2

Heads up Marines!" Johnson warned over COMs. "We got trouble."

Right about then, a couple of Marines in a Warthog came drifting into view with an attacking Ghost in hot pursuit. The Ghost melted the Warthog gunner's backside with hot plasma and was about to finish off the driver just the same, but turned around and sped off once it saw the Spartan and two Elites standing there.

Pvt. Dubbo shouted as he hopped out of the driver seat and climbed into the turret.

"Sir, Hog's all yours! Let's hit that hostile armor!"

The Demon jogged over and got behind the wheel while Falzud hopped in the passenger seat beside him. Mar spotted a Ghost parked in a niche between some boulders, along with a couple of violet Covenant weapons and ammunition crates.

"Go ahead, I'll be right behind you!" he shouted to the others.

Without further ado, the Warthog sped off down the path to chase down the killer. Mar wasted no time in running over to the parked Ghost. He got in, powered it on, and zoomed after them.

The path twisted and winded through the boulders. Eventually, Mar turned onto what could best be described as a straightaway, save for a small Covenant lance holding out about midway between him and the Scorpions he could see rolling out of the wall facility. He then saw a crew of Brute Choppers race in to halt the tanks from advancing.

Just up ahead, Dubbo had just destroyed the enemy Ghost and now had his attention turned to the Grunts and Jackals in the holdout.

As he gunned them down he shouted, "Keep her steady, Chief!"

The Demon complied, and in doing so could be seen handing something to his passenger. Falzud turned and dropped the object outside of the jeep, which exploded just as they moved to link up with the Scorpions. Mar arrived at the holdout moments later, which was nothing more than a large boulder in front of a wide dip that had a few plasma batteries and a mounted plasma cannon.

Some of the Grunts and Jackals were still alive, many of them injured. His allies had done a quick sweep. He was here to do a deep clean.

Mar spat plasma streams from his Ghost's twin cannons in short controlled bursts. The survivors that were busy trying to shoot the leaving Warthog never stood a chance. The same could be said for those who did see Mar coming. Once they all had fallen by his endless hail of boiling plasma, he focused fire on the plasma cannon until the mounted setup broke in two.

Area cleansed.

This one is, yes.

Mar took a moment to park and hop out so he could use one of the plasma batteries to recharge his sidearm, then got back into his Ghost and zoomed down the straightaway to join the Demon and the rest of the ground force. He made it just as the Scorpion drivers were doing a last-minute COMs check. The Red Twin had arrived just in time.

"Staff Sergeant Banks, standing by."

"Sergeant Carson, awaiting orders."

"Gun'ry Sergeant Stacker, ready when you are."

"Corporal Coombs, standing by."

"Major 'Garais, ready for combat."

"This is Sierra One One Seven, green to go."

"Careful Chief," Johnson advised from the Pelican above. "You've got three Covenant Wraiths spread out in the next part of the canyon."

"Copy."

All three Scorpion tanks followed the Demon's Warthog. Mar and Coombs, the other Warthog driver, kept pace. Soon enough, the first enemy Wraith came into view and the battle was on.