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.

28. The Siege of New Teteocan

Chapter 27: The Siege of New Teteocan

They Got Us Surrounded Again, the Poor Bastards

-Creighton Abrams

The bombardments didn't exactly cease after the first barrage. They kept coming in hard and heavy in differing intervals. The consensus as to why became clear to everyone involved, Snarlbeak was trying to keep them all in a state of panic. Keep them huddled down, unsure of when his pirates would storm out of the woods to finish the job. However, it provided the defenders with an opportunity to strike back at the enemy before they even got to the colony.

Zhoc's people weren't stupid, they were moving the Wraiths around the forest. That much was obvious. They probably didn't think New Teteocan's defenders had long-range fire support, but they weren't taking chances that they didn't. After all, they had the big laser spire that could shoot ships out of the sky right? However, there was a lot of brush to navigate and it wasn't the best terrain for a tank to hover about in. More importantly though, the fact they kept shooting every once in a while gave their positions away to the very people who were tracking them.

Varvok had been on the trail of one Wraith tank moving among the trees. His squad was small, but it was backed up with decent heavy weapons and some support from McKay's Drop Troopers. They had been on search and destroy missions like this before. For as wily as these pirates were, they were far less disciplined than the Covenant. They did not do as much to cover their tracks. They forced the tanks through the forest, destroying a good chunk of vegetation in their path. They also left a lot of discarded bottles from their ichor. Apparently, most kig-yar went into battle drunk off their asses under normal circumstances. Not smart, not at all.

Following the discarded booze and broken trees was a simple enough matter. As was staying hidden within the underbrush. Varvok's men had been trained for this exact kind of operation. Insurgent tactics, getting up close to the enemy, hitting them when they felt most protected. Given how these kig-yar were acting, they most certainly felt very protected. When they finally found them, setting up for another barrage, it had almost felt too easy.

The challenge instead came in the impressive guard protecting the Wraiths. They were loaded up with beam rifles and Carbines and Needlers. A few had portable plasma turrets they had lugged around. Obviously, their leaders had prepared a rear guard in anticipation of a possible counter attack on their lines. That didn't mean the pirates themselves believed there was a danger, but someone obviously had. Zhoc most likely, Zom didn't seem like the type to take that kind of initiative. His boss didn't leave things to chance though. Regardless, they needed to be dealt with.

"We need to get at the Wraith's plasma core on the back," he told his men. "That goes down, the tank goes up with it. Set up snipers over near those trees to lure their shots away. I'll take a team to go around and hit the core with a rocket. ODSTs are moving up on your left from over there, coordinate with them."

"Can we trust them on our flank, sir?" One of the soldiers asked dutifully.

"We're deep inside enemy lines, private," he informed his fellow batarian. "They're the only ones out here we CAN trust. I suggest you accept that and do your duty."

The pirvate nodded firmly. Even if they had doubts about the humans still lingering within, they knew better than to question his judgment. They'd act accordingly now, he trusted them to do so. As they left to set up their positions, Varvok took his portion of the team along to other side of the enemy's flank. He kept low and to the ground as they moved through the bush.

They could hear the kig-yar pirates chattering away as they prepared for another barrage. Varvok kept his eyes on the Wraith as they moved silently towards its back. He could see the glow of the plasma core. It wasn't a clear enough shot yet, nor was it a sure enough hit. They needed to get closer, enough to hug the enemy.

As they neared their position, the other squad began to open fire. Snipers took out one of the gunners with a clean headshot. In an instant, the pirates concentrated fire on where the shot had come from. Which took their eyes off Varvok's group completely. They poured plasma bolts into the treelines from the heavy cannons as the Wraith tried to reposition itself to lend support. It was a move that would leave their backside open to Varvok's team.

They soon saw their target as the Wraith turned its rear towards them. The glowing blue resonance of the Plasma Core shone brightly for them. It was the perfect target and Varvok had exactly what they needed. He hefted a rocket launcher onto his shoulder and took aim.

"They're going to start shooting at us the second the Wraith goes up," he warned. "So keep in cover and return fire in short bursts. We need to crush the squad between us."

Now was the moment. With steady aim, Varvok fired the rocket into the plasma core of the tank. The bursting explosion ruptured the core and the orange flare was soon replaced with a blue inferno. The core cracked clean open, causing the Wraith tank to go up like a volcano. The pirates ran for cover as molten slag as plasma fire rained down around them. As predicted, a few had spotted Varvok's team and began firing back on them. The batarian rushed around a tree, dropping the launcher as he did. Pulling out a pistol, he returned fire as the pirates began to scatter.

"Don't let them run off!" He ordered. "Take them all down!"

They needed to keep their movements a secret for as long as possible. The ambush teams would be discovered eventually, but the longer they weren't the more confusion they'd sow. Every squad obliterated was one less that could report back to Snarlbeak about what was happening, making him slower to respond to their actions. That in turn, bought Shepard and the Colony more time.

He contacted the Commander over a secure line to inform them of the good news.

"One Wraith down," he informed him, still shooting back on the pirates. "We're going to clean up the support team and move on. We'll try and meet up with McKay's team along their main route. How are you holding up?"

---

The burst of a plasma grenade forced Shepard to lower his head.

"Holding," he answered Varvok over the radio. "That basically sums it up. Keep up the good work, over and out."

Shepard moved through the makeshift trench to the next firing line. Snarlbeak's advanced forces, the other drop pods he had sent down to the planet, had arrived in earnest. They poured out of the trees and were now assaulting the main defensive line. They were not lightly armed probing forces though. They all had automatic weapons, sturdier shields and full armor. These were crack Pirate shock troops, and they were here to soften up or break defenders in the trenches in preparation for the arrival of the main force.

One of the Pirate Troopers was armed with a concussion rifle, one that he was using to spray a portion of the trenches where they had set up a machine gun nest. They needed to find and take him out. Any suppressed defensive point potentially endangered the entire line. And while they couldn't hold every trench forever, the longer they did, the better their odds became.

Shepard slunk along the trench towards Garrus. He was situated in a makeshift barricade for his current sniper's nest. The turian was picking shots against the attacking pirates, plugging a shot into one of their legs and causing them to tumble over, allowing him to be picked off by machine gunners. Sniping was always hard against an enemy that made liberal use of an energy shield that more durable than it looked. It was a good thing Garrus had become so good at shooting at the weak points he had long since memorized. The real problem was the sheer amount of enemies rushing from the trees, clumps of bad guys who made it harder to single out a decent target.

"I think it's safe to say Snarlbeak wants that relic real bad, Shepard," the turian told him. "For a pack of pirates, this is surprisingly more coordinated than I thought. Barrages to soften us up, advanced drop troops, shields out in force to soak up fire, he's might not be military, but he's got this planned out."

"He's had people here for a while now watching us," Shepard reminded him. "He had an idea about what to expect. But he didn't count on everything, Varvok is already making a mess behind his lines as we speak. He and the ODSTs just took out a long-range Wraith Tank."

"Good, the fewer killer rain drops the better," Garrus agreed.

He took aim again, blasting the plasma pistol right out of the hand of one Jackal as it tried to press for the trench. The momentarily jerk of the alien's head, reeling from the pain, left him exposed long enough for Garrus to hit him again with a shot to the face.

"They're still hitting us hard though," the turian continued. "They keep getting closer and closer to the first trench. We might have to pull them back."

That was sooner than they even predicted, which was bad news for their time table. They had to hold out, they needed more time. Eventually the lines of defense would fold, they had to in order to preserve their forces, but if the fell back too fast they'd have nothing left. There was good news in all of this though, before Varvok had called, Tali had sent him a message.

"The Team inside the facility just busted through the first door," he reported to Garrus. "Their overtime work through the rest of the night paid off. The plasma torch is holding and they are making good time."

"That's great Shepard, but it took them a long time to just get through the first door," Garrus reminded him. "Chances are the next two won't be any easier and these guys aren't letting up on their assault regardless."

"We need to shake them off a bit," Shepard reasoned. "Force them back, try to keep them pinned in the trees rather than risking the open field."

"I figured since they weren't religious fanatics that would be easier," Garrus said, taking a few more shots. "But they keep coming all the same. For a bunch of greedy pirates, they don't seem to have much of a sense of self-preservation."

Probably because Zhoc didn't give them the option. That insurance policy he mentioned was probably only good so long as you did as you were told. Fail to carry out a mission and it was null and void, meaning your family got nothing. That just seemed to be Zhoc's play, you were expendable, only valuable so long as you did your job.

Or, just as likely, they were too afraid of what Zhoc would do to you for defying his orders. It was likely a mix of both. Whatever death charging these trenches were, it was probably quicker overall than the alternative. Perhaps there was a way to change that.

"What about the mines?" Shepard asked. "Are they armed?"

Garrus pulled out a switch.

"I have them set for sections," he explained. "But I wanted to wait for the vehicles to show up given that they're a priority."

"We need to make it to the vehicles," Shepard insisted. "We can afford to lose some right now. Arm the ones near where the attacks are the thickest. That should be enough to keep the pressure off for now."

Garrus acknowledged the shift in strategy and armed a section of the planted mines. Nothing exploded for a few seconds, but eventually, one of the Jackals got careless enough with their footing. A ton of dirt was thrown into the air, as were a few of the space pirates themselves. A second explosion erupted a few moments later. That was enough to stall the advance for that section, as the pirates pulled back to the treeline.

This did not stop the shooting though. Before long, the treeline was illuminated with plasma fire. Needles came flying out of the foliage, forcing Garrus to duck deeper into his cover. He used the opportunity to reload his rifle and then peered out momentarily. He spotted some flashes, took careful aim and returned fire. The only confirmation that any of the shots had found their mark was that no bolts or needles answered back.

They were far from secure, however. Despite the assault being stalled in one section, there was a wide front to cover. The concussion rifles returned, bombarding a section of the trenches. Shepard watched as a pair of Marines were slung back by the incoming shots. Others ran for cover as the area became saturated with plasma. It didn't take long for the Space Pirates to capitalize on the situation, they charged in on the weakened area of the line.

"Shift fire," he told Garrus, pointing at the sudden breakthrough. "I'll see what I can do up close!"

Shepard raced off over the trenches, using his biotic charge to zip himself forward. He found a downed Machine gun nest, its operator, a Marine, badly burned by plasma scoring. A colonist was seeing to him, but that left the section unprotected.

"Stay on him," Shepard told the colonist. "I'll take over!"

Shepard grabbed the machine gun, spun up the barrels and started blasting away. He raked bullets across the frontline, cutting down Jackal riflemen as they charged forward. The shield carriers he had to press fire onto. Their defensive gauntlets were indeed useful against small arms fire, but a concentrated rain of bullets from a machine gun would wear away the plasma energy protecting those behind it. The shots ripped through a trio of the shield carriers as they tried to hold out against the storm. The withering fire breaking their defenses under the strain.

Their resolve to push forward though gave the Concussion Riflemen a chance to fire a second barrage from closer range. Shepard had to duck down as a number of bursts exploded near his nest. He popped back up to send a shockwave rippling at the advancing Jackals, knocking a few down like bowling pins. More were pressing on his position though, and he couldn't cover the whole section with just one machine gun. Thankfully, help soon arrived.

A burst of biotic energy exploded in the face of some of the Jackals, sending them flying back from whence they came. Jack scrambled over the trenches to meet with Shepard and send another of her shockwaves at the encroaching enemy. She then let loose with her shotgun, blasting at the pirates as they floated in the air.

"Fuckers are scrambling all over the place!" Jack screamed. "I can't keep track of every fucking sector!"

"We'll hold them all as long as we have to," Shepard said, not letting up the fire on the machine gun. "The brain team still needs more time! When we get the facility's defenses up, there's nothing else Zhoc's people can do! They'll have to retreat!"

"We're putting a lot of stock into some old alien tech working," Jack informed him, pulling a pirate off his feet with her biotics. The hostile flipped over to show his unshielded backside, allowing Jack to shoot him with ease.

"I'm putting stock into our people," Shepard corrected. "If anyone can get the facility's grid online again it's them."

Another combined shockwave from both Jack and Shepard sent the Pirates scampering for cover. The breakthrough had been thwarted, for now. And as much as he wanted to be optimistic, Shepard knew Jack had a point. Things were only going to get more difficult the longer this went on.

"We should go in there and just rip these fuckers apart," Jack said. "Best defense and all that shit."

"Jack, we already have our people behind the lines, remember," he reminded her. "We have to trust that they're handling it. They have their job, we have ours."

"Yeah, yeah, I guess," she sighed. "Have you heard from Thane?"

"Just Varvok, for now," Shepard responded. "But he's with Jun as I understand it, they should be fine."

"Yeah, okay," Jack said, sounding a bit unsure. "I guess... as long as he ain't alone out there."

Shepard didn't even look, he only acknowledged things with a quick nod. That didn't stop Jack from getting defensive.

"Don't read into that," she informed him. "I'm just trying to stay informed!"

"I know," Shepard assured her. "I didn't say anything."

"Well, good," Jack responded. "I'm... I'm just gonna go kill more of these fucking space pirates then."

"Counting on it," Shepard told her, firing the machine gun again into the treeline. "I'll let you know if I hear anything from Thane."

Jack just nodded, a bit more appreciative looking than usual. Shepard said nothing more he was just happy to see Jack invested in this mission. Even if it was for more personal reasons. He did share her concerns though. Varvok, Thane and the others out in the jungle were alone out there in the sense they couldn't help them. They were fighting, tooth and nail to sabotage the enemy advance. Shepard had to trust they could do that without him, that his place was here. It was a reality he had long accepted, but it never got any easier.

All he could do was hope they'd get back unscathed.

---

Zhoc was not happy, this was not going to schedule as he had planned. While no strategy survived first contact with the enemy, he had expected his people to adjust quicker. He expected he wouldn't have to micromanage everything. He had expected they'd be past their first line of defenses by now. They weren't and the reason was infuriating.

"Are you telling me we've lost full coverage?" He shouted into his comm-link. "Why aren't my long-range wraiths firing?"

"We've lost signals from at least three fireteams, sir," one of his officers reported through the radio. "We're trying to re-establish-"

"You are wasting time! They are obviously dead!" Zhoc shouted back. "They wouldn't stop firing unless they were! I want you to find out why and to prevent it from happening! Is that so hard to understand?"

"No sir, it's not."

"Do I have to send Lurz to teach you how to do your job?" Zhoc threatened.

"NO! No, sir! Lurz is not required! We're fine! We'll fix this!" The officer frantically replied, fear echoing in his voice at every syllable. Just how Zhoc preferred.

"See that you do!" Zhoc growled. "I want in that damn facility! TODAY! Today, people!"

He hung up, so many worthless employees on his docket. If anything went right today, it would be removing some of the chaff from his ranks. Although he supposed he couldn't blame all the delays on them. These colonists and the UNSC themselves were formidable opponents and Shepard was at the head of this defense no doubt. He was at least instrumental in organizing it. Taking him out was becoming more and more of a priority than he'd have liked.

Currently, Zhoc was travelling with his column through the jungle, skirting the edge of the conflict. He didn't want to be too far from the action, although some of his subordinates suggested he should be. That was out of the question though, he had been too hands-off about this situation. The relics were of the highest importance and he was leaving their acquisition in the hands of those who did not appreciate that like he did. If anything was going to get done, he'd have to be there to see it through personally.

Part of him wondered though, perhaps he should use his considerable task force amassed here to assault the Carrier that was no doubt nearby. If they could disable and board it, then they'd be able to take the relics Zek and the humans had already captured. At least he'd have the two that he failed to grab previously, even if he failed to acquire this one.

However, he decided against it. Zek's men would likely slink away with the relics if anything bad happened. He'd waste so much time dealing with the carrier, they'd jump away and it would take forever to find them. Plus, it may have only been one Assault Carrier, but that still left him at a disadvantage. Humans had proven to be resourceful despite their fewer ships. What could Zek's new friends manage at the helm of a Covenant vessel with better weapons? Besides, the Carrier would likely lure any attacking ships into range of the massive ground weapon the colonists possessed. That was not a favorable situation at all.

No, it was better to keep the fleet at a distance, hold the carrier in check. If it tried to provide support to the troops on the ground, they could attack it from an angle that the spire would not be able to hit them from. A stalemate in space was preferable at this point. Besides, they had other means of acquiring air support.

However, that didn't mean Zhoc was going to refrain from using his fleet. The reports he was hearing about his advance force taking heavy losses, including his drop pod troops, was disconcerting. They needed more meat in this grinder if they were going to dislodge the enemy. A tactical expenditure was required if his plan was to succeed.

He contacted Zom. It was the only way to keep momentum up at this point. The Fleetmaster's face entered his eye-piece's video feed. Zom was still wearing his skull helmet, but it couldn't hide his clear concern.

"Zom, report on your status," Zhoc ordered.

"Holding just out of range of the spire's weapon," he replied. "No sign of the Carrier, we believe it is lying in wait as you predicted. When we locate it, we will engage with all we have."

"The ship won't willingly reveal itself, not unless you force its hand," Zhoc informed him. "More importantly though, we need more bodies down here."

"Another drop pod attempt will likely cost us more ships," Zom infored him. "We've already lost one to the weapon."

"We have reserves, don't we?" Zhoc asked. "Inform all hands for three of our assault ships to get to evac points and prepare for emergency landing procedures."

Zom seemed surprised by the plan.

"Sir, you want our people to crash land on the planet?" He asked.

"It is our only means of reinforcement at this point," Zhoc insisted. "Load every vehicle, every crew member, every gun onto a dropship, or drop pod or whatever else we have. Hell ride the flaming hulk down here when they shoot it, but get me more bodies!"

Zom looked hesitant at first, but Zhoc kept glaring at him. The cold unyielding eyes of his commander eventually won out and the officer relented at last. It was unwise to question Snarlbeak's strategies.

"It... it will be done, sir," he finally answered.

Zhoc nodded and terminated the transmission. It was a costly play, but they would have their people down here. When the spire shot their ships down, the crews inside would evacuate by any means and land on the surface of the planet near their positions. They'd like end up dropping right into the fire, some of the landings would be rough. Even with everyone prepared for the jump, casualties would like be high, but it didn't matter. The display would show the defenders that they could no hope to stand against a force so willing to face almost certain death to achieve their goals.

Besides, it would hardly matter. They just needed to keep the defenders locked in combat long enough for his plan to work. They'd either exhaust themselves or he'd find an opening. One way or another, he'd be walking into that Forerunner facility.

At least, that was the plan. When he watched one of his nearby officer's heads explode, he was reminded how many obstacles there truly were in his way. Quickly, Zhoc slipped into cover behind a tree. Bullets began to shred at the vegetation, as well as his men. They returned fire, but were cut down for trying. He watched at least three of his soldiers go down in quick succession. The flashes from the trees told him all he needed to know.

"Snipers," he scowled.

Of course Shepard and the UNSC had sent people into the Jungle. Saboteurs, counter-attackers, guerillas meant to slow him down. It was obvious enough from the second his long-range Wraiths stopped firing. They were trying to wreck his offensive from behind their lines! Clever of them, a strategy almost worthy of the kig-yar. He'd applaud them for their efforts, were it not for the fact he was fed up with them all. He had a destiny to fulfill, a promise to keep to his family. He'd not let them ruin this.

"Fire all heavy weapons!" He ordered. "Burn the trees to ashes and all that hide within!"

As quick as he gave the order, kig-yar with Fuel Rod Cannon, plasma grenade launchers and concussion rifles, along with any Wraiths nearby, began to pummel the jungle where the enemy fire was coming from. They'd root out the snipers or immolate them with plasma. Either way, they'd cease to be a problem and Zhoc could continue on with his appointed task.

---

Thane had to jump down from his perch as plasma exploded around his sniper's nest. The tree was soon on fire, followed by much of the adjacent jungle canopy. He raced down through the underbrush, as more and more plasma ripped into the foliage. In all the confusion, he almost forgot his spotter.

"Jun!" He called out over the roar of the bombs and weathering shockwaves. "Jun! Where are you?!"

The Spartan made himself known, when he raced out of a burning crop of bushes as blue plasma fell from the sky and exploded behind him. A large branch nearly crashed atop him, but he tucked and rolled just in time to avoid it. He finally reached Thane and the two began to run together.

The plasma blasts kept landing around them as they rushed through the burning woods. They could still hear the roar of the guns behind them even as they left the pirate column far behind them. They had expected a fairly devastating response for opening fire on them, but they had thought it would take them more time to properly rally.

Eventually, they managed to get out of the killzone, heading into the thick brush of the jungle.

"Well, that could've gone better," Jun said. "We didn't take out nearly as many of them as we hoped. That won't slow them down for long."

"No, but I think we just stumbled onto a key target," Thane informed him, still catching his breath. "When I was looking through the scope on my rifle, I saw one of the Jackals in charge. He had a large scar across his face, heading down to his beak."

Jun perked up at that.

"Snarlbeak?" He asked.

"It had to be," Thane insisted. "He matched Zek's description."

"Then he's here, on the ground," Jun reasoned. "Why? He's putting himself at a good deal of risk here."

"Perhaps he doesn't trust anyone but himself to get the relic at this point," Thane theorized. "It doesn't matter. If we can take him out, this attack and his threat will be over for good."

"We're gonna need more people if we're going to head after that column," Jun warned. "We need 058, McKay, Varvok..."

"We'll shadow them for now," Thane said. "No sense pulling everyone off keeping the tanks back until we have a concrete plan. When we got something, we'll call them in. Meantime, I'll contact Shepard, tell him what we found."

Jun nodded and took point as they headed through the jungle once more.

---

Colonel Holland was not much for space combat. He was army, he preferred the ground. He had tried to adjust to engaging in space combat when they had no choice, but if they could avoid he chose to do so. To him, the Ascendant Justice was just a mobile gun platform to deliver artillery support to his ground teams. While he wasn't Navy, even he knew that wasn't what a combat ship was built for.

This was why he was relieved to have stumbled upon Admiral Whitcomb, it meant they had someone with actual naval experience at last to take the reigns during space battles. That was part of the reason he had been so willing to share joint command with the Admiral. There was no place for differing branch rivalries in a survival situation. Whitcomb's expertise was invaluable in a situation where the enemy had more ships than you and were constantly hunting you down.

For now though, they were playing blockade for the planet below them. The Colonist's Spire was a formidable weapon, but it needed a good deal of time to recharge between shots. The pirates didn't know this, so they kept their distance. If they figured out though their people on the ground would be in trouble. That made the Ascendant Justice and its various support ships that made up their tiny fleet the best secondary defense they had. If any of Snarlbeak's captains got a bit bolder and tried to make a run for the planet, they would still have the carrier to worry about. With any luck, that was giving them extra reason to take pause before attempting to get into firing range again.

So far Snarlbeak's fleet had held their position, outside of the Spire's maximum firing range. They in turn had remained cloaked and refrained from heading in to engage them. The Ascendant Justice was a powerful vessel. Even more so with the Gettysburg currently added to its front nose, boosting the carrier's considerable power even more thanks to its MAC Gun. However, with so many pirate ships, it would be foolish to jump head first into a mess of hostile ships even for them. They needed to play smart here and wait for the opportunity to engage.

That opportunity came soon enough. One of the officers looked over to Whitcomb from his screen.

"Sir, three of the enemy ships are breaking ranks," he warned. "Long-range scans suggest their heading is towards the planet."

"They probably think they can use superior numbers to push past the Spire's energy blasts," Whitcomb presumed. "We can't let them through. Move into striking distance. Ready the MAC gun on the Gettysburg. We'll knock at least one of them out of the fight."

The Justice moved towards the enemy ships on an intercept course. From what their scanners were tell them, they were all smaller ships. They were relatively well armed, but not for full fledged combat. It was likely they weren't trying to bombard the planet, but send more drop pods to the surface. However, they weren't the only ones moving.

"Sir, two larger battlecruisers are moving behind them," an officer warned.

"Escorts," Whitcomb presumed. "They know we're out here and will attempt to stop them. How much longer until intercept range?"

"Thirty seconds, sir," the officer reported. "Cloak is holding."

An agonizing wait to be sure, Whitcomb watched as they edged closer to the targets. His mind went over a number of possible moves and countermoves for the forthcoming engagement. He could tell Zhoc's people were wily, and he didn't believe these ships were breaking formation without a reason. Soon enough, they had one of the vessels in range. Whitcomb looked to the gunnery officers on the bridge.

"Target the ship, bring it down," he ordered. "They do not get through."

The Gunnery officers prepared weapons systems. While it was a bit of a jury-rigged system on behalf of the Huragok Engineers, the had a stable enough connection from the Justice's bridge to the Gettysburg's guns that they were able to run through all the necessary checks in a few seconds.

"Fire when ready," Whitcomb ordered. "Give those vultures a wakeup call."

The targeting systems soon locked onto the first of the enemy vessels. The MAC Gun was charged and ready to go. In the next second, as the computer confirmed lock, the head gunney hit the button. The MAC discharged with a powerful explosion. The shot tore through the void before slamming right into the side of enemy ship, tearing it clean open. As it exploded though, their shields began to be rocked by enemy fire.

"The escorts have opened up!" A deckhand informed. "They're really laying into us!"

"Have the Normandy and the Chorka harass them," Whitcomb ordered. "See if they can rip up a few of their batteries. Return fire with our portside batteries, but keep the MAC targeted on those advancing ships! We cannot let them through! Hit the next one when ready!"

It took a while for the MAC to cool down. All the whole, the shields took a pounding from the escort ships. Whitcomb had them increase power to the port side shields, as it was their best option at beating back the tide of incoming plasma torpedoes.

"Shields holding, sir," warned an officer. "But they are hitting us hard!"

"Normandy has engaged, sir!" Another officer reported. "They're firing on the enemy's main batteries!"

"We need to hit that second ship now!" Whitcomb demanded. "Quick, target and fire!"

The MAC was soon ready again and fired another shot. This one broke clean through the engine of the ship. It miraculously didn't explode, but the vessel was disabled and began listing off from its intended path. There was only one more ship now and it was entering optimal range of the spire.

"Break off," Whitcomb ordered. "Let the spire have it's turn! We can't risk being under this withering fire for long!"

The Justice veered away, but they were able to keep tabs on the lone vessel through their screens. Despite the loss of its sisters, the ship kept moving ahead undaunted. As predicted, it soon ran afoul of the spire below. A single blast shot out from the surface and slice into the ship's nose. The yellow beam carved deep into the ship and before long it was burning, pieces of it exploding off, bulkheads collapsing. It would've been a cause to celebrate, but Holland wasn't so sure.

He was no Navy man, but he knew this wasn't right. Why attack a position you knew was untenable? Why keep pursuing a course when your strategy to break through to groundside was dependant on numbers? Unless, that wasn't the plan. Holland rushed over to a screen and looked to the officer.

"Do a deep scan of the debris," he said. "Something isn't right."

The officer obeyed the Colonel and proceeded to initiate deep scans. He soon realized how right the Colonel's concerns were. As did Holland himself as he peered over his shoulder.

"Admiral," he warned. "They've launched escape and drop pods from the destroyed ships."

"Rats leaving a sinking vessel," Whitcomb presumed.

"There's dropships too," Holland continued. "And they all have a trajectory course right for the planet's surface."

Whitcomb's eyes went wide, his jubilant look of victory diminished.

"They... were ready to get blown out of the sky," he reasoned. "They just wanted to get close enough to drop their reinforcements! Damn! They're more ruthless than we gave them credit for! Do we have any idea how many they launched?"

"Unknown, sir," the comms officer informed them. "Chances are not all of them will land safely though, they launched pretty far out."

"That hasn't stopped our ODSTs before," Holland warned. "Why should we think less of a bunch of crazy Jackals?"

At this point, Holland knew better than to underestimate that particular alien species. Whitcomb seemed to agree.

"We might've prevented them from getting a large chunk of their forces down there regardless," he said. "As well as prevented them from discovering the Spire's limitations. We should still warn Shepard and Haverson that they have incoming."

Holland agreed and turned to the comms.

---

Shepard got the call from Holland, but he needn't had bothered. He and everyone below could see he pirate ship exploding in the sky. They could also see the flaming tails of drop pods entering the atmosphere, among other things. Zek had warned them about how hard Zhoc would gun for these relics, what lengths he'd go to get this one. Shepard wondered if even he thought Snarlbeak would be willing to sacrifice three more of his ships just get some extra feet on the ground.

Then again, Thane had just reported in that Snarlbeak himself was on the ground, something that already sounded unprecedented. If he was even willing to put himself in harm's way, that told you everything about his level of obsession with these relics. He was not going to let this one slip away so easily.

Already, the drop pods were landing, some closer to the action than even Shepard suspected they'd end up. Dropships soon appeared, crashing down into the jungle canopy just a few kilometers away from their lines. Who knew how many soldiers those carried, not mention the incoming escape pods holding even more pirates landing in the same areas.

"More friends are coming to the party," He told the defenders around him. "Everyone hold fast! This just got a whole lot harder!"

Indeed they were as a fresh barrage of enemy plasma struck the first few trench lines. Within moments of it lifting, Jackals poured over the ridge and flung themselves down into the trenches below. Now, they were inside the lines and thing were about to get a lot messier.

In response to the breach, the heavy hitters went in to flush the intruders out of the trenches. The heaviest of which being Grunt. One pirate learned exactly how heavy when the giant mass of krogan rammed right into him. His shield did little to prevent the interloper flying off into the air. He got off lucky, his compatriots close behind him were met with the full force of a claymore shotgun blasting into their ranks. The spread of the weapon's attack tore right through one Jackal as it tried to bring its shield up. Two more were injured enough that they fell backwards into the mud, where Grunt simple stomped over their bodies, crushing them as he reloaded his next shot.

Backing up Grunt was Jacob, moving behind the krogan and taking shots at the hostile pirates ahead. This was necessary because, while Grunt's claymore was indeed powerful, it only carried one shot. If the krogan was going to be as effective against plasma weapon wielding psycho space turkeys, he needed someone like Jacob keep an eye on him.

This proved to be an effective strategy soon enough. As one Jackal to fire its needler at Grunt, Jacob used his biotics to pull the pirate off his feet and right into Grunt's fist. The krogan's haymaker proved to be extra effective, as it sent the pirate into flying another of his friends, bowling them both over.

Jacob continued firing as he and Grunt advanced, the Jackals in their section of the trenches slowly back up behind their shields. Eventually, they huddled behind their shields and tried to move forward, hoping the cluster of energy would protect them for the heavy shotgun. It did, as Grunt's shots seemed to bounce off the huddled mass of energy. It did not however prove as effective when the krogan roared aloud, stomped his feet and simply charged the barricade of shields. He smashed through them as if they were nothing but brittle glass windows, knocking them down like bowling pins. Jacob quickly moved behind Grunt to help clean up the stragglers, shooting them before they could get back up.

One of the pirates, however, had been thrown over the top of the trench. A fact Jacob became aware of when the Jackal lunged at him from above, energy dagger in hand. Jacob managed to dodged the slash, as well as the next. He prepared to aim his pistol at the pirate, but it got knocked away. With the odds seemingly evened, the Jackal charged at Jacob. Only for the human to not only dodge the strike, but deliver a powerful punch of his own that sent the alien reeling. He wasn't able to recover in time before Jacob managed to deliver another blow that brought the Jackal down for good this time.

Jacob looked to grab his gun and hurry back to assist Grunt. However, the Krogan was busy pounding more of the interlopers into the mud of the trench. He was taking a degree of joy from it all, as evident from his uproarious laughter. Jacob was just glad to see he was doing okay. As well as see that the Jackals that had broken through here were starting to fallback.

At least until one stray group of pods from the destroyed enemy vessels shot into view. They had probably launched from the first destroyed ship, which would explain why it took them so long to arrive as opposed to the pods launched later and closer to the planet. Whether they were off course or had decided to drop into the hot zone was largely irrelevant. The fact they were crashing down into the trenches was the more pressing concern.

When they landed, the Jackals inside burst out, firing their Carbine Rifles like mad. A few were gunned down in their pods, the majority managed to get into the trenches just fine though. There, they began shooting at Marines and Colonists alike. They soon linked up with each other and swarmed the area, endangering the entire defensive sector.

Kowalski's squad was right in the middle of the breach and took it upon themselves to stop it. Pearson was the one to lead them into the fray, firing his assault rifle on the now dug in pirate drop troopers. The Jackals hugged the corner of their trench and fired sporadic bursts at the Marines. The squad was quick to get into their own cover, as the shots nearly cut them down. It wasn't great cover though, just some stray boxes and an alcove.

"Wish we had more time to dig these trenches," Ellingham growled. "There ain't enough good chokepoints to hold."

"They're meant to be a stop gap," Pearson reminded him. "They hold as long as they need to."

"Well it's not looking like that's going to be much longer, is it?" Ellingham asked derisively.

Ramirez tossed a grenade towards the corner. In response, the Jackal jumped out and ran to an alcove further down the trench as the bomb exploded. Despite the fact they hadn't killed the pirate, the Marines moved up to take the sector. Any ground they could regain meant more time on their side after all. Not that it mattered in this case, as the Marines soon found themselves pinned down by a plasma turret the Jackals had rigged up. They heard the psychotic birds cackling as they fired on them.

"I was starting to forget what it was like to fight these guys," Agley bemoaned, keeping his head down behind a barricade.

"I guess this is why Shepard wanted the majority of Zek's people at the walls," Kowalski noted. "Just in case we ended up shooting at them in all this confusion!"

A plasma bolt almost hit his shin, forcing Kowalski to retract deeper into cover.

"We got to clear them out," Pearson ordered. "The Brain Team needs as much time as we can give them! We need to suppress them and try to flank around through the opposite trench!"

That's when they heard a cry of a few Jackals from further down the line. Looking up, they saw that they had been launched into the air before falling back down into the mud.

"We might have another option, dude," Kowalski grinned happily.

Samara of course has been positioned in the same sector as them. Apparently on request, as she had told Shepard about her rapport with the Marines and her wish to assist them. When she slid down into the trench beside the squad, her red armor was caked in mud, but she still resonated with a bright blue glow of power all the same. She was reloading a fresh thermal clip into her assault rifle as she greeted them.

"The enemy are swarming the sector," she reported. "We must push on ahead."

"Slight problem," Pearson said, pointing out the stream of plasma bolts coming down the line at them. "They brought their own heavy fire. Major plasma skin burn potential. We could use an assist."

"Of course," Samara obliged. "Cover me, if you'd be so kind."

The Marines obliged, Pearson firing a number of quick bursts before pulling back and letting Kowalski do the same. The turret fired on both positions, trying to catch one or the other in its hail of bolts. Instead, Samara was able to move out into the open long enough to send a biotic throw hurtling at the gunner. It knocked the Jackal off his mounted weapon, ending his assault.

From there, Samara let loose with her assault rifle, forcing the other Jackals behind their shields. Their attempts to take the asari down proved fruitless as she moved to run along the side of the trench. She launched herself off the wall with her biotics before slamming back down with a tremendous energy shockwave that the pirates tumbling to the ground. Already, Kowalski's squad was moving up behind her, giving her cover as she pressed forward.

They encountered four Carbine wielding Jackals in the next trench. They opened up first, prompting the squad to move back into the cover of some nearby barricades. Kowalski leaned over to lay down a stream of fire, cutting down one of the Jackals as they moved to take cover. Ramirez took careful precision with his rifle managing to take down a second pirate with a clean head shot.

"Move up!" Pearson ordered. "We have to keep the pressure on!"

Kowalski was the first to move as Samara covered him with her assault rifle. As the Private moved forward, he peppered the cover of one of the pirates, but it wasn't enough to keep him down forever. He popped up when Kowalski had to reload and let off a few rounds. Kowalski dropped as the green rounds went over his head. Thankfully, Samara was still watching his back, and used biotic pull to wrench the Jackal out of hiding, where Agley unloaded into him. The fourth and final Jackal attempted to flee, only for Ellingham to gun him down as he retreated.

"Keep pushing," Pearson shouted. "We got them on the run!"

From Shepard's position though, it was more like they were barely holding. Multiple breaches in the lines, various hostiles scattered among the trenches themselves. They were faltering and they couldn't hold this area forever. They needed to consolidate and fast, before Snarlbeak's people took advantage of the chaos. Worse was the sound of Banshees rolling in from the clouds before plasma rained down on the trenches. The enemy was pushing forward and they were bringing everything they had to bear.

There was also the matter of their time table. He opened his comm-link on the secure channel.

"Guys, we're holding on but it's getting dicey," he warned. "How's that second door coming?"

---

"We're managing," Tali replied. "We're about halfway. It's a stubborn process though. We're cutting through the metal just fine, but there are complications. The shortest way to explain it is there are other layers of security in this section that are affecting progress. We're trying to ease the process by hotwiring some of the safety protocols, hoping it will speed things up."

"Whatever you're doing, make it fast," Shepard told them. "Because this isn't going well. If anyone can pull this off it's you

"We'll get the doors down," Tali assured him. "Just hold out for a while longer."

The quarian couldn't honestly say how long a while was. Normally she'd give a more concrete timetable and try to shorten it by half. Here she couldn't, because Forerunner security kept throwing them for a loop. Their blowtorch was cutting through the latches on the door, but there was an unexpected hurdle. As soon as the metal buckled against the heat, an energy shield activated between the layers of the door. They would have to bypass it to continue, which was slowing them down considerably. Legion was on it, trying to hack through the system to reroute power away from the doors, but it was no easy feat. The Forerunners had seemingly predicted how they'd intend to get around these problems, if only to keep them all out as long as possible.

The fact the Forerunners were so desperate to keep this out of the hands of anyone without proper respect for the power contained with said volumes about the dangers. Snarlbeak could not get the relic. Whatever it did, the Forerunners believed it was too dangerous to possess and seemed to insure it would be near impossible to obtain after their death. But to save New Teteocan, they would have to bust through the final defenses of this ancient lab and soon.

"Shepard said it's looking bad out there," Tali reported to the others.

"Telling me that is only going to make me more nervous," Taq exclaimed, as she ripped off another panel from the wall. "We are working as fast as possible here!"

The kig-yar moved out of the way to allow Kat a chance to get inside the inner workings of the wall. While most of the Spartans were up in the trenches, Kat elected to assist the team within the Forerunner Facility. Her technical expertise was sorely needed more than ever, now that Caleb was no longer trustworthy. Using her robotic arm, the Spartan was trying to help remove system redundancies that Legion had identified as key to keeping the newly activated energy shield from being taken down. She pulled out a large metal cylinder and looked over to Legion.

"That work?" She asked.

"Shield integrity dropping, but system is attempting to compensate," Legion reported. "Tracing possible power source backup."

"For the love of fuck, you stupid lab!" Taq screamed in frustration. "We're going to die if you don't open up already! Give us a break!"

"Swearing at the building is not going to make this go faster," Rowan complained, as she kept the plasma torch steady.

"It makes me feel better!" Taq informed her. "I am so done with this oversized puzzlebox!"

With her plasma pickaxe in hand, Taq began smashing the blade against the door's hinges.

"Let! Me! In!" She demanded "I want my relic! And I'd also like to not die!"

"That is everyone's concern, Taq!" Tali reminded her, trying to calm her down. "This is not a good time to panic!"

"All I can do is panic!" Taq screamed. "You all get off easy if this fails, Snarlbeak will just kill you. Zek and me are likely going to get skinned alive and strapped to his ship's nose!"

"For a pirate who is supposedly squeamish around blood he sounds excessively violent," Halsey noted, monitoring their progress with her datapad.

"My point exactly," Taq stated. "I don't even have to tell you what he might do to this colony. All the more the reason we need to get in there! If not for the relic, then at least to get the defense grid up or we're all goners!"

"We'll get there," Kat assured her. "And if any of Snarlbeak's birds get through our lines, I'll be here to help you eliminate them. Now pry off another panel, we have more redundancies to rip out."

Taq groaned, but turned her plasma pick axe back to the wall, forcing off another panel from the wall. Tali didn't blame her too much her display frustration. She wasn't voicing anything that they weren't already telling themselves. The facility had been a headache since they arrived and they had all hoped they'd be done by now. This latest hurdle to their continued progress was grating enough without the threat of Snarlbeak's forces on the outside.

None one was more concerned than Rowan though. Taq's primary concern was the relic, but to the young engineer, her home was under threat. Tali could see it in how she hunched over the plasma torch's controls, her eyes glued to the temperature gauge. Her knuckles were balled up, the tension clear enough in her shaking fists alone.

"We need more power," she finally said.

"We're feeding it all we can," Tali told her. "Maybe if we had another plasma battery..."

"I have another idea," Rowan insisted. "It's crazy... but it might solve our problem."

Rowan rushed over to a large cable spool and hook it up to one end of the plasma torch's battery pack. She then rushed over to a nearby console port and stuck it in. Tali joined her, looking over her shoulder as Rowan typed in some commands. The quarian soon realized her intentions from the subroutines she was initiating.

"You're trying to reroute power into the Torch?" She asked. "If you're not careful you could blow the regulator."

"This place has enough juice on hand to keep itself running for eons," Rowan noted. "It has what we need to boost the torch. If I monitor the power fluctuations, I can keep it from going all kablooey in our faces. Right now though, my main concern if making sure that doesn't happen to my home."

Tali could understand Rowan's reasoning and, if she was being honest, she didn't disagree.

"Let me help," she insisted. "I know a thing or two at this point about power fluctuations."

Rowan made some space and the two worked to get the power boost set up quickly. Within minutes, that had a direct feed from the current section's power grid pouring into the plasma torch. Not only did it sap energy from the internal shield in the door, but it boosted the plasma torch's output tenfold.

"We have exceeded estimated melting point," Halsey called out.

"Temperature is rising rapidly," Tali warned. "We're gonna need water, or some kind of cooling agent."

Taq was the first to offer her own solution, pouring water from her canteen onto the torch's mechanism. It worked, but it was soon red hot again.

"Damn it," she sneered, soon looking to Legion. "Synth! Tell me this place has a coolant line or something!"

"There is in fact a heat suppressant system for-"

"Activate it! I don't care about what its for! Activate it!" Taq ordered.

Legion hit a few commands on their console, activating a mechanism in the ceiling above them. Some kind of cool foam spewed forth from it, covering the team in it as well as the torch. Taq got the worst of it, being so close to the torch itself. She spat out some of the foam and tried to clean her tongue off as the others just shook it off themselves. The foam helped a little at least, stabilizing the heating issue for the moment.

"We'll have to deactivate the power boost in timed sequences," Rowan said. "It should keep the torch from shorting out. But we've just made up some lost time."

Tali hoped as much. They still had another door to go after this.

---

Kig-yar by nature did not shun violence, it was in their blood. Boz was no different, he did not shirk a gun fight or a brawl. He preferred it though when he had at least a slight advantage in terms of weaponry. Also, not having a large radio transmitter box strapped to your back. Yes, he could take it off, but then no one would be able to hear him or whatever his potential final words were. And he was not going out without at least someone hearing his final sign off.

Besides, he had requested being posted to the trenches to report on the battle firsthand. That was his idea, so right now he had no one to blame but himself for being stuck in the middle of all these explosions and plasma bolts. At least no one could call him a coward. You didn't volunteer to be put in a trench to be called a coward. Stupid probably, but never a coward. All the same, he was keeping his head down and letting Keth do most of the work. It was his job after all, protecting him. That's what bodyguards did. Keth didn't voice any complaints, at least not outwardly. Although he probably did not appreciate being one of the few kig-yar stuck in the front lines instead of behind the Colony's walls.

They were in the trenches furthest to the back, for relative safety of course. The Colonists weren't entirely used to fighting with kig-yar yet. No one wanted to take the chance of accidentally getting shot when an army of not-so-friendly kig-yar were assaulting them. The more they could do to reduce friendly fire the better. Perhaps they really should've considered getting new uniforms, or coloring their armor different. Something to make sure they didn't get hit by friendlies for having a beak instead of a nose.

Nothing doing about that now though, as there were already plenty of Snarlbeak's pirates rushing over the trenchlines in a mad dash to grab more land. While the defenders had held on, a lot of their lines were getting swallowed up. How long they could honestly hold this position was currently up in the air. Boz was afraid to make estimations himself for fear of jinxing things one way or the other.

"I really should've tried to find something better than a plasma pistol for this," Boz grumbled, peaking over the trench wall.

Keth fired a few shots from his needler rifle at one of the attackers, exploding him in a pink mist before ducking back down.

"You could always go to one of the Marines for their guns," Keth offered.

"I'm already a big enough target with this transmitter," Boz reminded him. "Those things are loud and attract a lot of aggro. I'd rather I had something that was a bit more subdued."

He spotted one of the hostile pirates charging across the way, his shield held high. With an overloaded plasma charge, Boz took down the shield and let Keth finish him off. A flurry of plasma bolts struck near their position as their enemy fell and Boz dropped back down into cover with his bodyguard.

"You think if I claim I'm a member of the press they'll refrain from shooting me so much?" Boz asked.

"At this point, very unlikely," Keth informed him. "Maybe if you tell them you'll take their song requests they'll cut you a break. Assuming that means they won't break your legs before killing you. I hear Ibie'shans do that a lot."

"That isn't funny, Keth," Boz grimaced at him.

"Well neither is being stuck ankle deep in mud being shot at," Keth growled back. "But I need to find humor in something at this point. Honestly, all this over some plant stalks."

"I thought they were after the relic," Boz corrected him.

"You know what I mean," Keth scolded in a hushed whisper.

Just then, a few unggoy waddled into their position, lugging human weapons. Boz was surprised to see them anywhere near the trenches. He honestly thought they'd be hiding behind the walls, cowering in some corner. Given what Retz had promised them for joining their ranks, the idea of them willingly jumping into a fight was a bit odd.

"The hell are you gas suckers doing here?" Keth demanded to know.

"Saving you," one claimed as they clambered onto a barricade.

The unggoy began firing its rifle wildly at the direction of the enemy. He didn't have good control over the gun, but the spray of shots interrupted the attacking snipers. Another unggoy, carrying a grenade launcher, lumbered into position. He aimed his weapon over the lip of the trench and fired a pair of grenades. The blasts erupted among an advancing group of hostile pirates with shields, sending them flying.

"Great, we're getting backup from the gassies!" Keth grunted in annoyance. "This is a new low."

"You welcome," one unggoy said rather derisively. He then popped his head up over the trench and fired some shots from his needler into the enemy lines.

Keth, refusing to let an unggoy outdo him in any capacity, returned to his firing position. He zeroed in on a sniper nest that had been gunning for them. When the enemy pirate popped his head up again, he fired a few bursts. A few of them struck the target in the head, taking him out as a mist of pink erupted from where the pirate's head once was.

Keth laughed under his breath, he'd like to see an unggoy pull that off. Boz, however, did not care too much about being made the fool in front of the unggoy. He just wanted to know what had convinced them to come down to the trenches. Where had they found their backbone? Bringing out his plasma pistol, he moved over to one of the unggoy as it tried to aimed its assault rifle at the enemy. Like his compatriot nearby, he was a terrible shot.

"Nice of you guys to show up to the party at last," he told the gas sucker. "What happened? They ran out of food nipple back there?"

"Survive fight only way out now!" The unggoy explained, handing him a needler at the same time. "Have to blast bad birdies!"

"Just seems real out of character for you," Boz stated, graciously taking the needler. "And where did you even get the human guns?"

"Spares," the unggoy claimed.

"From who?" Boz asked.

The unggoy just pointed down the trench line. There, fighting in the thick of it all, were the Spartans. Master Chief himself was on a machine gun, directing his fellow Spartans to use his turret as a central point for their base of fire. One of them, the smaller female, used a scoped rifle to take down one of the hostile pirate rather expertly, with two shots to the chest and then two to the head.

Suddenly everything was clearer. The Spartans had given the unggoy some spare weapons from the UNSC armory in order to boost the ranks of the defenders in the trench. And because the Spartans had offered to cover their direct flank, the unggoy agreed. No one knew better than the gas suckers how deadly the Spartans were. Why not, for once, have that kind of firepower on your side, right?

Boz couldn't argue with the logic. It was actually smarter of the unggoy than even he would've expected. Sure, they were putting themselves in harms way, but who was the bigger threat here in the eyes of the enemy? Unggoy barely registered on a kig-yar's threat scale to begin with. Place them next to a bunch of heavily armed human super soldiers, they were practically invisible. However, that was hardly going to be enough against what Boz heard over the horizon.

The distinctive sound of banshees soon filled his ears. Boz knew that screeching anywhere. They were back for another run. When the craft crested the treeline, they began strafing the trenches almost instantly. Somehow, Snarlbeak had snuck down a few of the flying machines with his forces. There were only three of them, but that was enough to cause havoc in the lines.

In an instant, the Master Chief turned his attention to the enemy flyers, as did his team. He opened fire on the banshees with his machine gun, breaking up their formation. The aircraft scattered to avoid the incoming fire, delaying their first attack run. However, they soon started coming around for another pass. The Spartans were ready though. Anton had already prepared his rocket launcher, locked on to the lead banshee and fired. The rocket collided with the screaming flyer, blowing it apart. The surviving wingman instantly opened up on the Spartans' position, forcing them to duck for cover.

Fred had dived away to the right and started shooting up at one of the Banshees with his Battle Rifle. The shots collided with the wing of the little ship and it rolled away from the incoming fire. It strafed the position again with plasma, trying to take down the Spartan. As Fred distracted it, Chief gave a signal to Kelly. Arming a plasma grenade, she tossed it towards the Banshee. The explosive latched itself to the craft and exploded seconds later. The remains of the flyer tumbled from the sky in a flaming hulk.

The Master Chief now took the opportunity to grab the machine gun turret again. This time, he pulled it off its moorings and began shooting at the remaining banshee as it flew around their position. The craft was peppered with a storm of lead, tearing off one of its struts before it detonated a plasma coil. The banshee rolled out of the sky, smoke billowing from its fuselage before it crashed in the mud of the trenches. It did not explode, but at least it couldn't fly anymore.

"So much for the air support," Anton commented.

Kelly looked out into the trenches with her gun's sight. She soon noticed several enemy pirates charging through their sector, blasting any and everything that moved. Despite the loss of the banshees, the pirates were pressing forward with their attack. She fired on a few of them, killing one with a clean head shot.

"The flyers did their job," she warned. "A bunch of the ground forces just broke through our lines."

"We're collapsing faster than our timetable allowed for!" Fred reasoned. "We gotta find a way to hold them back!"

"We'll hold, don't worry," Chief assured him. "We spread out along the trench wall, do not let them get through us. Kelly, pop a smoke grenade in front of them, disorient their approach."

"Copy," Kelly said, quickly getting to work.

She pulled the pin on the grenade and tossed into the path of the enemy advance. Smoke pooled around the immediate area, blocking off all visuals line of sight. The Spartans kept watch over the lip of the trench, their guns pointed down range. They could hear the pirates stumbling and lumbering about the smoke, trying to find their way. The Spartan didn't need to see them though, they knew how to listen for their targets.

Fred took the first few, managing to hit one of the pirates. Kelly and Anton opened up as well, catching a few more of the pirates in the confusion. The smoke eventually evaporated, just as Master Chief aimed the machine gun over the trench and began to spray bullets at the brigands. The hostiles quickly all rushed to find cover or get behind their energy shields. They tried to return fire of course, but in any case, their advance had been momentarily halted for a bit.

Boz and Keth moved closer to the Spartans' position, although not too close as the enemy was still slinging shots their way. Keth opened fire on some of the pirates they had pinned down, managing to catch one in the head. The shot caught the attention of Anton who looked over at them.

"Hey, thanks for the extra firepower," he said.

"Just trying not to make sure we don't get overrun here," Keth explained. "I have to keep our morale officer alive after all."

"And I continued to be ever appreciative of that, Keth," Boz assured him. "We get out of this, your next round of drinks is on me!"

Boz, for his part, fired a few needler rounds over the trench, managing to skewer one of the enemy pirates enough to cause him to explode. He quickly ducked back down into cover as more bolts hit close to his position. One of the brigands broke cover, using his shield to protect himself as he strafed the area. Master Chief quickly zeroed in on him. He aimed his machine gun low and fired. The pirate's legs were cut clean out from under him and he collapsed into the mud.

"They hold onto this position long enough, reinforcements are going to come up from the rear," Chief told his team. "We need to flank and wipe them out, quickly."

"Not easy when they're taking pot shots at ya," Keth informed him. "You're gonna need someone to cover your moves."

"You volunteering?" Anton asked.

"Not much of a choice," Keth said. "We kinda need to, you know, not die and you're the best option for that right now."

At that moment the unggoy also waddled in. One of them fired his grenade launcher into the enemy positions as they arrived. The others popped up and fired a few more shots.

"We help! Go kill bad birdies!" One of them said.

This was more backbone than Boz cared to see in unggoy. Mainly because it meant that they'd be relying on them to help hold back the tide. Thankfully, Master Chief was smart enough not to put too much faith in them alone.

"Anton, Fred, stay here," he ordered them. "Kelly and I will flank from the right and take them all out."

"Copy that, sir," Fred responded. "Give'em hell."

Kelly and the Chief headed down the trenchline to get into position. Meanwhile, Boz watched them leave as Keth tried to assist the unggoy and remaining Spartans in defending the area. He opened fire on some of the enemy pirates. However, they were in their own trench by now and using it to full effect. Keth managed to force one back behind his shield and back into the trench, but was unable to kill him.

"They're really digging in now, aren't they?" Boz asked.

"They're not going to give up ground without a fight, not with their boss being so damn set on getting inside that facility," Fred stated. "We just gotta keep them pinned long enough for Chief to do his job."

The unggoy fired their assault rifles wildly at the enemy trench, not in a fairly effective manner. Seemingly annoyed by their sloppy performance, Anton moved to each one of them individually and helped to steady their aim.

"I get that there is more of a kick to these guns, but that's why you fire short controlled bursts," he informed them. "Can you manage that?"

"Ok, ok, me hear you!" One of the unggoy grumbled.

For all the faults of the unggoy, they were nothing if not fast learners. They stopped laying hard on the trigger and started firing quick bursts from their weapons instead. Their fire instantly became more focused and concentrated, forcing the enemy pirates to keep their heads low. Boz was a bit concerned now though, unggoy that knew how to use better weapons than the ones they usually got stuck with was kinda, well, distressing to say the least.

Another group of the enemy pirates attempted to make a running charge at their position however, moving out of their trench with their shields held high. Boz quickly fired off an overcharged shot from his plasma pistol to kill the shields. But when he did, and the shield dropped, Carbine fire started raking their position.

"Where's that coming from?" Keth asked, lowering himself into cover.

"Jackal in a full armored suit," Fred reported. "He's gunning for us hard."

"Likely the pilot of that banshee," Keth suggested. "He must've survived, got out and joined the assault."

The unggoy with the grenade launcher fired off a few shots in the direction of the advancing column of pirates. The shots missed by a good deal though and the carbine fire resumed in earnest. Anton quickly moved over to the left of Keth and began firing shots at the attackers, pecking at their shields. That drew the pilot's ire and allowed Fred enough time to roll a grenade into the enemy ranks beneath their feet.

The resulting explosion sent a number of the pirates flying, but despite the shielded column's destruction, the shots from the Carbine resumed. Somehow, the pilot had jumped away before the grenade went off, but now he was exposed. As he charged at them all, firing like mad, Boz popped up and unloaded several needles into the downed flyboy. Moments later, just near the edge of their trench, he exploded into a cloud of pink.

"Ha! That's one for the highlight reel!" He declared. "I am seriously resisting the urge to air guitar right now."

"Please don't," Keth groaned. "Seriously, if you do I'm going to quit being your bodyguard and you can go through the rest of this battle alone."

Gunfire from past their position interrupted the exchange. They looked over and saw Chief and Kelly entering the enemy trench. They couldn't really see what was happening once they were inside, but from the look of the muzzle flashes, sound of the pained screams and at least one kig-yar being chucked out of the trench entirely, chances were it was not going well for Snarlbeak's buccaneers.

"See? Record time," Fred stated.

Before long, Chief and Kelly were out of the trench and headed back to them. They slid down beside their team as the unggoy cheered them on.

"Well, that put an end to that foothold," Kelly said.

"Stay vigilant," Chief warned. "We're barely holding on as it is and chances are the pirates are going to start to get bolder."

A sudden blast to their distant left flank proved Chief's words prophetic. Hastily looking back over the trench, the group soon saw the cause. Out of the treeline, cracking trunks and rolling right over the underbrush as if it were nothing, appeared a small contingent of Wraith tanks. They were accompanied by swarming Ghost vehicles that began assaulting the lines with reckless abandon. Another plasma blast rocked their right and a chorus of deadly burning blue rain began to fall across the trenches.

"And that is our cue to leave, I guess," Boz presumed with a gulp.

"Fall back! Fall back!" Chief ordered. "Regroup with the other teams, get inside the walls!"

Plasma fell all around them as they retreated. They weren't the only ones running for cover, the whole trench system was collapsing. Colonists and Marines raced for the gates, scrambling to get inside. They couldn't hold out against these kinds of odds. That wasn't their job. Like others, Boz had hoped they be able to stave off the tank advance for a bit longer, but obviously there were too many for even their saboteur teams to halt.

Chief voiced his concerns aloud, as Boz overheard his call to Shepard.

"Commander, I think it's time we brought out the reserves!" He called out.

"Way ahead of you, Chief," the Normandy's captain replied. "We're already arming what's left of the mines and Brant is coming to welcome our new friends to the party."

And just as Shepard said that, Boz could see the Commander's words in action. Charging into the fray were a few Warthogs and several Cyclops Exosuits. The Hogs harassed the Ghosts for the most part, leaving the Cyclops a chance to get to their real prize. The Wraiths were the bigger threat, and the lead Cyclops smashed into them with reckless abandon.

Given how the exosuit first shoulder checked and than slammed both its fists down on the tank, it was quite obviously Brant was inside it. He was very clearly leading this little charge. He peeled the cannon off the tank like it was the lid of a can and then smashed it down into the pilot's cockpit. His fellow Cyclops pilots did the same. One even used its torch to set the Wraith's cockpit on fire, melting it into metal slag.

The retreat was at least covered, but Boz and everyone else knew that the loss of the trenches this early did not bode well for the rest of the plan. As strong as they were in those suits, they weren't primarily fighting vehicles. Brant could only hold out for so long and they couldn't stop every enemy from getting to the walls. Boz just hoped the saboteurs behind the lines could prevent more of these vehicles from showing up, otherwise they'd be doomed.

---

Linda heard the report from Chief, some of the tanks had broken through to the trenches. The retreat back behind the walls had started. It was now more imperative than ever to keep the enemy on the backfoot out here. So it was a good thing she had linked back up with McKay and the others. They'd be able to do way more damage together.

McKay had set her ambush up along the path, following standard procedure. They planted an explosive device in the path, intent on taking out the lead vehicle. Varvok's people would hit the rear vehicle, trapping the column and allowing them to pick them all off. Linda had positioned herself up in the trees, calibrating her rifle in preparation for the column's arrival. Varvok's scouts said it was a few kilometers away from them when they last reported in, so it was getting close to show time.

When the column arrived, Linda properly saw its full size. A fair number of tanks, but also plenty of Ghosts and a bunch of foot soldiers either riding or walking beside them on the road. Linda took stock of the variety of targets, both soft and hard. The Jackals with shields would be the hardest to take down, but she imagined McKay's people could handle them mostly. The tanks and Ghosts were the priorities though, preventing them from getting to the Colony was paramount. Taking them out wouldn't be easy, especially the Wraiths, but Linda had prepared for this in advance. She'd need to wait for the right opportunity though.

The lead tank soon reached the hidden explosive device. A palpable silence seemed to suddenly fill the air as Linda readied her scope. All she could hear were her own thoughts in that moment. Reminders she always told herself before the shooting started. Exhale, count to three. Pull softly, never suddenly. Be mindful, always aware. Precision first above all else. One shot, one kill. She picked her first target, a Jackal with a beam rifle, best to remove him quickly. As she centered her shot on his head she heard McKay's voice in her helmet on the open channel.

"Now."

The next sound heard was the explosive device going off, taking the tank with it. As the noise echoed across the jungle, Linda took her shot. The sound of the blast masked her fire and took the Jackal Rifleman out of the equation with a clean kill. The sound of rockets alerted her to Varvok's men taking out the rear tank, so she switched to her next target. A Jackal with a shield close by currently panicking. She fired her shot and caught him in the heart.

In the next moment, McKay's troopers opened up, firing on the entire column. Despite the noise and cover for her shots, Linda switched around to the trunk of the tree to another branch. She needed to get a better view of the pirates below. They had already retreated into the cover of the trees to fire back on the ODSTs on the other side of the path. The Ghosts attempted to weave through the larger tanks in an attempt to strafe the troopers. The Wraiths themselves were having difficulty though. They couldn't fire their plasma shots at such a close range right potentially damaging themselves. Grenades and rockets hit them as they attempted to line up their shots. What they did fire arched into the trees and exploded higher up in the canopy. Linda was just lucky she was further up from where the barrages were concentrated.

The Spartan soon spotted her next target, a Ghost racing along the edge of the path, firing into the underbrush. It was obviously trying to root out the ODSTs shooting at them from there. Linda zeroed in on the pilot as it charged away from incoming fire. She aimed further up the vehicles' determined path. With a single pull of the trigger, she loosed a bullet that sliced into the head of the driver as he passed her crosshairs. The Ghost went out of control as the driver slumped over at the controls. The vehicles ended up flying into a small squad of Jackals, running them all down before it smashed into a tree where its plasma core ruptured and exploded.

Linda was setting up to relocate, eyeing the next branch to jump to, when a few shots hit her tree. She quickly dropped down to the next branch and rolled her body around the back of the trunk. Someone had spotted her it seemed. She took a look out towards where the shots had come and spotted a pair of Jackals with Carbines taking pot shots at her tree. Little bastards had gotten lucky spotting her in time, she needed to get rid of them, fast. Luckily, she spotted an opportunity above the two pirates, a very rickety looking heavy branch. It had likely been damaged in some of the fighting thus far. It just needed a good nudge.

Placing the scope against her eye again, she examined the branch and spotted its weak point. With a single shot, she fired on the branch and ripped it from its trunk with a single blast. The freefalling branch collapsed onto the pair of Jackals, crushing them under its weight. A good clean double kill, even indirect. Whatever the case, she was clear to relocate to her next branch, leaping towards the next tree.

When she landed, grabbing at the trunk to steady herself, she reloaded her weapon. As she did, the Spartan took notice of one of the tanks below. It had just taken a grenade to its frontal armor. Minimal damage at first glance, but Linda noticed something in the details. She looked through her scope to be sure. The hatch for the Wraith's pilot cockpit had been slightly busted. There was a slim, sliver of an opening creating by the grenade blast. It was a one in a million opportunity, no sense wasting it.

Normally, this kind of shot required armor-piercing rounds of some kind. Not so here, just a steady hand. Linda exhaled and took aim, carefully managing the shot through her scope. The tank was moving slightly but only just. There wasn't exactly a lot of room to move after all. Another good reason to take advantage of things while she could. She placed the crosshairs over the breach in the hatch and fired. The sound of a bullet ricocheting off the walls of the cockpit soon followed before the Wraith dropped to the ground with a thud, automatically shutting off once the pilot's vital signs could no longer be read.

"McKay," Linda reported in. "Driver for that Wraith is out. If you want to turn its gun on the column, now's your chance."

"I read you, 058," McKay replied. "We're on it! Keep up the good work!"

Linda acknowledged the reply and moved to the next branch below her, reloading her rifle as she did. From there she spotted a small squad of Jackals moving among the wreckage. They had their shields out and were advancing on the ODSTs positions. No sense in letting them get further than should. She took aim at one of the shield-wielding Jackals, intent on wrecking their defense. She fired one shot straight through the top of his head. The one next to him turned just enough for Linda to get a shot off on him in the back of his head. She quickly moved up to see a Jackal with a needler rifle slide in behind an overturned Ghost. He popped up to fire wildly at the trees, before Linda plugged him with a shot that tore through his beak. She shifted to her next target, scrambling towards another pair of Jackals with shields. She cut him down with a shot to the back of his neck.

She pulled into cover now to reload her rifle, letting the spent magazine fall as she shoved in a new one. Once she was settled, she continued her killstreak of sorts. Popping out to kill another Jackal as it ran across the pathway. In that moment, a random shot took a chunk of the tree and hit her shields. She had to pull back into cover. She had stayed here too long and been zeroed in on. She popped out again to unload a shot right into the belly of her attacker, a Jackal with a Carbine. Next to him was his partner, arming a plasma grenade in his hand. If he thought he could make the toss he was indeed a confident little pirate. Not that it would matter, he'd never get the chance. She fired a shot that blew out the bird's wrist. He dropped the grenade and it flew over into the path of a Ghost that was strafing the ODST positions. The subsequent blast ripped the Ghost apart and sent it spinning into the air before crashing back down in a twisted heap of burning meta. Ironically, it landed lright back on top of the unfortunate Jackal pirate where the train of disaster has begun.

Linda wasn't going to stick around on this branch for much longer. She jumped off to the next tree and then the next, heading further down the column's line. She saw that one of McKay's troopers had taken possession of the unoccupied Wraith and was now firing on the remaining pirate tanks and Ghosts. Good to see, they'd have this wrapped up soon enough, but Linda had her eyes set on one final target. There was one Wraith pushing up through the wreckage, trying to get a bead on the hijacked tank. Currently, she had a good look at plasma core now, good enough to get her crosshairs on it. Normally she would not be able to do much without a heavy weapon, but she had been saving something just for this.

She reached into her pack for some high explosive rounds. She only had a single clip's worth on her, but they'd be enough for one tank. Each round carried about the same yield as a grenade. If she could get a solid hit on the core, she'd cross this Wraith off and end this little skirmish. It just required some perfect aim.

Loading the rounds into the rifle, Linda settled her crosshairs on the plasma core. It was a very tight shaft to hit at this angle. She trusted her skills enough to get it though. Exhale first, steady aim, adjust for distance and drop. She steeled her gaze and then... fired. The single round struck home, detonating the plasma core. The whole backside of the Wraith exploded, lifting it upwards before crashing back down, blue fire spewing from everywhere. It was done, the last pirate Wraith had been silenced.

As the mop up began and the remaining Jackals fled, Linda jumped down from the trees to assist. She switched out her sniper rifle for her assault rifle and moved in to hunt down what was left of the column. They had only killed a fraction of the enemy tanks, but this was another corridor closed to the rest and these vehicles would never reach the colony. That was a significant win in her book. However, as she began to fire on the retreating pirates, her comms sparked to life with a new voice.

"058, Noble Three here," Jun said. "How goes pirate hunting?"

"Successful, Noble Three, very much so," she answered back. "We just took out another column. We need to keep slowing this advance though, some of them have already reached the Colony."

"We might have a way to end it if we're lucky," Jun explained. "We've been shadowing one of the groups out here for a bit. It's Snarlbeak, he's here and he's got a lot of men with him. They don't seem headed towards the Colony though."

"Where are they headed then?" Linda asked, intrigued by the intel.

"Not entirely sure, but they're getting bogged down in the bush and it's slowed their progress," Jun explained. "If you and the others can reach our position quickly, we can launch a full assault on their rear and take out Snarlbeak."

A chance to slice the head of the snake off and halt the whole assault? Not to mention remove the jackass pirate currently making their life hell whenever they went after these relics? Too good a chance to pass up. She was certain McKay would go for it, but they couldn't abandon their current mission either.

"We'll see what we can send your way," she replied. "Keep us appraised, I'll talk it over with McKay and Varvok. If they think it's a good idea, we'll join up with you soon."

She hoped this wouldn't be something that took them too far out of their way. The Colony needed help and this was a risk. If they pulled it off though, then this whole fight would be over near instantly.

---

Mordin and Tiegan were swamped with casualties. Marine and Colonist alike were getting hammered out there. They had evacuated who they could to their makeshift triage area, but it was becoming clear they were running out of able-bodied people to hold the area. The most critical cases were the primary concern, as Mordin administered medi-gel where he could and tried to patch up those in the worst shape. Tiegan was organizing her brigade with UNSC medics, applying liberal amounts of bio-foam to keep the patients from bleeding out or worse.

"Get him iodine from my store cabinet," she ordered one of the medics as she hung over an injured marine. "Hurry! That Carbine's shot went deep! We need to suppress the radiation spread before it gets worse! Otherwise we'll have to amputate."

Mordin was working overtime in his own capacity, hurried going from patient to patient among the racks of wounded. He was going through a lot of needles, if only to save on medi-gel. Still, this was his element, and he excelled at it.

"Needle gash," he observed as he looked at one colonist's leg. "Must retrieve shards. Risk of infection otherwise. Some deep inside. Best bite down on this."

He handed the colonist a mouth guard while he pulled out his pliers and got to work.

"Primitive tools," he said begrudgingly. "No less useful. Can't complain. So long as leg saved."

Asha had to turn away from the grisly scenes of bloodied colonists and Marines. A lot of them had it worse than the few she spotted. Sizzling plasma burns on their skin, some of them were unable to keep themselves from screaming they were in so much pain. They needed to end this, fast, before it got worse.

"Come on, Rowan," she whispered under her breath. "Get the defense grid up already."

An explosion near the wall caused her to whip her head back around. She rushed towards the battlements, pushing past squads of Marines and Colony Security as she charged up the steps. When she got there, she looked out onto the abandoned trenches before her. Now occupied almost entirely by Snarlbeak's Pirates, specifically their tanks. Not entirely though, Brant was still out there, along with the other Cyclops Exosuit pilots.

She could see Brant clearly enough. He was in the thick of it all. He used the plasma torch on his suit to cut into one of the Wraiths' cockpits, frying the pilot inside no doubt. He then ripped off the plasma turret up top and threw it at a Ghost that was nipping at his feet. A second Ghost attempted to ram him from behind, only to get grabbed and smashed into the ground like a tin toy. Obviously Brant had been getting in a bit more practice with the suits than even Asha was aware of. She he had been planning on using them to defend the colony, she just didn't realize how far along he was in that idea.

He wasn't alone out there of course, and that wasn't just referring to the other exosuits. The Marines in their Warthogs were playing interference for them. Their heavy machine guns swept away any pirates swarming the field on foot, as well as harassed the Wraiths. They couldn't do much damage of course, but they could distract the tanks long enough for a Cyclops to get up from behind or the side of the vehicle. Like one did when it grabbed the tank from the rear and flipped it over onto its back.

The pirates were not pushovers though. When they locked onto a Cyclops, very little could dissuade them from targeting it. They unloaded plasma mortars on them, trying to blow them away. The suits could outrun them for a bit, but they weren't built for combat even if they could pack a punch. One plasma shot was enough to knock one of the Cyclops down. Thankfully, a Warthog rolled up to protect it from the Ghosts and pirates swarming to finish it off. The pilot was able to get back up, but his suit was very clearly badly damaged.

Brant moved in with two other Cyclops to take on more Wraiths emerging from the trees. These ones were not letting themselves get flanked. They attempted the strafe the Exosuits, refusing to stay stationary. Brant was able to avoid the shots long enough to land his foot on the tank's hood. The armor buckled as the Cyclops reached down, pried the hatch clean off and let loose a burst from his plasma cutter right into the pilot's face. The other two punched the hatch in or ripped it clean out respectively for their Wraiths, but even as they went down two more tanks lurched out of the treeline.

Forgoing any concern for the damaged vehicles, the operators of the new Wraiths opened fire. Brant managed to avoid a direct hit, but was unable to get away completely. The blast singed at his back, the shockwave throwing him to the ground. The Cyclops slammed into the dirt face first. The other two Cyclops suits went after the new tanks, but that left Brant open to attack from the Ghosts and ground units now swarming him. They must've recognized he was leading the other suits.

Asha wasted no time, she set up her rifle and took aim down range. She started firing on any pirates that even got close to Brant's downed Cyclops. She wasted no time in making it fancy, she went for body shots, where the heart was. She couldn't waste any bullets, not with Brant's life at stake. She caught one Jackal Pirate in the back, dropping him to the floor. The next one she hit below the back of the neck. Another managed to get onto Brant's suit. She fired two shots into his chest to drop him before he did any damage.

She quickly reloaded her weapon, but kept an eye on what was happening, choosing her next target as she did. A Ghost pilot was firing on the Cyclops as it rode around. She fired a clean hit that struck him in the head. She then turned to another Ghost and took down its pilot with a shot to his side, knocking him clean off the vehicle.

Asha turned back to the ground attackers, by now noticing that someone was picking them off. She found one who had turned his shield towards the palisades, but she caught him with a shot through the exposed part of the shield where his hand stuck out. She blew it and the arm clean off.

She would've taken out another Ghost, had Brant not finally gotten up to slam his metal fist onto the vehicle. The blue bursting explosion signaled for the other pirates to run as Brant ran rough shod on them, picking up one pirate and tossing him like a ragdoll. If Asha felt any relief, it was broken by a barrage of plasma fire that raked the walls. A Ghost had spotted her and was strafing the battlements. She ducked down, barely avoiding the incoming shots. The pirate only stopped firing when a Warthog rammed right into the vehicle's side, sending him spinning into the air. When he finally crashed, the machine gun opened up on the pirate and his Ghost, ripping them both apart.

Asha raised her head up again, only to see more Wraiths emerging from the trees. There were just too many for even the Cyclops to stop. They just couldn't hold them all back, not alone. The rumbling of something bigger alerted Asha to the reinforcements they so desperately needed. Someone had pushed the button and the Grizzly tank had rolled out onto the field. Towering over everything, flanked by the smaller Cobras, the giant double-barreled tank unleashed hell on the treeline. The duel shells demolished the Wraiths one after the other. One Wraith's turret was blown clean off its tank, flying into the air a pillar of blue flame exploded up and outward. A Ghost got caught in one blast, ripping it in two as the other Wraith was left with a gaping hole in its front.

The Cyclops suits and Warthogs pulled back to prevent themselves from getting caught in friendly fire. The majority of the pirate Tanks pulled back to the cover of the treeline, for now anyway. The Grizzly had made it clear that, for what they lacked in numbers, they made up for in firepower. It was enough to scare the Wraiths, but not the pirates on foot. Even without their tank support, they made a beeline for the walls, perhaps presuming the Grizzly wouldn't care too much about them not being tanks. The Warthogs noticed this and moved to intercept, as did a few Cyclops pilots, but it was up to the wall defenders to bare the brunt of it.

Asha returned to taking pot shots, exploding skulls of attacking pirates. In the back of her mind, she kept hoping the Brain Team was close to cracking the final doors. That the Defense grid would turn on and this madness would end. Despite the fact they were holding on, it was by inches. Just any one thing at this point failing meant they'd be swarmed. Their fate rested entirely in the hands of Rowan, Tali and the others inside the Forerunner facility.

---

When the metal finally cleaved apart and the shield went down, Tali could barely contain her excitement. She quickly contacted Shepard as the team hurried to the next and final door. Victory was in sight, just one last obstacle and they'd be inside. The relic would be theirs and they could turn the grid on.

"We almost have this, Shepard," she concluded. "One more door! We can do this!"

"Great work, Tali," Shepard replied. "But it's getting bad out here. We've had to call up the Grizzly. It will hold them back, but still just one tank. If we're gonna pull this off, you need to get that last door down fast!"

"We'll work triple time, Wade," Tali swore. "Don't worry! Just hold on out there a bit longer!"

It was a promise built on worry. If they failed, this colony was doomed. Tali knew they could get in, she just wasn't sure if it would be in time. They had already taken so long just to break through these first two doors and the defenses outside were getting used up faster than they had hoped. Her concerned was shared by Rowan, who knew better than anyone the dire straights they were in.

"We need a new method," she insisted. "This is taking too long, and chances are this door has even more defenses up and ready!"

"Well it's a little late to devise a new approach," Taq informed her. "Any suggestions?"

"Just one," Rowan claimed, snapping her interlaced fingers together as she stretched her shoulder muscles a little. "But its going to require a lot more jury rigging and a little console board magic."

Rowan saddled up to the console near the door and opened a series of security command functions. She also directed Legion to tap into the schematic files for this section of the complex. She kept looking back and forth between both sets of files, explaining as she went.

"Okay, here's what I'm thinking," she began frantically. "Doctor Halsey, I remember you kept saying that these systems seem to respond better to human DNA signatures. The security recognizes it more, but it still knows we're not authorized, so it prevents us from bypassing them wholesale."

"Yes, I would've kept following that line of research if we had more time," Halsey explained.

"Well, what if I can hardwire access to my DNA signature?" She asked. "You know, replace me as the Admin. Not for the whole complex, that would take too long, but just fool the system long enough into thinking I'm authorized to remove any locks in the way."

"It's possible," Halsey confessed. "However, the problem I kept running into were various system redundancies that recognized any suspicious alteration to authority access and reverted my changes back to default in seconds."

"We could introduce a ton of junk data to slow it down," Tali offered.

"The Forerunners apparently thought of that," Halsey sighed. "It siphons it off when I've tried. The people who worked here clearly planned for every possible risk to system integrity."

"But they didn't think of me," Rowan claimed, still typing out commands. "I'm going overload all of their best laid plans with an energy feedback loop. Like how we super charged the torch with the building's own power, but this time we feed it back into the system."

"The facility will compensate," Taq warned. "Forerunner tech is built to last."

"But it will take longer in this case," Rowan assured. "Long enough for me to initiate an administrator directed system reset. In that time, the door will open and then we use the plasma torch to jam it in the open position before it can close."

It was a bit risky, but it did sound sufficiently faster than cutting through another door. The question was, how much faster?

"How long will this take to get ready?" Tali asked.

"Less than thirty minutes, but I can go faster with some help," she assured. "You need to start ripping off panels, get direct access and hack the security nodes yourself manually. Fewer redundancies online, the bigger a charge to the whole system. Plus we need to plug the cable into somewhere anyway."

Tali got started, tearing off a panel on the wall and ripping out components as Legion highlighted them for her on her visor's HUD. The others joined in soon after. If Rowan was right, and this did work, then maybe the Colony had a chance after all.

---

Despite everyone's best efforts, the defenders weren't able to prevent every pirate from getting over the walls. At least a few squads wormed their way through the less defended areas, using jump jets to leap over the palisades and into the colony's streets. Zek and Retz anticipated this, however, and moved their people to counter these breaches in the defenses. The reputation of the kig-yar saboteurs was not unwarranted after all. If one got through, they could compromise the colony in many ways. And no one knew this better than other kig-yar. When one squad of jumpers landed on the rooftoop of a colony, Retz and Zek were soon there to meet them, gunning down one of them with a few plasma bolts. Zek had his Needler rifle out, Retz his dual plasma pistols, as well as a few trusted men to back them up.

"Welcome to New Teteocan, fellas," Zek greeted. "Currently under the protection of The Fallen Serpent. You have two choices now, leave with your tails between your legs or a needle in the skull."

The Ibie at the head of the jumping party just roared at them, unsheathed his energy cutlass and charged. Zek used his rifle to deflect the slash and kick the attacker away. In seconds, the other pirates clashed with one another, in a close quarters brawl atop the makeshift homes of the colonists. As more of Snarlbeak's minions jumped into the fray, Zek took aim at them with his rifle and shot them out of the sky. He landed enough needles in one of them to cause him to explode into a cloud before he even touched the ground.

His shooting was interrupted when one of the hostiles knocked Zek in the side with his shield. The rifle slipped from the Shipmaster's grasp and Zek was forced to pull out his plasma machete to avoid the next strike from the pirate's cutlass. The Ibie'shan roared at him, before Zek kicked him in the crotch. The hostile pirate growled a little in pain. But the momentary lapse allowed Zek the chance to lean up and bite down hard on his attacker's arm. That seemed to do the trick. As the Ibie pulled away, Zek got to his feet and started smashing his machete down hard on his opponent's shield. When he finally broke it, he slashed his enemy across the face and kicked him off the roof.

Zek quickly moved back into battle, activating his own shield and charging at a pair of kig-yar with carbines. He bashed one off the roof and then slashed deep into the side of another. He had to defend from the cutlass of a third kig-yar that came at him. In response, he headbutted the minion and slashed downward into the side of his neck before slashing him across the chest. The attack left Zek with a bit of a headache though.

"Ugh, how does Zhoc's pet freak of nature manage that shit?" He asked aloud.

"Thicker skullplate," Retz offered, firing his plasma pistols around him as various minions attempted to take him on. "Ibies are just built for reckless carnage."

One kig-yar nearly caught Retz with his energy cutlass, but Retz moved one of his shield gauntlets fast enough to catch the slash mid-swing. In the moment they were locked together, Retz unloaded his other plasma pistol into his opponent's gut, blowing him away.

Retz had to deflect other incoming plasma bolts as well. His shields barely holding up against the strain of the incoming fire. Zek moved to help him by cutting down some of them, but Retz was more than capable of handling the situation. He fired a few shots in opposite directions to cut down a few of Snarlbeak's cronies. He then jumped into the air and fired down at one of the pirates before targeting two others separately. He landed on a fourth that had been behind him, forcing him to the ground before Retz finished him off with one last bolt.

The rest of the Serpent's crew was holding back the other pirates who had gotten over the walls. They clawed, slashed, bit and shot at each other in close quarters on the rooftops. It resembled more of a brawl than an actual gun fight. After recovering his rifle, Zek attempted to assist them with some sharpshooting, taking down a few of the tougher shielded pirates to break the enemy lines apart.

"We can't keep this up forever, Zek," Retz warned. "The fact that they're over the walls already says as much."

"They haven't busted through the walls yet," Zek reminded him. "They're just jumping them. It's not like it's a flood or anything. We're still in this."

"We are, but we need to think fast if we're going to stay in it," Retz cautioned. "Our little fleet might be stuck in orbit keeping the bulk of their forces at a distance, but we have other options. If we can get a Phantom to do a strafing run, maybe that will hold them back a bit longer. At the very least it will buy Taq and the others a bit more time."

Zek gave it some consideration, eventually nodding.

"Run it by Haverson and Shepard first," he said. "We don't want the spire thinking its one of Snarlbeak's coming in hot after all. And hurry back once you're done. I need you here in case more of these fuckers get over the walls."

Retz agreed with a nod and started jumping across the rooftops to find Haverson and the Commander. They were likely somewhere near main gate, where most of the action was taking place. It wasn't just their sector that had been breached, a lot of jumpers had gotten over the walls and were running around the streets. If they embedded themselves behind their lines, they could do some serious damage, stopping them was a high priority.

He spotted a few Colonists taking on three kig-yar with shields. Thankfully, Retz knew it wasn't a case of mistaken identity. These kig-yar bore Snarlbeak's colors and emblem. Purple streaked scars across their blackened armor. Zek had wisely decided to order all his men to draw serpents on their armor, as a way of differentiating them. They probably should've done it sooner than before they even arrived on this colony. They just hadn't been fighting many other kig-yar as of late, so it got held off until now.

In a stroke of good fortune, some of Zek's pirates soon arrived to help the colonists. They used their own shields to protect the humans and allow them enough cover to drive the hostiles off. Retz could only hope the other invaders who had snuck over the walls had been facing similar difficulties.

Retz found Haverson at the front gates. He was with Maisey, who was directing her people to assist with the defenses. He tried to land close to them, but not enough to startle. He didn't want to risk scaring them after all.

"They're swarming the walls, we're rappeling them but we need more support," he informed them. "I think if I can call down a Phantom to strafe them it might buy us some time. I just need clearance."

"At this point any idea is a good idea," Haverson concurred. "Do it! Whatever buys us time!"

"I'll tell them to refrain from activating the spire again," Maisey informed him. "That will give your Phantom a clean path. Just shoot them off our walls and give us time to mop up whoever got inside."

Suddenly Haverson's eyes darted over to a rooftop and Retz followed them. He spotted a lone kig-yar sniper, not wearing a snake anywhere on him. He went for his plasma pistols, but Haverson was already on it. He pushed Maisey aside as he unholstered his weapon.

"Get down!"

He fired off his pistol at the pirate sniper, taking a needle to his arm before the bastard dropped to the ground. He pulled the needle out in anger, holding the wound.

"They're really getting bold now, aren't they?" He groaned. "Medic!"

As Retz made the call for the Phantom run, one of the Marine Medics rushed over to Haverson. As he got treated, Maisey looked appreciatively at the Lieutenant.

"Thanks for the save," she said.

"Just doing what I'm supposed to," he claimed. "You know? Protecting humanity."

Maisey said nothing, but she did show a hint of respect in her expression. It was interrupted by a screeching cry from down a nearby alley. Apparently the sniper had friends, all currently charging at them with shields aloft. Retz fired on them all, as did Maisey with a shotgun. Haverson joined in, even as the medic patched up his arm with bio-foam. The pirates were beaten off quickly, three of them dying from the overwhelming fire, what remained retreated.

"Get after them!" Maisey ordered some of her people. "Hunt them down!"

The colonists chased after them, leaving Maisey with Haverson and Retz.

"This is getting bad," she said. "How long is your Phantom going to be?"

"A few minutes," Retz assured. "They're not exactly just next door, they got a whole atmosphere to descend into."

There a was a spray of plasma fire on the walls, as a number of defenders were either hit or forced to scatter. Scrambling over the vacated section came a slew of kig-yar, armed to the teeth and screaming for blood. They couldn't wait for the Phantom with these guys. Haverson got on the radio.

"Shepard, situation!"

"Already on it!" The Commander assured. "Chief is with me, we're going to beat them back!"

They didn't see much at first, until Shepard sped in from nowhere right into one of the hostile pirates. His biotic charge came in handy for closing distances like that. Chief wasn't far behind, charging down the battlements, assault rifle clattering. The stream of bullets gunned down the pirates with ease, save for when the shields popped out. Shepard had the Spartan's back, using his biotics to send a shockwave that sent the pirates flying into the air. Others Chief simply punched clean in the face and fired into them as the reeled in pain.

Another of the kig-yar attempted to cut into the Spartan with an energy cutlass, only for the armored soldier to sweep his leg backward, knocking the alien off his feet. He then slammed his elbow into the bird's gut, forcing him to the ground before shooting him point blank in the face. Shepard moved in to cover the Spartan further, using his shotgun in tandem with his biotic charge to knock down multiple opponents in their way.

Retz had to admit, it was fun watching them work together. Moreso with the knowledge that their dual defensive strategy managed to buy his Phantom enough time. It emerged out of the cloud cover, flying as fast as it could go, barreling towards the gates. It let loose a full torrent of plasma from all of its turrets. They barrage scorched the attackers near the walls. It came back for a second run, doing the same to other pirate infantry nearby. It backed off as it started receiving smalls arms fire, as well as a few Wraiths that tried to shoot it down. That only got them in trouble though, when the Grizzly zeroed in on their positions and opened up on them.

"Think they can make another run?" Maisey asked.

"Yes, but it's still just a delaying tactic," Retz warned. "As long as Zhoc is pushing this charge ahead, his men will keep coming. The only thing that's going to stop him is that defense grid."

"Or taking him out," Haverson reminded him. "If the sabotage team behind their lines can locate and terminate him, that solves all our problems at once."

"People have tried to kill Snarlbeak before, Lieutenant," Retz warned. "He is not so easily terminated."

He didn't voice his other concern though, how uncharacteristic it was that Zhoc was acting here. He was certain the old buzzard wouldn't put himself at this much risk this early. He would've waited for victory to be assured to come down. At least give his men enough time to cover up the bodies so he wouldn't have to see them. It spoke to the fact that Snarlbeak was getting frustrated enough to take a more active role in things. Worse was the other prospect. Zhoc had proven himself rather cunning opponent. He was able to keep tracking them after all, despite their best efforts to lose them. He wasn't groundside without a plan, a purpose, a grand design. He was finally getting his hands dirty, but to what extent Retz couldn't be sure.

If he could only figure out what he was trying to do, maybe he could stop it. But how did you suss out the moves of someone like Zhoc? Someone who was twisted enough to want to obliterate a colony, losing so many men in the process, just for a damn relic? And if he did have a plan, he doubted even a few Spartans would be able to stop him from seeing it through.

---

Snarlbeak's column had gotten further into the jungle and seemingly further from the main battlefield. It was possible he was trying to flank the colony. With everyone focused on the frontal attack, they wouldn't see the Zhoc coming in from the left. Not that it would matter now, not with his group spotted and about to be obliterated.

McKay had positioned her ODSTs to slink around the column's flank. Varvok had gone on ahead to cut them off. That left the snipers, Linda, Jun and Thane, to prevent any possible escape from the other side. Zhoc was surrounded and he just didn't know it. Stationed in threes, Thane zeroed in on their target first, Snarlbeak, currently giving orders from his Spectre Transport. He didn't have a great shot on him though, so he refrained from taking it.

"Kinda looks like they've stopped," Jun observed.

"Yeah, the brush is pretty thick here," Linda added. "They're probably having trouble moving further. That or they're lost."

"Then its our job to make sure they stay lost," Thane declared. "I'll try to get a better angle on Snarlbeak."

"We'll keep an eye out for his officers and lieutenants," Jun said. "Remove the command structure and we damage his efforts regardless, even if we do miss him."

The sniper team spread out among the trees, Thane moving to get a better shot on the lead pirate. As he did so though, he heard a sound rising over the trees. He recognized it as a Phantom. The Column backed away, as plasma blasts from above cut through the thick trees and foliage. Burning a path through the canopy, the Phantom began to lower itself into a holding position above the ground. It activated a gravity lift and at once, a bunch of Jackals began to move towards it. Zhoc was among them.

"He's leaving," Thane warned the others. "He's leaving, we have to strike now."

He quickly took aim at Snarlbeak with his rifle, trying to move the crosshairs over the bird's head. Unfortunately, when he took the shot, Zhoc suddenly sidestepped behind a subordinates shield. The round bounced off of it instead of hitting its intended target. The pirate must've seen him at the last second. Too late now, the rest of the ambush team opened up.

Rockets and grenades were launched at the column all at once. Wraiths exploded, Ghosts were overturned, the Spectre tried to fire wildly into the underbrush to no avail. Bullets raked across the assembled pirates as ODSTs and Batarians answered in kind. All the while, Thane, Jun and Linda kept trying to pick targets.

Jun managed to gun down a pilot for a Revenant assault craft. Linda blew apart the engine of a Ghost with an armor piercing round, causing the vehicle to violent explode. Thane tried to stay on Zhoc, but the Jackal was moving through his men like a slippery little eel. He was essentially using them as shields. When Thane tried to take a shot, he ended up killing a random Jackal instead of his intended target. His clearest shot was when Zhoc jumped into the gravity lift. He took careful aim, only for plasma fire to ruin his shot.

The drell was forced to drop down to the forest floor to avoid the incoming fire. He moved forward trying to get a bead again on the Phantom's lift. He fired several more shots as he raced through the brush. When plasma fire tried to cut him down, he used his biotics to pull at one of the attackers, lifting him into the air where he shot him down.

Sadly, he couldn't get the desired shot. Zhoc was inside the Phantom, which was by now pulling away. A few rockets tracked it and hit it, but none managed to take it down. The transport's shields held, even as the column below collapsed.

The strike had otherwise gone off perfectly. A number of Jackals had escaped, but Linda reported she had managed to kill a few of their officers. Jun reported the same, although he noted a few had reached the Phantom and escaped with Zhoc. The Wraiths and other vehicles though had been destroyed though, wherever they were headed they would never reach it. If nothing else, that could count that as a success.

"We missed the main target, but we dealt a blow to his forces all the same," McKay observed once they regrouped. "We should move to intercept the Wraiths that have gotten to the colony, hit them from behind. From the sound of things they're going to need our help."

"Time to come in from the cold then," Jun agreed. "We best double time it back to the colony in that case."

However, as the others prepared to leave, Thane noticed Linda, eyeing where the direction the Phantom had flew off into. Despite the helmet, the drell sensed her inquisitive expression. He moved over to her, trying not to interrupt her contemplation.

"He was quicker than we thought," he apologized. "I honestly thought I had him."

"It was worth a try in any case," she told him.

"I suppose we making him flee from battle is better than nothing," Thane postulated, not entirely sure of his own statement.

"Did we?" Linda asked. "That dropship showed up before he knew we were here. He was leaving in it regardless."

Thane shared her suspicions, Zhoc didn't seem like the kind of pirate who'd cut and run just because of some brush. Perhaps there was another reason he was getting on that Phantom, maybe he wished to scout the area up ahead for a way through? That was certainly possible, but it didn't seem right.

"There was something weird about their heading vector," Linda added.

"What exactly?" Thane asked.

"I'm not sure, but it's concerning," she confessed. "I'm going to contact, Chief. He needs to know."

Thane suspected Linda had a more concrete suspicion about something. For whatever reason she was keeping it to herself. Perhaps she didn't want to send them all on a wild goose chase if she was wrong. Regardless, they knew of at least one place they were needed and they had to get back there. Linda made her call to the Master Chief as they headed out.

"Chief, complication down here," she began. "Might be nothing, but I think you should keep on your toes."

---

The Grizzly's barrels kept pummeling the treeline with shell after shell. Wraiths exploded one after the other as the plasma tanks tried their best to avoid the incoming fire. The Grizzly itself rolled across the trenches and battered smoldering hulks of the opposing, defeated vehicles as if they were nothing. Another round of shells blew another Wraith wide open. It was relentless in its defense of the colony and Brant had a front row seat to it all.

That just meant though that he was caught a bit in the crossfire. For as voracious a defender as the Grizzly and its crew were, its aggression made it a priority target for the pirates. The Wraiths were starting to gang up to arch mortar shots at the Grizzly, attempting to melt through its armor plating with their super heated plasma. Brant and his exosuits did their best to even the odds, striking out to hit any Wraiths that felt bold enough to go after the Grizzly. Brant himself managed to kick in the nose of one of the Wraiths before slamming his suit's arm down right on the pilot's hatch. The smaller Cobras attempted to assist as well, blasting at the Wraiths attempting to flank the Grizzly from up close. They were paying the price for it though, as the enemy tanks soon targeted them as well. As did a few Ghosts that eventually managed to blast off one of the Cobra's wheels, leaving them dead in the mud and forcing the crew to abandon the vehicle. A Wraith finished it off as they fled the doomed tank.

The Grizzly held firm through it all, weathering every plasma mortar that managed to get through its defensive shield of Warthogs, Cyclops Suits and Cobras. It was still taking a beat though, a fact evident with every scorch mark and broken plate the tank incurred. The Grizzly's crew did not back down though, they rammed one of the Ghosts, crushing it beneath its treads, before smashing into the side of a Wraith. It then unloaded several shells in fairly quickly succession as it rolled across the battlefield. Its turret spin about, striking every Wraith it could as it did its best to avoid the incoming fire.

However, it wasn't enough to stop the inevitable. One lucky shot managed to strike the Grizzly in the one place it shouldn't, the turret. The blast blew a sizeable chunk off the massive tank's gun. Smoke and flame started billowing out of it. The tank rolled backwards into a defensive position, using its machine gun now that its main weapon was gone.

It wasn't dead, but the Grizzly was as good as useless now in stopping these Wraiths. Brant and his Cyclops pilot were on their own again. The Security Chief watched as the Warthogs moved to protect the walls. That friendly Phantom came by once more to strafe the Wraiths below, but it backed off once plasma started arching for them. Brant made the only call possible.

"Fall back to the colony!" He ordered his pilots. "Defend the walls!"

They all headed back to New Teteocan's outer perimeter, smashing and stomping at the enemy pirates in their way. With the clattering of the Hogs' machine guns in the background, the Cyclops Exosuits formed a line of defense against the onrushing hordes.

"Protocol Fire Wall!" He ordered over the radio. "Engage!"

The Cyclops Pilots ignited their plasma cutters all at once, creating torrents of flaming energy. Brant himself aimed his downward and ignited a smaller trench beneath his feet, this one filled with gasoline. It created a literal wall of fire, it was temporary as a defense, the gas would burn out eventually, but it was better than nothing at this point.

However, it became apparent the pirates had other plans. Charging up the center was a single Wraith, flanked by Ghosts. It wasn't firing or anything, it was just speeding towards the gates at full blast. Brant wasn't sure what it was, but he didn't like it.

"Shoot it! Kill that tank!" He ordered aloud.

Every Warthog obeyed, unloading on the Wraith, ripping off its plating. Marines up on the battlements fired their rockets at the Wraith, only for the Ghosts to rush in and intercept the shots. The Wraith kept going, determined in its singular mission, which soon became clear when it reached the gates. Colonists and Marines stationed there saw what was coming and ran as soon as they realized.

For when the Wraith hit the gates it exploded in a violent ball of burning blue plasma. By the time the smoke and fire cleared, New Teteocan's entrance was wide open to the world. As soon as they saw that, Snarlbeak's minions made a beeline straight for it. Brant moved his people to guard the blown open gates, but it was clear now that they had reached the endgame. As a few suits were hit by heavy weapons fire, some of their legs being shot out from under them as they moved to engage the invaders, their dire situation became more apparent.

Either they got the defense grid on now or they were going to be overrun.

---

Caleb only had his own thoughts to keep him company for most of the night in his cell. He mulled over how much had gone wrong. How much he had just lost. How all his work had been destroyed in a blink of an eye. When the sounds of battle outside broke the wretched silence, his thoughts plagued him still. He had brought these people here. He had brought them to this facility and its relic. It had made them a target again.

Had he been fooling himself into thinking they'd always be safe here? That he'd get the grid on someday by himself? That he'd have time to make sure they'd be okay? The sound of his family being slaughtered outside while he languished in here seemed to say everything.

He had failed. Not in finding the relic, not in his mission for Cerberus. Those no longer mattered. He had failed in keeping this place safe. He had failed before he even set foot here. All because of his selfish actions, to think he could ever have it both ways, the relic and this colony. Maisey was right to hate him, they all were. He had lied to them for years and this was the result of all of those lies coming to haunt him once more.

He had honestly hoped that Shepard's arrival meant he'd have more time. That they could crack the code. The Commander would get the relic, he'd get the grid on and no one would ever be the wiser about who he actually was. He should've known better, that Shepard would complicate things. Still, he had no one to blame for this but himself ultimately. Your past always catches up with you, no matter what you tried.

He had started with such noble ambitions. Cerberus was meant to defend humanity. He was here to save an Earth of another dimension that was under threat. He was going to help save lives here and back home. He and his fellow operatives were going to be heroes. That was the sales pitch, but what kind of hero lies to the very people he's intending to save? Lies that only put them in more danger, not less.

Every plasma blast that struck the colony now was a dagger in his chest. People dying because of his actions. He hadn't been good enough to get the facility unlocked. He hadn't been quick enough or careful enough. He hadn't done as good a job at teaching Rowan. He should've just been honest. He should've just told them the all the truth. Now it was too late and everyone he cared about was going to pay for it.

As he sat curled up in the dark, mulling over how many lives were going to be lost because of him, he tried to gleam a positive. To find some path towards optimism in all of this. It all lay with Rowan really, with her being better than him. She was smart, clever, she could figure this all out. She had to. She was the only one left he could.

He had to admit, he had once contemplated recruiting her. She was a prime candidate, exactly what Cerberus needed. But every time he tried, he couldn't bare to do it. Perhaps because he knew she'd never go for it. Or, maybe it was because he couldn't dare think of forcing her to lie to her family. The idea of sharing this burden with anyone else, it became repellant to him. So, he never brought it up. He kept lying to Rowan so she would never have to lie to anyone else. If the truth came out, he'd be the only one to blame. He had hoped a part of them would understand, that once the Defense Grid was up, they wouldn't care too much.

That ship had most certainly sailed by now. All that was left was this cell and the shattered remains of what he could once claim was his own self-respect. He'd give anything for someway to fix it all.

In that moment, he heard something careening out of the sky. Looking up to where the sound was coming from, he soon realized what it was. Ducking under his cot, the plasma mortar tore apart the brig's roof. The blast ripped the wall clean off, opening his cell to the outside world. Said world currently in chaos. Homes burning, streets littered with debris, who knows how many casualties. He could only gaze out in horror as he watched war consume what he had helped to re-build.

Then he steeled himself. He wasn't going to sit here and feel sorry for himself. Whether they wanted him or not, he still had a mission to complete. Rowan and the Colony needed him. Rushed out of the wreckage of his cell and towards the Forerunner facility's entrance.

---

The fighting at the gate had intensified soon after they fell. Efren had relocated from the battlements to the city streets, using his sharpshooter skills to take down Zhoc's pirates as they swarmed into the Colony. He and the other defenders were protected by a frontline of Zek's crew and New Teteocan security forces, both armed with energy and physical shields respectively. The defensive screen was mostly there to keep the triage area clear and the wounded recuperating there safe.

Chief and his Spartans were in the thick of it, laying down a screen of fire on the entrance as Zhoc's men poured through. Zara was with them, armed and at the ready with her shotgun. She fired a few blasts that ripped through one of the enemy Jackals as he tried to charge through the hail of gunfire. Shepard moved up with Grunt to reinforce their position with some heavy artillery. The krogan in particular was lugging a large machine gun he had pulled from its moorings and was spraying the now decimated gates with fire. Dozens of Zhoc's pirates fell under the hail of fire, but more kept coming.

"We have to hold them," Shepard insisted. "Tali and the others are almost through!"

"Let's hope they can find out how to switch on the defense grid then," Chief told him. "We're running out of options."

The Spartan sprayed a few clean bursts to take down another hostile Jackal. His gunfire was soon joined by a barrage of needles to ripped into another of the enemy pirates before they detonated into a fine pink mist. Zek and Retz had moved up towards them to assist.

"Think it's time for our Jungle team to come in already?" Zek as he moved into cover. "If they can hit them from behind, maybe we can squeeze the fuckers between the both of us."

"They're already on their way," Chief informed him. "They engaged Snarlbeak's column and decimated it."

"Excellent," Retz commented. "Then the Old Bird is dead?"

"No, 058 reported the target had fled," Chief explained, a very concerned tone in his candor. "Boarded a Phantom with a bunch of his men and took off into the jungle."

"He abandoned the field?" Shepard asked, somewhat confused.

"Linda doesn't think so," Chief claimed. "She's got the feeling he's up to something, like he's got a bigger plan."

Zek looked contemplative for a moment before looking to Chief curiously.

"Did she say which direction he went in?" He asked.

"Why?" Chief asked.

"Because I think I know where he might be headed," the pirate warned him.

---

"Almost there... got it!"

Rowan slammed down a fist on the execute command and various alarms went off.

"Don't worry!" She assured the others. "It's just signalling the system reset! Kat, Tali, get on the Plasma Torch! The door won't be open long!"

Tali and Kat rolled the Plasma Torch closer to the door, which slid open as the alarms continued to blare. Activating the torch on the highest setting, Tali directed the nozzle to the corner of the frame, while Kat steadied the torch itself while adjust the heat. They fused the frame together in every single corner, jamming the door open. They could hear the door trying to force itself back into place, to no avail. Smoke and sparks exploded outward from the various exposed panels. A power surge erupted at Rowan's console, forcing her to drop her welder's mask before board began to spark.

"I think we blew the surge protector," Rowan stated. "But otherwise we're good!"

"Let me in! Let me in! Let me in!" Taq screamed jubilantly, pushing the plasma torch aside. "It's shiny collecting time!"

The others didn't argue or stop her, they needed to get inside fast. Despite her priorities inevitably being more self-centered, the kig-yar was right to hurry. They filed into the final room, beholding their long sought-after prize, the central laboratory.

It was remarkably sparse. A few platforms containing computing equipment from the looks of it, geometric architecture surrounding everything and a good deal of flashing holographic symbols along the walls. The main draw though was the large pedestal of some sort in the middle of it all, where the relic sat. A yellow glowing orb, with five pointed tips surrounding, four formed a base, one a pointed tip at the top. It looked like an eye suspended in a small pyramid.

"So that puzzle wasn't just generic shapes forming an abstract concept," Halsey deduced. "It was depicting the relic. That suggests some recognition of worship or reverence."

"They did seem to revere knowledge," Tali reminded her. "Perhaps they saw this relic as a pure expression of that."

"All fascinating, but we have no time to speculate," Kat reminded them. "We need to get the defense grid online."

Taq was too busy trying to find a way up to the relic itself to care about the defense grid for the moment, so that meant the job fell to everyone else. Legion brought up the schematics in its memory banks in order to locate the appropriate console controls for the grid. Tali, Halsey and Rowan in the meantime started searching as well, Kat covering them as they did.

"We should look for something similar to the security console from before," Rowan suggested. "This place has a lot of redundant design aesthetics so it's gotta be one of them."

Tali searched the consoles, until she found one that seemed promising.

"Try this one," she said anxiously. "We're running out of time!"

"Wrong!"

The voice came from the entrance as a single shot rang out, nearly hitting Taq's hand as she tried to reach up to the relic. It was a needle round and the shooter was a kig-yar rifleman wearing Snarlbeak's colors. Two squads' worth of kig-yar in fact, vastly outnumbering and outgunning the little team of science geeks. Most of them had their sights trained on Kat, a few were targeting Legion who was aiming its rifle back at them. At the head of the interlopers though was the scarred and sinister face of Snarlbeak himself, looking both pleased as well as contemptuous, if such a thing were possible.

"I'm afraid your time is up," he declared, he looked to Kat. "Don't bother trying to shoot, Human. I know what your kind are capable of, but no matter how fast a shot you are, my boys are faster. You'll be dead before you even squeeze the trigger."

"I've faced worse odds," she claimed, her aim steadfast and at the ready.

"Well if you're wrong then your friends here pay the price with you," he warned as his men began to spread out. "But go ahead, see how many of my boys you can kill before you turn into a fine pink mist."

Kat didn't lower her gun, but she did back off a little and moved her trigger finger away. Slyly, she whispered into her helmet's comm.

"Open signal," she said as quietly as possible.

She let the voice recognition do the rest. It opened the comm-link channel and allowed her helmet to transmit the audio feed to the other Spartans. They just had to stall Snarlbeak until they arrived.

"How did you get in here?" Tali demanded to know. "They're still fighting you at the gate!"

"No, they're fighting my men at the gate," Zhoc laughed. "I'm here taking what is rightfully mine. But I thank you for speeding the process along and getting the doors open at least. You've proven yourselves far more capable than most of my minions. Honestly, this entire day is going to go on everyone's evaluation reports for the end of the month. The fact I was forced to come down here at all to ensure this mission's success just goes to show you how much they've all slipped in their work ethic."

One of the riflemen turned to his fleetmaster with a sullen expression.

"That really hurts, boss," he said. "We're trying our best."

"Shut it!" Zhoc growled back, before returning to his discussion. "But not all my men are worthless. Lurz for example. He was observing you for a good while before I arrived. Why do you think we attacked when your armored super soldiers were gone? He was staking you out for our main assault. When he saw your best assets were gone, I realized it was a prime opportunity to probe your defenses and try to get a peak inside the facility itself. That's why I gave all my raid teams cameras in their visors."

Snarlbeak pointed to his own combat visor over his eyes to illustrate his point.

"They transmitted the feeds from their mission directly back to me," he continued. "Behold my surprise when your little badass commandos show up out of the blue, despite clearly being off on some errand deep in the jungle. There was no way they've could come back so fast... not without some help."

"Damn it," Kat realized, her tone that of annoyance at their oversight. "The Forerunner tram we found."

"Exactly," Snarlbeak confirmed. "After he fled, Lurz traced your steps through the jungle, enough to give us an idea of where you had gone to. I had to crash my Phantom into the jungle canopy and cut through a ton of underbrush just to get us to the structure, but it was worth the expense to find a back door into this facility. It was a gamble to place my hopes on a longshot possibility to be sure, but it seems to have worked out."

"I wouldn't be too proud if I were you," Halsey informed him. "You've basically had everyone else do the real work for you today."

"I'm the Chief Executive Officer of my business enterprise," Zhoc claimed. "Delegating is an essential function of that position, whatever job it applies to. Mine is piracy, so stealing in general is just natural. Are you seriously trying to shame me?"

"Not really," Halsey confessed. "Just noting that you're fairly inefficient. How much has this day's effort cost you in men and material? A lot I wager and in the end you would've gotten nowhere at all without us. Both in getting here and getting into this room."

Zhoc looked enraged at that.

"I tried to be diplomatic about this," he insisted. "I offered you all a deal. You rejected it. I did what I had to do and I will keep doing so. I am the future of the kig-yar, our pathway to ascension, to revenge over the sangheili!"

"You're a scar-faced sociopathic sycophant sell-out with a sibling complex!" Taq screeched at him. "That's what you are!"

That pissed Zhoc off enough for his breathing to start becoming haggard and furious. He pulled his cutlass out, pointing it towards the female jackal.

"Taq, my dear, you just lost yourself an arm," he informed her, malice dripping from his beak. "Careful, or more limbs will be added to the reduction list."

"Like you'll be able to stomach even a drop of my blood," Taq spat back at him. "Face it, Zhoc! You're nothing like your sister and if she were here, she'd be the most disappointed in your sorry ass!"

Zhoc roared aloud and charged forward with cutlass out, only for something to hit him in the back of the head. That took everyone by surprise, Kat especially. Chief had only just responded to her comm-link, letting them know they were almost there. He also wouldn't have used what appeared to be a wrench to take out Zhoc, he'd have just shot him. No, in reality, their savior was in fact Caleb, armed with the tools they had left outside in the hall. Including the plasma torch, which he ignited and swung left to hit a few of the Jackals lining up shots on Kat.

"Caleb!" Rowan shouted, joyously excited.

"Get the grid up!" He shouted at her. "Now!"

The other Jackals fired on him as he dove for cover behind the torch. He stuck the dolly it was attached to into overdrive and caused it to crash into the hostile buccaneers. Kat by now had been relieved of much of her potential assailants and opened fire on the assembled Jackals. Tali joined in as well, firing on the pirates with her own pistol, while Halsey looked for cover and Rowan tried to get the grid up as Caleb asked. Zhoc, however, scrambling up from the floor, went straight for Taq. The female Jackal already had her plasma axe up and blocked the first swing before stepping back.

"You were trying to distract me!" He declared.

"To be fair, I was kinda hoping the Spartan would kill you while you were trying to gut me," she corrected. "I didn't see the other human until after he whacked you in the back of the head like a braindead unggoy."

"Clever little dirt digger as always," Zhoc complimented. "But you still insulted the memory of my sister, so my compliment still comes with some dismemberment!"

He slashed wildly again, but Taw blocked the first few strikes before running off and scrambling on top of a platform. As the two Jackals engaged in their grudge match, Rowan kept trying to get the defense grid online. Tali assisted, while also trying to provide cover fire for them. Legion aided as well, trying to snipe various priority pirates who had by now flooded the room, creating a turbulent gunfight. Kat was fending off the majority, even grabbing a plasma pistol in her robotic arm for additional firepower. The quarian still hoped the other Spartans were on their way, Kat couldn't keep all of these pirates at bay.

"Something's wrong," Rowan told Tali. "I found the defense grid reset function, I think, but it looks like there's another junction point or two to confirm the sequence!"

"Where's the junctions?" Tali asked.

"Another console," Rowan said, pointing away from them. "There!"

"I'll get it!" Caleb insisted, running out from cover.

He smacked a Jackal in the side of his face as he ran past, scooping up his Needler as he did. He fired back on the other pirates as he ran, rushing towards one of the consoles. He also ran past Taq and Snarlbeak, fighting atop one of the computing platforms as they inched towards the relic's pedestals. Taq ducked one of his slashes before trying to cut him downward slice. The old bird caught the blow with his cutlass though.

"You are not taking my relic!" He screamed. "I've worked too hard for this!"

"You worked hard?!" Taq screamed back, feeling insulted. "Who was risking their neck finding this shit for you to begin with? Halsey's right, you take credit for everyone else's work!"

Taq was kicked away and forced to ground. She had to roll as her opponent's cutlass nearly cleaved her head in two. She scrambled towards the next platform, trying to get to pedestal and grab the relic. She didn't know what it could do, but with any luck it could help.

As the fighting continued to rage throughout the lab, the chattering of assault rifle fire erupted at the door. The Master Chief, the other Spartans, Commander Shepard and his squad, as well Zek and Retz, charged in to lend a hand. They opened fire on the enemy Jackals as they scrambled to find cover themselves.

"Nice work on the signal, Noble Two!" Kelly called out.

"Thanks, now kill these bastards already!" Kat replied jovially.

Caleb by now had reached one of the junction points at the opposing console. He quickly tapped in a few commands and primed the defense grid sequence. The console lit up bright bluish-green.

"We got something! We got something!" He shouted over at Rowan.

"There's another junction before I start the sequence!" She told him, panic in her voice. "It's right next to you, by that wall! Hit it!"

"Ok!" Caleb answered. "Going now!"

Caleb ran for the console, but his action was seen by Snarlbeak. Even as Taq locked her axe with his sword, he took the time to grab his plasma pistol and aim it at the man.

"Sucker punch me in the head, ape?" He asked. "No one makes a fool out of Snarlbeak! Pirate lord of the Blackest Sea!"

He fired series of bolts at Caleb, two hit his leg, another in his shoulder, three square in his back. He howled in pain as he fell, just feet from the console. Rowan saw him go down and her face went white in horror.

"NOOOO! CALEB!"

Despite being down, Caleb kept crawling for the console, forcing himself to keep moving despite the horrendous pain. Snarlbeak just seemed to laugh and tried to fire again, only for Taq to headbutt him with her head. A female kig-yar's skull was a thick plated bony dome, more than enough to knock most males for a loop. It took two hits and a solid punch to knock Snarlbeak over. He dropped onto the side of the pedestal as Taq landed near him.

"The shiny is mine, Snarlbeak! Your twisted dream is never coming true!" She declared. "I'm gonna be sitting on my own planet drinking fancy ichor and you're gonna be a smear on my boots that I'll need to wash off!"

"It's not my dream, its Zvaz's!" He declared in anger. "And you're not denying her! No one is going to stop me from getting what she deserved!"

They both went to grab the relic, pulling at the orb with their talons.

"It's mine!"

"MINE!"

They kept pulling at, loosening it from the pedestal. Sparks and energy streams exploded out from it as they struggled and the aura around it seemed to glow brighter. The symbols illuminating the rooms resonated with a yellow light that soon filled every corner, banishing every shadow.

"TAQ, STOP!" Tali shouted as an alarm began to blare loudly in all their ears. "WE CAN'T JUST GRAB IT!"

"He's not getting it!" Taq declared. "Not for a second!"

"I will not be denied again!" Zhoc screeched.

As they struggled frantically at the relic the central orb began to pulsate with light. Then, suddenly a wave of energy exploded outwards from it. The five-pointed shapes that formed the pyramid element of the relic expanded away from the orb before a second wave of energy threw both Taq and Zhoc away from the artifact.

Moments later a blinding aura of brilliant yellow enveloped the room, blocking out everything from everyone on both sides of the fight. It was the last thing anyone saw before it all went black.

The relic had been activated.

---

AN: It's been a long time and I hate to leave you on another cliffhanger, but trust me, you need to decompress a little after all that. Especially with what comes next. That might take a while to get done, it's gotten a bit out of hand. We might be in for another chapter split to make it managable. I'm sorry this took so long regardless, it was more my fault than anyone else really. If I had gotten more work done I'd probably have been able to at least post something before now. Anyway, I hope this chapter finds you well and that you enjoyed it. More importantly, I hope you're all still with me for this ride despite my extended absence. I'm going to finish this story and move on to Halo 2. I promise, one way or another. I don't like leaving my work unfinished and I hope you don't think i abandoned you all. You readership is a continued source for me pushing myself. I wouldn't be doing this without all of you. So, please leave a review, let me know how you feel and check out the blog for more behind the scenes stuff about this chapter. Hopefully, this was all worth the wait.