competitions. One key difference though. Fight usually to death in fictional setting of giant monsters."

"That does not exactly make me comfortable, Mordin," Miranda told him plainly.

"Not so bad," the salarian claimed. "Pirates enjoy spectacle of battle. Clear release of adrenaline when part of it. Makes subjects reckless? Perhaps. Still useful in certain circumstances. Bloodthirst serves krogan well enough in combat. Jackals different of course, less emphasis on honor and tradition. More willing to fight dirty. Sneaky. Somewhat like STG. Less surgical of course. Not nearly as professional."

Mordin coming along on this mission had been a bit of a surprise. Not that he wanted to help, but that he had volunteered to go with Zek's pirates. When asked why, the answer became a bit obvious, study. Already it seemed he had gotten quite a bit of information concerning Jackal culture just from standing around and watching them for a few minutes. He obviously saw much more in than her. All Miranda could see was unbridled senseless chaos and she hated it.

"The lack of professionalism is what concerns me," she explained aloud. "This facility may not be as risky as assaulting a Carrier, but it is still occupied by heavily armed and well-trained individuals. They could show a little bit of restraint and seriousness given the circumstances."

"Miranda, I understand your problems with them," Tali said, sighing as she did. "I agree, they're not ideal squadmates. But if this is how they get ready for a fight, I suggest we not judge them too harshly for being who they are. We all have to work with people we don't like sometimes. Maybe you should just suck it up and deal with it, so to speak."

Miranda glared at Tali as she turned her back. She knew what the quarian meant by that remark, payback. When Shepard had re-activated Legion and allowed it to join the crew, Tali was more than a little incensed and made sure everyone knew about it. She wasn't happy either, and it probably wasn't her place to speak up given her own problems with Jack, but her better nature didn't win out in this case. She essentially told Tali to accept Shepard's decision, suck it up and deal with it. Now, the shoe was on the other foot. Miranda was stuck working with a bunch of stupid, chaotic pirates and the quarian mechanic was enjoying herself watching Lawson's ever growing annoyance at the situation.

Tali and Miranda had never gotten along. Unlike the situation with Jack, where their dislike of one another was overt and displayed for all to see, things were more subtle with Tali. Well, as subtle as they could be. The quarian didn't seek to undermine her or argue with her at every opportunity, but they did clash more often than not given time. Miranda didn't fully understand the reasons for the rivalry and honestly she didn't care. This was expected. When you were genetically created to be a perfect specimen of humanity you tended to piss off a few more people than you made friends.

Lawson suspected she had rubbed the quarian the wrong way when she had been in Cerberus' employ, specifically in regards to her comments on her people. She did keep making excuses for why Cerberus' relations with the Migrant Fleet were as strained as they were. At the very least it never compromised the mission at hand, but she knew they weren't friends. Miranda saw no reason alleviate the grudge herself, not now or in the future. Let Ms. Zorah hate her, she wasn't here to be liked.

Besides, Tali had a point. There was no sense in mopping about being stuck with the space pirates, she had to deal with it. She walked up to Zek, still in the middle of his monster battle marathon with his crew and got his attention by coughing lightly into her hand.

"I don't suppose you'd be interested in going over the mission briefing with us," she requested. "If we're a part of your plan, it wouldn't hurt to know what your strategy for our target is."

"Alright, alright," Zek said, somewhat annoyed at being torn away from watching Ultraman pound another monster's head in. "If you insist, Ms. Lawson."

Zek put his wrist out and activated a button on the side. A holographic display of their target building was soon hovering over their heads.

"Manufacturing and Assembly," he said pointing diligently upwards. "Where they make the plasma weapons and coils. The latter of course comes in different sizes depending on the weapon. Most of the stuff made here is small arms, rifles, pistols, nothing complicated. Bigger coils end up getting shipped back to major factories though, they use those for repeaters or Ghost Rapid Assault Vehicles. Currently, they're getting ready for a new shipment."

Zek clicked another button and the image of a Covenant cargo ship appeared beside the structure.

"Probably already heavily loaded down with stuff," Zek continued. "There's a second ship in waiting, but that's Retz's problem. We need to keep this one from escaping. It's smaller than your average Corvette so taking it should be a breeze. Getting on board before they can get away with the spoils will be a bit of problem, but we can buy ourselves some time. We just need to damage their docking clamps on approach, right here."

Zek pointed to the docking area near the building. As he did, a small flight of holographic Phantoms flew in and bombarded the area with plasma fire.

"Once they're stuck we'll have some time to reach them," he said. "That means storming the structure from the top down. Until we get inside the airlock, we're gonna have to keep our suits tight, so that's the biggest risk. Once we're in though, we just have to shoot our way down to the ship and BOOM we have a whole ship full of plasma coils for the UNSC to play with."

"A simple plan, not very detailed, but it could work," Miranda observed. "However, it all hinges on that cargo ship remaining where it is. What if finds away to escape the dock?"

"I got a back-up plan, don't worry," Zek promised grinning. "It won't get far. Really the whole plan, if not the job itself really hinges on your ODSTs. If they can't shut down the anti-ship guns they got positioned all over the asteroid field we're fucked before we even launch."

"They have a reputation for dealing with difficult assignments," Miranda assured him. "They'll be fine."

"It's not their reputation that worries me," Zek explained skeptically. "It's their attitude towards the person in charge."

Miranda looked at the space pirate with stern apprehensive glare. Zek just shrugged it off, not really phased at all.

"Come on, Ms. Lawson, everyone knows what is going on in their ranks, people talk and I have good ears," Zek declared defensively. "Quite a few of them are still unsure of their new leader, insubordinate if you will."

"Lieutenant McKay is a capable soldier," Miranda informed him. "She will get the job done. You need not worry about the guns. They will be down."

"We'll see, Ms. Lawson," Zek told her rather plainly. "In the meantime, Ultra is about to take on those weird lobster bug people again and I'm not missing it."

Zek returned to his holoscreen while Miranda stewed in her own thoughts. Zek was right about the ODSTs, she had seen the reports herself. Their ranks were still rather divided. McKay had supporters for her command, but others felt differently about her. She had passed her first test as unit commander on the Carrier, but now she had a more crucial role than drawing enemies into a killzone. Hopefully she was indeed up to the task.

Truthfully though, she was a bit more concerned because of the people going in with her on the operation. And Miranda was not thinking of any particular ODST. Just one very angry ex-convict with some very devastating power to back her up.

---

This was not going to be your traditional drop, that was for sure. McKay wasn't sure how that sat with everyone, maybe they felt a bit better about not being thrown feet first at the Covies for once. Then again, flying right into them wasn't much better. All McKay knew was that the whole thing made her stomach churn, but she did her best not to show it. This was their only option, they didn't have Drop Pods. Well, they sorta did, but she wasn't about to trust her people's lives to a bunch of Covenant junk. Those things weren't designed humans, they were designed for eight-foot warmongering assholes. So, Pelican it was. Beefed up with some shields that the ever helpful Engineers had saw fit to install, so it wasn't like they were going in naked.

"You sure this thing will hold under fire?" Romeo asked her. "They tend to fall out of the sky a lot from my experience."

"No worse than a pod, Rome," Buck argued. "We get a few extra shots in this case actually."

"You get hit in a pod it's pretty quick," Romeo argued. "This usually involves spinning, metal breaking and a few extra explosions."

She really did not want them talking that way right now, she had enough problems without imaging how many ways this could go wrong. Supposedly both of their Corvettes would provide them cover, firing shots into the asteroid field to mask their approach. Yeah, that calmed her nerves, now she was at risk from getting shot by their supposed friends.

Calm down, McKay thought to herself as she stood behind the co-pilot's chair, this isn't helping anyone. Tying herself up in a ball of nerves was hardly conducive at this point. If she didn't remain stoic in the face of this, they'd pick up on it. That was the last thing she needed now. Maybe that was the real source of her nerves, the fact she had people watching her and expecting her to fail.

She looked back to the squad and saw a few of those faces, so to speak. They were currently all wearing sealed suits, until they actually got inside the target building there would be no atmosphere. However that didn't conceal their disdainful for her, not to McKay. Collis and Travers were among them of course, but they weren't the only ones.

There was Corporal Fadden, an angry sort who didn't like how quick the Marines were to jump ship once they heard the Flood were infesting the place. He honestly felt that it was McKay's fault things got so bad, if rumor was correct. That if she had stuck by Silva, they could've beaten the Flood easily when they attacked. Instead her actions "divided the crew" and made them easy pickings.

Sergeant Lendon was another. He just hated Jackals more or less, had ever since a squad of them had ambushed his unit on a colony years back. Way she heard it, they faked being dead, jumped up like zombies from the grave and started blowing people away. Lendon hated Jackals, probably more than most ODSTs did and more than any other Covie species. He probably would've been less antagonistic to McKay if it had been any other alien extending an olive branch but the Jackals.

Those were just to name a few. She did have friends of course, people who did seem to agree with her. Besides Buck's squad there were people like Corporal Gilfoyle, who had mostly tried to stay out of the whole mutiny business. Reservations against siding with former Covies? Yeah, but they all did to a degree. Point was, Gilfoyle did not feel it was worth fighting against fellow UNSC soldiers to prevent such an alliance. Until the Evac call came, he ran hangar detail and basically kept his gun holstered until the Flood started showing up.

A decent even split, she had supporters. Didn't make it any less a division though and it showed no signs of closing. This mission was going to test whether or not they could still operate under these circumstances. More importantly though, it tell her if she could still lead. Thankfully, she had a bit of a trump card in her deck, something that would make this mission run a lot smoother with any luck. They too were on her side, they just weren't ODSTs.

"Don't worry guys," Jack said as she wrung her wrists and cracked her knuckles. "We'll make the drop. No force in this stupid universe is gonna keep me from a good fight."

"I think they're looking for something a bit more tangible than their universe not wanting to anger you before you die," Thane suggested. "Like how if we stay under their scanners and use the asteroid formations as cover, it should be a relatively easy insertion."

"I prefer thinking the cosmos are afraid of me," Jack informed him while smirking.

Thane and Jack had volunteered for their detail. McKay didn't object. Having an experienced an assassin and hardened brawler would be useful. It didn't hurt that they both had biotic abilities either. Despite Jack being rather undisciplined, all that mattered to McKay right now was that she listened to her. The consensus was she would so long as it meant killing Covenant. At least she could work with that. She banged on the Pelican's ceiling to get the team's attention.

"Alright, most of us aren't used to this kind of insertion, but we're making due with what we got," she informed them all sternly. "Regardless of any reservations you may have about that, we will make our target. We'll speed under their sensors while the plasma fire blankets out approach vector from above. For once the flak is helping us, don't get used to it. We are then hitting the roof of the security structure hard. Guns blazing, no prisoners, shoot to kill, our specialty. We then get inside, shut their turrets down and move to communications to shut them up so the individual sections can't coordinate. Don't worry about much else but seeking and destroying."

"I like the destroying part," Jack called out.

Good, McKay thought, she'd be happy then. More than she could say about Lendon, who was already giving her the stink-eye through his visor. At least he was stowing it for now.

"Sergeant Buck, you are heading up squad one with me," she informed Buck firmly. "We are entering the primary airlock on the roof. Sergeant Lendon is squad two's lead, they will go through the secondary. We will converge on the main security room in a pincer movement, take them from both sides. Watch your crossfire in there, okay?"

"Yeah, wouldn't want to kill any of our fellow ODSTs," Lendon snorted rudely. "Wouldn't we, Lieutenant?"

McKay's eyes narrowed, Rome looked about ready to say something, but she placed up a hand to silence him. She wasn't about to let someone else fight her battle here. She was leading this unit now, these Drop Troopers were hers. Lendon and the others needed to learn that. They would respect the Chain of Command.

"The key to this operation's success relies entirely on our coordination as a unit," she reiterated. "If successful, this could be the first of many such factories taken down. We need this to go by the numbers. So, follow the plan, watch the corners and be professional. Just because this isn't a Drop Pod, doesn't make any of you less of an ODST. I expect you all to act like it."

Lendon kept his trap shut after that. Thane at least had a more productive comment.

"Where do you wish us to be, ma'am?" Thane asked politely.

"Two of you, two points of attack," McKay stated. "Thane, with me, Jack with Lendon. We need to even the odds in biotic firepower here. Don't hold back, okay? Elites won't."

"Holding back ain't in my vocabulary, lady," Jack said grinning a toothy smile and pounding her palm with a fist.

"Good, now strap in people," She ordered. "This thing is going to kick a little."

Barely a few seconds after that warning, just when Thane and Jack were holding on tight while the other ODSTs got in their seats on either side of the Pelican, the craft took off. Practically launching out of the Crusty Chorka's hangar bay. The transport was currently traveling at excessive speeds now, firing all afterburners to send them charging into the asteroid field.

McKay watched as they entered, her eyes locked on their target ahead. She could see the small, two story circular building that was the security structure. Next to it, the taller communications building. The only thing partially obscuring her vision, several space rocks of varying size. The pilots had already begun bobbing and weaving through the debris, their hands steady on their respective sticks. McKay gripped the back of their seats tightly, trying to hold on as they dodged left and right. It wasn't just to avoid the asteroids, it was also to keep the enemy sensors guessing.

As they entered deeper into the field, plasma fire from the Chorka started erupting overhead. The cockpit was lit up with blue resonance as the barrage commenced. McKay tried not to duck down as they flew beneath it all. She needed to project strength now more than ever. Flinching at the sight of exploding plasma torpedoes mere feet away would not help. It did not make things any less unnerving though.

Complications in the plan arose pretty quickly, although they hadn't been unexpected. You start shooting explosive plasma blasts into a packed asteroid field, you tended to move a few of said asteroids around a little. No friction in space meant when an explosion sent them flying, they really went flying. Small rocks hit the shields, but the bigger ones were the greater concern. One large bit of debris started hurtling right towards their cockpit window, sent hurtling into their path when one of the plasma shots blasted apart a nearby asteroid.

"Evade! Evade!" Shouted the pilot, pulling hard back on the stick.

The Pelican pulled hard downward, barely avoiding the incoming asteroid chunk. McKay grabbed the sides of the chair, barely avoiding falling clean over onto the floor. The Pelican jerked again just as she regained her footing and grip. They were now in the middle of a small asteroid storm, with rocks all flying around them, nearly crashing into their little craft.

"Stay on target!" She ordered.

"Trying," the pilot assured. "Not my fault there's a bit more chop than usual."

McKay looked back briefly, seeing the team holding on for dear life as the Pelican jerked around. Even for seasoned ODSTs, this was a bit much. When a smaller asteroid struck their side, the craft shuddered heavily. Buck jumped in his seat as they rocked about.

"I am never going to complain about the pods again," he said through gritted teeth.

"I second that," Dutch added, gripping his seat's straps hard.

McKay turned back to the front just in time to see them getting closer to their target. The Pelican, still going at high speed, turned it's nose up and started to climb. They approached the main asteroid, coasting near it's surface. They then flew clean past one of the anti-ship guns, still focused on the Chorka far off in the distance. For all appearances, it seemed their treacherous little run had paid off. A lot more nerve wracking than usual, but it worked.

The Pelican the got over the security building. Sadly, it was not unguarded. The roof soon lit up with their own plasma fire, as grunts wearing sealed envirosuits took up embedded Shade turrets placed around the landing zone. The pilots opened up a spray of bullets from the Pelican's nose gun, ripping into two of the guns and killing a few extra enemies for good measure. It then got low over the roof, still firing off rounds as they opened the door at the back of the ship.

"Everyone out! Go!"

The ODSTs, plus Jack and Thane, quickly jumped out of the craft. Jack touched down first of course, a surge of biotic energy ripping apart a few hapless Covies nearby. When the rest of the team landed around her, they opened up with their guns, spraying lead in all directions. McKay was the last one off, landing right in the thick of the firefight with the rest of her Troopers. She immediately began assessing the situation. They needed to get inside, the operation was depending on them. There were some grunts blocking their way to their airlock. Also a gun emplacement nearby, currently occupied by the Pelican but not for long.

"Buck, have your squad lay down suppressing fire on that turret! Knock it out if you can!" She ordered, receiving a brief nod. "Jack, deal that enemy position near the airlock!"

"I got'em!" The bald woman assured. "Suck on shockwave dipsticks!"

Jack sent a rippling wave of energy that hit the grunts and sent them flying. As others tried to move to shore up the defense of the entryway, the other ODSTs opened up on them. Buck squad in the meantime lay down a heavy wall of fire on the Shade turret and surrounding forces across from them. Not only did they provide relief for the Pelican, but also Romeo took out the gunner.

"Pilot," McKay ordered through radio. "Veer off, wait for roof to be cleared!"

The Pelican pulled away, removing itself from the barrage of fire. As it did, the secondary airlock opened wide. A single Elite with a pair of grunts rushed up into the fray. Things were now becoming more urgent. They needed to get inside now before more substantial reinforcements arrived. She turned to Lendon.

"Sergeant, move your team up to the airlock," she ordered, tapping him on the shoulder. "Thane and I will cov-"

"I don't need your cover," he shouted back at her mid-sentence. "We can get to that door fine without you."

She would've protested, maybe called him out on the misconduct, but he was already taking off. Lendon opened fire on the airlock, moving up as part of his team circled around to the side. Classic flanking move, one the Elite didn't seem to pick up on as he sprayed fire on Lendon main thrust. Despite what he had said to her though, McKay had no intention of leaving him be. He was getting fire support whether he liked it or not.

She directed her fire at the Elite as Lendon approached. Forcing him to take cover while his shields recharged. She then sprayed a burst at one of the grunts on the direct flank. The shots hit the little alien in the head and he went down. Thane in the meantime had trained his crosshairs on the now suppressed Elite's position. Now firing blind, all one could see was his hand. It was enough for the drell assassin. One clean shot blew the plasma rifle out of the Covie's fingers. The alien jumped up slightly in pain, just as the flanking unit struck. Collis, who McKay could see at the head of the flanking unit, emptied his clip into the Elite and Lendon moved everyone up.

"Jack!" McKay called out. "Second team has reached the door! Link up with them!"

Jack disengaged from her current targets near the main airlock and moved towards the secondary. Already Buck had forced his squad's way to airlock, annihilating what was left of the grunts on guard duty. All that remained was getting inside. McKay joined up with them, Thane close behind her. Romeo was still struggling with the entry pad.

"Damn, they got it on lockdown," he growled, pounding his fist on the door. "I'm gonna rip it open!"

"Do it now!" McKay ordered. "We need in!"

Romeo ripped the pad off and he began tugging at wires. McKay looked to Lendon's group briefly and saw Jack going the less subtle route. She powered up her fist with biotic energy and then punched the pad. The system short circuited and it opened the airlock door. As Lendon's group piled inside, Romeo met similar success with his wires and their airlock opened as well.

"In, now!" McKay shouted to the team.

The squad squeezed their way inside the airlock, a tight fit to be sure. Eventually though the system began to cycle. However, McKay didn't suspect the Covenant to be just sitting around waiting for their hated enemy to just come walking to them. So she positioned Thane at the door along with Dutch who was carrying a large machine gun turret in his arms. When the inner airlock doors opened, peeking through the opening slit, McKay could see her hunch proved accurate. In front of them was a small squad of Covenant soldiers, Elites and grunts mostly. They didn't get the chance to react. Even before the door opened the whole way, Thane hit them with an area warp attack while Dutch began spraying bullets everywhere. His first kill was the head Elite, perforated by the rapid fire of bullet rounds easily. Buck tossed in a grenade through the opening slit of the door as well. It exploded among the Covenant forces, sending them into disarray.

They all forced their way inside the main hall now. McKay kept Dutch on point, his massive gun their main point of assault with Thane backing him up on biotics and both her and Nuck close behind. Everyone else would advance with them. The grunts still alive after the grenade's detonation had already begun pulling back, they had to keep up the momentum.

"Keep pressing," McKay ordered. "Get to the control room! It's one level down!"

Dutch let loose with machine gun as they moved down the corridor. The sound of the weapon seemed enough to scare the grunts further back. That lasted about until a corner up ahead. More Elites were there, guarding what appeared to be a way down to ground level. They had already set up a fortified position, setting up a number of barrier shields. The Elites opened up fire as soon as the spotted Dutch, forcing the ODST back into cover.

"They don't want us going that way," Dutch observed.

"No time to find another," McKay told him. "We need to take them down."

"That's why I'm here," Thane assured her. "I just need an opening."

Looking down the corridor, McKay spotted a doorway to the side. It was big enough to give a single person cover. Just what Thane needed.

"You'll get it," McKay told him. "Gilfoyle, Buck, I'm throwing a smoke grenade. While they're distracted open fire. That should give Thane the chance he needs to move up and get into cover."

"No problem, ma'am," Gilfoyle assured. "We'll get him where he needs to be."

McKay nodded and then moved back to the corner again. She popped a pin on her smoke grenade and threw it down the hall. It clattered against the walls and floor, bumping from one end to the other. One could hear an Elite growling in frustration. Without a clear shot, the Covenant officers and their charges opened fire randomly. Gilfoyle and Buck moved up into the open, spraying bullets down the corridor. They couldn't see much of the enemy either, but what mattered was forcing them to keep their heads down, not hitting them.

Thane moved instantly, as expected. Before the smoke even cleared he was in position, sniper rifle in hand. When the smoke started to clear, Buck and Gilfoyle retreating to the opposite corner of the hallway, the Elites renewed their more accurate defense. They didn't know that Thane was where he was though. The drell waited for one to step out slightly from the protective shield barriers. Then, Thane got a bead on his head and fired, putting a shredder round clean through the alien's skull. Thane moved to fire another shot, but the second Elite had already moved back to the safety of the shield barrier. One less Elite though, so it was time to lay on the pressure.

"Dutch! Spray'em!" McKay ordered.

Dutch moved into the open, sending a hundred some odd rounds into the Covenant position. The rest of the ODSTs joined in, kneeling beside the corners of the hall. They caught a few grunts unawares, but the Elite was still behind protection with two other little gas suckers. One of said gas suckers armed a plasma grenade and tossed it in their direction.

"Back away!" McKay ordered.

The explosive fell a bit short, but they could still feel the shockwave and the heat from behind their cover. Thane was unaffected by the blast though and in the commotion used the opportunity to his advantage. He aimed the sniper rifle down at one of the barriers' generator pads. He fired it dead center, destroying the mechanism. When the barrier powered down, the Elite and his squad were exposed.

"Pour it on, people!" Buck shouted.

The Elite started to back up, realizing his protection was gone. He was already near the door to the ramp downstairs when the bullets started flying again. Dutch moved after him, McKay close behind, providing extra fire as they pushed up together. The other Drop Troopers followed behind, adding their own fire to the mix.

The grunts were shot down as they descended, but the Elite kept fighting. As he turned the ramp's corner, descending to the first floor though, he left himself open from above. Thane jumped down, firing blasts from his rifle. The Elite's shields went down, but he stayed standing. The drell dropped on the Covie's shoulders and then jumped off behind him. The Elite turned to strike him, but Thane ducked the swipe. He hit the Covie with a warp attack that seared the alien's genes, he finished him off with a submachine gun burst to the chest.

"I could get used to having an alien assassin around," Buck said as he and the other ODSTs moved down the ramp to regroup with him.

"Yeah, but I bet you Lendon beat us to the door," Romeo said. "Dude has the bald juggernaut after all."

"She is indeed impressive," Thane commented. "Although, clearly not as subtle."

"Not a race," McKay reminded them all. "Move out."

They got up to the doors for the control room next. They stacked up against the doorframe with guns at the ready. Dutch got the breaching charge onto the door while McKay contacted Lendon. They needed this to go off at the same time.

"Team Two, we are in position," she said through the radio. "Status?"

"Good to go," Lendon replied. "Tore through these bastards easy. Let's get this over with already."

"More like I tore through them," Jack declared proudly. "I threw one Elite head first into a wall."

"You can share kills later," McKay told her. "We're breaching in five, starting now."

Dutch got his hand on the trigger, waited for McKay's go and then hit it. The door burst open and the ODSTs on both sides rushed in sequence. Bursts of fire erupted from both ends as their charged into the room. The Covenant returned fire, but they took several casualties in the initial entry, all grunts of course. The Elites had positioned them by the doors while they took cover further back within the mess of control consoles and servers.

McKay spread her squad out along the length of their entryway. Thane laid down sniper fire from his position, suppressing the Covies. McKay stayed beside Buck as they opened fire into the mix of Covenant soldiers now holding up in the center of the room.

"Don't damage the main security console," McKay ordered. "We need it to shut those guns down!"

As McKay said that, biotic attacks started hitting the Elites. Pummeling biotic strikes smashed down on the Covenant Officers. It was obviously Jack, especially when they overheard a bunch of swearing from the other end of the room followed by shotgun burst. McKay looked up to see Jack send a shockwave out that threw an Elite out of cover before she then blew his head off. A second Elite charged her from the right, slashing at her with a plasma sword, but she ducked under him and sent a biotic punch into his stomach that sent him flying. She was forced to move into cover though, as plasma fire raked her general area. Thane relieved her though, firing a sniper round into the back of the head of her assailant.

"Move in Troopers!" McKay ordered "They're faltering!"

They two teams now pushed in, laying heavy fire on the remaining Covenant, encircling them from every flank. Eventually, only one Elite remained. Riddled with bullets, bleeding profusely. He roared and aimed his rifle at McKay who shot him in the head with a full burst. Her weapon still smoking and the alien's body still warm, she turned to her team.

"Fan out, secure the room, get me into that system," McKay ordered. "Shut those guns down!"

The squad did as told, save for Lendon who hung around, almost glaring at her. She almost asked if he had something to say. She didn't have to.

"So far so good," he said. "And we didn't need a single Spartan. Hell, my team didn't even need an alien."

"You didn't need Jack either," McKay informed him, returning his glare. "But she improved your chances. I could've taken both of them on my team, but I didn't want you missing out on a resource. If you're going to be picky in what you use to get the job done, then you're setting yourself up for failure. Simple as that."

"Maybe," Lendon huffed. "Still surprising you didn't ask for one of the lab freaks though."

Freaks, Lendon had adopted Silva's old slur for the Spartans it seemed. That may have been alright with him, but he was gone. This unit wasn't going to deal with that petty shit anymore, not if she could help it.

"Those soldiers, not freaks, soldiers, have their own mission," McKay informed him. "One as risky and as vital as our part in this. You either respect that or you keep your mouth shut about it. Are we clear, Sergeant?"

"Clear, ma'am," Lendon responded, crass venom in his voice. "Nice to know where you stand."

"With the UNSC, Sergeant," McKay reminded him sternly. "Same as you, same as the Spartans, same as the Normandy's aliens and, for the moments, the Pirates and their four-eyed friends. I suggest you remember that for the future."

Lendon snorted and walked away. McKay wanted to chew him out some more, reprimand him even. He was pushing her though, wanting her to do that. Probably so he could become a martyr to the others. The real Drop Trooper who stood up to the dirty traitor. She'd wait for him to actually cross a line, in the meantime she'd file a disciplinary report for Haverson and Holland. Once they got through this of course.

She looked over briefly to see Thane and Jack, just chatting away it seemed. Wasn't hard to overhear what it was about, of course. Jack was not exactly, well, a quiet person.

"Nine, how about you?" She asked the drell.

"About six," he relented. "Although one of them involved the use of some acrobatics."

"I prefer the blunt approach," Jack shrugged. "Sent one of the gas breathers into his superior officer and shot at his pack. Methane blew, pack flew right off, I think it busted a mandible or two. Guy was still trying to fight, but biotic boot to the head ended that quick."

Jack lightly punched the drell in the arm.

"Relax, you got plenty of time to catch up," she said grinning. "Just try not to go for fancy shots. A kill is a kill."

"Forgive me, I'm not as competitive as you," Thane expressed solemnly. "My former occupation wasn't exactly something the hanar wanted treated as a game. Just because they're using assassins doesn't mean they wanted us to take the matter lightly."

"Those guys always have a few quibbles don't they?" Jack asked chuckling. "I mean, you're killing people and they want you to be respectful about that. Even when they put hits out they need to be super polite about it."

"I don't ask anyone to understand it, just respect it," Thane explained. "However, in this case, I will try to beat you if only so this isn't boring."

"That's the spirit, Lizard Lips," Jack said while grinning a toothy smile.

McKay couldn't help but shake the mixture of reverence for the two, but also shame. These two were as different as possible, except maybe in the profession of killing. One was serene, the other violent. Yet somehow they got along. She hadn't been able to mend the differences in her unit nearly as well. She wondered how Shepard did it and could only assume it was because it just came to him. She needed to find a way to soothe over her detractors and soon. They couldn't keep operating with these divisions.

"Found the main switch, ma'am," Buck called over. "Should send a shutdown order to every gun they got set up in this asteroid field."

"Hit it then," McKay ordered. "It's time the Pirates pull their weight on this OP."

---

The word came in suddenly over the wire. The guns were down, the ODSTs had pulled it off. The Jackals cheered and cackled with glee. Zek called out to them, unsheathing his energy cutlass.

"To the ships, boys!" He ordered. "Pile in! We have us a rock to plunder!"

The Pirates wasted no time in boarding the awaiting Phantoms. Somehow they all got aboard without trampling each other, it was that chaotic. Miranda and the rest of the Normandy crew got aboard the lead Phantom with Zek. As soon as he got inside, the dropship lifted off the hangar floor and headed out into the void of space. Soon the rest of the task force was right behind him, flying in perfect formation. Miranda still had reservations about their professionalism, but she couldn't fault their speed. Even if it was incredibly disorganized.

They wouldn't have to fly a great distance to reach their target. The Serpent's cloaking device had managed to get them pretty close to the facility. They still needed to keep out of range of the more sophisticated scanning equipment, but they weren't too far out. That was important, because Zek's plan relied on speed and surprise in this stage. At the moment, the enemy's focus was primarily on the Crusty Chorka currently firing on them and possibly the ODST attack on the security building. They wouldn't suspect a second ship had already gotten within their perimeter and was prepared to launch transports. The guns were indeed offline, but there was still a large security ship prowling around. Also, they really didn't want to give that cargo transport the chance to flee.

"Crank the volume, Pilot," Zek ordered. "Boz should be playing my request!"

"Request?" Tali asked confused.

She got her answer seconds later, as Boz the Buzzard's voice filled the inside of the Phantom.

"Just got word that the raid is on boys! We got Phantoms barreling down on that Plasma Coil facility right now! Shipmaster Zek requested a special song for the occasion and we're playing it now! Kickstart my Heart! Motley Crue! Go get'em mates! Show'em what us Pirates are made of!"

The 1980s rock song began to echo within the confined spaces of the Phantom. An unearthly shrieking scream arose from the speakers, nearly bursting Miranda's ear drums. She gritted her teeth and bared the obnoxious sound, this wasn't her mission it was Zek's. She was just here to make sure he stayed on the level. Dealing with his stupid taste in music was part of the job. Tali and Mordin weren't nearly as repulsed, but they clearly didn't get the song at all. Kasumi though was too busy bobbing her head from side to side. Figures she'd be into this, Miranda thought.

The Phantoms coasted close to the docking section of their target structure and the ship locked into it. They trained all undercarriage guns onto the docking clamps, locking onto them with relative ease. Zek wasted no time in proceeding with the first phase of the plan.

"Melt'em down!" He ordered.

A furious barrage of plasma bolts flew forth, slamming into the docking area with ceaseless abandon. Explosions erupted across the section, as the bolts collided with the delicate instrumentation. Miranda could easily see a plume jut out from a major docking clamp. It burst out into space and the Phantoms had to pull up at the last second, barely avoiding the potential damage.

"Major damage to the docking clamp mechanism, sir," the pilot announced. "They're stuck in locked position."

"That should buy us plenty of time to take the plant," Zek said confidently. "Get us to the roof, we're taking this place from the top down!"

The Phantoms moved over the rood of the structure and began peppering it with fire. They probably shouldn't have bothered, there was nothing to shoot. More than likely they had recalled everyone inside after the ODSTs had pulled this same trick. They only had one Pelican, there were three Phantoms here. She doubted anyone liked those odds.

With their suits sealed and airtight, the Jackal Pirates dropped from the Phantom shouting with bloodthirsty zeal. Miranda was the first of her team to get onto the ground, using biotic to cushion her fall of course. Everyone else took the anti-grav beam down. With the roof clear there was little to do except head to the airlocks and get inside. Between Tali and Kasumi, the locks didn't stand a chance. They sliced into the system through the keypad and bypassed the lockdown parameters, opening every airlock all at once.

"It's going to be tight in there," Zek warned Miranda as he got inside the airlock with his entourage. "They obviously didn't think holding the roof was worth it, so I suspect they've built up heir defenses inside instead."

"I surmised the same thing," Miranda answered. "You have a plan?"

"Stay behind my people with the shields," he told her. "That should allow you and your squad to kick all the ass. Classic tactic of pirate raids, we use it all the time."

She had seen it herself, usually from the other side. Jackals tended to act like secondary shielding for their compatriots, offering roving cover for Elites and grunts alike. However, when she saw the Jackals near the exit of the airlock preparing their shields in an interlocked pattern, she recognized the difference. Zek's pirates had more coordinated defense, one more similar to classic military tactics. She had read about this in the after action reports from her various squadmates, particularly Kasumi's. This was her first time seeing it in action.

As the airlock opened, green plasma bolts flew at them. The Jackals raised their shields to block, pushing forward and firing back at the small squad of grunts blocking their way. Miranda wasted no time in assisting, using her biotics to lift on grunt off the ground and them slam him back into it. At the same time she sprayed her submachine gun into the corridor, killing a second grunt with a trailing shots. That kill was followed shortly after by a plasma bolt striking another grunt right in the face.

The line broke fairly easily and the gas breathing aliens retreated, firing back at the swarming pirates as they ran. Zek poked his needler rifle in between his shield bearers and fired at the fleeing Covies, hitting one in the back with three clean shots. As the little methane sucker exploded, Zek turned back to his men.

"Do not get cocky," he cautioned them. "Remember, they're plasma sponges. The Elites are up ahead and they won't run. Shields up front, do not be afraid to overcharge."

They moved down the initial hall towards another door. If Miranda had studied the plans of this place right, this led to the structure's manufacturing center. There was likely a catwalk or platform overlooking the area behind this doorway, as well as several Covenant soldiers no doubt. Once again, Zek was prepared for that.

"Ms. Goto, your assistance if you please," he requested.

Kasumi got in position next to the door and Zek hit the button on the pad. As it slowly opened, Kasumi tossed a flashbang grenade inside. Miranda looked away briefly as a devastating bright light lit up the catwalk beyond the doorway. A whole squad of Covenant soldiers was now blinded, but everyone else could see just fine. Miranda aimed her pistol down at a single Elite out of cover and, after using her overload program to scramble his shields, fired two clean shots into the alien's face.

Once her shots rang out, the rest of the pirates charged inside. They kept a shield wall out in front to protect their advance, but they still hooted and hollered like maniacs as they rushed inside. The grunts were fearful, quickly cowering behind cover. The Elites of course stood their ground, even with their eyes partially blinded still. One Elite, even after getting his shields decimated by a plasma overcharge burst continued shooting at the wall of shields, hoping his rapid fire would knock them back. However, when suddenly erupted in flames that hope was dashed.

"Suggest moving forward," Mordin said as he lowered his omni-tool. "Crosswalks in area problematic! Need to protect flanks!"

"Agreed," Miranda concurred. "We have to keep up the aggression! Stick with Zek's shield troops, watch our sides!"

They moved onto the platform proper, Jackals covering them as they pushed up. Miranda got a better view of the manufacturing plant itself. Massive machines occupied the area, there were metallic presses stretching the length of the room, electrical conduits sparking overhead, laser printers speedily drawing into material and in the center appeared to be a molten vat still spewing out metal into moulds. This was where they made the plasma coils, the whole reason they were here.

Miranda tried to not let the sounds of the still functioning plant distract her. Reaching out with her powers, she ignited an Elite with Warp. Even reeling in pain it still managed to fire back on her, forcing her to duck for cover. She gritted her teeth and started looking for another way. This place was full of volatile equipment, surely some of it could be used to their advantage. She spotted what appeared to be control box next to some machinery where the Elite she attacked stood. He was joined by a few grunts. Good, multiple targets. Using overload, Miranda hit the control box with a blast of electrical energy. It crackled and exploded, shocking the grunts to death and sending their Commanding Officer flying across the catwalk and over a railing to his death.

She moved up again, walking behind a Jackal as he pushed forward with his shield. She added her submachine gun to his sustained needler fire on an Elite taking cover behind some machinery up ahead. However, they suddenly took fire from their left front as a second Elite targeted them. The Jackal dropped down on one knee, trying to maintain cover under the withering fire. Miranda in the meantime scanned for a safer location to retreat to, but she could find none.

Then, the second Elite took a blast of energy to his side. Electrical arcs assaulted him relentless as a purple combat droid attacked him. It was followed up by a large blue blast of plasma-like energy that disintegrated him on contact. Miranda looked to see Tali already reloading the Geth Shotgun in her arms and charging the weapon once more for another shot. This time she aimed at an Elite holding down a position to their right flank, hitting him with a fully charged shot.

"You okay?" Tali asked the XO.

"Fine, just keep watching the flanks," Miranda told her.

Tali nodded and moved forward. Despite the fact they probably didn't like each other, the quarian was indeed a team player. That wasn't a surprise, what was though was Zek himself. Miranda caught him further up, sniping at targets further along the catwalks. He seemed to move from one to the other with little hesitation or pause. She couldn't tell if he was hitting anything, but it seemed more like he was suppressing than anything else.

"Second airlock team has ripped through a barricade they had set up ahead, but our third team is having trouble," he shouted aloud. He then pointed to three Jackals behind him, one of them with a beam rifle. "You, move up along the right side of the platforms. Find their turret and silence the gunner. We need to keep squeezing these fools."

"Yes, sir!" The sniper complied, before he and the two other Jackals moved out.

Miranda wasn't expecting to see Zek was actually capable as a field commander. Perhaps the idea of profit focused him a bit more. Whatever the reason for his tactical awareness, at least it had dashed some of her fears that this would be a mess. However, she knew Zek's reputation. Sooner or later he'd probably do something stupid and reckless if the situation called for it. When that happened, she'd have to salvage this.

"I hope Shepard is having more fun with the Spartans," she grumbled under breath.

---

"Bank right!" Linda shouted. "Bank right!"

The Longsword nimbly turned it's wing up at the last second and the large green bolt sailed past. However, they were still taking light structural damage from the Banshees' main weapons and with all these asteroids it was hard to find a way to get on their tails.

"Retz's briefing said nothing about Banshees being part of the security here," Kat growled as she tried to steady herself against the wall of the craft.

"His intel must've been a bit outdated," Shepard suggested. "They probably only just got here. Real question is, how did they sneak up on us?"

"Possible hostile craft used asteroids to mask presence," Legion postulated. "If hiding near or on asteroids, sensors could have overlooked or missed threat entirely."

The Longsword shuddered as they took another hit to their fuselage. Armor seemed to be holding, but they were taking a lot of hits and they still had a lot of space between them and their target building. They needed to get rid of these pests and fast. It was then the Master Chief locked up on the stick, gripping it tightly in his hands.

"Doesn't matter how they hid from us," he said. "I'm getting rid of them now. Linda, pull hard to port on my mark and then back up on the stick when I say so."

"Copy," Linda told him. "Everyone else, better hold onto your butts."

As the crew of the Longsword braced themselves, Chief pulled a hard turn on the stick. The craft suddenly pitched hard to port, nearly flipping Shepard onto his back. The only thing keeping him standing straight was the fact his hands were grasped tightly to a rail bar on the wall. After he had recovered from the whiplash, he got a good look out the cockpit window. They were now staring straight at the flight of banshees chasing them. Chief had pulled off a one-eighty degree turn in the middle of a firefight with a craft that was the proportionate width of a bomber airplane. Even with no gravity, still impressive, especially in the middle of an asteroid field.

The Banshee's had little time to react, as Cortana had already locked on to all three of them with the Longsword's seeker missiles. Chief fired as soon as the hostiles appeared in the window, three big targeting reticles plastered across them. The enemy squadron tried to flee, but the missiles found their marks for two of them. The third, the lead Banshee was a bit more nimble, but Chief was already on him. He tracked the Banshee's position with the Longsword's rotary cannons and let loose. The high velocity rounds tore through the little Banshee like it was paper, disabling the craft long enough for the missile to find it's mark and turn the fighter into dust. Without even missing a beat, Chief turned the Longsword back around towards their target.

"Let's hope that's the only surprise Retz missed," Chief said as the Longsword eased back along it's path.

"I'll say, that was intense," Cortana spoke up over the radio. "If I had a stomach, I'd have thrown up from that maneuver. What's everyone else's excuse?"

"Legion has no stomach either," Shepard quipped. "Also, this is nothing compared to what everyone says about my driving."

"I did not have a large meal and I am most calm when in battle," Samara informed the AI.

"And Spartans just never get sick," Jun added jovially. "We're not allowed."

"Oh, so I don't have to worry about puke in this helmet," Cortana surmised. "That's a load off my mind. By the way, I've detected our entry point. Marking it on the sensors now."

Outside the cockpit window, they could see the target building looming large in front of them now. Located on the large asteroid that was central to the entire facility's operation was a large flat top structure with a wide base. This was the main administrative building which housed the workers and top level personnel.

More importantly it housed a lot of their data, operational reports and other valuable intelligence on their work with plasma coils. That made it a prime target. Also, it was attached to Manufacturing and Assembly plant next door. Attacking it meant forcing more security to engage with the Spartans rather than the Pirates currently assaulting the place.

It made sense to use the Longsword for their insertion, it being fast and relatively stealthier than the Phantoms Zek was using. They had hoped they could use the ongoing chaos up front to basically sneak in the back door and take them by surprise. Circumventing the asteroid field to get into position had taken a solid hour, making them technically the first group to deploy into the field before anyone else. However, the surprise had been blown by the Banshees they hadn't expected to be waiting for them. It was likely they had already warned the Covenant inside Administrative what they had encountered before they were blown to bits. After getting hit twice now, the enemy was also probably wise to their insertion point.

Luckily, Cortana was ahead of them. As they got closer to the airlock they intended to dock with, she quickly started picking up enemy heat signatures on long range sensors. She instantly highlighted them on the targeting hub and as expected they were swarmed around the hallway next to their airlock.

"They know we're coming," the AI stated. "The second we attach to that airlock they're going to hit us hard."

"Then we should hit them hard first," Linda declared. "Are there any mission critical objectives located near that outer wall?"

"Not according to Retz's contacts if our briefing is accurate," Cortana answered.

"Then the corridor is expendable," Chief said, already warming up the rotary cannons.

With his thumbs pressed down hard on the triggers, Master Chief let loose a terrible storm of high velocity cannon rounds on the structure wall. Careful not to hit the airlock, he raked fire all along the Administrative building. Explosions erupted now an again as the shots inevitably hit something vital. And one by one, the heat sigs Cortana had detected went dark. Chief hadn't even finished the barrage before Linda armed some of the Longsword's weapons herself. Two missiles suddenly ejected out of their hardpoints and streamed straight into the building, causing a massive explosion that tore deep into it's wall. The Covies had built the place to stand up to the stray asteroid of course, so it wasn't like they had tore open a huge gash in the structure. When the bullets stopped flying though, there was clear heavy damage to everything save the airlock.

"Nothing critical, structure is holding," Cortana reported as she got back information on her sensors. "Atmospheric controls have already kicked in to prevent total depressurization. Similar to what they use on ships in hangars. Point is, corridors are practically clear. Save for the bodies probably littering the place."

"I'm getting us inside now before they can regroup," Chief said, already initiating docking procedures. "They're not going to give up an inch of this place without a fight."

"Then we go in weapons hot," Shepard declared. "We should also make sure our suits are sealed, just in case those atmosphere control procedures fail."

It took less than a minute to do that, Spartan armor was already airtight and only Samara and Shepard needed to get their gear on. In that time, Chief had already docked with the airlock and put himself on point for the assault. Before long they were inside the building proper, weapons drawn and at ready, but there wasn't really much to shoot initially.

To the left and right of them the team could see the damage caused by their Longsword. The corridors looked absolutely shredded, as did the bodies of the Covenant sprawled out on the floor. Small fires were raging out of the electrical equipment and live wires dangled precariously from the ceiling. Despite the chaotic looking scene, the squad knew they could not remain out in the open. Shepard motioned Samara and Legion to take cover near a blown out wall, the hole exposing a nearby room. Chief did the same, positioning his Spartans near a door that had been destroyed by an explosion. Just as they got in place, the Covenant arrived.

Chief opened up first as the Elites entered the room, spraying a sustained stream of bullets at the Covenant officer. The shots raked the alien's shields, forcing him to cover. The Elite next to him tried to fire back, only for Linda to land a bullet between his eyes with her sniper rifle. As he fell, Kat moved into the room herself, taking up position behind a damaged console. With her BTR, she gunned down a few of the grunts as they tried push up to the door. A third Elite raked plasma on her position, but was taken out with two clean sniper shots from Jun, one to the chest and another to the head.

"Keep them bottled up," Chief ordered as he reloaded. "We have early control of this firefight, lets not lose it."

On the other end of the corridor, where Shepard's team were positioned near the open gash in the wall, a second team of Covenant moved into view. Legion fired first, it's Widow easily cutting down the Elite moving forward. Samara followed up with a singularity, lifting at least two grunts off the ground as they tried to scramble for cover. A concussive round struck near their cover, however, and they were forced to duck down. The room suddenly filled with at least three Ultra Elites, all armed with Concussive Rifles. Shepard gritted his teeth as he saw them moving up.

"Good thing I brought one of the toys Retz got us back on the Hollow," he said.

Shepard took his chosen heavy weapon off his back, a Covenant Plasma Grenade Launcher. Capable of firing plasma grenades that homed in on their targets, it was a devastating weapon if used accurately. He just needed some time to use it.

"Legion, send in a drone," he ordered. "I need a distraction."

"Copy, Shepard-Commander," Legion complied, activating a Combat Drone at once.

Legion's Drone instantly moved into the fray, blasting at the enemy with concentrated energy bursts. It nimbly avoided the concussive shots best it could. It didn't need to survive for long, just long enough for Shepard to get a lock on some of the Elites. He held down the trigger and looked through the scope of the launcher, tagging four Elites already in the room. He then released the trigger and let the grenades fly. They homed in on the Covies easily, sticking to three as they focused their attention on the drone. Each exploded seconds later, just as they tried to rip the grenades off them. Blue flaming bursts soon occupied the space where the Ultra Elites had once been.

The fourth Ultra Elite, however, saw the incoming projectile and rolled away just in time. The grenade could not correct it's course in time and instead stuck to a grunt's methane tank. The resulting explosion killed the grunt, but also damaged the Ultra Elite's shields. He ducked into cover behind a destroyed terminal to recover, but Samara would not have it. She sent a powerful throw attack that sent the broken bit of equipment slamming into the Elite. Both were rocketed across the room and slammed into the wall behind them. The Elite stood back up and in a rage fired back at the Justicar, but she centered her Rifle's crosshairs on him and let loose, filling him full of lead.

"Samara, move up with me," Shepard ordered. "Legion, keep us covered!"

"Acknowledged," the geth assured.

Shepard and Samara vaulted the hole in the wall and moved up behind a piece of debris within the room proper. They began taking fire from the remaining Covenant, but it was more sporadic. They still had the momentum and a foothold in this place, they just had to keep it and continue pushing. Curious as to how the others were doing, Shepard contacted one of the other assault teams, assuming it was already well underway by now.

"Garrus, we're in the Administrative building," he reported. "We've met resistance but we're pushing them back. What's your sitrep?"

---

"Similar," Garrus reported, as fire cut into the rock wall. "But said resistance is a bit unexpected. I'll try keeping you posted. Just worry about your end of things, Commander."

Garrus turned off the comm, returning his focus to his rifle's scope. Maybe he had been a little mean to his friend just then, but this part of the operation had not entirely gone to plan and he was not in his best frame of mind. The intel Retz had given them had revealed one of the latest shafts drilled into one of the larger asteroids in this mess of rocks. They had pulled it close to the main facility asteroid specifically to make it easier to mine because of how much raw material was inside it. That meant it was probably a good idea to destroy it. That way, the Covenant wouldn't be able to salvage anything for more coils when they eventually came to clean this mess up.

Insertion went okay, Garrus, Zaeed, Grunt and Jacob had landed on the rock via shuttle. They were accompanied by Varvok and his batarians who jumped down off of some Phantoms Zek had lent them. The rock was big enough to have it's own gravitational field of sorts so it was easy to walk on. Dealing with the preliminary defenses was easy enough. Although the hostiles were indeed thick and numerous, they quickly pulled back into the main shaft. Said shaft was also sealed via an airlock, so there was actually some atmosphere inside the mines themselves. They wouldn't have to worry about a single bullet puncturing their seals and causing them to suffocate. It looked like they had the enemy cornered.

Then they heard the buzzing.

Drones, the Covenant's insectoid henchmen were inside the damn mines in droves. It was possible there was a small hive somewhere down here. Garrus mentally hit himself for thinking it was going to be that easy, just in and out, plant explosives and run. It was stupid of him to assume it would be that easy, now they had to contend with these bugs.

Garrus picked out one of Drones as it buzzed around, strafing at some batarians trying to stay behind some rocks for cover. A good clean shot ripped through the bug's side and tore off one of it's wings. Unable to control itself, it smashed into a nearby wall and fell to the mine shaft's floor. Now free from enemy fire, the batarians moved up, shooting as they went. One of them even fired a submission net at two Drones before they could take off again, allowing his fellows to finish them off as they struggled to free themselves.

However there were always more drones within the swarm willing to replace those who had fallen. As Garrus made a break for a large excavator machine, plasma fire began to spray all around him. He turned quickly to fire a burst of rounds, taking out one Drone with a lucky shot. As he dropped, another bug replaced him in the formation. Garrus slid into cover at the last second as an overcharged bolt near burned through his shields.

As he hugged the side of the excavator another of his teammates rushed up beside him. Jacob was hurriedly reloading his shotgun, gritting his teeth as he did.

"They're practically all over these caverns," he grimaced. "You think they're here for more than just security? Like they mine the minerals themselves?"

"Possible," Garrus said nodding his head at the reasonable assessment. "I doubt the Elites are big on digging through rock. Speaking of, you see any of the Elites we chased in here?"

"One or two, but low level," Jacob informed him. "Varvok took them out and pushed up into the shaft they were in. No idea where he could be now though."

"Hopefully he's looking for structural weakpoints," Garrus told his squadmate. "Right now, we got to focus on pushing for the central atrium. I got a hunch that's where their hive is. Where are Zaeed and Grunt?"

There was a loud bellowing roar and the sound of squishing followed by booming shotgun blasts. Garrus turned to see Grunt several feet away with a small squad of batarians at his back. The krogan was grabbing at a Drone's throat before ripping it's head from it's torso. He then tossed the remains into another Drone before blasting his Claymore into a third as it flew overhead. He laughed uproarious as the creature's guts fell around him.

"Well, there's one," Jacob noted. "Enjoying this more than he should, as usual."

Just then, the sound of a Viper sniper rifle sounded above and behind them. On a ledge beside their excavator, Zaeed stood sniping Drones out of the air. He managed to get another headshot, but that was when he started taking fire from the ravenous insects as they started to swarm the area.

"Give him cover!" Garrus shouted aloud.

Jacob switched to his sidearm and began firing at the Drones assaulting Zaeed. Garrus did the same with his sniper rifle, managing to shoot down a few of the bugs and garner the attention of others. Jacob eventually used a pull attack to force one Drone to hurtle away backwards as he filled the bug with bullets.

Then a fiery explosion erupted in the middle of the small distracted swarm. Zaeed had tossed an inferno grenade into the mix. Now the Drones were burning alive in mid-air as flames scorched their exoskeletons. One by one, they fell to the cavern floor and Zaeed followed them, sliding down the side of the ledge on his back. When he hit the ground he charged forward towards the excavator and threw himself beside both Jacob and Garrus.

"The buggers are everywhere," he growled. "We don't do something soon they'll tear us apart. I hope you got a plan, Garrus."

"More or less, but it won't get done sitting here," he told him. "Follow me, stay close. We're going to try and link up with Grunt."

They moved swiftly across the field as the Drones swarmed above them. One dove at them, charging it's weapon as it flew towards them. Jacob centered his sights on the alien and fired a shotgun blast into it's face. It crashed into the ground, kicking up dirt and rock as it tumbled over itself before finally falling limp to the floor. Garrus in the meantime targeted Drones attached the to the walls around them, firing at the trio from on high. He scored a clean hit on one of the bugs, piercing it's head with a single shot. It went limp and dropped to the cavern floor with a crunchy thud.

It seemed to be going well, but as they neared Grunt's position things suddenly took a turn. There was a blaze of fire in front of them as three Drones swooped down from above in formation. Garrus, Zaeed and Jacob scattered as the plasma flew at them, barely avoiding the barrage. Then suddenly, there was a loud bang, all three of the Drones pitched in the air at once, their bodies contorting as if something hard had slashed through each of them. Garrus' keen eyes traced the trail of a shot as the aliens fell and spotted Varvok a few feet away. He was holding a Kishock Harpoon Gun in his arms, a powerful weapon in the right hands, capable of cutting through multiple targets.

"Vakarian," the batarian leader said aloud as Garrus and his squadmates reached cover. "I see I came back just in time. We've rigged a number of potential faults in the shafts already. We still have more to go though."

"And we need to get through these guys first," Garrus reminded him. "Don't worry though, I got an idea. You just need to have your men move in behind the big angry krogan."

Garrus looked over to Grunt, currently smashing the head of a dead Drone in with his foot, and shouted at him.

"Grunt! We need you to carve us a path!" He ordered aloud. "If you threaten the hive they'll fallback to defend it and we can cut them down! Push up with the batarians and we can cover you!"

"Sounds good to me!" Grunt shouted back.

The krogan roared, lifting his assault rifle high into the air. He charged forward, firing his weapon at the swarm above. The batarians joined in, filling the skies with lead as they moved deeper into the main atrium. As Garrus suspected, the swarm suddenly shifted it's focus, moving to follow the sudden incursion. The buzzing suddenly became more focused on Grunt's group and did not nearly surround them as much as before. Seizing the opportunity, Varvok moved to the front of the line with Garrus and gave an order to the rest of his soldiers.

"Switch to inferno rounds! Burn them out of the air!"

The batarians obeyed and laid into the swarm with furious abandon. They were all so focused on trying to catch up and stop the threat to their hive that they had forgotten there were more enemies about. Burning, disintegrating bodies tumbled from on high, crashing to the ground in heaps as lead flew through the air. The swarm started to break up, the Drones panicking, not sure where to go and who to fight. That was the chance Garrus had been hoping for.

"Move in!" He ordered. "Take them down!"

The combined force of Batarians and Garrus' squad pushed forward, deeper into the main tunnel shaft. Into the very heart of the mine itself. They soon forced their way to the central atrium, burned and broken bodies of Drones choking the caverns around them. They found the hive, a waxy, dripping mess that seemed to hand precariously from the walls and ceiling.

Already Garrus could see Grunt had pushed him and the batarians with him all the way to this position. Currently, he seemed engaged with the Elites they had chased into these mines from the start. Zaeed quickly lined up a shot with his sniper rifle on one Elite he had a flank on and fired, blowing a hole clean through the alien's head.

"Push up and provide our brethren support against the Elites," Varvok ordered one of his soldiers. "Anyone with a firestorm, burn this hive to ground! We need to get back to the matter at hand."

Garrus could already see Varvok's orders in motion, as Firestorm wielding batarians pushed up under sustained fire support towards the hive sections of the atrium. They let loose torrents of flame, both on the battered swarm and the insectoids' living spaces. Screams of anguish replaced the buzzing as the Drones went up in flames and their hive along with them.

The Elites had lost their air support, but they did not seem deterred by the chaos around them. They kept trying to consolidate a defensive perimeter around what was left. Even with flames all around them, they refused to give up.

Garrus decided they had wasted enough time. He'd leave the job of hunting down the Elites to Varvok for now. He needed to start laying charges. Scanning the walls of the atrium with his omni-tool, he looked for fault lines, cracks in rock, any potential weaknesses in the asteroid's foundation. When he spotted one, a particular stress point in the wall, he attached a explosive charge to it and readied it for detonation.

"You think we really got enough bombs to blow this whole rock to hell?" Jacob asked.

"Maybe, maybe not, but we're not going to want to be inside it when these do go off," Garrus warned. "At the very least we're going to destroy a lot of their valuable resources."

Regardless of the concerns, they were pulling this out of the fire. If everyone else's jobs were going as smoothly as their was right now, they'd be wrapped up in no time at all.

---

Jack fired her shotgun at the Elite behind the console, but only managed to kill his shields. The eight-foot alien growled at the woman and kept firing, forcing Jack to duck back into the corner of the wall. As plasma bolts struck near her, she balled her hand into a fist, positioning herself to swing out of cover when the moment came. As expected, the firing stopped as the plasma rifle started to overheat. She then threw herself out of cover and sent a rippling shockwave straight at the Elite. He tried to duck away, but wasn't fast enough and ended up getting tossed into the air. Jack finished him off blasting at him with her shotgun, hitting him in the stomach.

She quickly ducked behind another console though as she easily spotted another Elite behind a server tower nearby. His plasma bolts sailed over her head as she kept low to the ground and behind her cover. She hated how many of these bastards there were still breathing. She somewhat hoped that the security building was where the majority of the guards were. Instead, the communications building was just as packed.

McKay had split the team up into seek and destroy squads, slowly but surely clearing every piece of this place. Right now, they were a data collection room just a little ways off from the Central Control. The Elites inside were not being very cooperative of course, stubbornly clinging to every nook and cranny just like their friends.

Lucky for Jack, she wasn't alone. Popping up from behind a nearby terminal, Thane fired his sniper rifle at the hostile alien, managing to hit him in the shoulder. Hardly enough to kill an Elite, but at least it split the bastard's focus a little. He retreated a bit into his corner as he shifted fire to the sniper. They needed to flush him out now. That was when Jack's other squadmates finally offered some worthwhile assistance.

Corporals Fadden and Travers shifted their own focus to this side of the room. Travers fired a continued stream of bullets at the pinned Elite before Fadden tossed a grenade behind the servers themselves. The Elite suddenly tucked and rolled out of his cover, and explosion erupting behind him. That did little to deter him, as he quickly pointed his gun at the humans and sprayed plasma in their direction. Travers let loose again with another burst, this one aimed at the Elite's knee cap. The big alien took a bad hit to his leg, his already weakened shields disrupted. Thane then quickly reeled the Elite in with a pull attack, sliding the Covie across the floor like a ragdoll. Jack saw her opportunity as the Elite passed her cover and fired a final shot into the alien's head, killing him.

"Thats it, no more Covies, motion tracker clear," Travers said. "We're done here."

"Took your sweet time doing it," Jack said jumping up from her cover. "Where the fuck were you?"

"Dealing with the other end of the problem and protecting your ass," Fadden declared, aggressively pointing his finger at her. "Or would you have rather we let those grunts flank you?"

"Please, Thane could've covered the whole damn room from overwatch," Jack argued approaching the Drop Trooper. "You took the easy job while we had to deal with a whole pack of Elites!"

Jack was about two feet away from Fadden when Thane stopped her in her tracks, placing himself between her and the Drop Trooper.

"Jack, please, this is not necessary," he told her. "Fadden and Travers covered our flank. They did what their training required of them. We should not judge their choice of tactics."

"Bullshit we can't," Jack countered. "These fuckers have been on our case since we left the damn ring. Hell, this whole mission I've had to babysit their fucking asses. Stuck on point being the damn biotic shield while they take up the rear."

"You're the one with the freaky powers, lady," Travers informed her. "You're an advantage and we're using you. End of story. Don't like it? Go back to your little melting pot ship of xenos."

Jack almost lunged at Travers, but again Thane stopped her.

"Use me? You don't fucking use me, asshole!" She screeched at him, trying to force herself past Thane. "I'm the only reason any of you fuckers are still breathing!"

"Back off, psycho," Travers declared, not so subtlety reaching for his sidearm. "I don't care how hard you hit, I will put you down."

"I'd like to see you fucking try you sack of shit!" Jack roared.

Thane finally gained control of the situation, forcing Jack back. He shook his head at her sternly as she kept fuming.

"This is not the time or place," he told her firmly. "They are not our enemy, remember that."

"They ain't our friends either, Lizard Lips," Jack reminded him. "They're ungrateful assholes who still think their dipshit dead leader wasn't a fucking idiot."

"Major Silva was a real soldier," Travers growled. "He stood up for the principles of humanity, he didn't turn to the damn Covies for help like you all did."

"Yeah, he just only almost infected the entire galaxy with a deadly parasite," Jack sardonically quipped. "But hey, at least he was loyal to humanity, right? Who cares if his dumb ass could've got them all turned into zombies, you included."

Now Travers looked enraged, although he was a lot more subdued. His fists balled up he made a sharp move towards Jack and Thane.

"Why you little-"

He only got half an inch before Fadden stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

"Save it man, they ain't worth it," he stated plainly. "This whole damn OP ain't even worth it."

"I find that highly debatable," Thane argued. "While not a major facility, it's destruction and plunder could yield benefits for the war effort down the line. A better understanding of how the Covenant create and manufacture their weapons would be beneficial to the UNSC."

"Don't give me that garbage," Fadden snorted. "This is a waste of time, just like that Carrier and that stupid trip to that Pirate Lair. These fucking Jackals keep leading us on one goose chase after another. If you don't see that than you're more blind than McKay is."

Thane narrowed his gaze at the Corporal.

"I suggest you not insult your superior officer, especially not in front of me," he warned. "I'm more than obligated to inform command of your conduct."

"My fucking word against yours, reptile," Fadden argued. "What makes you think anyone will take your scaly ass seriously? Or your crazy bald friend's for that matter."

"Drell have perfect memories, dipstick," Jack snidely informed him. "Plus, I can assure you, Holland and McKay trust us a shit ton more than any of you bitches."

Fadden looked a bit shaken, his eyes shifting between the two of them. Finally he just shrugged and moved away.

"Lets link back up with the others, we're done here," Fadden told Travers, pulling out of the room.

As they left, Jack let out an annoyed sigh.

"I totally could've punched their eyes into the back of their skulls," she grumbled.

"I know, but that probably would've made things worse," Thane cautioned. "We don't want to get McKay or Shepard in trouble with Holland after all. Reacting to their petty insults with violence isn't going to resolve this."

"No, I guess not, but it would make me feel better," she growled under her breath.

After a moment, Jack composed herself. The anger drifted away, but her concern remained.

"They're gonna get us killed if this keeps up," she said. "You know that, right?"

"The Silva loyalists are a problem, yes," Thane agreed. "But they are one only McKay can solve. They are her unit. All we can do is to support her endeavors."

"It just sucks not being able to fix this shit myself," Jack said in frustration. "I mean, fuck man. We save them from getting chewed up and or blown up and they act like we're in the wrong. It isn't fair. I mean, we saved people! Doesn't that mean we get some fucking credit? A little gratitude? Anything?"

"In my experience, you can never take those things for granted," Thane lectured. "Not everyone will appreciate what you do, even if it benefits them. Expecting thanks for all your good deeds is self-defeating."

Jack let out a self-derisive laugh at that.

"Yeah, ain't that the story of my life," she huffed.

"All that should matter in the end is whether or not you feel you've done the right thing," Thane continued. "Both for yourself and others. And if you find you haven't, well, you do what you can to correct it."

Jack smiled at that, a small smile, but it was there.

"You sound like a damn self-help book sometimes, you know?" She told him jokingly.

"I'll admit, I've been a reading my fair share of them," Thane responded shrugging. "I may be paraphrasing a few. But only a few."

Now that made Jack laugh a genuine chuckle.

"Did you just make a joke at your expense?" She said, still a little shocked. "I'll be honest, I didn't think you had it in you. A sense of humor I mean."

"I have my moments," he said, offering a slight smile of his own.

Hack thought it was nice to see to Thane lighten up a little, especially in moments like this. It helped soothe her thoughts a little. She didn't like everyone else seeing it though. It was weird how quickly they had become so close. She wasn't sure why she kept hanging around Thane, she only knew she liked the company. She liked having someone to talk to, who seemed to get her for once. She didn't like how she kept getting stares and questions about it, especially from Miranda.

Then again, so what? She had a friend now, at least she thought she did. What business was it of theirs? Didn't make her soft, didn't change her. She just had someone she could tolerate being around now. Their problem if they couldn't accept it. She was fine, they were making awkward, not her.

"We should probably get back to McKay," Thane suddenly spoke up.

Lost in her thoughts, Jack hadn't noticed she had been staring at Thane for awhile now and then she noticed she had been smiling slightly that whole time. Instantly embarrassed, she cleared her throat suddenly and turned away.

"Yeah, um, get back, right," she said hurriedly. "We got more Covie chumps to kill and shit. Come on."

Jack took point, Thane close behind. She did her best to try and force a serious look on her face. She was not flushed. Not the slightest. No, definitely not awkward. Other people were awkward, she thought. She quickened her step a bit. She needed to find something to kill, maybe that would get her mind off this.

---

Retz stood on the bridge of the Serpent his eyes scanning the various screens monitoring the situation. They were a bit behind schedule, but for the most part things were going smoothly. He liked this part of the job, managing things behind the scenes more or less. This being mostly his plan, he really enjoyed seeing it come together like it was. He was even more happy with the latest report.

"The Drop Troopers' leader just reported in," one of the bridge technicians reported. "She says communications are down. They weren't able to get through that static the Human AIs created either. The Covenant won't be interrupting our party."

"Excellent, I knew the ODSTs would be up to the task," Retz declared. "McKay is more capable than some of her insubordinate soldiers claim. Now, lets see about removing the only problem we got left. Status on that security ship?"

One of the deckhands quickly transfered the data to Retz's terminal. It showed a holographic display of another Corvette guarding a second cargo ship, different from the one currently trapped in dock. It was still coasting on the edge of the perimeter, protecting it's defenseless charge.

"They're still holding their ground between us and the main facility," the deckhand explained. "Guess they don't want to try their luck outside the asteroid field."

"Of course not, they know the Crusty Chroka is out there along with us," Retz reminded him. "It's outnumbered and outclassed. It goes into open space and tries to jump it's dead and so is the Cargo Ship it's protecting. Not to mention it's little trapped friend. It's waiting to figure the situation out. We can't wait for that though. If the ground teams succeed in their missions, the security ship will fire on them before they can get away. Covenant are sore losers that way."

"So we're going in?" The same deckhand asked.

"Damn straight we are," Retz declared. "Take us across their bow, keep up above them. Take careful aim, we don't want to risk hitting the facility with our friends inside."

The Serpent moved in and began targeting the security ship with precision lasers, aiming for their defensive systems. The ship quickly fired back with it's main guns, sending plasma hurtling towards the Pirate ship. The Serpent turned hard to starboard but kept heading forward. Some of the plasma shots struck the underside shields, but they held for the most part. Retz chuckled a bit.

"Bet they suspected we wouldn't have those," he said. "As if Pirates have to play by Covie rules."

"We're practically in point blank range, sir," one of the deckhands reported.

"Then fire when ready," Retz ordered. "Aim for the gun batteries. Knock their teeth out."

The Serpent opened fire, blasting away with its plasma cannons at the sides of the ship. One of the shots slammed into a main gun battery, sending up a plume of blue flame briefly into the void. The security ship tried to fire back, but Retz had the thrusters kick into overdrive and push them out of the way before any real damage could be done.

"Enemy has sustained significant damage, but they still got guns trained on us," one of the bridge techs warned. "Sensors indicate they're warming up for another shot."

"Persistent as always, but futile," Retz assured. "They can't shoot without targeting. Line our nose up with their bridge and charge up the forward gun. Burn them all alive."

The Serpent turned hard, plasma fire striking them as they did. The Serpent rumbled from the hits and Retz glowered in anger.

"Damage?"

"A lot of scorching to the hull and our belly shields are out," the bridge hand warned. "They keep hitting us like that and we're dust."

"We're out of time then, end this," Retz ordered. "Full power, now!"

The forward gun in the nose powered up, two three-barreled plasma torpedo launchers. They all fired at the same time, sending a barrage of fire right into the Security Ship's bridge. It tried to take evasive, but the shots were coming in too fast. The torpedoes hit their mark and Corvette's bridge exploded in a fiery blaze. Said explosions traveled along the length of the ship, igniting the remaining batteries. As the security ship started to roll over in the void, the bridge crew cheered in glee. Retz made a cutting gesture with his hand, silencing them.

"We're not done yet, boys," he cautioned. "Disable the cargo ship. They are not leaving."

The cargo ship was already trying to make a beeline for the perimeter, risking getting shot by the Chorka, but they had no other recourse at this point. It was almost child's play to target their engines and fire precision plasma shots at them. After a few clean hits, the vessel was stopped dead in it's track, listing heavily forward, traveling on what little momentum it had left.

"Get a crew in some Phantoms and secure our prize," Retz ordered. "Zek ain't the only one who's going to take a ship today."

"Speaking of, sir, you might want to take a look at this," a technician called up. "We may have a problem."

A long range video feed was sent to Retz's monitor. It was centered on the docking area of the main facility, where the other cargo ship was currently stuck. Retz could see what appeared to be sparks igniting along the fused and melted docking clamps. When he magnified the image, he spotted several unggoy in sealed suits taking blowtorches to the clamps themselves. Retz scowled at the sight, this was just cheating now. He also saw at the side of screen something else, power fluctuations from the core. That wasn't good. He quickly opened a communication channel.

"Zek, you got a problem," he informed his friend. "They're trying to cut the cargo ship free from it's moorings. They get those clamps off they're going to be free to make a run for it. If these readings are right they're already warming up for slipspace! They're gonna risk it rather than be disabled!"

"Damn cheaters," Zek grumbled in response. "Okay, I got a plan to speed this up. Contact Varvok, see how far along he is with that mine. Meantime, I'm gonna work on getting outside."

"Outside?" Retz asked, only slightly nervous.

"Relax, I got this," Zek assured, before calling out. "Ms. Zorah, Ms. Goto! I require your assistance!"

It was then Zek cut the line, leaving Retz to just sigh.

"I hate it when he says 'I got this'," he said shaking his head. "It means he's going to do something really stupid."

"What do we do, sir?" A bridge hand asked.

"What we always do," Retz begrudgingly shrugged. "Hope this doesn't blow up in his face and get prepared to pick up the pieces if it does. Take us in close to that cargo ship, maybe we can deter them from trying to jump."

Retz tried to keep his composure. Zek was doing one of the many things he hated. He was making up a new plan on the go. And while it was true you needed to do that with any good plan, Zek's always involved something incredibly dangerous and foolhardy. It wasn't that Zek's plans didn't work, it's just they weren't as elegant and for Retz they were always a headache. He just hoped everything else was going smoothly. They really needed to wrap this up before things got out of hand.

---

Chief laid down a wall of fire as his squad of Spartans spread out, drawing the attention of the lead Elite away from them. Said Elite used his plasma sword to block the incoming fire and, with his other hand, fired plasma bolts at the Spartan Leader. Chief ducked down just as his shields started taking hits, but he had bought his team time. The other Spartans were spread out along the length of the server room now, splitting the focus of the defenders. Unfortunately, their leader was still squarely focused on him.

He rolled out to fire on the Lead Elite again, but he once more block the Spartan's shots and continued shooting at him. Chief quickly got up and ran, strafing the Elite with fire before finally diving into cover. Not a single bullet managed to get through the alien's sword.

"Why do you always attract the crazy dangerous ones?" Cortana asked him.

"I don't," Chief assured her. "I pick them out for myself."

"That is not at all comforting," Cortana informed him. "And maybe just a tad egotistical."

Chief popped up again, firing a burst of shots at the Elite, this time going for the legs instead of the torso. The sword wasn't blocking the Elite's lower body, so this time the shot connected. The Elite stumbled backwards from the hit, but didn't fall. He bellowed at one of his fellow Elites, pointing his sword at the Master Chief. The subordinate alien followed the command and charged forward, a Plasma Sword of his own in hand. The Spartan held his ground though, firing at the alien continuously.

Before the charging Elite could take a swipe though, it took two shots straight to the brain. It's body tumbled onto the console Chief was using as cover while it's Plasma Sword fell out of his hand. Chief followed the smoke trail to Linda, still holding her sniper rifle.

"Sorry, Chief," Linda called over. "Guess he doesn't like to do his own dirty work!"

"It's alright," Chief assured her, grabbing the fallen plasma sword in his hand and activating it. "I can work with this."

The bait plan hadn't worked they way Chief had wanted. He had hoped the Lead Elite would charge him if he managed to get a good shot in. Then he'd come out of cover and leave himself open when he tried to take a swipe at the Spartan with his sword so Linda could shoot him. They had done this plenty of times before with Elites, using their headstrong stubborn streak against them. It hadn't exactly worked as he had planned this time, but it wasn't a total loss. With a plasma sword of his own, this playing field had just been evened out.

Vaulting over the console, Chief ran at the lead Elite with plasma sword out. The Covie fired back with his plasma rifle of course, but the Spartan used the alien's own trick against it. Plasma bolts bounced off of Spartan's newly acquired weapon, harmlessly deflected into the nearby walls. Then, once the Master Chief was close enough, he sliced at the plasma rifle with his sword. The weapon was slashed into two and the Elite tossed it away, barely able to raise his own sword to block Chief's next slash.

The Elite looked at the Spartan furiously before lashing out again with another strike. Chief blocked the blow and moved to the left, slashing downward this time. Once more, the Elite blocked the strike, but Chief's momentum forced him to back up. The Spartan then slashed to the alien's right, forcing it to stumble backwards before Chief delivered an upward slash. The Elite caught the attack though and pushed back hard on the Spartan's blade, almost forcing him into a kneel.

"Please tell me we're not going to play fair here," Cortana asked nervously.

"Nope," Chief replied. "Just getting him in position! Noble Two!"

Kat turned and pointed her robotic arm at the alien's back. A weapon attachment popped up from a compartment in the wrist and fired both of it's barrels. High impact shots with shredder round modifications, they knocked out the Elite's shields and then cut into his back. The Elite roared in pain and Chief used the opportunity to kick him in the solar plexus. The Covie was thrown back hitting a nearby terminal station. He roared loudly, flaring his mandibles in anger at the Spartan and shouting something in it's language.

"Probably saying something about you having no honor or whatever," Cortana snidely observed.

"Still winning," Chief responded. "It's all that matters in the end."

"Working with pirates might be rubbing off on you," Cortana said joked. "Also, movement at your rear."

Chief turned just in time to block some plasma bolts from another Elite. However, the Covie's barrage didn't last long as something fast and blue charged into him and then let off a shotgun blast into his head. Commander Shepard soon emerged out of the biotic aura and pointed behind Chief once more. The Lead Elite had recovered somewhat and charged at the Chief. But his movements were sluggish, still suffering from the damage Kat had inflicted on him. Chief rolled around the attempt to run him down and then lashed out with a slash across the Elite's back. The alien lurched backward, screaming briefly before collapsing dead to the floor. With the hostile dealt with, Chief looked to the Commander.

"Sorry we came in late," Shepard said, as Samara and Legion moved into the room. "That second group of Covenant outside weren't budging, but we held them off."

"Just glad you protected our rear flank, sir," Chief assured him.

There was a final string of shots from Jun's position followed by a thud as an Elite fell to the floor.

"Last one, we're clear," he called out.

"Good, Noble Two, get the data off the servers," Chief ordered. "We're running a little behind now and we need to extract as soon as possible."

"Legion, help her out," Shepard added, looking to the Geth. "Two hackers are better than one."

"Acknowledged, Shepard-Commander," Legion complied.

Both Legion and Kat began to break into the data server, the massive computing tower the entire room was apparently built around. Kat began slicing through firewalls while Legion attached itself to the server directly, infiltrating it's security from the ground up.

"We should have everything on their plasma coil operation soon," Kat assured them. "Weapon schematics, parts transportation, locations of other facilities, details on their assembly method. Could be a gold mine for the lab techs back home."

"If we give some of it to Mordin and Garrus I'm sure they'll come up with some upgrade ideas of their own," Shepard joked. "Speaking of, I better check on the others, see if they're wrapping up as well."

Shepard opened a channel to contact the other teams, hoping they were about done.

"Shepard to all squads, we are at our objective and downloading what we can as we speak," he informed them. "How are things on your end?"

"We got just a few more bombs to put and we're done, Shepard," Garrus reported. "Don't worry about us."

That was good to hear, however what came next was a bit disconcerting.

"Shepard, it's Tali," the quarian spoke tepidly. "We're almost to the cargo ship, but there are... complications."

"What do you mean complications?" Shepard asked, not hiding his concern.

Tali answered rather simply and thusly.

"Zek has a plan."

Shepard's immediate thought, spoken aloud, was just as direct.

"Oh crap."

---

Tali directed her combat drone against the grunt in red armor trying to hold his position. He took a clean blast of energy straight to his face, practically burning through his mask. Tali took him out with a follow-up shot from her pistol, dropping him with a headshot.

"Okay Chiktikka, new target," she said, inputing the position of the next Covie nearby.

The Elite turned to engage the little combat drone as it closed on him, firing at the purple ball excessively. He was distracted long enough for an overcharged plasma bolt to knock his shields out. He turned back to towards the Jackal who fired it, just in time for a plasma machete to get flung right into his torso. The Covie reeled back in pain as Zek rushed up and pulled the weapon back out.

"That's mine," he said, lifting his already charged plasma pistol to the Elite's face. "You can have this though."

The green bolt struck the Elite point blank in the face. As the burning corpse of the alien collapsed, Zek moved up, motioning Tali and Kasumi to follow. The two tried to keep up with the speedy pirate as he raced into the next room. He charged through the door, firing his plasma pistol at the Covenant inside. Kasumi tossed a flashbang in after him and the Pirate just managed to cover his eyes before it went off, blinding the assembled Covenant defenders. Tali sicked Chiktikka on the nearest Elite, blasting him with full power before the Covie could get his vision back. The quarian then discharged a shotgun blast into a nearby grunt as it stumbled about for direction, taking him out as well.

The area was finally clear when Zek's plasma machete cut down one last grunt. With the lack of enemies to concern themselves with, Tali was finally able to look around the room Zek had led them to. It appeared to be some kind of secondary docking bay, smaller than the one used for the cargo ship. It was vacant for the moment though, nothing attached to the airlock. This begged the obvious question, to which Tali asked.

"Why are we here?"

"We keep trying to push to the main airlock and we're not going to get anywhere in time, Covenant are too entrenched," Zek explained. "We're not getting aboard it the old fashioned way, so we need go the other route. Your suits are still sealed right?"

Tali was instantly incensed. Was he seriously suggesting what she thought he was?

"You want us to board the cargo ship from the outside?" Tali asked, angrily trying to clarify his intent. "In space? You want us to open the airlock and jump down onto the hull and assault the ship from the outside?"

"Long and short of it, yeah," Zek replied nonchalantly, as if it was no big deal. "I just need you two to hack the airlock here. It's on lockdown by now, security measure. No big deal for you two though."

"As fun as a spacewalk sounds, Zek, this seems crazy," Kasumi informed him. "Forget the fact we'd be assaulting a ship in vacuum, there's only three of us."

"I need most of my men downstairs still pretending we're trying to bust through their defenses there," Zek said rather simply. "But we won't be alone, I've already put in a call for Varvok to help us out. They can fly their Phantoms right over the ship and drop down. At the moment, they're not expecting us trying this, so we can surprise their little engineering crews before they even know what we're doing."

Of course they wouldn't suspect they'd do this, Tali thought, because it was insane. No one would try to attack a ship from the outside on foot. Maybe Spartans, but not people like her and Kasumi.

"How is this even going to work?" Tali asked, a twinge of sarcasm in her voice. "We're on top of the ship, then what? We knock on the airlock door and ask to be let in?"

"In a manner of speaking," Zek said grinning. "Varvok has some leftover explosives. I know just where to put them. Now come on, we're wasting time. They're probably halfway through cutting those docking restraints by now."

Tali still hated this, but it was Zek's Op. Miranda probably would've offered more resistance, but she just wanted to wrap this up before things got even more complicated. So she moved over to the airlock and began hacking the lock.

"Better recheck your seals, Kas," she warned her friend.

"Seriously? We're doing it?" Kasumi asked, sounding both astonished and excited a she moved to help her with the door. "Awesome!"

"Not the word I would use, but yeah, we're going outside," Tali admitted. "I just hope you know what you're doing Zek."

"Not entirely, but that's never stopped me before," the Pirate replied jovially, already checking the seals on his helmet. "When you are ready, Ms. Zorah."

It didn't take long for Tali to bypass the lockdown function, especially with Kasumi helping to pick up the slack. Once they were inside though, there was a slight complication.

"I can't get the airlock to cycle normally, it's pretty much just going bust clean open," she warned. "I'd suggest hanging onto something unless you want the escaping air to send you rocketing into space with no means of stopping your forward momentum."

"Sounds like a rush," Kasumi said, wrapping her arm around a railing ear the door. "Do it."

Zek had already grabbed onto an adjacent railing near Tali's leg, so they were good to go. Tali activated the pad and both inner and outer airlock doors flung open. Air rushed screaming out of the room, pulling anything that wasn't bolted down right out along with it. The bodies of Covenant soldiers were sent flying out into the black as Tali held onto dear life alongside her compatriots.

Eventually the air had all leaked out and the three were able to leave under their own power instead of being sucked out into the void itself. Tali briefly floated out the other side of the airlock to see the glorious inky black of space beyond. While the asteroids hovering around her plane of vision were eye-catching, her gaze eventually fell onto the cargo ship below.

It was about the half the size of maybe a Migrant Fleet Envoy ship in length, big but certainly not daunting like most of the Covenant vessels they had encountered. In addition to around six external compartments on it's sides, it was also a bit more rotund in shape. Probably to fit more crates within. It didn't take her long to spot the engineering team working on the docking clamps, still cutting their way through.

"Why don't they get Engineers to fix it," Kasumi asked, her voice cracking over close-range comms as she floated beside Tali. "Huragok I mean."

"As if the Covenant will just hand them out to anyone who asks," Zek informed her. "No, if the average working stiffs want to do something, they gotta do it themselves. Or get unggoy to do it for them."

Tali had her visor scan the deck of the ship and it quickly picked up other lifeforms near the docking clamps.

"They had a security detail, Elites most likely," she cautioned.

"They're more there to keep the unggoy doing their job than protecting them," Zek assured her. "Let's float in close enough to make them out before we engage."

The three of them pushed themselves off the side of the airlock and towards the ship proper. No one seemed to notice them. Just as Zek had claimed, they weren't expecting someone trying this. It wasn't long before they got close enough to just touch the hull.

Once properly aligned, Tali activated her's boots' magnetization field, allowing her to walk on the hull without floating away. No sooner had she done that though, was their element of surprise blown. One of the Elites spotted the trio making their landing and pointed his weapon as he called to the attention of his fellows. Tali launched herself over to piece of cover along the ship's superstructure as plasma bolts flew at her. Zek was quick to respond though, his needler already out and at the ready. He fired three clean shots into the Elite's head and let the explosive shards do the rest.

As that Elite vanished in a puff of pink, a second Elite launched himself into the black with a hover pack he was wearing. He rained down plasma fire on the trio, but they fired back at him. Kasumi trailed a line of shots at the Covie, managing to hit one of his booster packs, igniting it. A brief explosion sent the Elite hurtling away into the wall of the main facility.

Tali in the meantime targeted another Elite who had taken flight and was currently strafing her position. With Geth Shotgun in hand, she charged the weapon and took careful aim at the Covie. The alien, however, nimbly dodged the powerful shot as it traveled at him. Clearly, even with the increased range, the gun's fire was just too slow to catch a capable Covenant soldiers. So instead she decided to use that advantage against him.

She activated her sabotage function on her omni-tool hitting the Covie with it. The next time the Elite fired, a terrible searing overcharge caused his twin plasma rifles to explode in his face. The discharge was enough to disorient the Covie, sending him tumbling back towards the ship. That was when Tali aimed her Shotgun again, charged it and let loose another shot. This time, it connected and ended the Elite for good.

At this point the engineering crew had stopped their attempts to cut the ship free. They fired on the trio of boarders desperately, plasma and needle rounds flying in every direction. Kasumi let loose with her submachine gun as she flung herself into cover. Zek just popped his shield out instead and returned fire with his own plasma pistol.

"I hate it when they remember they actually have spines," Zek grumbled, firing a clean shot into one grunt.

The weren't the only problem though, more Elites soon started charging in on their section. Tali activated Chiktikka again to slow them down, but it looked like they were about to sandwhiched. But as Chiktikka fell before an onslaught of plasma bolts, suddenly the Elite positions lit up with purple fire. From on high, a Phantom dropship strafed the enemy. Dropping down from it's belly appeared a squad of batarians, taking the Elites completely by surprise. The grunts didn't last much longer either, as the Phantom quickly turned it's guns on them.

"Told ya Varvok would be here," Zek said smugly.

Varvok was indeed there, motioning his men to secure the surrounding area while he made a run for Zek. Garrus was with him, a welcome sight for Tali. It was good to know he had come to help her out on this crazy plan. Although she kind of regret he had when he opened his mouth.

"You seriously went along with this?" He asked her bluntly.

"He didn't really leave much room for discussion," Tali explained.

"It's working, isn't it?" Zek interrupted, sounding a bit annoyed at their continued criticism. He then turned to Varvok. "You got those charges?"

"Yes, where do we plant them?" Varvok asked frantically. "Airlock?"

"Nah," the Pirate said smiling sinisterly "I got a more immediate solution in mind."

While the bulk of the batarians distracted the remaining security on the hull, Zek led everyone else towards the front of the ship. Most of the major big Covenant ships kept their bridges near the back of the vessel. That was primarily for military ships though and, again, only the really big ones. A cargo ship had it's bridge at the front, much like a Corvette. And just like a Corvette it also had a window into space. Zek was already arming the explosive when they got near said window and Tali was quick to predict what he was about to do before he even did it. He leaned over, waved at what she presumed were some of the bridge hands and then slapped the charge on the window before rushing back.

"Get ready to move!" He shouted. "We got less than a minute!"

Second later, the bomb exploded and the air within the bridge began to get sucked right out of the ship. Elites went flying out of the ship, their screams unheard in the vacuum of space. Before it was even over though, Zek made the others follow him to the hole he just made. They forced their way inside the hole, just as the last bits of air began to be sucked clean out. The whole team made it inside just as large shutters closed across the windows.

"Ha! Made it!" Zek shouted with glee. "The bridge's atmo should recycle soon. In the meantime, Ms. Zorah, Ms. Goto, I need you to disengage the cargo compartments. Only way we're getting this haul out of here in time."

"We're on it," Kasumi stated.

Tali activated her omni-tool and wirelessly connected it to the ship's grid. While she was good at hacking though, she didn't want to waste time trying to guess what button did what. They didn't have the time. She decided it was probably a good idea to use her trump card for the situation. She activated DOT, who was still plugged into her suit's systems.

"How may I be of assistance?" She asked.

"Can you locate the cargo compartment ejection protocols, DOT?" She asked. "We need to get them detached so the Serpent can pick it up."

"Of course, one moment."

As DOT began to search, there was a sudden rumbling that shook the ship. For a brief second they thought it was an enemy attack, but Varvok assured them otherwise.

"That should be the asteroid mine exploding," he said.

Moments later, someone confirmed it on the main comm channel.

"Shepard to all teams, we are away from the main facility with data in tow," the Commander reported. "We just got a front row seat to the asteroid going boom. Good work down there people."

That was when DOT located the ejection controls for Tali. She quickly went through the process of pulling switches and activating commands. She pressed the final button on the holographic display and the ship shook once more.

"Cargo away," Tali reported. "Get your ship in to tow it away, Zek."

"Excellent, once that's done, and everyone's evacuated back to the fleet, we can bombard what's left of the facility and make a clean getaway," the Jackal declared. "All in all, a successful job, people. Drinks on me!"

Tali wasn't sure she'd take him up on that, but she had to admit he was right. There were bumps, complications, even a few insane moments. However, they had pulled it off more or less. It was something to be proud of. They had hurt the Covenant and for once, it didn't hurt to think they had actually done something as a unit. At least, Tali hoped that was the sentiment everyone was feeling.

---

Zek sat at his desk grinning widely at the image of Holland and Haverson looking back at him through the vidchat window. He looked his particularly smug self, but for once no one was berating him for it. A soft rock tune was playing in the background off of Boz's radio station. Zek was pouring a glass of ichor for himself as he spoke. In corner of the video display though, next to the humans' grim faces, was the more beautiful sight. The smoking remains of the Plasma Coil facility, crumbled to bits, just more debris in the asteroid field.

"A great day for everyone, gentlemen," Zek declared, holding his glass high. "The Covenant's operation is scrap and we all got something out of it. A perfect heist if you will."

"I'd prefer to call it raid," Holland informed the Pirate bluntly. "The UNSC doesn't do heists."

"Well, I have no problem with that," Zek assured him. "We're Pirates, raiding is part of the job description. And might I say, you folks don't make bad buccaneers yourselves."

"I'm not sure if we appreciate the comparison," Haverson stated. "But we do appreciate your help in this matter. We managed to pull this off with minimal casualties and with an acceptable expenditure of resources. And if we can get the data we've obtained back to Earth, our scientists can start fast tracking our own plasma-related research with our cut of the materials we've collected."

Zek's smiled deepened and he started circling his hand about. Holland quickly guessed what it was for and simply sighed.

"You did us a good turn, Zek, thank you," the Colonel finally relented. "If any intelligence about other potential targets of opportunity cross your desk..."

"We'll be sure to share them, Colonel," Zek promised. "Now, I must go. My men expect me to make an appearance at our evening celebration. We also have more vids to watch."

"We won't keep you then," Haverson assured. "Enjoy yourself, Shipmaster."

That was when they disconnected and Zek got up off his chair. Drink still in hand he scampered over to Retz, a similar wicked smile across his own face.

"Looks like we got away with it, sir," Retz informed him.

"So the crate was there then?" Zek asked hopefully. "In the docked Cargo ship like they told you?"

"My contacts are ever reliable, sir," Retz replied, snapping his fingers as he spoke.

Two other kig-yar entered the room, lugging in a large crate into the quarters. They set it down by Zek's feet. Eagerly he opened it up and saw the beautiful sight inside. Several packets, full to the brim, with white crystal powder, sugar. Said packets also surrounded a small machine, known to Zek as an ionized chemical compound construction device.

"It seems my friends in the chemical constitution business are indeed good at what they do," Retz said as Zek reached into the crate. "Thanks to that half-eaten packet we analyzed, they were able to copy the exact chemical composition of the sugar. Creating a perfect synthetic duplicate. Although not nearly as pure or as potent as the real thing, it will be more than adequate for our needs at the moment."

"We need to start testing recipes with this stuff as soon as possible," Zek stated as he held a packet in his hand. "We can get some clients started on the fake stuff for cheap, then jack up the price once we have the real deal."

"A wise business strategy, sir, but it does hinge us finding real sugar," Retz cautioned. "It's not going to be easy doing that. The humans aren't just going to hand over locations of possible human colonies growing the stuff to us. Especially if we tell them we're using it to essentially jump start a sugar smuggling venture."

"Yes, the UNSC probably isn't in the business of selling narcotics anymore than heists," Zek said, laughing only slightly at that. "We just need to find a way around that, a map if you will. But we can't hack their computers, that Cortana AI is a clever one. We'd never get one by her, not after the Carrier. We'll need to find another way. In the meantime, we practice on the synthetic crop and we do it quietly."

"I don't think they'll really care that much in the end," Retz told him plainly. "We can use the extra credits to buy them and ourselves better weapons. As well as secure more intelligence concerning the Covenant for them. Will they really care that much about use essentially drug money to get all that?"

"Holland and Haverson are men of principle, Retz," Zek reminded him. "I'd rather be safe than sorry. I suppose I could've told them the truth about this, but to be honest, I didn't want the hassle. We may have to share mission critical stuff, but this is an internal matter. They don't need to know about it."

"I agree, Zek," Retz concurred. "But let's hope this doesn't come back to bite us eventually. We've gained a lot of good faith today, I'd hate to see it flushed down the drain."

Zek ripped the pack open a bit and dipped his finger in the sugar. He then started stirring it into his ichor.

"Relax, Retz," he said jovially. "We're riding high on this win. Between this, our potential market on the vids and Taq's little treasure map, we're back on the way to the top. Shepard, Holland and the others will appreciate that in time. After all, we did this together, didn't we?"

"Yes, a real team effort, sir," Retz added grinning.

Zek raised his glass high at that.

"To the UNSC and the Normandy, the greatest friends a pirate could ask for," Zek declared. "Fellow brigands, whether they like it or not, whether they know it or not."

Zek took back a long gulp, which was followed by a sudden tingle up his spine.

"Oh that's good stuff, even for a synthetic copy," he said happily.

---

Taq tapped her satchel where her little data pyramid was hidden. She didn't want to risk leaving it alone anywhere. For one she didn't trust Zek's crew. For another, she just didn't trust Zek. Hell, she didn't exactly trust the humans either, but they were mostly a non-issue. It was better to keep her meal ticket on her. She did not want to risk someone else acquiring and ruining her big score.

She intended to do some more study on it in her quarters. No sense in going to the wreck unprepared. Maybe she'd find something she overlooked, possible defenses, counter-measures, protocols concerning a crash. Anything that could help navigate the place really, she had never been on a Forerunner wreck before so for all she knew it was loaded with traps.

As she entered her cabin aboard the Fallen Serpent she was initially relieved to be back some place she could relax for a brief moment. So long as Zek didn't try to knock on her door asking for a date or whatever. That feeling suddenly started to shift though, her thoughts swimming with anxiety. So many years in the field had honed her senses, made her hyper aware of danger. Right now, she was getting a bad feeling.

She moved for her plasma pistol, just as she saw shadow in the corner of her eye. Then she looked to see a grenade flying right at her. She only had seconds to move, she made a desperate scramble to put something between her and bomb. Then came the deafening sound of an explosion and bright flash of flame.

---

AN: Uh oh, looks like we got trouble aboard the Serpent, and not the usual kind. If you want to know what's up with that, best stay tuned for more dear readers. Same Halo Time, same Mass Effect channel. Anyway, apologies for the delay, it's been a bit of a month. Please do review and check out the profile for a link to this chapter's behind the scenes blogpost. See you guys again soon and thanks for your continued support!