~4~

"Choppers, you're up!"

As the two Elites took off, Falzud assured the Demon, "Worry not, this shall take but a moment."

Mar sure hoped so. Madiba was out to lunch on the matter.

A sharp, ear-piercing crack echoed throughout the canyon and seconds later, the Wraith gunner slumped over the hood, dead. Another sniper's round sent the adjacent Shade turret gunner toppling lifelessly out of his seat. Dissipating smoke trails led from their bodies all the way back to the Wildcat, the Imp leader, who was picking off Covenant loyalists from the concealment of the cave.

"A glorious shot!" Mar complimented as he opened up with the guns.

"Which one?" she joked back, firing at a pack of Brutes on the left side of the canyon.

After the close call from earlier, which of course reminded him that yes, he did need to exercise patience or at least impulse control, Mar decided in this fight to shoot from a relatively safe distance. Falzud on the other hand, was doing quite the opposite. He was not only up close and personal with the enemy Wraith, but yelling at it, goading it, testing it.

Eventually, the Wraith driver had enough and tried to run them both over in one boost. It didn't really go as planned, as both Elites saw it coming and boosted out of the way. The Wraith ended up getting lodged between a pair of boulders, sealing its fate. The Elite pair tore into its backside with Chopper fire and destroyed the power source in seconds, causing the Wraith itself to rupture and explode.

"Get out of there!" the Arbiter yelled over the COMs

Mar felt hot, scalding hot plasma bubbles splashing against his side and immediately turbo boosted back toward the cave. Though he was avoiding further fire for the time, the boiling liquid that had already gotten on him was shorting out his armor's shielding system. A cooling sensation replaced the heat as his shields recharged. Looking over, he saw that Falzud had too escaped the surprise attack, and shield recharging just the same.

"Warthog!" the Demon barked.

Banks was on the same page, yelling, "Get in there Marines! Go go go!"

The Warthog came flying out of the mouth of the cave and intercepted the Ghosts chasing Mar and Falzud. Pvt. Dubbo flashed the Elites a thumbs-up as they passed. Once Hotshot had the turret fully spinning and spitting fifty caliber bullets, the Ghosts had no choice but to break off the chase.

"That was a close one," Falzud said after they drove through the cave and disembarked in the prior canyon.

They walked back to the cave and took position where Wildcat was crouched, sniping. Their part in the attack was complete. They just hoped the others could pull off their assigned tasks with the same efficiency. Now observing, Mar saw the Demon pause to fire a rocket while his teammates moved up. The Brutes they were in a shootout with were all set up behind barricades beneath a sentry tower with a Grunt providing cover fire from a plasma cannon mounted up there.

None of them were ready for what happened next. They were too busy exchanging shots with the Arbiter and Sgt. Banks to brace and were killed when the rocket obliterated the tower and huge pieces of wreckage came raining down on top of them.

"Excellent!" the Arbiter congratulated.

The trio then went amid the wreckage and swept up the survivors. Wildcat fired another shot, then three more in quick succession. Mar saw four figures underneath a stone structure on the other side of the canyon go down and not get back up.

"Reloading!" she reported. "Enemies under the arch! Straight ahead!"

Down by the eliminated Brute pack, the Demon reloaded, pivoted, and fired off another rocket. It was as if everyone was watching it sail through the air over to the enemies' position, like a graceful Quadwing soaring with not a care in the world. The rocket exploded on impact and tossed all manners of Loyalist crates and soldiers alike out from beneath the arch.

One final shot from Wildcat took out a Grunt on a second sentry tower near the arch, then silence fell. All that could be heard was the faint thumping of a pair of Covenant AA Wraiths that was preventing any Human or Separatist ships from landing there. The Arbiter and the Demon looked at each other, then took off to destroy the tanks.

The duo was quite an impressive pair. Synchronized, the two former rivals each snuck up behind an occupied AA Wraith, climbed into the back, and pulled out grenades. A frag in the Arbiter's case, a plasma in the Demon's. They shoved the grenades into the Wraiths' rotating power cores and leapt back. Both mortar tanks exploded simultaneously and the two walking tanks returned to their awaiting teammates.

"That did it," Johnson radioed in. "LZ's clear. Commander? Bring her down."

Keys responded, "Roger that, beginning my descent."

Mar watched Shadow amble over to a dead Brute and use both hands to pick up a bronze object that was lying beside it.

Hotshot exclaimed, "Look! Up high! Here she comes!"

"Is the Dawn rated for atmosphere?" Shadow inquired.

Wildcat answered, "Looks like we're gonna find out. Get to cover!"

Shadow then activated and threw down the bubble shield and it expanded all around him. The Demon and the Arbiter joined him inside while the rest of the Imps and Marines took cover.