Phase 6: Alien Sphere Pt 1
The Didact's forces are conducting operations within the planet of Lumira, a former Forerunner world, where they will need to gather data to gain access to more military assets and try to find the Guardians' location. "How is the operation?" he asked.
"Going well, we are securing the complex and gathering data. It will be a good outpost for us," Warden said as the AI looked over the corpses of the Spartan 2s of Black and Silver teams within medical pods being scanned and studied.
"These humans are enhanced. Very similar to the humans of the past. Sadly my wife did a poor job, they are not as capable as their original selves," Didact said as he reviewed the medical reports. The AI is looking over the GEN2 Mjolnir suits being scanned by a terminal. "These combat suits are primitive but effective. Not as striking as the ancient human's combat suits," he said.
"They managed to gain some of their skill but are not as united as in the past," Warden said.
"Indeed, we can use this to our advantage. Weakening their nation and stomping them out when it's the moment rises," Didact said. "Well, the Flood is not here. Things could be a lot worse," he thought going through the data made with the AI medical staff on the Spartan 2s.
Back with Alisa and Cortez returning from their vacation becoming a couple and their friends being happy and teasing them about it.
"That is so cute Six, a princess getting swept up by their knight in shining armor or Mjolnir in that case," Rosa said lightly with them both in PJs within their room. Alisa is on her bunk bed to read a book Cortez gave her to enjoy.
"Hey, I never had a boyfriend before. It's all new to me," Alisa said feeling her cheeks getting red.
"How did the kissing feel?" she asked.
"Well, it felt nice and warm. My chest got tightened just thinking about it," Alisa said as Rosenda playfully patted her on her blond head.
"That's adorable," she said. "So we heading for the Forerunner world of Lumira with Promeathan, Banished, and Storm activity there consuming the surface of the planet," Rose said.
"Yeah, it's insane. There is a research station there along with human settlements there on the planet. They want us to help deal with the threat," Alisa said.
"Those Banished are problematic. Why can't these Brutes just seek peace," Rose said.
"Sela said the Arbiter wanted peace with the Brutes and Atrox but they don't care for it. Only war and conquest, they always nuke themselves into extinction in the past over tons of conflict on their planet," Alisa said remembering Sela telling her about it.
"Hairy dumbasses," Rose said.
"Thankfully with the Anvil Initiative made between Lord Hood and Arbiter. Spartans and Elites can work in co-species teams against threats like the Storm, the Banished, and the Promethean," Alisa said as she is lucky to befriend someone like Sela who she sees as one of her best friends.
"Well. Your date managed to get you a girlfriend. How nice, I need to step up my game with Sela," Yuri said.
"Like you have any game to begin with," Cortez teased him.
"Hey I got a shot at the dinosaur lady," Yuri said.
"I am joking, good luck with that. Speaking of which," Cortez said as they saw the tall, lovely blue-skinned Elite coming into their room.
"hello there you two, you got room for one more?" Sela asked.
"Of course," Yuri said sounding urgent to have her in their room with Cortez rolling his eyes at this.
"Oh brother," Cortez said as Yuri couldn't hide his excitement. Sela utters a soft laugh to sit down on the bed beside Yuri.
"I heard from Alisa, that you two are mated to each other. I am happy for both of you," Sela said.
"Thanks, maybe you would be mated to a certain human," Cortez teased her while petting her on the back.
"That would be a wonderful thought but while you were gone with Alisa on your outing. We are dealing with the Storm. Those traitors who bring shame to their family keeps. The Arbiter is trying to bring peace and focus to the Elites, not tied down by our past with the Covenant that those idiots are bound to," Sela said.
"Those can't let go of the past," Yuri said to pity them.
"Sadly more Elites on our side would be helpful," Cortez said.
"Our leaders are gaining support from our colony worlds but some still cling to the Covenant ways and trying to undermine us but we are thankfully gaining ground against them," Sela said.
"We are getting close to Planet Lumira. Get tactical people, we are going to secure the research complex and wipe out all hostiles in the area," the captain said.
"Well, time to get back to work," Yuri said.
"I will suit up, and meet you in the dropship," she said as she gave her favorite human a wink to go off to her other elites.
"Cute," Cortez said.
"Yeah, I need to get my rifle," Yuri said as everyone suited up with the teams getting into Pelicans to begin going into the planet's surface. Sela, Alisa, and Cortez are in their pelican with a bunch of Marines,"
"Meet you guys down planet side," Vela said as she checked her Scion combat harness to wield her Needle Rifle while her Energy Sword and Plasma Rifle were on her thighs.
Sela is using a Storm Rifle which is the main plasma weapon for the Swords of Sanghelios forces. She has a Scattershot on her back along with an Energy Sword on her thigh.
"Hold on tight, the warzone is going to get hot," the pilot said as the battles between the Banished and the Storm were getting intense.
"Gee, what a mess down there," Cortez said as they were getting hit with plasma mortars. The pelican tries to dodge but it gets hit by the big projectile sending them flying onto the ground to impact the ground pretty hard.
"Hey guys, are you okay?" Rosa asked on the radio. Sela, Alisa, and Cortez managed to survive the crash but the marines and the pilot were dead from the deadly impact.
"Yes, but our marine backup is dead. Just the three of us here," Alisa said to see her GEN2 Mark 5/B armor is perfectly fine. She grabs her SAW machine gun and an M45E shotgun locked onto her back.
"We will meet up at the complex," Cortez uses an MA5D and an M319 grenade launcher.
"Okay, good luck and be safe out there," Rose said.
"Good hunting Sela," Vela said on the radio.
"Yeah, you are too. Send those savages and traitors into cold oblivion," Sela said wielding her Storm Rifle to get out of the Pelican to see all the dead marines around them. "Too bad for them, need to keep going," she said as she went into cloaking mode to disappear into the greenery to follow from the shadows.
"Well, Sela will recon ahead. Time to head for the Forerunner research complex," Cortez said as they went ahead to see a bunch of Banished troops getting in their path.
"Those Brutes are here along with Jackal snipers and emplacements," Sela goes up a hill to use her sword to slice the head off the thin neck of the Jackal letting it roll down the hill. She tosses a Plasma grenade to stick to a Brute to see half his body melt away from the powerful plasma explosion.
"Time to strike back," Alisa slides in with her shotgun to blow off sections of the Grunt's body. Bright blue blood painting the barricades with her punching a Grunt with enough force to break his neck killing the Grunt instantly.
"UNSC, don't let them neat the site," the Brute officer ordered, wielding a Banished-made machine gun called the Lacerator and shooting shock rounds. Alisa's shields took a hit to see it draining fast despite being an Overshield.
"Gee, that is nasty," she said feeling the electricity surging through her suit to calm down and hear the familiar humming, and her shields are back up.
"Lacerator, Banished weapon. Those shock rounds are nasty on shields and disabling vehicles," Sela said as she went out of cloaking to slice the head of the Brute Minor. The neck still burns hot from the plasma of her energy sword. She switches to her Storm Rifle to pepper Jackals and Grunts taking them out.
Cortez is evading the shade emplacements as he lobs grenades from his M319 to blow them to pieces. He fires several bursts from his Assault Rifle to take out the Grunts while he avoids the shock rounds from the Brute's Lacerator. He lobs a grenade to blast the Brute officer but he has a powerful shield to protect him from the shrapnel.
"Oh crap," Cortez said as he rolls away while getting hit by the shock rounds draining his Overshield. Alisa pours rounds from her SAW to weaken the Brute's shields while Sela fires plasma bolts to strip the shields of the Brute officer.
Cortez lobs the grenade from his M319 to take out the Brute. "All cleared out," Cortez said as he shook off the shock damage from the Brute machine gun.
"I will keep scouting ahead," Sela said.
"How are things going?" Rose asked on the radio with her team and Marines touching down to be nearby the complex with Banished and Storm units fighting each other with allied forces in the middle.
"We are getting there, how about you?" Alisa asked.
"Between a shit sandwich. Keep in touch," Rose said as the trio kept going to see a bunch of Brute Snipers wielding Shock Rifles and Skewers.
"I got this," she said sneaking in with her active camo to tear up their limbs with her energy sword. She drives her blade into the torso of the Brute to split him in half. She gets shot in the chest and the electro laser drains her shields to disappear into the shadows.
She switches to her Scattershot to let out pellets of hard light to strike one of the Brutes to vaporize him to dust. She tosses a Needle grenade letting it explode with purple crystals home in on the two last snipers to super combine on impact wiping them both out.
"Nice," Cortez said as they pushed forward to see a swarm of Storm Drones wiping out a bunch of Banished troops eating their fresh corpses.
"Always hated these buggers," Alisa said as a Promethean Phaeton comes in to fire hard light cannons to fry the large bugs killing them off to move on.
"The Prometheans are guarding the ruins where the research outpost is. Something must be important to dig back up here," Rosenda said as she killed a Storm Elite while Vela was using her Needle Rifle on an exposed Storm Elite to put three shots to trigger a super combine scattering his bloody body parts everywhere.
Yuri is using his S5 Sniper Rifle to put rounds in the heads of Storm Elite Minors while tossing a grenade to take out a group of Storm Grunts. Vela sees a Grunt about to use a Fuel Rod Gun at Yuri. "No way pitiful grunt, that human is taken," she fires her Needle Rifle to fire a purple crystal to impale through the head of the Grunt.
Olympia is wielding a Plasma Repeater to let the blue plasma bolts blast through the Grunts and flying Drones dropping them onto the grass. Marines and friendly Elites aid in pushing through the Storm and Banished forces.
Back with the trio seeing more Drones backing up Storm Elites and Grunts. Sela is peppering enemies with her Storm Rifle while Alisa tosses a grenade to take out a group of Grunts.
Alisa is using her machine gun to mow down the incoming flying alien bugs with an Elite pushing her with dual Plasma Rifles. She tanks the shots while she kicks the Elite to put in rounds with her shotgun to blow through his shields and destroy the Elite's head leaving behind gashes of purple mashes on the grass.
Cortez switches to EMP grenades to knock out their shields while Alisa and Sela clear out Elites and Drones with bullets and plasma bolts. "The fighting is thick here," Alisa said as the trio were getting close to the complex within a mountain nearby.
"We are getting close to the complex," Cortez said as they spotted Prometheans like Crawlers firing their Boltshots at them.
"Crawlers," Sela fires her shotgun to crack open the gun to slip in a cartridge inside to give her 10 more shots of shotgun goodness. She is shooting energy pellets to blast the Crawlers apart into broken pieces.
Cortez uses his Assault Rifle to pepper the little doglike machines to destroy them while a Crawler is on top of a tree to use its Binary Rifle to slam into Cortez's Overshield to knock out half the power.
"Gees," Alisa said as she used her shotgun to blast the robot to pieces to fall from the tree.
"Hey we heard chatter on the Banished's battle net and we know who the commander of the forces here is. Ilsa Zane is the one leading this attack," Rosa said on the radio.
"Oh, the Spartan traitor is here. We got a chance to take her out," Alisa said.
"Our job is to secure the research center and find any survivors here," Rosenda said.
"Yes I know, that comes first," Alisa said.
"Once we secured the location. We can go after her. ONI wants her dead or alive," Rosa said as a Knight appeared with Armiger Snipers on top of hills backing up the Knight.
"Shit, it has an Incinerator Cannon," Cortez said as the Knight fires powerful energy rockets to send them flying with the force of the blast. The Knight rushes at Alisa aiming her SAW and pumping it with rounds hitting its energy shield.
The Knight tanks the shots and swings its blade arm. Alisa pulls up her gun to block it but it gets sliced in half leaving it useless. She rolls away to fire her shotgun to get hit by Light Rifles to weaken her shields.
The Knight summons its Watcher to give it covering fire while firing red hard light blasts leaving small craters behind. Cortez lobs an EMP grenade for the Watcher catches it and flings it back. The EMP knocks out his shields to take cover from the energy blasts from the Knight.
Sela comes in to melt away the Armiger Snipers to destroy them in bursts of plasma bolts. The Knight launches a Pulse Grenade to strike the area of Alisa stripping her Overshield like they were nothing. Cortez got his shields up to pepper the Knight with a volley of bullets.
Sela aims her Storm Rifle to take out the Water guarding the Knight while Cortez uses a frag grenade to strike the Knight to heavily damage it. Alisa slid towards the machine to blast it with her shotgun to put it down disappearing into a flash of light.
"We are close to the mouth of the cave of the research center," Alisa said on the radio. They see a Banished Locust manned by a Grunt unloading lots of plasma mortars to push them back.
"Time to die," the banished Grunt is unleashing a powerful focus beam to miss his target and blow up a nearby hill.
"Shit Locust, Banished tricked it up," Cortez said as his EMP grenades are weakening its shields.
"They have a habit of making the old designs coarse and vicious. None of the elegance in the original design is left intact," Sela said as she struck the machine walker with her rifle slowly weakening the shields.
Alisa needs a new weapon to take out the walker with her going through a bunch of crates nearby. She finds a Fuel Rod Gun to wield and begins pumping rods to strike the Locust to break the shield and heavily damage the Banished vehicle.
They overwhelmed the walker with weapon's fire until it exploded killing the Grunt pilot inside. They go inside to see a ton of Prometheans there with an unknown figure commanding them.
"So more of you show up like with the bipedal lizard," the Warden said.
"Who are you?" Alisa ordered.
"I am the Warden Eternal and I serve the Didact. We are about done here. We got what we came for and securing the area," the Warden said.
"That is not happening," Alisa said as they pointed their guns at him. She lobs energy rods from her launcher with the Warden teleporting away and reappears to lunge at Six. She dodges the sword lunge to put a few fuel rods into the chest of the large forerunner machine damaging him.
Cortez is rolling away from the swings of the blade and energy beams. Sela is closing in with her point defense shield and energy sword. She comes into duel with the Forerunner AI to clash swords.
"Out of my way," the Warden slashes onto the shield to disable it while Sela comes in to slice his side leaving some damage from her energy sword. Alisa and Cortez
"Not bad," Warden lobs a gravity grenade to entrap Alisa in a gravity well with it collapsing taking out her shields and damaging her suit. The Warden punches her in the helmet with enough force to send her flying across the cavern to crash into a building.
This blow managed to break her helmet and knock her out. "Alisa," Cortez said on the radio but she was not responding.
"Well, time to move. Deal with them," the Warden slips into a portal to let Armiger Soldiers and Officers along with Watchers.
Two Brutes were in the background watching the Spartans and Elites coming in to fight the "Commander, we found a spartan woman here. It is Noble Six," the Brute said.
"Oh the legend herself is here on this humble little planet. Bring her deeper into the caves. She will be stripped and sold," the woman said on the battle net.
"Yes Iisa, take her in," the second Brute said.
"This woman killed many of our kind on Reach and beyond," the first Brute said.
"She will be bared and be used for profits. She will taste no victory," the second Brute said as she was tossed into a Prowler to drive away to go deeper into the mountain where the Banished managed to secure.
Rose and the others managed to clear out the Prometheans by being able to secure the research complex within the Forerunner ruins. "Gee, not much left here. The research staff is still alive but those robots will come back," Rose said as Cortez was getting worried that Alisa was not answering his radio.
"Omega 2 isn't here," Cortez said as everyone was worried about this.
"She must be taken somewhere," Olympia said.
"Me and Vela will track her down. You secure these personnel and get out of here before those robots show up," Sela said.
"Be careful," Cortez said.
"I know, I will get her back safe," Sela said as the two female Elite warriors went deeper into the caverns to seek out Alisa who had lost contact with her team.