Kelly and the Marines were sat aboard the tram they'd arrived with. She'd given a quick call to Andersen to report the situation. To say the man was happy that they dealt with any possible threats like the Flood was an understatement, but the man clearly didn't understand the full gravity of the situation. Kelly thought as much, at least, as she looked at the chip in her hand. The crystalline item reflected light, though weirdly, thanks to the multitude of connection ports and micro-circuits that contained her helmet camera's footage.
She sighed, stowed it in a pouch, then said to the group, "We're gonna have one hell of a day ahead of us if it's Flood again, because I doubt Cinder had any idea about it..." before pausing as a six-note tune played in her ears. She furrowed her brows and stood up as she saw them approaching the Ark, then turned toward the Marines as the men reloaded their weapons.
Johnson and the others joined her at the front, Bisenti leaning his MA5 on his shoulder, while Mendoza and Jenkins stared. As they saw themselves cresting over a bump in the road, they could see the destroyed skyscrapers poking out. A massive hole through which sunlight poured in was, in truth, what they saw first. Then, it was the destroyed skyscrapers. Finally, however, black battleplate greeted them.
Kelly gasped, taking her helmet off and leaning against the tram's console, mouth agape and eyes wide. Johnson's cigar fell from between his lips as he saw her, sat in the burning sunshine, her Titanium Alloy marked by plasma strikes, meteorite hits and even slight damage from other forms of combat. The Mayday Signal suddenly became all the more clear now.
"This is UNSC AI ISA Thirteen Oh-Seven Dash Two, aboard the UNSC Spirit of Fire. We have engaged unknown hostiles over Earth and are currently planetside, requesting EVAC. Coordinates attached. This message will now repeat... Mayday, mayday, this is UNSC AI ISA Thirteen Oh-Seven Dash Two, aboard the UNSC..." Spirit of Fire. They almost couldn't believe their eyes as they stared at the starship.
Her engines bore signs of heavy damage, but her weaponry and most of her armor seemed intact, as did the lower decks and the observation deck, which hanged off the side of the platform the Ark had been built upon. Automated turrets mounted to the top of the vessel seemed to be tracking any oncoming unknowns that could be considered hostile, weapons systems actively scanning the area.
"Jesus H. Christ," Johnson murmured, "The Old Girl..."
"Holy shit..." Jenkins grinned. Kelly, however, was speechless. The damned Spirit of Fire was their mayday. A Phoenix-class refit support vessel, seemingly almost fully intact, save for its engine bay. The closer they got to the place, the more they saw that it'd been damaged beyond any possible repair. She wouldn't be flying again without orbital tugs and a shipyard to repair her.
In the meanwhile, though, Kelly thought they needed to get there. No, no, first things first, she began transmitting and spoke with urgency, "ISA Thirteen Oh-Seven Dash Two, this is BLUE Team, Petty Officer Kelly-087 answering mayday with Charlie Platoon, UNSC Marine Corps. Do you copy, over?" waiting to see any sign of activity aside from the turrets firing away.
"We'd have felt her hit the ground from this far," Johnson murmured, "She must've been here a while," before activating frequencies for the Marine Corps that they'd used in the decades when the Spirit would've been operating. He activated the radio and spoke, "Any Marines of the Spirit, this is Sergeant-Major Avery Johnson, transmittin' on all friendly 'Nets. You boys walkin', or do you want us to come wake you up from your naps?"
A momentary silence caused the group to wait with bated breaths for any signs from the ship or its crew. It wasn't a long wait, then, when the ship's systems seemed to immediately power on. The lights of the bridge and observation deck activated in a row just as the transport tram reached the station. The Marines and Kelly scrambled off the deck and onto the road, watching as the vessel powered on. Its main defensive batteries activated as well, though they weren't tracking them.
Tracers filled the sky above, scarlet lights spewing from rotary point defense systems as they washed the massive new skylight of the abandoned Ark in lead. It wasn't long before the Spartan and her escort noticed what the Old Girl was shooting at. A squadron of Raptures must've felt her reactivation and started pouring down on the AO. The AI's voice played over the com, filled with concern, but also audible joy, "Glad to have you, Spartan! Sorry, I can't send out a welcoming party! People are still waking up!"
"It's fine. We're on our way to you to reinforce now!" Kelly called out. She and her squad immediately booked it toward the crashed warship as her coilguns opened up, sending volleys of ferromagnetic slugs into the sky alongside their tracers and other defensive systems. It wasn't long before weapons fire joined them as Marines poured out onto the top deck with their weapons. Jackhammer missile launchers and what looked to be Wolverine Anti-Air Tanks rolled out onto the flat top as well, firing tracking missiles.
"Still waking up, huh...?" Murmured Kelly. She cocked her head as she heard movement, then paused as she saw another platoon of Marines tagging in with her. The IFF tag of the leading man, a light-skinned guy with a clean-shaven head, read 'FORGE'. She blinked and almost snapped a salute, while Johnson grinned brightly at the sight. Sergeant Forge cocked his head toward Kelly.
"Good to see a Spartan! We were starting to wonder where the hell we landed!" Forge grinned, "Your armor looks different!"
"We got some upgrades, Sergeant!" Kelly laughed happily. They needed a victory after the last day's mission, but finding a goddamn UNSC Support ship in the middle of it all? Heh, she couldn't have dreamt of a better reinforcement. Forge started leading beside her as she spoke, "It's been a long while since you all went missing! We have a lot to talk about out here!"
"Yeah, agreed!" Forge replied, "Especially why there's suddenly underground cities! How bad did the war get?!"
"Not bad enough, sir! Not in our own world! This isn't it, though!" She told him, then paused as she saw the doors to the main hangars opening. The massive holds of the ship revealed crew, barely out of cryosleep and back at their stations with cryo-sickness, waving the group back inside. The continuous roar of gunfire outside filled their ears as the group finally made it aboard and into one of the holds.
One of the crew radioed, "Closing the hangar doors! All friendly IFFs outside are aboard!" before she slammed the button that powered the ship's massive doors, letting the groaning hydraulics activate. The thump of gunfire continued to echo above while Marines, both old and new, stepped forward, stopping in front of the two platoons. The leading man saluted Kelly and Forge, though he paused to look at the latter.
He shook off the confusion and said, "Follow me! Elevators to the top deck are this way!" as he started running. Kelly, Forge and Johnson looked to one-another, nodded, then booked it, following the man through areas barely waking from what seemed to be years of slumber. Marines and crew milled about, loading rifles, preparing tanks and the aircraft sat in the bay, which surprisingly included very odd-looking Condors.
Kelly blanked, "Is that a god-damned Onager battery on that Condor!?"
"Aye, ma'am," The Marine leading them forward replied, "We had to get a bit creative while we were fighting on the Ark. Turns out Covvies aren't completely outta the picture, even thirty years later... Well, not Covvies, but we'll let the Captain brief you on that one!" and they stopped as the massive cargo elevator ahead opened its grated and armored doors, revealing a pair of Grizzly MBTs and about sixty Marines clad in pre-Arcadia BDUs.
"Rog," Kelly replied, a bit surprised. As they bunched up aboard, a couple of the Marines looked at Kelly, then at Johnson and the others. Johnson, still stunned, swept the deck with his gaze just as the elevator started lifting them up slowly. The waking vessel stirred and groaned, almost like she had her own voice. She spoke to them, a greeting in welcome to UNSC staff that weren't quite part of her family just yet.
Forge breathed sigh and checked his M90, then turned to Johnson and quirked a brow up. The Sergeant-Major swiveled about and grinned, saluting him. He gave a salute back, then extended his hand and said, "It's good to see your sorry ass, Johnson. Glad to know you finally made it to Sergeant-Major," with a grin. Johnson nodded and firmly grabbed the man by the middle of his forearm.
"Good to see you, too, Sarge. Shit, it's good to see a lot of friendly faces after the shitshow we just endured a train ride away from here," The man replied, checking his own shotgun over. Jenkins and the others greeted some of the old-yet-new faces with nods and smiles, while Kelly simply waited. She recalled that one team of Spartans had been deployed to the Spirit of Fire long before, during Cole's reclamation campaign.
The elevator ground to a halt on a new deck, which was also full of activity. Forge whistled and said, "Things sure changed here..." as he looked to the squad of Marines with him. He paused, however, when he saw three figures clad in MJOLNIR Mark IV armors, more utilitarian-looking variants than Kelly's, march forward. All three, however, stopped dead in front of Kelly.
Kelly put her index and middle fingers up to her face and drew the standard Spartan smile, bouncing from one foot to the other due to the adrenaline. The trio replied in kind as they boarded the elevator, with their leader speaking, "Kelly... You sure look different."
"Good to see you, too, Jerome. Alice, Douglas... We have a lot to talk about."
"About us winning the war?" Jerome asked with a certain level of smug hidden behind his usual stoic voice. Kelly quirked a brow up, to which the man said, "We know. Long story, but we'll let Captain Cutter explain-" and he paused again, noticing Forge again. The Sergeant smiled and gave the Spartan a gentle fist bump on his shoulder plate, to which Jerome added, "... Good to see you again, Sergeant, but, what...?"
"Yeah, I know," Forge nodded, "I don't really understand how I survived a sun blowing up in my face, but... Hey, we won the war?"
"Took a few years," Kelly replied, "But we did."
Forge sighed, relieved, "... Means my baby girl might've gotten a happy life after all," before racking the pump of his shotgun with a newfound will to fight. He turned to Kelly and asked, "So, what the hell is shooting at us if it isn't Covenant, Spartan?" as his Marines also performed press-checks and ammo count checks. The tanks beside them idled their engines as the tankers checked their weapons and systems.
"Raptures," Kelly replied, then saw the confusion in the man's eyes. She clarified, "Yes, biblically named, I know... Trust me, they're worse than they sound," and she slid a few slugs into her shotgun. She handed a couple full mags' worth to Forge and a couple more to Johnson, before telling them, "We'll need the range to hit them. SAPHE Slugs, made by one of our friends here..."
"Give us a target, Kells," Alice was probably grinning behind her helmet as Jerome hefted a Spartan Laser. Douglas hefted an M41 launcher, while Alice simply seemed content to draw on an HMG she'd ripped off some mount, racking its bolt with a menacing glee. She looked to Jerome and said, "Hell of a first day on the new job, eh, Jerome?" with a smirk behind her helmet.
"Keep it steady, Red Two," The man replied, checking his Laser.
The elevator finally reached its destination:The upper landing deck of the UNSC Spirit of Fire. Point-Defense Systems let loose volleys of anti-air rockets and autocannon fire at the encroaching squadrons of Raptures as the task force deployed rolled onto the deck. The Grizzlies behind them lifted their twin cannons first and fired. Four barrels of hell launched High-Ex shells into a crowd of Rapture fliers, the detonations sending ripples throughout the enemy's ranks.
Kelly and the others pushed forward into cover, with the old Spartan-II calling out, "Kelly, attaching temporarily to RED Team! RED Four, reporting for duty! Give me a target, actual!" as she poked out and fired. Her IFF Flared and switched to a scarlet tinge for a moment as the other Spartans followed along. Jerome hefted his Laser and tracked Raptures that were crawling on the walls, then fired.
The scarlet beam lanced forth, cutting the enemy lines in half and killing several of the enemy's mechs. Several more, smaller drones armed with single cannons, swept down toward them. Alice hefted her MG and opened up with fifty-cal rounds. They cut down the swarming drones as they fired on them, causing their MARK IV shields to flare. Douglas beside her launched two tracking missiles on the larger enemy units descending onto them.
Forge and Johnson directed their Marines to cover and provide assistance as the tanks rolled forward. Cyclops mechs, modified with arm-mounted autocannons, stepped onto the decks as well, firing missiles from their shoulder and Proximity HE ammo from their cannons. The Raptures replied with scarlet beams, cutting into the Titanium plating and hitting some of the Marines.
A pair of men collapsed, dead, beside Bisenti, their insides boiled by the neutron beams. He dragged the corpses into cover as Jenkins opened up, raking a pair of low-flyers with his rifle. He hit the antigrav units and both machines barreled core-first into the ground, exploding just as a third platoon of the Spirit's Marines poured onto the deck with Scorpion tanks. Their 90mm cannons roared and the machine guns sprayed lead and tracers into the sky.
Two more Rapture heavy aircraft came down, firing cannons from their bellies as they did so. A coilgun turret tracked and fired all four barrels, shattering both and punching a neat hole through the top of the cave, sending a few debris and more enemy crawlers crashing through the floor. Douglas fired both missiles from his next pod and said, "Remember the Flood!?"
"I do! This is not them!" Jerome shot back as he aimed toward a bigger unit and fired. The beam lanced out with a scream and punched clean through the occulus of the drone. He checked his battery pack and sighed, then requested, "Red Four, cover me! Exchanging battery packs!" before popping the top off the Laser, pulling out the overheated and empty battery pack, disconnecting the wires and pulling out a fresh one from his belt.
"Rog!" Kelly called out, shotgun barking. The SAPHE slug tore through the air, slammed into a Rapture and detonated inside its body after piercing armor. She looked to Douglas as the man went to an ammo resupply point and grabbed the extra ammunition he needed for his launcher, slamming home a new rocket pod before hefting the launcher and firing it.
The Raptures' numbers seemed to be thinning out. Was this Cinder sending a raiding party to make sure it wasn't anything big like the Flood? Was it some other Alien bastard that detected them? Who knew at this point, Kelly thought to herself, all that mattered was engaging them and clearing them off of the Spirit of Fire. The tanks behind them fired again, a volley of cannon fire that halved the number of crawlers on the walls. Flak fire and Wolverine Anti-Air Missiles cut down the oncoming air assets and the autocannons and coilguns also seemed to be doing work.
God bless UNSC Superior Firepower doctrines. They were clearing out the enemy force up ahead with little issue. A much more easy prospect than whatever she'd just gone through with the goddamn Flood. She pushed forward with Johnson as the man and his Marines rallied. Forge was beside them, firing his M90 up with the slugs loaded. Forge actually let out a laugh, saying, "These slugs are fucking awesome!"
"You can thank the girl who made them the moment we're all back home, Sarge!" Johnson replied.
The last of the Raptures poured into the hole, anti-air fire welcoming them. The Marines and Spartans all ceased fire as they watched the swarm retreat through the hole, probably content with having understood just what they were up against. Kelly registered maybe a dozen dead Marines on her HUD, then sighed deeply and shook her head. She said, "At least these things can't infect us..."
"Yeah," Jerome nodded, then paused and blinked, "Wait, you met the Flood?"
"You, too?!" Kelly blanked, then asked fearfully, "Here!?" while her Marines prepped to fight.
"No, no, not here," RED's leader replied, lifting his hands up to show his surprise at Kelly's reaction, "We met them on an alien world... Was one nasty wake-up, though."
"Said world's currently destroyed and spread in a thousand pieces across the known Galaxy, burned out by its own sun," Alice explained as she put down the overheated HMG. Kelly breathed a sigh of relief, then nodded to all of them, while Alice pressed her finger against the right side of her helmet. She looked to Jerome, who nodded, then she turned back to Kelly and said, "Seems captain Cutter wants to talk..."
"Expected," Kelly nodded. The group waited for a moment, however, for everything from their overburdened hearts to the noise of autocannon fire to settle down. Kelly wondered for a moment just how much ammunition they'd expended, both from the ship's storage and from their own weapons, to stave off the swarm of Rapture units that had charged them.
She paused, however, as she saw a silhouette at the edge of the crater. She squinted, her visor polarizing and zooming in. Silver hair, a black visor and a bandage on top of the girl's head. Kelly furrowed her brows. The moment she blinked, however, the figure disappeared. As her visor returned to normal polarization, she turned to Forge and Red Team and showed them to lead the way.
... Kelly had to admit, she felt a little awkward, wading through the walls of the UNSC Spirit of Fire herself. The ship had been renowned for both helping save Arcadia and for her contributions to the early War Effort. For an old Colony Ship brought out of mothball to be refit for combat and orbital support, she had gone through the wringer of the early Human-Covenant War. Five long years.
Still, she looked almost brand new. That was the thought Kelly had as they walked through. Some of the men and women stopped, staring at Forge as he walked with the group. Johnson hummed and asked him, "Everythin' alright? People look mighty surprised to see you."
"You remember Jerome mentioning them destroying a planet just now?" Forge asked, to which Johnson nodded. He spoke, "I was dead in the center of that. Made the planet into a makeshift bomb we used to cause the sun to go Nova. Tore the planet apart with the Flood... Damn thing is the detonator failed, so I had to do it manual. Went out with a bang."
Johnson snorted. Helluva thing to recall, but he gave a nod, "Aye... Damn," almost understanding. The group walked farther down the halls and, finally, onto the bridge. The place was a hive of activity, most of the Navy crewmen already on their jobs, trying to figure out both the extent of the damage and how to best repair any and everything that needed it.
In the center of the room, beside a holotable, sat a man with greying hair and a UNSC Navy black uniform, as well as a cap. Beside him, on the table itself, the holographic avatar of a young, short-haired woman wearing a tank top, slacks and boots, turned around. She glowed a strange red, but smiled. She said, "Captain, sir. New arrivals are here..."
Captain James Cutter turned to face them, speaking, "Welcome aboard."
