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.

40. Take What you Can and Run Part 1

Chapter 37: Take What You Can and Run

Honor May Not Win Power, but it Wins Respect. And Respect Earns Power

- Ishida Mitsunari

Commander Shepard made a mental note to ask Garrus how being stuck in that little hideout of his on Omega was like. He had a suspicion that it was very similar to how this all felt right now. For all intents and purposes, they were trapped.

The Plunder Nest's defenders were grouping around the main entrance to the dockyards, between them and the Slave Pit primarily. They had enough tanks and armored vehicles to effectively roadblock any way in or out of the docks. They also had smaller defensive perimeters at the side entrances, but those seemed to be about keeping them from slipping out another way. Or, perhaps to prevent reinforcements from outside from getting to the docks.

This information primarily came from Thane and Legion, who were keeping their eyes on all the entrances to the docks. As well as trying to find a way to sneak towards the primary security tower not too far away from their position. The one they needed to get to if they wanted to turn the Nest's Defense Grid against the blockade in orbit and get out of here alive.

So far, nothing. It seemed that the Nest's Defenders were aware of that potential risk. At the very least, they didn't want anyone sneaking out of the dock in general.

However, despite their advantage in both numbers and guns, Snarlbeak's people were not moving in. They had to suspect that there were only about six people in here. They should have been trying to bust through the gate and take back the docks outright, but they weren't. They sent some scouts inside now and then, to try and recon what their defensive capabilities were like. Thane and Legion managed to locate and take them out when they did, but the bulk of the enemy space pirate forces remained outside.

Why? It made no sense. Just come in here and take them all down, reclaim the docks. What was stopping them? The possibilities were a constant discussion at the moment, none of them were good.

"They're probably concerned about damaging their smuggling fleet and accumulated product," Tali surmised. "They don't want to risk destroying all the black market goods they have stored up in the warehouses around here. Not mention all these expensive ships, including that big one."

"More likely they're waiting us out," Miranda reasoned. "They know we can't get out of here with the anti-air defenses still up. So they think they can just wait us out."

"Why not do that with the Distillery though?" Shepard asked in kind. "They've been hitting it hard. If they think we can't escape anyway, why not just surround every location under attack and keep us stuck inside?"

"Maybe there's something too valuable in here to risk destroying with a bombardment," Tali offered. "The Distillery can take the punishment, it's built like a fortress. But the docks aren't exactly the same. There's fuel, all those weapons in some of the warehouses, one plasma mortar lands wrong and this whole place starts going up. And we haven't even checked everywhere, who knows what else is being kept in this place."

"There is the simplest answer to consider," Shepard brought up. "The blockades aren't about keeping us in so much as making sure Chief and the Spartans can't get out."

He pointed over to the slave pit, the barricade walls of which they could see even from here.

"All their slaves are being held right across from us, exactly in the path of the largest build-up of their forces," Shepard openly observed, his finger trailing down to the line of tanks and armored vehicles. "They have to know Spartans are involved and that this is their most direct path to the only viable escape route for them and all the captives with them."

"Then the Master Chief is going to be walking into some heavy fire once he breaks out of those walls," Miranda observed. "And there isn't much we can do to help him when it happens either."

"We can hold down this fort long enough for them to make it here," Shepard stated plainly. "Like Tali said, we found plenty of weapons."

Shepard looked out onto their growing defensive lines. Machine guns, plasma cannons, boxes of Fuel Rod Cannons and Rocket Launchers, all strategically placed along a few specific choke points, leading all the way back to the hangars themselves with their escape ships tucked away and secured. Just because there were only six of them to defend this place, didn't mean they had sat idle. Just in case some Wraith or Ghost got the nerve up to head in, Shepard wanted to be ready and directed his team to build what defenses they could from what could be found within the dockyard's storage houses.

"Defenses sufficient, Commander," Mordin said approaching from not far aways. "Access ways blocked off. Main road only viable entry. Stocked weapons along all lines. Pirate assault... most treacherous now."

They had all split up to get everything ready while Thane and Legion covered them. It was slow going, but they had built a few decent blockades to form at least three lines of makeshift defense. They could keep falling back towards the hangars as each line was potentially overwhelmed. However, Shepard didn't like their chances of lasting long.

"I just hope we've done all we can in case of the worst," he sighed. "I would feel better if we had more people here, but I don't even know a way to give them a corridor inside."

"Probably best not to entertain it right now, Commander," Miranda cautioned. "They believe we are trapped, attempt to break out might force them to close in on us more. They're clearly more concerned with the Distillery than us for the moment, best not rock the boat. Question is, why not just do the same to begin with? Destroy all hope of escape outright."

"Hmm, other groups pose greater threat," Mordin reasoned. "Larger, more active, more overt destruction. Clearly threat to criminal operations. Enemy focus on them... for now."

"So they're saving us for last because they think we're easier to take out," Tali grumbled. "Why doesn't that exactly lift my spirits."

"Other possibility," Mordin warned. "Know Commander Shepard here. Covenant still after False Shepherd. Snarlbeak intends to join Covenant. Needs bargaining power for favorable terms. Implications... problematic."

Miranda laid it out clearly.

"So they might be trying to see if they can capture Shepard alive to hand over to the Covenant," she clarified. "Wipe out or capture the others to force your surrender. Well, I imagine whatever bounty they have on us could recoup the costs we've reaped on their organization today."

"Keelah," Tali groaned. "Why does it feel like everywhere we go we have some kind of price on our heads? I hope mine is at least pretty high."

"I don't think that's a very comforting thought," Miranda told her.

"If my bounty is worth more to the Covenant than Garrus', that's a very comforting thought," Tali declared. "I get to be worth more than the infamous Archangel, he'll never live it down."

"Avoided most bounties on Omega," Mordin declared. "Good doctor with clinic valuable. Even to criminals. Most of time."

"I don't think that's going to help with these pirates," Shepard informed him.

"Still useful," Mordin tried to claim. "Have studied kig-yar anatomy. Know where to shoot. Eyes most prominent target. Knees next. Renders agility advantage null. Very effective."

Shepard didn't need to be reminded of the Professor's STG past, but it put things into perspective. They weren't completely helpless here. The Nest's pirate defenders were underestimating them if they thought they could bide their time and just roll in here whenever they wanted. If that was what they were thinking, they were going to be proven wrong. If it was something else though, well, they'd still be ready for it.

"For the record, my bounty is way higher than all of yours just on average," Jack called over suddenly. She was busy adjusting one of the machine gun nests, making sure the barrels on the turret were spinning properly. "I've actually been locked up by the fuckers for a bit so they know my face best. Also, if we're going by accumulation of EVERYONE'S bounty total, I win by default."

"Not a contest, Jack," Miranda informed her.

"Bite me, Cheerleader," Jack called back. "You're jealous I beat you at something."

Shepard could tell this was going to get off track fast if Jack and Miranda got into another spat over something. So he redirected it back to what their real problem was.

"Whatever reason Snarlbeak's men are staying their hand for now, we need to use every second of it to get as prepared as we can," he declared. "We need to keep this place secured for our people."

"But they don't have a way in," Tali stated. "We keep coming back to this, the blockades are likely there to keep them out. How are we going to help them break through?"

"We haven't looked in every warehouse," Shepard reminded her. "There's ton more stuff we haven't uncovered that they're holding here. We just need a faster way of checking them."

Tali gave it some thought.

"Well, we could check the dockmaster's office," the quarian reasoned. "It might have a manifesto of their current inventory. Maybe there's something we can find on record that we can use to even the odds a bit more."

"Worth checking out," Miranda agreed. "Not like we have much else to do for now. I think the main building is back there."

She pointed to a large structure towards the center of the docks.

"Alright, Thane and Legion will stay on watch for any movement," Shepard concurred. "Everyone else, let's get to the office and see what else this place is hiding."

They headed on their way, but Shepard looked back briefly to the prison complex over yonder. Where the Master Chief, his Spartans, Samara and Grunt were busy trying to liberate the slaves within, human and otherwise. He just hoped they were close to accomplishing that goal and they had a plan to get everyone here safely.

He wasn't that worried of course. They were Spartans. If anyone could get this done it was them.

---

The maximum security complex was ablaze with conflict. Now armed, the slaves proved to be an appropriate match for their pirate captors within. Plasma and needles flew as Grunt and Jackal prisoners swarmed the courtyard and battered their enemies with impunity.

For the most part Snarlbeak's pirates ran for cover where they could. They had been so used to weak, placid slaves that they had become complacent in their duties. The slaves were more than a match for them by sheer numbers alone.

The Wraiths, now occupied by the slaves, waited in the back of the line of the rioters. They flung plasma at the guard towers or other pirate fortifications. Under the increased firepower, there was little the slavers could do. They could either hide or run into the protective bubble offered by the Brutes among their ranks.

While fewer in number than the enemy Jackal Slavers, the Brute Mercenaries made up for that with sheer raw power. More than a match for any Grunt or Jackal in their way. They were brought on to keep humans in line after all and they were Ex-Banished so they had a reputation to maintain.

A squad of them took up the main defensive line, armed with Spikers, Maulers and a Brute Shot. They began battering away the slaves with their bladed guns, firing into their ranks and cutting a number of them down in more ways than one.

A Brute with dual Maulers blasted his way through the slaves, even as he took several plasma bolts directly. Another charged ahead on all four to bulldoze a Jackal and Grunt hiding behind a set of boxes. Even a Jackal Slave, armed with a plasma shield, was no match against the sustained fire of Brute Shot battering against them. They and a few Grunts were knocked down under the withering barrage.

Lucky for the slaves, they had guardian angels on their side. In the case of this particular group, Spartan-058, Linda, and her Sniper Rifle. She had taken over one of the blown-out guard towers and swiftly took aim at the assaulting Brutes. She zeroed on the charger first as he had stopped to blast some spikes at group of Jackal Slaves using their plasma shields to protecting themselves and some Grunts. Her first shot ripped through his chest, left a pretty big hole and yet he stood. He looked up to Linda's position and aimed his Spiker. He didn't get a chance to shoot it though, Linda pulled the trigger again and the Brute's head evaporated in a mist of dark red.

"Okay, lesson learned, stick to headshots for these guys," she decided aloud.

She moved her sights to the Dual Mauler user as a Jackal Slave smashed a plasma shield into the bastard ape's shin. Fairly courageous for a Jackal, but then again it was fighting for its freedom. If Linda's time among Jackals had proven anything to her it was how much they valued their freedom.

It meant little to the Brute though as it smacked the bladed end of the Mauler down on the shield. The Jackal, no doubt a civilian not used to warfare, dropped to the ground from the force of the strike. The Brute tried to move over the downed slave, ready to finish them off.

"Oh no you don't," Linda declared silently.

She let loose another round that penetrated the eye of the Brute. It clutched at its face in pain. There was no doubt a big hole in its eye socket at this point, yet it still stood. Rather than wait for it to track her first shot back to her, Linda just fired again and killed the Brute dead this time. As the downed Jackal got back up, shield in hand, it turned to defend itself once more while Linda reloaded.

In the meantime, Anton and Fred pushed up into the fray. Anton slid into cover near a barricade with some Jackal Slaves. He then popped up and fired a shotgun blast into the Brute peppering the area with spikes.

He then turned and shot at a second Brute causing them to pull back. Fred opened fire on that one, his Battle Rifle lancing the ape's shoulder before striking him in the head. The Brute's helmet was flung off. The Brute rolled into cover behind a wall, but wasn't downed. He came back up and let loose with his weapons on Fred's position. Diving out and away from the return fire, Fred let loose another burst, that struck the Brute in the neck and then the face, taking him down for good.

The last of the Brutes held the Brute Shot in hand. He fired upon the Spartans as he sought better cover. By now, Linda had reloaded and fired a shot into his knee to slow him down. That made him kneel for a moment more as Anton moved in from the side. A shotgun blast impacted the space gorilla's torso hard. Anton was close enough that the Brute Shot blade almost took his head off had he not ducked at the last second.

Fred, in the meantime, had circled around to the other side of the Brute and laid into him with rifle fire. Even taking several bursts, the Brute stood tall, firing a grenade from his weapon that Fred's shield had to absorb. Luckily, Anton had fired a second shotgun blast into the Brute's back. As he roared in pain, Fred brought up his assault rifle and let loose a burst clean into the ape's face.

The brute finally dropped to the ground, his weapon clattering beside him. With that, the alien slaves pushed forward, yelling a battle cry as they trampled the corpses of their Brute enemies beneath them. Anton and Fred moved up behind them, with Linda still providing Overwatch on their advance. They were pushing towards the main prison complex, where most of the human slaves were supposedly being held.

Not far away, Kat and Kelly were pushing up with another group of the revolting slaves. They were assaulting the primary barracks quarters of the complex, trying to tie down the enemy there so they couldn't bring their full might onto the main push. The Jackal and Grunt slaves were holding their own, but there was only so much they could do. Especially against the Brutes who were clearly better armed and trained than their pirate counterparts.

However, Kat found a better way to deal with the enemy forces holding out in this section. While the slaves kept their attention at the front, she and Kelly moved to the barrack structure's left flank The plasma cannons the Brutes were using to rain down fire on the slaves were the first problem to be taken care of. They got into position, just along the left barricade.

"Think this will work?" Kelly asked Kat.

"When Tali installed my new arm, she made sure to sync a lot of hacking functions into it, I just refined them to work on Covenant weapons," Kat explained. "It's been successful so far, never tried boosting the output like this though. I might overclock a few of the systems. This close, better odds of success."

"If it gets our new friends through the door," Kelly shrugged.

Kat aimed her robotic arm up towards and activated the sabotage hacking function, but increased the output. As a result, the plasma cannons the Brutes were using suddenly began glowing white hot. Moments later, their plasma batteries erupted and both Brutes were flung from their hovering platforms, their bodies alight with purple and blue flames. Kat's arm went limp for a few seconds before backup systems took over. She took a look at the built in omni-tool.

"I just fried the hacking system, two guns at once like that was too much," she explained. "I need time to reboot."

"Then we switch back to old school methods for now," Kelly stated, holding up her SMGs "Let's move!"

They rolled over the barricade and into the perimeter of the barracks, which the slaves were already swarming. Kat had a grenade launcher in hand, which she fired on the enemy defensive lines. An explosion sent another of the Brutes flying, although they got back up even as their now broken armor was smouldering.

Kelly let loose with her dual SMGs on the Brute as it tried to charge them, managing to take him down within inches of her face. She stepped over his sliding body, reloading her weapons as she did.

A group of Brutes suddenly rushed out, armed with some kind of Carbine Rifle of a different design. Different because it fired bursts of plasma instead of actual ammo it seemed. They opened fire on the incoming slaves as well as the two Spartans. They both took enough hits to force them to seek shelter behind a barricade to protect themselves.

Thankfully, someone was watching their back. A single Sniper Round cleanly entered the skull of the lead Brute, killing him instantly. As the body slumped to the ground, the other Brutes sought cover. The shot had clearly come from Jun who was set up in the small security building directly across from them.

With the Brutes out front pacified, however briefly, the two Spartan women made for the side entrance to the barracks complex. They threw themselves through an open window as plasma fire chased after them momentarily.

Once inside though, they didn't rest for long as there were already more Brutes moving up on them, armed with Spikers. Kat fired another grenade into their group that exploded on contact, decimating their unit. The enclosed space made the explosion all the more deadly than it was outside. Kelly quickly moved over to the three smoldering apes, noticing one was still alive and slowly moving to get back to his feet. She fired a burst from her SMGs into the mercenary, ending him for good.

"Keep pressing," Kat said as she passed her. "Find their leader."

They didn't have to look far. As they rounded the next bend, they saw a Brute in what appeared to be better armor than his fellows. He wasn't a Chieftain, but he clearly held some authority. In one hand he held a Mauler, in the other, some sort of weapon with a similar look. He was firing it like some oversized revolver though, aiming it out a window before moving back. It mattered little, they had they jump on him.

Kat brought out the big spear gun like weapon they had snatched from the armory lock up and took careful aim. She fired it at the Brute Leader, catching him just above the heart as he turned towards the noise. He gripped at the spear in his chest for a second and then it exploded, taking out a few more of his friends nearby.

The other Brutes turned to face the Spartans, but Kelly had already tossed grenade in to cover their retreat to cover. The explosion took out another Brute, while Kelly and Kat moved back behind a wall. Spikes and plasma cut across their field of vision as they prepared to move out into the open once more.

"Once we mop up here, we should link back up with Anton, Fred and Linda," Kelly said.

"They should be close to the central prison complex by now," Kat replied. "Assuming they're on schedule. I hope the Master Chief is handling his mission alright."

"He has the giant killer turtlesaur and the blue space wizard-cop backing him up," Kelly told her. "Plus, he's the Master Chief, nothing he can't handle."

"Was less worried about him in a fight and more about him dealing with that Female Elite," Kat clarified, reloading her grenade launcher. "She might be helpful, but she's still a fanatic. She better not be doing anything stupid that ends up making this harder."

"Let Chief worry about that," Kelly assured her. "Let's finish up here and get to the Human prisoners. Sooner they're free, the sooner we can get out of this pit altogether."

Kat agreed, firing her grenade into the room before Kelly charged out SMGs spewing bullets everywhere.

---

Meanwhile, the Master Chief was pushing towards Central Command Cell Block of the prison complex. This was where Kesa, their female Elite fairweather ally, was certain the leader of these Ex-Banished mercenaries was residing. Cortana surmised other human prisoners were being held there, likely captured UNSC Personnel or high-ranking civilian leaders. Potentially valuable hostages to Snarlbeak that were kept away from the general population of captured civilian colonists.

Chief was more than ready to bust in there and free the prisoners, Kesa was just after the Brute Leader's head. Which meant she was at the forefront of the attack, her plasma sword cutting down foes left and right, while Chief, Grunt and Samara tried their best to keep pace with her. Her revolt forces were pushing up with her, their fervor further incentivized by her own. The problem was that meant they were running into way more Brutes more often as they pushed up through the courtyard.

There were a number of security checkpoints they had to get through to reach the Central Command Cell Block, they had easily gotten through most. It was here, just outside the tall central tower of the complex that it got tricky. There were two pairs of gates, a left and right one. Between them were a number defending forces dotting the approach to both and backed up by a central defensive point beyond both gates from afar. There were a pair of imposing guard towers within this line that appeared to have a good line of sight across the area. Sniper fire rung out from them, taking a few unwary rioters as they pushed forward.

This area had a lot of security defensive structures it seemed, but all the concerns had likely been focused on prisoners trying to get out, not invading it. That was their advantage here and they'd take it. This was where the Master Chief found himself, pushing up along the middle, taking down a central bunker that was proving to be a bit of a roadblock for their advance

One of the slaves, a grunt, was carrying a liberated fuel Rod Cannon. However, he wasn't as well trained with it, his shots on the bunker kept going wide. Seizing the initiative, Chief took the Fuel Rod Cannon from him. While he had a rocket launcher, he wanted to save it, besides, the Fuel Rod stood a better shot at achieving his objective. The substantial fire from the Bunker between the two gates suggested there was a good deal of ammo in there. So he wanted to take his shot.

He let loose with a spread of three fuel rod shots. They impacted the bunker's window and soon the whole structure exploded in a bright mix of green and blue. Chief then handed the weapon back to the startled Slave Gas-Sucker.

However, despite the impressive fireworks, a lone Brute soon pushed his way out of the rubble, singled, burned, his armor broken and falling off of him, but alive. He fired several shots from a Carbine Rifle before tossing a spike grenade towards the Spartan. Chief managed to duck into cover behind a wall, spikes exploding around him as he did. Popping up he noticed the Brute was moving in on him, leaving the relative safety of the barricade.

Chief rolled out from behind the wall and let off a spurt of shots. The Brute took the hits, but kept coming, throwing out a punch that Chief had to duck. As he turned though, the Brute was sent flying via a biotic attack and the Spartan let off enough shots into him to take down.

Samara stepped towards him, as a pack of Grunt and Jackal Slaves moved up towards the line. He didn't have time to thank her for the assist, as enemy fire from the towers up ahead forced them into cover behind a nearby wall. It was a different kind of energy directed fire than they had expected, perhaps a new type of sniper rifle the Ex-Banished had brought with them.

"Kesa is engaging the Brutes defences to the right of us," Samara explained. "They are proving to be most ferocious in holding this area. Their leader might indeed be close."

"Where's Grunt?" Chief asked.

Samara pointed a of to the left gate, where Grunt had engaged Brute trying to slash his with a spiker. The Krogan took the hit across the brow, but delivered a swift headbutt in response followed by biting down on the space ape's head. Grunt then proceeded to deliver body shots to the Brute before spitting him out and kicking him down. With a powerful cry he charged ahead into another defensive line of Brutes and Jackal Slavers.

"Let's help him out," Chief said. "Kesa is pushing from the right, we do so from the left we can probably overwhelm their frontal position."

They moved to assist Grunt, who was blasting his Claymore shotgun into a Brute's stomach as they tried to slice the Krogan with a Brute Shot. The blast also had modified inerno rounds, so the Brute's armor did little to save him this time. As they approached, a Pirate Sniper on a hover platform fired on them. Samara quickly flung out a biotic strike that sent him hurling into the sky. She then unloaded her rifle into him and kept moving.

In fact, she sped up, approaching the enemy lines with ever increasing speed, her biotics pushing her forward. She lunged up and then fell back down, letting off a massive shockwave that upended a section of prison defenders. They flew up high and then crashed down hard. Samara turned her rifle on the remainder, moving behind a barricade for cover.

Chief couldn't do fancy Biotic tricks, but he was still a Spartan all the same. He charged over the barricade Samara was taking cover behind and into the fray, his boot slamming into the face of slaver as he came down. A Brute was right there and instantly tried to punch the Spartan. Chief dodged the blow and then delivered a sideways knee directly into the Brute's sternum. It had enough force to make the Brute keel over a bit before the Chief's rifle butt smashed into the back of the Gorilla's head. He then fired a bit into the slumping for good measure.

A second Brute assaulted him with a pair of Maulers, Chief just grabbed the Spiker from the fallen merc he had just killed and fired a spray of shots that all directly impacted with the Brute's face. As the big gorilla tried to reach at his eyes and mouth, perforated with metal spines, Chief delivered a full force haymaker that more or less cracked what was left of the Brute's skull.

"Chief, Chopper!"

Cortana's warning came just in time as the clanking vicious sound of a Brute Chopper rolled right towards him. Chief ducked to the side as the massive bladed wheels cut through where he had once been standing. The Chopper turned quickly, prepared to make another run at the Spartan, only for a massive Krogan to careening into its side. The driver was ejected by the force of the impact. Unfortunately for him, Grunt had kept moving after he plowed through the Chopper's side. He now stood close enough to the Brute that he could simply walk over and crush the ape's head with his foot.

Grunt was simple when it came to fighting, but he was a fast learner. These Brutes recovered quickly, as had become very evident. If they were down, you finished them off before they got back up. Their first encounter at their little camp had proven that.

With the left defensive line broke, the slaves started swarming towards the cell block structure. Chief, Samara and Grunt moved with them. They hoped Kesa had managed her own end, right now they had to focus on their attack. Chief had Samara use her biotics against the towers, throwing the Brute Snipers within clean out of them. He in the meantime switched to rocket launcher on his back and let one fly. It impacted the enemy lines with a tremendous boom that fractured their barricades.

The assorted slaves rushed the gap hard at this point, seeing victory in sight. But while the defenses of the main gate had been broken, the defenders weren't. One of the grunts found out the hard way, when he was knocked away by a grav hammer wielded by a Brute. It wasn't a Chieftain by the looks of it, but he was as angry as any of them. He pushed his way through the crowd of slaves, trying to beat them into the dirt. However, one of his swings was stopped by a full on Krogan Tackle.

The little Unggoy Grunts couldn't do much against a Brute, but a Pure Krogan Grunt had long since proven he was more than a match for any of them. While he couldn't hold onto the Brute as he tackled him, Grunt managed to stop his roll and push himself to his feet quickly. The Brute also managed to force himself up, using the hammer as leverage.

As he bounded towards Grunt, the Krogan pulled out his Claymore and fired one blast into the Brute. He kept coming. Grunt quickly reloaded as he backed away and fired another blast into him. The Brute kept coming. Grunt wasn't missing, the blood pouring and busted armor was proof enough, but the Brute came at him anyway. Grunt fired a concussive shot at the Brute, that made him stumble a bit, but he kept coming.

Most people would be scared at this point, a mass of claws, fur and teeth running at them with a massive weapon raised aloft to strike them. It was sensible to be scared. Grunt just laughed. As the Brute came close, Grav Hammer raised high, Grunt charged forward and smashed his head directly into the Brute's. To the Mercenary's credit, even dazed he held onto his weapon. He still held it firmly, as Grunt plugged the Claymore directly into the gorilla's face and fired once again.

The Brute finally stopped.

Grunt grabbed the Grav Hammer as his opponent fell. While he didn't really need it, he did like the heft of it. He also did not need the Unggoy Grunts crowding around him and cheering his defeat of the killer Brute. That was a little annoying.

"Ugh, could you stop," he asked them. "Your squeaky voices are so grating."

Samara had already biotically thrown at least two more Brutes clean away from the barricades while Grunt was dealing with the hammer wielder. At the same time, more from within the Command Structure moved in to reinforce the beleaguered defenses.

That was when Kesa showed up.

She charged in from the right, skewering one of the hairy mercenaries on the end of her blade, as her fellow prisoners backed her assault. When another Brute attempted to strike her with his Brute Shot's blade, she turned swiftly, removing his head from his shoulders in one simple slash.

"Their defenses are broken, their central command is ours," she declared. "As is the head of the Jiralhanae Leader!"

"Maybe don't make assumptions before you kill him," Chief warned her. "That's a big building and a long way to go to find him. If we find him."

"He is here, I can taste it," Kesa assured the Spartan. "You may not concern yourself with it. Find your fellow abominations and free them demon. I shall reclaim my honor alone."

The Master Chief would've been fine with Kesa going it alone, she clearly could handle herself. But he wasn't about to take chances, he still needed her alive if they were going to keep the cooperation of the slave revolt.

"We'll follow you on our way inside," Chief declared. "If there are any human prisoners in there, it's likely they're close to him. He might use them as hostages against us. You clearly don't care about them, but we do. They're the priority."

"So long as you do not interfere," Kesa glowered. "I have honor to reclaim, and it cannot be done if you Demons finish the mercenary scum for me."

"Just be sure you actually can win," Chief informed her. "You're no good to us dead."

Kesa just scoffed.

"You speak as if I am overconfident, Demon," she spat derisively. "Not so. I simply know my enemy and he is nothing. Within my mind, I have already landed the killing blow a thousand times, and more."

They do teach that fifty percent of any battle is mental, Chief just hoped she was truthful in her claim that this wasn't overconfidence speaking. She was already running off ahead into the tower before he could press her further though.

"Her skills are impressive," Samara noted. "But given what we've seen of these Ex-Banished, I wonder if they are enough."

"We have to hope so," Chief told her. "Only way out of here right now is with her leading this."

They headed after Kesa, into the Central Command Cell Block.

---

A small explosion erupted along the bars of the Chorka pen, leading out into the vast bay beyond. The large white sea creatures soon began to swim out, first one by one and then pod by pod. As he watched them swim to freedom, Zek stood on the gangplank overlooking the escaping Chorka, their happy cries and melodic songs delighting the Kig-Yar Space Pirate.

"Go my watery deliciousness-packed friends! Swim! The ocean of this world is yours!" He declared merrily. "Fear no Razorfin! For Zek has emancipated you from the food chain!"

"I think you're overdoing it a bit," Varvok told him.

"Hey, I almost died like six times out there," he shot back. "I've earned this, ok?"

When they got back to shore and back to the Ichor Distillery, Zek and Varvok were surprised to find the team for the Drug Processing Plant were there as well. Not that they didn't welcome the extra hands in defending the building from assault as it had clearly helped.

However, thanks and pleasantries were put on hold. They had to rig this place to blow, they weren't about to stay here a second longer than necessary. To that end, Zek had motioned to get the Chorka out as fast as possible.

With that done, they just needed to set the bombs and get out of here. Of course, that seemed a bit harder to accomplish given that they were still under seige and they had no real way to get to the dockyard to hook up with Shepard now. The Plunder Nest's defenders had blocked their fastest route to the docks off. They could use a boat... if the one they had hadn't been sunk of course.

Even if they did get to the docks, there was still the other problem though. The Anti-Air Defense System was still active. With it still ready to target any unauthorized ships and that small fleet still in orbit, they had no real exit. They needed to adjust the plan. And then there was the other, more personal problem on that front.

"Okay, we've got demo charges set up on everything," Sergeant Johnson reported to Zek and Varvok as they returned to the group gathered on the extraction floor. "Your Chorka buddies seem to be free and clear, so time to start thinking of getting out of here."

"And carting away all the accumulated Ichor of course," Kaz added. "You'll be happy to know, sir, we've located sufficient stashes of every popular vintage brand that Snarlbeak sells. They're loaded and ready for transport."

Kaz pointed to Krez and Zhad, who were putting one final crate on a large hover cart, of which there were three. Zek was incredibly happy to see that.

"How exactly did you have time to find all that?" Captain McKay asked incredulously. "Weren't you busy defending this place?"

"We're Kig-Yar, when it comes to Ichor we're experts at multitasking," Kaz claimed.

"Yeah well, you're probably going to have to ditch it," McKay told them flatly. "Because there's no way in hell we're sneaking any of that past the forces surrounding us outside. That Locust alone is gonna be drawn directly to you as the slowest and biggest target."

"Well we're gonna have to find a way," Zek snarled. "Because I'm not leaving the plunder I've fucking earned killing three killer sea monsters!"

"Zek be practical," Garrus stated rather exasperated. "There's no way you're going to get out of here alive and with all that stuff!"

"Retz probably already has a plan," Zek assured them all. "Where is he anyway? Does he know the good news?"

"He does," Kaz reported. "Um, but... well... actually he said once you were done getting the Chroka out and all that you need to go down to see him."

Zek looked at the engineer confused. Did he just say go down?

"Wait there's a basement?" He asked perplexed.

---

There was a basement and Zek was now looking at the sole occupant of that basement besides himself, Retz, Kasumi and Zix. Needless to say, this was not what he had been expecting. Razorfins as guard dogs, weird but not that outlandish. A mythical giant Chorka as black as the void with the best tasting ichor known to Kig-Yar kind? That had not been even close to his first guess as to what Zhoc could've been hiding down here.

"That shitlicking motherfucker," he declared in shock, awe, possibly a bit of jealously tinged with admiration. "He's been keeping this shit from us! No wonder his boys are so desperate to take this place back! They know the prize jewel of Zhoc's whole empire is down here!"

The Black Chorka swam a bit about, stretching its tail as it turned to look at the new face in the room with its other eye. The poor thing still had the extractors in its back and not looking all that happy. Hopeful, maybe, but not that happy.

"It's the whole reason Zix is here specifically," Retz explained grimly. "She wants the Black Chorka's Ichor, well the Syndicate wants it really. And she didn't tell us because, as I suspect, she knew we'd probably ask for additional compensation in that regard."

"You're damn right!" Zek laughed cheerfully. "You negotiated, right? You talked her down? How much did we get?"

Retz looked at Zek surprised and then a bit annoyed.

"Zek, she lied to us!" He reminded his captain and friend. "She kept this information in the dark and it put a target on all of us! If the UNSC and Garrus hadn't shown up, we were never going to hold this place! She knew they'd all come at us to make sure we didn't get the Black Chorka and it almost got us all killed."

"Yeah, yeah, she's a fucking bitch, I get it," Zek hastily conceded. "But well, we're gonna get some Black Ichor now, right? It's part of the code... right?"

He looked now to Zix, who seemed rather... smug as well as annoyed, if that was possible. She sighed for a moment, her arms crossed.

"Yes, yes, you get a cut of Black Chorka's ichor. Let's say... a barrel."

"Three, I killed three fucking Razorfins, I deserve three," Zek snarled.

"Ugh, done, not like it's gonna matter," Zix grumbled. "We'll have the limitless supply for ourselves. And... to keep you quiet about that... I don't know... the Syndicate will send you a bottle of the stuff every year from now on."

"Thrice a year and it's a deal," Zek was very quick to state.

"Whatever," Zix groaned in agreement.

Zek was over the moon with delight. He had just secured a very lucrative deal for himself in his eyes. Retz, did not look nearly as elated.

"Zek! Priorities, please!" He demanded in frustration. "You're really okay with the fact we've been lied to and set up essentially?"

"I mean... a little," Zek admitted at last. "But... we get something out of it, so that's at least a positive, right?"

"We could've been all killed over this!" Retz reminded him.

"And now we get three barrels of Black Ichor and everyone is happy!" Zek insisted. "We all win! So let's just focus on getting the hell out of here and we can be mad and pissed off at Zix while drinking Black Ichor!"

"I'd advise at least distilling it a little," Zix warned. "Too much of the stuff and it's basically going to ruin all Ichor for you. Forever."

Zek grumbled aloud.

"You're not my mom, don't tell me what to do," he said, finally showing at least a little disgruntlement.

"Well I guess I won't tell you how we're getting out of here then," Zix shrugged.

"I will, I've had enough of you talking anyway," Retz stated with grim displeasure. "Turns out Snarlbeak had a way of keeping the Black Chorka hidden even when it arrived."

By now, Zix had flicked on a switch along a nearby wall. It lit up another series of lights at the far end of the room, behind the massive tank. Looking around it, Zek saw a massive track, and sitting upon it was a just as massive tram with a large water tank storage container.

"It's very simple," Retz began to explain. "We initiate the transfer procedure, the Black Chorka's aquarium is moved into docking with the tram's water storage tank. The big boy swims inside, we load up everyone in the tram and we proceed to the docks where we transfer it to the waiting transport ship. The one Zix knew about."

"I just needed to know it was here to confirm both it and the Black Chorka were really on site honestly," Zix claimed. "Thanks for that."

"Shepard didn't mention seeing any tracks when he found it," Retz noted.

"They locked that down. The Transport ship will descend to a second secret sub-basement when the procedure is activated. That's where the tracks are," Zix explained. "It can't be activated from that side, a security measure in case someone tried to steal the Chorka through there. We needed to be here to liberate our big friend."

"Is that why Shepard isn't getting bum-rushed right now?" Retz asked with an accusatory snarl. "They're worried we might have already stolen the Black Chorka and they don't want to kill it by accident outside of its protective little bunker?"

Zix shrugged.

"Hmm, partially I suppose," she claimed.

That got Retz's attention.

"What do you mean, partially?" He asked incredulously.

The Female Kig-Yar looked so nonchalant, so uncaring. She didn't even seem proud of having kept something secret this long. It barely even registered to her as some kind of win against Retz, because it didn't even seem to matter. And yet, given the implication that it was part of the reason Snarlbeak's men were adopting a very defensive seige measure to the one problem they could've very easily rolled over suggested it was bad.

"Oh well, every other location had some secret little Snarlbeak side project going on," Zix explained rather plainly. "I just assumed Shepard would've found it long before now so I could've used it as another cover story, but apparently he was too busy with other things to bother."

At this point, Retz looked about ready to explode but he held it in. The fact Zix had been lying about something else was just maddening. And now she was admitting to it outright because there was simply no point anymore keeping up the charade it seemed. She found what she was after.

Retz had to know what this was. Why was it keeping the Plunder Nest's defenders from storming the gate outright? What was the dock hiding? And at the same time, he didn't want to know because he already suspected it was bad.

"What?" He asked at the point of incredulity. "What is at the docks?"

---

There was little encryption on the dockyard's computer systems, so Tali had little trouble getting in initially. Snarlbeaks people had certainly amassed a good deal of human technology and weapons. All contraband under Covenant law, which meant it was potentially valuable to someone and thus of interest to Snarlbeak. The real question was figuring out what weapons and tech were of value. More often than not, Snarlbeak seemed to hold human contraband in reserve until he had a buyer.

There was always someone now and then, other pirates or mercenaries who wanted human weapons to disguise their attacks. Private Collectors who wanted trophies or mementos. A warlord who wanted a powerful human weapon as a trump card. Snarlbeak sold to anyone who had some sort of interest in the most illegal of smuggled goods. While other forbidden merchandise always sold, human stuff sold big.

Although it always depended on how rare the item was and that was based on figures Snarlbeak had come up with himself. If he had a lot of it, it cost a little less, only two or three of the item, far more. And who exactly was going to argue those prices? It wasn't like the Covenant cared enough to put a value on the stuff of the race they wanted to destroy.

"Their smuggling operation appears to be very complex," Miranda observed as Tali cycled through the files and diagrams. "They have records of where every item was found, files on frequent buyers, an extensive system of fences, fronts, various smuggling route rotations. Snarlbeak might be obsessed to the point of madness over the Cutlass, but he's certainly no slouch when it comes to logistics."

"I guess that explains why he's so powerful, he's built a pretty concrete empire," Shepard said thoughtfully. "And it's all based from this single central hub. Zix might actually be onto something, damaging this place could very well cripple him."

"For a while," Miranda interjected. "I doubt that Snarlbeak doesn't have some sort of backup plan in case this place gets hit. His profits will be damaged badly, but he has substantial capital. He'll have to leech off that for a good while. Certainly he'll have to give up the Astral Cutlass search... well I assume he would if I didn't think he was so laser focused on it."

"Given what I've seen of Zhoc, he's not quitting the quest over anything," Shepard concurred. "But this might slow him down and make his position a little more tenuous."

Tali finally located a proper manifest of everything currently in storage at the docks. It was a fairly large compiled list and detailed accounting of every item. Snarlbeak was nothing if not meticulous. Tali was just looking for one thing in particular though.

"There," she declared pointing to the screen. "Vehicles, they have human vehicles."

"Hmm, Warthogs useful," Mordin stated. "Wait, no, Tanks! Even more useful."

"They do have a few tanks," Tali reported. "And I think... yeah, look!"

There was one very particularly highly priced item on the list, a massive battle tank, one they had seen relatively recently in fact. The picture attached to the listing showed a Grizzly Battle Tank, Snarlbeak's pirates crowded all over it like a pack of vultures on a carcass. Most appropriate given how they acquired it.

"They took the tank from an assembly line on a world that was getting glassed," Tali explained, reading off the acquisition file. "Snuck it out before the Covenant spotted them. They've been restoring it, upgrading it, acquiring the ammo necessary to use it. Apparently, Snarlbeak wants to auction it off to some other pirate clans soon."

"Well now it's ours," Shepard declared. "We saw what this thing could do to his forces at New Teteocan. We can probably use it to break one of the blockades outside, give our people a way to get in here along one of the side entrances."

"Do you even know how to pilot it?" Tali asked him a bit skeptically. "Do we even want you to do that?'

"It's not a Mako, Tali," Shepard tried to argue.

"And that makes it better?" She asked in kind rather incredulously.

"We can discuss who gets to drive later," Miranda told them both. "Let's stay focused on not dying now rather than a result of the Commander's reckless driving later."

Shepard grunted at that.

"Point made, Lawson," he conceded. "Tali, what else do we have?"

"Let's see, anti-armor," Tali said searching the list, for more tanks or heavy weapons. Instead she came across something odd. "Huh, this section is closed off."

There was a classified section among the official manifest. It was layered with extra encryption.

"Probably just something related to their slave trade," Miranda presumed. "That's even more illegal than the weapons."

"That's in another file, this is purely weapons acquisitions," Tali informed her. "Give me a second here. Their encryption codes are garbage, they've barely kept up with them. Never thought anyone would get into their systems I guess."

Tali did a quick bit of hacking; it was really no big deal. Breaking down the encryption was a simple feat for her. Far too simple. These pirates just weren't tech geniuses, they believed in the importance of physical security more than anything. After a brief bit of number crunching, Tali had cracked the encryption and the classified manifest was finally open to them.

There were a few interesting bits to be sure. Among the stores were a few Spartan Lasers, stolen from an arms manufacturer. There were also parts for a Scarab Platform's main weapons system, but that was pretty much useless as it wasn't fully restored. There were Gauss Cannons, those were potentially useful at least. But there was one though... one item that caught Tali's eye.

"Oh Keelah."

Shepard didn't ask what brought that one, he just looked past her to see the item on the screen directly. Stolen from a wrecked UNSC Carrier, Snarlbeak's pirates had carted away a very particular weapon. They didn't know what it was at the time, just presuming it was some kind of missile or bomb. They were right, but more accurately it was a warhead, not armed, but certainly not any less capable of being dangerous. They found out what it was and then they just let it sit there, in their storage, under lock and key, but still just sitting there.

"They have... a nuke," Shepard finally spoke up for everyone. "They have a nuclear warhead on site."

"No wonder they're not just bombing us into paste," Miranda grimaced as she looked at the screen. "They're worried about the bomb. If they suspect we came for it or it is damaged in the firefight it could blow us all up!"

"Is this what Zix is actually after?" Tali asked. "Are these Syndicate Bosh'tets trying to grab a nuke?"

"I don't know," Shepard confessed. "Right now, we need to secure it. Fast. Where is it?"

Tali read the acquisition form faster than she had ever read anything.

"Lucky us, same storage house the Grizzly is in," Tali stated. "We can check both out while we're there."

They didn't waste another second, they needed to get to that warehouse and see about this bomb that had been right under their nose.

---

"A nuclear warhead!?" Retz screamed aloud. "There is a nuclear warhead practically next door and you didn't tell us!"

Zix barely seemed to register Retz's anger.

"It wasn't terribly important in the grand scheme of things," she admitted. "I would've lied and said we wanted to steal it if you found it earlier, but honestly the Syndicate doesn't want it. Why put our hands on something so volatile? Either way, you can take it off Snarlbeak's hands now."

"That is hardly comforting," Retz growled. "If anything, it pisses me off even more than you lying about anything else! Because if something had gone absolutely wrong, we'd all be dead right now! And that possibility is still in the air!"

"All the more reason I think to get everyone on the train, Black Chorka included, and out of here," Zix suggested. "So you can secure your weapon of mass destruction and we can make preparations to leave."

Retz wanted to scream at her more, if only to make himself feel better. However, Zix was right on this matter. They needed to get to the docks now. Going towards a nuclear warhead was probably a bad idea, but they needed to get there all the same. Not only could they not stay here, not only did they need to reach the docks to escape this place anyway, the simple fact was they couldn't risk Snarlbeak keeping that thing.

Knowing how absolutely livid Old Scratch was going to be after today, the prospect of leaving a nuke with a revenge obsessed Pirate Lord who they had repeatedly pissed off was potentially catastrophically fatal in the long run. So it was better to take it from the bastard than let him hold onto it after they were long gone from the Plunder Nest. With that in mind, Retz turned to Zek.

"We best start the loading procedure," he admitted. "Get everyone down here so we can load up and leave, fast."

"Kickass, we got a way out! Though, it's going to be tricky to convince the goons outside we're still stuck here," Zek cautioned. "Snarlbeak's boys are likely already prepping for another attack. They likely know about the train tracks, so the moment they don't see us shooting back is the second they know what we're doing."

"Then I suggest we figure out a plan while we load up the train," Retz stated. "Ms. Goto, can you help speed along the Black Chorka's transfer?"

"Gladly," the thief responded, looking at the poor sea mammal in its tank. "Just tell me what button to push to get those things out of its back."

"Console is over here," Zix stated. "You two males should concern yourselves with covering our tracks long enough to get out of here."

Zix lead Kasumi away, leaving Zek and Retz to figure things out.

"You see now why I hate her so much?" Retz asked Zek furiously.

"Yeah, and then some, bud," Zek agreed curtly. "But we're at least getting something out of it and we still need an out. We can probably start falling back slowly, trick them into thinking they've exhausted us."

"Best option we have," Retz agreed, putting his other issues aside. "But even if we get to the docks, we still have no way out of here yet. With Shepard surrounded, he has no way to reach the Security Tower. The Air Defenses are no doubt still the enemy's. Someone needs to get there and change that."

Zek gave it some thought and quickly thought of something.

"I think we have some people up to the job," He stated. "We just need to get them an opening up top through the minions surrounding us."

"Hmm, well, if this track system runs under the compound, there might be maintenance hatches," Retz reasoned. "Preferably, some sort of exit outside the current perimeter. Hopefully close enough to the security tower with any luck."

"We'll figure it out," Zek assured him. "First things first, get everyone briefed on the plan."

They began to head back up. It was time to leave this distillery. Not a moment too soon, as they soon heard gunfire on their way up the elevator. The Nest's Defenders were at it the gates again. Well, they'd soon get in, but they'd also soon regret that.

---

Central Command Cell Block was filled with Jiralhanae. The hallways were filled with spikes, plasma bolts and bullets, flying back and forth. Although most of the bullets were from the Master Chief's weapon. At least inside these walls, there was more cover and their enemies were confined into a closed space.

A biotic throw from Samara sent one of the Brutes flying into another just as they were firing the next grenade from their Brute Shot. The explosion ripped through both of them at point blank range. Grunt was switching between using his shotgun to punch through the enemy's armor and the newly acquired Gravity Hammer that he was slamming into any face he could bring it down on. The Master Chief kept close to him, not because Grunt needed help, just because the Krogan was such a wrecking ball tearing through their opponents.

The Spartan fired on one Brute that was spewing spikes across the room, hitting him the face with a full burst of bullets from the assault rifle. In the next instant though, he received fire from above, as a pair of Brutes shot at him from a suspended walkway. They were knocked over by another biotic throw from Samara, plummeting down to the hard floor with a thud. The Asari was already firing on another pair of Brutes, armed with red plasma rifles, that were taking pot shots in her direction. Chief rolled a grenade in their direction. It exploded at their feet. One Brute was killed, the other began to crawl into a kneeling position. Chief wasted no time in rushing over and delivering a swift kick to the Brute's face to keep him down.

Another large Brute was sent flying across the room and a second had his head smashed in by Grunt's hammer. The Krogan then lashed out a fist to his right to punch out a third mercenary before grabbing at his shotgun and letting loose a single blast at a fourth opponent armed with a Mauler. Once he was down, Grunt was on the door, forcing it open with his bare hands.

"Cortana, how far along are we?" Chief asked as he approached Grunt's position, his rifle held up in case anymore Brutes moved to attack them.

"A lot of radio chatter, mostly just very guttural shouting," the AI explained. "I think it's their leader and he is very angry. Sounds like our people have breached the other Cellblock."

Good, with any luck they were already freeing human prisoners trapped there. As for them, they had only spotted a few within the cells they were bypassing. They seemed to be mostly soldiers for now, they were rather shocked to see a Spartan here. Even more so to see him working with aliens, but they let it slide when he explained they were here to save them.

He would've been fine with the extra help honestly and would've let them out right then and there, but the controls for the door were not nearby. From what Cortana could gather from a cursory tap of their systems, the Cellblocks were designed with a central control console in mind. You couldn't get out unless the person running this place decided you could leave. With every cell keyed to a single console, Cortana couldn't hack any of the doors. They needed to reach the control room and take it from there.

Luckily, it wasn't much further. Kesa's and her fellow prisoners were cutting a swath through the building themselves. Chief, Samara and Grunt were simply tying up the other squads of Brutes and protecting their flank. They'd reach the Control Room around the same time with any luck. Just one more hall to go down.

They opened the door into a slightly wider room, a plasma cannon pointed at them. Grunt fired a Concussion Round before it could open up, which managed to delay their fire long enough everyone to get inside and rush to cover. They found it behind a solid barrier along some steps leading down to the floor.

"I'll pull them out," Samara said. "Fire on my mark... mark!"

Samara sent out a pull attack that forced one of the Brutes away from the Plasma Cannon. Chief quickly moved up to fire two shots that punctured the hostile alien's head. With the brief lull in the cannon fire, Grunt charged ahead, firing his shotgun as he did. Samara provided cover as Chief swept from the other side. The Brute position was overwhelmed on both sides, Grunt's shotgun taking the head off one Brute, while Chief charged into and fired down on a Brute he tackled.

Pointing his rifle ahead, the Master Chief expected more Brutes to be rushing up to assist the forward position or retaliate in some manner. Instead, he saw plasma fire cutting into the enemy lines from their direct flank. Apparently this hall was connected to a wider atrium, one that had been breached not long after they had broken through the last door. Now, swarming over the secondary position of Brutes were several grunts and jackals, all tearing into their ranks.

Kesa was at the front of course, her plasma sword cutting down Brutes as they tried to charge her. Her blade sliced at them in an upward strike followed by a slash, felling her foes in one or two hits. While the Elite had been less than appreciative of their assistance, Chief imagined she wouldn't object to them helping her in the final push to the control room. So he motioned Samara and Grunt to move up.

They entered the fray, firing on some of the Brute holdouts. Samara used her biotics to push one into a wall, while Grunt had switched to his assault rifle and lit another Brute up with Inferno Rounds. Chief just forced his way ahead, as he had ripped the Plasma Cannon off its tripod and was now laying waste into the Brute defenders at their barricades. They reached the door to the control room just as Kesa had finished stabbing into one last Brute crawling at her feet.

"You arrived," Kesa observed, seemingly only just noticing the Spartan and his alien companions. "Slightly late, but you are here."

"We came in at the same time, we were just further down," Chief informed her.

"We reached the door first," Kesa declared. "It matters little now, I suppose."

At least she wasn't going to drag out some pointless pissing contest over who had gotten here first. Chief couldn't care less about that, he just needed to get to those controls to free the human prisoners. That meant getting through this door, which Kesa was trying in vain to open herself.

"The coward locks himself away," she groaned, smashing her fist against the frame. "Demon, assist. Now!"

"Is there a word in your language for please?" Cortana chided over the radio. "Or at least some kind phrase that isn't meant as a command?"

"Let's just get it done, Cortana," Chief told his AI, stepping up to the door's terminal.

He took Cortana's chip out and then plugged it into the door. He was really glad this chip had a universal connection to anything. Made it way easier to open doors. It took Cortana about a second or two to work her way trough the lock's encryption and the door opened wide. Kesa was through it in a second, Chief and his team followed once he collected Cortana.

Within the control room was a massive holotable surrounded by various control consoles, centered among four pillars. Like most of the prison, it was bathed in dark red light. Kesa was searching about for her opponent, her captor. She might have called out for him, had he not made himself known on his own initiative with a massive clanging of something hard on metal.

Atop a large staircase at the back of the room, a large control console at its top, was a tremendous figure. It was a Chieftain wearing heavy armor and a spiked helmet. In one hand, he held a giant Gravity Hammer, which looked custom in design as it had a wide head and axe like blade on the back of it. His armor also had a Brute Shot attached to one arm, with a blade running down along it to the elbow.

Chief hadn't seen many Brutes that took to this level of customization. But these weren't Covenant Brutes. The Banished, or in the case of these mercenary Ex-Banished, clearly had a different dress code. And this one was loaded for bear.

"Worthless child," he bellowed, looking down at Kesa. "If you had simply fallen into line, you may have been able to return to your family alive. Now... now you have proven to be more trouble than you were ever worth."

"Come down and face me, mercenary scum!" Kesa ordered. "I will rip out your impudent heretical heart and crush it between my talons!"

"Heretic?" The Brute laughed. "You're fighting alongside a Demon, little girl. What does your ridiculous faith say about that? Your father will likely feel more shame at your return as a result, even if you kill me."

"I will not be lectured by one who betrayed his own clan and oaths for the promise of greater material wealth!" Kesa screamed, saliva spitting furiously from her mouth. "I will have your head, primate! I will deliver it to my house on a pike! My return will be hailed as a triumph, no matter what deals I made with abominations to secure it! I will reclaim the honor of House Ralkam over your charred corpse!"

The Chieftain then leapt down from on high, smashing his hammer in the floor. He stood back up and aimed his Brute Shot arm. He fired a blast at Kesa, who nimbly dodged it. Before the explosion had even died down, she was already looking at the Master Chief.

"Do not interfere, Demon!" She ordered directly to his face.

She then vaulted from her cover and rushed at the massive Brute, her blade colliding with his Gravity Hammer and forcing them both to scramble backwards from the concussive energy blast. Chief watched as the Brute fired on Kesa again, but there was little he could ultimately do. She had her mission, they had theirs.

"Free the prisoners," he told the team. "Worry about the Brute later."

Chief moved up first, trying to head for the console at the top of the stairs. The Chieftain, however, saw this and moved decisively. He smashed his hammer down near the Spartan's path, the blast wave forced him back and spiked his shields.

"You're not getting anywhere near that, little demon," he declared.

A slash cut into his backside, though he barely flinched.

"Face me, Mercenary!" Kesa ordered. "This duel is ours alone!"

It didn't seem like the Chieftain believed that. No, he intended to fight anyone and everyone in this room. Kesa's wishes be damned, he wasn't about to let the prison cells be breeched. To get to the console, they'd have to get past him and not piss off Kesa in the process by potentially stealing her rightful kill. She had suggested they could potentially assist, so long as the death blow was hers. Given how she was acting though, Chief wondered if that was enough.

Still, the Brute was in the way of their objective. They couldn't just ignore him. So Chief made the call, engage the Brute if he attacked them, perhaps give Kesa a chance to land a blow like before. With any luck, the Elite would land a lucky hit and they be able to reach the console unmolested.

If the Chieftain had forced their hand though, they would defend themselves and Kesa, whether she wanted their help or not. One way or another, this Chieftain was going down and the Master Chief was not going to let anyone aligned with him get killed before that happened. Not if he could help it.

---

A slow fighting retreat through the distillery was not entirely unwelcome, especially since that Locust came back again and started lasering the walls. Perhaps that was convincing enough for the enemy that their resolve had started to crack. Which would explain why they seemed eager to take back their booze making facility with such renewed vigor. Or maybe just being kept out so long would make anyone annoyed enough to throw caution to the wind the second it seemed like you were winning the fight at last. All Kowalski knew was that those damn psycho turkeys were now flooding inside the structure and they were flooding in fast.

The Batarians abandoned the loading and storage garage first, then room by room, each individual squad retreated according to a set schedule. Johnson and Garrus had come up with it after looking over the Distillery's floorplan. It was a pretty obvious rush job of a fighting retreat strategy, but they were short on time to begin with. What mattered most was holding the Chorka Extraction Pens for as long as possible, so bit by bit, every assigned squad and group could head down some secret elevator in turn.

Now, Kowalski found himself just outside the main door to the pens, his squad and Sergeant Johnson holding the line alongside a very grouchy heavyset Jackal named Zhad with a Plasma Cannon set up on a makeshift barricade. He fired said cannon to take down another group of the Plunder Nest's defenders as they rounded the corner to make another go for the pens.

"Third squad is through," Johnson reported. "Not long now, men. Keep it up."

"I'm doing most of the shooting," Zhad grumbled.

"You ain't running low on ammo like we are," Johnson reminded him.

Zhad snarled a bit, but kept his fingers on the triggers. Good that he did, because another group rushed into the hall that he needed to cut down. Kowalski had to give Zek's pirates credit at least, they hadn't been the first to run to the newly discovered escape route. They were coordinating things as much as anyone it seemed. Sure, it was mostly because they wanted to get away with all their gross whale goo booze, but it was nice to see them with a little conviction and integrity for once.

The next group of enemy Jackals came in a more standard defensive formation, advancing up the hallway with shields ready and plasma pistols drawn. Zhad fired on them, but they were slightly better protected. Johnson opened up when they were closer.

"Short controlled bursts, people!" He ordered. "Fire where the bolts are coming from! Make 'em all count!"

Kowalski managed to score one decent hit on the advancing phalanx of space pirates. The shot exposed a hole in the line that Zhad exploited, cutting into the group hard. The attack folded once the pirates sustained sufficient losses, but they pulled back in a more ordered fashion than one would expect. Why panic? Why rush? The bastards thought they were about to win. Honestly, they might still if things went wrong.

What if they found the explosive charges? What if they broke through one of the other defensive lines? What if the others didn't get to the elevator fast enough? Too many variables to think about, so Kowalski didn't. Although he was forced to think about the enemy Jackal who suddenly showed up with a goddamn Fuel Rod Cannon!

"Look out!" He shouted as he pointed out the hostile.

"Down! Down!" Johnson ordered.

"Pussbucket!" Zhad screamed in irritation.

Everyone ducked as the Fuel Rod Cannon hit their barricade. Ellingham jumped up first and fired a furious spray of shots that raked the space pirate from afar. His next Fuel Rod shot hit the ceiling above him as he collapsed backward, shaking the hallway.

"Fuckers are gonna swarm us with worse soon," Ellingham cautioned.

"Relax, Private," Johnson assured him. "We got this in the bag. Last team is moving to the elevator. We're headed inside the room. Double time it! Before more show up!"

Zhad grabbed his plasma cannon and began dragging it with him, while Kowalski and the other Marines headed through the door. It opened after Johnson did a "shave and a haircut" knock, best code they could think of on short notice. Once they were inside, the ODSTs on guard duty there quickly resealed the door back up with the magnetic lock and extra security layer. Zek's engineer, Kaz, assured everyone he had triple coded the lock and bypassed any administration codes. They'd have a hard time cutting through it.

All the same, no reason to stick around. Johnson had them move into the elevator shaft with the rest of the evacuating soldiers. Zek and his pirates were among the last aboard, alongside the last of their ill-gotten gains. Again, admirable despite the obvious greed.

"We need to move," McKay said as she regrouped with Johnson. "If those enemy has found any of the demolition devices we could be in trouble."

"If they try removing any of them without the proper disarm code they'll blow up in their faces," Zek assured her as he sat atop his stolen ichor liquor. "Trust me, we just need to get to a safe distance before they blow open the doors to the pens and start busting through to this elevator."

"I hope you're right, Zek," McKay told the Jackal. "I really do."

When they reached the bottom of the sub-basement, everyone piled off. They started moving towards the massive tram at the very back of the room. Kowalski only paused for a moment to look at the huge aquarium in the center of the underground space itself.

"They were seriously keeping one of those big ugly whales here?" He asked Ellingham as he passed.

"Hey, so long as it means we got an out, I don't care right now," Ellingham replied.

Everyone started to clamber aboard the tram. Garrus was directing the evacuation best he could. It was orderly, no one was panicking, but it was a frantic pace to get everyone onto the train. Zek met up with Retz and that other Jackal, the one that had started all this bullshit.

"The Black Chorka is secured and ready," Zix reported. "We're just spinning up the start sequence now for the train."

Before Zek could even ask more questions, Kaz, his engineer, rushed up to him with a datapad in hand.

"Sir, feed from upstairs!"

Kowalski moved to get the best view of the pad he could. It was a black and white image, but it was clear as day. The Locust had busted inside the Distillery... and was firing its beam at the door to the pens. They were going to melt through the damn thing.

"Shit," Zek snarled. "We're out of time! Launch it!"

Retz didn't argue as he ran over to the conductor's spot, where Kasumi was.

"Start it up! Now!" He ordered her.

"Aye Aye!" the hooded thief saluted, she then whispered through her fingers. "All aboard! Direct line for Chicago, Atlantic City and Kookamunga! Have your tickets ready!"

The tram started and began moving them away from the underground sub-basement. As they did, Zek headed over to Varvok and his Batarians. His eyes were still on the datapad as he headed over to them. No doubt checking the progress of the Locust above.

"We stop at the halfway point and let you off, then you head down a service tunnel," he explained. "It gets you close, not like on top of the security tower, but close enough you can sneak your way there."

"We'll get those skies clear, don't worry," Varvok assured him.

"It's just, you'll be cut off out there so-"

"Shepard won't leave us if he can help it," Varvok told him. "We'll be fine, just secure yourselves within the docks until we get there."

Zek nodded and turned back to the datapad.

"Are we at minimum safe distance?" He asked Retz.

The Fallen Serpent's first mate looked at his omni-tool to a distance counter.

"Good enough," he said.

He looked to Kasumi now, who forced the tram to speed up further. Then, taking the detonator in hand, Zek lifted it up to eye level, just as the Locust on the feed cut through the door. With steeled resolve, he pressed down on the button.

"Boom," he said.

Moments later, the feed cut out and a huge explosion rocked the end of the tunnel they had just left. Shortly followed by a massive cloud of dirt and ash that exploded out from it. Everyone instantly went to the floor as the stream of smoke and debris began to race through the tunnel towards them. The tracks shook, the tram shuddered and the edge of the cloud soon caught up with them, the tunnel darkening.

---

Finding the warehouse was easy enough and it only took Tali a moment to hack the lock. The first thing they saw was the Grizzly, all 64.8 tons of it. It was colored differently though than the green one the New Teteocan colonists had. It was base painted dark purple, not much of a surprise since that seemed to be a popular color among the Covenant races. It also had images of alien sharks along its treads and a pirate insignia of some sort on the turret. Shepard assumed as much because it was a Kig-yar skull with an energy cutlass and Beam Rifle crossing each other behind it.

"Huh, guess it's a universal look," Jack shrugged looking at it. "Skulls just say 'Don't Fuck With Me' in any culture or language."

"Focus on finding the bomb," Miranda told her. "You know, the one that could blow us all the hell up."

"Technically it's a warhead," Tali reminded Lawson as they walked inside the warehouse.

"Please, let's not get involved in a semantics debate," Miranda requested.

Once inside they began looking through the boxes, crates and containers for the warhead. They found a lot of human weapons, like the Spartan Lasers that were in the manifest. A few human tech components, a lot of Covenant weapon pieces that seemed to be pretty high-end. Tali even uncovered parts of a human slipspace drive that she decided they would need for her project. The warhead didn't seem to be anywhere though.

"You don't think he sold it and forgot to list it as such?" Shepard asked.

"Snarlbeak is meticulous, we know that," Miranda reminded him. "No, it has to be here. He wouldn't misplace or keep outdated inventory records."

On that note, Tali started doing a scan with her Omni-Tool.

"Well, we know he has a penchant for secret compartments," the quarian reminded them all. "Maybe there's a secret room? Sub-basement? False wall or compartment in one of the larger containers?"

Taking the idea to heart, Shepard started pounding his foot on the floor. It was a little less technical than Tali's idea but at least it was something. When his foot hit something metal that sounded hollow, it proved his method had sped up things a bit. Tali noticed the sound and started adjusting her scan. She found wiring leading to a wall. After feeling it up she found a crease and opened it to reveal a keypad.

With a little smirk, Tali quickly bypassed the keypad's lock. Mere seconds later, the door in the floor opened wide. Similar to the one in the hangar with the large cargo freight, but this was a small room. More like a miniature vault really. Shepard headed down to the steps to discover a large metal door with a latch that he had to grasp and turn to properly open. Within it was what they were looking for.

It was large conical warhead, the UNSC logo printed right on its side. It was hooked up to a lot of equipment, mainly computers that seemed to be detailing analytic information. It seemed Snarlbeak had cracked the system for the warhead and was setting it up to be an actual bomb. It wasn't armed now, but it could be. The rest of the equipment, once Tali got look at it, was designed to detail scenarios for what the warhead could do when detonated.

"He's run everything from in the middle of a fleet to space stations to whole cities," the quarian listed off. "I think he's trying to see if it's worth using himself or giving it to someone else."

"Well it's ours now," Shepard declared. "And we're taking it out of here one way or another. Can it be moved?"

"As long as it's not armed," Tali assured. "The question is if we can drag it around out there without it being too big a risk. If this IS why the Nest's security forces haven't started firing on us, we need to be sure its secure in transit. If they get a hold of it or neutralize it, well... open season."

"Then let's make sure they know we have it and they best keep their distance," Shepard declared. "Whatever buys us time for the others to get here."

Before they could even go over their options though, something exploded. Or it sounded like it exploded. Shepard almost jumped up ten feet in the air, as did everyone else. However, once they realized it was NOT the warhead, they calmed.

"Shepard!" Mordin called up from above. "Significant development! Come see!"

Shepard ran up and looked out the side door of the warehouse. There was a massive plume of smoke and debris coming up down east or so of their position. Shepard didn't have to ask what it was, he remembered the briefing. That was the Distillery's location.

"Well, looks like they've finally taken care of Snarlbeak's bootlegging business," Miranda observed.

"Let's hope that means they're on their way," Shepard said, trying to raise Zek on the radio. "Zek, come in. We just saw the distillery go up in a cloud of smoke. Are you alright? Did you get out?"

There was silence for a bit. Shepard tried again.

"Zek, report, are you alright?" He asked once more. "Did you extract? Zek?"

More silence... and then a coughing sputtering sound.

"We're out! We're out! Holy fuck that was still too close!" The Pirate reported, still hacking and coughing as he did, even as Shepard sighed with relief in kind. "I have to assume the whole place is fucking rubble now."

"I can't really see, but I assume so," Shepard reported. "The whole towering structure is just gone from what I can tell. Thane, Legion, do either of you have a better visual?"

Legion was first to report in.

"Shepard-Commander, Distillery has imploded in on itself. Complete structural collapse. Damage appears near total. Likely unrecoverable."

"Then we did good," Zek stated. "Alright, we're enroute to you."

Shepard's concerned returned at that reply.

"Zek, I'd caution against that," he told him. "They have us surrounded on every exit and entrance. We need time to give you a way inside."

"No worries, we got one," Zek said reassuring. "Have someone meet us at that big old freighter you found. We'll explain everything there. Oh and by the way, apparently there's like some kind of nuke you're sitting on over there. We would've called to tell you, but we only just found out ourselves and we were evacing so-"

"No, need, Zek," Shepard sighed in annoyance, although not really at the pirate so much as the situation overall. "We uh... found that just now."

"Oh good, one less thing to explain then," Zek said, a little too upbeat in all honesty.

"I'd still like some explanations, especially from Zix, over and out."

Shepard then hung up and turned to his team.

"They're on their way here?" Tali asked. "How?"

"I'll head over to the freighter with Mordin," he said. "Check it out for myself. The rest of you stay here... bomb babysit. We can confer and figure out a plan for it once the rest of them are inside."

"At least it sounds like we're going to have some extra hands to hold this place," Miranda sighed gratefully. "Let's hope the Master Chief is close to joining us as well."

Shepard agreed, his eyes turning to where the slave pits were in relation to their position once again. Things were turning around, they had a chance to actually pull this off, but it all came down to the Spartans getting to the docks. He resisted the urge to ask for a status report from the Master Chief directly. Chances were, whatever he was doing, he was in the thick of it. Last thing he needed was to be interrupted.

---

The control room was a wreck at this point. The custom grav hammer of the Brute Chieftain had more or less smashed every single bit of electronic equipment in here. That or it had been slashed apart by Kesa's plasma sword. Neither side of the duel showed any signs of tiring, their slashing and bashing attempts causing more damage to the room than each other.

They got some hits in between smashing equipment. Kesa, for example, took a blow that sent her into a monitor, but she just as quickly dashed around and slashed hard into the Chieftain's leg. Which didn't slow him down for whatever reason. The armor was probably compensating for the damage incurred.

Most of the damage Kesa managed to get on the Chieftain though came from whenever he broke off fighting her to attack Chief, Samara or Grunt. He did so whenever they even got close to the stairs leading to the main control console. Despite the fact everything he was trying to accomplish had fallen apart, he was dedicated to the job. Snarlbeak told him to guard this little prison within the slave pits and he would do so until he could no longer breathe.

Admirable for a mercenary, but the Master Chief didn't care. He needed to get to that console and release the human prisoners. That meant getting past this Ex-Banished Leader and that probably meant killing him. The problem was Kesa, who was not letting anyone help her for any extended period of time. She always told the others off. Samara, when she hit the Chieftain with Reave, was pushed away before Kesa ran to the Brute to stab hard into his shoulder. She got flung off but it was a good hit. Grunt smashed his head into the ape's gut before he got batted away. Kesa used the opportunity slash the massive monster's arm. When she was knocked away towards Grunt, she actually berated him.

"Stop interrupting!" She had bellowed at the krogan

And whenever Chief fired on the monstrous space gorilla, almost getting pounded into the floor with his hammer each time, Kesa moved in to bring her sword down on the mercenary herself. All while giving the Spartan a dirty look. She really wasn't eager for any help.

Given how she was doing, despite the hits she had taken, Kesa's victory was likely. She didn't need any of their help, not really. This would go faster though if she let them shoot the bastard dead. That was the problem, this was matter of honor for her. She couldn't let them help her.

Kesa moved in again, her blade cutting once more into the leg of the huge Brute. She cut at the knee, making him kneel. He tried to slash her with the blade of his Brute Shot arm. It struck the floor instead, sparks shot up, blinding Kesa from her next strike. He then kicked her away and rushed up to bring his hammer down.

Kesa rolled at the last second, the force of the gravity hammer sending her rolling away further. She recovered though, jumped up and charged in. Her blade cut into the merc's hammer arm with an upward slash. The Brute roared in pain and anger before punching her away. Kesa crashed to the floor, stabbing her blade into it while raking her talons across it to slow herself.

Chief let loose his next attack at this. He flung a grenade at the Brute's feet. The explosion ripped into his armor, although he remained standing. It was either his gear or Snarlbeak's special brew boosting him. He did seem larger than most Brutes after all. Before the smoke and fire of the grenade even vanished, the Spartan was letting loose with furious assault rifle barrage.

The monster roared in anger and tried to charge, bullets tearing into his armor, but a biotic throw knocked him for a loop halfway to the Spartan. He smashed into a partially destroyed console as Samara kept shooting, even before he crashed to the ground. The Brute grabbed at the remains of the console and threw it at both the Spartan and Justicar. As he did, a concussive shot burst into his head, followed but a shotgun blast and a krogan first to the jaw.

Chief had dodged out of the way of the tumbling remains of the console. Samara had simply used her biotics to force it away from her. They both watched as Grunt beat down the Brute with his own two hands and then a kick to his face. The massive ape just swatted him away, but the damage was clearly done. You could see blood pouring down his face and heavy damage to his armor.

Not that it deterred him. The second he spotted the Master Chief he started firing grenades from his Brute Shot Arm. Chief moved back, firing as he did. Samara stepped onto the damaged central holotable and sent another powerful biotic wave right at the charging ape.

The blow knocked him back, but then he jumped up, his hammer raised. Samara used her biotics to throw herself back before the hammer came down hard and cracked the table in two. She hit the Brute with another Reave that tore into his body, ripping it apart. He started firing Brute Shot grenades again, blowing up the area around Samara as she raced for cover.

In all of this excitement, he had forgotten about Kesa. The Elite had come barrelling in, screaming as she did, not that it mattered as the grenade explosions blocked out any other noise. Her blade then came down hard on the Brute Shot Arm and ripped right into it. Kesa leapt off moments before the inevitable. The explosion tore apart the Brute's arm while Kesa fell to the floor in a heap. She avoided the blast but not the shockwave.

Chief hurried over to the Elite, trying to see if she was alright. To her credit, she got up under her own power. Not that she seemed appreciative at all for the Spartan's slight show of concern.

"Your feigned sympathy is not welcome, Demon," she growled. "And neither is your distracting presence."

"If you'd stop complaining for a second you'd realize our distractions have been helping you win," Chief informed her.

"That's the problem!" Kesa snarled. "This is my kill!"

"And it still will be," Chief assured her. "Look."

The Brute stood up, his arm... well, there wasn't much left of the arm where the Brute Shot weapon had been. It was a stump now, a blacked, charred, stump. That was Kesa's doing more than anyone's.

"He's dedicated to stopping us from freeing the prisoners," Chief told her. "Let us get to the console and he'll leave himself open to you."

The Brute was already turning, his smoking cracked armor, a shattered stump of arm and his gravity hammer now held firmly in one hand. He didn't seem to care all that much he had lost an appendage in the explosion. Had he even noticed? Kesa took one look at the scene and then at the Spartan that she so reluctantly had aligned with. With an annoyed grunt, she sighed.

"Fine, Demon," she declared. "Free your fellow abominations. I will keep him at bay."

Chief nodded and made a run for the stairs. Grunt and Samara joined him, although they kept shooting at the Brute. He had noticed them first before Kesa. His mistake, the Elite came at him, slashing hard into his damaged side. The Brute tried to pound her with his hammer, but he missed when she dodged. He kept coming from the stairs, but a biotic throw knocked him in the jaw. As he was forcefully turned around, Kesa's blade slashed into his eye and then jabbed it into his shoulder.

"Wretched bitch!"

The hammer came down, but missed Kesa as she darted through his legs. He turned, even as a plasma blade cut at his tendon. Kesa rolled into a standing position and then entered a defensive stance. The hammer came down again, the force of which pushed the Elite backwards across the ground. Which was what she wanted, because it gave the Master Chief a clear opening to fire his rocket launcher.

The Spartan let it loose and the projectile flew across the room to slam right into the Chieftain's chest. The explosion knocked the Brute down and away. He was still somehow alive despite that, although it looked like his chest was bleeding as he clutched it hard. Kesa didn't waste the chance, she charged in, blade ready and then slashed upward, cutting deep into the Brute's torso and lower jaw. The massive ape fell back, smashing into the ground.

Meanwhile, Chief looked back to the console. Cortana appeared on the holodisplay.

"Lockdown is lifted," she declared. "Every cell is opening up!"

The terminal's display showed several camera feeds, prisoners rushing out of their cells, human civilians and soldiers alike. They quickly started mustering together, gathering weapons. Cortana quickly issued an announcement over the loudspeakers.

"This is UNSC AI Cortana," she reported to them. "We've taken and secured the control room. To all human prisoners, the Spartans are here to rescue you. Do not fire on the Grunts and Jackals in slave clothes, they are not the enemy. We are going to get you all out of here, but we require your cooperation and trust. Please proceed in an orderly fashion to the control room. Don't worry. We're going to get you home."

There were some cheers over the feeds, ones that they could hear echoing from afar. They still had completed the mission, but they had done it. They had freed the prisoners, they broke Snarlbeak's little slave pit wide open. As if to confirm that, Chief was contacted by the other members of the team.

"Chief, we've done it! All human prisoners accounted for!" Kelly reported. "There were a few angry brutes, but we handled them. It was mostly a lot of those really angry Jackals Snarlbeak employs. Took a bit to clear the cellblock, but we did it."

"Same here, good work," Chief replied. "Gather everyone up and rendezvous in the main courtyard, we gotta plan our final breakout to the docks."

It wasn't entirely over though, as Kesa was approaching the downed body of the Brute on the ground. He was still alive, miraculously. She was about to change that. He coughed blood as he looked at her standing over him.

"You threw away everything to take me for yourself and it has cost you everything," she snarled at him.

"A pox on your house, Sangheili!" The Brute screamed. "You and your precious Covenant! They're doomed! Them and your kind! I may have betrayed him, but I know Atriox. He will BREAK your Prophets and their lies upon his knee! His wrath is coming! The Banished will survive your false church!"

"A pity you will not," Kesa stated flatly.

With a single final swing... the brute's head was removed from the rest of his body. Kesa held it in her hand, letting the blood pool from the neck across her talons and roared at it. Finally, she sheathed her blade. Chief slowly approached her, weapon in the resting position as she admired her work.

"So... honor restored?" He asked.

Kesa nodded briskly.

"I owe some small gratitude to you for that, Demon," she confessed. "Your mission... distracted my prey. I shall not thank you for this, only recognize it. It will not be said that Kesa 'Ralkamee does not give due credit to those who aid her."

Chief didn't want thanks, but he supposed the gratitude wasn't unwelcome. He was just happy she still seemed committed to this alliance herself. Which meant they were still friends until they got out of here. They'd need her cooperation for what came next.

"We still need to breach the dockyards," Chief told her. "Snarlbeak's people have likely set up defenses either around it or the slave pit walls to block our escape."

"I presume you have a plan then," Kesa asked.

"We still have the enemy vehicles we liberated," he explained plainly. "Plus explosives from the armory. Time we use them."

---

AN: Happy 8 Days to Halloween Folks! Here's the first half of a present from the Great Pumpkin... i.e. Me. Yes it was me all along. I never showed up to Linus to teach him a lesson in ruining everyone's Trick or Treating out of trying to force them all to come see me when I specifically tell them not to.

Okay, sorry just having a laugh. Anyway, you can expect the second part of this chapter before the end of the month, maybe even the end of the week at the soonest. Along with a new addition of BBR sometime after that. I hope you enjoyed Kesa getting her revenge and are looking forward to our heroes' final escape. See ya then.