The Official 405th RP

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John pried back a twisted metal plate that was all that stood between him and the cowels of the Pride. He slid his body through the small gap, twisting to get his feet through before he hit the floor. He picked up his Shotgun, and re-strapped his Assault rife to his back. He crept slowly through the long corridor, eerily like those of the ruined Banewulf, floating so far above him, and yet so close. His thoughts drifted slowly back towards his men. He hadn't had command of them for long, but it seemed like they were reasonably competent. Aaron was good at what he did, although he seemed somewhat naive about anything outside of computer systems. Stone was a good medic, although cynical and sarcastic. Gunner seemed to fit the classic groundpounder stereotype. Heavily built, with a fasination with weaponry, he seemed to have little going on upstairs. John's experience with such soldiers was that they were good, solid people, reliable in a tight spot. A little slow on the uptake sometimes, but they thought about things, and their advice tended to be good. Sticks. She was quick, both mentally, and physically, quiet, and she had a wicked sense of humour. She certainly is a interesting person. It'd be nice to talk to her again. John realised what he was doing . She's at least a decade younger than you! You should be ashamed. He scolded. Course, that didn't stop Charlie and Helena. He mused, thinking about his brother and his sister-in-law.
He turned a corner and saw a square of light beyond a bulkhead. He hurried towards it, thinking it might be the bridge.

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Sticks reloaded her SSM, and took aim. A blue armoured Brute howled as it fired it's spiker wildly in the direction of the Pride. Howling like that, it was asking to be shot. Dumb brutes. You'd think they'd learn to keep their heads down. She thought, as the round spat from her rifle, pierceing the brute through it's howling mouth. Beside her, Aaron was firing away with his BR-55, trying to take out some of the Choppers. Stone was patching up Gunner's side. Gunner'd been unlucky enough to get in the was of a sniper spike. He wasn't complaining though. Stone finished with the bandage and handed back Gunner's Spartan Lasor.
"Be careful. This's heavy, and we need you. No-one can lift rubble quite like you." Stone said, as they scuttled towards the barricade. Sticks took aim again and again, slowly, one by one, trying to thin the Brutes out. Damn it. We need more men. Where the hell is the Sergeant. she thought. I suppose I shouldn't get angry at him. He really is a nice guy. Hey, wait up, he's at least a decade older than you! She thought, as she found her thoughts drifting towards John. Focus. He's probably got a wife back home or something. Focus. Gotta stay alive. I hope he's ok. Focus. Brute, coming a bit close. She fired, downing the unwitting brute.

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John crept into the bridge. He looked around, and was nearly pinned by a sniper spike. he dodged the next two, noting the angle of the spikes.
"Sticks, I've got a sniper, and need support."
"Read you, Helios. Where is he?"
"I'm gonna chuck out a grenade, that'll be my position. He's North-North-West, elevated about 500m, depending on how far he is."
"Got it. Stay safe." John wasn't sure he'd heard that last part.
"You too. Tossing grenade now." He primed the grenade, and threw it, cursing. Why the heck did I say that? He shielded his eyes from the blast.
He heard a bang, then a growl, and he saw a body fall. He moved out from the cover and looked around.
On the floor was a crumpled body, in an officer's jumpsuit. He rushed over, and turned over the body. It was Dufraine.

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"Sticks, I've got a sniper, and need support."
"Read you, Helios. Where is he?"
"I'm gonna chuck out a grenade, that'll be my position. He's North-North-West, elevated about 500m, depending on how far he is."
"Got it. Stay safe." Damn it, did I say that out loud?
"You too. Tossing grenade now." There was an explosion out the side of the Pride. She zoomed in, to see a sandy coloured brute, holding an elongated spiker. So that's what the spike-snipers look like. I hope He's ok. She fired, and the brute growled, and tumbled down the knoll it had been perched on.
She turned he attention back to the brutes foward assault. She heard Gunner fire, and saw a Sereph fall from the sky, a hole ripped through it's internal structure.
 
The Seraph close air support fighter slammed into the desert floor, 150 meters from the Pride's wreckage, and only 100 meters from Nick. The pressure wave made him feel vaguely like the time he had nearly taken a direct hit from a frag grenade during basic.

Both he and the blue armored brute where thrown bodily through the air and had come to a stop, both un-armed and tangled together. Nick slammed his armor elbow into the Brute's helmet, momentarily dazing it. He reached out for his BR-55, but the Brute recovered to quickly and grabbed his arm, pinning it behind Nick's back. Using his free arm, 024 unsheathed his combat knife that was strapped to his chest and cut the tendons that bulged along the gorilla-like creatures arm. The Brute howled, more out of annoyance then pain, and released him. Nick picked up his BR and slid his finger under the trigger guard for the mounted grenade launcher. The Brute lunged forward, picked him up by the neck and held him before the creature, howling. Nick forced the grenade launcher into the Brute's gaping mouth and pulled the trigger.

He felt the hand around his neck constrict even more, than release him. He dropped into a crouch and watched as the enemy fell to the ground, minus the head. Standing, he thanked whatever was watching over him for the SPARTAN-IV program incorporating hand-to-hand Brute combat training.

He reloaded his weapon and ran off toward the command center. After running for a moment, he came to a particularly large gap between the rocks. To his left, a group of Marines where retreating and firing on a Chopper that was chasing them. Kicking his magnification up to 2X, he saw that the pilot was the same gold armored Brute as before (OOC: As before, do NOT kill him. He's mine, and is necessary to my story). As the Marines made it parallel with him, the Chopper fired it's weapons, cutting the soldiers down.

To his shock, one had survived. He collapsed with a spike through the leg, and lay in the open, screaming. Looking back at the Brute, he saw that it'd slown and had dismounted. Unslinging its hammer, Nick saw that the hammer was different than others he had seen. It was about the same size, but had an amber glow around it, and seemed to have been ceremonialy decorated. Nick realised it was going to toy with the Marine. He wasn't about to let that happen.

Sprinting out from behind cover, he raised his rifle and fired.

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When Dufraine was nicked by the spike and sent flying, Andrews reacted with what he would later refer to as "SPARTAN like reflexes". He was immediatly at the captain's side, checking over him. He almost missed the armored ODST that had come to Dufraine's side as well. Andrew's neural implant immediatly told him that this man was Staff Sergeant John Edwards.

"Sergeant, get the captain to a medical station. I need to stay here and monitor the guns."
 
Rustling and growling could be heard through out the facility as the Covenant troops spread through the facility. Eerie's teams had assembled he was missing two soldiers lost from the destruction of the other wraith. The humans were taking too long, Eerie could only assume that they didn't get the waypoint or ... worse.. He set another way point at the blasted garage door for his team to rally at. They all moved out posting and covering corners and roof tops as they scrambled over rubble and bodies towards the door.

As they stepped inside they barely had time to adjust to the dark when a volley of charged shots blasted towards them. The band of elites jumped and hit the ground as quickly as possible, Eerie was not quite fast enough and a shot splashed his shields, they over heated and busted from around him. His shield alarm blared in his ears he fell down behind a collapsed support and went limp. His vision blurred and he blacked out.

- Eerie was in a feverish charge, his sword was drawn and he was looking face to face with the demon. He was almost in range to lung, he was about to be the hero of the Covenant. He could see his own reflection in the demons gold visor, he lunged at the demon but in mid step a grenade exploded Eerie stumbled to the side missing his swing - the demon was alive and unshaken. The demon reared his rifle butt back and swung it towards Eerie's face -

Eerie woke up to Ugco shaking him, "Sir! Sir wake up!"
Eerie shook his head; He began running system checks... Vital Signs: **Danger** Life Support: OK, Shields: OK (Charged), Active Camo: OK HUD: OK, Electrical Systems: OK, Motion Detector: OK
"You took a hard shot are you ok?" Ugco asked Eerie.
"Yes my systems check out ok." Eerie responded, "Let's get moving, we need more defense than this."

The Elites moved through the corridors of the mining facility it was dark with flickering lights there bombardment must have knocked out the main power systems. Eerie engaged his night vision and continued shuffling down the dark halls. He couldn't tell his orientation in reference to the outside of the building but he could tell he was moving down. He turned the corner into a large open area his team spread out around catwalks above a drop off. Eerie kicked a small piece of rubble off the catwalk, waited for seconds but did not hear any report. The walls were not steel and concrete as the rest had been they were black and luminescent all light seemed to be absorbed by them, Eerie pulled out the piece of metal he had found in the first confrontation with the Covenant. The material looked exactly the same.
"Engage active Camouflage." Eerie said aloud. The Elites continued to walk around the catwalks and found an elevator. They began to scale the shaft opting not to use the elevator in order to maintain silence. They reached the top of the shaft and walked through a back lit door at the top when they passed through the door they were on top of the facility outside. Eerie could see Grunts moving boxes from inside the structure to the gavlift. The Covenant didn't seem worried about the Elite band as much as the boxes they were loading. Eerie zoomed in with his visor and amplified the sound on a sniper tower, there was a brute addressing a grunt and a jackal.
"Why haven't we found them yet?!"
"Sir we had one engagement with the Elites but they escaped and we have lost them ever since."
"Be warned you are pressing my patience weaklings! Put all extra troops on patrol just make sure they don't interfere with our loading. If they don't show up we'll just glass this facility."
"Yes sir"
Eerie was not surprised by the Covenant tactics, though now he was more curious to know what this mineral was. As his team regrouped in the safety of camo he took a minute to wonder what had happened to the humans... Had they been captured? Killed? Did they flee the scene as the reinforcements arrived? Eerie looked across the landscape and around the facility hoping to see some sign of his human companions.
 
'Admiral, a ship from the Loyalist fleet has detached from the main group and is closing in proximity to sector alpha 291,' Kayln reported.

Valstaff looked at the battle map displayed in front of him. He tapped the screen and the view magnified to sector alpha 291. The screen showed multiple UNSC and Elite signatures within a structure of some sort. On the display it showed a covenant cruiser firing down on the troops position, and to make matters worse it looked like a second cruiser was going to send reinforcements.

'Kayln, give me the firing solutions to that second cruiser instead. I don't want to risk the possibility of the first target landing on our troops,' Valstaff replied.

'Sir solutions completed and locked in...awaiting orders,' Kayln stated.

'Fire the MAC Cannons,' He replied.

The two MAC slugs burst forth from the forward mounted cannons streaming through the atmosphere. They began falter a bit within the planets gravity pull, until they hit the outer level of the planets atmosphere and began a new heading through the lower atmospheric levels. Gaining additional pull from the planets gravity added to the MAC Slugs force.

The first round hit the Loyalist Cruisers shields, and for a split second it seemed the slug had slowed down, until the shields flickered and disappeared, which aloud the slug continue into the bow of the ship ripping straight through to the bridge. The second slug flew through and hit the cruisers starboard destroying all the decks as it reached the engines. A magnificent implosion occurred moments later, and the ship began falling slowly on its starboard into a mountain lake.

A bit of clapping ensued, marking a small victory against a foe. But much work had yet to be done.


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The Gondola had reached the end of the dark tunnel and stopped. Blue bright lights emitted from the ceiling, showing us the way off the gondola. I signaled my squads to take formation with two points, and enter the hallway. 562 trailed in the middle of the group as the sentinels moved with us taking to their own formations to create a perimeter around us. We continued to follow 562 until we reached a giant circular room. Soon after we all step into the room the floor began to rise upward, it was an elevator. I signaled to the squads and we made two circles around the middle of the platform. The first circle of ODSTs were crouched and farther out by a few inches while the other squad stood standing behind the first row.

Sounds of sentinels firing their beam weapon could be heard, and we all looked up to see infection forms jumping down as sentinel fire was concentrated on the parasites. Assault rifles and Battle rifles fired on the parasites that were raining down on them. Each one that popped, another two replaced it from the darkness above.

The platform stopped and we looked around for the exit. Signaling for points and rears we exited the forerunner elevator, 562 followed and waited at the exit until the bulkhead closed sealing off the infection forms.
'Quickly we are running out of time,' 562 Repentia floated down the hallway and we began to follow. She stopped and hovered in front of a wall that had a small holographic display panel.
'Please touch that button' she asked.

I leaned forward and extended my hand believing my hand would fly right past it, but to my amazement it touched the panel. The sound of machinery could be heard as the wall began to split up revealing a bright cooling blue through the room. We followed 562 down the suspended walkway of the room. It came to a stop in mid air, i looked around searching for something i was supposed to do. Then another holo display appeared in front of me. I pressed the button and the floor began to move, opening a gateway from whence a spiral appeared caressing a metal alloy type cylinder.

'This is the Ion Core, its sole purpose is to bring life to the environmental laboratory armory facility.' 562 spoke. 'When activated all artificial landmass will be rejuvenated when the biomass has been sub-atomically re-encoded, its also by pure happenstance destroys all life on the facility in the restoration cycle, there by in side effect eliminating the flood.'

Weapons fire could be heard near the hallway, i turned around to see two of my ODSTs flung through the air on to the cat walk i was on. 'We need to get out of here, NOW,' I yelled at 562. She stammered a bit and floated through a ventilation shaft. Moments later the floor of the room began to change again revealing an access tunnel. I yelled at my squads to jump down, i waited till all were down and grabbed the ion core, leaping down I took a few last shots against the flood forms. The tunnel curved downward and ended. I crawled out of the tunnel and into area, with Derek hoisting me up and the tunnel closed. We looked around and the place looked like an underground hangar but no escape ramp.

562 reappeared giving off a gleeful laugh, the ceiling began to split and we could once again see outside.

I accessed my com and radioed for the pelican. Static was all i could hear until a voice came through.

'Roger that Lieutenant, acquiring bio-signature for pick up, Over,' The pilot replied.

We waited in the hangar for our ride. I pulled up the Ion Core and it was small but was nothing fragile, weighed about fifteen pounds. It was highly polished and dynamic in shape, like everything else the forerunners built. We could hear the pelican's engines as they approached the open hangar and landed inside. My teams strapped in and sighed with relief as their first objective was complete. I talked with 562 about the location of the Transfusion Generator and its coordinates, once i got them I gave the information to the pilots, who then steered the Pelican in the correct direction.

'Lieutenant we're getting some com chatter it seems the Pride has touched down right near the coordinates. Not only that theres a large engagement with the brutes.' One of the pilots called out.

I walked into the cockpit and took a seat in one of the three pilot chairs. 'Crap just what we need another obstacle in our way. Alright well lets see what we can do, when we get there land us and might as well dock back with Angel's Delight for a refuel. Unless the Pride is somewhat intact, we might be able to access the resources in the main hangar, but lets wait till we get there before we decided what to do.'

The flight was about forty-five minutes till we reached our destination. The pilots made one pass around the area...more like a battlefield. The pilots decided to drop us on the opposite side of the Pride. My squads and I filled out and began heading up the Pride to an access bulkhead. We pried it open and made our way to a terminal and downloaded the ships layout schematics, I signaled to Squad Omega to find the armory and scavenge whatever was left. While me and Alpha Squad headed to the hangar to unlock the ramp to allow the Pelican to refuel.

We reached the hangar and all but a few turned over warthogs were gone. I ran over to the hangar control console and input the commands. The Hangar began to open opposite the side of where the battle was taking place. The pilots began work on preparing the pelican for an EVAC when the mission was over. I decided it would be best not to take air transport to the coordinates, which happened to be on the opposite side where the enemy was entrenched. My squad and I headed over to the medical bay for some patch up, I was almost through the door when i heard a grunt of another ODST, my HUD displayed the soldiers name and battalion...he wasn't one of mine. But the man he was taking care of was Captain Dufraine.
 
Nick realised his fatal error as soon as he left the safety of the rocks. The gold armored Brute was mearly using the Marine as bate to lure him out into the open. MJOLNIR MK6 was designed to take tremendous amounts of damage, but nothing like the direct attack from a gravity hammer.

The Brute swung with all it's might, colliding with Nick's gut. His shields flared and failed as he was thrown, 15 feet, straight into a boulder. Titanium panels cracked, along with his visor, and hydro-gel seaped out through a gap in his undersuit. The Brute started casually walking towards him. He lifted his Battle Rifle, but found that the attack had destroyed it.

"Hel... hel... help..." He spoke in a weak voice over his COM, hoping that Justin and Ericka would hear.

Slowly, he withdrew his side arm, an M7 Caseless SMG, and hauled himself up the side of the boulder. Pain washed over him, and, as his sheilds recharged, he felt a slight electrical discharge as the fusion generator began to fail. Soon, his armor would become his tomb.

With a casual flick, the Brute sent a pile of head sized rocks flying through the air, crunching into the area over Nick's head. Nick raised the SMG and fired, sending a full clip of 60 rounds flying at the golden warrior. Not a single round penatrated it's shields, and all bounced off. Stepping up in front of him, it grabbed his weapon and wrenched it out of his hand a threw it to the side. Still clinging to the massive rock, Nick knew that there was nothing he could do except stare into the eyes of his destroyer. Nothing would tear his eyes away from the Brutes. The Brute raised it's hammer.

The roar of an engine and the blair of a Warthog's horn startled him.

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On Ericka's HUD, she saw that Nick's bio-signs had suddenly dropped to near flatlined levels. Blood pressure fell dramatically and his core temperature started to rise. He had little time to live. Her fears where only confirmed when his voice sounded in her helmet. A plea for help.

Running, she leapt into an abandoned Warthog and started it's engine. Slamming the gear shift, she accelerated towards her CO's last known position. Navigating through rocks, she called out to Justin and Zach. "

"137 and 102, find Nick and give him assistance!" Both lights flickered.

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"137 and 102, find Nick and give him assistance!" Justin flicked his light and reloaded his M247. The weapon automatically grabbed the end of the magazine's belt and lined it up with the barrel. He charged the weapon and jogged off towards his CO.

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Nick watched in a daze as a SPARTAN drove an M12 Warthog strait at the Brute. The gold armored warrior changed the angle of the hammer and brought it down strait on the LAVs engine compartment. The Warthog's front crumpled like tin foil and the entire vehicle performed a spectacular front flip over the Brute's head. The SPARTAN was thrown free of the driver's seat and Nick saw that it was Ericka.

She landed on her feet and fired her MA5C at the Brute in controlled, short bursts. The creature howled and lost attention in Nick, who collapsed.

More rounds began to pepper the creature's shields as Justin joined the fight. He ignored the discpline of fire control that Ericka was showing and fired fully automatic. The 250 round .50 caliber belt clattered against the side of the weapon as it fired at 200 rounds per minute.

The Brute howled again and took a massive swing at Ericka, but missed. The shockwave it generated, however, was sufficient to throw her into the air as well. She came down on top of a boulder and momentarily blacked out.

Leaping from his rock, Justin hit the sandy ground right next to Nick. Grabbing Nick with one hand and firing with the other, Justin dragged his fallen brother backwards, towards the Pride. "Marines! We need covering fire!" Obligingly, a fireteam of soldiers came to the aid of the SPARTANs, firing their weapons on the Brute, who had lost his sheild. It absorbed the bullets like an angry sponge and continued towards the humans. Swiping violently with the hammer, it decapacitated one soldier and, having unholstered a spiker, fired on another.

Pointing the cruel weapon at the two SPARTANs, it pulled the trigger once. Nick fell from his sitting position back onto the sand. Justin felt a curious loss of pain in his left arm. He continued firing the M247 at the Brute, and it kept coming at him.

Then it just suddenly collapsed, showing him what had killed it. Ericka crouched on it's back and wrentched a combat knife from it's skull. She stood slowly, then approached Justin and Nick. She knelt by Nick's side and withdrew her medkit, giving him an injection of bio-foam in the abdomin where the hammer had hit him.

"Remove his helmet." She spoke in an unsure, waivering voice. Justin obdiantly did as he was told and reached out. But he couldn't reach the helmet. Looking at his left arm, he realised that it was missing. The Brute had shot it with it's spiker, and had been near enough to remove it. He looked behind him and saw it, nailed to a wall. His head began to swim.

"Ericka... my arm..." He spoke out, and she looked up, shocked. She handed him a syringe, and he gave himself the injection.

"You have a couple of minutes, but your going to black out soon." She returned her attention to Nick and removed his blood stained helmet. He blinked rapidly and gasped.

"Ericka, Justin... Zach..." He coughed.

"Zach is still in the mountains, providing cover for the rest of the soldiers." Ericka spoke with the most reassuring voice that Justin had ever heard.

Nick nodded, then continued. "I don't have long..." He looked into Ericka's visor, "Your in charge now..." he coughed, and the bio-signs in Justin's helmet flatlined.

Nick was dead.
 
"Sergeant, get the captain to a medical station. I need to stay here and monitor the guns." John nodded, and hefted Dufraine over his shoulder, and started walking heavily towards the door. As he walked out, he heard a Howl, and the distinctive high-pitched, spring-like shockwave of a gravity hammer. It was followed with the sound of gunfire, and the pelt of a spiker. His thoughts went immediatly towards his men. More specifically, towards Sticks. He opened a com.
"Sticks? Sticks? Are you okay? What the heck was that?"
THe com cracked back, with Sticks voice, sounding tired, but very much alive.
"There's been some trouble. A brute Chieftan took down one of the Spartans. And Stone took a spike to the throat. He's still standing, but he signalled that it won't be long." John swore.
"Damnit. Be careful, we need you." he replied back. The com clicked affirmative. He started walking again, relief flooding his heart. She's still alive. But Stone. Damn he was a good medic. Damn. Well, best get Dufraine outa here.
He entered the Medical station, little more than a oversized shack. With a grunt, he placed Dufraine down, and made sure that someone knew what to do with Dufraine. He turned around to see an ODST. Noticing the Lieutenant stripes on the ODST's arm, he whipped a quick salute. He turned and left, trying to find his Men.
"Sticks, where are you?"
"We're *chhhk* at 1244N, 1608E.*chhhk*-urry, we need *chhhk*-lp!"
He checked his mobile GP-device, and sprinted towards the grid reference.
He leaped over a pile of rubble, only to recive a blast of plasma splash over his leg. Luckly, the plasma didn't burn through the plating. He kept running.
He ducked under a twisted I-beam protruding from the rocks, and heard a spike clang just where he'd been.
"Crap." he swore, realising that a sniper had him in his sights. How am I gonna get out of this? He could use his flare, but he'd planed to distract the people attacking his men with that. Ahh, screw it. he activated the flare, and turned his visor opaque. It was the only way he'd still be able to see. The visor automatically did it, but from experience, John knew it wouldn't work fast enough. He heard the Crish of it activating, and ran, de-opaquing his visor.
Seeing a group of brutes firing determindly into a group of rocks. He primed a grenade, and tossed it into the group.
The blast distracted them enough for him to scramble up the rock face. He fell over the rocks, and looked up to see the helmet of sticks staring down at him. He smiled at her, then realised she couldn't see it, and turned over and stood up.
She was alone.
"Where is everyone?"
"Dead."
"Damn. Lets get out of here." He cocked his Assualt rifle, having lost the Shotgun on the way up.
 
The two SPARTAN-IVs sat over their commander's corpse for the better part of a minute. Finally, Ericka hefted his body over her shoulder, straining under the combined weight of Nick and his armor. She shifted her balance and started walking off towards the Pride. Justin un-holstered his own SMG and followed silently.

"Zach, return to the Pride." Zach's light lit up after a pause. Ericka and Justin walked unopposed all the way back to the first aid station. Only the occasional flurry of spikes told them that there where still a few enemies left.

Upon reaching the aid station, Nick was deposited on a coat, which barely supported his weight, while Justin consulted with a medic. The medic wanted him to stay in the shelter, Justin wanted to return to the fight. They finally settled on the medic attaching a prosthetic mount on his arm, and allow him to return with a lighter weapon. Ericka stood watch outside, taking potshots with her rifle.

Only a handful of Brutes remained alive, and a couple of Jackal squads remained, but the Marines and ODSTs went in as fireteams and flushed them out.

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Zach, return to the Pride." With an uncommon sigh, Zach packed his M99 up. He had expended nearly 150 rounds over the course of the fight, and the fusion generator was at 200% normal temperature. Carrying his equipment to the Mongoose, he paused. Looking around, he could of sworn that he was being watched. He loaded his equipment and took a quick patrol through the rocks surrounding his perch. He scaled the cliff face just above the cave and, to his surprise, found a Brute sniper that had camped out almost right on top of him.

As Zach wracked the slide of his Magnum, the Brute heard and unslung a Mauler handheld shotgun. It rose and began scouting around, similar to how Zach was. It sniffed the air. Taking a breath, Zach hoisted himself the last 4 feet and emptied the entire clip at the Brute. It's sheilds took most of the rounds without damaged, and the others where clean misses. The Brute roared and leveled it's Mauler at Zach.

Zach realised that the force from the weapon would knock him off the edge of the cliff, a 20 drop. But it was too late for him to do anything. The Mauler discharged, and Zach was blown off the edge. He fell the 20 feet and slammed into his Mongoose, completely destroying it. His sheilds where knocked out by the blast, and the fall had damaged his fusion reactor. He felt it building up into what would become a lethal explosion. He would need to shut it off, lest it explode.

"Ericka! I've been attacked! I need to shut my armor down!" It was rare for him to speak, and 11 words where unheard of. But they where necessary.

With one last sigh, he powered the armor down and watched, immobile, as the Brute investigated what it presumed to be a corpse and left.
 
John and Sticks fired furiously at the group of brutes below them, slowly, grimly picking them off one by one. John swore as he took a spike to the left shoulder, making him drop the clip he was about to whack into his rifle. He scrambled around his ammo pouch, his hand rapidly numbing, and finally fumbled a new clip in. He cocked it with difficulty, only to find that Sticks had dispatched the last Brute. They vaulted out of the rock patch, and scrambled across the earthen battlefield.
Sticks veered suddenly away from the Pride, towards a group of rocks. John followed, confused. When they'd stopped, sheltered by a ring of rocks eerily like Stonehenge, he spoke;
"What the heck happened there?"
"Jackels. About twenty of them. I'm running low on ammo, and you can't use your arm." It was true. He'd lost all feeling and movement in it.
A Screech of a Jackel interupted them, a sound that seemed too close for comfort.
"Oh hell." Sticks said.
As she hefted Aaron's old BR-55, the howl of a rocket cut off the Jackel's screech. The shockwave of a second rocket knocked the two of them off their feet.
Somehow, their hands found each other's, and they clasped, ignorant of age, lone human contact, amongst a hail of Rockets.
 
The ODST Sergeant snapped a salute to me and headed down the corridor in a hurry. I looked down at the Captain and called Private Canderson, Alpha teams medic.
'Canderson do what you can for the Captain and I'll radio in,' I asked. The private nodded and began examining Dufraine, turned out he had a few cracked ribs, a concussion to the head, and some force impacts on the skin and muscles. Nothing life threatening but he definitely needs time. I accessed my com.

'This is First Lieutenant Jahrad Akalar...I need contact for EVAC, Over', I spoke through my headset.

'Confirmed Lieutenant Akalar, this is Captain Sequia. We have a code red authority level for emergency EVAC of all UNSC personnel. Except you and your squads Lieutenant, Admiral Valstaff is counting on all of you. But don't need to worry we have inbound Pelicans to the Prides location.' The Captain replied.

'Good to hear Captain. We have numerous UNSC survivors in need of EVAC and they will be waiting. We seemed to have found Captain Dufraine as well, though he is currently incapacitated. We will be sending him up with a few others in our Pelican. Roger That.' I continued.

'Understood Lieutenant, I'll advise one bird to stay top side until your mission is complete. Good Luck.' The com cut off.

I looked around the med lab, a few other marines were unconscious but still alive. 'Alright, lets get these survivors to the hangar,' I ordered.

I pulled the gurney into the hallway as Canderson helped push. I activated my com and switched to the all available channels tab. 'This is First Lieutenant Akalar, I am ordering a full emergency EVAC within the Prides Main Hangar. We have inbound Pelicans for departure, this is a Code Red Authority Alert, and be advised the Parasitic Flood have been sited on this planet so take extreme caution at all times. I have had conformation that EVAC will begin its first run in fifteen minutes. Over and Out.' I cut the comm tab.

We reached the Hangar and the pilots rushed over to help with the survivors. I detached from the gurney and walked up to the main hangar control room. I input the full command for both blast doors to the pride, they began opening slowly sides ways creating a new air path way through the ship. Looking up I could see the first few Pelicans arriving into the hangar, and setting foot at the exit way to allow other room to land. Making my way down the steps back on to the main floor of the hangar 562 approaches me.

'Reclaimer we must hurry, time is of the essence,' She exclaimed/

'I know I know, but we need to get the others off the planet first before we continue, with the Ion Core,' I replied.

She just bobbed in the air and gave a somewhat nod and began floating away humming a tune. I don't know why but she has really been annoying me lately. I unslung malinda from my back, and walked over to the edge of the starboard hanger exit. I pulled the sniper rifle up and peered through the magnification over the battlefield to the marked nav point for the entrance to the Transfusion Generator. Even though I kept saying that word transfusion in my head, i still had no earthly idea as to what it meant or could do.

Peering through the visors magnification that auto links with the snipers scope I could see rustling in the boulders. I wondered what that could be, but it seems i was to hasty in asking as the answer soon appeared....infection forms.
 
"Ericka! I've been attacked! I need to shut my armor down!" Zach's voice crackled over the COM in Ericka's helmet. It was weird hearing his voice. "Roger that, Zach. I'll be at your position momentarily." Ericka motioned to Justin, and with a set of quick hand signals ordered him to move Zach to one of the Pelicans prepping for lift off. He nodded and did as told.

Ericka grabbed a fresh MA5C from the racks that had been set up outside the medical and command bunkers. She grabbed a pair of clips, slid them into their appropriate mounts and sprinted towards a Pelican. Jumping into the passenger cabin, she raised the pilot. "Take off and get me to these coordinates, ASAP." The pilot complied and lifted the massive dropship into the air. Ericka holstered her rifle and took hold of the ceiling mounted changun turret in the passenger hatch.

Sandy dunes and rocky terrain swept past as the Pelican flew with it's after burners ignited towards the last position of Zach. They flew for 6 minutes before they arrived. "Circle twice, then bring us in." The pilot, again, did as told and flew in a fairly wide circle. Ericka did a quick check for enemies and spotted only one. A Brute sniper, prowling the rocks with a Mauler. She loosed a 15 round burst and the Brute fell dead. When the Pelican came around again, she saw Zach. He was lying back down on the wreckage of his mongoose, completely immobile. She hoped he was still alive.

The Pelican landed 10 meters from Zach and Ericka sprinted out to him. She checked his vitals, and after determining he was still quite alive, she hefted him onto her back and walked to the Pelican. She deposited him face down on the floor and motioned for the pilot to take off again. As the aircraft lifted into the air, she took a back up fusion generator from her med-pack. Sliding it's hard-points in the recesses the armor was built with, she interfaced the original reactor and the replacement. Toggling a few switches, the power was returned to Zach's armor.

He pushed himself off the deck, and, with her help, rose to his feet. He made the two fingers over visor gesture that all SPARTANs recognized as the universal smile. She returned the hand movement and walked to the cockpit, leaving him to man the turret.

Looking out the large canopy, she heard the blip of the radar detecting a new contact, then the low siren of the IFF as it determined it wasn't human. "Damn. Seraph." The pilot swore and called to one of the Longswords on station. "Longsword squadrons, this is Delta Kilo One-Oh-Niner, we have a boogie on our tail. Could you please assist?" He broke of the COM and awaited an answer. "Roger that, Delta Kilo. We have the Seraph in our sights.".

Ericka returned to the troop bay and looked out the rear drop hatch. The Seraph was tailing them closely. The fighter began charging it's weapons. Zach opened fire with the chain gun and sent hundreds of rounds screaming toward the Covenant aircraft, only to be deflected by the sheilds.

A single lance of plasma burst forth, cutting just between the starboard engines and the Pelicans fusilage. The wings and engines where wrentched off with a bone jarring crunch and the Pelican destabilized and fell into a downward spiral.

"Mayday, mayday! This is Delta Kilo One-Oh-Niner going down! Repeat this is Del-" The Pelican slammed into the planet's surface at 250 kph. The cockpit, along with it's crew, was completely obliterated. Zach and Ericka where thrown out of the hatch and both hit the ground after the Pelican.

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Ericka re-awoke moments after the crash. She lept up and checked Zach, who was also regainning consciousness. She scanned the skies in search of the Seraph, but saw that the Longsword had destroyed it. She tried to raise it on her radio, but found it had been disabled. She motioned to Zach that it was disabled and he repeated the motion. So was his. She turned back to the Longsword, which was circling the downed transport. She waived her arms at it, hoping it would see.

Zach returned to the Pelican to check for weapons. The only items that had survived the crash where a couple of magnums, and Ericka's MA5C. None of the weapons suited his training. He scouted off in search of others and, to his surprise, found a Brute sniper, dead, on the sand behind some scrub. Next to it lie it's Spike sniper, what appeared to be an elongated version of the Spiker, with a single, rear facing blade, scope and hastily welded stock. He sighted through it and found that it was an old optical type scope, no more than 6X Magnification. But it would have to work.

He climbed on top of the wreckage and panned the weapon around, searching for anything that would give them trouble. At first, he spotted nothing. But on second check, he saw that an area about 600 meters from them seemed to be shimmering, moving. He squinted.

It was field of Flood infection forms.
 
Eerie saw no sign of the humans. It was always disheartening to loose comrades on the battlefield but at this moment Eerie had no time to morn. He watched the Covenant load box after box of minerals. Then there was trouble... His HUD blinked, shields discharged and his active camouflage faded away. His HUD rebooted when it came back online he relized that he was now running on battery reserves.
His HUD displayed a readout for him
....booting..... Life Support: Online, Shields: OK (Charging), Active Camouflage: OFFLINE- Critical Systems Only Running on Reserve Battery.
It only took a few seconds to reboot, it also only took the Covenant a few seconds to spot an uncamoflaged Elite in the open.
Plasma grenades filled the air streaking towards the tower the Elite team was perched on. Eerie knew he could not stay still with no shields - he would die. He jumped off the tower towards the ground, keeping his head ducked low, he could feel and hear the impact of carbine rounds against his bare armor, the solid plates could only deflect a few shots.. if he couldn't find cover he would be a goner. As the rain of plasma grenades came down the other Elites followed Eerie's lead and leapt from the tower, one unlucky trooper was hit by a random grenade. The burning plasma welded to his armor plating, He screamed in dread of his sealed fate, it exploded while he was in mid air sending his corpse flying across the open courtyard of the facility.
When Eerie hit the ground he nearly collapsed from pain, the fall was only about 30 feet but his body ached all over, a hunter had nearly crushed him and his skin was burned and seared from the plasma bolt he'd taken earlier. Eerie posted against a concrete pylon, he tried to hide as much of himself as possible. He had to give his shields time to charge. The other Elites took up positions and started returning fire. Eerie called to one of his squad mates, he did not know his name but his RFID displayed call sign Z04, who was carrying various deployable gear - "Z04, Put a few shield barriers on that corridor" He yelled and pointed. There was a door less opening leading into the facility it was the door that the Covenant had been filling out of with their boxes. He wanted this closed so they wouldn't be fighting a two front battle. Z04 moved to the door and took 3 rectangular boxes pressed a few buttons and threw them on the ground in a straight line. A few seconds passed and the boxes came alive, they bounced a few feet off the ground and plasma energy shields radiated out sealing off the door. A green light blinked in Eerie’s HUD by Z04 acknowledging task complete.
Eerie stepped out from behind cover and fired at the jackals on the walls around the facility, he eliminated his targets and returned to cover. He had noticed two things. First there was no way out. Only the door behind them and the Covenant gravity lift in the center of the courtyard. Eerie was worried for the first time that he might not complete his mission. The other was that the commanding brute had left his post, the sniper tower had come to rest and the brute was out somewhere. It was dangerous to not know where a brute was.
The Elites kept firing and ducking, but they were fighting a loosing battle, more and more troops came down the grav lift the situation was looking very grim. It was then that things got much worse, the brute he had lost track of suddenly appeared by his squad mates, they hadn't paid attention and the brute was right in their faces he swung his hammer and made contact with H78's chest sending his lifeless body into a wall. "Fall back!" Eerie yelled - he sat a rally point behind him and fired his Carbine at the brute all his shots bouncing wildly off his shields. The Elites scrambled running to cover at the point Eerie sat, Eerie stood still and provided cover for them. The brute began to charge, enraged at Eerie’s pestering shots. Eerie pulled the trigger faster until he heard clicking his carbine was empty and the brute was only a few steps away it drew back its hammer and was ready to swing, Eerie ducked and threw down a portable air lift, the brute stepped into it as he lunged to swing and went sailing through the air. Eerie dumped his empty rifle and joined the remains of his squad. Eerie was down to a four Elite team, he had to think of something fast. The Brute would soon regain his composure and the mass of Covenant would be too much for the Elites to handle...
Eerie scanned the courtyard and saw the gravity lift leading to the cruiser and had an idea.
 
The Warthog circled to the back of the mining facility as a spike grenade lodged itself in the right rear fender.

"Grenade! It's live!" Without hesitation, Boomer grabbed the long shaft of the grenade and started counting down. He yanked as hard as he could, but it was too late. He could hear it get ready to set off. "Bail out!" Anderson had already done so. Li clumsily fumbled with his seatbelt as Boomer lept out of the back and rolled as soon as he hit the sand below. He watched as the vehicle went flipping in a shower of spikes. He never heard the explosion. Two bodies were flung out of the 'hog and launched through the air. "We've gotta get over there!" Cried Boomer. Andy got up and they both darted across the sand to the crumpled Warthog and two former occupants.

"Vitals show green!" Andy shouted out, surprised. Boomer realised this, but had not said anything, believing his visor was malfunctioning. Andy rushed to check the pulse of a seemingly lifeless armored body. Lightning bolt on the helmet. This is Li. Boomer looked around for another body lying on the sand only to find a crushed Jackal. He looked over at the overturned Warthog which was burning from a fuel leak. "Anderson, get over here!" Andy found the pulse and rushed to the aid of First Sargeant Butkis.

"What's up?" His response seem programmed. 'What's up?' he thought. 'That's what you'd say when greeting a buddy, not rescuing someone from burning wreckage.'

"Razor's in here. I'll grab the extinguisher as you pull him out." He opened the compartment between the driver and passenger seats, finding a first-aid kit and a fire extinguisher. He blasted the flames with the white foam until nothing was left, neither flames nor the fluid inside the canister.

Andy had just cut the seatbelt and realised his body would not budge. "He's stuck! His hand is caught underneath the doorframe or whatever you'd call that."

"We're gonna have to flip it." Boomer knew that Andy already knew this, but he had to be sure he got the point across. Andy went around to the driver's side of the Warthog and noticed that Li had awoken.

"Hey there, princess. Sleep well?"

"Very funny. You realise I could have died, right? That's not something to joke about."

"You probably shouldn't mess with him. He just woke up. Nobody likes being awakened from their beauty sleep. Also, I think it's that time of the month again."

"Shut up,... Butkis! And stop calling me 'Princess,' Andy. Makes it sound like I'm gay."

"Yep, he's pissed. Definately that time of the month." Andy said quietly to Boomer. "Let's flip this thing over. Li, mind giving us a hand?" They pushed with all their combined might barely managing to get the Warthog back on its feet... er... tires that is, to find a helmetless Lieutenant. A few gentle slaps of a gloved hand brought him back to life.

"Hey! There he is. How you doin'?" Boomer had no idea how badly this incident could have been.

Razor shook it off. "I'm good. Just napping."

"How do you get so lucky?" They could all detect the jealousy in Li's voice.

'The Blade' raised his eyebrows, stuck out his bottom lip and shrugged.

"Yeah, I saw two bodies fly out of the Warthog. I guess you had to make sure you hit the Jackal before you jumped."

"What happened to my helmet?" Razor looked around, not making a single movement with his feet only to find the crushed corpse of a Jackal sniper lying next to a Battle Rifle. He walked over to the Battle Rifle and checked it. Still functioning. He looked around some more and found his helmet covered in red sand. He dumped the sand out of his high-tech visored bucket, making sure he got the last of it out, and shoved it on his head hitting it once for reassurance. "If you haven't done so already, turn on your night vision." He did so himself. No movement outside the building. The Elites must have taken care of them. "ODST Bravo Squad to... Elite Squad." Static. "ODST Bravo Squad to Elites, do you read me?" Nothing again. "Whatever the Covenant is mining down there must be interfering with our radios, because the COMs work fine." He looked around for an entrance to the building. Only one. A horribly fashioned metal door the size of a twin-sized mattress. "Eyes on. We're going in." He motioned to the back door of the facility. "Butkis, get a charge on that door."

"What, you're not going to even try the handle to see if it's unlocked?" He tried the handle. Locked. He glanced over at Razor who would have his arms folded if he wasn't holding his rifle. "Okay, fine. You win." He primed a charge and set it on the door. The rest lined up in standard breaching formation: Andy crouched down with his back to the wall, ready to throw the flashbang, Li also with his back to the wall on the other side of the door with a little room for Boomer, and Razor at Andy's side. The charge went off with a loud bang and Andy sent a flashbang hurtling through the room shortly after. One by one, they moved in, Boomer taking point with his Magnum in hand. The team took out a couple of stunned and fleeing grunts as they moved in.

"Guys, look at this." Anderson's voice cracked. He cleared his throat. The team caught his stare directed at a red smear on the floor. "That's human blood."

"They must be taking prisoners from the Pride." Razor assumed. "Looks like we have a new objective. Let's find the cell block or wherever they're keeping our guys."

"Hoo-ah."

"Okay, boys, let's move. Stay focused. We'll evac the prisoners on our way back to the top. Keep your eyes open for an elevator or anything of the like."

The soldiers took a long walk down a short hallway to find what seemed to be a makeshift elevator shaft. It was hardly a couple of ropes attached to a couple of rickety boards which were hoisted down a quickly dug tunnel. Whatever was down there, they wanted it fast and did not expect to be here long.

"You know what we have to do."

"Find the Elites, evac the prisoners." They said in unison, like a rehearsed chant as they rappeled down the shaft.

"Let's do it right, 'Fearless 1st!'"

"Hoo-ah!"
 
Strips of gorey flesh slapped against Ericka's thin visor as Flood infection forms exploded around her. She fired her assault rifle on full automatic at the coming onsluaght, knowing that her ammo would run out before the infection forms would.

The circling Longsword had been joined by two other Longswords and had begun bombing the waves of infection forms 5 miles from where Ericka was with heavy munitions and FAE bombs. Zach sat on the roof of the Pelican with his newly aqcuired Spike Sniper. It had actually been a surprise to him that the weapon was so well suited to disposing of the fleshy balloons.

Zach looked out over the dusty terrain to the mountains. All there was to see was a see of the little infection forms, a giant moving mass. He and Ericka had already calibrated their motion trackers to read within 3 meters, as everything beyond moved.

He fired the weapon, which emmited a satisfying crack and a surprisingly large kick. He pumped off shots as fast as the massive bolts could cycle.

He only had 5, 10 round magazines of spikes. They weren't going to be enough.

A concussive blast rolled through the desert, knocking himself and Ericka off their feet and popping hundreds of the Flood. A fairly large number remained, however. Zach tumbled from his perch to the ground as the heat wave followed the blast.

The C709s where fulfilling their close air support role quite well. With every dropped munition, they wiped out huge swaths of balloons.

When Ericka and Zach recovered, the Flood was closer than ever. Zach ditched his spike sniper in exchange for a pair of magnums, which where better suited for close range combat. They retreated to the troop hold of the Pelican, submerged at a 15 degree angle in the sand. They climbed inside and closed the hatch manually, each straining to move the pneumatically jammed 200 lb door. They managed to seal it just as the Flood arived, and they could hear the pulpy smacks as the creatures hurled themselves against the door. Both SPARTANs switched to shredder rounds which would do more damage and watched the hull breaches.

They waited for a few moments before the Flood found it's way in through the holes. They both opened fire, filling the cabin with a sickly green mist.

Zach moved his two magnums independantly in order to eliminate the largest number of targets. As one magnum ran out of bullets, he would stop to reload both. He couldn't help but think that he was tearing through magazines. They could only kill so many of the forms.

The SPARTANs fired for two more minutes.

Without warning, Zach felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck and he collapsed.
 
'Alpha...Omega, we got company, infection forms on the battlefield horizon. Get your sorry asses back to the hangar ASAP.' I ordered over the com.

I slung my sniper over my shoulder again and directed Alpha squad to follow me to the vehicle depot. We walked down a level to the depot, vehicles scattered everywhere, lucky for us the few Scorpions that were in the depot were bolt-locked. We began testing out the strength of the Forerunner suit and began flipping warthogs back on their wheels. Soon after Omega team showed up with some extra ammo, and new weapons.

Omega teams Sergeant Zarkyin, stepped forward followed by his squad and presented the weapons and ammo. Two rocket launchers, one sniper and extra clips, a few assault rifle and battle rifles, some spare smgs, extra pistol clips for everyone, a spartan laser, and a rare portable gauss cannon. The gauss would come in handy in any situation, so i had them load it in one of the hogs. Omega team started handing out extra clips and ammo. Sgt. Zarkyin passed me clips for my sniper, and i just nodded.

I began walking over to the activation console, and typed in my passcode and just like the hangar the side walls began opening, but ramps were forming down to the planet surface. We all rounded up and got in our vehicles and speed down the ramp. Two Scorpions, followed by four Warthogs and two transport hogs blasted through exit ramp and out into the blistering light of sundown. I was driving one of the transport hogs and it wasnt long, before i could see the wave of flood that just crawled over the planets surface towards us. I inputed a few commands into the dashboard relay, which was connected to the other vehicles. The convoy stopped and the two Scorpions moved parallel to each other facing forward, and two Warthogs flanked both sides while the two transport hogs followed closely behind.

It wasnt long until the first BOOM emerged from the tanks as they began laying waste to the infection forms. If any made it back to the Pride it could mean disaster. As the turrets of the hogs and the tank shells laid waste to the endless sea of infection forms i could still see Pelicans taking off and disappearing into the sky, most likely onto Angel's Delight.

But I had noticed one pelican straying from returning to the sky but instead passed over head and over the desert ridge. Fifteen minutes later i could see smoke and evidence that something had happened, and the Pelican was grounded. I gave call on the coms, but no answer. I began typing on the dashboard relay, and the convoy started pushing forward. We had taken care of the Infections but it wouldnt be long till something worse would come along. We started pushing through the mountains until we came up to a crashed pelican.

Immediately we heard gunfire coming from inside, and infection forms were crawling all around the ridges and rocks. Turret fire as well as an occasional tank burst was heard as we began clearing the area. All that was left after a eight minute battle was the pelican.

I jumped out and sprinted forward with my pistol unholstered, toward the blast doors of the pelican. I knew we didn't have much time if someone was in there. I asked for some satchel charges and I quickly placed them on the blast door of the Pelican and called 'Clear'...the blast door blew inward leaving a giant hole, i peered inside and saw two spartans, one beginning to faint and another, fighting for its life. It took only a few seconds for the HUD to display the names and ranks of the two Spartans...Ericka and Zach. She turned to look at me and I raised my pistol and shot.
 
The ODST aimed the Magnum straight at Ericka's head. She reflexivly ducked, and the supersonic round flashed over her head and ricocheted off Zach's helmet, knocking him off his feet and into the nearby crash restraints. His vitals where erratic.

Ericka moved with the reflexes only a SPARTAN could posses. She was on top of Zach in a split second, flipping him over and checking for the Flood infection form that had got him. She found, to her dismay, that the form had slipped inside of the SPARTAN-IVs armor. She had no way of getting to it without the proper equipment. But there still where things she could do.

She reached down to the power core she had attached to Zach's armor to acompany his own fusion reactor. Removing it, the signal ping emmited from his armor slowly died out. She then reached out to the power cell storage compartment. With an upwards pull of a flush latch, she removed the large, donut like reactor. Zach's armor was now completely inert.

She stood over his body and just remained where she was. She had lost two soldiers in a single battle. Their commanding officer, and their sniper. Justin was still alive, but he required medical attention and a prosthetic to replace his arm that the Brute had removed.

It took the gentle push of the ODST that had disabled Zach to bring her back to the real world.
 
As Bravo Team rappelled down the shaft, echoing booms could be heard from down below. "Gravity hammer," Boomer said, "God help 'em."

The oppening was nothing more than a hole in the wall about eight feet in diameter. One by one, they rushed through it, weapons ready. No movement. Bodies of Grunts and Brutes littered the large room. They twitched and belched from the gasses expanding inside their innards. The Elites had definately been here. Anderson found a live one. A large Brute decked out in golden armor. He lay on his back, wounded from plasma burns and reaching for his hammer. Andy unholstered his Magnum and fired, drilling a 9mm bullet through the strangely fashioned helmet and into his head. The Brute went limp. Above them, two Elite bodies hung from the catwalks; two more on the floor. Even in death these magnificent creatures still looked majestic. To their right, a corridor was blocked by portable energy shields, minus one that had shorted out. The survivors of the Elite squad must have gone this way.

"Let's move, Bravos." Razor motioned towards the hallway. They moved into the next room, almost identical to the previous one, only this one had living Elites, some laying against the wall, wounded. Others standing. "Glad to see you've started the party without us."
 
Eerie was counting supplies from Z04 bubble shields, deployable cover, power drains and most interestingly a bomb. Suddenly he caught motion out of the corner of his eye.
He pivoted and leveled his plasma rifle level - ready to fire ... but he didn't.
It was the humans - Eerie had believed them to be dead - but they had made it. He crouched down with his back against the fallen pylon they were using for cover.
"Glad to see you've started the party without us."
This statement confused Eerie, humans often used misnomers like such but Eerie could not justify this as a party...
The odd language of the humans was still confusing to him at times, especially when his mind was clouded with a fierce battle.
"Humans, I thought you dead - your kind never ceases to surprise me."
"The Covenant ship above us is the only way out of this place - we are trapped and out numbered, we must take the chance of making it on the ship!"
"We have enough deployable cover and gear to get us safely to the grav lift."
Without waiting for a reply from anyone, Eerie handed out the gear among the group. He palmed a power drain and primed it, he stood and threw it into the line of Covenant marching towards their pylon.
While the power drain itself wasn't deadly or dangerous the grunts were caught off guard and startled by the pulsating blue ball flying towards them, they all scattered in fear.
The whole group moved through the whole it created.
The Elites and Humans continued together each team member taking a turn to throw their equipment, running through bubble shields and between deployable cover the group was shielded until they reached the purple flow of the grav lift.
Static popped and crackled off of their armor as the entered the beam. Surprisingly they had made it without losing anyone. They deployed their last bubble shield to keep them safe until they were lifted into the ship.
Eerie summoned Ugco, "You are in charge of the Elite forces now, someone must stay behind and hold them off, once you’re on board disable the lift and commandeer the ship."
He motioned the Human leader and Z04 over. He reached into his pouch and handed Ugco and one of the Humans pieces of metal from the facility.
"Study this, get it to the best scientist - understand why it is so important to the Covenant - it is important to winning this war."
He reached into Z04s pack and drew out the last piece of equipment a bomb about the size of a basketball, Z04 stood to his full height and Eerie slumped over as he bore the weight of it.
He turned and exited the bubble shield, as luck would have it he found a turret that a grunt had set up in front of the grav lift. He dropped the bomb at the base of the tripod, knelt down and began firing the turret into the crowd of Covenant.
Eerie knew he'd never have enough shots to kill them all - there were simply too many. He prioritized by the ones who stepped closest to him, firing away his armor was illuminated by the constant blare of the turret.
His shields glared as pop shots bounced off. A few jackals repositioned there selves on the outer wall and began taking shots with their carbines. The first shot met with shield and bounced off, Eeries alarm blared in his helmet - he turned to correct his shot in the Jackals direction - but they were to far away and it was hard to be accurate with a turret at that distance. Another shot hit and his shields dissipated. Eeries HUD went blank - the battery reserve had died. He was now naked to the attacks of the Covenant. The next Carbine shot tore through his shoulder, he recoiled in pain but held tight to the turret firing away.
Eerie heard the hum of the grav lift as it lifted his comrades off the ground and towards the sky.
They were away but Eerie knew he had to hold until the grav lift was off - he could only hope.
The next shot tore through his other shoulder but lower, then a consecutive shot through his chest he dropped down now on both knees, he stopped firing and used the turret as a crutch to hold himself up rather than as a weapon. He breathed deeply collected himself, pulled the turret up and fired at the jackals, he was dead on this time, he decapitated one with a plasma burst, hit another in the chest and the third fell backwards off the wall in fear. Without celebrating his victory he turned his gun to the crowd and pulled the trigger but nothing happened... He looked at the coil beside him it was humming and pulsating loudly it was overheated from his copious fire. The Covenant crowd began to come closer at their powerless enemy. A brute yell stopped them. He saw the brute walking up from the middle of the crowd... it was the same brute he had fooled with the airlift. As the brute waded the crowd towards Eerie he felt the static of the grav lift die, his team had disabled it, he had been successful in thwarting the Covenant on the ground long enough - these thoughts were interrupted by the howl of the brute in front of him, the brute took his spiker and shoved the blades into Eeries chest and lifted him up off the ground.
Eeries jaws split open and he yelled in pain, the brute joined him howling in victory, the Covenant crowds released a cheer too. The brute fingered the trigger on the spiker releasing a few rounds that penetrated straight through his armor and body. Both of them were soaked with Eeries blood, they were both a brilliant purple. With the last bit of life that was left Eerie looked into the brutes eyes, and with what could only be taken as a smirk through his split jaws, Eerie grabbed and primed a plasma grenade, but he did not get to throw it - to stick it to the brutes ugly face, Eerie died as he held the grenade, his body limp grenade falling to the ground, on the ground next to the over heated reactor coil, on the ground next to the bomb, on the ground but not harmlessly so. By the time the brute made the connections it was too late.
 
I...I missed. I was to slow, the flood parasite dug into the armor. The female Spartan was on top of him, pulling off power pack and reactor. With out them the armor would most likely be too heavy for the flood parasite to move. She stood over him not moving. I turned and gave a signaled order for a clear warthog. I turned to walk toward Ericka, as my HUD displayed her name. I knew she lost a bit of herself. I placed my hand on her shoulder and she turned to look at me.

I didn't smile, I knew what it was like to lose you brother, or anyone that you were close to. This war had its toll, and sometimes I believe it was just too much for all of us to handle.

'We don't have much time, but you can take a Warthog back to the pride. There are survivors still being lifted to Angel's Delight, and I have no doubts in my mind the flood will try something. So please head back and protect them till everyone is safe.' I said.

She nodded and I walked back out with her following me. I searched the back of my hog and found an extra battle rifle and ammo, and threw that into her new empty hog.
'Just a little something to remember me', I said.

I hopped in my hog, and turned back to look at her, she was gonna need someone to lift her spirit up.
I typed in formation orders on the dash board of the hog and the convoy started moving again.

Last image i saw of her was, her sitting in the drivers seat and veering off in the other direction.

We made our way to the entrance and saw 562 floating firing her defense laser at some scattered flood infection forms.
I jumped out and my squads followed. I pulled my pistol and pulled off three shots eliminating the infection form problem.

'It wonderful to see your all still alive. Please this way.' She said.
I watched as she unlocked the entrance gate just as she did with the first gate we encountered.

We began walking through entrance...pitch black i thought. How did i not see that coming. As we continued walking forward, lights quickly kicked in. I gave a forward signal and we began jogging while trying to keep up with 562. We came to an elevator. We were all uncomfortable with the last encounter of riding on an forerunner elevator. I completed its stop as we descended. We walked through open doorway.

All I heard was screams as I turned to see two hulking flood forms tower over my squads and bash its appendages into two of my men. I quickly pulled an incendiary grenade and activated it, giving it a second to heat up I finally threw it into the open bowels of one flood monster. I noticed quickly that it began shriveling, I turned to see Omega and Alpha squads in complete harmony firing on the remaining abomination.

I looked over at the two men were hit, necks were sliced open right above the forerunner suit that was under our armor. I took their name tages and stored them. And gave a silent prayer to them.

562 continued moving and we followed. We finally approached a massive open room, as I recalled my studying it looked rather like the previous Halo control centers, that the Hero Master Chief had found long before. Since the Battle engagement of Earth and the Ark, Lord Hood gave clearance to teach and reveal information about the Forerunners, the Halos, and the Flood.

We moved across the platform toward the console, and i could see that apparent abyss that laid underneath the floating catwalk. And then we heard a voice, "WE SHALL NOT PERMIT YOU!"
 
"We don't have much time, but you can take a Warthog back to the pride. There are survivors still being lifted to Angel's Delight, and I have no doubts in my mind the flood will try something. So please head back and protect them till everyone is safe."

She nodded, and turned to pick up Zach. She didn't know why she was doing it, she just was. She couldn't leave one of her men behind. Grabbing his body, she pulled him over her back in a fireman's carry and hauled him to the Warthog the soldier had cleared for her. What appeared to be the CO threw a BR55 in the cargo bed.

"Just a little something to remember me."

She smiled to herself, but she still hurt on the inside. She hefted Zach's body into the passenger's seat and climbed into the driver's seat. Igniting the engine, she looked in the rear view to see the soldiers driving off in the opposite direction. She floored the accelerator and began the 30 KM drive to the Pride.

She thought to herself during the drive. Two men dead, one decapicitated, and she was no better off herself. She could feel her body shaking in her MJOLNIR. She hoped she wouldn't become another pysch case.

She felt a slight nudge eminate from her Magnum holster. With reflexes only the SPARTANs possesed, she grabbed the offending appendage and snapped up, shattering it. She looked to where Zach was and saw that it was him. A strange garbled voice filtered through the radio. It sounded like Zach, but then again, it didn't.

"WE SHALL NOT PERMIT YOU!"

Tentacles burst through the hole created by Zach's snapped arm. They wrapped themselves around her sidearm and pulled it from the holster. With his other hand, he smashed the top of her helmet, denting it and sending a spasm of pain through her body. Blood dripped into her right eye, temporarily blinding her.

Her vision cleared just in time to see a large rock, one of the farthest of the rocks thrown by the Pride, loom up. The M12 slammed into the rock and sent the vehicle into a front flip.

Ericka was thrown back and forth in her seat, but remained where she was because of her restraints. But she had not restrained Zach, and he was thrown free. When the Warthog came back to earth, she blacked out.

A jarring shock brought her back. The bright light from the desert temporarily blinded her. When her vision recovered, she saw that Zach had thrown the Warthog. It tumbled onto it's side and came to a skidding halt on it's roof. Her restraints snapped, and she fell to the desert floor. Looking up, she saw Zach sprinting towards her.

Hundreds of rounds of AP and shredder suddenly filled the sky around the floodified SPARTAN. Bullets tore through the MJOLNIR armor like it was made of rice paper. With no sheilds, Zach was essentially defenseless. He roared, a unearthly howl, and sprinted at full gate away from the Pride.

Ericka lost consciousness again.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"All squads located within the Forerunner facilities, an infected SPARTAN has just headed off towards you at full speed! ETA 7 minutes!" Justin clicked the COM off and signaled to the Pelican pilots to land the bird. He leapt from the troop hatch 7 meters from the ground and ran towards Ericka, slinging his M247. With his only arm, he grabbed the back of her neckseal and hauled her body out from underneath the damaged Warthog.

"Ericka! Can you hear me?" He tapped her helmet visor. She moved slowly at first, and biosigns on his visor indicated she was in shock. "Ericka!"

She suddenly gripped him in an embrace that would snap human bones, but to a SPARTAN, was closer to a hug. He was shocked. No SPARTAN had ever shown outward emotions like that. He heard faint sobs over the SPARTAN COM.

A pair of Marine medics ran over to him and Ericka with a stretcher. He helped move her on and the two soldiers struggled to carry her back to the Pelican.
 
The four ODSTs went back through the building faster than the first time. There was no contact throught here, it had all been wiped out. The rooms smelled of burnt flesh and smoke and had the coppery taste of blood. The scent of war. The taste of victory. An explosion rattled the structure as they rappeled back up the elevator shaft.

"Boomer, assessment."

"That was outside. Definately a chain reaction. Shouldn't worry too much about it."

They got back to the trail of blood on the floor. It was long, but it was also deep. The iridescent blue from the Grunt bodies was mixing with the deep, dark red. The trail faded and ended when the hallway came to a turn. A left arm was laying on the floor, ripped from it's owner's socket. Flesh dangled from where the bone was protruding. Razor lifted his helmet just in time to vomit.

"Someone's gonna want that back." Anderson said as he picked up the arm and flung it over his shoulder. Anyone could reattach a limb or extremity depending on the time between dismemberment and reattachment. He caught Butkis' stare.

"That guy, maybe?" Boomer was staring into a room, definately used for torture, where a single body lay- missing a left arm. It was staring back with cloudy, lifeless eyes.

Anderson set the arm down next to its rightful owner and threw a sheet over the body. Razor spit and cleared his throat, then pulled his helmet back over his mouth. "You were trained for this," he thought, "Why are you so weak?"

"Did you hear that?" Li started slowly walking towards the source of the sound. "It sounds like tearing."

"Lead the way." What once was a cautious crawl through the labyrinth had now grown to a sprint. It grew louder and louder, when it finally stopped. They turned to see four marines, wide-eyed, sitting in a barren cell. Two men, two women. They were all stripped down to their BDUs which bore a red cross. It made sense that the Brutes kept the medics alive. One of the men, obviously of Hispanic heritage, had just gotten his arm bandaged by the other. The other man was tall, with dark hair. The women were both petrified. One redhead and the other had dark hair, almost black, both had their hair still in a bun. Obviously, they hadn't been here long. They all stood to greet Bravo Team.

"Are there any other hostages here?" Demanded Razor. He spoke quickly. Time was of the essence, but he was out of breath.

The dark-haired woman shook her head despondently.

"What about a way out?"

The tall, dark-haired man spoke up. He had a slight Australian accent. "Only the way we came in. There's a door about twenty meters that way." He pointed opposite of the way their rescuers came.

"Good. Now to get these Devildogs out..."

"Already one step ahead of you, boss." Boomer had unholstered his Magnum and blew off the enormous lock with a single bullet. The gate shrieked as it opened.

"Now I need names. This will get confusing if I continue calling you, 'you'." His tone was not exactly friendly, but it was a welcomed one. "I'm Lietenant Razor from First Division." They started to salute. "Don't salute me. That's an order." Hands went back down.

The Latino voiced for all of them. He had no trace of an accent. "Corporal Perez, A Company. Skully just finished patching me up." He motioned towards the redhead, "That's Nash, and that's Ames. We were called in when we heard about the Pride going down."

They rushed to the door and opened it as the sunlight rushed in and blinded them. It was dawn. They had been here all night, but night only lasted for a short amount of time due to the small size of Makos.

"Sir, I've got a live channel. Apparently, someone's been looking for us," Li got quiet and continued, "I've changed your helmet radio to the channel."

"This is Bravo Leader. Do you read?" He looked around. The medics were sitting in the sand, exhausted.

"Roger that, Bravo Leader. This is Commander Ryker of the UNSC Humble Sovereign. I hear you have something to show me."

"Affirmative. We have acquired a package and have hostages. Requesting evac, over."

"Granted. One Pelican is on its way already. Have a safe and pleasant flight."

"Much appreciated, Commander. Out," He looked over at Li. His bandage was turning red. "You might wanna get that checked out." He pointed.

Li looked down. "Medic!" Ames shot up and sprinted to him.

The radio chirped once again. "Bravo Lead, I'm reading Bravo 614's blood pressure has risen. What's your assessment?" Ames had Li sitting in the sand, helmetless. He gave Razor a thumbs-up.

"He says he's A-Okay." With that, Li passed out. "Tell me what's going on," He directed to Ames.

"He hasn't lost enough blood. Looks like post-traumatic shock along with stress and exhaustion. He'll be good to go as soon as I change his bandage."

"Here comes our ride!" Shouted Skully.

Razor turned. Sure enough, there it was. Their way out of this hell-hole. "Hopefully this one won't be as... turbulent as the last." The Pelican turned around and hovered just above the red sand, sending dust shooting in all directions. The medics shielded their eyes as they ran towards their freedom. The ODSTs stayed behind with their leader. Razor gently pushed Ames aside as he hoisted Li over his shoulder and carried him to the Pelican. It lifted off and moved towards the Pride's crash site.

"I have a few more survivors to pick up, and we're outta here." The pilot called over the COM.

Andy was looking at a picture he pulled out of his pocket.

"Who's that?" Boomer asked.

"My girl back home. Her name's Kelly. She's pretty much into snakes and stuff. I'm going to ask her to marry me."

"I never figured you for a softy, Andy. Wait, didn't you hit on that Pelican pilot a while ago?"

"Just having fun. I didn't mean it."

When they got to the crash site, it looked like there were many survivors, and they had set up a landing zone out of the rubble. Three crewmembers climbed in, stepped over Li's incapacitated body, and seated themselves close to the cockpit. They were clearly astonished by what they saw at the crash site. The pelican lifted off as a humming cloud came closing in. Razor wiped the dust off his visor.

"We've got Drones! Someone get 'em off my tail!" The pilot's voice was loud enough to wake the dead. The call came too late. Everyone had already stowed their weapons and fastened their restraints. One of the bugs wrapped his clutches around Li and took him out the back of the cargo bay. The crewmembers and medics screamed in horror as the Bravos just stared in fear and looked around at each other. Then the Drones were gone.

"We've gotta go back! I'm not leaving him behind!" Cried Razor.

"Already called it in. I'm not going to disobey orders."

"You're talking about my brother! We have to go back!" Boomer also argued his point.

"I don't care if those orders came from Commander Ryker himself! We turn back now!" His radio crackeled and chirped.

"Lieutenant, stand down. If you go back there, you'll be toast too. I can't risk losing the intel from the object you retrieved."

Razor took off his helmet and slammed it on the floor. He ran his hand threw his hair and slumped in his seat, hands covering his face, holding his head up. "This can't be real. This can't be the end."
 
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