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UNSC Warlord Book 1, 2, and 3 are done. Book 4 is going to begin... The story takes place after the ending of Book 3. Where Ash, Sarge, Archangel, Alex, Dexter and Doc begin their first task in an HVT Assassination against a known antagonist. Lan Chorus. However, these aren’t the only one’s who will accompany them on the leading assault. There are more... Much more... Create your character! (Previous characters in previous books can come back, if you choose) Type of Soldier: Marine (More Prone to death, but improved weapon accuracy) ODST, (More likely to be injured or left alone, but higher kill count) Air Assault, (Less kills, but cooler insertions. [Plus jet-packs!]) Engineer (Cool gadgets, less on-the-field operations) Spartan (Only Alex, Ash, and Archangel can choose this class, no one else!) Weapon of Preference: Assault Rifle (Short Range effective) Battle Rifle (Medium Range Effective) Designated Marksman Rifle (Long Range Effective) Magnum (Short-Medium Range effective) Hydra Launcher (Medium Range Effective Only w/Target Lock-On) Sniper Rifle (Long range Effective only) Shotgun (Short Range Effective only) Railgun (Anti-Infantry, Anti-Vehicle w/ longer reload times) Armor Abilities: Drop Shield (Portable shield sustainable for weak oncoming) Thruster Pack (Capable of Ground Pound, Spartan Charge, and evasion) Active Camouflage (Short duration Camo that grants you with less visibility to the enemy) Overshield (Short duration overshield that lets you sustain more damage than normal) Damage Boost (Increases damage by 2.5x, but reduces visibility) Characteristics: Hair Color? Gender? Personality Traits? General Mood? Combat Wounds? Handicaps? Favorite Hobby? Social? Extra Details? Personal Question: Do you think you should kill Lan Chorus or arrest him?

Due to site reasons and to not crash the site, I will instead give out an open link to everyone for viewing purposes of the entire book of UNSC Warlord, 1, 2, and 3. This also helps with loading times as each book is at least 50MB a piece. Anyways, here you all go... Enjoy the hard copies! UNSC Warlord Book 1: Sovereign https://docs.google.com/document/d/11fW80uCdmcy3rmdzQRmhOWb83B0zn_3ddDV5uT_hRVw/edit?usp=sharing UNSC Warlord Book 2: Odds and Ends https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QkuNvg8aq4rcosjWI7Cl6D-IiVAbME0r6FzjcxYLxuo/edit?usp=sharing UNSC Warlord Book 3: Lan Chorus https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yN63XG4QlXk6J2Sm-4PyV9wDBfVKbtob5Ryo917_BQw/edit?usp=sharing and for the credit after scene of Book 3... Here you guy's go:

~Chapter 23: Finish~ Ash watched as Junior and Joseph were eliminated by the Stratego within seconds. Marines and ODSTs ran in to assist, but were killed by the two soldiers that remained. The team had to move quick, they knew if they eliminated those soldiers, the Stratego would just bring in more. If they didn’t, they’d get killed bringing down the Stratego. There was no other options. They were in a tough situation right now, one they wouldn’t win but they wouldn’t lose. Magnus was at the face of the Night right now, his bullets did no harm to it. Only the armor. Ash watched as the knight knocked the weapon out of his hand, then use the incineration cannon to dispose of him and everything he had. Runner ran over to Ash and got behind the cover where she was hiding. Tears streamed down her face, the same thought was in her mind as it was Ash’s. They were going to die. They knew there was no other way. Ash looked Runner in her eyes, “It’s just you and me now. Everyone else is dead. Archangel, Anne, Jackson... They’re dead. I know we both will meet our fate here soon. But let’s not go down without a fight, see if we can save this ship even if we can’t save ourselves.” Ash forced a smile on her face. “A..Alright. I..Guess we can do that.” Runner looked at her with hope, “I wish things went differently. I wish I would’ve got to know you better.” Ash looked at Runner, in attempt to keep tears from rolling down her eyes. “Here, take this. I’ll be right behind you.” Ash handed her a shotgun. “If it doesn’t work, I’ll be behind you to do the rest. I promise.” Ash gave her a pat on the back. As Runner ran towards the Knight, Ash pulled the pin off one of the grenades on Runner’s belt. She stood back, a tear rolled down the cheek of her left eye. “Ash?” Runner called out, terror in her voice. “Ash!?” Runner was face to face with the Knight Stratego. It was too late to go anywhere, the Knight went to swing. The grenade exploded, as well did the others. Blowing the Knight Stratego to bits. Leaving the two Soldiers. Ash wiped the tears from her face and stood up with the pistol Magnus had given her. She made sure it was ready, and that these two Prometheans would be the end. --------------------------------------------- Jackson ran up to Verite. Sword in hand, he swung while Verite blocked. Verite swung while he blocked. This battle would go on for awhile, unless they stepped things up. Either way, the timer on the bomb kept ticking. “Y’know, for an Elite. You’re pretty good. I’ve killed about as many of your kind as much as you use grunt’s for cannon fodder.” Jackson smirked at the Elite. Verite grunted in hatred, “I’ve killed many of your kind as well. With my hand, and in the destruction of your planets.” Jackson didn’t like that response. He unleashed the anger in him with the movement of his swings. Verite hated this demon, his anger was triggered more by the fact that he could have killed him, but decided against it. The damn demon was supposed to just die and rot in the wasteland of the Brute’s. “Not bad yourself, but you still got what’s coming for you.” Jackson taunted the Elite. “You’ll see!” Verite swung his sword as Jackson blocked it, then kicked the demon in the chest, he swung his sword again. Removing Jackson’s arm with a clean swipe. Jackson stared at the Elite, hatred in his eyes. “You cheated. That is not fair.” “I will determine what is fair and what is not fair, demon. Now you will die an undesiring and unrespectful death. You’ll have what’s coming to you.” Verite went to swing, but Jackson jumped out of the way. “Well, all I needed to do was buy myself some time.” Verite seemed confused at what Jackson was saying. “This was supposed to be a round trip, but it seems my time has come to an end.” Verite just stared at him, confused... Wait. The bomb. Verite screamed right before it detonated, which is exactly what the last thing Jackson wanted to hear. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ash walked up towards the Soldier’s. Weapon at the ready, the two Soldiers stared at her with their weapons lowered. “Human!” As Ash went to quickdraw, she was stopped. Penetrated by a hot, warm, sharp object. “Ughnuhuhhuh...” Ash couldn’t move, it didn’t feel right. What happened? “You think you could just run away, come back, blow up one of my ships, and then think you could leave? Well I’ll have you know I do not take this sort of behavior in an acceptable manner. Your death is just a matter of the correlation. Soon will be your ship and the rest of your friends.” Lan Chorus said in a hasty matter, pure hatred rushed through him as he drug the sword out of Ash and through her on the ground. She watched as more Elite’s came in and killed the Soldiers and pushed for the command deck. Ash laid there in a pool of her own blood. Waiting for the last seconds to pass... ------------------ Ash opened her eyes. A bright light was in her field of vision as were three other people standing over her, two of them were in a lab coat one was in an ONI Jacket. “The simulation is incomplete, and she has failed her objective. What makes you think she’s worthy of joining our Spartan team, Doctor Halsey?” Must have been the ONI Jacket guy. “The simulation is meant for them to fail, but she has by far made it even further than most Spartan’s have. For the exception of a few of them, regarding Blue and Red team. I think she’ll fit in nicely.” Halsey responded. “But what if she fails like she did her objective? We’ve had other Spartan’s make it as far as her, such as T-031 Jackson and S-034 Archangel, but they were a loss on the frontlines a couple days after.” The ONI seemed like he wanted to discard of her into the waste can. “It’s alright, Thomas. This one is special. I know she’ll make it far. You just have to trust me. I’ll work with her, and hopefully she can be one of the best soldiers out there you’ll need her to be.” “Very well, do what you must. We believe the Covenant are headed to Reach within the next few days. I hope she’ll be ready by then.” The door slammed shut and everyone left, the lights went out leaving her in the dark. “It... It was all a simulation...” Ash cried. ~End of Chapter 23~ ~Book 3: Complete~

~Chapter 22: Boarded~ UNSC Ambient was under attack, Covenant ships breached from all sides. Hangars, Entryways, Armories, Windows... You name it, they came from there. Team Lord held a defensive position, but in no way would they be able to defend themselves in hopes to survive. Not in this elbow they wouldn’t. They needed to push forward and get to a secure room. If a pod were to breach that window, they’d all be sucked out from the vacuum. Joseph and Junior had arrived from the medical bay about five minutes before the event, to give them news up on Ash. Even if it was poor timing on their part, they would now need to push their way back and make it to her, in hopes of her recovery to continue. “Joseph and Magnus. Push forward on me. I feel like you will be needed in the med bay here soon enough.” Junior pleaded, an insidious tone on his tongue. “Sir, will do.” Joseph and Magnus fired upon the enemies that crawled into the room until there was a brief clear space. Joseph was daring and went first, shooting any of the arrogant Covenant that stood in his way. Let it be an Elite or Jackals. He took them down. Magnus stacked next. He made sure their backs stayed clear as they moved to the next room. Though not much of them followed, only a few minor grunts. “Good thinking Junior.” Runner modulated, “We need to secure an open area, yet enough cover provided for us. If we could just find the place to do so...” Runner’s voice was strangled by Junior’s interruption. “We’re going to the medical bay, despite orders. I’m sure we’ll be needed there soon enough anyways. Plus we can’t let them get to Ash.” Junior was gruff explaining his plan. “If that’s what you really think, Junior. Then we should. However, if you’re wrong in any case... I will hurt you for what you have done.” Runner’s voice sounded of the dead. “If that’s what it takes, then sure.” he replied roughly. They all headed down the next entryway. Archangel and Anne covered the rear as they moved forward. Frank messed around with one of the security doors, and managed to get it closed. Sealing off any Covenant that followed them from behind. “You know, having Jackson here right now would be a lot of help.” Frank whined. “Well he’s not going to, so you’re going to have to suck it up for once and do your job as a soldier. Even if you are a damn pilot. I don’t care, we’re doing what we need to and it’d be nice if you would do the same.” Junior was intense. All Runner could do was glare, as if he knew something came up or was about to happen. All he told them about Ash was that they were almost finished with the procedures and all they would have left to do was just wait until she woke up. The next room seemed safe, however they still had six more to go before they arrived at the medical bay. Who knows what laid between them and there now... “Alright guys, whatever’s in these hallways are what’s there. Let it be Grunts or Jackals. Maybe even Elite’s. We need to eliminate them and proceed to Ash, understood?” Runner worried. They nodded their head in agreement, weapons faced at the door. ----------------------------------------------------- Jackson had finally arrived at Lan Chorus’s capital ship. The hole was still there, enough room for him to land the Broadsword. As he safely ejected himself from the ship, he caught something with his eyes, but he didn’t know what. He continued to the nuke and armed it. The timer was set for five minutes. He needed to get moving. A door was over in the corner, although it was closed he would have to make his way through it and fast. This was a round trip afterall, he needed to make it to his objective in two minutes max, otherwise he would be done for. ----------------------------------------------------- “Watch it Anne! Crawler behind you!” Archangel yelled, he fired his DMR just in time to stop the thing from getting her. “You know Runner, I remember you saying that these were Covenant that would have to be worried about. I see you were wrong.” Junior shot a Knight in the back, then turned around to quickly take out a Watcher from resurrecting it. “Now’s not the best time Junior!” Runner cocked her Carbine and fired it rapidly until she took down the Elite and nearby Jackals. There wasn’t much of them, but they were a resistance that stalled them from reaching their objective for a few minutes. “Come on, next room is the medical bay. Let’s go!” Archangel seemed to be upset in the length of time this mission seemed to take. The walk was literally thirty seconds, the enemies made it ten minutes. As they entered the room, there seemed to be no enemies in sight. They spread out and held a defense as Junior and Runner went for the door. As they got closer, they saw two Knight’s warp into the room, that’s where the lights went dark. “Magnus on me for breach!” Runner yelled. She could hear Ash in the other room. She seemed to be gasping for air and having troubles to breathe. The Knight’s were still visible as they glowed in the dark.Yet, she and the others were forced to activate their flashlights for their safety. The gasping was louder as they opened the door and eliminated the Knight’s. As the lights flicked back on, Ash’s eyes opened. She coughed, but seemed alright. “Ash, are you alright?” Runner ran up and asked. “I’m fine, I feel better now that I’ve been brought here. Thank you guy’s, we’ve made it. I made it. I actually thought that planet was the last for me.” Ash managed to get a smile on her left side. She looked around, they all seemed to be focused on her. “What’s wrong?” Archangel took a stand in front of the others. “You might not believe this if they told you, but UNSC Warlord has been destroyed and Jackson was sent to take out Lan Chorus’s ship with a nuke.” “Wait, they sent Jackson on a suicide mission in intent to kill someone who isn’t even there?” Ash sounded more baffled by that then the fact her ship was destroyed. “Uh... Yes, I guess. What makes you think Lan Chorus isn’t there?” Archangel was confused. “Because Verite is, not Lan Chorus. Verite went to the ship back on the planet after they killed the Brute’s. Lan Chorus stayed to take out any of the remaining survivors if you don’t mind, especially in those one aerial vehicles they had assisting them.” “Should we tell Maria? Get Jackson out of their and back to safety?” Runner was confused on what to do. She didn’t quite understand, all she remembers is that she was almost dead until that happened. That anti-air Wraith had its cannon focused on the pelican like the sitting duck it was. At that very moment Frank teleported in front of them, and he appeared to be in the hands of some type of Knight. All that was heard were loud gasping sounds, which explained their worry earlier when they thought it was Ash, it was Frank. “I knew something was different, I just didn’t say anything or notice what.” Magnus stated. The Knight stared at them, soon Frank’s back was a bright orange. The Knight fired in an incineration cannon into his back and blasted him with it, his body was gone. They all raised their weapons, Magnus threw his pistol to Ash who caught it. The Knight opened its face to scream at them, which called more Promethean’s to help out. All of them a new kind that they didn’t know about. “Fireteam Lord, be cautious. There is a Knight Stratego on the ship. If you spot him, bring him down at all costs. He’s the equivalent as a Covenant Field Marshall. Except worse when it comes to combat. Oh, and be careful of his friends, Soldier’s. Don’t drop your focus off them for more than one second.” Maria said, and that was it of the conversation. The Knight summoned a Watcher, then proceeded to charge his cannon. ~End of Chapter 22~

~Chapter 21: Invasion - Offense~ Runner and the others watched in horror as they witnessed the destruction of their ship. That was their home. Gone. Obliterated to millions of pieces and counting. Their friends and everything were gone. Paladin, Moth, Biggles... Gone. Commander Samantha... Gone. “What will we do without our flagship?” was all Anne could make out. The others looked at her with concern as well, but none with an answer. Just sympathy. “Well, all we can do is hope. Maybe they have a plan, or maybe we will retreat.” Archangel didn’t like this feeling he had... Wait, what did he just say!? “God I hope we don’t retreat! We’re here to kill Lan Chorus. The Elite responsible for everything. The death and slaughter of majority of us, even this team original Commander’s. Sarge and Alex.” He didn’t dare to mention any of the others, such as Dumby, Gregor, Fauz, or... “Hey guys!” He seemed to be cut off from shock. “Archangel... Is that you old friend?” It sounded as if the man was going to cry. Archangel was upset that he was interrupted during mid thought, he turned around to look at the man. “Uh... Uh...” it was the name he was just about to come across in his thoughts, before interruption. “Uh... Phoenix... Is that really you?” Archangel couldn’t have been more happier to himself. “Yes, yes it is.” A smile spread across his face. “Why are you here? I thought you were among the UNSC Warlord and engulfed in the ship's flames as it was destroyed.” Archangel was happy that at least one of his old friends had made it. “Guys, there’s a broadsword leaving the bay right now. I think it might be Jackson leaving us.” Runner called out to get everyone’s attention. Which it did, resulting in everyone to approach the window and watch it as it flew away in the distance. “You know Runner, you may just be right. I wonder what might just have made him leave. I’m sure we’ll get results sooner or later.” Frank commented on her, unlike everyone else. Who watched without much care. “Anyways, as I was going to say before interruption from your girl over there... You guys might want to saddle up and prepare for Covenant ships. Turns out they brought a bomb to Warlord, and we’re pretty sure they’re going to try bringing one here and possibly the other ships. Covenant will arrive soon.” Phoenix powered up his assault rifle, as if to trigger them to do the same. “Archangel, it was nice to see you but I’m headed to the medical bay. I heard there was a Spartan in there going through some recovery. Managed to get her awake right now, but she’s still injured... If we’re still alive and this is over with. I’ll be back to see you, but I gotta... Bye.” Phoenixed rushed down the hallway towards the direction of the medical bay. Hopefully the spartan he hinted at was Ash. She definitely needed recovery, and an entire medical team operating on her definitely meant that there should be by all means a bad recovery. Even if Covenant are on board; Joseph, Junior, and Phoenix would be there to put the Medical bay entrances on lockdown. Unless the doctors or surgeons ran away from panic. “Jackson... Jackson, are you there?” It was Maria trying to contact him. He had no other choice but to answer the video feed she was trying to establish with him, or risk the possibility of her removing any aid to Ash and letting the others die. “I’m here, go ahead.” Jackson switched on the video feed to his helmet. “Ah, I see the helmet we left there for you fits. That is good.” She seemed to not care about anything but wanting to talk about the mission. How he hated her, she needed to realize he had feelings to. Not just her. “It seems that you are right on course, Covenant aren’t here yet and they aren’t to you; but if you don’t mind if I suggest, I insist hiding in the shipyard of the ruins of Warlord and using it for cover. It could help you out to reach the Covenant faster.” “As I had already planned, but thanks for informing you think I should do the same.” Jackson wanted this call to end. Not only was the mission stressful, but he couldn’t stand her face; especially the eyes. “Good, we’ll keep you updated.” Was all she had to say before she ended the video feed transmission. Jackson rolled his eyes, the women literally acted just like a naggy baby sister. “Honestly, if we didn’t need her medical resources, I would tell the woman how much of a ***** I think she really is.” Jackson thought to himself. It sounded mean, but that’s what he thought. “Jackson... Jackson... Are you there...?” This audio feed sounded bad with the static, but it was clear to read. Maybe it was just some sort of interference. He answered the call. “Yes, I’m here.” “Good, I just wanted to update you on the progress with Ash.” the static was gone, and Jackson realized that it was Junior who contacted him. “They’re going to be operating on her for another 2 hours, after that they’re going to let her lay down and recover, they think it should take 14 hours in total before she’s on her feet again.” “That’s great to hear! I can’t wait for her to be back with us, kinda needed her back there on the ground...” Jackson trailed off. “Yeah I know, I know...” Junior kinda sounded a little emotional in that tone. “Anyways, how are things going over there for you guys?” “Ah, nothing yet. Don’t see any Covenant boarding ships.” Jackson didn’t want to inform him that he was on his way to destroy the Covenant flagship and a few other ships, with a Havoc Nuke. “That’s good. I heard Warlord has been destroyed, is that true?” Junior’s voice indicated he didn’t believe it. Jackson took a deep breath, and then released it. “Yes, it’s true.” “No, you’ve gotta be pulling my leg. Don’t do this to me Jackson, I’m concerned.” Junior, feelings? Didn’t sound possible to put those two words together and make them into something physically possible. “No, Junior. I’m not pulling your leg. See for yourself.” Jackson sent a photo from his VISR to Junior’s of Warlord. “...” Junior was speechless. “It’s terrible, I know.” Jackson didn’t want to talk any longer than he had to, he wanted to hurry up and finish his mission and get back. “That’s not just terrible, that’s a nightmare... Dude, what the hell are we going to do now? We don’t have a home anymore... I... I only transferred to that ship because I wanted to replace the model of my father... Make him not look as bad as he did... Now the place to do that, is no longer there. How fantastic!” Junior hid his emotions very well, but this subject was literally the key to Davy Jones chest. The man poured his heart out over something unneeded... Then again, he didn’t know what Jackson was doing at this very moment. So he gave the trooper that. “Um, Junior. Sorry to ruin the fun and stuff, but I really gotta go. Sorry man, bye.” Yep, Jackson was done with the conversation. “Fun? This isn’t. fu...” was the last of the audio feed from Junior before he cut the transmission off. “Alright, now to sit here and focus my approach.” Jackson activated the thrusters to full speed upon exiting the horrifying shipyard of bodies from Warlord. Covenant Phantoms, Lich’s, Spirits, and boarding platforms all headed towards UNSC Ambient and the other ships. None of them stopped nor cared, (or probably didn’t see), to go and deal with Jackson. Afterall, if he did engage them. His chances of making it out alive were less than one percent. There were way too many Covenant ships above him, if he just stayed half of a kilometer below the ships, like he was currently doing, he could make it to his target. ~End of Chapter 21~

~Chapter 20: Preparation~ UNSC Ambient engulfed their vision upon arrival. Few Covenant were in the area, but were eliminated upon range of the vicinity. Longswords and Broadsword’s circled the ship, ready for the fight to come to them. “Alright, Commander. Precautions will be advised. We’re beginning to dock now.” Caelin sounded smart and very authorative with the Ambient’s Captain, and she was very friendly about it too. “Good job Caelin, now to get Ash to the medical bay asap. I would like to see her see another day. As would the others.” Archangel complimented on her skills, but was still worried for Ash. She was his friend, afterall. So were the others. The Longsword approached the dock, Operators were on the ground to ensure they docked safe, and the entry was clear of hostiles. Incase there was any Covenant that tried to sneak by their defenses. As the hatch opened, a medical team ran up the ramp, with a spartan alongside them for support. Another team boarded after Ash was taken off off and rushed to the medical bay, these guy’s were here to do checkup and ensure everyone was alright. Turns out the Marine’s had it worse, all except for Zen, with just a few minor bruises and cuts was all. As everyone exited the ship, they were greeted by the ship’s Commander. Where she stood tall and firm, hands behind her back in a criss cross manner. Her black hair was up in a ponytail, that laid just above her green uniform. Her face, empty as the void of the space abyss, laid in a firm manner, but representable for someone of her stature. “Commander Maria Leouff, sir.” Jackson stood tall, and saluted her; as did the rest of team and the marines. “At ease.” Maria said, only her mouth moved as she spoke. If felt as if her blue eyes pierced right through their skin and could see and predict everything they were thinking. “We are thankful for the medical attention you are providing to our wounded. Can we provide assistance in any way?” Jackson decided to take the role of the group's spokesperson. Even though he was the leader. “No, but I do recommend you returning to your ship. UNSC Warlord? However, that isn’t an option at this current state as she is under heavy attack. On the front lines with UNSC Firestorm and UNSC Valkyrie at this moment. So I suggest you stay here and provide any necessary assistance to UNSC Ambient. That is, unless you want to risk your chances of being killed in a ship.” Maria’s voice was monotone, Jackson had just noticed this now. “Yes, sir. Team Lord will assist you as much as we can. We’re smaller than we started out as, but we can do what it takes to get the job done.” Jackson stared into her eyes as he spoke, although he immediately regretted it. “Good, then in time, you’ll be the one’s ready to carry out the dirty deed to the Covenant. Lan Chorus and his new known Elite Zealot, Verite, will fall.” Maria smiled at this thought, Jackson was pretty sure her smile was extremely rare, from his judgement of the ODST’s faces that showed shock from that facial gesture of hers. As Jackson walked away, the team approached him. None of them spoke, but they all knew they should head up to the overwatch deck and check on what needed done. Junior, however, headed to the medical bay. To keep up tabs on Ash. As they approached the overwatch, Marine’s scattered around along the ODST’s. None of them were equipped with weapons, even if there was to be a Covenant boarding. However, if one were to happen. This ship would fall easily, none of them would be able to matchup against the horde. They’d all be dead. “Archangel, what do you got?” Jackson spoke amongst the crowd. That or it was the channel frequency he was picking up in his helmet. “Uh, we got Covenant ships inbound. Actually, we got a lot of Covenant ships in bound. These one’s look like they’re made for boarding, they’re also being accompanied by Spirits and Phantom’s. However, those are probably just the meatshields of what’s on the spear.” Archangel looked at a hologram mapping of what was all out there. UNSC Warlord seemed to be in terrible condition, whereas Firestorm didn’t have much damage, what was there could be fixed in a couple hours. “That’s not good, we need to prepare for any boarding actions, while this ship and its crew defends itself.” Jackson said. “Oh, and Joseph? Open up a channel with Junior. Let him know to stay on alert, and you’re headed his way.” “Aye aye.” Joseph accepted, he pulled up his wrist gear and did as such, whilst he walked towards the medical bay where Ash and Junior were at. “For the rest of you, follow me. We’re not splitting up into teams this time around, we’re sticking together.” Jackson waved his arm up to ensure there weren’t going to be any loose ends. “Jackson, please come to the Command deck, please” Jackson shook his head in disgust as he put his hand up against his head, “Alright, you guys head down to level two, and hallway three’s elbow. Expect any Covenant, even if they aren’t boarded yet. Play it safe, I’ll catch up to you guys when I see what Command wants.” Jackson headed off to the Command deck as the others did as they were told. Runner took point, as always. Jackson entered the Command deck where Maria stood with her second-in-command and a hologram figure displayed Commander Samantha. “Yes, sir?” Was Jackson’s first impression as he entered the room. “Jackson, we need you to do something to get rid of Verite and his ships. Lan Chorus isn’t in the area, but at this point we’re losing hope. UNSC Warlord is going to fall, but we need your help. Only you.” Samantha said. Jackson noticed all the other ship commanders were portrayed through holograms as well. They were just in the distance standing. “What is it you need done?” Jackson asked, knowing he was in no place to ask questions but to only accept orders. “Glad you have asked, see... We need you to deliver a havoc to their flagship. Take it out, and probably any of their other ships nearby or smaller units... Anyways, we’ve pierced a hole through their ship when we broke their shield, however it’s only in the rear part of the ship. You’re going to have to fly by all the defenses and enter it through the back. Which is good, because the havoc we are deploying with you will take out the engines, completely faulting the ship, and eventually destroying it. Their only escape will be through drop pods, which lead to the Brute’s below.” Samantha seemed to have this all though through, she just needed someone ready to send off and take a score for the team. Even if that meant risking the person’s life. “And it’s just me going?” Jackson was concerned. “Yes, of course. We don’t see any other reason to send more troops. That just raises our... casualties. Since all you’re doing is flying a Broadsword under their flagship, and then inside. Plan sounds simple, and easy. We’ll do our best to eliminate threats headed your way, and you should be able to eliminate any threats as well. The Broadsword is our fastest ship we can send at the moment, since that’s all UNSC Ambient has sitting in their bay, and the payload is already ready for delivery. We just need you to head out now.” Samantha said, she sounded a bit impatient about this. Maria’s eyes just pierced through Jackson’s skin, waiting for him to say okay. “Alright Commander, I’ll do it. For the team and to delay my squad from death for now.” Jackson didn’t want to do this, but he knew if he didn’t Warlord would fall and the fight would definitely come to them. “Just, if I don’t make it...” “Goodluck, Jackson.” As soon as she said that, all the holograms disappeared and he was left alone with Maria and her second-in-command. “You should head down now, Jackson. I have a team of Air Assault troopers waiting for you, everything is ready and prepped to go. Except you.” Maria sounded stern. She left the room through an exit you couldn’t really tell was an exit. It was like just a regular wall, except the doors opened up for her when her second-in-command pushed the security key in. Nevermind that, he had a job to do. Jackson went down to the hangar, he looked outside from the ship. He felt as if it was destined to probably be his last glance. All he saw was an abruption of fire and chaos among the Covenant and their ships, except he noticed something. UNSC Warlord was the cause. The ship was abrupt in flames as it slowly, yet fast, split into a bunch of pieces of which will be later called ‘debris’. This... This area of space above this Brute homeworld, would soon become known as a shipyard... and he was going to become part of it. Jackson sat down in the cockpit as the team of Air Assault cleared for takeoff. It was up to him now. He lost his home. All he had left was his family. Oh how he hoped Ash would eventually recover from her injuries. He didn’t want to lose something else anymore. Which is what he needed to do, destroy Verite and his ships and he could finally takedown Lan Chorus and avenge all of those he had lost. Jackson pushed down on the thrusters and headed straight for the flagship. He had one shot he needed to take. Even if that meant sacrifice. Jackson put on his helmet, he was ready to end this now. ~End of Chapter 20~

~Chapter 19: The End~ Jackson opened the Pelican’s door, Banshees swarmed the sky. Every so often the sunlight was blocked by the aircraft's. His vision turned to the side, there; a Covenant Supercarrier drifted in the distance, plasma cannons fired upon the ground and the sky. “Jackson, close that door. We can’t risk Ash getting hit at all. She’ll die. I’ve managed to get her body into some kind of hibernation, but like I said. She can’t get hit, otherwise she’s done for.” Junior said, he stood up against Jackson. Almost all of their teammates were dead, killed, or injured because of this Spartan. Junior started to think they would’ve been better off without him. “I know.” Jackson said. He pulled down the Machine gun turret. It sort of just hanged there from the roof. He took one last look over at Ash, before he ripped the turret off and shut the Pelican’s doors, as then he proceeded to the top of the Pelican. Where he would meet his fate. The first thing he saw as the hatch opened, were eighteen Banshees. They all zoomed past him, none turned around and none stopped. “Caelin. How long before arrival?” Jackson asked as he stood on the hatch. The sky was full of Covenant, but they were all headed in one direction. “I presume twenty minutes, sir. That’s if no firefight’s are engaged, as well as this Pelican keeps up at this speed. This one wasn’t designed to go this fast, sir.” Caelin replied back. She maneuvered the Pelican underneath two Phantoms headed straight at them. Yet, they didn’t engage. They just continued on their path. Jackson turned around and headed to a seat in the Pelican as the hatch closed. “Archangel, anything new on the battlenet?” Frank asked. Seeing as how he was not capable of receiving anything. “Yes, it seems the fleet has arrived. Warlord is back, but they’re up in the atmosphere. I’ve managed to briefly contact them. We’ll need to use a Longsword back at the camp to get back, if not, we’ll look for the next closest thing.” Archangel said, as he remembered himself try to contact whoever shot the MAC rounds. “That makes more sense...” Junior spoke up. He turned and looked directly at Runner. “So, sweet cheeks. How’s it feel to no longer be the only female ODST, now that Anne has joined the team?” “I really do not care.” Runner replied, disgrace in her eyes. Junior just laughed. “Alright you guys, we are approaching camp. It’s under attack at the moment, so if we want out of here, we’re going to have to push through.” Caelin yelled from the cockpit doorway. Jackson, Archangel, Magnus, Runner, and Joseph stood at the doorway. Weapons ready, pointed out the hatch as it started to open. “Alrighty guys, you’re good to go. Secure us a Longsword.” Caelin and the pilot landed the Pelican, just as the five opened fire when they jumped out. Grunts and Jackals were everywhere. An occasional Elite showed his face for every 50 Grunts. “We stick together, covering fire in all directions. Let that be in front of us, or behind. You will open fire on the target.” Jackson ordered, he held his knife and ran it through an unsuspecting Jackals throat. The Longsword wasn’t very far away from where they landed. It was just swarmed in Covenant, and whatever remained of UNSC troops. Joseph ran up to an Elite, he pulled the trigger on his M60 as fast as he could before he had to swap magazines. The Elite was shieldless, but reached for his energy sword. Joseph noticed instantly. His thruster pack activated, and Joseph slammed right into the Elite. Knocking it on the ground and out cold. “Caelin, we’re at the Longsword. Archangel is inside, setting up the controls. Runner is in there with him, for cover protection against any unseen enemies. Magnus, Joseph, and I are all eliminating what threats are left. I advise you head here now.” Caelin could hear the rapid gunfire in the conversation with Jackson. She turned and looked at the others. “They’re ready.” Junior and Zeff looked at her. “Frank, help cover fire with Junior and lead the way for Zeff and me while we carry Ash. Anne, cover our backs please.” They all looked at her, but none of them argued. They couldn’t lose their leader right now, and this plan seemed pretty solid for a two minute walk. They pushed through the wreckage. Vehicles were on fire, damaged, or unharmed. All in variety, Covenant and UNSC. A ghost laid underneath a hornet, and a Phantom’s ruins were crashed on top of a Scorpion. “What happened here, happened fast.” Junior spoke to the group, he aimed his shotgun at every corner. “Yeah, no kidding. This place is a complete mess compared to what was here yesterday. I never thought something like this could’ve happened the very next morning. It’s unbelievable.” Zeff was saying as he carried Ash over his shoulder. He looked at everything. It was like one of those horror scenes of a wreckage. An ear-piercing scream was heard from their left. Which distracted everyone and made them turn to look. A Marine ran through the wreckage, engulfed in flames, the smell of his burnt flesh immediately filled the air. “You gotta, you guys gotta help me! The... They’re destroying everything, they’re coming for you next! They’re... They’re... They appear out of nowhere! You gotta run while you still can!” Junior shot the Marine. “Good call, corporal. I would’ve done the same if it was you.” Zeff sounded astonished. “There it is, the Longsword awaits us.” Caelin pointed at it. Two Phantoms flew overhead and dispersed troops. Jackals, Grunts, and an Elite. The other one let out two Hunters. “We need to move fast, and now.” Caelin helped Zeff run with Ash, ensuring her safety. Jackson, Magnus, and Joseph ran up and shot the Covenant as they ran to cover Ash. Frank and Anne stopped to help. Jackson deployed a Drop Shield just as the Hunters fired their charged assault beam. Allowing Frank to pull the trigger on the sticky detonator that was attached to one of them. As the shield dropped, he fired another and instantly detonated it upon impact. “All clear!” Frank exclaimed and headed towards the Longsword, just before he noticed a Spirit come in at a ludicrous speed. He looked up in horror. The Brute Chieftain was the only one on deployment. “Everyone, stand clear of the targets drop zone!” Jackson barked the order, then jumped back about ten feet away from the zone. The Chieftain jumped out, and swung his hammer, to see who was close. Which was no one. Everyone opened fire, as it ran. Archangel came out of the Longsword bay on the exit strip. Jackson lowered his Battle Rifle, and looked up in horror. He screamed, but no words came out. He only heard Archangel’s. “Zeff! Look out!” Zeff turned around to look, dropping Ash on Caelin. Which did some damage to both of the two. The Chieftain swung his hammer at the left side, where Ash was, and hit Zeff in the same area Ash was hit. Except a lot worse, since this was the other side of the hammer. Zeff looked up at the Brute. There was nothing he could do at this point. This was his grave. His teammates rounds did nothing. The Brutes shields still flickered. They couldn’t kill him in time to save him. There was only one thing he could do. Finish his mission, which was to protect Ash. His arm fell to his belt, he remembered his one and only spike grenade. This was to be used on Lan Chorus as an alternate plan to kill him, if they were to ever find him. There was no choice now. He wouldn’t be there to see that damn wretched Elite fall. With little will to do so, Zeff grabbed the grenade. His body screamed not to do it, but he must. It was his duty. The Brute held the hammer over his head now, going in for the swing. Zeff looked up at him, and activated the spike grenade and slammed it into the Brute's chest. The Chieftain startled backwards, fear showed on his face. He swung his hammer, but the grenade detonated. Spikes cleared open the Brutes chest and armor, and a few blew into Zeff’s head. It killed both of them. “Zeff!” Jackson yelled as he ran over to him, he saw the slots where the spike went inside his head. It was done, Zeff was gone. So was the Chieftain. Jackson grabbed Zeff’s tags, with sorrow, and slowly stood up. “Jackson, let’s go now! Prometheans are starting to show up!” Archangel ran over to him and yelled at him. Jackson heard the Prometheans, and ran back inside the Longsword where everyone was waiting. Caelin had her right arm broke and the wrist. Ash was buckled up safely, and all who didn’t have a place to sit, stood and held on tight. “Sir, shall we go?” Frank asked. “Yes. Take us to UNSC Ambient. They need the medical attention.” Jackson grumbled, Archangel could tell he was not happy with this recent event of Zeff. He was a good soldier, and died doing his job. He respected that, but there was no way he could ever repay him. Frank pulled them into the atmosphere where all their fleets ships laid out, opening fire on opposed Covenant ships. UNSC Ambient was the furthest away, but out of range of the battle. That was their target, and that’s where they are going to head. They all sat in silence as Frank guided the ship towards their safety, and away from this vicious Brute world. First Dexter, then Michael, now it’s Zeff. Jackson was ready to say his motivational speech when they got back. More than ready. He looked over at Ash, who was still unconscious but miraculously still alive. She was like a sister to him. They were all like brothers and sisters to him. They were his family. From where he comes, his duty is to protect his family. Which is exactly what Zeff had done for them. ~End of Chapter 19~

~Chapter 18: Arrival~ It was early, the sun casted a bright white glow before it revealed itself. A cool breeze picked up, and few clouds were overhead. Morning dew appeared on the grass. Runner had no idea what time it was, but she took a good nap. Zeff said he’d use the rocket turret if it was needed, hopefully by then she would be up. Runner stood up and stretched her arms. “Ooh, that felt good.” Now that she started to regain conscious, she could spectate the world around them. Surprisingly, she just noticed they were no longer in the desert, but in a grassland with something laying over the hill. “Wait a second...” Runner trailed off, before she could think of what it was, it came into view. There it was, the Brute’s Keep. It was smaller than a citadel, but that didn’t mean anything. These were Brutes. With the resources available with such little troops back at the camp, they might have been able to stand a chance and just waited out for the return of Warlord and the others. They couldn’t do that, not with their friends inside. Hell, if any of the other Spartan’s were sent in to do this. This would’ve been a hell of a lot easier. Except a few of those were at the camp to defend the troops. All the others were onboard the Fleet. “Alright you guys, I doubt all their troops are here. Especially if they’re out on the look for more stragglers. This will be their weakest point, and a surprise to them. After a while, reinforcements will start to arrive. We’ll need to get out of here once that happens, and quick. As stated earlier, we will have our retreat covered, thanks to Caelin.” Jackson said, she put her hand up in a ‘Hello’ sort of matter for acknowledgement. Jackson proceeded to turn off the lights on the Mammoth, they didn’t want to get spotted easily now. “Alright now, stick to the shadows and try not to make too much noise.” Jackson grabbed a sniper rifle and placed a silencer on it. “You know what to do when we need it.” He handed the rifle to Ash. “Everyone else, stack up on the vehicles. Except Zeff, you stay up on the overwatch.” Jackson proceeded down to the vehicles. Jackson felt off. Were they missing somebody? “Hey, where are the others?” He asked, unsure of whom they were. “Who? Michael and the Marines? They’re dead. beam rifle got them. The Marines disposed of the bodies off the side of the Mammoth. Last one got shot, and fell off.” Junior answered. He held up the dog tags for proof. “How did you get the last one’s dog tags if he fell off? Also, I don’t remember there being more than one beam rifle shot at the Mammoth.” Jackson asked? He counted the dog tags while they were held. “Mammoth was stopped sir. I climbed down. You were also on the field with the tank. There’s no way you could have heard any of the beam rifle shots, only the roar of the engine.” Junior replied, his voice was stern. “Alright then, that’s a settled recap. Wish you would’ve said something earlier though.” Jackson directed everyone to a vehicle. Magnus hopped on the turret of the Rocket Warthog, Frank took the driver seat, and Runner snatched a rocket launcher before she sat in the passenger seat. Junior hopped in the driver's seat of the Gauss Warthog while Zen loaded himself on the turret. Jackson, again, took the Scorpion. “Rocket ‘hog? Are we good to go?” “Yes, we’re ready.” “Gauss ‘hog? Are you?” “Affirmative.” “Roger that, waiting on Caelin for the go. Front hatch will drop open and we will be dispersed. Remember, lights off and keep quiet. If there are any Brutes on patrol, signal Ash. She’ll take them out if she already hasn’t. There shouldn’t be anything big this early. So we’re in the clear for now. As soon as we can get inside, the faster we can get this done.” Jackson said, his plan sounded pretty solid in his mind. Even though he wasn’t done with the explanation. Frank’s Warthog moved in first, the sound of it was quiet from the distance. A rough noise could be heard every so often from the tires churning up dry grass. Magnus gave his motion to Runner, who instantly gave the motion to Frank to stop the Warthog. Up ahead Magnus detected two Brute signatures on the rocket turrets sensor. He motioned in the distance where they were at, Runner forwarded the message to Frank. Who turned off the Warthog and turned on COMMs. “Ash, do you read me?” Frank said, quietly. His voice wasn’t mute like the other two’s would have been, no thanks to him not equipped with a helmet. A voice came back, softly, after a few seconds, “Yes. What is it you need? I got eyes on your Warthog. You seem to be clear as far as I can see, anything new?” Ash was focused on the Warthog like none other, sniper rifle in hand. Finger on the trigger. “We have two. I repeat, two Brutes ahead of us. Location is unclear, but they’re shown on the turrets sensor. Distance is approximately two hundred yards ahead. Over.” Frank kept his best at being quite, pretty good since the wind started to pick up. Nice breeze every so many seconds. It’s as if nature wanted them to save their friends. A few minutes passed by as they sat in the dark, they saw Junior close to the entrance in the distance. Lucky him, got the easy route it seems. Jackson wasn’t anywhere near in sight yet. Runner looked over at Frank, as soon as she did Ash responded back with the softness in her voice. “Roger that, I got them. There’s three of them.” Frank sat there and waited, as did the other two. A ghost whispered in Frank’s ear, although he couldn’t hear what he said. So he responded quietly, “What?” Runner looked at him, concerned. The whisper came back, still faint and unable to hear. Frank looked at Runner, “Did you hear that?” he kept quiet as he said that and the wind picked up once again. A third whisper was heard. Still undetectable. “Alright, now this is freaking me out.” Frank looked around cautiously. “Alright, targets have been eliminated. You should be able to proceed.” Ash said, her voice kept that soft-tone. Something about it offset Frank. “Those were the sniper rounds, you dolt.” Runner said after Ash got off the COMMs. Frank’s face was covered in embarrassment. He should have known better what that sound was. ‘Of course those were sniper rounds. Not some ghost. What was he thinking?’ he turned on the Warthog and proceeded towards the entrance, at his best to be undetected. Magnus was on the rocket sensor once again. He turned it around ever-so-slowly as to see if they missed anyone or were being ambushed. In front of them was the entrance to the Brute’s Keep, guards stood outside. The door seemed accessible, but they couldn’t see what was inside. “Ash, the entrance to the Keep has about four Brutes guarding it. Could you give us a hand?” Runner asked. “Copy that, waiting for alignment.” Ash bolted off the top of the mammoth, she landed in a crouched position. One hand on the ground, sniper rifle held up in the other. “Ash, we have arrived at the entrance over. We see about four Brutes standing guard. Three of them huddled in a pack, the fourth one in front of the door.” Junior spoke up from. He was at a further angle than the others, they had already departed from their vehicle. “Copy that, already on it. Standby.” Ash managed to sprint across the open field in fifteen seconds. Up ahead she could see the entrance, as well as the Brutes. First up, the Brute on its own. Shot fired. Junior watched and heard as the Brute collapsed to the ground. One of the other Brutes heard it, and decided to go investigate. The other two watched him as he did. Ash fired a round at the left Brute, she watched Magnus stab and takedown the second Brute. Now all that was left was the wandering Brute. Ash reloaded the clip, and fired. The bullet impaled his head, and exited out the other end and hit the door. The door opened briefly, it allowed her to see what was inside before it was closed. “All targets eliminated. Entrance is clear, nobody is inside the first door. Have at it and have fun. We’ll see you when you get out.” Ash returned to the Elephant, but was stopped in her tracks. A Brute Chieftain stood over her, hammer raised. “Wilco. Thanks for the assist Ash. Couldn’t of done it without you.” Runner said, she motioned for the others to form up, while she took lead at the door. As Ash had said, there was no one inside the first door. She proceeded to the second door, the others stacked up ready for what was on the other side. Runner motioned for Magnus and Zen to take point. The door opened. Ash dropped her sniper rifle and jumped away from the Chieftains swing. She grabbed her silenced pistol as fast as she could, then activated her thruster pack. The Chieftain didn’t have time to react. Ash fired the entire clip into the Brute's armor. His shields just flickered, her bullets were consumed. That didn’t stop her, she kept at it. The Brute just laughed. He went for a hammer spin, which forced Ash to activate her thruster pack and jump back. This was no use, she had to find something better. The Chieftain swung his hammer at her in a chop-like maneuver. Ash grabbed her sniper rifle and held it up as a defense. The Chieftain's hammer hit. Ash let go of the Sniper and made a dash for her knife. The Chieftain scraped the sniper rifle off the hammer in disgust. He let out a roar at her to know how angry he was. “You dare defy me, I will have your head and feast upon every last one of you.” The Chieftain raised his hammer again, to be stopped by a loud sound in the distance. Ash was caught off-guard as well by it. A Covenant Cruiser flew in from above, and then two Corvettes came down with it in support. The Chieftain let out a loud roar, then looked back at Ash. Who returned the look to him. “I will kill you.” She said, she went for the neck. The Chieftain slammed the backside of the hammer against her side and launched her across the field. “You are lucky this time. I’ll have you soon again.” The Chieftain said. A Phantom came in at an incredibly fast speed, the Chieftain walked into the lift and then the Phantom was gone as fast as it had came in. Ash just laid there in the open, the Cruiser and Corvettes positioned themselves over the Keep. They didn’t fire, they were just stationary. She thought to herself, What was the Chieftain doing that he had to leave so suddenly? It didn’t make sense. She reached down to where the hammer had hit, it breached her armor. She was bleeding. “No...” Ash now knew what the Chieftain meant when he said “I’ll have you soon again.” He planned this, that damn Brute planned this! She could prevent it, the Mammoth wasn’t far. Only five hundred feet, she could try to walk it. Caelin could help her the best she could. She started to walk, but it didn’t work. So she tried again. There was no way she could make it back, not like this. Tears rolled down her eyes as she laid there. Helpless. A loud noise was heard, all she saw before her eyes closed were bright headlights from above. Next thing she knew, someone carried her. She heard chatter, but couldn’t make it out. Finally, Ash had fainted. Everything went as black as the night sky. The second room was clear. Sort of suspicious, you would think there would be Brutes everywhere. Especially after the many they encountered. Unless that’s where they were at now. “Wow these Brutes aren’t smart are they? They have more on patrol than they do on defense.” Runner said, she laughed at the thought. “Yes, I don’t think the Brutes are smart to begin with. They’re just there for the money and the food, they could care less. However, I believe their leader is the highest priority. Which is the Brute Chieftain. We need to eliminate him, an outrage will breakout. They will feast upon another.” Zen said. “Wow really, that’s all that these guy’s have that are keeping them in line?” Runner asked, curious even more at their stupidity. “Yes, er well I don’t know. It’s just a theory. I would assume so though, you have eliminated their alpha and now all the betas do not know who to follow. Thus encouraging an outrage until someone claims alpha.” Zen said. He peered around the room, and motioned to Magnus to engage the two Brutes. Magnus fired his silenced SMG and Zen fired his silenced Magnum. The two Brutes fell to the floor. They weren’t wearing any armor. It’s as if they didn’t even expect anyone to come, it’s as if this wasn’t a trap at all. They just captured them for food. That was it. “Runner, we’re clear. Although none of these Brutes have armor. Should we split-up, that would make it easier to reach the target. Just a suggestion, sir.” Zen asked. “No. We stick together. Move forward.” Runner said. She took point this time, and the others stacked up on the door. There was seven Brutes without armor, they all fired at the Brutes. “Drop dead.” Junior said. Runner stacked up on the next door with the others, she motioned at Magnus and Junior to take point. Zen and Frank stood at the side, ready. The door opened. A Brute Captain stood in their way, plasma rifle in hand. Everyone opened fire. “Come on you guys.” Runner said, she reloaded her weapon then fired. The Captain didn’t stand a chance. “We’re clear here. Move forward, find out what that Captain was guarding.” Runner ordered. Magnus and Frank volunteered, everyone else stood aside. The door opened. “It’s them.” Magnus said, he lowered his weapon and motioned for Junior to assist. The others followed inside while Magnus and Zen stood guard at the door. “Haha, you guys are alright!” Runner exclaimed. “Marines, you guys hurt? If not, load up. We’re here to save you. We’ll have you three catch a ride on the tank with Jackson outside and... and... and who is she?” Runner trailed off as she noticed the ODST that was next to Joseph and Archangel, she seemed wounded and hurt. “Yeah we are, thanks for coming. We didn’t think you guys were going to shut up. We had a plan to attempt to kill the Captain, but our chances of winning would have been zero.” Archangel said. “Yeah, that fall didn’t help any. Luckily I didn’t break my back. Hehe.” Joseph said, “Speaking of which. Where’s Michael?” He looked around curiously at everyone, “Or Jackson, Ash, Zeff, and Caelin?” “Caelin, Zeff, and Ash are on the Mammoth, they should be waiting for us at the evac zone by now. Jackson is in a Scorpion, he is providing covering fire as we leave. Our Warthogs are outside, one of you can ride with Junior and Zen. The others will have to hitch a ride with Jackson.” Runner said, in her rough command voice. “Sounds fair to me. Archangel and I will ride with Jackson. Anne can take the Warthog, she needs it the most. She’s in a bad condition.” Joseph said, he looked over at Archangel. Whom nodded his head in agreement. “Alrighty then, once Junior is ready. We can do this.” Runner said. She looked at Junior for confirmation. “She’s patched up, but I don’t know how long it will last.” Junior said. Anne stood up, she acted as if she could handle the pain. “Alrighty, Zen. You support Anne while she walking, she’s going to need the assist so we aren’t slowed down. I know you want out of here more than anything and that’s the way it’s going to happen.” Runner said. Her voice still had the command in it. “Alright, let’s go.” Zen said, as He lifted his shoulder from up underneath Anne’s arm. The team exited the structure the same way they entered it. No Brutes were in sight, except the ones they killed. However, the outside was different than when they entered. Way different. First off, the sun was out. Secondly, Banshees flew around everywhere, shooting other Banshees. Assumed to be Brutes vs the Elites, as it would seem. There was a Cruiser this time, with Corvettes. Which is where they got the assumption that Lan Chorus came back. Then there were mysterious aircrafts flying around, they shot, only assuming, at the Brute Banshees. Prometheans were on the ground as they fought in one-on-one combat with Brutes. It was a slaughterhouse right now. “Come on, we need to go.” Runner said, she hopped in the passenger seat. Frank took the driver seat, and Magnus on the rocket turret. Junior took the driver seat of the other warthog, Zen sat Anne in the passenger seat, then hopped on the gauss cannon. Archangel and Joseph ran across the field at full speed, then hopped on Jackson's tank. They then proceeded to the evac zone. “Welcome back you guys, hop on.” Jackson said. Which is what they did, Archangel jumped on the machine gun turret, and Joseph seated himself on the tread covers. Jackson then turned around and headed to the evac zone. He fired rounds at a few of the mysterious aircrafts headed their way as he headed back. “Caelin, this is Jackson. Package has been received. Ready for that evac.” Jackson said, he pushed on the pedals to go as fast as he could. The Warthogs came up fast from behind, and were soon in front of him. Jackson felt a little bit more embarrassed, then remembered he was in a tank. So it didn’t matter right now. Except he could do for a little more speed... “We’re almost there! Five hundred meters out!” Runner yelled. She saw two Pelicans fly in, thrusters at their maximum. Then they made an incredible stop, and landed in a vertical motion. The hatch opened as they did so, and the landing gear pulled out. They arrived at the Pelicans, everyone hurried as fast as they could to board the ships. Jackson pulled up quick afterwards, and they did the same as the rest. They boarded the Pelicans at an incredible speed. “Alright, we’re all here. Let’s go!” Caelin yelled at the pilots. Both of them pulled up and thrusted out of their. They watched as they left, the Cruiser fired its cleansing beam, destroyed the Brute Keep and everything around it. Banshees and the mysterious aircrafts scattered about. Headed in all directions. Afterwards, the air got really hot. That’s when Jackson looked over and noticed Ash, she was out. “Junior, get over here now!” He yelled. His voice was a little saddened and concerned. As if he actually had feelings for Ash. Did he have feelings for Ash? No, no he didn’t He didn’t have feelings those were gone. He lost those back when he decided to join. That was his choice after all, he decided to kill that girl and run away. He decided to get on that Pelican that day... Oh how the memories hurt. Forget the girl, Jackson said. He should keep focused. Junior didn’t see it at first, but then he saw the wound. Blood was still there. So, he did what he could. It was a Spartan after all, he didn’t know much in the medical field about how to care for them. They were just going to have to wait. Junior looked outside of the hatch, which was now closed. The pilots insisted on it being closed for safety procedures and so they wouldn’t get burned from the Cruisers cleansing beams blast. Which he didn’t need to worry about anymore. Six MAC rounds pierced the Cruiser and the Corvettes from above. The Covenant ships fell to the ground, engulfed in flames. The Brutes Keep was gone. All of it was gone. Those mysterious vehicles, the prometheans, the Elites, the Brutes, everything. They were all gone. Burned to death. There was no other way they could have died. Now, they just needed to get back to the camp. See what’s going on and what they could do, and to find out where those MAC Rounds came from. But first, Ash needed to be taken care of. They couldn’t lose her, not now. He managed to stop the bleeding for the time being, but that’s only for about an hour. After that it’ll be back and possibly worse. “Hm.” Was all Junior could say. He didn’t really know what to say. All he knew was that he wanted to be back. Now. ~End of Chapter 18~

~Chapter 17: Railgun~ Ash had the pedal pushed all the way down to the floorboard. The Scarabs engaged her first, the giant greenish blue plasma beams soared her way. Zen ws on the Gauss turret, while Frank sat in the passenger seat with a Spartan Laser. Zen’s orders was to engage the Vampires, and attempt to try to take them down. If they could take down the Vampires, air support would be able to clear their way. That is, if the MAC Gun wasn’t online by then. While Zen did that, Frank would shoot the Scarab’s in their joints. In attempt to slow it down. “Jackson, these Vampires will be an easy fix as long as you can give us some cover support. I assume they’ll have infantry vehicles and light vehicles in route here soon. If these Scarabs get in range of the Mammoth. We lose, you know that right?” Ash took a risky move and pushed the Warthog underneath one of the Scarabs. The legs swung around like crazy, one of them almost pierced through the vehicle. That would not have been good for them. “Yes I can, I’ll be there in a sec.” Jackson was only five hundred feet away right now, going as fast as he could. “You know, I’d take any tank we had back at war with the Covenant we had when we were on Earth, but these new upgrades for more armor and less speed.” Jackson sighed, Ash could hear it in her ear. “I just don’t think it equals out, especially against a Scarab. I’m almost a sitting duck, plus the engine on this thing is loud.” Jackson targeted a Prowler, as soon as he had the measurements setup. He fired, the canister smacked the seat the Brute driver was in, launching the Prowler to oblivion. “Yes I know. Just, deal with it for now. As soon as Warlord and the others get back, you can ditch that thing. It’s all that we have.” Ash said. Jackson noticed the tone in her voice, it’s as if she had given up hope. He couldn’t let her believe that, he needed to prove there still was. They needed to get Archangel and Joseph, not now was the time to give up. Jackson looked up at one of the Vampires, Zen managed to destroy one but the other two stood above them and just sort of hovered there. Small plasma cannons opened fire. Jackson knew this was crazy, and risky at the same time, he needed to try it. The Scorpion rolled up on the side of a sand dune, front of it up in the air. Jackson aimed the cannon at the Vampire closest, Zen was engaged with it. If he could support him and get this done faster, air support could be en route while Zen destroyed the last Vampire. Jackson aimed at the Vampire, and fired. The canister missed the first wing, but hit the bottom of the second. The Vampire spun out of control, it didn’t destroy the Vampire but it did knock out the wing. Which is what it needed to stay up and fly. Zen fired the Gauss cannon a few more times into the the Vampire, this time he hit the pilot canopy. The rounds pierced through it, and soon after that the Vampire caught fire; blue flames emerged from the aircraft. While ever so slowly, the Vampire crashed into the back of one of the Scarabs, the Vampire burst into even more flames. The Scarabs back end fell off, and the Scarab fell forward off its feet. However, it was quick to get back up. The AA turret on the Scarab was disabled, but the other Scarab was still intact so that didn’t make a difference as much. A Brute captain and Brute infantry came up top of the Scarab. The Captain with a fuel rod gun, and the infantry with spikers and plasma rifles. Jackson looked back and noticed Ash and the others were being followed by two Choppers and a Prowler. The Prowler was stacked full of Brutes, two on the sides with spikers. Jackson pushed forward as fast as he could go, and fired canisters. Hoping to get lucky and hit the Brutes. Magnus and Runner sat silently on the rocket turrets. If they got involved now, they would be swarmed with Brutes. Zeff finally got the MAC Gun and target designator online, although using it right now would be dangerous with the Scarabs. “Caelin, get us a carpet bomb. I’ll take out the Vampire.” Zeff said. He pointed the target designator straight at the Vampire. “We already have one on the way, they’re just waiting on a confirm. Are you sure this will work? We need to warn Ash and Jackson. So they’re out of the way.” Caelin looked over at him, grimly. “I’ll let them know, you contact the Shortsword.” Zeff said, he walked up to the top walkway. He then remembered the beam rifle. Over on the side was a jackal, bright purple weapon in his hand and a bright purple glow on his face. He seemed distracted by the fight going on at the Scarabs. Zeff grabbed a sniper rifle in his hand, setup the bipod on the side of the Mammoth. As soon as the jackal was in his sights he fired. The sniper sent off a loud echo. It was now or never. He raised the target designator at the Vampire, and charged the lockon. The enemy Scarab, the fully functional one, saw the Mammoth. It was basically on a full sprint towards the Mammoth. Ash heard a loud roar in the distance, “Jackson, we need to move. Now! There’s a Shortsword in bound and if we’re in it's way when that Vampire shoots it down. We are dead.” Ash tried to punch the gas as far down as she could, to get the hell away from the Scarab. She saw Jackson doing the same, he shot ghosts that were behind him. He was slow, but they slowed him down. A loud ear piercing sound was made. Ash didn’t look, instead she relied on the other two to give her a recap on what happened. “Dear god.” Zen said. “Wow, that was amazing. The MAC Gun destroyed that Vampire as if it was putting paper in a paper shredder.” Frank said. That was good to hear, but now what about those Scarabs? Ash saw the one headed straight towards the Mammoth. She drove that way, but stopped. The Shortsword came in, fast and low. Guns blazed, it fired rounds into the Scarab like none other. It sort of looked like one of those targets that were shot on the target range with all those bullets. The Scarab took a second to realize what had happened, as the Shortsword fled away and headed back to base, the AA turret opened fire on the Shortsword. Soon after, the carpet bomb activated. All those holes in the Scarab, were actually explosive rounds which detonated as soon as the Shortsword was out of range. Brutes tried to flee out of the vehicle, only to have the Scarab self destruct and burn them all to their death. All that remained was the last Scarab. Jackson and the others boarded the Mammoth. Last thing they heard was the sound of the MAC Gun fire, it shook the Mammoth for a couple seconds. Soon after they departed their vehicles to head back up top, a loud explosion was heard, and they were on the move again. They only had seven hours left before they arrived at the said coordinates. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Archangel looked over at Joseph, “Ah. I see they got you here too. Bummer. Oh well, we’ll end up like the rest of them no less.” Archangel joked around. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what you mean.” Well you see, the Chieftain is hungry and these Brutes are in the middle of a famine. Each meal one of us is taken to be ate. He eats twice a day, y’know.” Archangel and Joseph were in a holding cell inside a Covenant Cruiser. It seemed to be owned by the Brutes, and the Brutes only. There were other survivors in here, mostly Marines. All were taken captive just like them and placed in different rooms. They were free to move however they wish inside the room. A Brute stood outside the only door, knowing that he was all that was needed to take them out. Anymore would be unnecessary. These Brutes starved to, they knew they wouldn’t last a chance against him. Especially since this Brute was a Captain. “You know, it’s weird seeing you without any armor. It sorta makes me feel like you’re vulnerable. One of us.” Joseph and Archangel were stripped of their weapons, and the Brutes removed their armor. Joseph lost his ODST gear, which was used to forge the Brutes weapons and ammo, and Archangel’s Mjolnir armor had been torn off him and destroyed. The Brutes didn’t want them to have any chances of hope. They were doomed, but also used as bait for people who thought they could rescue them. “Yeah I know, and without my armor anything the Brutes fire at me will most likely result in death. Even UNSC standard issue weapons will deal damage to me.” Archangel said, grief covered his face. “Yeah I hear ya. Say, I thought Jackson’s dad, Sarge or whatever, was killed by Junior’s dad, Doc? And didn’t he use a pistol?” Joseph looked over at him. Confused about that. “Yes, but Sarge wasn’t a Spartan like his son. He was an ODST.” Joseph suddenly felt embarrassed after that. “And to keep it between you and I. Sarge wasn’t killed by Doc, Architect was. Sarge was killed by one of Lan Chorus’s men. Which I believe I have now came to realize is this Elite who spared me and left me for the Brutes. His name is Verite.” Archangel said, his facial expression didn’t change. He stared deeply into Joseph’s eyes. Joseph looked down at his feet, “Oh. So...” Joseph was cut off by a scream right outside their door. They both looked up, and the door turned from its red glow to a light pinkish purple. The Brute Captain stood there with an ODST in one arm, he ripped the armor off the soldier and through them in with Archangel and Joseph. Two Brutes scavenged the armor, and left the room. The Captain left after they did. He stood at the door, staring them down until the door closed and went back to its red glow. Joseph and Archangel looked over at the ODST, it was a female. Her arms were banded together. Blood came out of scars on the back of her arms and on her legs. She was in pretty bad shape after that dismantle. Tears streamed out of her eyes. Archangel walked over there and took the bands off her arms. She just laid there. After a few seconds, she finally said “Thank you.” “Your welcome, is there anything we can do to help you, um, mam?” Archangel said, he kneeled down in front of her. “My name is Anne Knight. Do you have anything to drink?” Was all she said. Archangel looked over at Joseph, who had a little bit of water left over from what the Brutes gave them. The Chieftain didn’t want his food near-death dead, he wanted a good meal. Joseph walked over to Anne and gave her what was left. He carefully grabbed her head and lifted it up, then poured what was left into her mouth. After she swallowed it, he carefully lowered her head back down on the floor. “Thank you.” Was all she said. They let her rest. Archangel and Joseph needed to work on a plan, the only thing they could think of was to escape through the vents, but there was only one vent in the room. It was their only hope, they just had to be careful of drones. They looked over at Anne, she had a knife tucked inside one of her socks. ~End of Chapter 17~

~Chapter 16: Give me some of it~ Ash was at the controls while Caelin rested with a few of the others. Frank’s Falcon flew close by, although gun chatter was heard every once in awhile. Other than a few Banshees, nothing much was seen at night on their return. It gave off an ominous feeling to it. Which is why they rested in shifts. Junior managed to patch up Jackson, despite critical problems and the loss of his helmet; he was back to normal on his feet. However, at this particular time, he rested. They didn’t know what would come next, but they needed to be ready. Ash called back to those who were awake. Which was Caboose and Zen. The Pelican would arrive to land in about 5 minutes, and they were in charge of waking up the crew by then. Caboose started at his crew, he woke everyone up slowly but woke Jackson and Junior last. Zen had his marines up and ready to go promto. Caboose had troubles waking Junior, it got to the point he had to pick the ODST up and set him on his feet, in order to wake him up. His eyes opened, and his legs kicked in fear of what happened before he realized he was woke up. Caboose left it to Junior to wake up Jackson, then proceeded to let Ash know they were ready. Frank flew his Falcon in first, the Mammoth sat out in the open. It was unbelievable nobody was here already. It was just this giant boulder, and the vast desert. The Mammoth was ten minutes away from the camp. The real question was, how did this get here? The Falcon touched the ground, the two were departed; in charge of securing the Mammoth. Eliminating any Brutes or Covenant that were inside, if any. After the Mammoth was secured, they were to restore power. If there was no power, this was all for nothing. They approached the entrance on the left side of the Mammoth. Runner went first, she kicked the door open. Magnus was right behind her, he shined his flashlight in the room, ready to motion for it to be clear. Runner moved up and scanned the stairs with the light on the nose of her gun. Magnus did the same on the other side. It was clear. They moved up to the second floor, which overlooked the first floor. Nothing seemed to be out of the normal. Magnus motioned for Runner to stack up on the door that led to the top of the Mammoth. He motioned, and she kicked the door open. Magnus was on the spot. Clear on the walkway. They split up. Runner took the right, and Magnus swung around the left side that would take him to the front overlook and to the opposing walkway. It was clear there. He met up with Runner on the top, a dead Brute and a few dead Marines laid on the top. Blood stained on the floor. He motioned to Runner to grab the Marines and throw them over the side, Magnus grabbed the Brute and threw it over the walkway. Where everyone else awaited them, awaiting their signal. Magnus waved to let them know it was clear and motioned to Runner to run down and switch on the power. “Glad we can actually use something with force. Something big and armored, and with firepower.” Frank said as he walked in through the side-door Runner kicked open. “Yeah well, this will do for now. We have aerial support, but I don’t know how long that’s going to last us if we can’t take out any incoming Vampires.” Michael said. He directed Junior and Zeff as they carried in ammunition crates. Stacked up with DMR’s, Battle Rifles, Rocket Launchers, Sniper RIfles, Magnums, Assault Rifles, Sticky Detonators, and anything with power they could get their hands on. Jackson and Ash loaded a Scorpion, Gauss Warthog, and a Rocket Warthog through the back hatch that was lowered down for the vehicles. After that, they brought in two Gungooses and parked them in between the Warthog’s. Barely leaving any room. “Alright, I think we should be good.” Ash said, she motioned for Caelin and the marines to come aboard. They left the Pelican behind, due to damage beyond repairs at this time; so Caelin offered to come with and help support them. The marines were under her command, so they were forced to come as well. Caelin did have a higher rank than almost everyone on board the Mammoth, except Jackson, Magnus, Ash, and Frank. Caelin made arrangements with a bunch of the Longswords, Shortswords, and Broadswords for extra firepower support when they needed it. However, when they ran dry, they ran dry. UNSC Warlord wasn’t here to help them with a resupply like they normally would. Jackson directed Frank to drive the Mammoth; that way he was below deck and out of the way. Zeff was in Charge of the MAC Gun; and Runner and Magnus took the Rocket turrets that were placed on both side of the Mammoth. Ash motioned for the supportive Pelican’s that drove out to where the wreckage was, and the Mammoth laid in one piece surprisingly, to return back the camp as for they were no longer needed. The engines started up and they were ready to move out on their journey. They had no idea where they were headed, but assuming from the direction Jackson saw them come. This was going to be an 18 hour trip, in the Mammoth. An evac Pelican would be waiting for them after Joseph and Archangel had been rescued or they needed a retreat. They were hoping a retreat wouldn’t be something they needed. “Jackson. Come here.” Zeff broke the silence with his voice. “Yes, what is it Zeff?” Jackson asked, he looked over from the screen that laid the directional waypoint to where they thought was their objective. “This MAC Cannon doesn’t work without the target designator. Everything else is automatic for the weapon.” Zeff said. He showed Jackson what he was going on about with what showed on his screen. He was right, all it showed was the gun's status and a picture of the target designator. “Well it seems you are right there Zeff. We’re going to need a target designator.” Jackson turned his attention away from him and onto Caelin. “Caelin, is there a target designator onboard?” “Uh.” Caelin let Zen take over the controls. “Not that I know of, we might have one back at the base that we can drop pod in with a Longsword. Do we need it right now?” Caelin questioned, about to head back to the controls. “Yes, seeing as how if we get it now; it’ll help us out later. Especially since we’re still close to the camp.” Jackson motioned for Zeff to head up to the top walkway. That was he wasn’t pointless. “Alright, I’ll contact someone and see what we can do. However, don’t expect one to drop in for at least 2 minutes.” Caelin walked down the stairs to the communications and got on with one of her friends. “Zeff, take this.” Ash shoved a Spartan Laser into Zeff’s hands. “If we don’t have an AA Gun for you to shoot, you’ll be the AA Gun that shoots. Is that clear?” She looked at him, eyes expecting a smart response. “Yes mam, I can shoot all day.” Zeff said, he bit back on his remark. What he really wanted to say was ‘Yes mam, I can shoot all day; as long as I think of the enemy as you.’ Luckily he didn’t, otherwise he’d find his spike grenade stuck to his face. Ash walked back inside the mammoth. “Yo Magnus, wanna help out over here bud?” Runner yelled as loud as she could. Magnus was on the clear other side, knowing she could use her helmet to contact him, she’d rather yell. Magnus just let out a grumble, “Hmm?” Before he noticed what she was talking about. Six banshees and a vampire were headed their way. Banshees in front. He heard Runner fire before the lock on, he did the same. Plasma rounds hit the front of the ship. They didn’t do much, but soon enough it would burn its way through. The banshees were close enough now, they surrounded the Mammoth from all sides. The Vampire stayed in the distance as the Mammoth drove its way towards it. “Ah, god damn. A MAC Gun would be nice right now!” Zeff yelled, he lasered one of the Banshees that dodged six of the rocket turrets missiles. He looked over at Magnus, and thought of an amazing idea. “Hey Magnus.” Magnus didn’t look over, instead he replied “What do you need now? I’m sort of busy as you can see. I’d appreciate it if you would help instead of chatter.” “Yes I know, that’s what I’m trying to do. There’s five of these things, but we’re going to have trouble taking them out. I want to know if you can use your stealth drone to camouflage me while I jetpack and hijack one of these banshees.” Zeff lasered another Banshee. “Then we can focus on that Vampire.” Magnus said nothing, instead he rose his hand up and summoned his drone and guided it to Zeff. Zeff had ten seconds before the drone was forced to return for a recharge. Enough time for him to jack a Banshee. Zeff’s jetpack fuel lasted him quite a bit, and just long enough to grab a hold of a Banshee. The drone left his side, and the Banshee was spinning out of control, trying to knock him off the wing, but he held on. He saw the Vampire shoot its needlers, they missed his Banshee and all stacked up on another. Magnus watched as that Banshee crashed to the ground, impaled in needles, and then exploded from the supercombine. Leaving nothing but a black marking of the blast area of the supercombine. Zeff had control of the Banshee, he threw a Brute out, then engaged the other Banshee. He noticed the Banshees fuel rod cannon was removed. With two Banshees remaining, He shot the wings down on one, leaving it exposed to Runner’s rocket turret. He heard her exclaim from the fire in the explosion. Last, but not least he rammed his Banshee into the last one. It ripped the wings off of the Brutes Banshee, and Zeff lost a wing. His last target was the Vampire. Which was not going to happen. Six large needles came flying at Zeff. He noticed his vehicle was stationary in the air. “Zeff, get out. You’re in a stasis field!” Frank yelled out, he knew what that was. It’s not something to mess with, he learned that in training and on the field. Zeff ejected out of the Banshee, right before the needles impaled. He watched as the stasis caused the explosion to stay in place, then drop the Banshee remains like it was nothing. As he used the jet pack to soften his return on the Mammoth, he heard the Vampire fire full blast. Right after that, a large roar was heard by all of them. Caelin was on top of the vehicle as well. A drop pod crushed through the Vampire, causing it to almost instantly crash to the ground with it. Caelin and the others looked up at where it came from. Above was a Longsword, presumably the one Caelin called for a target designator drop. It flew away, then circled around, doing loops. She smiled, the pilot was being a show off. “Oh my god.” Junior said, everyone on board turned his attention to him. “Look.” He pointed at the Longsword. It all made sense now. Caelin’s smile faded. There, in the Longsword, was about thirty needles from the Vampire. The Longsword was not being piloted, as the pilots were dead. They all watched as the Longsword trailed off and finally crash into the ground. The explosion was enormous, the needles were responsible for that no doubt. “Alright, let’s just move on and get Archangel and Joseph.” Jackson said, he motioned everyone to take back their places. “Caelin, take us to the drop pod. We’re going to need that target designator. Now.” She nodded his head at him, and headed down to the controls and took it over from Zen. The Mammoth moved forward. Jackson and Zeff stood at the overwatch of the vehicle. They weren’t that far away from the drop pod, a minute drive and no more. Zeff holstered the Spartan Laser back up on one of the racks outside, just in case he needed it again. He then resumed to jump off the side of the Mammoth, and down to the wreckage to grab the target designator. It was still intact. He looked unevenly at the two dead Brutes that laid there. Scorched from the fire. Zeff looked over as he heard a call from his name. As his eyes looked up. He already knew what was going on. He saw it in the distance on the sand. Behind a large sand dune, two Scarabs and three Vampires emerged. They were not ready for this fight yet, Zeff still had to connect the target designator to the MAC Gun. He jetpacked onto the Mammoth again, and ran down and inside to the MAC Gun screen. “Guys, the Scarabs are onto us now. What are we going to do? All we have is a Scorpion and a few hogs inside, plus the rocket turrets. We’ll never hold out. The MAC Gun won’t be ready for at least another five minutes.” Caelin said, as she looked for ways around or to avoid them. There was none. “We’ll make sure we buy the time.” Jackson said, he grabbed Ash and headed towards the walkway to find something for support. Right before they reached the opening, a bright purple beam spliced through Caboose’s helmet. “Damn it! There goes my plan! Ash, Frank, and Zen, follow me. I’m getting sick of this crap.” Jackson walked down the stairs and opened the back gate of the Mammoth. Junior walked over to Caboose’s body. He grabbed his dog tags, then sat on his knees and prayed for him. The marines walked over and grabbed his body and headed up the stairs to the walkway. As Junior said the prayers while he followed them, they threw Caboose over the back end of the Mammoth. Junior opened his eyes, they were bloodshot. He grabbed his knife and slit the throat of one marine, then grabbed his silenced magnum and shot the other two in the face. With the same respect they gave Caboose. He grabbed their tags, then kicked them over board. He looked over his shoulder, nobody saw this but him. He tucked the tags in with the others, the proceeded back inside the Mammoth. Jackson had the Scorpion out while Ash took Zen and Frank in the Gauss Warthog. The Scarabs were in range. This was going to be a long cold night. ~End of Chapter 16~

~Chapter 15: Touchdown~ Caelin and Frank approached the landing zone, where a crashed Longsword laid broken in the sand. Black smoke trailed off from behind and into the sky. Ash noticed blood stain in the sand, as well as a trooper who laid over on a dune. Passed out. Caelin landed the Pelican first. The thrusters stirred the sand up and paved out a nice area to land on. Frank followed up and landed the Falcon a few hundred feet away from the Pelican. However, he stayed inside the Falcon. As well as Magnus and Runner stayed on their turrets. Ash, Junior, and Michael exited the Pelican and headed over to the soldier, he didn’t appear wounded but he was unconscious. Ash and Junior picked him up and carried him back to the Pelican. Michael took point, just in case of any threats that hid in the crashed Longsword. Ash and Junior set Jackson in one of the Pelican’s seats. Junior took over and began to do his best. Hopefully Jackson would recover and wake up. “He has a pulse, but I don’t know for how long.” Junior said as he cleaned up an infectious wound on his left cheek. Appeared to be a cut from a Brute spiker. Ash sat there and watched as Junior cleaned him, everyone else was on the lookout for enemy movement. So-far, there was none. “Any idea where the others are?” Junior asked Ash without looking over as he continued to clean up Jackson’s wounds. “No, but one of them must have been killed or even ate by the Brutes. With all that blood out there, I’m guessing they were ate. The third one? No clue, I’m as clueless as you are. Maybe Jackson will know when he wakes up.” Ash responded to Junior, with a little worrisome in her voice. She cared for these guys as much as they all did. They were like family to her, since she had none left. They were all killed by insurrectionists. Her desire to find those Innies and kill them, was unbelievable. She couldn’t do it yet, not now when her friend’s were missing and they were trying to find the murderer who lead them through all of this. Ash heard a cough, she looked over. Jackson was awake, he had troubles with having them keep open. Dehydration nonetheless. She watched as Junior gave him some water, not too much. He was going to ease him on little by little. Jackson breathed with relief, “Thanks Junior, I thought I was done for.” Jackson coughed after that, must have been because of the water. “No problem sir, we came to find you after all. UNSC Warlord and the others are out of orbit. However we’re expecting them to hopefully be back in three to four days.” Junior responded as he put his supplies away. “They took Archangel.” Jackson said. “Who did?” Ash jumped quickly with her question, concerned. That also means Dexter was the one who was killed, and if they didn’t take him. Then that must have meant he was ate. “The Brutes. An Elite was going to kill him, but they decided against it and used him as bait for the Brutes. All I know is they called the one Verite. He’s next in command with Lan Chorus, except he wasn’t here. Only Verite was, but he was soon to flee. His Banshees were nearly two hundred meters away.” Jackson said, he paused to take a deep breath. “So if the Brute’s took Archangel, would that have meant they could have taken Joseph as well?” Ash questioned. “We need to find them.” “I watched the Brutes eat Dexter. It was a horrible sight, and I watched them take Archangel. If what you think is true about Joseph, then that can only mean one thing. They are baiting us into coming to rescue them. To take us all in.” Jackson stated, this was only just his theory. He didn’t really know. He was too exhausted to remember. “If that’s true, we have to save them. We need them. We have nothing else to do, we’re stranded. We all might die here, even the troopers at the LZ camp. We’re short on food. Our time isn’t long, it’s already been almost two days since we’ve been here.” Ash said. “Well we can go get them, but just be careful. They do have Vampire’s. Probably not very many overall, but they brought four of them here when the Chieftain arrived. I suppose this Chieftain is the Brute tribe leader of all the Brutes in the area. We have to be careful if we want to do this. Now tell me, what do we have that we can use against the Brutes back at the camp?” Jackson asked, thinking about a plan. “We have everything we would need. Combat wise, that is.” Ash told him. “Is there a Mammoth and heavy vehicles we could use?” Jackson started to put his plan together. “Yes, but only one. There are a few Scorpions. No more than five in total though.” Ash said. The Falcon’s turrets shot for about five seconds outside before they went silent again. They listened as two banshee’s rammed into the ground and exploded. “As I was saying before we were interrupted, UNSC Warlord was forced to leave so they sent down as much as they could before they left. Which was almost nothing. Surviving fighters fled here. Surprisingly, none were chased by Lan Chorus’s troops. Those who didn’t flee, died.” Ash said. “Well in that case, we got a small military. Enough to take back our troops. We’ll need all the air support we can get, but that Mammoth will be our one way ticket to giving the final push. The MAC gun and the rocket turrets will support us against any aerial vehicle as well as take out any Vampires that come after our Falcon or any other air support we need.” Jackson said, his plan sounded pretty good to everyone. “I can probably talk a few of the others into helping out.” Caelin said. “And who are you?” Jackson said, not knowing about the new pilot that joined their team. “My name is Caelin, and this is my Pelican you are sitting in.” Caelin said, a smile on her face. “Well Caelin, hopefully you can do your best. We’ll need you.” Jackson said. He stood up and waved at Frank to get his Falcon back and up into the air. “Good, I sure hope we can as well.” Caelin said. “Anything you need at the moment?” “Yes, take us back to the camp.” Jackson said. He stood up and walked towards the back of the door and stopped at the edge. “Alrighty sir. Will do.” Caelin said, she headed up and started the thrusters. “Jackson, I like what you’re doing but I don’t know how this is going to workout for us. We’re going to lose some of our friends.” Ash told him, she stood beside him on the edge. Looking at him through her visor. “Don’t worry, I have it all planned out.” Jackson said. He pulled down the machine gun turret and destroyed a Ghost that was headed their way, probably a scout. “Sure, whatever you say.” Ash said, then walked into the cockpit. Caelin had the Pelican up in the air, she punched the thrusters. Frank followed up. ~End of Chapter 15~

~Chapter 14: Chieftain~ “We’re not far from the crash site, it seems we have about seven kilometers.” Caelin said, she was focused on both the distance and the sky. The desert seemed so vast and felt like it would never end. It was incredibly beautiful, yet it felt so empty at the same time. Caelin heard Ash yell, “Defensive procedures, use whatever you can!” then she started to hear what was going on on the outside of the Pelican. The Falcon’s nose gun was being heard, with its loud three shots. The machine gun turrets had opened fire. She looked to her side. Three phantoms and seven banshees were on to them. All full of big hairy monkeys. “You have go to be kidding me right now.” Caelin activated the Pelican’s weapons. Two heavy machine gun turrets swung down in the back, and a missile pod launcher lowered down in between them. The nose gun opened out of its canopy and mounted itself on the nose, exposed. “Ash, get up here and take point.” “Will do.” Ash walked over and took the nose gun. While Zeff and Michael took the machine gun turrets, and Joseph was on the missile pod. “Suppressive fire, suppressive fire!” Joseph yelled at the marines and Junior. Who were all stuck with DMR’s. Junior watched Frank, Magnus, and Runner got caught behind. Engaged with six banshees. More of them en route. They appeared to be stripped of their fuel rod cannons. However, their twin cannons were still effective. “Ash, your friends are falling behind. If we do not help them, they will die. The falcons chances of winning are 80%, but do you want to take those chances?” Caelin asked her, she kept the pelican focused on the objective. Ash was in despair over what Caelin just said. “Caelin...” Ash knew she was going to have to add a few extra minutes to the clock. She didn’t want to take any chances. “Turn around and lets help them out.” Ash said. Caelin turned the Pelican around. Ash engaged the phantoms with the forward nose turret. She destroyed two of the phantoms almost instantly. Caelin smiled at her. The brutes weren’t putting up with any of this. Choppers and Prowlers were headed towards them on the ground. Cannons blazed and fired at the pelican, while the pelican took out the banshee’s. “Let’s go Frank, we need to get out of here. Anymore time and everything’s lost.” Ash said. “Got it.” Frank pushed on the thrusters and flew above the pelican, which moved back towards the route of the objective. Michael and Zeff engaged the ground forces. Which put up a really good fight on this desert terrain. One of the choppers seemed to be going off route towards the pelican. Most likely retreating. “Should we engage it Zeff?” Michael asked. “No, it appears to be retreating. Leave it for now. It’ll tell its friends to fear us.” Zeff said, completely unaware of how the Brute’s worked. “Alrighty.” Michael said. He engaged a couple banshee’s and more prowler’s. Even some ghosts that showed up. “Sir, we have a problem.” Junior told Ash. “What is it?” Ash asked him. “Well you see, there’s a lich right behind us, and well you see. Our machine guns aren’t capable of breaching the shields on their own. Plus, we have no idea what these Brutes plan on doing.” Junior said. “Understood.” Ash said. “Joseph, come up here.” Joseph walked through the entryway, “Yes mam?” “We need you on the cannon.” Ash said. “Yes mam.” Joseph said. He reached over and climbed up the ladder to the controls. He took the controls and activated the cannon. “Alright Ash, I’m ready.” “Good, I need you to help Zeff and Michael with that Lich. They need all the firepower they can get.” Ash said. Banshees and Phantoms swarmed at them from the front. Joseph turned the cannon around and fired at the Lich. A Scorpion-like shell fired at the Lich, and was absorbed in the shields. He fired a few more. All which did the same thing. “Ash, I’m going to need some assistance.” he asked. Firing another shell, which did the same thing. “I’m sorry, I can’t at the moment. We’re dead if I have to stop what I’m doing.” Ash said. Everything got closer and closer. She fired up the laser cannon and wiped out as much Banshees she could in a single charge. Joseph fired at the Lich again. The shields went down. “Michael and Zeff. We’re good to go. Destroy this thing.” “You got it!” Zeff said. They both engaged the infantry, some of them ran for the plasma turrets, but were killed before hand. “Watch out you guys, this area seems to have a few desert mountains.” Caelin said. She watched where she flew. Wasn’t too bad of an area, not many mountains. It was just better to be safe than sorry. “Caelin, this is a Brute stronghold. We’re taking fire from Spikers and Maulers from down below.” One of the marines said. Junior looked at the soldier. Where have I seen this man before? His face looked familiar... “Watch out!” Caelin yelled. The Brute Chopper returned on the mountain. Headed straight towards the Pelican. Michael engaged the Chopper, but it kept coming. At last, the Chopper applied its boost and flew straight at Michael’s cannon on the side of the Pelican. “Oh you have got to be kidding me.” Michael disengaged the turret. Which was too late on his part. The Chopper slammed right into the turret, and destroyed it to pieces. The collision was enough to throw Michael out of the bay of the Pelican. Luckily he grabbed ahold of the center piece between the two thrusters on the tail. “Michael, whatever you do. Do not let go.” Junior said. “I’m going to try my best to see if there’s anything we can do to get you, and fast before that Lich takes you down.” Junior looked into the bay to see what he could find. Zeff destroyed the Chopper that almost killed Michael. “Don’t worry Michael, I got your back on this.” Zeff fired as fast as he could and as much as he could at the Lich before he noticed something. It was the power core. Zeff engaged the power core, almost instantly destroying it before Joseph saw it and took the credit for the destruction of the Lich. The Lich swirled around in circles, just barely missing the Pelican. “Michael we’re coming to get you, stay put!” Joseph said. He left the cannon’s seat and headed on the roof of the Pelican. It was too late. Two Brutes were already up there after him. “Michael! Don’t let go!” Junior yelled. He fired his magnum at one of the Brutes who were equipped with a Beam Rifle. Headshot, just enough to kill him. “Don’t you even dare.” Joseph said. He slammed into one of the Brutes, throwing him off to his death. Joseph pulled up his DMR and fired everything he had into the Brute. He reached his hand down and pulled Michael up. “Thanks, you saved me. I really thought I was going to die so quickly and suddenly like everyone else has before me. Thank you, I appreciate it.” Michael said. “For an ODST, you did pretty good. I owe you one.” Michael and Joseph headed back to the inside of the Pelican. Ash spoke to them, “Hey, get down here. We’re literally three kilometers away from the destination.” “Roger that, we’re coming.” Joseph said, he looked at Michael. “Why don’t we get you down there and have Junior look at you. What do you say?” “Sounds good to me.” Michael headed down first. “That’s good. Didn’t wanna lose someone valuable on this team.” Joseph said, he headed down the ladder, but something stopped him. He was moving away from the ladder now, he saw Michael’s head pop up with his Sniper Rifle in hand. He fired it right above Joseph. Who realized what was going on now. He completely disregarded his surroundings. They were still engaged with Brute forces. Joseph watched the Pelican fly away as the dead Brute that grabbed him weighed him down to his death. “Sometimes we save each other, sometimes we don’t.” Joseph hit the ground. He didn’t die, but he did have a Brute on top of him. He watched as Brutes all surrounded him, and their Chieftain approached him. He roared incredibly loud and swung his hammer. ~End of Chapter 14~

~Chapter 13: Squeaky Chew Toys~ Ash, Zeff, Runner, and Junior landed down their longsword. Frank, Magnus, Joseph, and Michael landed nearby. Ash reared the Longsword so they were back to back. “Alright, we’re going to open the hatch door. Joseph, send someone down your Longsword to do an all clear, we’ll do the same. Alright? Good.” Ash said over the ship communications. “Roger that Ash, I’m sending down Magnus. On you.” Joseph replied back. “Alrighty, Runner is at the door. Opening the hatch now.” Ash said. Runner, rifle in hand, watched for anything suspicious as the hatch opened. She saw Magnus doing the same. Wherever they looked, their weapon was there. Runner saw something move over on the right. Magnus was already there. Looking. Runner made her way to the side as well, one eye watching her back just in case. “You guy’s see anything out there? We have friendly troops landing. Pelicans, Longswords, and Falcons. One of them is on the ships left side.” Ash said over the headset. “Yes, we’re all good. Didn’t see anything unusual.” Runner lowered her Carbine and took turned off the headset. “Glad that’s all settled.” Runner turned around to head up the ramp. Something jumped on her and slammed her to the ground, it was some sort of bird like creature. It had a plasma pistol, aimed at her face. “God damn it!” Runner yelled, she tried to push the bird off. It fought back, and overcharged the plasma pistol. A single shot was heard. The bird creature fell on top of Runner, who shoved it off her. She looked up to see who it was. Magnus just nodded his head and returned up inside his ship with his team. “What was that?” Runner said to herself. It looked like a jackal, but it wasn’t. She returned up the ship as well. “Runner, we clear?” Ash asked. “Yes, there was a jackal of some sort but it’s gone now. Didn’t see anything else.” Runner said. “Hm.” Was all Ash said. She motioned for Zeff and Junior to stock up and resupply for just in case measures. She asked Joseph and the others on his Longsword to do so as well. “Wait a second you guys.” Ash said after a long moment of readying up. “Where’s Archangel, Dexter, and Jackson? They haven’t landed with us, for certain. I remember their Longsword being on fire. Do you think they might have made it?” Ash was worried a bit. “One second Ash, I’ll get on it for you.” Frank said. They boarded from the other ship, partying up. “Alright, give me just a moment. I should be able to ping their Longsword, distress beacon or not. I’m just looking for one out of commision but still with power.” Frank said, he pulled up their Longsword. It was listed as ‘Destroyed.’ “What... I can’t believe it...” Frank said. “I’m sorry you guys. I tried.” “Well, there’s still hope. Let’s do a search and rescue party.” Ash suggested. She was looking for a vote of hands in agreement. “Or at least a search party.” Junior said. His voice dark and cold. “Not now, Junior.” Ash said, then turned over, “Frank, you think you can get those troopers to let us borrow one of their pelicans?” “Only if they can come with.” Frank stated. “This is a new place, new area. They’re vulnerable here. They’ll want to be safe. Seeing as your Spartans and ODST’s, they’ll think they’re safe.” Frank looked at Junior. “This is the only option we have them.” “Or, we shoot them and take the bloody Pelican. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want extra luggage. I don’t have enough body bags for all of them, nor do I have the supplies.” Junior said, in retaliation. “Junior stop. We’re doing this. There’ll be no more than 5, I’m sure of it. Now let’s go.” Ash said. Junior was irritated but did as he was told. “Frank, we’re gonna need someone in a Falcon. You’ll have to drive it, we’ll use the Pelican and the Cargo or Carrier. Your pick of the name, but we’re taking both vehicles.” Ash said. They walked over to the landing area. “You sir, we’re taking your Pelican. Any objections?” Zeff said to the pilot. “No, but what are you using it for? And I’m going to have to come with, you’ll need a pilot.” She said. “That’s if I’m comfortable with the situation.” “Search and rescue party, we lost a Longsword, there may be survivors.” Zeff responded, as nicely as he could. “Well then. I guess there’s nothing else to do here, since we’re abandoned to die. Why don’t we do such? Not going to make much of a difference anyways.” The girl giggled. Her hair was bright blonde, with a chignon style. “Well then that’s that. Anybody else with you?” Michael asked. The pilot looked over at him, “No, I’m alone on this Pelican. Now that you all are here, that’s changed.” She waved them on board, “After you guys.” Ash, Joseph, Zeff, Michael, and Junior boarded the Pelican. “We’re all set, mam. We have a Falcon flying with us, for support. These marines, they aren’t with us. But they want to come to.” Ash said. “Call me Caelin.” The pilot said. “Caelin, we’re good to go.” Ash said, she waved at Frank to follow. Magnus and Runner were on the mounted turrets. “Alright, let’s do this. Any idea where they could be?” Caelin asked. “We think they’re 20 kilometers northeast of here. Let’s check their first. That’s where we go the latest ping.” Ash said. “Alrighty, will do mam.” Caelin punched the thrusters. Frank kept up right behind them. ~End of Chapter 13~

~Chapter 12: Impact~ The Longsword was coming in heavy, the heat shield was down and it started to smolder. Pieces flew off, engines were cut out. They were going to crash. Not crash land, crash. Jackson was at the controls with Dexter. Archangel tried his best to do what he could in the back. He wasn’t of much use. Jackson and Dexter both tried their best. They knew they wouldn’t land, but maybe if they could angle it right and be able to slide on the ground. It would at least give them a chance to survive. “Jackson, the back end of the Longsword has torn off. I’m not sure if that makes a difference, but I don’t think flight controls are much use anymore. We’re going to have to wish for the best.” Archangel said. “Understood. Dexter, hold on tight. We don’t want to lose you. You too, Archangel.” Jackson said. He turned around. Archangel wasn’t there, one of the seats flew and knocked him out of the hole in the Longsword. “Well crap. We lost Archangel. Dexter, let’s try our best.” Jackson stated. “Will do sir, I suggest we hold on to something other than the seats. Maybe up against the wall behind us? That way impact doesn’t kill us, if we hit nose first?” Dexter suggested. “Good idea.” They did as suggested and braced for impact. Archangel’s fall wasn’t too high, just about a mile off from the surface. He saw what appeared to be infantry on the ground. Sure to be hostile, it was unknown. He activated his thrusters and aimed it at the ground, to lessen his fall damage, by slowing himself down in speed. His impact was hard on him, but it could have been worse. His armor was locked up, immobile. He looked around before he passed out, a group of Elites walked in front of him. No more than three of them. They were a distance away, but they seem to have spotted them. They grew closer to the spartan. “Demon.” The leader said. He withdrew his energy sword. “No Verite, we must leave now. The Brutes will feast upon him, lets not waste our time with this foolish one.” The Elite on the left said, Beam Rifle in one hand. Plasma Rifle strapped to his leg. “Yes, but if I see this one again. I will destroy him. Fools should never have come here.” Verite put his Energy Sword away. Anger was shown on his face, but he walked away. There was some Banshees they were headed towards, four of them in total. It seems one of them was killed or lost. Archangel watched the Banshees take off, he heard an explosion afterwards. The Longsword must have crashed. “Well, this is it for me.” Archangel passed out. ~End of Chapter 12~

~Chapter 4: The flood~ A girl walked into the room where a boy sat in a wooden, she appeared to be a teenager in the under half. She approached the boy in a distinct manner, as not to make him think he was in any trouble. “Hey bud. Whatsup?” was all she said to start a conversation. “Well, I scored an 82 in range and a 43 in combat. Have to wait until tomorrow to go for other training course.” He replied. “Oh. I got an 86 in range and 48 in combat today.” The girl said, smiling at both of their progression. “Okay.” The boy said. There was a hint of depression in his voice this time. The girl thought it may have been her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. I was just trying to start a conversation was all.” The girl said. Sorrow was in her voice, but it was more sympathetic than self shame of the topic. “If you want to leave, you may wish to do so. If not, that is fine. You may do as you please, I’m just going to sit here like always and wait until the next day. I have no friends and I have no family. ONI reports say my father was just enlisted into the UNSC, but I will never be able to get to see him face to face. Ever again because of this.” The boy had tears roll down his cheeks and towards his chin. Which then dripped off of his chin and onto his lap. “Look, I’m not going to leave you. I’m your friend. Alright? I like you out of everyone here. I have feelings for you. I don’t want you to think you’re lost.” The girl said, her voice trailed off with innocence on her breath. “It’s fine. I got this, alright? Just relax off me and cool down. Procedures are in four months. I want to get this done and I can’t do it without you. Recently I’ve been having moments where I can’t remember anything. As if I had amnesia. However, I remember them later. Just boldly. I’m not sure what to say about it. I just feel kinda weird you know?” The boy said, curiously and afraid. “Relax. You’re just being overworked with what’s coming up. Let’s just get back to training at midnight and we’ll be ready to go for the tests.” The girl said in a promising voice, as if to make the boy feel less stressed or whatever was going on about him. “Alright. Well, just leave me alone. I’m going to take a nap until a few hours before then. Come back if you even bother.” The boy said, he walked the girl out of the room and shut the door. He reached up to the top and swung the latch over, and locked it. --------------------------------- The Scorpion swung its barrel around the corner. Still nothing in site. Which was odd. Michael watched their three and nine. Bek had an eye on their six. The cave seemed to go on for quite a while. Green mist was in the air, everywhere to be precise. Yellow nests were clung to the wall. They moved as if they could breathe. Bek pulled up her magnum and shot one because it started to annoy her. A few flood spores fell out and scrambled around the room. Other than that, no other flood came into contact. “Michael, do you feel as if our every movement is being watched by someone. By something?” Joseph asked through the open hatch of the Scorpion. He kept watch at the ceiling. All that was there were some stalactites covered from the flood. “Nope. I just feel as if this is going to be an awesome adventure I get to spend with my best friends.” Michael said. He swung the flashlight over to the other side of the tank, he saw nothing still. “I feel as if we’re almost there. Like. I don’t see anywhere else to go. There’s a wall in front of us, this is a dead end.” Bek said. She was right, there was no where else to go. This was a dead end. Just a giant wall covered in flood tile. Joseph looked up at the wall. She was right. There was nothing here it was just a false route. He stopped the tank. “Michael and Bek, cover me. I’m going to get on a channel with Dexter to let him know this isn’t the right area. Then see what happens next.” Joseph reached over and turned on the radio. “Dexter, come in. Dexter, can you hear me?” There was nothing. A few minutes later, “Yes. I can hear you. Sorry about that. Was tracking to see where the signal was coming from. Anyways, what’s up?” Dexter put down his BLT Sandwich he grabbed for lunch. It was the first one he’s had in a long time. Boy, was it delicious. That bacon was just so fine and good. The right amount of grease and crisp. It was heaven for him. “We reached the end of the cave. There’s nothing in here. We haven’t seen anything, not even flood. I think the routes a fault. Must have been for Lan Chorus as well. What do you suggest?” Joseph looked up at the other two, they were on the lookout like he asked. Bek had the rocket launcher strapped to her back. “Well.” Dexter took a bite out of the sandwich. “Something happened with one of the other Pelicans. So the other team is going to investigate. However, just go ahead and regroup at the desert. Should be fine there. They’ll be back once they find out what’s wrong.” Dexter took another bite. He reached over and put the bacon he had on a tray and just put it in his mouth. “Oh, and take the tank with you too; if you can. Anyways, that’s about it. Have fun!” Dexter was off the radio. A loud scream erupted. Several loud screams erupted. “Oh no this isn’t good. We’ve been ambushed.” Joseph said as a flood combat form appeared up on the ledge in front of them. It pointed at them with it’s tentacle like fingers. Michael shot it down. Another scream erupted. “I think it’s time we punch it and get out of here!” Joseph said, he pushed on the pedals. The Scorpion moved as fast as he could push it. Flood tanks and combat forms appeared all around them. All they could do was fight their way out and hope they make it. Bek pulled up the rocket launcher and fire it at a flood carrier. It didn’t do much good, it exploded into a bunch of flood spores. Which then Michael took out for her. “Uh, I need to reload. Hold on a second.” Bek reached over and grabbed ammunition on the side of the tank. Joseph aimed the cannon at the tanks in front of them. They were basically hunters, just without their fuel rods. Their tough like hide made up for the armor. Joseph fired and killed one of them. The other started to sprint at them, he took it out too. “Ah, there we go!” Bek said, she pulled up the rocket launcher. Which was a tad bit late on her part. A flood stalker ran up and jumped at her. Pinned her on the ground. “Bek!” Joseph yelled. He turned his cannon around. It was too late. A flood spore jumped on her face and crawled into her mouth. All was heard were groans and the sound of choking. Joseph couldn’t stop now, he moved forward. Michael watched as Bek’s legs kicked and she screamed. After a few seconds, the noise stopped and the flood pursued. One of them looked like a Spartan infection form. In Bek’s armor. Michael shot it down along with the others. Joseph approached the exit where the stalactites hung from the entrance. He moved the cannon up and shot them as they just drove under. They fell down and destroyed any flood forms there. “Well, entrance is closed. Not long before more show up. Come on. Let’s go, into the Pelican!” Joseph said. He got the flight controls while Michael got the Scorpion on attached. “We might wanna go. They’re here!” Michael yelled. Flood forms of all type crawled at them from every direction. “Just a second.” Joseph got the systems online and functional. He slammed the thrusters and took off for the new waypoint. “Whew. That was a close one. Thought we weren’t going to make it.” Michael said. He crashed into the copilots seat. Tired as he was, he decided to rest. “Not all of us, just half.” Joseph said, then pushed forward. The ETA clock suggested three hours until arrival at the desert. ~End of Chapter 4~

“Just tell her you love her. Get it over with!” The girl said. “No. I won’t. It’s too much for me to handle! I don’t think I’m even capable of telling her hello. It’s too much for me.” The boy sobbed. “Well you ain’t going to get anywhere crying like a baby. Now go! I’m telling you this is the last straw. I’m tired of hearing it. So why don’t you just do it, god damn it!” The girl screamed. “No, I’m just scared of rejection is all. I don’t want her to think differently of me if she doesn’t want to. I feel as if our friendship will be wasted.” The boy was sad. “Then it’s a friendship worth wasted then. Isn’t it? You stupid boy.” The girl laughed. “You know, I might just tell her myself.” She smirked at him. “No! No you won’t! That will ruin it!” The boy screamed, angrily. “Well if you won’t do it. Someone has to.” The girl teased the boy, tongue out and everything. She decided to walk away after that. The boy stood up and through a punch, it hit her in the back of the head, knocked her to the ground. “How does that feel? Probably the same way I feel about telling her, now isn’t it?” The boy was angry. “Uh.” The girl started to cry. “Ugh. I can’t move! I can’t move! I can’t move my arms or legs. Please, somebody help me!” The girl cried out in pain. She was paralyzed. The boy realized what he did. He was afraid. How would he explain this to his mom? This was his best friend. There was nothing he could do besides regret. He looked over at her, she cried in pain and agony. He had no other choice. The boy grabbed the nearest metal chair he could find. He sat it on the girls head, then he sat on the chair. A crunch sound was made. Then silence. The boy looked down, his weight crushed the girls skull in. He got up and ran. --------------------------------Time Skip---------------------------------- “You know. We could help you. All you have to do is come with us.” The woman in the said to the boy. “I don’t know! I killed my best friend! I’m not sure I want to even live anymore. I hate my guts.” The boy said. Tears rolled down his eyes, it reminded a woman of a storm that once came through this town. A tropical storm to be exact. His tears resembled the rain that day. Heavy and just kept pouring. “We’re not making this a choice. You’re coming with us.” The woman said. “Okay, but what about my family?” The boy asked. “Don’t worry about it, they said it was okay for you to come. They were very disappointed with your behavior, but they said it was alright. Just come on. It’s alright, your mom and I are friends. I used to baby-sit her when she was little. Just like you!” The woman said with a smile on her face. The boy wiped his tears off his face, “Alright. I suppose if my mom said I should.” The boy got up off his knees and walked over to the woman and got in the vehicle. --------------------------------Time Skip---------------------------------- A girl walked into the room where a boy sat in a wooden, she appeared to be a teenager in the under half. She approached the boy in a distinct manner, as not to make him think he was in any trouble. “Hey bud. Whatsup?” was all she said to start a conversation. “Well, I scored an 82 in range and a 43 in combat. Have to wait until tomorrow to go for other training course.” He replied. “Oh. I got an 86 in range and 48 in combat today.” The girl said, smiling at both of their progression. “Okay.” The boy said. There was a hint of depression in his voice this time. The girl thought it may have been her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. I was just trying to start a conversation was all.” The girl said. Sorrow was in her voice, but it was more sympathetic than self shame of the topic. “If you want to leave, you may wish to do so. If not, that is fine. You may do as you please, I’m just going to sit here like always and wait until the next day. I have no friends and I have no family. ONI reports say my father was just enlisted into the UNSC, but I will never be able to get to see him face to face. Ever again because of this.” The boy had tears roll down his cheeks and towards his chin. Which then dripped off of his chin and onto his lap. “Look, I’m not going to leave you. I’m your friend. Alright? I like you out of everyone here. I have feelings for you. I don’t want you to think you’re lost.” The girl said, her voice trailed off with innocence on her breath. “It’s fine. I got this, alright? Just relax off me and cool down. Procedures are in four months. I want to get this done and I can’t do it without you. Recently I’ve been having moments where I can’t remember anything. As if I had amnesia. However, I remember them later. Just boldly. I’m not sure what to say about it. I just feel kinda weird you know?” The boy said, curiously and afraid. “Relax. You’re just being overworked with what’s coming up. Let’s just get back to training at midnight and we’ll be ready to go for the tests.” The girl said in a promising voice, as if to make the boy feel less stressed or whatever was going on about him. “Alright. Well, just leave me alone. I’m going to take a nap until a few hours before then. Come back if you even bother.” The boy said, he walked the girl out of the room and shut the door. He reached up to the top and swung the latch over, and locked it. --------------------------------Time Skip---------------------------------- The boy was done. Procedure was over. As well as his other colleagues. It was time for him to get back to training. But to where to begin. That procedure was very vital to his capabilities. He felt ready for anything. Maybe some range or close combat or... He was broke off by their leader. “You guy’s should be ready to test yourselves and prove what you are capable of. First off, no more basic training. You’re all going to try on-course training. Paintball to start off first. Then we’ll try captive training. Finally, we’ll have escape training.” The leader took a moment to swallow what spit was in her mouth from talking before she would continue. “Each of these training sessions will be difficult. Those of you who prove worthy, will make it. Those who don’t. Goodbye. You will all be paired in squadrons. Three of you are crew, one of you are team leader. We’ll see fit as your training goes on. You’re all dismissed.” The leader walked away. “Hmph.” Was all the boy said. He walked up to the list. He went to look for what team he was on. There was only about seven different sheets, but he found himself. He didn’t know who the other two are, but he knew the girl. She was the squad leader. He was support. The other two were offense/assault. “Well isn’t this just great.” He walked back to his room. Captive training was going to be a piece of cake, just like paintball. All captive training was is just hunting down insurrectionists that were captured and thrown in the course. They weren’t stripped of armor or weapons. Which was the point. They were taught to bring down the enemy at his best. With the adrenaline rush they had from the capture, they would be more difficult than on the battlefield. That also depends on rank and their own personal training. However, escape training was going to be tough. It was like captive training. Except, the other way around. They were supposed to get caught by insurrectionists. Then to find a way to escape them. Death did not matter, however it was recommended to do such. Those were just extra points. The tricky part was to be captured as a captive. Sometimes they just shoot you in their traps. This was a chance they were willing to make. --------------------------------Time Skip---------------------------------- ...Incoming Transmission... ...Transmission Received... Welcome Operator, would you like to view the file? ...Opening File... ...File Converting...

~Chapter 5: First Floor~ The boy was done. Procedure was over. As well as his other colleagues. It was time for him to get back to training. But to where to begin. That procedure was very vital to his capabilities. He felt ready for anything. Maybe some range or close combat or... He was broke off by their leader. “You guy’s should be ready to test yourselves and prove what you are capable of. First off, no more basic training. You’re all going to try on-course training. Paintball to start off first. Then we’ll try captive training. Finally, we’ll have escape training.” The leader took a moment to swallow what spit was in her mouth from talking before she would continue. “Each of these training sessions will be difficult. Those of you who prove worthy, will make it. Those who don’t. Goodbye. You will all be paired in squadrons. Three of you are crew, one of you are team leader. We’ll see fit as your training goes on. You’re all dismissed.” The leader walked away. “Hmph.” Was all the boy said. He walked up to the list. He went to look for what team he was on. There was only about seven different sheets, but he found himself. He didn’t know who the other two are, but he knew the girl. She was the squad leader. He was support. The other two were offense/assault. “Well isn’t this just great.” He walked back to his room. Captive training was going to be a piece of cake, just like paintball. All captive training was is just hunting down insurrectionists that were captured and thrown in the course. They weren’t stripped of armor or weapons. Which was the point. They were taught to bring down the enemy at his best. With the adrenaline rush they had from the capture, they would be more difficult than on the battlefield. That also depends on rank and their own personal training. However, escape training was going to be tough. It was like captive training. Except, the other way around. They were supposed to get caught by insurrectionists. Then to find a way to escape them. Death did not matter, however it was recommended to do such. Those were just extra points. The tricky part was to be captured as a captive. Sometimes they just shoot you in their traps. This was a chance they were willing to make. ------------------------------ Pelican 3 arrived at the landing zone. Ash noticed there was a pelican there, but no sign of the team. The pelican was wrapped by the flood. It was immobile. However, the warthog was gone as well as the gungoose. No matter, Ash didn’t want to take any chances. “Runner. You mind coming up here?” “Whatcha need?” Runner said? She was in there in a jiff. “See those controls over there? I want you to use them and fire the spartan laser at that pelican. I don’t want to take any chances of the flood taking our ride; with them being so close. Don’t wanna have to have Pelican 1 come over here and grab us. Won’t have a ride by then. Junior won’t be able to use his special warthog. Which will drive him insane.” Ash told her, although she thought that was a little too much information to say. Nonetheless, she’s just getting her thoughts out there. No big deal. “Hey, no problem. All you had to do was say fire and I’m on it.” Runner grabbed the controls and aimed at the pelican. She held the trigger to charge the spartan laser, then fired. The pelican’s massive laser cut through the pelican and forced an explosion. It was loud, but didn’t seem to attract any attention. The pelican laid in fire. Runner had a smile on her face. “Alright, what’s next to set on fire?” “We’ll see. As of now, unload the Warthog and let’s go find them.” Ash commanded. “Alrighty, will do!” Runner said and then did as she was told. ~End of Chapter 5~

~Chapter 1: FireStorm~ Runner just reached Blue Teams base. How convenient, they just had to play capture the flag on Ragnarok. The most overplayed map, and the most played objective game mode. Why couldn’t it have been Ricochet on Chiron Tl-34? Whatever. The teams were an even Three versus Three. Red team consisted of Archangel, Runner, and Michael. Blue Team consisted of Jackson, Junior, and Frank. Of course, Dexter was the spectator and was in charge of the simulation. Bek, well she went to take a nap. Whatever I guess. Runner sprinted into Blue Teams base. The flag was settle conveniently on the pedestal above her. “Well. Here goes nothing.” She noticed Junior was on top with the Sniper Rifle. She watched as an indicated flashed on her screen that Junior just sniped Michael. “Hehe. Only if that were for real.” Runner jumped on top of the base, she walked up to Junior. Surprised he didn’t notice, or maybe it was her ultra ninja stealth mode? Oh well, she took her Carbine and, from behind, put it in both her hands and put the Carbine over Juniors head. She took the Carbine and slammed it up against his neck. He mumbled something but she couldn’t understand. She used her advantage and twisted the Carbine, which snapped his neck. He fell on the floor. “Well that was that, time to get this baby home.” Runner took their flag. The announcer announced that their team had the flag. “Well, they probably know now to. Better get back quick.” Runner went into the air vent on top of their base, it flung her high in the air. She was supposed to land around near those inclines that were split between the river bed. “Alright, now to just...” Splat. Frank ran into her with the Banshee. Runner was thrown out of the simulation, as well as everyone else. “Okay, what the Hell? I was in the middle of winning and you just stop the simulation? C’mon Dexter.” Michael said. Even though he was terrible on that last match. He died forty-three times and only had two kills. He didn’t even get a capture. One of those being a betrayal against Archangel. “Sorry guys. It’s time for you to go, we’re here. UNSC Firestorm is about five kilometers away from us. You all need to get in the Pelican, which is on the deck below us, and have Frank pilot you over.” Dexter said in an urgent manner. This mission must be a really go-getter and the Commander must not want to waste time. All six of them huddled in the small elevator. Junior quietly jammed out to the elevator music, it was one of his favorites. He remembered it used to play all the time in the elevators when he and his father were in New Alexandria. Oh how he missed his father. A tear skimmed down his cheek. Frank was next to him and noticed the tear; he put his hand on Juniors shoulder and told him “Cheer up big guy, we’re your family now. You don’t gotta worry about losing us.” Frank patted him on the shoulder twice, then gently shook it once before he dropped his arm. “Thanks. That means a lot to me. I have no one.” Junior wiped the tear off his face. He meant what he said too. Archangel heard them talk. He was a hundred percent agreed on that. They stuck together through thick and thin, no one gets left behind. Everyone stays alive. It was the unsaid rule of the team. The elevator door opened up. Looks like they were just in time, a Pelican was just being lowered down into the Hangar in front of the shield door. Frank walked ahead of everyone, obviously he was the pilot. He wanted to make sure the thing was safe and ready for immediate launch. Someone walked over to them, “Hello guys. Pelican’s ready. You can leave as soon as you like. Be safe, and have fun. We’re all counting on you. I want Lan Chorus dead as everyone else does.” “Wait. Biggles? Is that you Biggles? What happened? Why are you now working on the vehicle deck? Where’s Jack at? You two used to be together side by side.” Archangel just unloaded questions on him. “Hehe. Yep it’s me, Biggles. I got too old to fight and command had nothing for me to do anymore. Which brings me to Jack of Harts. He and I were on a mission to track down some insurrectionists who were messing with a Communications Outpost. Well, we got the Outpost secured, but on the way back Jack was taken out by a Spartan Insurrectionist, who took him away and left me all on my own as the Pelican took off. God knows where he is now.” Biggles looked down in silence. Jeez, those two really were best friends to the end. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know...” Archangel said. “It’s fine, just go ahead and get in. Firestorm is waiting for you, don’t want to waste your time. Bek’s already in the Pelican waiting for all of you.” Biggles said, then walked back where he came from. Everyone else loaded into the pelican. Frank took off to UNSC Firestorm. ----5 Minutes Later---- Frank approached UNSC Firestorm’s deck, it’s deck was small. However, I guess it was a Frigate. Probably why it was selected best for the job. Could get up close, and wouldn’t cost much if it was destroyed. They landed the pelican, as they exited they were greeted by a marine. Another one familiar to both Bek and Archangel. “Hello guys, they’re in the cafeteria getting some... some food. I hope you know how to get there. It’s just through those, um, those first few doors. Yes. They’re right through those first few doors. Mhm.” The marine said, he was really shaky and probably was insane. “Wait a minute, you’re Zen! Hi Zen!” Bek yelled. “Hrrrrmm!!” Was all that Zen said. “Just go through those doors, leave me alone!” Zen took off in a different direction through a few other doors. “I wonder what’s his problem.” Runner said as she took her helmet off. Jackson lead the team, through the first two doors. Then through another door. He didn’t see the cafeteria. He decided to turn back, but heard a noise. It sounded like a beat of some sort. Jackson pushed open the door. “Err’body say “Warlord” KEEP IT GOING, Tanks, Hornets, Warthogs, Warlord! Let the Covenant come over here, get a taste of my Warlord! Taste a bit of lead that I got from my ship, Warlord! Covenant might stand a chance against our Warlord! Boy, now I know you ain't talking about our Warlord! My mothers captain of the ship Warlord! WaWaWaWaWaWa Warlord!” Then all six of them sat down and ate some sausage. “Um, okay. If that is literally them. I will seriously just take Caboose and get in the nearest drop pod; take it down to the Ring or Installation whatever. Then, I will search for the clue or even Lan Chorus himself down there. Than to put up with those cheerful chatterboxes. It’s too annoying, and I just want to call them all stupid right now.” Runner hyperventilated. “Relax, C’mon lets go. They seem nice, that’s a thing. We’ll just introduce ourselves...” Jackson said before he was interrupted. “Hello Team Lord, glad you made it. Go ahead and take the elevator in the room where you landed the Pelican, and meet the Commander upstairs. You’ll be able to meet your new teammates up here shortly after they’re done eating breakfast. See you soon!” Someone said to them before they had the chance to meet their crew right now. They followed orders and took the elevator up. Runner noticed one of them was a girl, hopefully she wasn’t as bad as Bek. They all got in the clunky elevator, which slowly raised them upwards. Well here goes nothing. The elevator stopped and the shackles slowly raised in front of them. An ODST awaited in front of them, a huge grin on his face. “Follow me.” was all he said before he lead them. They did as they were told. ~End of Chapter 1~

UNSC Warlord Book 2: Odds and Ends The Prologue... Captain Samantha Lea Magarnold stood tall and proud. The smile on her face gave the soldiers a decorum environment that each and every one of them could enjoy. The engineers were at the ship controls, their initiative was to guide the ship a fast and safe route to the objective. The pilots stood beside the engineers as they explained the plans and routes that we will take. Not all engineers and pilots were in the ships bridge... [uNSC Warlord’s Holding Deck] “Hey man, it’s been a long long ride. We haven’t done anything for a weeks now.” Paladin set his feet up on the table and took a drink of some scotch. Bek sat in a chair, opposed from Paladin. “Yeah yeah. I’m kind of glad it’s been so quiet. Now that the Covenant is finally gone and the Elite’s have decided to join our side for the end of the war. Sad to see that they’re leaving already.” Bek watched Paladin open another bottle of Scotch, “You should really lay down on so much Scotch. That’s the fourth bottle you’ve opened in the past hour.” Bek rolled her eyes. Paladin took his mouth away from the bottle for a few seconds. “You know what’s fun about being sober?” Bek stared at him, she said nothing. Paladin gently took another sip then answered his own question. “Nothing.” He laughed, so hard he fell out of his chair and onto the floor, the scotch toppled over with him. Glass was everywhere. “Aw, man.” Bek just smiled, she tried her best not to laugh. Cajun casually walked up to the table, “Hey guy’s.” “What’s up, homie?” Paladin said as he sat back in his chair. He left the Scotch on the floor, and acted as if it wasn’t him. That didn’t seem to work. “Look, clean up your Scotch mess and we need to go. Commander wants us to go down on the surface and check some things. I know the wars over, but there’s still rebels and then there’s the Covenant who don’t know the wars over. There’s two corvettes down on the surface, Osiris is taking them out but not until we check on everything.” Cajun mad that sound so casual and easy, that Bek and Paladin both knew it was easier said then done. Cajun, Paladin, and Bek all got into a transport pelican. Cajun took the controls, but sighed to himself as he did. “I hate these new models. I’m so exposed.” The pelican’s lift lowered to an exit passage. There was only one way to go. He activated the thrusters then flew out and headed for the planet, Ballast. Paladin stared at Bek, a huge grin across his face. Bek returned the smile, but quickly put her helmet on. Paladin couldn’t resist, “You hayabusa armor... You look so good in it... Maybe we should, sometime...” Paladin past out in the seat before he could finish. Bek just laughed and shook her head. This flight had a lot of turbulence. They crashed into the surface. Bek got up out of her seat, she checked on Paladin. He was alive, just knocked out from the Scotch. At least that’s what she thought. Bek entered the pilot’s cabin, Cajun was dead in his seat. A giant sized purple needle was through his chest. She carefully exited the pelican. A nice wood terrain was in view. A fair amount of trees were present in areas, but there was also open areas about. Like the one they were in. Bek checked her navigator, the outpost they were headed for was one kilometer southeast from their position. Not far of a travel, but it would be if she had to carry Paladin’s intoxicated body all the way there. She noticed her gungoose was still intact. She walked over to it and checked if it worked, keys were in it already but the fuel was low. Enough to get her to the outpost, but not back. She tried it. The gungoose started with a loud squeal at first. She might want to get that checked. Without hesitance, she rushed into the pelican. Took Paladin out of the seatbelt, locked him in on the back of the gungoose. She took the controls, and took off towards the outpost’s directions at full speed. Tree’s came into view, she couldn’t risk it. She went through them on a beaten path. A few grunts came onto the road. It didn’t matter now, she fired the smg’s. That was quick, they all laid dead as she ran over their corpses. There was some thing funny about them... No she told herself, not now. I need to get to the outpost, I can’t stop to look at the roses. There it was, the outpost. It looked really rugged and was made out of stone. I guess this is what the 2014 trend used to call ‘ratchet’. Two ODST’s stood outside, as if they were guards. One had a medical symbol embedded on his left shoulder. Weird. The other one looked normal. Wait, there was a third one she could barely see. That one looked normal too. She drove up to the outpost. A spartan stood at the warthog, gun aimed at them. “Who are you, and what’s with the body on the back?” The spartan questioned. This must have been the leader here. A pilot and another Spartan appeared at the top of the base. Except this one was a Spartan IV, unlike the Spartan III in front of her. “I am Bek, and this is Paladin. He’s drunk and passed out from Scotch. We were sent here from UNSC Warlord to check on your outpost, except our pelican crashed because a Covenant Vampire took out our pilot. We’re here now, and that’s about it. I think our pilot knew more, but I dunno.” Bek breathed heavily from all that social talk that she’s not used to. “Hm.” Then yes,” The Spartan handed them a cartridge, “here is the log of what’s going on. Give it to your Commander.” The spartan walked away. “That’s it? How are we supposed to get back?” Bek exclaimed. She wanted out of here fast, the ODST above her stilled her fear. She had no idea why, maybe because of the knife that the ODST held. Or... Wait, was that ODST a female? She felt a little more comfortable there was another female, but she was also terrified because she had no idea what that ODST was capable of, girls are unpredictable and she knows that. “Here, I’ll have my pilot. Take you back up to your ship and drop you off.” The Spartan waved at the Pilot, “Frank. I need you to give these guy’s a ride back up!” He shouted up at him. “Yes sir, Jackson! Give me a few minutes to prep the hornet.” Frank headed over to the hornet, that Bek just now noticed sat there. “Why are you always preparing? Just go!” Jackson yelled. He seemed as if he didn’t like the pilot, or pilots in general. Interesting. What if Cajun would’ve been here? “Uh, sir. I can’t leave. For at least a few hours or ever...” Frank said. He was now down on the ground beside Jackson. That was really quick, does he have silent footsteps or something? He looked at Bek, “You’ll thank me when I tell the Commander why.” He smiled at her. “What is it, Frank?” Jackson sounded irritated. “Look for yourself.” Frank pointed over at the open area just beyond the trees. Two Scarabs and a Lich was headed straight at them. “Well, I guess there’s our ride out of here. Michael, Runner and Heli. You take out the Scarab on the right. Dexter, get out here!” Jackson yelled, an engineer walked out from the garage. “You, Frank, and Bek will take out the Scarab on the left. Junior and I will take out the Covenant on the lich and get us a ride out of here.” “Hell yeah I will!” That ODST must have been Junior, he looked aggressive and ready to kill anything that set him off, or Covenant in general. “Alright, let’s go.” Jackson put his helmet on. End of prologue... ~Chapter 1: Elongation~ Jackson finished off the Elite Zealot. “Junior, get over here!” Junior ran from the upper deck down to Jackson, who stood beside the lich controls. “We need to get off this lich, I managed to use the controls to EMP the Scarabs. That should provide enough time for the others to take out the power cores. As soon as we’re down, run back to the base. This explosion’s going to be massive and attract a lot of attention.” The shields started to glow a bright blue and then they began to spiral. “Let’s go!” Jackson ran over to the grav lift, it opened but the grav lift failed. They jumped. Jackson landed softly on his feet, no thanks to his crouch stance. Junior fell and landed on a tree branch. Snap. He landed on another tree branch. Snap. He then landed on another tree branch. Snap. The cycle continued and continued. He eventually landed on the ground, belly first. “Junior, get up. Let’s go! You can play in the ugly tree another time, but not now!” Jackson took off in a sprint towards the base. Junior stumbled up and ran behind him. They noticed the other troops did the same. Finally, they reached the base. A massive explosion shook the ground and lit up the sky. The Lich blew up first. The Scarabs went next. “Glad that’s over with.” Paladin took a sip of his coffee. “I don’t think so, none of you are no longer safe here. Or anywhere down here.” Someone said. “Archangel! How did you get down here? And what are you talking about?” Bek asked the soldier, who turned out to be a guy named Archangel. “Long story short, but we need to go.” He replied. A Covenant Cruiser came out of the middle of nowhere, it’s energy projector started to charge up. “Sir, should we fall back into the cave? We haven’t been back very far. But now’s the the only chance we got!” Runner exclaimed. “Roger that. We have no other choice. Everyone, go into the cave. We’ll make it through there.” Jackson sounded over confident, but he needed to reassure the squad they would be safe. Sanity was all they had at this point. Everyone fell back into the cave, full sprint. The Cruiser was at a gain. It’s energy projector fired. Jackson caved the entrance in. He hoped it would give them a chance of survival or at least keep them alive a little longer from the heat. It must have worked. Everyone was still at a sprint. The cave was dark. Only the Spartan’s had flashlights on their helmets, the others were forced to use the flashlights installed on their weapons. Which was everyone, except Junior. Who was stuck to rely on everyone else. They continued further back.They’ve been at this for about sixteen hours. Everyone was tired and exhausted. Next up was fatigue. It began to lighten up. The ground and walls suddenly came up to a bronze metal interior. “This is a little creepy, soothing, and confusing. All at the same time. What is this place?” Junior ran ahead, afraid of the darkness. “If I knew, I’d tell you. Hehe.” Paladin answered. “There’s yellow lights on the walls lighting up everything. We need to continue forward. There could be Covenant down here.” Michael said. “Right. Let’s go.” Jackson continued over the metal floor, a clankity clank sound made from their steps. It was hard not to stay quiet and evade the Covenant with this much noise. Jackson kept his SMG’s up. Archangel prep’d the rocket launcher. For just in case reasons. Bek looked over at Jackson, “Have you been here before that you know where you’re going? Because you look like you know which way we should go.” “None of us have ever been down here before. This looks like a whole other world.” Heli spoke up. That was the first thing he’s actually said since he’s been here. Jackson turned around the corner then stopped. “What is it, Jackson?” Dexter walked up beside him. He was the engineer, he needed to know what was going on. His armor wasn’t as strong as the others. It was durable, but that was only for a soldier of his class. He wasn’t afraid of the Covenant, but if there was any. He would improvise a plan to stay alive and help out as much as he can. Jackson said nothing. “Jackson?” Junior said it this time, Jackson’s favorite member. Nothing. Junior walked up next to his commander. He stopped in shock as well. “Everyone. Run.” Jackson ordered. He backed up behind the wall. A giant rocket launched pass and slammed into the wall, it created a dead end. They couldn’t head back, it was blocked. The only way through was to go where the rocket came from. Only Jackson knew what it was. Michael noticed something else on the wall... It was some sort of... Writing? ~End of Chapter 1~ ~Chapter 2: The Ancient One~ “Alright everyone, we’re going to have to go through. Stealth is the only key we have, I’d rather not upset this thing.” Jackson ordered. He peered around the corner, it wasn’t there. Jackson took the team and slowly walked their way down into the crevices of the room. The bronze metal continued where they went. A loud sound erupted. Jackson held still. The team did as well. Nothing. It must have been just an explosion far away. “Sir, what is that thing you saw?” Dexter held his weapon aimed at the sky. Jackson noticed he was scared. His arm was shaky like a broken tree branch in the limb, his voice cracked in fear like the crevice they were in. Jackson felt bad for the kid. “Archangel, can you reach your ship. UNSC Warlord?” Jackson asked politely. He didn’t turn around, he kept face forward as they walked. “Negative.” Archangel replied. “UNSC Warlord has left the planet, we were outnumbered. Reinforcements should arrive within the next eight days.” Archangel held a grip. He fell behind and watched their backs, he wanted to ensure everyone made it through. Bek screeched, “What?! They left us? They were are friends!” She began to cry, she had been hurt so much before that she had to just let it all out. It was unbearable for her. Jackson turned around in horror. “Shhh!!!” Bek couldn’t stop her sorrow. A loud thud shook them. Bek stopped. Everyone stopped. A second loud thud, followed by a metallic noise. It was quiet for a second. Then a loud metallic groan sounded. The team looked up in horror. There, floating above them was an eighteen foot tall robot. Yellow eyes on its face, bronze metal covered its body, a pistol mounted on its left arm, five spikes were on its back, it carried two small black sticks on its back, the right hand had a bright yellow opening on it, the same color as its eyes. This was unlike anything they have ever seen. The robot fired a rocket blindly in the room. “Everyone, we need to move. If we don’t, we’re done for!” Jackson sneered. He edged the team forward. “Whatever you do, do not try to attack or engage. Our mission is to get out of here.” He pushed through the crevices, slowly. The robot sound faded, the team pushed into an entirely different room. It was open as well as the last one. There was a cave on the other side. Hmm. This place didn’t seem very big. Jackson felt off. He motioned for the team to stay put. He moved forward towards the entrance. Nothing happened. As he came close to the entrance, he slipped. Luckily, he managed to catch himself. There was an enormous drop, large enough to be considered a grave for him and the whole team. You could probably throw the robot in there too, if you wanted and there would still be enough room to bury people. Jackson turned around. The team wasn’t there. He stopped to think where they would have gone. Could they have returned to the crevice? Could they have been killed? Cou-? He stopped mid-thought and turned around. Right there was the robot they had tried to escape. Jackson held himself together and stared face to face at it. The robot grabbed one of its small black sticks. It activated into a large red laser sword. It missed, but it sent off a concussion wave. Which caused Jackson to lose balance. He fell on his back, but was quick to retrieve himself. He watched as the robot’s five spikes on its back spread out. Wait, those weren’t spikes. Those were tentacles! The robot fired them in an order. Hot mama, they turned the area they hit a bright yellow. The tentacles then pulled the ground up, causing platforms on top and crevices on the bottom. Too hot to touch, Jackon turned around and ran. Archangel held the rocket launched up as Jackson came up. “Watch out!” He yelled as he pulled the trigger. The rocket hit the robot in the face. Nothing happened. The robot held up its right hand, with the bright yellow opening, and fired. Two blue like things shot out. They appeared to be armorless hunters. The team shot them down, they split into four small hunters, the team shot them down as well, they died. Piece of cake. The robot then began to fire rockets. They were slow, but they were massive. The team ran in a different direction. Everyone was on the run for their lives. Their own very chance of survival was about to end. All because of this robot. The team came upon a cave, maybe an exit to finally get out of here? They didn’t have any choice. They had to run for it. The robot fired another rocket, the team heard it gain on them. Michael looked over his shoulder. Paladin struggled to keep up. Now was his only chance, Michael dropped in speed and fell behind Paladin. He gave him a massive push, which caused him to rocket forward into the cave with the others. Ironically, the rocket slammed into the cave entrance. The wall collapsed. He had no way out. “No! Not again! No!” Bek bursted into tears. This couldn’t have happened again. It reminded her so much of Destroyer. Oh how she missed him. She didn’t understand how no one knew what happened to him. He was with them on the ship, then was gone the next morning. It happened so suddenly. Now Michael was gone. Bek just sat in her tears and cried. “Bek. It’ll be alright.” Runner crouched at her side. She set an arm on Bek’s shoulder. “I’m sure Michael is alive. After all, there’s no proof he’s dead. He’ll find his way back to us, I’m sure of it. He always has.” Runner took off her helmet then smiled at Bek. Bek’s sobs went mute. All she could feel was pain and anger. “It’s alright, let’s go now. There’s a light up ahead. We’re almost out of here. Michael will be with us up here soon. I promise.” Her smile turned into a wide grin. Although the assurance was overly justified. Bek accepted it, blindly. She stood up and walked side by side with Runner as the team progressed upwards towards the light. The robot’s loud voice could be heard throughout the walls of the tunnel they were in. Dexter shuddered at the sound. He moved closer to Jackson. He always felt safer around Jackson. He has never let them down. He’s been there for them through thick and thin. It was just a natural occurring habit for him now. The team exited the tunnel. ~End of Chapter 2~ ~Chapter 3: Again~ “Let’s go! We’re almost out of here! We just need to contact Warlord and let them know where we’re at. We don’t have much longer down here.” Jackson kept at a push for the tunnel’s exit. He grabbed Dexter, who was completely exhausted, and threw him over his shoulders. Archangel matched his pace with Jackson, “Sir! Mind you, Warlord has left this planet. There’s nothing here, just Covenant ships and that robot! You’re not going to get anywhere. It’s not even worth trying. We’re better off finding an outpost where we can take refuge until they come back.” Jackson looked at him, Archangel couldn’t see through his helmet but he knew he could feel anger. “You mean, if they come back.” Jackson kept his gaze on him with a dead beat. Archangel lowered his pace back to the group. Ashamed and feeling threatened by their only available Commander. Jackson stood at the exit as he waited for everyone. Back turned, Dexter passed out on his shoulder, and quiet. A little too quiet. Frank approached him first. “Jackson?” No response. Frank turned his eyes his way. It was an exit alright. Not the kind they wanted either. Everyone else walked up and saw it too. There was no where to go. A bronze metal platform stood at the end. Blue decal was in the center, unknown identity to any of them. The only way they could go was forward, and climb down, or to go back underground and join Michael in his grave. “You guy’s wait here, I’m going to go up and check things out. See what I can find.” Jackson stated. He laid Dexter on the ground, nice and easy as to not wake him. He carefully removed Dexter’s helmet and set it on his lap. He then proceeded to put him in a restful position. The others watched him as he cared for the poor soldier. After Jackson finished with Dexter, he walked forward towards the platform. The team felt as if an ominous breeze rushed over them. Although none of them paid any attention to it. They all just watched Jackson proceed forward to the dead end. Jackson approached the bronze metal platform, the was something on it. He picked it up, it looked like a wrist band. He put it on his armor. To his surprise, the wristband expanded and tightened. A small dish like object projected from the wristband. Jackson questioned it. He took a quick glance at it. He couldn’t figure it out. He had no idea what it did. He held it in the sky, maybe it was some sort of beacon? Nope. He lowered the weapon then tried again. Nothing, still. He lowered the weapon again, quicker this time, then thrusted it into the sky. A yellow ball flew out of the dish. It looked like a fuel rod gun, but was as fast as a rocket launcher. The ammunition for it looked simply as if it must be like the Spartan Laser, no consumption. Jackson looked around. There was no where to go. Maybe this weapon could help him defeat the robot down in the cave? Jackson started to head back for the others who all sat on top of the hill and watched him as he walked over the platform and back to them. Except he didn’t. “Jackson!” He heard Archangel scream. Too late. Jackson looked around confused. The ground trembled and was shaky. He had a sudden urge to make a run for it. His hesitance failed him. The platform began to float away from the cliff. “JACKSON!” He heard the entire team scream. The platform continued off in the distance. “Jackson...” He could hear a faint scream of the team. He was all alone, the only one able to make it out alive. He just stared at the sky, he knew he failed his mission. The platform stopped. Jackson looked back down. There was no where to get off, this enormous platform took him to the middle of nowhere! He had no way out! “God damn it! I’m separated from my team and there’s no way for them to get to me!” Jackson was furious and angry. He punched the platform in rage and cursed everything he saw. The wristband, his choices, the platform. Everything. Finally he came to a stop. Jackson turned around, he forgot about behind him. He stopped. Fear went through him. His eyes widened, his arms drop, his legs gave out. He was down on his knees. Jackson looked up again to see if it was still there. It was. Another robot. Except, this one was even larger. About six times the size of the last one. This one looked as if it was seventy-four meters tall. It held different technology as well. Which scared Jackson. There was something on the eye, a cannon like object on one arm, the other arm completely replaced with a giant gun of some sort, something on its chest, and a launcher of some sort on the backside of the shoulder. Jackson felt his life’s countdown tick away. The robot spoke, “I have you now.” The thing on its eye lit up. A blue laser powered up and was aimed directly at Jackson. ~End of Chapter 3~ ~Chapter 4: Disclose~ “Ohhh... Where am I?” He opened his eyes. It was pitch black, and he couldn’t see. Michael reached out to move around. He couldn’t do that either. Was he paralyzed? Was he a vegetable? What was going on? Wait. What was the last thing Michael remembered? He tried to think... There was a robot. They were on the run from it. Oh. That’s right. He saved Paladin from being hit by the rocket. The rocket hit just above the entrance, and collapsed the cave. That was all he could remember. Hopefully nothing else happened and he was just knocked out. There was only way to find out if he was under the rock. All he needed to do was push his way up. Michael gathered all his strength and forced his arm through what he thought was rock. Pebbles and a few rocks fell down on his suit. His arm was out. Now all he needed to do was, “Just pull myself up...” he said to himself out loud. With a hard push, Michael arose from the rocks. The room was darker. The bronze floor was gone. No wait, the bronze floor was still there. Just covered in rock. How much of that rock wall was destroyed? Eh, it didn’t matter. Michael got up and started to walk back the way he thought he came. This was going to be a long 16 hour trip back to the base. “Hopefully UNSC Warlord is back with reinforcements...” ~The team~ “Archangel do you see him? I can’t see anything.” Dexter looked over at Archangel. They both laid on their stomachs. Archangel pulled up his sniper scope. They’ve been on the look for Jackson since he left. “I’m not seeing anything either. We might just want to give up.” Archangel looked away from his scope, and turned his head at Dexter. Dexter was still on the look down his binoculars. “No. We need to make sure he’s still alive and okay. He could be on the return right now, we need to be prepared for when he arrives.” Archangel rolled his eyes at his response. Although he didn’t object, he returned to look down his scope. “Guys.” Runner said. Helix was the only one who looked at her, but he didn’t respond. He had a bad experience the last time that one word sentence was said. He shuddered at the thought. “I think I found him.” Archangel said. He wasn’t sure. It was very far far away. “What do you see?” Dexter asked. “Guys.” Runner said again, but louder. Frank heard her this time, he got up and walked over to her. “What’s wrong.” “Oh my god. You won’t believe this.” Archangel looked up from his scope and turned at Dexter. “What?” Dexter was tired of this bush beating. “It’s Bek. She’s hurt.” Runner said. Frank motioned for Junior to come over. “What’s wrong?” Junior asked Runner. Runner moved her arm. There was a bullet wound in her left side. “Strange. How did this get here?” Junior moved Runner aside and started to patch the wound. “It’s the robot. It’s back and it’s fighting Jackson.” Archangel said. “Move aside,” Dexter commanded and Archangel did. Dexter looked down the scope, “What in god’s name. That’s not the same robot. That’s another one!” Dexter scolded Archangel for his ignorance. “Alright. So? We found him. Just like you wanted.” Archangel got up he reached for the sniper rifle. “The robot just launched a bomb, it’s hovering up Jackson right now!” Archangel grabbed the sniper rifle from Dexter and put it on his back. “You idiot!” Dexter stood up and got face-to-face with him. Dexter raised his fist to punch the spartan, but before he could even try a tremendous explosion went on. Everyone turned to the explosion, which is the direction Archangel spotted Jackson. Everyone was silent. “What was that? It sounded like Frank’s mom just got out of bed! Bahahaha!” Paladin gave himself a good time. Archangel tried not to smile at the joke. Junior just finished with the wound. He got up and walked over to Dexter. Runner watched Bek as she slept, she felt sorry for the girl. A tear slipped from her eye. Bek’s did the same. ~End of Chapter 4~ ~Chapter 5: Here Comes the Boom!~ “I have you now!” The robot said. Jackson stared directly into its eyes. Ready. The machinery that covered its right eye lit up. It looked like a charge of something, like a button. Except this machinery fired a blue laser at Jackson. It missed, but the robot could drag the laser across until it finally got him. Jackson ran at a good pace. The laser kept on his tail, but was not fast enough to catch up. He needed to find a way to destroy that laser. His weapons were long lost. He dropped them back at the cave exit. Which was just a dead end, until he got on this platform and grabbed this... Wait a second, that’s it! He could use this thing on his arm. If it would deal any damage to the giant beast in front of him. Only one way to find out. Jackson raised his arm as he ran from the laser. He stopped to shoot. “AAAAAHHHH,” The robot sounded injured. Jackson kept the gun at a steady fire. The machinery blew up. A black hole replaced the eye and machinery. As if it just disappeared. Jackson felt accomplished. A giant pillar arose from the depths on the platforms back left. About a hundred meters away. Jackson forgot what he was supposed to do. He quickly focused back on the giant robot. Its gun mounted on its back right shoulder extended and the barrel enlarged. It shot something at him. Jackson dodged, but it was pointless. The object stopped and floated in mid-air. Electricity sparked on its sides. A timer sounded. A timer!? Jackson quickly activated his emergency jetpack, he flew straight in the air and out of range. Which didn’t last very long. The jetpack lost its charge and Jackson landed back on the platform. The robot looked at Jackson and made a loud roar. It pulled up its right elbow, which had a shiny medal on it. It was as if it wanted to show Jackson something. Nope. The shoulder charged a bright red, it shot five spheres at Jackson. Who instinctively jumped out of the way. They weren’t aimed at him either. They all landed on the floor. Jackson watched them carefully, one by one they exploded. It was a small explosion but a concussion wave was emitted from each one of them. Jackson jumped and dodged each of the waves. He started to shoot the robots elbow. This little wristband amazed him. The technology it had could help the UNSC greatly. He broke what was actually another piece of machinery on the robots right elbow. Wires flailed from it and the piece exploded too. The robot roared again, “I have you now!” Another sphere shot up from the depths, this time on the back right. Same distance and size. The giant robot brought its gun up again. Jackson tried to shoot it. It didn’t work. The gun could withstand the bullets. It shot another bomb. Jackson tried his emergency jetpack again. It was charged a little. He had to use it. Jackson pushed the trigger and it thrusted him in the air. He made it about four hundred meters and crashed back down on the platform. The robot wasn’t happy. It lifted its head up, which moved its metal nose out of the way and revealed another giant shiny medal on the robots chest. Maybe this was another piece of machinery? It fired green balls, much like the one on his wristband shot except his was yellow, Jackson just stood still. He knew that the robot gave up on direct fire after the laser. The green balls hit the floor and revealed monster like things. They looked like what those hunters he faced earlier looked like. Except he concluded weren’t hunters. They were something else. Jackson just quickly shot these ones down. Wasn’t that difficult. He raised his arm and went to shoot the shiny medal on the chest. The robot already charged another bomb and was about to fire it. Jackson saw another pillar come from the depths below. Except the depths got a nice, hazy mist over them now. He couldn’t see the bottom. The robot fired its bomb. Jackson used his jetpack. It had just a tiny charge. His only hope. He pushed the button and thrusted three hundred meters in the air. Just fifty meters out of range. He crashed again on the platform. His emergency jetpack was out and completely destroyed from the close radius. Jackson took it off and threw it over the edge. Maybe he should have thought about have used it back over when the platform first moved? He wouldn’t be where he was now, dead. The robots rage was mad. The wires were flailed around from its movements. The feet kicked in place. It brought its left arm up. No. This wasn’t its arm, it was a staff of some sort. The end piece charged bright yellow. Jackson stood his place. It fired directly at Jackson. Jackson dodged just barely. “Holy cow, I thought it gave up on direct fire. It must have gave up on indirect fire as well.” Jackson started to shoot the staff. It charged again and another giant ball of yellow missed him. Jackson kept fire on the staff. The robot was irritated, “NOOO!!!” It screamed. It fired another one, Jackson was almost hit that time. He fired some more at the staff. It exploded the robots entire left arm. The robot roared at its loudest. The gun came over its shoulder again. It just fired bomb after bomb after bomb. Jackson watched a fourth pillar arise on the platforms front right side. What were these platforms for? The robot stopped for a second to say something, “Your jetpack won’t protect you now!” Jackson noticed his weapon shined light instead of the bronze metal it was. The robot said something else, “The weapon! It does exist! He must not be allowed to use it!” Jackson aimed the gun at the robot, it charged up. The robot stood still. “Blast something!” The robot exclaimed. Jackson fired the charged shot. It shot something similar to the robots staff. A giant white ball of power crashed right into the robot. It was destroyed. The ball continued on afterwards. Towards the area his friends were. Jackson felt accomplished. He looked at his wristband. It was gone, completely crumbled and destroyed. Jackson looked in the air, all the bombs were still there. He covered his eyes in fear of his demise. His luck, he teleported. Jackson got up from the ground he was thrown on. He looked around. “Ugh-guh.” He grunted. He saw his team, all near the tunnel exit. He looked to his right, the giant ball of energy came right at them, directly at the tunnel exit. “Everyone, get out of the way! Get over here, now!” Jackson shouted. They all looked in surprise. He wasn’t sure if they ran over to him from the order, or because they were happy to see him back. Jackson spoke to them, “Watch it.” They looked confused, the giant ball of energy slammed into the tunnel and ripped right through. A giant tunnel was formed and the collapse was gone. They could continue back a different route, and hopefully avoid the smaller robot inside. Dexter looked at Jackson and said, “I’m glad you’re back. I missed you.” He hugged Jackson. A grin overcame his face. Jackson was happy to be back too. He turned to where he came from, the team did too. The four pillars and platform charged. The pillars shot four bright white beams into the sky. The platform shot a giant white ball of energy, much like the one that hit the tunnel, except bigger, into the sky as well. They all then collapsed and self-destructed back where they came from. They all watched in awe. Something crashed from the sky. They all looked to see what it was. The Covenant’s last supercarrier was destroyed and crashed into the surface of the planet. Judged from the surprise and crash speed. No covenant on board survived. “Oh my god. We can leave! We don’t have to worry anymore! Woo-hoo! Now all we have to do is get to Bravo Base, and I can fly us off this planet!” Frank was happier than ever. Heli and Bek looked at each other. They smiled. “Thanks for helping me out,” Bek said. Heli took the courage to reply, “You’re welcome. I didn’t want to lose a new friend the day I met her. Just, don’t attempt suicide again. Please?” He had confidence. “Heheh. I won’t.” Bek gave Heli a kiss and walked away to rejoin the others enter the tunnel. “Runner, you’re skills are very important this mission. I’m going to need you.” Jackson looked at Runner, she walked at his side. “Yes, sir. What kind of havoc should I bring upon?” Runner smiled behind her ODST helmet. “You and I are going to kill us what the ancient ones used to call that robot, a Vector.” Jackson said. Runner abrasively grabbed her weapon, and loaded it. She was happy to finally kill something. Who cares what it was? As long as she could kill it. She looked over her shoulder and made eye contact with Paladin. Then quickly turned her head forward. A giant grin came across her face. “Ready when you are, Commander.” ~End of Chapter Five~ ~Chapter 6: Jigsaw~ Michael climbed up the tunnel. He was exhausted from this long walk, being almost crushed by boulders, and his life risked from a merely invincible robot. He was just glad to be out of there. He grabbed the wall to support himself out of what was now what they used to call the cave entrance. The room was fine, everything was the same. It’s as if the Covenant’s energy projector was never fired. Michael continued through the building, he was quiet. As not to disturb any enemy forces in the building. He ran into a wall. “Ow!” He yelled. “Who goes there?” Someone said. Michael noticed a weapon aimed at his head as he recovered from the pain. There was an arm, but no person. It was a magnum. Could this person see him through the wall? Michael thought. “I’m a member of Team Mike, we were sent down here to observe and take out any Covenant ground forces. My team are eighteen hours away underground in that tunnel I just came from. I was separated from them when I risked my life to save one of them from a wall collapse.” Michael responded, he may have said too much information. The soldier moved from behind the wall. It was a Spartan II, a red light shined at the right side of the helmet. It turned off in a matter of seconds. “I am Alex, from UNSC Warlord. You guy’s alright? Or more or less, are you alright?” The spartan said. “Yeah I’m fine. Just exhausted. Is anyone else here?” Michael started to get curious of the Spartan and wondered if anyone else was around. He was kinda hungry, too. “Just my ODST support man, Fauz. He’s in the other room, covering my back. Just in case I made the wrong move. To my luck, I’m safe. Now, would you mind leading us to your friends?” Alex stood up tall. It was as if he was a leader of a team, or maybe the general of the UNSC Warlord? Whoever he was, he looked like he could kick a Field Marshal's teeth in. Jackson didn’t stand a chance against this rocky mountain. “Yes, uh, just follow me. I’ll lead you to them.” Michael turned around and led him upstairs, then to another set of stairs that led them downstairs to a concealed room that had just a rugged couch and the cave. “No wonder we couldn’t find the entrance. I thought it led back to your small armory. I guess this is the way in. We picked up your distress beacon, but it’s a little up on the weak side. We can track the location it was last emitted. Which was this base. Nothing else could be found or heard. We’ve been here for the past three hours. Searching.” Alex started to explain to Michael about how one of the UNSC Warlord crew members left an anonymous distress beacon. It was either Bek or Paladin. He bet it was Bek, she was the most concerned of the team. “I understand that. Thanks for the summary. Do you mind telling me why the Covenant’s energy projector’s didn’t do anything to our base?” Michael decided to answer the question to calm his desperate need to want to know what the hell happened. “Energy projector’s? As soon as we came back, we saw two covenant cruisers, and our ships high-tech engineer, Osiris, managed to shoot them down within ten seconds. We never saw any of them fire at the surface.” Alex was confused as to what he wanted to know. “Oh...” Michael felt stupid. If they would’ve just waited out five more seconds, they all would’ve been just fine and not in this huge mess as they were! Oh well, I guess it’s better safe than sorry, he thought. “Alright, let’s go. Fauz, you coming?” Alex put the magnum back on his waist. He grabbed a spartan laser and assault rifle, he put both of them on his back. “Yeah, yeah. I’m coming, mate. Jeez, hold ya breath. Was only doing some Yoga, before we go.” Fauz appeared around the doorway, he held a sniper rifle and a DMR resided on his back. Fauz was an ODST, one of the best in his class. Which his class just so happened to be... Sniping. This is gonna be great. “Alright, then lets push forward.” Alex activated his helmet lights and walked into the cave. Fauz and Michael followed behind him, their flashlights on. This was going to be a fun, long walk. As Michael was walking, he heard something behind him, he turned around to see what it was. Nothing. He heard the noise again. Michael turned his head over his shoulder, he hoped to see if it was really something, or if he was just hearing things. He saw nothing. Maybe he was in early development of Schizophrenia. He heard the noise again. This time he turned around as soon as he heard it. He saw nothing. Wait, there was a displacement of air. It looked a little infringed. Wow, he really must have Schizophrenia, or at least in the development. He would have to check this out with Nut. It was a scary thought, but he needed to know. Something moved in front of them. ~End of Chapter 6~ ~Chapter 7: Renknown~ “This has got to be the most boring evacuation,” Paladin took a deep breath, “that I have ever had. I don’t know if it’s because of the environment, or because half you guys don’t even talk.” Paladin took a drink of some coffee. “May I ask where you got that coffee?” Frank waddled over to Paladin, “I’ve been thirsty and coffee sounds really good right now.” Frank had a grin on his face. Paladin took a sip of his coffee, his eye on Frank. “Nope, and if you ask again. I’ll shoot you in the back of the leg. That’s a promise.” Paladin drank more of his coffee. Frank’s grin went to a disappointed frown. He then waddled back over by Heli. “Where are we going again?” Archangel asked Jackson. “Back to base. It’s too risky in here. Radiation is safer than this place.” Jackson grabbed onto a rock ledge, and pulled himself up. The others did the same as well. This place was like a giant maze. None of them knew where they were going. “Ugh, this is so frustrating.” Runner punched the wall. Which surprised Bek and Paladin, she managed to puncture the wall. “Guy’s, it’s fine. We have nothing to worry about. As long as we follow Jackson, we’ll make it there safely.” Dexter stated. “I’m starting to get sick of your Jackson will hep us with this, Jackson will help us with that; bullcrap. My father was the same way, but in the end he ended up killing those who he loved and then having them turn upon himself.” Doc was frustrated, yet depressed. Dexter’s statements that made Jackson sound like a diety, annoyed him. He missed his father, that’s who made him who he was today. “Guys, lets settle down. There’s always a way out...” Jackson started to say. A loud roar was heard. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me. This thing again? It’s just as bad as having Michael around.” Runner said, “Well, kinda. I mean, I’d rather have this thing around since it’s quiet and just roars; I’d also rather have Michael just for the reason he doesn’t try to kill us. At eighty-percent of the time.” Runner noticed she was in a conversation with herself. “Who the hell are you talking to?” Paladin walked over. “HAHA!” He started to laugh about it. Runner walked up to Paladin, weapon drawn. She had him in a hostage position, pretty much. “Talking crap about me? Do it again and I’ll blow your ******* brains out. YOU HEAR ME?” Runner was upset, very upset. She noticed her mistake, but no regrets. The giant robot was over them, tentacles drawn. “You have got to be kidding me!” Jackson yelled, he took off in a sprint away, at his best to avoid the robot. The team did the same. The robot didn’t do anything, it just made some sort of what sounded like a chuckle. It then flew in sync, above them. “This thing’s just playing with us!” Bek yelled. “I’ll protect you...” Heli felt embarrased, but he wanted to sound confident to Bek, he wanted to prove to her. “Ugh, look Heli. I like you, but I would never date you. This isn’t the time or place either, I know, and I’m sorry. It’s just, you’re a guy.” Bek said. “What does being a guy have to do with anything?!” Heli was confused and mad at the same time. “Nothing, it’s the only excuse I could come up with.” Bek dived under a rock wall. Then continued to run with the team on the other time. Heli felt hopeless, he all of a sudden hated Bek. Really? Had to say that right now? When we could all possibly die? He thought. He was sick of it, he stopped and let the team run on. He was going to face that robot. Heli made his way up the rock to the upper ground. The team ran over the rock, there was a cavern at the end. At least it was some place to go, Jackson thought. “Let’s go guys, the cave is right there. We can make it. I have faith in all of you.” Jackson made a mad dash of a sprint, and was in the cave. The others arrived shortly after. The robot was angry, it shot three of those armorless things that looked like Hunters. The team shot them down, they diversed into two. Now there was six. They shot again, now there was twelve of them. Archangel was tired of this, he grabbed his rocket launcher and them. That killed all twenty-four of them. “Bit of an overkill there, buddy.” Paladin said. “You know what else is an overkill? Bek with that comeback she told Heli earlier. BAHAHA.” Paladin laughed at his own joke, Bek smiled at it. Embarrased. “Ah there you guy’s are!” Someone yelled, Jackson turned around. Oh god, it was Michael... And two other dudes. He had no idea who they were, but one of them was a Spartan II, the other was an ODST Sniper. They looked like they meant business. “Hello, Michael. These some friends you found? Who are they?” Dexter asked, instad of Jackson. It make Jackson sound more confident in what he was doing. He could appreciate that. “Uh no. No they are not friends. Actually, they are... Team Lord from UNSC Warlord. Uhm, this guy is Alex.” Michael gestured to the Spartan II, “...and this one’s name is Fauz. He’s funny, he shoots things he doesn’t care about. Hehe.” Michael sounded even stupider than when he left them. “What are they here for? I thought Paladin and Bek was our way out?” Jackson was confused. “No. We came because we picked up on a distress beacon. Your friend here, lead us to the cave where it was transmitting from. Luckily, we ran into you guys at the end. He already explained why you came down here, you don’t have to explain. Right now, we need to move. We have to get back to the surface. Now.” Alex started to turn around. He stopped. “Commander, what’s wrong? You usually don’t hesitate.” Bek asked. “Uh-huh... Ugh... Guh...” Was all Alex could say. “What is it?” Archangel asked. An energy sword appeared out of nowhere, it penetrated Alex before he could vanish. The Elite uncloaked as he did so. He wanted the Spartan to know who his killer was, this was honor for the Elite. Afterall, it’s something their race values greatly. The Elite quickly disappeared and was gone before the team could even get a shot off. Alex was on the floor. Jackson moved over to him with Junior. He motioned the team to stand back. Junior examined the wounds. Alex spoke to Jackson, “Jackson.” Cough. “I want to say, it was an honor to meet you. A great honor.” A consecutive cough kept up for about five seconds. “Why is it an honor for you to meet you?” Jackson was confused. “I don’t understand.” “About ten years ago... I fought alongside your grandfather, Sarge. He was an excellent Commander. Unforanutely killed, by our medic.” Alex still spoke to Jackson. Junior felt anger run through his blood when Alex said that. Yet, he also felt a little sad for Jackson. His father killed Jackson’s grandfather. Who was apparently a great leader. He just hoped Jackson was the same. He wanted to know what his father felt like with that type of guy. Was Jackson already there and he didn’t know it? Junior felt like he needed to let things go. He didn’t care, maybe he should start. Jackson and Alex were still in their conversation. “You’re not there yet. I know you will be. I want you to go with Fauz, he’ll let them know you’re Team Lord’s replacement. We need heroes, Jack. You’ll become one of them. I know you will.” Those were Alex’s last words. He didn’t move or breathe. His body stopped. Alex was dead. ~End of Chapter 7~ ~Chapter 8: Reputation~ Heli watched as they walked out of the room, he watched the Elite kill the Spartan and flee, except the Elite fled into the cave, not out of it. Hopefully the Elite wouldn’t go for him, it was his time to prove to everyone he wasn’t worthless. He was sick and tired of it. Let’s do this. Everyone was gone far in the tunnel. He stood his ground, gun drawn. He waited for the robot to return. He saw no sign of it, not even a sound. “Maybe this is pointless, I may as well face the fact that I’m worthless and not desired.” Heli lowered his weapon, tears streamed down his eyes. He sat there in silence for hours upon hours, tears were stained on his cheeks. His eyes were red. The team is most definitely at the surface now. He should head back as well. He stood up. The robot was right there. five tentacles came out of its back. They all fired their deadly yellow beams at Heli. One at a time, and in a consistent stationary manner. Heli dodged the first one, easily. The second one came up, he hurtled over it with grace in his jump. The third one stopped him in his tracks, he was forced to turn. The fourth one just barely missed, it went right over his shoulder. The fifth one was unexpected, he was left with an incredible wound on his left shoulder. The pain was enough to make him stop, he wouldn’t. Heli grabbed his weapon as he fell to the ground, he noticed something above the robot. He couldn’t tell what, but it was something. He opened fire. The robot retracted its tentacles and raised its... Its... Its wrist pistol? A pistol came out of its arm and fired rockets at him. They missed, but each one got closer and closer. The clip was up. He grabbed another and unloaded it into the caves ceiling. This time it did something. The robot stopped to look up. A stalactite fell on the robot, it penetrated the armor and pinned it to the ground. “What you got on me now, you stupid pile of scrap metal?” Heli gained his confidence back, with a drastic ego boost. The team wouldn’t believe this, he thought as he started to walk away. The ground rumbled. Heli turned around, he watched as the robot pulled the stalactite out of its body. A giant hole was in its left side of the abdomen, wires sparked on the inside. Heli knew the robot was going to kill him. The robot grabbed a rod from its back, it glared at Heli. He should probably run... The robot slammed the rod on the ground, it missed him. That wasn’t the point of it, Heli was thrown back by a concussion wave. “Not going to go out like this.” He grabbed his gun, loaded it, and locked on to another stalactite. He opened fire. The robot saw him, it fired three giant balls out of its left hand. It then rested back and charged all of its tentacles. Three, what looked like he could describe as only monsters, came up to him. He changed targets and shot at them. They were tough. Once one fell back, he locked onto the other one. He took them all three down. Except, well, he didn’t. Once they fell down, they split into two smaller forms. “Grrr...” Heli was irritated. He shot each of them down again. He then returned focus on the stalactite, it was almost ready to fall. The monsters approached him, again. Except now they were four to one of the original form. Heli took them out, with quick ease. He looked back up. The robot fired the lasers from its tentacles again. “You won’t get me now.” Heli stood still, the lasers all missed him. The robot glared at him, it used the lasers and pulled five pillars out of the ground with its laser. Heli shielded his eyes from the bright, molten pillars that were pulled out of the ground and formed. They soon hardened from the coolness in the air. The robot pulled up its pistol again and started to fire at Heli... Or maybe the pillars instead. Each rocket hit a pillar, which shattered and caused debris to fly at Heli. Now was his last chance, he unloaded what was left into the stalactite. It fell on top of the robot, again. This time the stalactite was big enough to finish the job. Penetration through the head, the robot fell to the ground. Heli approached it, sparks flickered everywhere on the machine. The robot eyes were blank as it stared at him. “Not so tough now are you, you piece of scrap?” Heli grabbed the chest piece and assembled it onto his back with his weapons. He turned and walked away. “I... I was made by the precursors... Your time is coming... You have been warned...” The robot self destructed as he walked away from it. “I don’t know what that means, but that doesn’t matter. I can finally prove to Bek I’m not worthless. She thinks I want her heart? No. I want her to learn her place, by doing that I first need to show her mine. I’m not going to put up with her crap, or anyone else’s again. Jackson may have destroyed the bigger one and caused a destruction of a Covenant Super Carrier, but none of the others were a match for this one.” Heli had a grin of determination on his face. He walked towards the tunnel, and headed for the exit. This was going to be a fun six hour trip. The Elite stood at the robot, who claimed to be built by the precursors. “Command, this is Lan Chorus. We need to leave the planet, now. Send a transport to evac me from here, I’ll get to the nearest and fastest exit I can. Be there. I will explain everything on board.” Lan watched Helix enter the tunnel. “You may have won this battle, but you will be more that surprised for the next. Team Lord’s leaders are dead. You’ll have to manage on your own. Sarge and Alex were all they had to rely on, the rest will be easy and undisciplined.” A Scarab broke the wall down. Lan walked over to it, a Lich was in the air, it awaited his arrival. Lan boarded it and headed towards a third Corvette, which was undetectable by the UNSC surprisingly. They left the planet. ~End of Chapter 8~ ~Chapter 9: We need to go~ The sky was brighter than an American Independence Day. They have been on the defensive side for hours since their arrival back topside. A few soldiers remained, Marine’s and ODST’s laid all around the base. Dead. “Michael, can you focus the tank on the approaching Wraith’s. There’s a count of four, we’re better off taking them down now before they reach the base.” Jackson was set on top of the building beside Dexter and Runner. He had the sniper, they had the long range rifles. “I don’t think that would be wise as of right now. Whatever, I guess.” Michael aimed the cannon at the Wraith’s. He fired at each wraith, twice in fact, each of them were down before they were in fire range of the vicinity. Frank engaged Banshee’s. Three of them came in from behind, fuel rods fired and dual cannons were blazed hot. One was down, it swirled into the trees below. Frank decided to turn on some music is the Hornet to celebrate his first kill. ‘I’m bringing sexy back’ the song started off. “Yeah!” Frank said along with the song. He fired missiles at the other two banshee’s, instant kill. “Frank, focus. We have a lich incoming. I’m assuming they have at least sixty covenant on board, that’s too many for us to handle. Junior is downstairs preparing the warthog so we can head to an evac point. Warlord is right above us, but we have no support. Radio is down, their engaged in combat with the Covenant Cruisers. Archangel is repairing the base defense cannons, they’re offline. Once they’re online, we can radio in transport, which is linked with the cannons.” Jackson sniped an Elite Spec Ops. He reloaded as Runner shot down a team of jackal snipers. “I’m on it.” Frank engaged the Lich. It powered up it’s EMP and was ready to knock out Caboose. “No you’re not.” Frank shot at the EMP cannon, the Lich’s shields flickered. “Come on.” The base cannons came online, they fired at the Lich. “Well, how convenient.” Frank took a sip of coffee he stole from Paladin, then fired the missiles at the Lich’s EMP cannon. It went offline. Frank engaged the onboard Elite crew. “Archangel, you getting communications established? Michael, we have Locust walking towards us.” Jackson sniped an Elite off the turret of a Shadow. Dexter killed the driver. “Yes sir. I have communications up and running. Already contacted UNSC Warlord. They’ll have an evac pelican in 2 clicks. ETA in 10 minutes. I’m going to go help Junior out.” Archangel left the operations room. The base shook. “What’s going on?” Bek asked. She finished with the fuel in the Warthog. “Locust are engaging the base. Michael is taking out the last of them, it’ll be a few seconds. Hopefully the base doesn’t fall apart.” Jackson told everyone. “Warthog’s ready.” Junior said to Jackson. “Alright, Runner and Dexter, let’s get down their. Frank, land the hornet, let’s go.” Jackson ordered. Frank landed the Hornet, he hopped out and ran down the stairs. He hopped on the back of the Warthog, gun ready. “We’re ready Junior, let’s go.” Jackson got on the makeshift turret. Every boarded the passenger seats. Junior slammed on the gas, full speed out of the base. Michael trailed behind in the Scorpion. -------------- Heli walked up tunnel. He was finally back above ground, and ready to get out of here. As well as prove to Bek he wasn’t worthless. There was no one here, the base cannons were on. Strange. Those weren’t on before. He walked across the room and entered the operations room. The radio was on, maybe he could communicate and get ahold of them or something of the sort. He walked over to the radio. “Hehe. It’s not even worth it anymore.” Someone said. The bases power went offline. The radio went dead and the room was dark. “Wh... Who’s there? Where are you?” Heli raised his weapon, ready to fire. “Doesn’t matter anymore.” An energy sword lit up and ripped through Heli’s abdomen. An Elite was shown in the light of the sword. “Ugh... Ugh...” Heli couldn’t talk. “You’re friends will be next.” The Elite swung his sword, Heli slid off and flew across the room, his body dead on the floor. ~End of Chapter 9~ ~Chapter 10: KRRRRSSSSSHZZZZZTTHZZZZZ~ “Where the hell is the evac?” Jackson assisted Frank in the destruction of an enemy Banshee. Two more fired at them. “It’s up ahead, we’re almost there. We’ll have to hold the line for about 30 seconds, we’re early.” Archangel took Junior’s shotgun and shot an Elite that tried to board the Warthog. “Nevermind the evac, where the hell is Michael and Heli?” Runner shot a jackal, denied. It raised its gauntlet just in time. She pulled the weapon over her shoulder and took out five grunts, then turned back to get the jackal by surprise. “Who knows? Maybe Michael went back to get Heli. He wasn’t in the Warthog.” Frank shot his sticky detonator at a Hunter, as soon as they were out of range he pulled the trigger and watched orange ooze explode everywhere. He reloaded. “He also wasn’t at the base. What could he have been up to?” Paladin just sat there and watched everyone. He took a sip of his coffee. Dexter and Archangel sniped any Elite’s that were after them on Ghosts. Dexter replied, “Could have been because of Bek. She’s awful flirty for a Spartan. Heli would probably have done something to prove to her he’s not worthless, like she treated him.” He shot a grunt off a shade turret. Archangel and Dexter stopped, together they said, “Oh crap.” Junior stopped the vehicle then hopped out and gunned down every Elite within fifty meters of range. “Knowing the fool, he’s probably dead from that robot.” Junior power kicked a grunt, which flew at a wall. Death on impact. “I don’t think he would’ve done that.” Bek said. She shot a drone. “Your evac shuttle has arrived! Bahaha. Hurry up and get on before I leave you to die. Don’t think I’m joking, I will.” It was Osiris, he was the one sent to extract them in this heavily armored Assault Pelican. The mounted spartan laser cannon charged up, it took out two Wraith’s in just one shot. Ugh. Bek stumbled into the Warthog, she fell on the ground. “I’m coming. Just wait.” “I told you, no waiting. We’re leaving.” Osiris commanded the Pilot to take off. “You can’t just leave her there! That’s insane!” Runner yelled at Osiris. “So be it. Nothing you can do now.” He bursted out in laughter. “Oh ho ho...” He started to calm down. “Samantha, we’re en route now. ETA, twenty seconds.” Osiris got in the co-pilot seat, he fired the 40mm cannon at a phantom. It took severe damage, he finished it off with a second. “Cheers.” He pulled out a canister and drank what turned out to be Scotch. They boarded the UNSC Warlord. This time, it wasn’t boarded. -------------- Michael walked into the base. “Huh, when did the power go off?” He activated his flashlight and found the generators. He managed to get it back online. He walked over to the Operations room to make radio contact with Warlord that he would arrive in a Hornet. Michael screamed like a little girl and threw himself backwards. He saw Heli’s body on the floor, blood was everywhere and his death was brutal. The floor was a tinted dark maroon. Heli’s left leg and left arm laid on the table. His right leg and right arm laid thrown around the room. He found his body, er the main part. It looked as if it was cut open and something feasted on the inside of it. Michael took his helmet off and threw up on the body. He wiped his face off afterwards. “This is the least I can do.” He grabbed Heli’s helmet and took it off. An eye was gone and his nose was torn off in half. Michael threw up again. He then took the video chip of everything Heli recorded within the past seventy-two hours and then made radio contact with command. He was set. Without acknowledgement of the body, he ran out of the room and got in the Hornet and started it up and headed towards the UNSC Warlord. He noticed a lone soldier off in the distance. They were surrounded, but they managed to keep alive. He started to head over to the soldier. Too late. A Scarab charged the soldier, they were gone. Michael threw up in the cockpit. ~End of Chapter 10~ ~Chapter 11: Instilled~ Michael landed at the exact same time as the others did. He put the Hornet offline and hopped out of the canopy. “Hello everyone. How’s it going?” Osiris walked by Michael, “Jeez, you remind me a lot of Destroyer. I hope you die like he did. Save us the trouble of ear infections.” Osiris walked onto a platform, it rose above to the ceiling. He got off and headed towards the Control Room. “What the heck’s his problem?” Runner crossed her arms, her eyes glared at the platform. “Oh him? That’s just Osiris, he’s always been that way back when Sarge, Dumby, Destroyer and I ran into him back on Harvest. He’s a tough dude, tough as nails and doesn’t give a crap about no one.” Paladin took a sip of his coffee. Runner smacked the coffee out of his hands, “Continue.” Paladin looked at her, annoyed. “I was gonna drink that you know.” “I know, now continue.” Runner stared at him intensively. “Well, that’s pretty much it. He doesn’t give a crap and if it causes an explosion. He goes for it. Whatever lights the boomstick.” Paladin walked over to an outlet on the wall. He pulled off his backpack and pulled out a coffee brewer and a coffee bag. He then started to brew some coffee. “Alright, so the guy loves things to die in a horrific way. Wonderful. I’d rather go take on that Elite that killed your Commander, Alex.” Runner rolled her eyes, she was irritated about this place already, paranoid. Paladin poured himself a cup of coffee. “Alright, so now what do we do?” Jackson spoke up. “Well, don’t ask me. I don’t know.” Paladin said. He took a sip of coffee, commander Samantha came up on his VISR. “Paladin. I need to see you and the survivors. Now. Moth will be waiting outside the door.” That’s all she said, and flicked off the screen. “Never mind. Follow me.” He finished his coffee and walked over to the platform. Paladin pushed a button, which raised the platform. “Wanna tell us where we’re going?” Jackson said. “Commander wants to see you survivors. As soon as you’re in the clear, we’ll be on our way.” Paladin replied. “And what about Bek? What are we going to do about her? She could be alive for all we know.” Jackson stated. “She could be, but I highly doubt it. See, as soon as we boarded the ship and Osiris left. We left the surface and are now above the atmosphere. By now, he should have cleansed the surface with missile strikes.” Paladin threw his empty coffee cup in the trash. “I highly doubt Bek is still alive after that.” Jackson just stood in silence. Osiris just wanted to kill her... That was his plan. He must have got sick of her like he got sick of Destroyer. Except, he didn’t kill Destroyer. The doors slid open. A beautiful young woman stood in front of them. A lustrous golden hair, nicely fined nails, well taken care of uniform, and a nice hint of wow. This commander was a stun, a fox I tell you Er, well you know what I mean. She was attractive. Frank scratched his head. He tried not to blush over these thoughts, but dang. “Hello everyone. I see you have survived and are back in the land of the living. Looks like we’re a few people short...” Samantha looked at Moth. “Uh, well a few of them died. Helix and Alex were both killed by Lan Chorus. Mam.” Moth saved himself from an argument. “Ah, Lan Chorus. He needs to go down. He’s been bounty hunting us ever since the Fall of Reach. He took out two of our good soldiers from Team Lord. Biggles and Jack of Harts during the events in between.” Samantha gazed off, as if she was remembering all the tragedy he had caused. “Ah, so what is it you propose Commander?” Paladin stepped forward. “It’s simple.” Samantha’s smile turned into a wide grin. Everyone looked at her, even Moth. “I want you to find and kill Lan Chorus.” ~End of Chapter 11~ ~Epilogue~ Bek fired at the Covenant, there was a few grunts left. She could see a Scarab and several Wraith’s on the move to her position. She needed to get the Warthog going and get out of here. She picked up a magnum and shot the two grunts in the head. She proceeded to the warthog and grabbed a gas can off of the back and began to fuel the Warthog. “Any minute now...” She mumbled to herself. “Any minute indeed.” A voice said. Bek finished with the fuel. She turned to look at who spoke to her. Instantly, flashbacks occurred. She remembered what happened back on Reach, what happened up until just last night. That voice, that same voice that spoke is the exact same one that killed all of her friends. Bek drew her magnum and pointed it at their face. It was Osiris. A wide grin was on his face. He had apparently landed in a drop pod when Bek hadn’t paid attention. She stared directly at him, then headed to get in the Warthog. Osiris stopped her. He grabbed her by the arm and threw her backwards. “Haha. No, you little piece of trash. You’re a no good, useless soldier. I don’t want you on my ship, but I want you to be confirmed dead, so I don’t lose my current position to you ratting me out like the little snitch you are.” Osiris kicked her helmet off and puncher Bek in the face, twice. “Ow. Why are you doing this to me? This hurts a lot. I thought we were friends Osiris? I don’t understand.” Bek had tears down her face, the salty water mixed with the wounds Osiris made. It caused it to sting and hurt her more. “Key word there, little miss witch. You THOUGHT we were friends. We were never friends. I hated you from the start. Destroyer’s death made me so happy, I couldn’t believe it. I let you off for a while. Now I came to claim my vengeance.” Osiris stated, loud and clear. With pure hatred. “How will you get out of here then?” Bek saw Warlord’s engines kick on and ready to leave the surface. She turned her attention to Osiris. Oops. His boot came in like a sledgehammer, Osiris broke her nose. Bek burst into tears, blood dripped from her face. “I have a broadsword on route to your little base, your little Warthog here will get me back just in time. I have everything planned already, you stupid little brat.” Osiris picked Bek up and threw her towards the Covenant. They were a click away, they’d be here in one minute. Osiris beat Bek’s face in, until blood came out of every possible spot. She was severely injured, why would she just stand there and take it? Nevermind. Osiris’s job had to be done. He grabbed a shotgun off his back and aimed it at Bek. “Say goodnight, you dirty piece of trash.” He pulled the trigger. What luck, Bek rolled out of the way just in time. She was in the Warthog, she tried the ignition. The Warthog started. Damn, she was fast to it. Osiris was absolutely livid, he ran over to shoot her. She took off. “God damn it!” Osiris pulled up Communications, “Yes, Warlord? This is...” Osiris looked to his left. The Scarab fired upon him. Osiris didn’t stand a chance. Bek was alive, but she had to take care of her wounds as soon as she could. She didn’t have her helmet anymore, there was no time for that. A loud boom was in the distance, she turned around. UNSC Warlord headed up into the atmosphere. That broadsword was her only chance. “Come on...” Bek arrived at the outpost. ~End of Epilogue~ ~End of Book 2~ Credits:

~Epilogue~ Bek fired at the Covenant, there was a few grunts left. She could see a Scarab and several Wraith’s on the move to her position. She needed to get the Warthog going and get out of here. She picked up a magnum and shot the two grunts in the head. She proceeded to the warthog and grabbed a gas can off of the back and began to fuel the Warthog. “Any minute now...” She mumbled to herself. “Any minute indeed.” A voice said. Bek finished with the fuel. She turned to look at who spoke to her. Instantly, flashbacks occurred. She remembered what happened back on Reach, what happened up until just last night. That voice, that same voice that spoke is the exact same one that killed all of her friends. Bek drew her magnum and pointed it at their face. It was Osiris. A wide grin was on his face. He had apparently landed in a drop pod when Bek hadn’t paid attention. She stared directly at him, then headed to get in the Warthog. Osiris stopped her. He grabbed her by the arm and threw her backwards. “Haha. No, you little piece of trash. You’re a no good, useless soldier. I don’t want you on my ship, but I want you to be confirmed dead, so I don’t lose my current position to you ratting me out like the little snitch you are.” Osiris kicked her helmet off and puncher Bek in the face, twice. “Ow. Why are you doing this to me? This hurts a lot. I thought we were friends Osiris? I don’t understand.” Bek had tears down her face, the salty water mixed with the wounds Osiris made. It caused it to sting and hurt her more. “Key word there, little miss witch. You THOUGHT we were friends. We were never friends. I hated you from the start. Destroyer’s death made me so happy, I couldn’t believe it. I let you off for a while. Now I came to claim my vengeance.” Osiris stated, loud and clear. With pure hatred. “How will you get out of here then?” Bek saw Warlord’s engines kick on and ready to leave the surface. She turned her attention to Osiris. Oops. His boot came in like a sledgehammer, Osiris broke her nose. Bek burst into tears, blood dripped from her face. “I have a broadsword on route to your little base, your little Warthog here will get me back just in time. I have everything planned already, you stupid little brat.” Osiris picked Bek up and threw her towards the Covenant. They were a click away, they’d be here in one minute. Osiris beat Bek’s face in, until blood came out of every possible spot. She was severely injured, why would she just stand there and take it? Nevermind. Osiris’s job had to be done. He grabbed a shotgun off his back and aimed it at Bek. “Say goodnight, you dirty piece of trash.” He pulled the trigger. What luck, Bek rolled out of the way just in time. She was in the Warthog, she tried the ignition. The Warthog started. Damn, she was fast to it. Osiris was absolutely livid, he ran over to shoot her. She took off. “God damn it!” Osiris pulled up Communications, “Yes, Warlord? This is...” Osiris looked to his left. The Scarab fired upon him. Osiris didn’t stand a chance. Bek was alive, but she had to take care of her wounds as soon as she could. She didn’t have her helmet anymore, there was no time for that. A loud boom was in the distance, she turned around. UNSC Warlord headed up into the atmosphere. That broadsword was her only chance. “Come on...” Bek arrived at the outpost. ~End of Epilogue~ ~End of Book 2~ In the upcoming full Book 2 of combined sections, there will be a video at the end. Thank you for reading!

~Chapter 10: KRRRRSSSSSHZZZZZTTHZZZZZ~ “Where the hell is the evac?” Jackson assisted Frank in the destruction of an enemy Banshee. Two more fired at them. “It’s up ahead, we’re almost there. We’ll have to hold the line for about 30 seconds, we’re early.” Archangel took Junior’s shotgun and shot an Elite that tried to board the Warthog. “Nevermind the evac, where the hell is Michael and Heli?” Runner shot a jackal, denied. It raised its gauntlet just in time. She pulled the weapon over her shoulder and took out five grunts, then turned back to get the jackal by surprise. “Who knows? Maybe Michael went back to get Heli. He wasn’t in the Warthog.” Frank shot his sticky detonator at a Hunter, as soon as they were out of range he pulled the trigger and watched orange ooze explode everywhere. He reloaded. “He also wasn’t at the base. What could he have been up to?” Paladin just sat there and watched everyone. He took a sip of his coffee. Dexter and Archangel sniped any Elite’s that were after them on Ghosts. Dexter replied, “Could have been because of Bek. She’s awful flirty for a Spartan. Heli would probably have done something to prove to her he’s not worthless, like she treated him.” He shot a grunt off a shade turret. Archangel and Dexter stopped, together they said, “Oh crap.” Junior stopped the vehicle then hopped out and gunned down every Elite within fifty meters of range. “Knowing the fool, he’s probably dead from that robot.” Junior power kicked a grunt, which flew at a wall. Death on impact. “I don’t think he would’ve done that.” Bek said. She shot a drone. “Your evac shuttle has arrived! Bahaha. Hurry up and get on before I leave you to die. Don’t think I’m joking, I will.” It was Osiris, he was the one sent to extract them in this heavily armored Assault Pelican. The mounted spartan laser cannon charged up, it took out two Wraith’s in just one shot. Ugh. Bek stumbled into the Warthog, she fell on the ground. “I’m coming. Just wait.” “I told you, no waiting. We’re leaving.” Osiris commanded the Pilot to take off. “You can’t just leave her there! That’s insane!” Runner yelled at Osiris. “So be it. Nothing you can do now.” He bursted out in laughter. “Oh ho ho...” He started to calm down. “Samantha, we’re en route now. ETA, twenty seconds.” Osiris got in the co-pilot seat, he fired the 40mm cannon at a phantom. It took severe damage, he finished it off with a second. “Cheers.” He pulled out a canister and drank what turned out to be Scotch. They boarded the UNSC Warlord. This time, it wasn’t boarded. -------------- Michael walked into the base. “Huh, when did the power go off?” He activated his flashlight and found the generators. He managed to get it back online. He walked over to the Operations room to make radio contact with Warlord that he would arrive in a Hornet. Michael screamed like a little girl and threw himself backwards. He saw Heli’s body on the floor, blood was everywhere and his death was brutal. The floor was a tinted dark maroon. Heli’s left leg and left arm laid on the table. His right leg and right arm laid thrown around the room. He found his body, er the main part. It looked as if it was cut open and something feasted on the inside of it. Michael took his helmet off and threw up on the body. He wiped his face off afterwards. “This is the least I can do.” He grabbed Heli’s helmet and took it off. An eye was gone and his nose was torn off in half. Michael threw up again. He then took the video chip of everything Heli recorded within the past seventy-two hours and then made radio contact with command. He was set. Without acknowledgement of the body, he ran out of the room and got in the Hornet and started it up and headed towards the UNSC Warlord. He noticed a lone soldier off in the distance. They were surrounded, but they managed to keep alive. He started to head over to the soldier. Too late. A Scarab charged the soldier, they were gone. Michael threw up in the cockpit. ~End of Chapter 10~

~Chapter 8: Reputation~ Heli watched as they walked out of the room, he watched the Elite kill the Spartan and flee, except the Elite fled into the cave, not out of it. Hopefully the Elite wouldn’t go for him, it was his time to prove to everyone he wasn’t worthless. He was sick and tired of it. Let’s do this. Everyone was gone far in the tunnel. He stood his ground, gun drawn. He waited for the robot to return. He saw no sign of it, not even a sound. “Maybe this is pointless, I may as well face the fact that I’m worthless and not desired.” Heli lowered his weapon, tears streamed down his eyes. He sat there in silence for hours upon hours, tears were stained on his cheeks. His eyes were red. The team is most definitely at the surface now. He should head back as well. He stood up. The robot was right there. five tentacles came out of its back. They all fired their deadly yellow beams at Heli. One at a time, and in a consistent stationary manner. Heli dodged the first one, easily. The second one came up, he hurtled over it with grace in his jump. The third one stopped him in his tracks, he was forced to turn. The fourth one just barely missed, it went right over his shoulder. The fifth one was unexpected, he was left with an incredible wound on his left shoulder. The pain was enough to make him stop, he wouldn’t. Heli grabbed his weapon as he fell to the ground, he noticed something above the robot. He couldn’t tell what, but it was something. He opened fire. The robot retracted its tentacles and raised its... Its... Its wrist pistol? A pistol came out of its arm and fired rockets at him. They missed, but each one got closer and closer. The clip was up. He grabbed another and unloaded it into the caves ceiling. This time it did something. The robot stopped to look up. A stalactite fell on the robot, it penetrated the armor and pinned it to the ground. “What you got on me now, you stupid pile of scrap metal?” Heli gained his confidence back, with a drastic ego boost. The team wouldn’t believe this, he thought as he started to walk away. The ground rumbled. Heli turned around, he watched as the robot pulled the stalactite out of its body. A giant hole was in its left side of the abdomen, wires sparked on the inside. Heli knew the robot was going to kill him. The robot grabbed a rod from its back, it glared at Heli. He should probably run... The robot slammed the rod on the ground, it missed him. That wasn’t the point of it, Heli was thrown back by a concussion wave. “Not going to go out like this.” He grabbed his gun, loaded it, and locked on to another stalactite. He opened fire. The robot saw him, it fired three giant balls out of its left hand. It then rested back and charged all of its tentacles. Three, what looked like he could describe as only monsters, came up to him. He changed targets and shot at them. They were tough. Once one fell back, he locked onto the other one. He took them all three down. Except, well, he didn’t. Once they fell down, they split into two smaller forms. “Grrr...” Heli was irritated. He shot each of them down again. He then returned focus on the stalactite, it was almost ready to fall. The monsters approached him, again. Except now they were four to one of the original form. Heli took them out, with quick ease. He looked back up. The robot fired the lasers from its tentacles again. “You won’t get me now.” Heli stood still, the lasers all missed him. The robot glared at him, it used the lasers and pulled five pillars out of the ground with its laser. Heli shielded his eyes from the bright, molten pillars that were pulled out of the ground and formed. They soon hardened from the coolness in the air. The robot pulled up its pistol again and started to fire at Heli... Or maybe the pillars instead. Each rocket hit a pillar, which shattered and caused debris to fly at Heli. Now was his last chance, he unloaded what was left into the stalactite. It fell on top of the robot, again. This time the stalactite was big enough to finish the job. Penetration through the head, the robot fell to the ground. Heli approached it, sparks flickered everywhere on the machine. The robot eyes were blank as it stared at him. “Not so tough now are you, you piece of scrap?” Heli grabbed the chest piece and assembled it onto his back with his weapons. He turned and walked away. “I... I was made by the precursors... Your time is coming... You have been warned...” The robot self destructed as he walked away from it. “I don’t know what that means, but that doesn’t matter. I can finally prove to Bek I’m not worthless. She thinks I want her heart? No. I want her to learn her place, by doing that I first need to show her mine. I’m not going to put up with her crap, or anyone else’s again. Jackson may have destroyed the bigger one and caused a destruction of a Covenant Super Carrier, but none of the others were a match for this one.” Heli had a grin of determination on his face. He walked towards the tunnel, and headed for the exit. This was going to be a fun six hour trip. The Elite stood at the robot, who claimed to be built by the precursors. “Command, this is Lan Chorus. We need to leave the planet, now. Send a transport to evac me from here, I’ll get to the nearest and fastest exit I can. Be there. I will explain everything on board.” Lan watched Helix enter the tunnel. “You may have won this battle, but you will be more that surprised for the next. Team Lord’s leaders are dead. You’ll have to manage on your own. Sarge and Alex were all they had to rely on, the rest will be easy and undisciplined.” A Scarab broke the wall down. Lan walked over to it, a Lich was in the air, it awaited his arrival. Lan boarded it and headed towards a third Corvette, which was undetectable by the UNSC surprisingly. They left the planet. ~End of Chapter 8~

~Chapter 7: Renknown~ “This has got to be the most boring evacuation,” Paladin took a deep breath, “that I have ever had. I don’t know if it’s because of the environment, or because half you guys don’t even talk.” Paladin took a drink of some coffee. “May I ask where you got that coffee?” Frank waddled over to Paladin, “I’ve been thirsty and coffee sounds really good right now.” Frank had a grin on his face. Paladin took a sip of his coffee, his eye on Frank. “Nope, and if you ask again. I’ll shoot you in the back of the leg. That’s a promise.” Paladin drank more of his coffee. Frank’s grin went to a disappointed frown. He then waddled back over by Heli. “Where are we going again?” Archangel asked Jackson. “Back to base. It’s too risky in here. Radiation is safer than this place.” Jackson grabbed onto a rock ledge, and pulled himself up. The others did the same as well. This place was like a giant maze. None of them knew where they were going. “Ugh, this is so frustrating.” Runner punched the wall. Which surprised Bek and Paladin, she managed to puncture the wall. “Guy’s, it’s fine. We have nothing to worry about. As long as we follow Jackson, we’ll make it there safely.” Dexter stated. “I’m starting to get sick of your Jackson will hep us with this, Jackson will help us with that; bullcrap. My father was the same way, but in the end he ended up killing those who he loved and then having them turn upon himself.” Doc was frustrated, yet depressed. Dexter’s statements that made Jackson sound like a diety, annoyed him. He missed his father, that’s who made him who he was today. “Guys, lets settle down. There’s always a way out...” Jackson started to say. A loud roar was heard. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me. This thing again? It’s just as bad as having Michael around.” Runner said, “Well, kinda. I mean, I’d rather have this thing around since it’s quiet and just roars; I’d also rather have Michael just for the reason he doesn’t try to kill us. At eighty-percent of the time.” Runner noticed she was in a conversation with herself. “Who the hell are you talking to?” Paladin walked over. “HAHA!” He started to laugh about it. Runner walked up to Paladin, weapon drawn. She had him in a hostage position, pretty much. “Talking crap about me? Do it again and I’ll blow your ******* brains out. YOU HEAR ME?” Runner was upset, very upset. She noticed her mistake, but no regrets. The giant robot was over them, tentacles drawn. “You have got to be kidding me!” Jackson yelled, he took off in a sprint away, at his best to avoid the robot. The team did the same. The robot didn’t do anything, it just made some sort of what sounded like a chuckle. ITtt then flew in sync, above them. “This thing’s just playing with us!” Bek yelled. “I’ll protect you...” Heli felt embarrased, but he wanted to sound confident to Bek, he wanted to prove to her. “Ugh, look Heli. I like you, but I would never date you. This isn’t the time or place either, I know, and I’m sorry. It’s just, you’re a guy.” Bek said. “What does being a guy have to do with anything?!” Heli was confused and mad at the same time. “Nothing, it’s the only excuse I could come up with.” Bek dived under a rock wall. Then continued to run with the team on the other time. Heli felt hopeless, he all of a sudden hated Bek. Really? Had to say that right now? When we could all possibly die? He thought. He was sick of it, he stopped and let the team run on. He was going to face that robot. Heli made his way up the rock to the upper ground. The team ran over the rock, there was a cavern at the end. At least it was some place to go, Jackson thought. “Let’s go guys, the cave is right there. We can make it. I have faith in all of you.” Jackson made a mad dash of a sprint, and was in the cave. The others arrived shortly after. The robot was angry, it shot three of those armorless things that looked like Hunters. The team shot them down, they diversed into two. Now there was six. They shot again, now there was twelve of them. Archangel was tired of this, he grabbed his rocket launcher and them. That killed all twenty-four of them. “Bit of an overkill there, buddy.” Paladin said. “You know what else is an overkill? Bek with that comeback she told Heli earlier. BAHAHA.” Paladin laughed at his own joke, Bek smiled at it. Embarrased. “Ah there you guy’s are!” Someone yelled, Jackson turned around. Oh god, it was Michael... And two other dudes. He had no idea who they were, but one of them was a Spartan II, the other was an ODST Sniper. They looked like they meant business. “Hello, Michael. These some friends you found? Who are they?” Dexter asked, instad of Jackson. It make Jackson sound more confident in what he was doing. He could appreciate that. “Uh no. No they are not friends. Actually, they are... Team Lord from UNSC Warlord. Uhm, this guy is Alex.” Michael gestured to the Spartan II, “...and this one’s name is Fauz. He’s funny, he shoots things he doesn’t care about. Hehe.” Michael sounded even stupider than when he left them. “What are they here for? I thought Paladin and Bek was our way out?” Jackson was confused. “No. We came because we picked up on a distress beacon. Your friend here, lead us to the cave where it was transmitting from. Luckily, we ran into you guys at the end. He already explained why you came down here, you don’t have to explain. Right now, we need to move. We have to get back to the surface. Now.” Alex started to turn around. He stopped. “Commander, what’s wrong? You usually don’t hesitate.” Bek asked. “Uh-huh... Ugh... Guh...” Was all Alex could say. “What is it?” Archangel asked. An energy sword appeared out of nowhere, it penetrated Alex before he could vanish. The Elite uncloaked as he did so. He wanted the Spartan to know who his killer was, this was honor for the Elite. Afterall, it’s something their race values greatly. The Elite quickly disappeared and was gone before the team could even get a shot off. Alex was on the floor. Jackson moved over to him with Junior. He motioned the team to stand back. Junior examined the wounds. Alex spoke to Jackson, “Jackson.” Cough. “I want to say, it was an honor to meet you. A great honor.” A consecutive cough kept up for about five seconds. “Why is it an honor for you to meet you?” Jackson was confused. “I don’t understand.” “About ten years ago... I fought alongside your grandfather, Sarge. He was an excellent Commander. Unforanutely killed, by our medic.” Alex still spoke to Jackson. Junior felt anger run through his blood when Alex said that. Yet, he also felt a little sad for Jackson. His father killed Jackson’s grandfather. Who was apparently a great leader. He just hoped Jackson was the same. He wanted to know what his father felt like with that type of guy. Was Jackson already there and he didn’t know it? Junior felt like he needed to let things go. He didn’t care, maybe he should start. Jackson and Alex were still in their conversation. “You’re not there yet. I know you will be. I want you to go with Fauz, he’ll let them know you’re Team Lord’s replacement. We need heroes, Jack. You’ll become one of them. I know you will.” Those were Alex’s last words. He didn’t move or breathe. His body stopped. Alex was dead. ~End of Chapter 7~

~Chapter 6: Jigsaw~ Michael climbed up the tunnel. He was exhausted from this long walk, being almost crushed by boulders, and his life risked from a merely invincible robot. He was just glad to be out of there. He grabbed the wall to support himself out of what was now what they used to call the cave entrance. The room was fine, everything was the same. It’s as if the Covenant’s energy projector was never fired. Michael continued through the building, he was quiet. As not to disturb any enemy forces in the building. He ran into a wall. “Ow!” He yelled. “Who goes there?” Someone said. Michael noticed a weapon aimed at his head as he recovered from the pain. There was an arm, but no person. It was a magnum. Could this person see him through the wall? Michael thought. “I’m a member of Team Mike, we were sent down here to observe and take out any Covenant ground forces. My team are eighteen hours away underground in that tunnel I just came from. I was separated from them when I risked my life to save one of them from a wall collapse.” Michael responded, he may have said too much information. The soldier moved from behind the wall. It was a Spartan II, a red light shined at the right side of the helmet. It turned off in a matter of seconds. “I am Alex, from UNSC Warlord. You guy’s alright? Or more or less, are you alright?” The spartan said. “Yeah I’m fine. Just exhausted. Is anyone else here?” Michael started to get curious oft he Spartan and wondered if anyone else was around. He was kinda hungry, too. “Just my ODST support man, Fauz. He’s in the other room, covering my back. Just in case I made the wrong move. To my luck, I’m safe. Now, would you mind leading us to your friends?” Alex stood up tall. It was as if he was a leader of a team, or maybe the general of the UNSC Warlord? Whoever he was, he looked like he could kick a Field Marshal's teeth in. Jackson didn’t stand a chance against this rocky mountain. “Yes, uh, just follow me. I’ll lead you to them.” Michael turned around and led him upstairs, then to another set of stairs that led them downstairs to a concealed room that had just a rugged couch and the cave. “No wonder we couldn’t find the entrance. I thought it led back to your small armory. I guess this is the way in. We picked up your distress beacon, but it’s a little up on the weak side. We can track the location it was last emitted. Which was this base. Nothing else could be found or heard. We’ve been here for the past three hours. Searching.” Alex started to explain to Michael about how one of the UNSC Warlord crew members left an anonymous distress beacon. It was either Bek or Paladin. He bet it was Bek, she was the most concerned of the team. “I understand that. Thanks for the summary. Do you mind telling me why the Covenant’s energy projector’s didn’t do anything to our base?” Michael decided to answer the question to calm his desperate need to want to know what the hell happened. “Energy projector’s? As soon as we came back, we saw two covenant cruisers, and our ships high-tech engineer, Osiris, managed to shoot them down within ten seconds. We never saw any of them fire at the surface.” Alex was confused as to what he wanted to know. “Oh...” Michael felt stupid. If they would’ve just waited out five more seconds, they all would’ve been just fine and not in this huge mess as they were! Oh well, I guess it’s better safe than sorry, he thought. “Alright, let’s go. Fauz, you coming?” Alex put the magnum back on his waist. He grabbed a spartan laser and assault rifle, he put both of them on his back. “Yeah, yeah. I’m coming, mate. Jeez, hold ya breath. Was only doing some Yoga, before we go.” Fauz appeared around the doorway, he held a sniper rifle and a DMR resided on his back. Fauz was an ODST, one of the best in his class. Which his class just so happened to be... Sniping. This is gonna be great. “Alright, then lets push forward.” Alex activated his helmet lights and walked into the cave. Fauz and Michael followed behind him, their flashlights on. This was going to be a fun, long walk. As Michael was walking, he heard something behind him, he turned around to see what it was. Nothing. He heard the noise again. Michael turned his head over his shoulder, he hoped to see if it was really something, or if he was just hearing things. He saw nothing. Maybe he was in early development of Schizophrenia. He heard the noise again. This time he turned around as soon as he heard it. He saw nothing. Wait, there was a displacement of air. It looked a little infringed. Wow, he really must have Schizophrenia, or at least in the development. He would have to check this out with Nut. It was a scary thought, but he needed to know. Something moved in front of them. ~End of Chapter 6~

Here's some music to listen to as you read this chapter: ~Chapter 5: Here Comes the Boom~ “I have you now!” The robot said. Jackson stared directly into its eyes. Ready. The machinery that covered its right eye lit up. It looked like a charge of something, like a button. Except this machinery fired a blue laser at Jackson. It missed, but the robot could drag the laser across until it finally got him. Jackson ran at a good pace. The laser kept on his tail, but was not fast enough to catch up. He needed to find a way to destroy that laser. His weapons were long lost. He dropped them back at the cave exit. Which was just a dead end, until he got on this platform and grabbed this... Wait a second, that’s it! He could use this thing on his arm. If it would deal any damage to the giant beast in front of him. Only one way to find out. Jackson raised his arm as he ran from the laser. He stopped to shoot. “AAAAAHHHH,” The robot sounded injured. Jackson kept the gun at a steady fire. The machinery blew up. A black hole replaced the eye and machinery. As if it just disappeared. Jackson felt accomplished. A giant pillar arose from the depths on the platforms back left. About a hundred meters away. Jackson forgot what he was supposed to do. He quickly focused back on the giant robot. Its gun mounted on its back right shoulder extended and the barrel enlarged. It shot something at him. Jackson dodged, but it was pointless. The object stopped and floated in mid-air. Electricity sparked on its sides. A timer sounded. A timer!? Jackson quickly activated his emergency jetpack, he flew straight in the air and out of range. Which didn’t last very long. The jetpack lost its charge and Jackson landed back on the platform. The robot looked at Jackson and made a loud roar. It pulled up its right elbow, which had a shiny medal on it. It was as if it wanted to show Jackson something. Nope. The shoulder charged a bright red, it shot five spheres at Jackson. Who instinctively jumped out of the way. They weren’t aimed at him either. They all landed on the floor. Jackson watched them carefully, one by one they exploded. It was a small explosion but a concussion wave was emitted from each one of them. Jackson jumped and dodged each of the waves. He started to shoot the robots elbow. This little wristband amazed him. The technology it had could help the UNSC greatly. He broke what was actually another piece of machinery on the robots right elbow. Wires flailed from it and the piece exploded too. The robot roared again, “I have you now!” Another sphere shot up from the depths, this time on the back right. Same distance and size. The giant robot brought its gun up again. Jackson tried to shoot it. It didn’t work. The gun could withstand the bullets. It shot another bomb. Jackson tried his emergency jetpack again. It was charged a little. He had to use it. Jackson pushed the trigger and it thrusted him in the air. He made it about four hundred meters and crashed back down on the platform. The robot wasn’t happy. It lifted its head up, which moved its metal nose out of the way and revealed another giant shiny medal on the robots chest. Maybe this was another piece of machinery? It fired green balls, much like the one on his wristband shot except his was yellow, Jackson just stood still. He knew that the robot gave up on direct fire after the laser. The green balls hit the floor and revealed monster like things. They looked like what those hunters he faced earlier looked like. Except he concluded weren’t hunters. They were something else. Jackson just quickly shot these ones down. Wasn’t that difficult. He raised his arm and went to shoot the shiny medal on the chest. The robot already charged another bomb and was about to fire it. Jackson saw another pillar come from the depths below. Except the depths got a nice, hazy mist over them now. He couldn’t see the bottom. The robot fired its bomb. Jackson used his jetpack. It had just a tiny charge. His only hope. He pushed the button and thrusted three hundred meters in the air. Just fifty meters out of range. He crashed again on the platform. His emergency jetpack was out and completely destroyed from the close radius. Jackson took it off and threw it over the edge. Maybe he should have thought about have used it back over when the platform first moved? He wouldn’t be where he was now, dead. The robots rage was mad. The wires were flailed around from its movements. The feet kicked in place. It brought its left arm up. No. This wasn’t its arm, it was a staff of some sort. The end piece charged bright yellow. Jackson stood his place. It fired directly at Jackson. Jackson dodged just barely. “Holy cow, I thought it gave up on direct fire. It must have gave up on indirect fire as well.” Jackson started to shoot the staff. It charged again and another giant ball of yellow missed him. Jackson kept fire on the staff. The robot was irritated, “NOOO!!!” It screamed. It fired another one, Jackson was almost hit that time. He fired some more at the staff. It exploded the robots entire left arm. The robot roared at its loudest. The gun came over its shoulder again. It just fired bomb after bomb after bomb. Jackson watched a fourth pillar arise on the platforms front right side. What were these platforms for? The robot stopped for a second to say something, “Your jetpack won’t protect you now!” Jackson noticed his weapon shined light instead of the bronze metal it was. The robot said something else, “The weapon! It does exist! He must not be allowed to use it!” Jackson aimed the gun at the robot, it charged up. The robot stood still. “Blast something!” The robot exclaimed. Jackson fired the charged shot. It shot something similar to the robots staff. A giant white ball of power crashed right into the robot. It was destroyed. The ball continued on afterwards. Towards the area his friends were. Jackson felt accomplished. He looked at his wristband. It was gone, completely crumbled and destroyed. Jackson looked in the air, all the bombs were still there. He covered his eyes in fear of his demise. His luck, he teleported. Jackson got up from the ground he was thrown on. He looked around. “Ugh-guh.” He grunted. He saw his team, all near the tunnel exit. He looked to his right, the giant ball of energy came right at them, directly at the tunnel exit. “Everyone, get out of the way! Get over here, now!” Jackson shouted. They all looked in surprise. He wasn’t sure if they ran over to him from the order, or because they were happy to see him back. Jackson spoke to them, “Watch it.” They looked confused, the giant ball of energy slammed into the tunnel and ripped right through. A giant tunnel was formed and the collapse was gone. They could continue back a different route, and hopefully avoid the smaller robot inside. Dexter looked at Jackson and said, “I’m glad you’re back. I missed you.” He hugged Jackson. A grin overcame his face. Jackson was happy to be back too. He turned to where he came from, the team did too. The four pillars and platform charged. The pillars shot four bright white beams into the sky. The platform shot a giant white ball of energy, much like the one that hit the tunnel, except bigger, into the sky as well. They all then collapsed and self-destructed back where they came from. They all watched in awe. Something crashed from the sky. They all looked to see what it was. The Covenant’s last supercarrier was destroyed and crashed into the surface of the planet. Judged from the surprise and crash speed. No covenant on board survived. “Oh my god. We can leave! We don’t have to worry anymore! Woo-hoo! Now all we have to do is get to Bravo Base, and I can fly us off this planet!” Frank was happier than ever. Heli and Bek looked at each other. They smiled. “Thanks for helping me out,” Bek said. Heli took the courage to reply, “You’re welcome. I didn’t want to lose a new friend the day I met her. Just, don’t attempt suicide again. Please?” He had confidence. “Heheh. I won’t.” Bek gave Heli a kiss and walked away to rejoin the others enter the tunnel. “Runner, you’re skills are very important this mission. I’m going to need you.” Jackson looked at Runner, she walked at his side. “Yes, sir. What kind of havoc should I bring upon?” Runner smiled behind her ODST helmet. “You and I are going to kill us what the ancient ones used to call that robot, a Vector.” Jackson said. Runner abrasively grabbed her weapon, and loaded it. She was happy to finally kill something. Who cares what it was? As long as she could kill it. She looked over her shoulder and made eye contact with Paladin. Then quickly turned her head forward. A giant grin came across her face. “Ready when you are, Commander.” ~End of Chapter Five~