Author's Note
Here we are.
Uploaded
08/21/2023
LEGEND BELOW
"Chief, that's not a good idea..." = Normal speech.
''You're you, don't let it control you...'' = Normal thoughts/Receiving coms.
Chapter 25
Assault on the control room
Rated-M
M rating for blood, and language.
Music of the day
Halo 2 - Leonidas
The bay doors flew open, Pelicans swarming out as Spartan fireteams were dispatched. Spearheading the small fleet so to speak was the Tyr, and in close pursuit was a squadron of Pelicans. Beside them acting as an escort were the four Stiletto fighters.
''Alright teams, the light is green. While you handle the blackout station, Infinity is going to defend the gravity well, prevent the Didact's escape. We're on a time crunch here people, so let's get this done so you can all go home. Failure is not an option.'' Commander Palmer's voice rang out over local coms.
The ships soared through the skies above Requiem, flying in a V formation towards their destination. In the skies above, the Infinity turned to make its way towards the gravity well to uphold its part of the mission.
Far ahead of the archipelago that they were currently flying over was the facility, and surrounding it was a storm so intense that it prevented both thermal imaging, radar scans, and even communication systems of any kind would be rendered useless. The storm manifested itself in the form of a snowstorm so intense that even the Pelicans would be hard pressed to pass through.
"Commander Palmer, Samus here." The Bounty Hunter spoke up, her voice appearing fuzzy over all local coms.
''Go ahead, Samus.'' The Commander grunted.
"We're approaching the drop zon- now. The bio storm i- already effecting our communications syste-…" She spoke, her voice cutting in and out. The ships, all only a rough distance from each other were already losing wireless connectivity. "Any momen- ow we will lose all communication wit- … other. All ships are to for- up on me. Stick close an- we will be fine." Samus spoke up, before her voice vanished from all coms, the intensity of the interference so great that it knocked offline both her and the Spartan's communication systems entirely.
"We're in the blackout field now. All outside communications are down." The Master Chief, standing beside the Bounty Hunter intoned. Both of them were aboard the Tyr, leading the squadrons. "I hope Adam is right about this place."
"If he's not, then I do not wish to dwell on the alternatives…" Samus uttered. "We must bring this facility offline, otherwise what choice do we have but to destroy the gravity well?"
"And risk allowing the Didact to escape? I don't think that's an option we can afford, not now." The Spartan uttered, tilting his head in thought. "We do our mission, whatever the cost." He decided on.
He missed the way the Bounty Hunter turned to him. However, before anything else could be said, someone else spoke up.
"I don't know if it's just our luck, or you lack the ability to catch a break… Either way Samus, I really hope that this is one of those missions we walk away from…" It was Smythe who spoke up, his dry tired tone catching the Bounty Hunter's attention.
"I've walked away from every mission, this one will go the same." Samus uttered confidently.
"Yeah…?" The man said, almost in question. He seemed to think for a moment, before shaking his head, a dry smirk behind his visor. "Alright, I'm going to hold you to it." He decided on saying, humor leaking from his tone.
"Hmph." The alien woman smirked, amused. She stepped up beside him, patting him on the shoulder with her claws. The man's eyes widened, but he didn't go to pull away. From what he'd learned about her raging out of control powers, he should've been dusted by now. But, perhaps her trust in him, or her views of him as some sort of family, a friend, prevented her from even viewing him as food.
It was something that would live with him rent free for the rest of his life, knowing that she of all people thought of him in such a way.
"I got us out of the last mess, I plan on doing the same this time." The woman stated confidently.
Smythe smiled, a sad look hidden behind his visor. "I'll believe you, but just promise me one thing." He said quietly, too low for anyone else to hear. She didn't respond, but turned to face him in silent question. "Promise me, that if it comes down to it, and it's me or you… I won't be your choice…" He begged quietly, a hitch in his voice.
She didn't respond, gaze hidden by that baleful red visor. But, even then, he could feel her eyes on him, knowing that his words had struck a chord. The tension that had suddenly appeared was palpable, and the Master Chief couldn't help but wonder what had happened to cause it.
"I don't make a promise unless I plan to keep it…" The woman finally decided after what felt like an eternity, but couldn't have been more than a few long moments.
Smythe searched her visor for a while, his expression also hidden away from her. Finally, he nodded, knowing he couldn't change her mind. "I see. Then I'll just have to make it out alive, won't I?" He smirked, but there was little humor to be found in his tone.
"Is there something I should know?" Anthony, who'd been standing on the wayside spoke up, poking his head into the conversation. He could taste the tension, and knew there was a silent conversation going on between the two of them.
"No, it's fine. Let's get this mission done so we can all go home." Smythe grunted, patting Samus on the shoulder as he passed her on his way to the deployment doors.
The Master Chief approached her, wisely deciding not to bring up the conversation and instead focusing his attention onto the mission at hand. "You ready? You're the one leading us in, I'll be right behind you." The man asked, motioning to the platoon within the ship.
She turned to face him out of the corner of her eyes. "Yes. Let's get this over with." She muttered in that monotone he'd come to distaste. He knew something was weighing on her mind when her voice lost that little hint of life that he'd grown oddly fond of listening to.
The ship slowed to a crawl, landing on the frozen shorelines of the landscape. Beside them all landed the other Pelicans, Spartans already moving out to secure the area.
The Tyr landed, the bay doors sliding open. The Federation troopers hit the snowy ground, fanning out to secure the landing site. The blizzard was intense, nearly blinding already. Winds whipped around and intense speeds, ice-like shards flying about along the roads of the air currents.
Samus stepped up to the edge of the door, hesitating for a moment. Then her gaze hardened, and she leap free from the ship, landing alongside her soldiers. Her wings recoiled from the freezing subzero temperatures of the area, her body already despising the cold. But with her suit active and fully shielded, her gravity suit upgrade would keep her from dying. But it didn't mean that she wasn't immensely uncomfortable in the environment.
She launched herself to the front of the pack, the storm so thick already that visibility was extremely limited. "All Spartans, form up on me. Your communications systems are down, and visibility is low. I am aware of your enhanced vision abilities, but let's put that to the test okay?" She called out, facing the platoon behind her. Even at a close range now, they could only communicate via their voices.
"We're going to move through the valley and to the north, the facility is a distance from here. There is an unknown number of anti air cannons within the area, so it is imperative that we stay low." She explained. "Furthermore, our presence here is undetected. However, I am sure this place too is guarded by Promethean guards. Let's move." She turned on her heels, facing Anthony.
"Hey Princess, are you sure you're going to be okay? The cold-?" The big man asked in concern.
"I'll be fine." She muttered, looking towards the facility ahead.
Half of the platoon stayed behind to defend the ships in case of an emergency, that and having tens of super soldiers all rushing into the same canyon wasn't a smart idea. Most of the Federation Troopers stayed behind, save for Smythe, Anthony, and a fair few others…
The sounds of an entire platoon of super soldier's boots crushing the snow beneath their boots was muffled by the sounds of the snowstorms above, the Spartans moving quickly and quietly through the desolate hills of white.
Samus lead the pack, moving through the snow like it physically didn't affect her. The troopers struggled to keep pace, but they managed.
They'd all been moving for around ten minutes, the storm only worsening as they neared the Forerunner facility.
"Heads down! All squads divert right, turrets on the left!" The Bounty Hunter called out, flanking right as a large Forerunner hard-light cannon made its scanning sweep of the snow to the left.
"Affirmative!" The Spartans shouted, moving in to escape the range of the gun. There was no telling how disastrous their situation would turn if the entire facility was alerted to their presence before they could breech the storm that pinned them down.
It would quickly turn into a hell that they'd be hard pressed to escape from.
No one wanted that.
"Hold up!" Samus slid to a stop, the snow beneath her boots flaring off before falling down a deep and nearly impossibly deep canyon. The drop split the entire path in half, preventing anyone from crossing. Flying over was impossible due to the anti air control, but that wouldn't stop them.
Samus's flapped her wings, taking to the air as she crossed the chasm, making sure to keep low. The Spartans all followed with use of their limited yet powerful jet-packs. The Federation Troopers too had been outfitted with Spartan-Grade jet boosters, allowing them to cross as well.
"Keep close, we're nearing the facility!" Samus called out, breathing heavily as she continued on the charge.
However, it would seem as if the infiltration mission wouldn't go as planned. One solid glance at her localization radar subsystems told her that there were unfriendly's within the immediate vicinity.
"Samus, do you see this?" The Master Chief asked, sliding to a stop beside her.
"Yes. I don't like it." She responded sharply, unable to shake the sinking feeling that settled within her heart.
"Covenant?" The green man asked, eyeing her from the corner of his eyes.
"…No, I don't believe so…" She muttered, glancing around. Thinking quickly, she turned to her thermal visor to gain a better grip on their surroundings.
Her eyes narrowed in irritation at what she saw. "We've got Promethean scouts headed this way, one thousand feet out and approaching still."
"We can't afford to be spotted. If any of them report to the facility, those guns are going to wipe us off the map within seconds." Smythe grunted sharply. "Any ideas?" He prodded the Bounty Hunter's mind.
"We take them all down, quietly…" She said decidedly, turning to face her platoon.
"Ma'am?" A Spartan asked in question.
Samus held up her hand to her visor, one finger.
The Spartans all holstered their weapons, drawing their titanium blades instead. Samus made a few hand motions, ordering the Spartans to take cover within the snow and await the approaching Prometheans.
If they were seen now, it was all over.
They needed to be careful, quiet. They couldn't afford to slip up here and now.
The grays of the Spartans armor blended in well with the snow, and the Forerunner architecture that surrounded them. The snow, although having been storming for an unspecified amount of time, was easily displaced by the strength of the super soldiers.
Within moments, the entire platoon were hidden underneath a thin sheet of snow and ice. Under all that white, they awaited their prey, watching as their passive radar systems tracked the approaching Prometheans.
Samus rolled up into her morph ball, front of the group. A little spinning in place had her buried within seconds.
They all waited, silent in anticipation.
They didn't need to sit still for long, strange looking Prometheans stalking into the snowy alcove. They walked on two legs, like the Knights, but more human-like in design. Ten of them scoured the area, Suppressor Rifles ready to unload into any threats that encroached upon their territory.
The moment the last one past the front of the group, Samus silently appeared from the ground, vanishing into thin air with use of her phantom cloak. Alongside her other Spartans did the same, silently stepping out from the snow with blades drawn.
The Soldier that stalked at the back of the pack was unable to alert his comrades as a green claw was clamped around his entire face, silencing him forever, turned to dust.
The assassination didn't even make a sound, whatever noise it would having been covered up by the raging snowstorm.
The other Spartans tag teamed the remaining Soldiers, one would grab them by the throat and keep them quiet while the second dismantled them with proficient use of their combat knives.
Within a minute, the entire squad had been effectively and appropriately felt with, and they were still entirely undetected.
A cursory glance at her radar told Samus that they were clear to proceed further towards the Forerunner facility, no more threats within their immediate vicinity. "Move, quickly and quietly!" Samus ushered, tone strained, tense.
The cold was getting to her.
"On it!"
"Right behind you!"
"Yes ma'am!" The Spartan's called out in affirmation, keeping pace with her as she ran for the facility.
She rounded a snowy hill, catching a glance of the scanning anti air particle cannon within the area, the machine continually scanning for intruders. "Hold up, particle cannon on the left." She called out.
The weapon was nowhere near the size of the ones within the canyon that surrounded the gravity well, but they were still highly dangerous and extremely lethal. They would take down their Pelicans in a single shot, and would likely raze the entire area if it spotted them.
However, this one was blocking access to the facility, the entrance to the Forerunner structure dead ahead, built into a mountainous wall. The only strange thing was the fact that the gun was facing the facility's only entrance, not away from it. For a weapon that was supposed to keep intruders out, it was odd that it was facing said facility.
"I'm going to pull its attention, I want everybody inside that building when I do." Samus stated.
"What? You want to face a particle cannon head on?" The Master Chief spoke up in disbelief, questioning her. "I don't like the sound of that."
"Do we have any other options? That weapon will raze this area if we try to pass with it online." Samus responded sharply. "I'm not going to be seen, just distracting it's scanning processes. Its subsystems will focus on the potential of a detected anomaly instead of focusing on its original pathing map. It will give you enough time to make entry into the facility." Samus explained in detail.
"You've got this all planned out it seems…" John responded dryly.
Instead of responding verbally, she tapped a finger to the side of her helmet, the same spot he'd seen her press when using her scan visor to pick apart whatever it was she was looking at.
His eyes widened, realizing how she'd figured out the weapon's pathing defect and how she was going to abuse it without alerting the entire facility to their presence.
He wanted to call her a genius, but he already knew that she was aware of her own intelligence, and thought against it.
"Understood." The green Spartan nodded sharply.
Samus turned back to the rest of the men and women with her, giving them a brief explanation of her plan. When done, she activated her phantom cloak once more and walked out in line of the gun.
Although she was invisible, the footsteps left in the snow were detected by the weapon. The massive gun locked onto her position immediately, but did not fire.
The machine whirred as if confused by what it was looking at, trying to gain target lock onto the odd disturbance it was looking at. Its attention was slowly pulled away from the gate it was built to protect, intently watching the anomaly rove about.
With the way cleared for the moment, the Spartans and Federation Troopers all charged in, making a rush for the facility. The second they were in, Samus made her way inside as well, cloak vanishing as soon as she was inside.
The door shut behind her, sending them into darkness…
"Brights on." John called out, headlamps turning on as his helmets lights illuminated the darkness.
The halls were familiar to the green Spartan, looking just the same as anything else on the planet. But the lights were off, no natural light illuminating the facility. Occasional blips of a blue light could be seen fluttering about, data streams throughout the walls flashing for a brief moment, before going dark once more.
"I don't like this. Where's the Promethean's? I'd think they'd have more than a few guards patrolling the area…" The green Spartan muttered lowly, unable to shake the unnerving feeling that crawled down his spine.
For some reason she couldn't explain, Samus felt a shiver crawl down her spine. It wasn't that she was afraid, no, that wasn't it…
Something else was wrong, something else was tickling at her senses, setting her on edge. Something wasn't right about the facility, she just knew it.
Her eyes narrowed. "Squad A, secure the entrance. If any Prometheans pass through here, take them down. Our presence here is still undetected, I'd like to keep it that way." Samus ordered.
The Spartan's of squad A nodded in affirmation, moving to secure the entrance. One Spartan on each side of the door, knives drawn, while two more hunkered down and drew their tactical magnums, the sidearms silenced.
"We've got this door secured ma'am, nothing is getting through." The Spartan nearest her grunted confidently, glancing at her from behind his blue visor.
Samus nodded, the rest of the super soldiers moving to follow after her as she and the Chief made their way deeper into the facility.
The further in they moved the more something became apparent.
This facility, while also creating the frozen storm outside, was also freezing the interior of the facility. The facility's entrance was around negative seventy degrees fahrenheit, and it only continued to freeze the further in they went.
Samus stopped upon reaching another doorway, the frozen atmosphere of the room so intense that she visibly recoiled from it.
The Chief looked at her strangely, having noticed her odd behavior the farther the delved into the rooms. But he couldn't place the reaction, or why she seemed to effected while his suit shielded him from the extreme cold.
Even then, he did have some questions.
"Why is this facility so cold?" He asked, prodding for a response.
"I'm unsure. The Forerunners were, among their many qualities, researchers. Perhaps this was some form of cold storage facility, the low temperature helping keep creatures docile." Cortana explained off the top of her head.
"That would explain the temperature difference." Samus muttered. "But what would they store here?" She asked, poking her head into another room.
The halls of the room were vast, a deep chasm in the center. Yet, at the end of the room was a command terminal, the way to access it through the hard-light bridge that had since been deactivated in the many many years.
"Chief, get me into that terminal there." Cortana urged the Spartan to another nearby terminal, likely an interface to allow the A.I. access to the bridge controls.
"Right." He moved for it, placing her inside the control. A moment later saw the bridge appearing. "Good, let's move." He ran for the bridge, the entire platoon rushing in.
As they crossed the long hard-light bridge, they couldn't shake the feeling that this was far too easy. They'd barely faced any resistance upon approaching the facility once they avoided the plentiful supply of anti air cannons, save for the rouge squads of Promethean's scouting the area.
It was like the facility had been abandoned for a reason…
Nevertheless, when they got across, and Cortana was given access to the facility, it wasn't hard for her to hack into the mainframe and bring up the schematics to disabling the blackout system.
"Okay… We can bring this whole t-t-thing offline…" Cortana started, voice glitching out.
"I'm sensing the fact that you can't do it yourself…" The Master Chief spoke lowly in that gruff gravelly voice.
"Ooh, p-precisely!" She snapped her fingers. "I've located the device that powers the facility, bringing it down will shutdown both the blackout systems as well as any self defense devices in place here."
"What about the anti air?" Smythe thought to ask.
He wasn't fond of the idea that he'd be vaporized by the massive gun outside the facility.
"T-That is not powered by this facility, its systems are elsewhere. Exiting this place is going to be as hard as it was to get in…" Cortana explained. Following her explanation, she brought up a hard-light bridge that led deeper into the facility.
However, following that action, orange lights began appearing across the building…
"Cortana…?" Chief drawled, glancing back to his suddenly nervous A.I.
"U-Uh, I think the Prometheans know we are here…" The busty blue digital woman murmured nervously, voice hitching. Chief quickly gathered her back into his suit, drawing his rifle.
"Shit…" Smythe grunted, taking cover behind a small support pillar as he tried to scope out the enemy.
"Well, there goes being quiet. Although, this way is definitely our style." Anthony laughed, bringing out his heavy plasma gun, a similar model to the one he'd used on the Bottle Ship. "Come on Princess, let's show them we mean business!" The jovial man laughed, charging up his plasma laser.
"No use trying stealth now…" A Spartan muttered, holstering his silenced magnum as he drew his marksmen rifle.
Samus spun around, taking aim at the front of the bridge as Prometheans began materializing at the other side. Crawlers hissed and barked at them, crawled towards them quickly as they began firing at them.
"Tsk!" The Hunter hissed, firing off power beam rounds at the small metallic creatures. It made quick work of them easily enough, but if she could afford to keep her firepower low for the safety of the others, she would.
That being said, if things continued to get out of hand like she suspected they were going to, she wasn't going to hesitate to pull out all the stops…
Things were about to get busy.
Chapter
25
End