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  1. ~Chapter 3: Epilogue~ “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 dissappointed with your behavior, but they said it was alright. Just come on. It’s alright, your mom and I are freinds. 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. -------------------------------------- “Alright. I’m ready to kill whatever I see. Even if it’s just a worm.” Runner hopped out of the Pelican. Feet first. Runner, Junior, Zeff, and Ash were assigned to the desert. Their compass pointed to an enclave of a building of some sort, about forty-clicks from their currrent position. The reason for the so distant landing was because it was in the dark zone. Plus, if there was any Covenant around, they didn’t want to get caught. “Alright, since I’m driving. I’ll let you know who’s going where.” Junior got out of the Pelican after he turned the thrusters off and shut it down. “I’m going to be driving, of course. Zeff takes shotgun, literally. Runner gets flamethrower. Ash, you’ll use both turrets. However, stick to the one you prefer. If we get engaged. We’ll need you to switch back and forth as needed. Is that clear?” They all nodded their head yes. “Dexter do you come in?” Ash opened up the communications with Firestorm. “Yes, loud and clear. What’s up?” Dexter replied. “We’re in the desert. Pelican’s landed, and ready to head out.” Ash told him. “That’s great. Look, we have bad news.” Dexter said. “What is it?” Ash was concerned. Dexter flipped through some things. “Umm. Pelican 2, whom was supposed to reach the island, has gone off the map. It seems they have crashed or something has happened. We’re going to have to pull you out of the desert and sense you all over to investigate.” Dexter finally found the file, he pulled it up on Pelican 3’s visors. They saw Pelican 1 land at their destination, a few clicks from their destination, the cave. “So, we’re going to need you to go to the island. We believe it’s the Installation’s Silent Cartographer, so that’ll be fun.” “Alright, Dexter. We’ll go. Only because their vital to this team and we need them with us.” Ash said. She looked at the others. Junior already had the Warthog reattached to the Pelican. Everyone else was loaded. Ash loaded up. “Alright. Here are the coordinates. Let me know how things go. If you need anything, we’ll be here for orbital support. UNSC Warlord has MAC rounds if anything gets too out of hand. Dexter out.” Dexter broke off the communications. “Well, you heard the man. Let’s go check on our friends.” Zeff said. The Pelican rose. A bunch of something came right after them, they ran at full speed. They were too far for any of them to see what they were. Covenant or Flood? No matter, plasma rounds were being shot at them. Junior punched the thrusters. ETA was one hour. -------------------------------- “You know. This cave doesn’t look too bad after all.” Bek said. She walked in the entrance. “Hello!” She yelled. The only reply she got was an echo, followed by a screech of some sort she had never heard before. “Looks like we’re good to go in. Nothing’s in there.” “Uh, no. I heard a screech. I don’t feel safe going in there.” Caboose said. “Nah, that’s just my tummy.” Bek said. “I’m kinda hungry.” Caboose looked out her like she was an idiot. “That makes no sense.” Was all he had to say. “Look guys. Let’s just take the tank; mount up, then go look for any clues.” Joseph said. Reaper unmounted the tank. Joseph got in the pilot seat, Caboose took the machine gun turret. Bek rode on the side; a rocket launcher and ammunitions laid there for her if she needed it. “Hey guys, hold on just one sec. There’s something in front of the Pelican. I want to check it out.” Reaper walked over to the front of the pelican. “Hey, guys. Wanna come here for a sec?” Reaper said, fright in his voice. Joseph moved the cannon of the tank over to Reaper. Who faced the other side of the Pelican; out of range. “Reaper, I can’t see what you’re looking at from here. What is it?” “I don’t know, let me check.” Reaper dissapeared behind the Pelican. “What is it?’ Bek asked, impatiently. Nothing. A few seconds later, they heard a frightened yell. “Ahh! Get it off me! Get it off me!” Reaper came from the other side of the Pelican. Two flood combat forms jumped on top of him, they broke his visor and lashed at him. Joseph and Caboose revved up their machine gun turrets and took out the flood. “Ah, thanks you guys. Although, I know longer have a helmet. I should be fine.” Reaper stood up, he walked over and bent down to pick up his gun which laid in front of the Pelicans mounted nose gun. Reaper went to turn around and walked over to the Scorpion. Except, instead his head started to get bigger and bigger really fast. “Reaper. What’s wrong with your face? It’s getting....” That was all Bek could say before Reapers head was in Bek’s lap. She screamed. Joseph shot the cannon. “Woah. What happened? Bek’s over here screaming like a twelve year old girl.” Caboose asked Joseph. “Well it appears there was a flood tank form on the other side of the pelican. Reaper was stupid and didn’t pay attention, so it swung it’s scythe looking arm thing at Reapers head, and cut it clean off.” Joseph explaine to them. “Huh. That’s weird.” Caboose said. “Anyways. We need to move. We can’t keep getting stalled like Reaper did. We need to push forward.” Joseph said. The Scorpion entered the massive cave. It was dark outside, but boy was it dark inside. Joseph kicked up the extra set of lights, which included the one that was mounted underneath Michael’s turret. They pushed through the cave. No flood in site nor Covenant. ~End of Chapter 3~
  2. ~Chapter 2: Her name is Ash~ “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. ---------------------Story-Resumed------------------------------ “So do you mind telling us who you are? You don’t look familiar.” Jackson said. He walked through a couple doors, the command room on this ship was in the other room. However, he won’t go untold of the escorts name. The last time he was escorted, previously before he joined the UNSC Warlord, the escort was a fake. Jackson walked into a meeting with the Captain and higher staff members. As a result, he was punished. If he would have had the name, he would have been free. The ODST turned around, that big smile was still there. “My name is Fauz. Now, right through these doors you will run into Captain Mike Lespane. Good luck you guys.” Fauz walked away. He still had a smile. Only a few of the crew managed to give a question look about it. They then entered the room. “Ah. So you must be the newly patched up Team Lord? Not to worry, you’re other crew members will be joining up with you soon. Things will be explained nice and tidy.” Mike didn’t properly introduce himself, however he was right to the conversation. He obviously wanted this over quick and them on the surface. Er, ring? Whatever the word is, he wanted them there. “Now. Things will go simple. Your comrade, Dexter will be in charge of equipment and everything you need. If you need a transport. He’ll give you it. If you need a weapon he’ll give you it.” Mike said. Wow. So Dexter is here to help all along? Thought he would have stayed behind, but I guess not. That’s all Archangel could think. “With that little issue cleared. Here’s your crew. I’ll call them one-by-one so you get to know them better.” Mike said. Dang, this guy was organized. Samantha just sent them in. How could this captain be captain of a Frigate? Unless the requirement was to not introduce new crew, but to just throw them together. Well no, that still doesn’t make sense. That’d make him in charge of the missile pod turret. Which is probably the lowest job to have. Mike introduced a Spartan that walked in with the CQB Mjolnir variant, “This is Reaper. He’s a Spartan Two. He’s an oddball, I’ll tell you that. Thinks he’s comical and hilarious. Which he’s definitely not. The odd part about him is he doesn’t like to work together. He likes to go his way, on his own. Lone Wolf. Now, I’ve told him to leave that crap behind but he won’t listen.” He then waved another soldier to come in, this one was an ODST he was silent like his weapons, unlike Reaper who was having a laugh, “This here is Magnus Dreyar. He’s your silent type, doesn’t like to talk much. He too is a lone wolf. However, will work in groups. Lone wolf is just a preference of his. He’s a nice guy once you get to know him. Just doesn’t tolerate sarcasm. So keep it to yourself if you throw any in his direction.” A Spartan walked in without being told to do so, notably a Spartan IV in Recon armor, helmet in hand. “Oh, uh. Yes, this is Zeff. Be careful around this one. He likes to tell lies and manipulate you. So if he tries to attack you when you’re weak. Don’t give in. He’ll also try to get you to join his side, usually to win an argument. He is smart though, I’ll give him that. Just tries to get what he wants all the time. Hell, he managed to manipulate two marines to turn against each other and kill one another. Traded bullets is how, to clear up any questions.” Zeff walked over and respectfully stood beside Magnus and Reaper. Fauz appeared once again, with that smile on his face. He escorted an ODST out to everyone. “Ahh, yes. This here is our good member Joseph. You need him on your team to butt heads against Zeff. Joseph here can tell when you’re lying, he knows how to work his way around situations. Not just arguments. However, he is easy to get along with. You’ll become friends with him shortly, I’m sure. He’s even managed to become friends with Magnus.” Joseph rose two fingers in the air, showing a peace sign. Then quietly went over to stand with the crew. Mike looked over to see who was left. “Huh, just one left. Wonder where the other went. Well then, we’ll carry on.” A Spartan III walked into the room. “Now this ones a keeper. That you can’t keep. He’s only here for this mission and leaves afterwards. However, he’ll make sure the job gets done. His name is Eric Magarnold. Son of the Captain of UNSC Warlord actually, yes surprising he’s here. UNSC sent him over since no one else wanted to tag along. He’s quiet and won’t talk at all. However, he’ll get the job done. He’s fast and smart. No need to worry about losing him.” Mike patted Eric on the back, which was a motion for him to go stand over with the others. “Well you guys. I’m sorry the other one is not here. Hopefully you’ll run into her sooner or later. Hopefully sooner. Anyways, you should all meet downstairs. Dexter is waiting for you. Time for me to go.” The 65 year-old man walked out of the room. Happy to be of assistance. They all walked out of the room. “He was such a nice man. Introducing everyone and stuff. Great we get teammates and Dexter is actually coming along!” Archangel said. “Yes, but lets go.” Jackson lead everyone into the elevator. He pushed the button for the launch bay. “You know, I hope this goes well. Would be nice to get to know you all a little better.” Joseph said with enthusiasm. He held his hand out to Michael. “Hi.” Michael shook his hand, “Hello. I’m Michael Caboose.” Joseph gave a smile, “Well it’s nice to meet you Caboose.” Michael gave him a confused look, “Oh, people just usually call me Michael. Caboose is fine though!” He smiled. “Thanks.” Joseph replied. The elevator door opened, they all stepped out. They spotted Dexter over near three pelicans. He seemed to be in a conversation with someone. Everyone walked over. “Hello Dexter, glad you’re here to help.” Jackson said as he walked up to him. The person, who turned out to be a Spartan looked at them. Jackson could only make out that it was a female. He couldn’t get anything else. “Oh, hey guys. Sorry, I was busy here talking to Ash. One of your squad members.” Dexter noticed that the new recruits were with them. “Oh, Ash I think you missed your introduction with Mike. Dang it, why did you have to bother me?” Dexter walked over to talk to the other engineers. “Well, okay then. Be that way.” She looked away from Dexter and at her new team. “Hello, guys and gals. I’m Ash. To cut the exaggerated details that Mike probably has to say, I’m just the one you’ll look at for helping get the job done. Nothing more, nothing less. I’ll care for each one of you. Yep, that’s about it. Now lets go, shall we?” Ash walked over to join them. Dexter approached them. “Well everything is ready. This job is dangerous. However, you’ll be split up into teams of three. The teams are already made. We’re not drawing sticks or seeing who can skip a rock the farthest. Plus Paper, Rock, Scissors would just take too long.” Dexter looked for the paper on his clipboard. “Ah here we go,” Dexter started to name off the teams. “Joseph, Bek, Frank, Caboose, and Reaper will be in Pelican 1; on the left. You can’t miss it, there’s a tank attached for transport. Archangel, Jackson, Eric, and Magnus are Pelican 2; this one’s in the middle. Attached to it is a Gauss Warthog, with a Gungoose sitting on the inside. Runner, Junior, Zeff, and Ash will be in Pelican 3, on your right. Attached to it is a modified transport warthog. Included is a machine gun turret on both sides, flamethrower facing backwards, and the passenger gets a simple mounted shotgun turret on the dash. Improved for durability as well, that way you won’t be taken out so easily if you encounter flood.” Dexter’s mouth ran dry from the read-off. A glimmer shined in Runner’s eyes. “Alright, well mount up everyone. Let’s go.” The teams split off into their three sections and boarded the pelicans. “The pelicans have preset destinations. We’re going to sweep the landscape. Hence why you’re split up into three teams. As far as we’re concerned. Only one of these areas has the message, as far as we’re concerned. We’re not sure which one does. We have Covenant traces on the battlenet saying they were in each of the three. Anyways, good luck to all of you. I’ll be here if you need anything.” Dexter said, then flickered off their HUD’s. The pelicans all lifted up and took off. Each of the three broke off in separate destinations as they reached the surface. One was to search a cave. One was to search a desert. One was to search an island. As the pelicans grew near the installation, a green-musky look appeared in the air. This gave everyone an unsensational feel. Each of them knew, if they were to die from these creatures. It would use them to turn them against one another. Dexter saw in one of the Pelican’s cameras, a large figure ran across the ground. Then the camera went out and a Pelican came up missing on the screen. Only two remained. ~End of Chapter 2~
  3. ~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~
  4. UNSC Warlord Book 3: Lan Chorus The Hunt Begins The Prologue... “Systems are clear. You may now exit.” Dexter, an engineer who was aboard the UNSC Warlord, deactivated the Cryogenic Pods that stored some of the ODST’s and Spartan’s onboard from the previous mission on Ballast. A few of them had decided to stay out, mostly the medics and pilots, the others are went into Cryogenic Pods until they were needed. Well, they were needed. Bek and Michael J Caboose exited first, and at the same time as one another. Bek didn’t have a helmet on unlike Michael. She lost this on her brink of life, back on Ballast. Osiris had tried to kill her; he beat her and kicked her until she bleed all over the face. As soon as she could, she managed to escape his grasp and head for an evac that Osiris originally had planned to arrive at the outpost where she met Michael. Osiris didn’t make it with her, she remembered as she watched the Scarab obliterate him into a hot liquid. Michael had faced something similar, where he was locked in the room, separated from the others, on Ballast’s underground tunnels. He was stuck in a room with what he found out to be a Precursor AI of some sort. No idea, he just called it a Robot like all the others did. Luckily, he managed to escape out of there and run into Alex, whom was later killed in the return to the tunnels by an Elite known as Lan Chorus. His brother was killed by the exact same Elite as well, whom had somehow managed to aboard the UNSC Warlord and thrown Destroyer into the reactor. Runner and Archangel exited next. These two didn’t get involved much on Ballast, but they were there. Runner, oh she was an excellent fighter when she did get involved. She was quick at the trigger and took down any enemy she saw in sight, heck she was even better than a few of the Spartan II’s on their team. Not to mention her agility on foot, about as fast a Spartan III. Archangel was a long lasted Spartan II, he was originally in Team Lord back on recruitment when he was first picked up on Reach with Bek. He was originally an ONI operative Spartan. When the situation calls for it, he’ll be the sniper. Archangel has helped the team secure various hard points and extraction zones. Without him, they may have been pressured with the Covenant forces. He knew Junior’s and Jackson’s fathers’. Lastly, Jackson threw open the door of the Cryogenic Tube. He stood proud, not very oriented at the moment, but he looked like he could just shake it off. Jackson was the team’s leader, or at least served at one at the time. Not only did he face a giant ‘Robot’ on his own, and use a mysterious weapon, which vanished after use, to destroy it. He also managed to get his team alive, by the use of Junior’s Warthog with upgrades that saved them from Covenant attack. “Good, glad to see you’re all here. Now as we go through configurations and other warm ups to get you guy’s oriented, I’d like to tell you a few things of why I awoke you from your slumber.” Dexter said as he went over to the shield console to ensure each one of their shields functioned correctly, except Runners. “Good, there better be. I don’t like being awoken for no reason. I enjoy my sleep when I can get it. Right now. I can’t get it.” Runner said as she stood back and watched each one of them alternatively took turns to get into position on the green marked tile. “Alright, that’s that.” Dexter said as he turned off the console and Jackson got out. He headed over to the focus ring console, to test how well each of them could focus on a certain area; if they could. “Commander Samantha wants us to go meet her. She sent a few other teams to do some recon while we took a break. She says she may have found Lan Chorus, but she’s not sure. They said there’s some clues on Installation 07 that may lead to other clues, and that we’re going to have to board the surface of that muck ring. It’ll be hell alright. At least UNSC Firestorm will be alongside to help us out. Heard they got a crew onboard we can get to meet. Just mostly some damn Helljumpers, and the others are Spartans. How they get along so damn well without another type of soldier beats me.” Dexter finished up the exercise. “Really? We’re going to Installation 07? I thought that was restricted and unable to land on? I guess I might be wrong, things could change over the course of the years.” Jackson stepped into the elevator with the others. They were all headed to the top floor to regroup with the others, then head up the stairway that took them into a door. The door lead to the UNSC Warlord Operation Deck. Which is where Captain Samantha Magarnold and Commander Moth were at. Where they waited. Frank and Junior were over in the corner at a dating table, they had a game of chess out in front of them. Frank was at the advantage, he still had his Commander on the board alongside two Marine’s who were soon to be able to transferred into ODST’s. Everyone approached their table, where they were interrupted. “Ah, I see it’s time to go then? No worries, didn’t care about the bloody game anyways.” Junior stood up and knocked the pieces over and out of place. Frank laughed in amusement, he was guaranteed to win anyways. Frank was a jolly fellow, he didn’t partake much. He just stood back and helped with what he could do, follow orders and what not. Although Jackson hated him because he was a pilot, he held no grudge or anger towards him. Jackson’s always been that way. Without him, they wouldn’t have got far. He was the main support on Ballast before UNSC Warlord arrived. He piloted his vehicle, which was a Hornet, took care of any threats that approached. Mostly hunters and Wraith’s. Both of which had trouble when it came against the mighty Hornet. Junior was a solid brick. Of course, his father died and he couldn’t have been there for him. Despite his father did kill Jackson’s own father, before he was killed himself. Junior did what was needed done. He took care of the team and made sure everyone was operational. No injuries, no losses. He did his best. Although his help in battle wasn’t much, he made sure everyone was on their feet. “Captain’s waiting, don’t think we want to upset her. At least I don’t, hehe.” Frank was happy they were on their way to see Samantha for their assignment. Actually, he was just happy he could see Samantha in general. The last time he saw her, he felt like he was in love. “Crud, I need to quit thinking about her. It’s getting old really quick.” Frank snapped out of his thoughts and ran up the steps to everyone who just started to enter the doorway to the Observation Deck. “Glad you could all make it. I’m going to make this quick and simple so you know what you’re doing.” Moth walked over towards the center of where they all stood. “We’re going to Installation 07. Now, we’ll need to be very careful. The flood still inhabit the installation. However, we will be accompanied by a fellow UNSC Frigate, known as UNSC Firestorm.” “Sounds interesting. I’d like to know more about them.” Jackson was ready to hunt down the Elite who killed Heli, a brave ODST that stood behind to fight the second Robot that they first encountered. “UNSC Firestorm may be a Frigate, but they will be helping with deployment and anything we need without wasting very much of Warlord’s resources. Firestorm has a few soldiers on board who have volunteered to join us. Just Spartan’s and ODST’s. However, you will have to board their ship before you can deploy on the surface of the Installation. Just be careful, Installation 07’s flood are unpredictable. There’s more in remote areas, then there are in others. You all need to watch you back.” Moth explained vigilantly. He just followed orders. “Now, that this is over with. You all need to return to your barracks and get ready for the jump. We should be there within two weeks. You all should get some practice in War Games and in the target range. I’ll let you know when we’re in view of the Installation. You are all dismissed.” Samantha told them as she walked back to her Headquarters. Frank watched her as she walked away. What a beautiful sight for him. “Well we heard the Captain, let’s go do some War Games. First maps on me, we’re going to play some Infection on Ragnarok with our loadouts we’ll be using on the field.” Jackson lead the team to the War Games room, where he set up the simulation. They felt the ship jump, it was time to get things done. War Games began. Junior and Michael started out as the first infected. The others were survivors. ~End of Prologue~
  5. Hello Everyone, I guess I should get started on UNSC Warlord. This time around we got a few newcomers, who haven't been here before. Now I know it might be confusing to some of those who have joined, however those of you who wish may might want to catch up on the other books, or you can play off where it starts. Book 1: Sanctuary is a 66 page book. Book 2: Odds and Ends is a 32 page book. Each of these books and their chapters exist here on these very forums, if you would like a reading copy. Feel free to PM me and I will hook you up with the books. I am proud to introduce our new forum members who have joined: xXTox1cXReaperZ Vitamin PWN Ash Gemini Dragons Fishy If you still want to sign up, just go on ahead and sign up here! http://www.343industries.org/forum/topic/40040-sign-up-for-the-hunt/ The series will continue where we last left, leaving Ballast. The last words said were mentioning the hunt of Lan Chorus, an Elite. His status has still been unconfirmed by the UNSC, but he has been labeled as "Assassin, Zealot, General, Field Marshall, Shipmaster, and other various names." Only 10 more days until the prologue is released! Stay tuned! I may send PM's again letting you know of the release of the chapters, or I may do something different this time. You all better be ready, polish those guns; clean that armor; get a few rounds of practice in at the training court; get to know each other; or if you don't want too, you can just wait until I share the story. Thank you everyone for making it this far!
  6. 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:
  7. ~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!
  8. ~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~ Get ready everyone!
  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~
  10. ~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~
  11. ~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~
  12. ~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~
  13. ~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~
  14. 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~
  15. ~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~ That's it for the boring chapter you guys, lol. Can't always have action or climax points. Gotta throw information in there sometime. Otherwise you wouldn't know what's going on.
  16. ~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~
  17. ~Chapter 2: Goodbye~ “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~
  18. ~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~ Interactive story actions: Jackson decided the team's fate. Archangel decided to join the team on the ground.
  19. UNSC Warlord Book 2 is about to start. I have made a video to quickly show a teaser to all my fans of the upcoming book as well as some quotes from a few of the chapters. This book will have a lot more put into it, making it a fanfiction, than the Book 1 did. Enjoy!
  20. Welcome, soldiers. This is UNSC Warlord Commander Samantha Lea Magarnold. As you all know, we barely managed to escape the fall of Reach. Lost a couple good soldiers out there. Damn good soldiers, I’d say. Though they will be remembered, that’s not the point. We’re here because we need you. UNSC has just found a forerunner planet, known as Requim. The Covenant are long gone, but The Storm still persists. Our objective is not Requim, but The Storm. We’ll do what we can, soldiers. I need you. 1.) What type of soldier are you- Spartan, Marine, Helljumper/ODST, Pilot, Engineer, Medic, Operator, Sniper, Elite. 2.) Which primary weapon do you carry? UNSC Personnel Only: SMG, Battle Rifle, DMR, Assault Rifle, Sniper Rifle, Shotgun, Railgun, SAW, Sticky Detonator, Grenade Launcher, Spartan Laser, Carbine. Elite Personnel Only: Carbine, Needler, Plasma Rifle, Beam Rifle, Concussion Rifle, Needle Rifle, Plasma Repeater. 3.) Which secondary do you carry? UNSC Personnel Only: Pistol (M60), Magnum (M6C, M6D, M6G, M6H), Combat knife, Humbler. Elite Personnel Only: Plasma Pistol, Energy Dagger, Energy Sword. 4.) Type of equipment carried. Thruster Pack (Spartan's Only), Jet Pack, Drop Shield, Active Camo, Sentry Drone, Scout Drone, EMP Bomb, Reaper Drone, Grav Lift, Promethean Vision. 5.) Type of grenade- Frag or Plasma. 6.) What is your soldier's nickname or name. 7.) What type of personality do you have? 8.) Weapon Camouflage. (Camouflage's are NOT required.) 9.) Vehicle? UNSC Personnel Only: Gungoose, Mongoose, Warthog Standard, Warthog Transport, Hornet (Pilot), Broadsword (Pilot), Mammoth, Scorpion, Mantis, Cobra. (Vehicles are NOT required.) Elite Personnel Only: Banshee, Ghost, Wraith, Shadow, Locust. 10.) Soldier handicaps? Blind in one eye, missing finger, hot-tempered, confused, depressed, no teeth, back pain, hard hearing, speech disability, etc. (Handicaps are NOT required.) 11.) Gender. Welcome to the UNSC Warlord Soldier. We’ll have everything filled in just a moment. (If you are a returning soldier, you may choose to bring your character forward and update everything, except the soldier.) If you need ANY ideas, you can refer to last books thread for inspirations. http://www.343industries.org/forum/topic/34457-sign-up-your-call/
  21. UNSC Warlord is a fan inspired Halo Fiction created by Fishy. Inspiration comes from many members of the 343 Industries Community Forum Fan Page. Events can be taken into their own imagination as they wish... UNSC WARLORD The Prologue... Deep in the outer colonies, there was stationed a UNSC ship. She was not just any UNSC ship either, she was a Phoenix-Class Colony Ship. They called her: The UNSC Warlord. The ships current duty was to take back control of Harvest, which was not a great situation at the moment. Warlord was outnumber 4-1 against enemy forces on the ground, but that wasn't going to stop them. The commander called for a special force to help out the marine stragglers down there. These fellows were known as: ODST 1st division. The Commander stood tall and proud and announced, “Alright. Sarge, Dumby, Paladin, and Destroyer. You are all being sent to Hell. I want each one of you prepped and ready in 5. Do you hear?” All of them, except Dumby replied saying “Sir, yes sir!” Dumby just nodded his head in agreement. They all knew exactly what they were being called for. ~5 Minutes Later~ “Are you guys ready?” Asked the Commander, rhetorically. Who then walked up to the podium. “We are.” Replied Sarge. “Good, you know the plan. If you forgot, it's in your COMS that you have installed in your VISR. Now good luck ODST's, may he be with you.” Right then, the Commander punched the launch keys in on the screen and all 4 ODST's were sent in. ~4 Hours Later~ “Uhhhh...” Said Destroyer over the network. Who then ejected himself out of his pod. “Where are we?” Sarge then punched in over the network, “Destroyer is that you? What is your location?” Destroyer responded, “Not sure, looks like I'm at the bottom of a cliff. Where are you all at?” A couple minutes later Paladin answered Destroyer's question, “Never mind that, I think we see you. We'll be down there in a bit. Dumby over here has got our network fixed in so we can now communicate with the outpost.” As they descended down to get Destroyer, everything got really quiet. All the returning fire sounded like it had finally seized. As they approached Destroyer and got him out, the noise returned. Actually, it wasn't just any noise. It was the sound of bugs. Dumby whipped out his SSMG at the exact same time Sarge leveled up his shotgun. Paladin had just pulled Destroyer out of the drop pod when all of a sudden two drones flew up and picked him up and carried him away. Paladin yelled back at them, “Shoot! Shoot one of these damn things! Come on you guys! Shoot!” Just as the Destroyer got his Battle Rifle pulled up to shoot, he was gone around the corner. They had lost him. Then all of a sudden, they heard two loud single shots. Startled by the shots, the three ODST's ran over to where Paladin had gone. Sure enough, the drones were dead and Paladin was struggling to get up. Paladin, while coughing, “I can...'t believe you thr...ee are ODS...T's! You all can't shoot worth a crap!” Sarge, angrily, responded saying “ Whatever. Who the hell saved you? Friendly or Foe?” Right as Paladin opened his mouth someone walked in smiling and said, “Friendly. If I was foe, there would've only been one shot.” Right then, they all raised their weapons at him, with Sarge questioning, “Who the hell are you!?” Smiling, the stranger replied “Names Nut, or as what everyone else calls me, then I go by Doc. Why, what's it to you?” Paladin: “We're on our way to the outpost. We were dropped in as a last resort from an orbiting Colony Cruiser, known as the UNSC Warlord.” Doc: “Oh, I see. You boys here to help us, huh?” Sarge: “Yeah, what's it to ya?” Doc: “Nothin', just follow me.” As the team of five walked their way to the outpost, they encountered nothing except muskrats, cows, and goats. All they could hear were the distant shots of firearms, and every now and then a covenant cannon. As they approached the outpost, Doc looked over his shoulder and said, “Come here, I wanna show you someone.” He walked into the medical bay past wounded and dead soldiers and into the armory with the four ODST's following close behind. Sarge taking leader position. As they walked into the armory they heard somebody exclaim, “Are you serious! Why are the controls not working? I could have sworn I had everything figured out to help us get the hell out of here. But I guess this won't do any good not working.” Which then they threw it at the wall. Which made Dumby jump and drop his knife. “Who is it now?” “Just the Doc and reinforcements from Warlord. Don't worry, we're not going to kill you Osiris.” “Good, I hope not. Otherwise you guy's aren't getting the hell out of here.” Osiris said while getting up and walking over to them. Destroyer quickly asked as Osiris walked up “What's with the smiley face?” Dumby shook his head in agreement with the question. Osiris scoffed back “What's it to ya?” Destroyer replied, while backing up, “Just wanted to know. I wasn't sure. Never seen someone do that before.” Osiris looked at him and laughed, “Good, cause you don't get to know. Oh, and that's because you asked.” It was Sarge's turn to take control of the conversation, “Anyways, Osiris. We're here to help you guy's fight off the covenant long enough to get the civilian shuttles launched and get evac pelicans to get us the hell out of here. Now, any idea where your Lieutenant is? Osiris just smiled and said, “Yeah. He's either in Heaven or he's in Hell. If no that, he's out on the ground laying down taking a nap.” Paladin questioned, “Why is he taking a nap in the middle of the war?” Osiris burst out laughing, even Doc had a confused expression on his face, he finally caught himself enough air to explain, “Because the Lieutenant's dead!” He continued laughing. Sarge: “Wait. What? Why?” Osiris: “Nasty jackals shot him as he went out to get a better COM setup with local command. But I guess since you boy's are here we'll be just right. Anyways, if you follow me. I know exactly how we're going to get this mission done. It's going to be fun.” They all followed him into the vehicle bay and saw something they've never seen before. Dumby even made what sounded like he said 'Holy crap'. All Osiris said was, “All right boys. Buckle up. We're going in...” ~End Prologue~ ~Chapter 1: Evac~ Sarge: "What is that?" Osiris: "What is what?" Sarge: "What is that vehicle?" Osiris: "Are you freaking kidding me? It's the newest model of the Covenant Scarab. Except with more explosive power and modifications." Paladin then bursted out his question, "What's a Scarab?" Which got the entire ODST squad nodding in agreement. Osiris then shook his head and said, "Ah, never mind." He then lifted up a small device package and asked, "Do you see this?" They all replied in various responses approving they saw it. "Well this is my electronics package I use for hijacking security systems. One night I went out and stole this Scarab from the covenant. I had Sif, which is the dumb AI embedded into the device, take out all the security systems; while I took over the Scarab controls. Was an amazing night. So many explosions..." He looked up in awe. Sarge then asked "What is Doc doing? He seems to be hauling stuff into the Scarab." Osiris looked over at the Scarab and took out his 12x zoom binoculars. "Looks like he's loading medical equipment. Wouldn't surprise me, you guy's might need it." Sarge looked at him confused, "You mean you won't get hurt? I call crap on that." Osiris started laughing, "Idiot. If you knew any damn thing about a Scarab, then you would know the driver is well protected. Now get in. I have replaced all three of the covenant plasma cannons with grenade launcher turrets. Which have 50mm, if you must know. If you don't care, then that's fine. I get to watch the amazing explosions anyways." Osiris then walked up and got into the Scarab. "Alright boys, hop on. There's only three mounted turrets, but the fourth one can use the AA gun on top. You fight over who gets what, even kill each other. I don't care." Sarge muttered "Yes, sir." As they departed it took them about an hour to get the major battle scene which it looked like only two soldiers were left fighting. Paladin and Dumby looked at each other like they thought the two soldiers were going to die before we could get there. They then departed to the two turrets mounted on the sides of the Scarab. Sarge was on rear bay turret, and Destroyer was in the AA gun. Just then someone they don't know crackled over the network communication. "Osiris please tell me that is you approaching us from behind." Osiris then crackled onto the network, "Yes sir!" "Good" the voice replied back. Osiris then asked the man, "Yo Biggles, do you and Jack want to get into that flipped gauss warthog, or at least that's what it looks like, and then help us get those evac shuttles launched?" This time another voice got on the network, it must have been Jack. "Yeah we're going for it as soon as you open fire. There are at least 22 Wraiths, 50 banshees, 500 grunts, 234 Jackals, 124 elites, and 10 hunters. That's not counting what's on the phantoms coming this way. You guys take out the vehicles and hunters. We got the rest." Osiris smiled and replied back "Sounds like fun. We get the explosions, you get the kills." Osiris then started opening fire on the Wraiths. Along with Dumby and Paladin opening fire on any infantry nearby. Destroyer crackled over the COM. "One. Two. Three. Four. Five..." Osiris yelled back at him, "Gosh damn it Destroyer! Shoot off the Banshee wings, that way it spins off and crashes over there; instead of crashing into us!" Biggles then yelled over the network "Hold your fire, Dumby! We're on your side! Those grenade blasts that you keep shooting and bouncing back and forth in front of the warthog and behind; Are starting to get really annoying!" Just at that moment, Covenant Vampires and Phantoms flew in at full speed. Sarge yelled at Destroyer "Destroyer! 6 O'clock! We got Vampires and Phantoms on our tail! Now that those Banshees are gone, can you take them out?" Biggles and Jack drove ahead of the Scarab taking care of the last of the infantry while Osiris turned around and took all the Vampires and Phantoms. He then started laughing over the network, "Who needs an AA gun, when you have me?" Bad call. Right as one of the Vampire's crashed, it shot a needle. The needle then traveled right into lower bay of the Scarab. Just barely hitting Sarge. Who then yelled, "Medic!" Thing was, Doc was already over there grabbing him and taking him to the improvised infirmary he made. He got the wound covered and patched up for him. Doc then told Osiris "I think they need to launch, now!" At that moment they heard a loud sonic boom. Dumby, Paladin, and Destroyer all looked in the direction it came from and watched the six evac shuttles take off. Paladin and Destroyer responded "Wow - Glad we got that done." Jack yelled in over the network "You forgot one! You forgo-" Just then, they heard a fuel rod cannon launch and everyone looked over and saw the last hunter. He had shot the two Spartans warthog. Osiris then quickly blew up the hunter into millions of worms, then finished them off. Biggles responded, "We're fine. Warthogs not. Just come and get us. Our weapons are dry." Osiris then walked over to them and docked the Scarab so they could board. Paladin then got on the network with Warlord and let them know the Shuttles have just launched and they were ready for evac. He then got down in the infirmary and told everyone "We'll have a longsword here in 2 minutes to evac us. We just need to hold the area until then." Right then, a longsword just landed and a man cracked over the network "Names Architect, you guys need to get in here now! The pilot's ready to go! Lets go go go!" They all ran up and boarded the longsword and took off. As soon as they took off. They heard an extremely loud explosion. Osiris bursted out laughing. Sarge asked him "What was that?" Osiris responded, "Oh just Sif setting off a Havoc nuke on the Scarab." He continued laughing. At that moment. They just boarded the UNSC Warlord... Where red alert was going off... ~End of Chapter 1~ ~Chapter 2: A Heavy Loss~ “What's going on? Why didn't the Commander tell us what was happening?” Sarge was the first one to ask. “To be honest, I don't even know what the hell is going on. Don't ask me. If you haven't noticed, I was trying to communicate with Command and tell them we were boarding the ship. I didn't get a reply back. It might be that either COM's are down, or the Communication room has been used for other purposes. We won't know for sure until we go and check.” Architect replied in anger. During their conversation of what was going on, the pilot managed to land the longsword in the holding bay. Right as Architect opened the bay hatch, a fuel rod went off in the distance and landed right in the windshield of the longsword. “Everyone, run!” Paladin yelled as the pilot and longsword blew up causing a big explosion. “Now that's what I call an explosion!” Osiris yelled. Who then ran over and regrouped with everyone else. “Okay, here's the plan” Biggles started, “Jack and I will secure this area. Doc, Destroyer, and Dumby will run to the med bay and see if it's still in operation and if there's anyone there able to help us. Sarge, Paladin, Osiris, and Architect, you will all go to the Communications room and see what's up. Try and see why we aren't getting any network with anybody.” They all agreed with the plan, except Destroyer asked “Wouldn't that also make it unable for any of us to communicate with each other?” Biggles looked at him, “I'm afraid so. But go and do as we must. If we're going to get the hell away from this planet. Then now's the time to do so.” Everyone exchanged glances then Biggles and Jack took off to wipe out all the covenant in the docking bay. Doc, Destroyer, and Dumby ran towards the hallways that led to the Med Bay; Sarge, Paladin, Osiris, and Architect all ran towards the hallway to the communications wing. ~Biggles and Jack of Harts~ “Jack! I get left side, you get right. Meet in the middle and return to center. Sound like a plan?” Biggles hollered at Jack across the room. “Sounds good!” Jack replied. Then continued to take out all of the grunts and jackals on the right floor. He then snatched a covenant plasma rifle and used a dual wield combo with his assault rifle. He ran down the floor shooting every enemy on his left with the plasma rifle and every enemy on his right with his assault rifle Until he met with Biggles in the center. “Alright, I'll stand back and take out all the jackals behind their shields with my BR while you take out all the shield-less jackals and the wandering grunts.” Biggles told Jack. “Let's get this damn crap done already. We need to find the commander. We are supposed to be assigned somewhere else other than-” He then melees an approaching jackal, then continued, “holding a defensive position.” “That may be, but without this zone secured all the returning ships won't give us any extra backup. Now let's just continue this and planned and go!” Biggles told Jack, with ignorance. Jack ran down the ramp with just his assault rifle and took out all the grunts and gauntlet-less jackals, while Biggles took out all the jackals with gauntlets. After a while. They finally finished securing the area until a phantom started to approach. Jack and Biggles ran down their ramp and hid behind the wall columns waiting for the phantom to dock in the bay and take out all the infantry it carried. Then all of a sudden all the parts of the front end of the phantom flew into the landing bay. Then a voice crackled over the system speaker. “System defenses online, all system defenses have been returned to normal in all landing bays and outer hull.” “Thank god, finally. Now lets go.” Jack said towards Biggles. They both then departed up the ramp to the control room and entered into the Atrium. Jack jumped out of the way of incoming bullets. “Wait, what the hell?” A pelican was in the room clearing out every single covenant that was in sight. From grunt to jackal to... Then a voice broke out. “That's right, you come and get me you nasty scums!” The marine on the pelican's mounted rear turret yelled. “Oh, and Cajun. Do you mind covering my area really quick while I reload this darn turret?” The man turned around in the pelican and asked the pilot. Which at that moment the pelican turned around and took out the rest of the covenant. “Thank you!” the man yelled at Cajun. The pelican then landed back in its landing pad. Then Cajun and the man hopped out and stared at the mess they made. “Who are they?” Cajun asked the man. “I'm not sure, lets go check it out.” The man replied along with a hint of suspicion in his voice. They both ran towards Biggles and Jack who held their location firmly until the two soldiers ran up to them. “Who are you guys?” Biggles was the first to respond. “I'm Biggles and this is Jack of Harts. We were evacuated from Harvest. We just landed here about 30 minutes ago via longsword. Which was then lost to a grunt wielding a fuel rod gun. That said, the room has been cleared and our objective is to clear out all the covenant on the ship and reach the control room.” The man replied, “Nice, by the way, name's Phoenix. This is my buddy, the pilot, Cajun. We liked to have fun in these type of situations. Good news for you though, this was the last remaining room of the covenant. The decks clear man. COM's are down though, if you didn't know. They have engineers trying to fix it up right now. Anyways, follow us if you want to get to the control room. We know the fastest way. Commander should be there, if that's who you were looking for.” The four of them all grouped together and walked the rest of the way to the control room. No covenant were spotted at all on their way there. Biggles, Jack, Cajun, and Phoenix all arrived safely to their destination. ~ Sarge, Paladin, Osiris, and Architect~ “You know, if we can reach the communications room, Sif and I will be able to restore all the ships COM's and restore the network. Possibly get the ship's dumb AI back online also.” Osiris mentioned to the squad. “Yeah, if we can get there in one peace.” Architect muttered. The team then ducked under a jammed door and crawled through. A spark went off, making Paladin jump. Laughing, “You almost went in your pants right there Paladin!” Osiris said. “But I myself shouldn't be making those kind of jokes, you don't know what could happen in this damaged hall.” The four of them then took turns jumping over broken obstacles they encountered every few minutes. “Shh Shh Shh... Do you hear that noise?” Sarge asked, which then made them all four stop and listen. “Something's in the vent right above us.” They all looked up at the vent. Next thing you know, something falls through. They all jump out of its way. “Skirmisher! Duck behind cover, now!” Architect screamed. Which resulted in everyone hiding behind the debris. “Alright, Let's kill this damn thing if we're going to get away from this damn planet.” Paladin told everyone while taking the first shot with his pistol. The skirmisher ran at an amazing speed dodging all the bullets. It ran and hid in the direction they came from. Osiris then immediately took out a trip mine and planted it in the only area the skirmisher could walk through. “Run! Don't worry about the skirmisher. Just run!” Osiris yelled then took off running the rest of the way to the communications room. “What the hell are you doing, Osiris?” Sarge screamed from behind trailing with the others. An explosion went off shaking the area of the ship they were at. “Whew that was close, plus on the bright side I got to see another explosion, and on the other bright side we reached the communications room.” Osiris then removed his helmet and walked into the communications room with the other three. “That was completely unacceptable what you just did back there!” Sarge yelled. “Sarge, take it easy. All command thinks that happened was the covenant threw a grenade. Not only that, all communications networks are down as well. So it doesn't matter right now. Osiris, is already working on them right now. It'll probably only take him about fifteen minutes to do anyways. So let's just hold our position and see what happens.” “He's right, you should just let it go. The worst thing that could happen is that it hit a pipeline and it exploded at the other side of the ship. No big deal. All the covenant should be gone by now. Seems like that skirmisher was the only one left trying to escape.” Architect said. “Alright fine, but we're heading to the Control center as soon as he gets this COM's room repaired.” Sarge said, then nodded at Osiris who then got up and joined the other three. “Okay, this small COM's room should be fine. Now lets get to the Control center and have the Commander see if she'll require your assistance in the Communications and Network room.” They all departed their way down to the control room. Their journey, like Biggles, Jack, Cajun, and Phoenix, went the same way. They encountered no covenant, except the few dead that managed to get aboard the Warlord. They then ended up in the control center waiting for the other two groups. Biggles group was the first to show up. There was no sign of Doc's group yet, so far. ~Doc, Destroyer, and Dumby~ “Oh my god, how much longer do we have to walk, Doc!” Destroyer complained, and smiled because he just noticed he rhymed. “How the hell do I know, this is your ship! You should know where to go!” Doc screamed, trying to hold back his anger and the idiocy. “Oh right.” Destroyer stated. He then complained to Dumby, “Dumb, how much longer do we have to go?” Dumby stared at him with a blank face then hauled off and slapped him in the face making him fall towards the ground. “Why was I paired up with a guy who doesn't know the ship and the other can't even talk! I wish he would just tell me why he couldn't talk, it would make way more sense to me!” Destroyer whined. “My god, whatever.” Doc walked ahead, Destroyer ran up behind him to take the lead since he knew the way to the Med Bay as did Dumby. Just then something made a sound. “Pssst...” -BOOM- A pipeline went off from the other side of the ship exploding in Dumby's face throwing him against the wall. “Dumby!” Doc and Destroyer yelled. “Come on, get up! Get up!” Destroyer tugged on him. “We have to get him to the med bay. He looks like he's done. Nonetheless, getting him to med bay will at least get him a chance to be prepped for a memorial service. May he be remembered as a great soldier.” Doc said, then ripped his dog tags off and carried them. Doc and Destroyer then carried him into the med bay, which was just a few ways down the hall. When they arrived at the med bay they sat Dumby down on one of the beds. Doc took Dumby's dog tag and enclosed them in Dumby's hands. “May you be remembered my friend.” Destroyer and Doc looked at each other. “Lets get to the control room. We're needed there.” Doc said. Destroyer nodded and then added, “It's only two doors down that way. Let's go.” They ran into the control room to regroup with their team. “There you are.” The Commander said. “Glad you all have made it. Now then, Communications are online. We are initiating protocol. All units not on board, are stuck here forever. We're heading closer to the Inner Colonies. Somewhere nearby a planet known as Reach.” The UNSC Warlord then went over and got on the control console. She punched in the codes closing all bay doors and all the windows. “Alright you guys. Lets get ready for Reach.” Sarge said. Just as Osiris walked back into the room to be seated with his team. The Commander smiled, “You guys will be known as: Team Lord. I'd like to introduce you your new member as well. Thought you could use another Spartan.” A tall Spartan-II walked into the room. He was wearing the Mark V MJOLNIR armour with a Sage colour to it. “Names Alex. I will serve as your second in command. Right next to Sarge.” He sat down next to Sarge. “Don't worry, I will do whatever it takes that you all live and the mission is finished. Sounds impossible, but I believe in myself and it has never failed me before.” “Sarge? You are also being promoted to lieutenant. Glad to have you on our side as well.” The Commander said as she ripped off his rank insignia and replaced it with the lieutenant rank insignia. “Hey, quick question.” Sarge just realized something. “Yes?” Team Lord responded. “Where's Dumby?” Sarge questioned, more directed towards Doc and Destroyer. “Well you see...” They both started out. “Yes?” Sarge said, getting a little impatient. “He's dead.” Doc finished. “He's what?” Sarge yelled, trying not to break down in front of them. ~End of Chapter 2~ ~Chapter 3: Planet Reach~ “It will be alright. What's lost is lost. If there were a way to bring him back, I'm pretty sure they would already be right on that.” Alex assured Sarge with a soothing voice. “It's not that, he was just one of the best members of the squad. I honestly would trade Destroyer for Dumby any day.” Sarge replied. The team walked onto the pelican, Cajun took the controls. Everyone seated except for Phoenix, whom was sitting in the co-pilot seat, and Architect took rear gunner. The pelican then descended towards the planet of Reach. “Command wants us down there to report what has happened on Harvest. Jack is carrying the Intel. We have been warned there are enemy rebels down there.” Cajun came over the local network, “So am I just landing the plane and we walk the rest of the way or am I flying straight to the objective?” “See, here's the thing. We're doing both. We have to land close by and walk through a cave and underground tunnel system.” Sarge responded back to Cajun. “Alright alright. Sounds like I have half half and half. Except the first half is more fun.” Cajun muttered. Architect then started firing out the back. “What is it?” Alex questioned. “Just rebels. I managed to take out the HQ room on their little fortification base. It might get them angry, but by the time they all get the HQ built they'll probably not be as angry as they were. Actually, I got an idea hold on.” Architect said not turning around. He then got on the network with UNSC Warlord Command. A longsword came in. Guns blazing so hot you could see the red end of the cannons two miles away. Which then it dropped some sort of thing from its hatch. “Carpet Bomb.” Osiris smiled. The rebel base blew up. Sending shards everywhere within the mile. “Nice. Glad we won't have to deal with those ones in particular anymore.” Paladin said. “Uh, guys. What's falling out of the sky?” Phoenix said over the network. Which then Alex, Sarge, Biggles, and Destroyer were the first to enter the cockpit and look up. “ODST Drop Pods. There's four of them it looks like. They seem to be going nearby our objective.” Sarge announced. “Should we go and get them?” Cajun asked. “No, we have our own plan, they have theirs. We need to get this Intel delivered to ONI.” Sarge replied with a bitter haste in his voice. The team were in the pelican for at least an hour. Which most of the crew took advantage of for sleep. Destroyer being the one who got two hours of sleep. “Alright, we're at the cave.” Cajun told everyone just as the pelican landed. They all got out and stared at the cave entrance. It had an eerie look with condensation all around the outside and inside walls. There was a moss old green look on it making it appear as being unused for centuries. “Alright, lets go.” Sarge ordered. The inside was even worse. It was dark. Like, really dark. All the soldiers turned on the flashlights on their weapons. The Spartans, except Jack, turned on their flashlights equipped to their helmets. Jack just stuck to the shadows with a red beam projected from out where his flashlight would've been. “Destroyer?” Paladin asked suddenly. “Yeah?” Destroyer responded, he was right next to Alex. “I'm sorry about... About Dumby. He was a great soldier. Despite how he couldn't talk, you basically made up all his non talk ability for him.” Paladin said with sorrow. “Yeah, he was my best friend. We both acted the same a lot. I remember when we both used to...” Destroyer stopped. “Go on.” Paladin urged. There was no response at all. Everyone stopped. And looked at where Destroyer was. “Destroyer?” Sarge questioned. No response. “Destroyer!?” Sarge began to lose his patience. Still no response. “Wait. What is that?” He pointed the flashlight down. “Oh my god, he's dead. How is he dead? There were no shots fired or anything! You just can't die from nothing!” Doc yelled and ran over to Destroyer's body. There was a bullet hole in the side of his visor. “I can't tell if where he was shot has blood spilling out of it or if it's just the paint.” Doc then removed Destroyer's helmet where blood was coming out of the side of his head. “He is dead. Why is he dead? How could he have possibly just die? This isn't right. This isn't right at all.” Osiris began to panic. Which then a bullet flew right in front of his face. “There's a silenced weapon in here!” He tossed a grenade in the direction the bullet came from. The firebomb spread everywhere. Next thing you hear is a man screaming in pain. “No! No! It burns! It burns! It freaking burns!” The sound died off. “We need to get out of here, and quick before anything else happens to us.” Biggles said. Right then, everyone ran towards the waypoint. Every now and then Osiris would scan the area to make sure there were no more soldiers. Doc was losing speed at the time, so Alex ran over and grabbed the body. “Don't worry, his weight won't slow me down.” He told Doc as he lifted the body onto his shoulders. They all could see the opening just ahead. “Glad we made it. Cajun, Phoenix, and Architect. Go and find us a pelican so we can get back. We'll leave the other one on the other side of the cave. To risky to go back.” Sarge barked the order at them. “I agree. Lets go you two.” Phoenix said before Architect. They then ran off towards the air hangar. The other soldiers ran towards the ONI Base but were stopped by a Spartan in blue armor. “Halt.” She said. “Hand over the information. You are not authorized in this building.” “Who exactly are you?” Sarge challenged. The spartan removed her helmet and replied, “Name's Bek. I'm a Spartan. My mission is ordered to deliver the Intel to the ONI officers then retreat back to this position and group up with you.” “What's going on here?” Another Spartan walked up. He glared at Jack. “Give up the Intel.” Jack handed over the Intel without hesitation. “Thank you.” The man said. Bek sneared at him, “Archangel, you don't have to be so mean. Whatever. Lets deliver the intel and get back here to regroup. Fauz is already in the hangar getting us a pelican.” They entered the building. “Hey boss, pelicans ready. A man named Fauz had it prepped and ready for us. Waiting on you.” Cajun clicked in over the network. “Alright, lets move then. Alex, you need to get Destroyer's body taken care of. Take him inside and hand him over to ONI. That way they can do what they must.” Sarge stated. “If you want me to.” Alex looked at Paladin who had looked like he was holding back the tears. “It'll be alright, bud. It was my fault for not taking precautions.” He patted Paladin's shoulder then ran into the building. The team then moved toward the hangar when Bek and Archangel caught up and moved in formation with them. After a few minutes of walking, they finally made it to the pelican where a man was there to greet them. “Hey, what's up. Name's Fauz. I prepared this pelican for ya. ONI told me to go with you guys because something's about to happen to this base. They didn't tell me what, but let's just go.” They all got seated in the pelican. Everyone sat where they did on the way there. The new team members sat everywhere else. Alex then boarded the pelican and sat in his seat. There were only five empty seats. One of those belonged to Destroyer. Who was being processed and then cremated by the ONI official in charge of the sick and deceased at the ONI base he was left at. Sarge stood up and made a speech over the local network, “Today we may have lost two great soldiers. But lets let them be remembered for who they were and what they have done. They are both best friends in hands and were great soldiers. I remember when it was just the four of us ODST's. Now it's just two of us. Although we have now become a team with many others, those two will always be remembered as our two closest friends.” Sarge held up Destroyer and Dumby's dog tags. “These are the reason why we need to keep pushing forward. We must avenge our friends and continue this fight. I'm sick of these damn scum. I'm not going out without a fight.” He looked at Alex. “If I were to die, I will die fighting for those I couldn't save. I am no better than any of you. Just because I carry the rank, doesn't mean I'm better. Tomorrow. We will kill all of those damn rebels and all of those damn covenant.” Sarge finished up his speech and sat back down. The pelican then boarded the ship. Where a spartan was there for them. “Wonder what that guy's up to.” Cajun and Phoenix said. “Who knows?” Replied Architect. “Names Moth. I am here to escort you to the Commander. She has news for you guys. Something about an Elite that was on board the ship.” The man said and started to escort them. ~End Chapter 3~ ~Chapter 4: Change of Plans~ “Right this way everyone.” Moth said. “I wonder what the Commander wants? Maybe another mission or a new squad member?” Paladin questioned. “Oh god no. I couldn't stand getting another new member after the last one,”said Architect. Alex glared at him. “Hehe. Maybe not the most recent one...” Moth ignored everyone and announced, “Alright, here we are; the Commander's expecting all of you.” Moth then walked up onto the stage and stood beside the Commander. “What's with the new guy?” Sarge said, confused. The Commander took a firm position before she spoke, “He is my Second-in-Command. Anyways, that's not important. What's important is that I have two missions for all of you. Separate missions in fact. I'm splitting your team into two for now.” Alex responded before it sank into Sarge, “What do you mean by splitting?” The Commander looked as if she was tired and getting irritated by all the events going on. So she just came out and told them what she was intending, “I mean your team is splitting in two. One team is consisted of Spartans. The other is consisted of the rest. Is that clear enough for you?” She lost a little temper on her last remark. “Sounds clear as water, mam.” Osiris stepped up and said. Mostly because the team leaders tried to get over the fact they just blew their Commander's top. “Good, Moth. Tell him to come in and bring everyone's items.” The Commander barked her order's at Moth as if he might as well not even be in the room. “Yes mam.” Moth opened the door. “Bring them in!” The soldier walked into the room and dropped a bag full of equipment on the floor. “Here you go.” The soldier said, the began gave out a really bad cough. He almost choked there for a second, but managed to save himself. The team ran over and grabbed the equipment of their choice, all except Alex; who just stood there and watched everyone grab from drop shield to jet pack to holograms. The Commander smiled and thanked the soldier, “Thank you Dumby.” Everyone stopped in their tracks. No one talked. No one moved. No one could not believe what they just heard. After five minutes of silence, Sarge spoke up. “Dumby, is that really you? No, it can't be. You talked. You can't talk. Not after that accident that happened three year's ago. You're dead, you gotta. There's no other way, we saw your vitals. You had no heart beat, everything in your body just stopped.” The soldier smiled, “Indeed, I am Dumby. Problem is, I didn't die. In fact, I was in a heavily induced coma.” He paused. “When that pipeline exploded, it slammed me into the wall hitting my head hard enough to knock me out for four days. In fact, I hit so hard I was basically stated as dead due to the fact my body slowed down so low it bypassed the readings.” “Alright alright. Enough of the emotions. Get to moving, you all have your orders.” Moth barked. Which then everyone just left the room and departed to the bay. He waited a few minutes, then pulled out his headset. “Yes, we're ready Commander... Yes... Now?... Alright, will do mam.” He put the headset back in his pocket. Moth walked over to the monitor and pushed in the slip-space keys. They were going to to Arcadia. Several hours later on the slip-space trip, Dumby asked, “Where's Destroyer?” Sarge stumbled over his seat. “He's dead, got shot in the head by an insurrectionist back on Reach.” “Oh. I miss that guy. He was stupid at times, but I miss him. I mean, he did whine a lot when I last saw him.” Dumby said, not caring much. A few more hours past, everyone on board fast asleep. When suddenly the ship came to a halt. Although, it did not disturb anyone, Sarge arose from his sleep and stretched. “Oh...” He stretched as far as he could. “Man that feels good.” He woke the rest of the team. “Come on everyone. Get up!” They all rose, and immediately noticed they were above Harvest. The Spirit of Fire and other member's of Commander Cole's military fleet were nearby. “Alright, lets go. We know what to do.” Alex stated. The troopers boarded the pelican: Cajun, Architect, Doc, Sarge, Alex, Paladin, Osiris, Dumby, and Phoenix. Sarge gave the order, “Alright, lets go. Our objective is to get down there and clear the landing zone so our evac shuttles can get in and get out with the civilians. We may have lost Harvest, but Arcadia could be next.” Cajun started up the pelican. Alex loaded his team into his Pelican: Biggles, Jack of Harts, Archangel, and Bek. “Alright everyone, please be prepared. We are going to try and see what the covenant are up to. We're going in deep. Spirit of Fire have said they see a purple dome. They have prototype plasma rhinos. Our job is to secure one of the sides. They have the other side. Is that clear?” They all shouted in unison, “Yes sir!” Alex just smiled at them from behind his visor, “Good. Then let's go.” He started up the pelican and immediately took off. Right as Sarge was about to lift off he heard a marine call, “Hey wait up for me, bud!” The marine jumped into the pelican. Err, no not a Marine. It was an ODST. Paladin called out at the ODST, “Who are you?” The ODST responded as he took a seat. “Name's Fauz. Don't you remember me? From Reach?” “I remember you. Doesn't mean I like.” Osiris spat. The Pelican then descended slowly towards the once luxurious city of Arcadia. While at the same moment a Covenant flagship flew in with its fleet. ~End of Chapter 4~ ~Chapter 5: Arcadia City~ “We’re going in hot!” Cajun yelled as he started to lose control of the pelican. “Brace for impact!” The pelican released the Scorpion and a couple seconds later landed on the belly of the vehicle and skid on the surface to a halt. “That one was close, but we need to get a move on. Come on lets go. Those evac shuttles won’t last forever.” Sarge ordered, whom did not have any patience on this dangerous mission plan. “You guys go ahead, I’m going back for the tank. I’ll rendezvous with all of you as soon as I can.” Osiris stated, then turned around and ran the opposite direction where the pelican first dispatched the Scorpion. “Alright, everyone else on me!” Sarge commanded then took point and ran towards Arcadia City. The team rushed towards the city and stood at the entrance, Osiris pulled the tank up a few minutes after they got their. Sarge was busy with a plan for a strategy on how they should take out the forces in the area to evac the shuttle when the Commander came over the network. “Sarge, can you read me?” The Commander demanded for an answer. “Loud and clear, what is it Commander?” Sarge replied without any hesitation. “I have really bad news. A covenant fleet just jumped into the atmosphere. One of them looks like a leadership. Can’t tell for sure now. Spirit of Fire is engaging it and demanding a full retreat in 30 minutes of all of its units. We’ll be doing the same here as soon as we get those civilian shuttles off the planet.” The Commander assured. “Alright Commander, will do. Sarge out.” Sarge disconnected from the network. He then ordered his team. “Alright everyone. We need to get evac shuttle number one lifted off. Osiris, you provide heavy support. If you see any covenant vehicles, take them out. Architect, Cajun, and Fauz, all of you secure a good overview position of the evac shuttle. Provide as much precision support as you can. Dumby, Doc, and Paladin, you secure a defensive perimeter. Phoenix, you and I will provide frontline defense. We take out anything in front of the barricades that are not listed as friendly or civilian. Alright, take your positions, now!” Sarge watched everyone run to their positions, then he ran over and up to the barricade. Phantoms were heard right overhead, then stopped to deploy troops. “Open fire!” Phoenix yelled. Everyone began to shoot at the grunts and jackals being deployed. Osiris shot down the phantom causing a massive explosion over the units. “I don’t think that’s all of them, let reload everyone! Phoenix was right, at the exact moment two phantoms and a spirit flew in. The two phantoms landed first then deployed jackals and grunts. “Suppressive fire, everybody! Lets go go go!” Sarge was serious. While the everyone was engaged, the spirit landed and dropped off two hunters and a wraith. “Osiris! Eyes on that wraith!” “Yes sir. Locking on now.” Osiris moved the Scorpions barrel and aimed at the wraith. He fired. “Woah boy!” The wraith lost all power, flipped over and crushed one of the hunters. Osiris then immediately engaged and eliminated the last hunter. “Tank beats everything! Oh man, I could do this all day!” Osiris shot down the spirit. “Alright guys, the ship looks like it’s about full and ready to take off with the civilians. Get ready to run to the second evac shuttle.” Sarge informed everyone. “Doc, you’re doing a great job assisting those families on board. Just remember that Warlord is counting on you.” Doc briefly responded, “I know, sir.” “Alright, first shuttles ready to go. I don’t seem to see any enemy movement on the VISOR, so we should be good.” Sarge confirmed putting his VISR HUD away. “Alright Evac Shuttle Number One, you are good to go!” Evac pilot, “Thanks Team Lord, could’ve have done it without you.” The evac shuttle then blasts off towards the UNSC Warlord. “Alright, shuttle number two. Lets go.” Phoenix took point. “Sarge, it looks like we have banshee’s incoming towards shuttle two.” Dumby noticed. “Alright, looks like there’s two of them.” Sarge stopped and noticed. “Everyone, behind cover! They’re coming towards us!” Everyone ran and hid behind rock formations and debris. “Alright, Phoenix and Architect you know what to do.” Architect was the first to go. He activated his jet pack and took off right behind the banshee gaining speed. Phoenix was next, he went for the second banshee. Architect finally boarded the banshee. He then removed his plasma grenade from his waist. He accidently let go, “Crap!” He yelled. He then removed his second plasma grenade from his waist. He activated it and slammed it into the right wing thruster. He bailed and flew towards shuttle two where everyone was already setting up a defensive action. Except Osiris, whom was still driving his way towards shuttle two. Phoenix still wasn’t done taking out his banshee. He reached for the banshee and grabbed ahold of it. The banshee then rolled causing him to slide off. Just in time, he grabbed a hold of the banshees left wing. He struggled for his combat knife, which he finally grabbed ahold of. Phoenix cut a hole in the side of the banshee revealing the circuits. His final act was ready. Phoenix grabbed his firebomb grenade and see it on the vehicles main circuit wire. Phoenix bailed as well and flew back to shuttle number two. His banshee lost control and swerved off and ran into an enemy phantom transporting three ghosts, which caused a huge explosion destroying the phantom and its vehicles. “Evac shuttle number two is complete. Now to just get it the hell out of here.” Paladin informed. The enemy shade turret kept its fire. “Osiris, help please.” “Sure thing.” Osiris shot down the bridge leading from one side of the pelican to the other causing all the shade turrets to fall and collapse. “Alright, anti-air batteries are no longer in the area. You may proceed Evac Shuttle Number Two.” Sarge said while taking down an Elite minor. “Thanks for the assist Team Lord. Glad you’re on your side.” The pilot said before blasting off towards the UNSC Warlord. “Alright, last shuttle guys. Then we can head back up and get the hell away from this planet.” Sarge said. He then ran full speed towards the last shuttle, everyone following him and Osiris turning on the Scorpion’s boost to catch up. “Glad you guys could make it! Get aboard now! Screw the civilians, Command wants this shuttle and everyone on it gone now!” The pilot said over the local network COM’s. “May I ask why she issued this order?” Sarge challenged. “Because of that.” He pointed in front of the shuttle. Sarge noticed it too. A covenant Scarab. “Don’t worry UNSC Warlord Team Lord. We got that Scarab for you.” Three Mac blasts then came straight out of the sky crippling the Scarab into nothing. “Thanks for the assist UNSC Spirit of Fire. Couldn’t of done it without you.” Sarge told Captain Cutter. “Okay, now we got the evac shuttle loaded. Lets get to the extraction zone out of the city. The Spartan’s should all be there waiting for us to evac.” Sarge said, while helping Osiris out of the Scorpion. “Alright, lets do this.” Architect said then jet packed over and took out an enemy vampire in the area. The first half of Team Lord made it in one piece. Except there was one problem. The Spartan’s weren’t there and the evac pelican arrived in ten minutes. “Hey Sarge, would you look at that?” Fauz said. “Huh?” Sarge looked up where Fauz motioned. There was two Covenant Corvettes and one Covenant Destroyer moving into position in one area. “No. That can’t be. That’s where the Spartan’s are. Should we save them?” Doc said, really worried about the Spartan’s. “We’ll be fine without them, just hold this position for now until they get here. Alright?” Sarge walked over and assured him. Except he noticed something when he went over to Doc to comfort him. Down towards the Spartan’s location in the Arcadia Outskirts, Sarge noticed something. There was an Elite with highly advanced armour and two energy swords just standing still in one location. ~End of Chapter 5~ ~Chapter 6: Arcadia Outskirts~ “Is everyone alright?” Alex's voice said. “Yeah, I just think the landing would've gone better.” Jack said. He pulled himself up and put his helmet back on and grabbed his assault rifle. Bek raised herself off the floor. She grabbed her shotgun and loaded the shells into the ammunition slot. “I think we should get a move on and see what the Covenant are really here for. I don't think standing around in a Pelican that just crashed because of a shade turret will do any good. For all they care, they think we're dead.” “She's right.” Biggles said while he finished his ammunition reload. “Alright everyone. Let's go in pairs: Jack and Biggles, Bek and Archangel. I'll go on my own. It'll get additional ground covered. Now let's move.” Alex headed off in one direction. “You heard the man.” Biggles and Jack ran in another direction. Bek looked at Archangel, “Just like old times back at ONI, huh?” Archangel nodded. They both took off in a direction separate from the other teams. ~ ~ Biggles and Jack arrived at a covenant outpost. They surveyed the area. “Looks like they're either planning for something or their gathering a lot of troops for a major invasion force.” Jack lowered his binoculars. “Alright, lets go. We need to take out this outpost one way or another.” They headed in the different direction. “Wait, I think I see something up ahead that we could use to take out that Covenant outpost. It looks like it'll do the trick.” Biggles squinted at what he saw. Jack and him ran up to the machine. Jack surveyed the area while Biggles did a ping. “I don't see anything on the radar. So we must be good to go.” Jack ran up to get in the machine, “Holy crap, we're going to use a Wolverine?” Jack dropped his gun from the shock. “Those things could destroy a building quicker than an average Scorpion.” Jack swiped up his gun and climbed on top of the Wolverine. He lowered his self into the Wolverine pilot hatch. “Let's do this.” Biggles hopped into the gunner seat hatch and turned on the Wolverine. “Okay let's go.” Jack drove straight towards the Covenant outpost. They were lucky. The Covenant didn't hear nor see them arrive before it was too late. “You get infantry, I got buildings.” Biggles started shooting the grenade launcher cannon at the grunts and elites. Jack turned the two rocket salvages and fired them at the outpost destroying the building from high impact. “Looks like this place is toast” Jack said as he hopped out of the Wolverine finishing a piece of bread he found inside the hatch. “Yeah, toast.” Biggles shot the grunt in the face causing a massive explosion to come from his methane tank. He opened the hatch, and put his Battle Rifle next to the hatch door. “Uh, Biggles. You coming out or what?” Jack's expression looked confused. “Yeah, I'm coming.” Biggles raised himself out of the hatch and onto the ground, he grabbed his Battle Rifle then checked to make sure he still had everything. He looked at Jack and nodded his head. They both progressed through the area even more, they were on the look out for a Covenant extraction zone. ~ ~ “Archangel. Are you ready?” She whispered. Archangel responded, “Yes, setting up the bipod now, Bek.” He steadied the pod on the tree branch and balanced it. Archangel and Bek had came onto a Covenant extraction site. They thought it looked like they had dug up some sort of building material. The structure was made of a nice solidified surface that ran off of some sort of technology usage of energy. “Alex, Jack, and Biggles. Come to our location, now.” Archangel said. “You think you found it?” Alex replied. “Just come quick and look for yourself, I'm engaging now.” Archangel left the network. Archangel took the first shot, luck was in his rifle this time; the Elite Commander fell down dead. The other Covenant began to scream in different tones about what just happened. Archangel took another shot, killing the gunner in the shade turret. He kept a steady pace of sniper shots for a few more rounds until one of the jackals spotted Bek and began to shoot his plasma pistol in the direction. So did all the grunts and other jackals. The few Elites that were there started to revolt as well. “I'm taking way too much fire. I can't get a beat on them, Archangel. Can you finish off those jackals?” Bek leaned over and shot three grunts in the face and returned back behind the tree. Archangel hopped out of the tree and went behind cover behind the bottom of a tree. “Too much incoming fire, don't want a stray bullet to hit me.” Archangel dropped an Elite. In the distance three banshees and a phantom crashed down in the area with a result of majority of the grunts and jackals gone. “What the hell?” Archangel, Bek, and The Covenant looked around. Six more missiles came into the area blowing up a Covenant Wraith tank. “Okay, seriously. What's up?” Archangel sat down and messed with his network. “Okay, seriously. Which one of you guys was that?” He sounded upset about it. “Was just Biggles and I. We found this Wolverine laying around and said 'Might as well use it.' So we took it and used it.” Jack replied back. “Ah whatever.” Archangel shot the last Elite in the area. Everyone regrouped in the middle. “Where's Alex?” Bek asked. She sounded as if she were afraid and scared for what might have happened to Alex. “I'm here don't worry. But let's get going. We have about four minutes to get to the exfil. Commander's orders.” Alex ran past them in the direction of the extraction location. After about two minutes of running they arrived at the bottom of the hill. Everyone started to run up the hill where the Pelican just landed. Alex saw Sarge, he looked as if he didn't want us to go up the hill. Suddenly Alex was drug and thrown threw two trees. “Ah what the Hell was that?” He picked up his Assault Rifle and aimed it at where he was thrown. An Elite revealed itself from his active camouflage. The armor didn't look like ordinary Elite battle armor, it looked as if it belonged to a Covenant ship Commander. “I am Fien' Sheyan, I am the third in command of the Covenant destroyer Bliss of Sedate. You are one of our high value targets, demon.” He withdrew two energy swords and ran at Alex. Alex opened fire. Bek heard the shots, she called for the others to come help, which they did. They all ran towards Alex to save him. “Don't come any closer! Just run to the Pelican. Run!” Alex yelled at her. She hesitated as did the others, then ran to the Pelican. Alex got knocked back from the Elite's fists. It hurt. Alex then got up and pulled out his magnum. He managed to get the Elite to drop one of the swords, Alex broke the power supply on it. The Elite looked angry. “Damn you demon! I will have you for this!” Fien' ran at him. Alex dodged his swings and ran over and picked up his Assault Rifle he dropped earlier. He opened fire on the Elite, but the sword just reflected the bullets. “Ah, what the hell.” Alex dropped the Assault rifle. “Here, catch!” Alex heard Jack yell, so he held his hand in the air and caught a combat knife. Just in time as Fien' ran up, Alex stabbed his hand resulting in the Elite being disabled in both arms. “Fool. You may have been able to defeat me, but the Arbiter will have your head! Your heresy will stand your feet!” The Elite fell to the ground. “No, but it will stand yours.” He shot the Elite in the face with his magnum. Alex caught up to the pelican with less than thirty seconds left. “Let's go, now!” The pelican escalated quickly and boosted towards the UNSC Warlord. A nuke went off down on the ground. Sarge leaned over and looked at where the noise came from and questioned, “What was that?” Biggles took off his helmet and smiled at Sarge. “Command's orders.” ~End Chapter Six~ ~Chapter 7: Tick Tock goes the Clock~ “Get your asses in here now!” The Commander was really impatient, this is very unusual for her. Something terrible must have happened. Sarge kept these thoughts to himself. “What is it Commander?” Alex rushed into the room first, Sarge and the others right behind him. Osiris was on the floor exhausted from the rush in. Doc went over to Osiris to lower his heart rate so he doesn't pass out. “Alright, today I need you all to do your very best. Well, everyone who is a Spartan and ODST that is.” The Commander narrowed her eyes at them. “Now, I want you all to know that a special Marine, who is one of our high valued crew members, has been kidnapped. Yes, an Elite was aboard the ship during the battle and was able to take him down and escape. We have no idea what this Elite looks like. Anyways, mission is this: You go to that Covenant Cruiser, get inside, and get that package. Do you hear me?” The Commander rose her voice to the height of authority. “Sir, yes sir!” Team Lord responded. Doc helped Osiris up on his feet. He was able to stand again thanks to Doc, good thing he was there at the time for him. “Alright, ODST's and Spartan's: You go down the hall to the landing bay. Everyone who is not: Go do whatever you feel like. This mission is highly risky and you only have four hours to do it before all the UNSC ships jump into slipspace and get the hell out of here.” The Commander sat down in her chair. She didn't look up, “Sarge. Get Zen out of there, and maybe I can get you a new recruit.” She started typing onto her NAVCOM. “You are dismissed.” She then completely ignored him. Sarge headed towards the landing bay, where the Spartan's were awaiting the ODST's to arrive. “Alright, so what are we taking?” Sarge was confused since the Commander had forgotten to mention that. “You will be taking these.” Moth said from behind. Everybody turned around. He started to chuckle, “Heh, don't worry. They're right over here.” Moth lead the part of the team over to the other side of the landing bay; where the Air Hangar was. He then pointed at the vehicles, “Alright boys and girls, these are your toys. Be careful on how you treat them, if you treat them poorly you ruin them. Oh, and also you might not want to engage anything. Don't return fire or anything. Just take the Space Banshees and board the Covenant Cruiser, and you should be fine getting through there.” The team started towards the banshees, when suddenly Moth called for them, “Oh hey wait, you guys might need this.” He ran up to Alex. “Here, this may prove useful. Just use it wisely, okay?” He handed Alex the Spartan Laser. “Alright, good luck fellows. You have three and a half hour left, prove yourself worthy. The Commander wants a show.” He smiled, then turned around and took off at a steady pace towards the Commander. The team boarded all the banshees, “I'm not so sure about this.” Paladin said with a slightly afraid tone. “I mean, we don't usually hijack vehicles from the enemy and use them to board them.” Alex stared at him for a couple seconds. “Oh well, a must is a must, I guess.” He and the others got into the Space Banshee's. “Alright, before you all leave, I want you to know something about the plan first.” Moth walked up to the platform everyone was at. “You all need to be careful, Preston Cole's Fleet and UNSC Warlord are engaging the Covenant ships, be careful so as to not get in the rain of fire out there. Beware of both Covenant and UNSC, for as both will not care if one ships is destroyed.” He turned around and started for the staircase down from the platform. “Oh, and good luck on your way there. You'll need it. Moth walked over the the station and opened the hangar door, “Alright everyone, you may leave.” A couple of Longsword's and Sabre's took off first, then Team Lord went next in their space banshees. Moth quickly shut the hangar door and proceeded to the operations room. Team Lord kept on their target. This was going to be a fun trip. ~End of Chapter 7~ ~Chapter 8: Consign to Oblivion~ Sarge broke in over the network, “Alright, if we're going to make it to this Covenant Cruiser, we need to act like Covenant.” Sarge started shooting at a friendly longsword, he missed and shot down a Seraph that was right behind it. “I don't think that was acting like Covenant.” Bek said. “We might as well do it, it'll let the Covenant think we're undisciplined and let the UNSC know who we are.” Alex responded. “Undisciplined?” Sarge questioned. “Just go with the plan, the less you know the better it is for you to concentrate.” Alex started shooting at a Sabre and killed two space banshees. “Can you g..y's hear me?” Someone interrupted into the network. “Yes we can, loud and clear.” Sarge responded. “Good, this is Moth I need to give you a few more details and navigation's so you can get there.” Moth was silent for a moment. None of the crew responded to Moth, so it was taken that they were all aware and ready for his instructions and descriptions. All that was heard were the shots of the Space Banshees dual cannons. Mostly by Sarge and Alex. “Alright, we picked up the name of the Covenant ship, it seems to be marked as Consign to Oblivion. Which we believe the name has no relation to the ship, but the Covenant must think of it as a cool word from the English language.” Moth stated, he moved pieces of paper around on the look for more information of the ship. Paladin replied to Moth, “So you're saying the Covenant have no idea what the ships name stands for, they just like the way it looks?” “Correct.” Moth established, “Oh, here I'm going to send you all the inside layout of the ship. It should be able to help you find Zen, although we really can't pinpoint a location. That will be your call on how to find him.” Moth started to look for more details on the ship. He found it. “You might need to know this, the ships shield door hanger is open, they're sending everything they got out at the UNSC. You should recognize it upon your destination.” There was an alarm going off in the background from Moth's side of the communications. “What's going on over there?” Sarge reacted to the noise. “It looks like we have a Covenant Destroyer on our hands. The Commander might be needing me, we have another ship in bound to us as well. The other one looks like a Covenant Corvette.” The Commander could be heard in the background, she ordered Moth to get off the Network and to assist in the battle against the Covenant. “Alright, Lord, the Commander needs me. Here, you're about 10 kilometers from the Cruiser you need to reach. Just head straight and make a turn left after about 2.67 kilometers. Alright I have to go.” Moth disappeared from the Network. “Well this just got a whole lot worse.” Fauz said. “Let's just get to the Covenant Cruiser, we know where to head now, so why not get there even faster?” Sarge suggested somewhat of an idea. “What do you mean, get there faster?” Archangel decided to speak up and ask. “Well, these banshees are built with a boost ability, correct?” Sarge asked the team. “Most combat banshees are. What are you suggesting?” Jack of Harts was confused about the overall idea of this. “We should boost our way there, before we get left behind. Less time lost, more ground covered.” Sarge stated. Sarge then turned on the boosters on his Banshee and took off at an incredible speed towards the Consign to Oblivion. The others followed him in succession. The battle got even more intense the closer they got to their objective. “Sarge. Get down!” Alex yelled over the network. Sarge looked up, a Covenant Super-Carrier was coming straight towards them. Sarge quickly reacted and evaded downwards. The Cruiser was about 50 km from the team. “Thanks Alex, saved a team there.” “No problem, as long as we can get this Zen person, we should do fine.” Alex conversed. “I think I can see the ship from here.” Archangel squinted his eyes to clarify. “Looks like it.” Alex told Archangel. “My travel meter says we have traveled 8.48 kilometers already, so it looks right.” “Okay, then lets move in.” Sarge turned off his boosts as he closed in on the Shield Door. Every vehicle meant for space combat was being dispatched. “I think this space combat just turned into a huge war.” “That's what ONI was saying back at base. They think the Covenant are declaring war on humanity.” Bek gave away this information. “Well then we're right in the middle of it.” Sarge landed his banshee along with the others inside the Covenant Hangar. An Elite General noticed the intruders inside the Banshee's. He ran over and hit the ship alarm. “You remember when you said the situation got worse, Fauz?” Sarge looked over at him. Fauz pulled out of his Space Banshee. “Yes I do, sir. May I ask why?” Sarge was speechless for a couple of seconds. He then put himself together, “Well I think it just got to its worst.” Jackals and Grunts stormed in through one door. A couple of hunters came in through another. Elites stood up on the balcony. “Lord team, hold a defensive position.” Sarge commanded. All of a sudden, drones poured in through the ceiling. The Covenant started heavy fire. “If these barriers give up, we're dead.” Biggles firmly held up against the barricade. “Where's Alex?” Sarge just noticed he never landed with the rest of them. “I thought I saw him land in here with the rest of us.” Dumby said as he threw a blind grenade. “I could have sworn he did.” At that precise moment, the Covenant managed to pull out a Wraith Tank from their vehicle stash. The team just laid against the barriers with melancholy spread over their faces. “This must have been just a suicide mission, a way for the Commander to get rid of us.” Paladin had tears rolling down his eyes. The wraith fired. ~End of Chapter 8~ ~Chapter 9: Lan Chorus~ Sarge screamed, “Paladin! You gotta use it now!” Paladin pulled out his equipment and activated the controls. The team was surrounded in a bubble shield. “Dumby! You're turn!” Dumby reached behind him and grabbed his equipment. He threw it at the Wraith. 3... 2... 1... Activated. The power drain crumbled all the Jackals gauntlets and the nearby Elites lost their shields. “That was a close one, good call Commander.” Bek smiled behind her helmet. The power drain wore out and self destructed just as the drop shield disappeared. “Well crap. Now, we're screwed.” Sarge sat down with his back against the wall. Jack spoke up, “Anybody else hear that noise?” Everyone listened. A huge explosion came from over where the Covenant Wraith was. “That's just the power drain I threw.” Dumby replied. Jack peeked over the barriers. “No... No, you're power drain blew up the Wraith! We got this! We can push forward!” Jack peeked around the corner and opened fire. “Jack! What are you doing? We need to take out those two snipers on the balcony.” Sarge scorned at him and pulled him back into cover. Two shots were fired. Everyone looked over to where they came from. “I guess we're allowed to open fire now?” Biggles reloaded his weapon. “Go ahead, just keep your eye on that plasma turret. I don't think it'll spare mercy to anyone.” Sarge tossed a grenade. Everyone opened fire. Biggles, Jack, and Bek all opened fire on the left flank. Dumby, Sarge, and Paladin opened fire on the right flank. Archangel and Fauz took the middle. “They're too strong.” Bek withdrew from the fight and reloaded. “There's gotta be something else we can do.” Fauz sat down and reloaded as well. “Uh... Guy's, we have an enemy Seraph coming towards us. I don't think there's anyway we can avoid fire.” The Seraph grew closer and closer at a slow pace. “Well everyone. Was good knowing you.” Dumby stood up and fired his weapon dry. The Seraph just reached the door entry. It fired. A couple of seconds later. “What the hell just happened?” Sarge stood up and commanded. He watched the Seraph crash into the balcony, where the plasma cannon was placed and blow up. “I think that Seraph may have been a rebel Covenant... Oh what do they call those again...” Bek stood there and tried to figure out the name. “Heretics?” Jack questioned. “Yes, those guys. Maybe he was a Heretic?” Bek responded to Sarge's question with a question. “No, something different. Look.” Sarge pointed over at the balcony. A human shaped figure was headed towards them. “What should we do Sarge? Hold ground until we can be sure of who that is? Or fire at will?” Paladin glanced over at Sarge, he held his rifle steady at the target. “Go ahead, fire. Your weapons won't hurt me.” The man said as he moved closer. Paladin shot at the man's chest. “Hold fire!” Sarge yanked the weapon out of Paladin's hands. The man walked up to them. Alex. “Oh, it's you. Glad to have you back Alex. Do you mind explaining the Seraph to me?” Alex looked at the Sergeant. “Classified.” Sarge rolled his eyes. “Whatever, let's get going. We have about and hour and thirty-seven minutes left. Let's not waste time.” They headed down the corridor the NAV system said to go. They rounded a corner when they noticed there were two Elite Spec Ops and an Elite Zealot standing alone. The Zealot was issuing an order at the Spec Ops, none of them could understand what was going on or being said, except for the occasional word 'demon' being mentioned. “Alright, I got this. Archangel and Fauz, follow me.” Sarge went invisible as well as the other two. He went over the local network, “Alright, light up your friend or foe tags. We need to make sure we know who is who.” “Sarge, no offense or anything, but I can see your weapon. I don't think it necessary.” Fauz bluntly replied. Sarge got a rush of anger there, but decided to not release it. Instead, he made a motion for Archangel to take out the Zealot when the others aren't aware. Sarge and Fauz go in front of the two Spec Ops. Archangel withdrew his knife making a scrape sound and jabbed it in the Zealot's neck. The two Spec Ops spun around, Sarge and Fauz jumped on their backs and stabbed them in their necks. The elites were dead. “Nice job.” Alex said as he walked around the corner. The team headed down the corridors towards the specified brig room. After awhile, they arrived at the entryway to the room. Sarge notified them, “Alright, our mission is almost complete with an hour and twenty-six minutes left. We need to do this now and get out of here as fast as we can. We'll hijack the nearest space phantom and return to the ship from there.” He opened the door Zen was asleep in the back cell. Sarge started to walk into the room. “Wait!” Alex yelled at Sarge to stop. A high-ranking Elite Field Marshall walked up to them from beside the door. Without any other choice, Alex ran at the Elite with full force and pushed him into one of the other door's in the room. It locked behind them. “Alex! No!” Bek felt her heart drop. She was tired of all this sadness and just wanted it to end. She dropped to her knees and removed her helmet. Biggles walked up to her. “It'll be alright, Bek. Alex knows what he's doing.” He laid a hand on her shoulder and crouched to eye level. “The door may be locked, but that's still no match for Alex, just remember that the Spartan Laser he has is capable of punching through doors twice as thick.” He stood up and resided among everyone else. Sarge quickly commanded, “Alright, everyone look for a way to get Zen out of here. We need to move, and fast. We're running out of time.” He stared at the door where Alex was. He hesitated then moved towards the control panel to search for a way to get Zen out and alive. ~Alex and the Elite~ “You will die one way or another!” Alex kept a steady hold on the trigger. The Elite dodged every bullet. “No. You will die like the rest of your race. Weak and undisciplined.” The Elite walked up and grabbed the gun and tossed it at the Repulsor engines. “Fool.” He picked up Alex and set him on his feet. “Now fight with honor.” The Elite handed him an Energy Sword. “Why should I?” Alex looked at him. “If you win, I'll fight for you. If you lose, I'll terminate your team and your ship!” The Elite stared at him. “Alright, sounds fair to me. I wouldn't mind fighting with my friend split-jaw.” Alex activated his sword. The Elite smiled, “It's actually Lan Chorus.” The Elite swung his sword. ~End of Chapter 9~ ~Chapter 10: Showdown~ “Hmph.” Lan Chorus taunted Alex. His jaws spread wide open in the shape of a smile. He lunged. Alex blocked the attack, kicked the elite and swung. Things were about to get hot. Alex and Lan kept at a steady pace fight. Alex would swing, Lan would block. Lan would swing, Alex would block. It seemed as if this duel was never going to end. Meanwhile, Sarge was gathering the others up. “Alright people. Let's get Zen and find a Covenant Seraph to get the hell off this damn ship.” Sarge gave up on the sealed engine room door, he walked away and started to wander around on the sight of a Seraph for them to escape. “Hey Sarge. Any idea on which way we came in? If so, that would help.” Archangel walked up right beside him. “We came from that way.” Sarge pointed down the left hallway. “May I ask why?” Archangel smiled behind his helmet. “Because that's the way where all the Seraph's are destroyed. Maybe if we go the opposite way we can get the opposite board of the ship and run into a closer hangar?” Archangel lead off down the right hallway. “I supposed that's common sense. Thanks, Arch.” Sarge lead everyone else down the right hallway in search of a Seraph while Alex was still battling Lan in the engine room. “Come on demon. We both know you're not going to win. You're race is weak and undisciplined.” He shoved Alex, which threw him at a wall. A crack sound was made. Lan just walked up to him as he was to take the kill. Alex just stared at the Elite as he grabbed him and lifted him off the ground. His visor was cracked, he couldn't see any of his vitals or anything on his suit from it. The crack went from side to side. “Let's face it, slip-jaw, you're going to die. Even if it's not now. My team will get you.” Lan just stared deeply into his visor. He raised his sword. Weirdly, the Elite's COM's flicked on. It was saying something in a different language, Alex could not understand it. Lan just replied back with seldom talk to whomever the COM was sent from. The COM ended shortly after, Lan stared at Alex. “Stay here. I'll be back.” He tossed a flare at Alex then vanished. Alex couldn't see, he had to take off his helmet and shield his eyes from the bright beam of the flare ball. He then reached for his magnum and shot where the flare was. It made a huge explosion shaking the ship. No. That wasn't the flare that shook the ship, the ship was under attack! Alex got up as fast as he could and grabbed the spartan laser and put his helmet back on. He charged up the laser as quick as he could and shot down the sealed door. He started for it, then stopped. He turned around. Alex just remembered, he was in the engine room. He charged up the spartan laser and fired at the core engine. It melted and exploded. Alex made a dash for it, he ran out of the room and down the right hallway. The ship was exploding behind him with every blast almost hitting him. He was hoping to run into some sort of room where he could escape this ship. He found it, a hangar with three Seraph's and a Space Banshee. One of the Seraph's were leaving. No, that was Sarge's seraph. Alex pulled at his pistol and shot at the Seraph windshield. That got their attention. Bek looked out the window, “Hey it's Alex! He made it just in time!” Paladin took over the controls and punched in the keys to open the hatch for him. Alex ran inside. “Glad you could make it, sir.” Dumby just laid back with his arms behind his head and smiled at him. “Would've sucked explaining to ONI what the hell just happened back there. Anyways, so did you win?” Alex just stared down at the ground. “I'd rather not talk about it.” Dumby sat up straight. “Oh that's cool man, no problem.” He glanced at the other Spartan's and ODST's. He got up and walked over and sat by Paladin. “So, uh, how much time we got left until we're abandoned?” Sarge contacted the UNSC Warlord. He got a response, then he stopped and went silent. “What is it, Sarge? Fauz said. “They were the one's attacking Consign to Oblivion as we left. We have 83 seconds. We need to make this quick. Let's go.” He took over the controls and headed straight for the ship. All the Hangars were closed. Pardon that, all Hangars except one were closed. He went towards it. “Sarge to UNSC Warlord. We are approaching at approximately 2 miles from the right wing. We're headed straight for the only open bay. Do you copy?” Sarge contacted. “I see you, Team Lord. Go ahead and make a landing. We'll cover you.” It was Moth. “Thanks, Team Lord out.” Sarge ran straight for the hangar. 3... 2... 1... He barely made it with a second to spare. The Hangar shut and the ship entered slip space and was gone. “Whew, that was close.” Cajun said as he approached the ship. Doc ran up to see if everyone was alright. He helped Zen out and took him to the med bay. “Glad to see you all, but I have to do my part in this now.” “Oh, glad to see you all could actually do it.” The Commander stood up on the railing. She was in a leaned position, nice bright smile on her face, and had a nice calm soothing voice. “Commander.” The team saluted her. She smiled at them, “Just call me Sam for now. You're all on inactive duty for the next couple days until we arrive at the planet Reach. Take a few days off. Enjoy yourself.” Sam seemed a bit odd. But nobody was going to question her inactive duty appearance. They just kept to themselves. “Well, I'm just glad to be back.” Paladin said. They all headed for their dormitory to rest until the arrival of Reach. ~End of Chapter 10~ ~Chapter 11: Gregor~ Samantha strolled her way down the hallway of Lord. She had a tipsy attitude on her followed by a big grin. "Hey Doc. It's time." She motioned him to follow her with her finger. Doc got up, grabbed his gear, and followed the commander. Sam strolled back down the hallway into the medical bay. She led him to a bed where Zen was at. "ONI needs him. You're in charge of this mission. I'm just sending you and a spare ODST I have. So make this trip quick, okay?" She backed away and motioned for an ODST to come over. "Alright Gregor, you know the order. Let's get it done today." Sam walked out of the room. "So, you must be Doc?" The ODST said. He had something different about him. Something that seemed a little odd. Oh, it was his helmet. Doc was used to ODST's having a white stripe on his helmet, but this ODST had a yellow one instead. Doc remembered he was just asked a question, "Oh, uh, yes I am. You must be the ODST that the Commander was talking about?" He got the topic back on track, well for himself anyways. Gregor removed his helmet, "Yes. Names Gregor. I have orders to help you deliver this patient," He gestured at Zen, "to one of the ONI facilities." He paused. Then continued. "Do you have any idea why ONI might want this patient? He looks out of it." His face turned into a frown. Doc just grabbed the patient and laid him on a cart. "Nope. No idea, but let's get going." Doc started to push the cart towards the air hangar. Gregor grabbed his arm, "Now wait. Sam told us we have to travel by land vehicle. We can't take a Pelican. She said something about it ruining the plan." Doc hesitated and threw his gun at the floor, "God damn it!" He put his hand up against his forehead and tried to calm himself down. "Okay, so we need to take drop pods. Alright. Let's get a troop hog ready." Gregor already looked at him, "Already done. I took the liberty to prepare everything for us so there are no delays. Now come on, let's go." He headed for the drop pods near the vehicle bay. "The Warthog will drop with us, we're set on a synchronized drop." He set himself in the drop pod, Doc laid Zen in another, then seated himself. "Alright. Let's go." Gregor reached over and hit the switch. They dropped. ~End of Chapter 11~ ~Chapter 12: Transport~ Doc held on tight to the safety rail. He’s only ever used the drop pod once. The first time felt like hell, this time felt about the same. Except worse. Reach’s gravity grabbed ahold of the pods and pulled them down at an incredible speed. At this rate they were bound to hit the ground at any moment, with a force so strong to shove their leg bones straight through the skin. Except it didn’t. Doc stared out the window. It seemed as if this fall was a never ending abyss. No, scratch that. An abyss is empty, so that wouldn’t be possible. Well, you know, an abyss is empty, and if I’m in an abyss... Wouldn’t that contradict the possibility of them being in an abyss? Doc screamed in his head. He hated these occurring thoughts. Was there anyways to stop them? A huge jolt shook the pod. “What was that?” Doc tried his COM’s with Gregor, hoping he could get a reply. No response back. He let out a loud sigh then laid back and relaxed. Thump. Doc tried to open his eyes. He couldn’t. They felt sealed shut. He tried again. His eyes opened up a little, he could see, but couldn’t focus on it. His eyes forced themselves shut. He tried one last time and at that exact moment, some sort of gas was spraying. That threw his eyes open, he began to go into panic mode. ‘Was drop pod leaking oxygen?’ The door blew open. Doc shielded his eyes, despite the irony. Nothing happened to him. He slowly lowered his arms and hands. He was landed. The area had a solid landscape, sort of a desert terrain look. He stepped out of the drop pod. A gust of wind hit him, not strong but it gave him a gentle push. “Well I guess it’s time to rendezvous with Gregor.” He headed for the beacon that just appeared on his map. Well he didn’t really get very far, he heard something from behind headed his way. He stopped and turned around. It was Gregor. He was in the Warthog with someone with him. Doc peered closer, he couldn’t tell. Gregor pulled up to a halt beside Doc. Oh, it was just Zen in the passenger seat. For an odd reason he was still asleep, even after the drop. Gregor looked at him through his helmet, “Let’s go. We don’t have much time.” Doc started at Zen. “Now.” Doc hesitated, then got on the turret. Gregor headed off. “Mind telling me where we’re headed?” Doc sounded bored from the ride. “I mean, knowing the location is one thing. Another is, why the hell is Zen still asleep?” He stared at him. “The location is ONI Castle Base.” He kept his eyes on the road. “You ask why he’s asleep? Well I don’t know what kind of Doctor you are, but he’s in a coma. If he was taking a nap, he’d be awake now and helping.” He got a smirk on his face. “But that’s all I’m telling you.” He kept driving. Doc felt embarrassed for being outsmarted in his field, especially from an ODST. He has already started to despise this ODST. Why does he get to know the details and I don’t? Is it just because he’s an ODST? Doc sat down. The Warthog stopped. “Do I have to stand? Is that why you stopped?” Gregor motioned at him to silence. Doc silenced and listened. He didn’t hear anything. Wait, now he did. It sounded like rotors. “Sounds like a falcon. Get the rocket turret ready for an attack.” “An attack? Aren’t the falcon’s UNSC? That should mean they’re on our side?” Doc felt irritated with Gregor’s negligence. The falcon appeared in front of them, it was headed straight at them. “Aim the cannon at them now, Doc!” Gregor commanded. He ran to the other side of the warthog and drug Zen out and over to a tree. He rested Zen on the tree and returned to the warthog. “What are you doing!? You’re going to get us both killed!” He booted up the turret’s systems. “Like I said, Gregor. That falcon is UNSC. It’s on our side!” He pushed Gregor off the turret and onto the ground. He landed with a thud. Doc then aimed the turret at Gregor. “Now that I know the location, I can get rid of you. Though, that’d be a waste and I don’t want court martial. So I’m just going to aim this turret at you until the falcon lands by to aid us.” Gregor stared at him. Anger and hatred rushed through his veins. But he did nothing. Instead he watched the falcon sweep by. He got up and parkoured over the turret and tackled Doc to the ground. The falcon opened fire. ~End of Chapter 12~ ~Chapter 13: Sweep~ Gregor locked on to the falcon, bullets were sprayed at Doc. Gregor watched Doc take off in a sprint to avoid gun, he knew it was a matter of time before the falcon had him. Gregor looked down at the rocket pod systems, they were still acquiring lock. He had to take the shot now or Doc wouldn’t make it. “Gregor! Help me, please!” Doc was struck, the back of his leg was injured bad. The falcon turret swept over him and continued in an invisible chase. It stopped. “Gregor...” Doc grabbed his pistol, unfortunately the falcon was gone. It was engaged with Gregor and the warthog. Gregor was off the turret now and on the run for his life. Doc grabbed his binoculars and looked at the turret, it was still locking on to the falcon. Just a few more seconds and it would be ready. That was too much time. Gregor was a few minutes away, maybe even seconds, from a bloodfest. Doc took his pistol and shot at the gunner. “Headshot.” Doc dropped his lowered his hand. The falcon backed off and headed in retreat. Doc watched as it hurried away and rounded the corner. No, Doc squinted his eyes. The falcon was headed back in a weird formation. He squinted his eyes even more, “Wait a second.” The falcon scraped the left wing against the wall, propeller shards sprung everywhere. Doc rolled over and took cover from the shards, “So much for no gunner.” The propeller flew directly at Gregor, he had no chance of evasion. The propeller’s front took Gregor with him. He was knocked up against the wall of a crevice which caused him a major shock trauma that lead to him knocked out. Doc got up and made a run to help him, then he caught a glimpse in his eye, the falcon crashed on the ground and skidded towards him at a forty five degree arc. The right wing propeller tore off and removed the tail. The falcon was gone, but the pilot was still there. Doc reached for his weapon. The pilot hopped out and aimed his battle rifle at Doc. It was a stand off. “Wait, Doc. Is that you?” The soldier lowered his weapon and appeared closer. Doc stared directly into his visor, weapon still drawn at the ready. “I don’t know you.” He cocked his pistol. The soldier removed his helmet. Doc dropped his pistol, “Oh my god. No, no it can’t be. You’re... You’re...” Doc was lost in words, the soldier just smiled at him. He offered his hand, Doc took it and stood up. “Wait, first we need to go help my leader. He’s trapped behind a propeller.” Doc showed the soldier where Gregor was. “Jeez, he looks bad. Here, you grab him and pull him out; I’ll bend the propeller just enough to remove him.” The soldier used his weight to bend the blade that trapped Gregor, and move it far enough so Doc could get him out. Doc limped over to the warthog, the soldier carried Gregor and lowered him in the driver’s seat to rest out his coma. “How long do you think he’ll be out?” the soldier glanced at Doc. “Probably until early morning, he might be a little hungry when he wakes up.” Doc replied. “Heh, I don’t trust your medical readings anymore. Not after mine.” The soldier chuckled at Doc. Doc kicked into an anger-tampered mood, “What exactly do you mean by that, Destroyer?” He got up in his face. Destroyer just smiled at him, “Ah, so you do remember my name. Alright. I’ll tell you what happened.” Destroyer moved over and sat down on a stump: “After the bullet hit me in the head and knocked me stone cold to the floor, you all decided to just leave my corpse and continue to the objective. I partially remember you saying I was dead because you couldn’t tell if it was paint or blood. Well for you information, it was blood, but I was not dead. More of slightly injured.” Destroyer showed him his scar where the bullet merely punctured. “That seemed logical at the time, I’m only known for a medic for basics. Not advanced medical training to be an actual doctor.” Doc mellowed down. “Anyways,” Destroyer continued. “After all of you left I was awoken by an insurrectionist. He offered to spare my life if I could get them a hand on a UNSC Falcon. Of course, as you probably have seen, I did so. In return, they patched me up and took care of me. In all honesty, they didn’t seem as strict as the UNSC. I liked the working environment, but the actual work was a lot harder to do. Of course, I did it to survive.” “Seems fair enough to me, go on ahead with your short story.” Doc was interested in how he found them. Destroyer just sat there and smiled, “So about two days ago I was asked to go do some actual operations. Seeing as how I was the only one who knew how to fly a falcon, I did a falcon operation with one of the side leaders of the insurrectionist camp I was in. We had intel that three ODST drop pods landed alongside a warthog drop pod. I was assigned on the actual termination operation, we had a few other spotters at all time to pinpoint your location and radio it in to us. Which then lead to how we end up here where we are.” “Huh,” Doc just stared amused. “That was an interesting, not very detailing story you had. I got the main points on what happened, it just sounds kind of...” “Boring?” Destroyer finished for him. “Yeah... Boring.” Doc felt awkward for not being able to complete his sentence. “Don’t worry it was. I missed the squad, but glad to be back.” He had a smile on his face, “So where are we headed to now?” Doc looked at him, “ONI Castle, but I don’t know how to get there and Gregor only knows the way.” “Oh, I know the way as well. Just arrange the hog and we can head out tonight.” Destroyer headed towards the warthog. “Alright, I hope you’re right.” They lifted Gregor over and into the passenger seat with Zen. Destroyer took the wheel, Doc took the turret. They headed out. This was going to be a fun arrival at ONI. ~End of Chapter 13~ ~Chapter 14: Danger~ Destroyer reached over and inserted a CD into the Warthogs CD player. He looked back at Doc with a big grin on his face. With a heavy sigh, Doc responded to him. “What are you smiling about? It better not be the song on that CD.” “Nope, just enjoying the drive.” Destroyer adjusted himself in his seat. The CD player started to play music loud enough for everyone in the vehicle to hear it clearly and thoroughly. “Splish, splash, I was takin’ a bath; Long about a Saturday night...” “You have got be freaking kidding me, Destroyer. What the hell is this?” Doc was a little impatient about the song that was being played. Destroyer was in a sing-a-long, “Well, I stepped out the tub; I put my feet on the floor... Ah C’mon man, it’s a good song. Sing with me, why don’t you?” Doc just glared at him, “Why on worth would I do that? This song sounds ancient, despite being played on a CD player. Why do we still have CD players in our Warthogs?” His mind was about to burst from all of his confusion. Destroyer turned the dial to the right, the music went right with it. “Alright, alright. My bad. I guess I can’t have any fun.” He crosses his arms over his chest. The warthog slightly turns right off the road. He grabs it and swerves it back on the left side of the road. Doc turns the turret to the right to resist being thrown off, “God damn it Destroyer. Pay attention and quit whining like a marine.” Destroyer looks back at him, “I’m sorry. I just want my music.” Doc narrows his eyes, “How about you do what I told you and not listen to your music?” Destroyer, “Jeez. I was just being sarcastic.” “So am I, and I’m failing, and I’m sorry for that.” Zen yelled out in his sleep. “What’s his deal?” Destroyer raised his eyebrows with a mixture of feelings. Doc stole the look off Destroyer’s face, “I have no idea what happened either.” Destroyer continued to press forward, without music until they reached their destination. Doc sat down with the turret faced opposed of the direction they were headed. They reached it, well almost. They arrived at a UNSC outpost inside the canyon, not even 15 minutes later. An ODST approached them. “Who are you and why are you here?” He asked. Doc got up and answered the man, “We’re part of Team Lord, we are from the UNSC Warlord. We were sent here to drop off this soldier, Zen, for ONI. No other intel was given, sir.” The ODST stared directly at him, Doc could feel the heat pinch in him that made him think what he told the ODST was wrong. The ODST responded, “Alright, we have a falcon ready for you. It should take you up to Farragut Outpost. You will then proceed from there to ONI Sword Base. They will take care of the rest from there.” The ODST walked away and a Falcon landed where he stood. The pilot opened the hatch and helped load Zen and Gregor in the passenger seats. Doc and Destroyer proceeded to the gunner seats and sat down. The falcon began to escalate. “So Doc, what do you think is going on?” Destroyer looked turned around and asked. “Me? I don’t know. I’m just doing my job.” Doc stared out over the horizon. “Attention passengers, we will be landing in the ONI Sword Base Courtyard alternatively due to Farragut Station’s Communications being offline. ETA in 30 seconds. Prepare for departure.” The pilot steered the Falcon towards an enormous pike resembling structure. Doc and Destroyer hopped out of the falcon. Doc grabbed Zen; Destroyer grabbed Gregor. The falcon then departed from them and took off. Two medics ran down to the courtyard and grabbed Zen, they then slowly carried him back to the structure. A woman appeared outside the door after they left. She walked down to the courtyard to meet up with them. The lady began to speak, “Hello, I am Catherine Halsey. You may refer to me as Dr. Halsey or just Halsey. Thank you for the package. Your friend, Zen was carrying an artifact we so dreadfully needed to help us against the covenant. You guys managed to do that job. I have contacted Moth of Warlord and let him know you have arrived. A falcon should be here for you shortly.” Halsey began to walk away. Doc couldn’t help but call out a question, “Will Zen becoming back?” She turned around and smiled, “One way or another. Yes.” She proceeded back inside. The falcon landed inside the Sword Base courtyard, Cajun opened the hatch and called out, “Come on, let’s go! Warlord is ready to leave!” They sat Gregor in the passenger seat, the proceeded to take the turrets. Cajun violently raised the falcon at full speed. “Watch out, we got enemy heat signatures showing up from behind on the radar!” Doc and Destroyer turned their turrets around. Banshees. Three of them, all headed at full speed towards them. Doc opened fire on the machine gun, he took down one. Destroyer did the same on his side. “Where did the third one go?” Doc called out. Destroyer looked around, he saw it and yelled, “It’s in front of us! He looks like he’s turning around to take us out with the fuel rod!” Doc and Destroyer opened fire, they managed to take off the wings. It still flew, now it was unable to hit out of site. “Don’t worry, I got this. Thanks for the assist.” Cajun opened fire on the nose gun, the banshee exploded into pieces towards the surface. “What the hell is going on here?” Gregor was awake. “Sir, it’s the Covenant.” Doc replied to him. “You dip head, they’re ain’t no covenant on Reach.” Gregor responded. Their COM’s came on, “UNSC Warlord to team Lord, do you hear me? I repeat, do you hear me?” “Yes I here you, Warlord. What’s going on?” Gregor took the COM’s. “ONI has called out the Winter Contingency.” Warlord replied. “Winter Contingency?” Gregor looked at the other two as if they knew what that was, they just shrugged their soldiers. Warlord came in again, “The Covenant are on Reach. I repeat the Covenant are on Reach.” The Covenant are on Reach, those words stuck in their heads. ~End of Chapter 14~ ~Chapter 15: Attack on Reach~ “I want a debrief in the next five minutes, is that understood!” The Commander was up in Gregor’s face, furious. “I want to know what the hell went on down there with you two, before the covenant showed up.” She walked away, then stopped. “Wait a second.” She turned around and walked back to Team Lord. “Destroyer?” Destroyer interacted with her, “Yes, sir?” “Glad to have you back.” She lost control of her commander voice, it now had a resided marine voice to it. “Meet me in my office in twenty minutes for a debrief on your part.” She turned around and headed up the ramp. “Well you heard the commander. Gregor and Doc, head to the debrief room. Destroyer, you head there as well, but wait outside until it’s your turn.” Alex took authority. “The rest of you, on me.” He headed the opposite direction, down the ramp to deck B. “Good to see another voice in authority speak up.” Sarge wiped dirt off the left shoulder of Alex’s armor. “Glad to see you’re ready for action. Now we need to get to the nearest drop pods and go from there.” He have orders to the squad. “Cajun, you get in the air and give us any and all support you can. Osiris, you get the vehicles ready for drop. The rest of you, on me.” “Sir yes sir!” They called out. Sarge lead them to the drop pod deck. “Ready up, we need to be deployed in five.” Sarge grabbed his shotgun and set it in the pod beside his magnum. Alex did the same with his Assault Rifle and Magnum. Sarge grabbed his helmet, Alex grabbed frag grenades. The others did the same, Bek laid her shotgun in her pod. Phoenix strapped his SMG in his. Fauz leaned his up against the seat, then sat down and sharpened his knife. “Alright, everyone. Let’s go.” Moth walked up to the control console. The team moved into their drop pods. “You all have a good trip.” He motioned the switch and shut the doors. Then reached over and ejected the drop pods. The drop begun. Sarge opened up a private comm network with the others, “Alright, we should reach the surface in 10 minutes. The impact is going to be rough, Reach’s gravity field is stronger than what we’re used to. As soon as we’re on the ground, we need to head towards New Alexandria. There we need to help repel any Covenant we can.” Sarge took a moment to himself to clear his throat for this mission debrief, “Doc, Gregor, and Destroyer will meet up with us on the way there. Cajun will provide any air support we need. Any questions?” Paladin spoke up, “What about Osiris? He’s not coming?” “I forgot to mention that part.” Sarge felt stupid for that, “Osiris will deploy our vehicles, if needed. As well as he has controls over the Archer missiles, just in case if any Covenant corvettes decide to get involved.” Phoenix replied, “That helps. As long as we don’t run into any of those jammers.” The pods solely flew through the atmosphere, Fauz’s pod drove straight through a banshee. “Well that’s one down...” “Glad to hear you can still joke at a time like this, soldier.” Alex told Fauz. The pods made contact with the ground. “Everyone, out in three.” Sarge started the countdown. “Two...” The door’s air pressure sizzled. “One...” All the drop pod door’s flew off. “We’re clear here, no contact’s as of yet.” Phoenix scanned the area. “Sir, we need to get moving to New Alexandria.” Alex walked up to him. “I’ll contact Osiris to see how things are.” Alex walked away. “Alright, everyone on me.” Team Lord moved into a spread position and headed over the hill. “Sir, I got intel from Osiris.” Alex sped up to Sarge. “We have three Corvettes headed towards New Alexandria, and Two Cruisers moving in on our position. Warlord is going to engage the two cruisers, but the Corvettes are far out of range and the area is too hot for Warlord to make an entrance to engage. We’ll need to clear the skies if we want any help over there.” “Alright, let’s go” Sarge continued up the hill of this land. It had an eerie look to it, an ugly green with civilian houses... Sarge pried himself away from the thought about the details. He noticed Archangel was stopped up on the hill. “What is it, soldier?” Sarge walked up and asked. Except he didn’t need a response, Covenant Spirits were everywhere. They dropped off this species Sarge hasn’t seen before. Some sort of jackal, but it’s not a jackal. “Prepare for engagement. Any and all activity here is gone.” Alex locked his gun on an elite. “Let’s go.” They engaged. “All ODST’s, engage the cannon fodder that’s on the right. Spartans, you take out the leader’s on the left. Air Assault, take out the hunters. And if possible, disable those Spirit’s weapons.” Sarge barked orders from left to right. The entire area was a hot fire zone. Fauz stabbed a jackal in the eye’s with his combat knife. Took it to the ground, and dragged it through the skull. “Overkill.” Architect and Phoenix were engaging three hunters. Phoenix jet packed over one of them and planted a grenade in its back. One down. Architect ran up to the hunter, which swung at him. He thruster packed backwards, then ran up and jet packed over the hunter, he shot the back until the orange was red. They both then engaged the last hunter. That was all three. Biggles and Jack double teamed a Brute Captain. Jack distracted, Biggles took the kill. Bek and Archangel took on an Elite General. Easy kill. Alex was on the move: Left, Right, Left, Left, Right. He dodged every one of the Elite Zealot’s swings. He grabbed Bek’s shotgun and fired. One shot. Shields dropped. Two shots. The elite was down. He handed the shotgun back to Bek. “Area’s clear.” Paladin called out. A hum was quiet in the background, “What’s that noise?” Sarge looked up. Too late. A banshee bomb was headed straight at him, he jumped out of the way. Too late. Sarge was thrown against the wall. He got up and engaged the banshee, it swung around and fired another. Then exploded. He dodged again. Too late, again. He was propelled towards at a tree. He watched the five of them walk in his direction. "Sarge? Sarge, are you alright?" Bek called out. Sarge raised himself off the ground and threw himself back on his feet. "I'm fine. I'm fine. Damn banshee would’ve almost had me if it weren't for these Spartans." The team turned around. There stood a team of Spartans, ready at the go. The first one approached them, "We're under direct orders to clear this area. You need to leave. Now." The other four separated and swept the area for any remaining hostiles. "And who are you?" Sarge questioned the Spartan. The comm's broke in, "Team Lord, we need you to leave the vicinity, now. ONI has a Spartan team inbound to clear the area and locate transportation to ONI Sword Base. You need to leave. Now." The comm went offline. Sarge looked up, the blue Spartan was gone. “Let’s go. Everyone, we need to leave. Now!” He sprinted Northeast. In the direction of New Alexandria. “Who were those Spartans?” Paladin asked. “Looked like Noble Team.” Alex answered. “But I don’t know why they’re so far out here. Something must’ve happened at that ONI Relay Outpost.” Sarge looked up at the giant dish that sat on a mountain side. He noticed something to the right of it. Two Covenant Cruisers were inbound, ready to glass the area. ~End Chapter 15~ ~Chapter 16: Glass~ “What’s that giant sphere under the ship charging up?” Destroyer asked. “What giant...” Archangel began. “Oh god, we need to get out of here! They’ve already started glassing the planet.” Alex turned around from his conversation with Sarge and Paladin, “I say we head East of here. Establish a comms link with Osiris, and get those Cruisers away from us. They’re too close and any second now they’ll send in Spirit’s and Phantom’s to scout the area.” Sarge stood up and moved over next to Alex, “He’s right. We need to leave here and head East towards New Alexandria. There we will repel Covenant attacks, as well as rescue any and all Civilians we can and get them to the UNSC Warlord.” He made eye contact with everyone before he continued, “Ready up.” “Osiris, how much longer do we have?” Sarge got on the Comms. No response. “Osiris?” Sarge tried again. Nothing. Wait, a faint signal broke in. It was barely understandable. “S... o... th... onds... eav...” The signal came in. “Repeat again?” Alex took liberty of the Comm’s while Sarge scanned the sky. “Oh my... We need to leave. Now! No questions, sprint as fast as you can East!” Sarge took off. Ten... Nine... Eight... Seven... Six... Five... Four... Three... Two... One... The Cruiser’s opened up the glass raids. “Damn, I feel third-degree burns all over my skin!” Paladin screamed in pain. The noise stopped, and the heat slowly breezed away. “What just happened?” Archangel pulled out his binoculars. One of the Cruiser’s was on fire and headed towards the surface of Reach. “Oh, that explains it. We need to keep moving forward.” Archangel put his binoculars away. “What took out the Cruiser’s, Archangel?” Sarge questioned him before he continued forward to New Alexandria. “Archer Missiles. By the looks of it, a lot of them. Could be Osiris. Not for sure. The Cruiser is engaged in the atmosphere with whatever took out the other ship.” Archangel headed East. Sarge looked at Alex and shrug. They both walked with the group Eastward towards New Alexandria. The trip continued. ~4 hours later~ Whish, Whish, Whish, Whish. “What’s that sound?” Bek asked. “What sound?” Phoenix stood still. “Hey thought we could join ya.” Team Lord turned around. It was Doc, Gregor, and Destroyer. “Glad you could make it. Any word on Cajun?” Sarge walked up to them. “Yes, infact he’s above us.” Gregor smiled and cokced his head up. There, hovered in the air. Was a Hawk. One of the most capable Air-to-Ground aircraft to ever be created. With a side of badass. The gauss cannon charged up. ~End Chapter 16~ ~Chapter 17-Part 1: New Alexandria~ Cajun fired the gauss. Everyone watched as it shot right over their heads. “What the hell Cajun? You need to get to explaining.” Archangel yelled. Alex looked at Archangel, “You’re not in charge. You don’t get to question orders.” “Sir, look.” Paladin motioned towards where the gauss was fired. A stack of enormous crates and containers were revealed. The camouflage cloak just wore off on the last one. “Sorry sir, should’ve warned you about the shot. Osiris told me to shoot at that location as soon as I made contact with you. No idea why, guess we’ll be finding out here soon.” Cajun flew over towards the crates. He fired the machine guns at the locks. The crates opened. “Holy crap. They actually delivered!” Paladin exclaimed. The following revealed was: Two Standard Warthogs. A Scorpion. Two Gungoose. A Transport Warthog. “Alright, everyone get to your vehicles. All stragglers, hitch a ride. Paladin, get to your tank. Gregor and Dumby, go to your gungoose. Doc, to your transport warthog. Sarge and Destroyer, lets get the warthog’s going.” Alex hopped on the turret of Sarge’s Warlord engraved Warthog. “Let’s move out.” They set for the destination. Sarge at the lead. ~12 hours later~ “Alright, we’re here.” Sarge stood up in his seat. A few of the buildings of New Alexandria were on fire. A corvette shot down a civilian transport. It crashed deep into sea. “If we don’t make it there any faster, those three corvettes in the sky are going to burn the city down. We need to get those civilians out of there and the skies clear.” “Sir, Paladin isn’t with us.” Dumby commented. Alex looked over his shoulder, “He’ll be with us later. His tanks slow, but he’ll be our pack of punch when we need him.” Sarge drove towards the city. “Good lord the skies are full of aircraft.” Archangel stated. Cajun engaged against a banshee formation that came from the left. “Everyone, engage at the front!” Sarge commanded. The team split formation. Sarge, Alex, and Biggles engaged a group of Elite Commanders. Destroyer, Jack, and Phoenix engaged a couple Covenant Ghosts and Revenants. Dumby and Architect teamed up with Gregor and Fauz engaged a group of cannon fodder. Doc took everyone else in his transport warthog, and got out and engaged all the hunters. ~Sarge~ “Come on Alex and Biggles, work together!’ Sarge power slided away from a fuel rod. Alex told Biggles, “I’ll take down the shields. You finish them.” Biggles nodded in agreement. Alex shot down the shields of two of the Elite Officers, then engaged the Generals. Biggles shot everyone of them in the head as soon as their shields dropped. The Elite’s were done. ~Doc~ “Bek, cover me!” Doc ran up in front of the hunter. The hunter swung at him, Doc jumped out of the way. His back exposed to Bek. Bek opened fire on the hunter’s back, it turned around and faced her. Doc pulled out his magnum and shot the hunter in the back. The hunter went down. “Good work, let’s get back to everyone else.” ~Cajun~ “Hahaha! I love killing these things. It’s so much fun!” Cajun shot the banshee in the right wing. The right wing broke off, the banshee was going down in a downright position. Cajun quickly shot off the left wing. The banshee regained control and flew up towards Cajun. Cajun fired the gauss through the face of the banshee. It exploded. “No kill is as good as overkill.” Cajun returned to help Team Lord. ~Destroyer~ Destroyer had a tough time with all these vehicles. The ghosts were done with, it was just the Revenants that were such a hard time. “Don’t worry, Destroyer. I got you back.” Cajun took out the Revenants without hesitation. “Thanks, I thought these vehicles were going to be a tough ride for us.” Jack responded. “Uh, we have a Wraith headed straight at us. Any assistance, please?” It was Architect. “Sure, headed that way now.” They responded. ~Gregor and Dumby~ “Man, I love these SMG mounts. Their amazing.” Dumby just sprayed through a group of grunts, Architect took out the jackals with a pair of SMG’s as well. “No kidding, I wish the war was this easy.” Gregor plowed over a skirmisher. Fauz shoved a frag grenade into the hands of an Elite Minor. He screamed then blew up. His corpse went everywhere. “Oh crap.” Dumby slammed on the gas. With luck, he evaded the mortar. “Don’t worry, I’m on my way.” Cajun came in. “Well you better hurry, this one’s not going to give up!” Architect broke in. Cajun and the Wraith were at a standoff. The Wraith fired, Cajun thrusted backwards. He shot off the left clamp. The driver of the Wraith was unendingly stressed. It opened up it’s plasma cannon and began to fire, then proceeded to shoot its mortars. Cajun evaded everything. “I’m done playing around.” Cajun pushed two switches. The Hawk pulled out a Spartan Laser cannon. He pulled the trigger. The blue beam of the laser shredded through the Wraith, it caused a massive explosion. “Oh man, I could see that explosion all the way from here! Bahahaha.” Osiris opened up the Comms. “Osiris. Any intel for us?” Sarge asked. “Noble Team has one of their members, Noble Six on the ground. Noble Six will be taking out the Corvettes with the AA cannons. You guys will need to get to the civilian transports and safely evacuate them. By the time you get there, Paladin should be caught up and deliver the final round.” “Roger that, Team Lord out.” Sarge took off the Comm’s. ~End of Chapter 17: Part 1~ ~Chapter 17-Part 2: Quandary~ “Alright. First things first. We need to get through that city and push through until we reach beach side. This situation is going to be tricky, but we’re going to need to do what we have to to get this job done. Is that clear?” Sarge looked at everyone, while he waited on the response. He decided on who was to do what. “Yes sir!” The team responded in sync. “Now, here’s the plan. Gregor and Dumby will take their gungoose and assault any infantry we come across. Destroyer and I will take on any vehicles and infantry we come across, so long as it’s not a Scarab. Nut, you will take everyone in your warthog and follow back behind us. Suppress fire, kill any surviving infantry you see, and call out targets. Cajun, provided support wherever you can. Alright, lets move out!” Sarge pushed forward. Everyone followed the plan. “Hey Gregor, lets have some fun.” Dumby looked over at him. “Sure will. You up for it Architect and Fauz?” Gregor asked. “Yes, I want to feel like a badass right now.” Architect smiled. Though, his helmet blocked it from anyone’s notice. “Aigh’, whatever it takes to make me feel good, mate.” Fauz loaded his DMR. Dumby floored it, gun’s blazing. He rounded around a group of grunts and an elite. Architect jumped and did flips through the air. His arms covered his face. As he drew near the elite, he opened up his arms and slammed the knife in the elite’s head. He landed on the other side of it. “Now that’s an entrance.” Architect walked over to the water fountain and got a drink. Fauz sniped each and everyone of the grunt’s headed over to engage Architect. “And like that, we have the punch line.” Sarge engaged the wraith. “Gosh damn it. I hate killing these things, especially in a warthog.” He power slided around, just in time to avoid the Wraith’s mortar. “Biggles, can you take out that gunner, please?” Sarge power slided around again, just in time as well. “Sure thing, Sarge.” Biggles cocked his battle rifle. One, two, three. The elite still sat there and fired. “Hmmm...” Biggles fired again. First bullet. Second bullet. The elite’s shields dropped. Biggles watched closely. The third bullet, straight in the head. The gunner slumped over dead. “Thanks Biggles, appreciate it.” Alex called over to him. The Wraith started to boost at them, fired mortars whenever it could. “Gosh damn, this things kamikaze.” Sarge dodged it left and right. A high pitched screech ran over Alex, Sarge, and Biggles head. The wraith collapsed and exploded. “Roger that, all enemy Wraith’s are down. Cajun ready to assist on your mark.” Cajun just hovered there in the air. A grunt charged his plasma pistol and pointed it at him. Two seconds later, his methane tank flew into a hunter, which exploded and killed the hunter. “All targets neutralized.” Cajun went over to hover above the team as they regrouped. “Alright, lets go.” They pushed forward. The streets of New Alexandria were quite, ominously. Every now and then they’d come across a group of grunts or a couple elite’s. Brute’s were seen individually, but no hunter’s, jackals, or skirmishers were in sight. “Alright guy’s, there it is.” The team curved around the a hoop. There was two wraith’s up ahead. Cajun wasn’t there to support either, he was busy engaging banshee’s and phantom’s that were moving towards the rest of team lord. “We have to do it, you all know that.” The team was ready. “Let’s go.” All the warthog’s went, except Doc’s. He sat back and waited until the area was clear. Destroyer and Sarge drove over and engaged a Wraith. Right as they got there, it exploded. They went over to the other Wraith, it exploded too. “What the hell?” Sarge looked around. There it was. Two falcon’s drove by. One side had a total of two turrets engaged at any infantry or vehicles. The other side took down any banshee’s and phantoms that engaged them. “Well, that was luck. Anyways, let’s move. I can see the area, it’s right over that bridge.” They took off towards the bridge. Full speed, the civilian transport ships were just in site. Loud noises of covenant vehicles came from behind. “Sarge, we have Revenants and Ghost’s moving on our position from behind. I count about five revenants and seven ghosts. Should we engage?” Phoenix was concerned. “Hold on, I got this.” Dumby reached into his supply carrier and pulled out a blue orb and handed it to Architect. “Deploy this and throw it right as you do.” Architect took the orb and deployed it. A large blue pulse surrounded it as it flew through the air. It landed in the middle of all the covenant vehicles. They all stopped and fell to the ground. “What the hell did I just throw?” “A power drain. It kills power in anything that has it. It can even be used to deplete shields on an elite, very helpful at ammo conservation if you ask me. Plus it explodes when it’s done, strong enough to flip a warthog.” Dumby explained to Architect. “And you’re just now using this?” Architect felt a rush of anger. “I only grabbed one, didn’t think it was going to be this bad.” Dumby said. “We’re in a Winter Contingency! Why would you just grab one?” Architect broke control of his anger. “Because I’d rather use them in dire situations, than just against a Wraith?” Dumby torted at him. “Oh, so you’d rather throw it at vehicles we can destroy, but not at vehicles that could kill us and we couldn’t destroy? May I remind you that we could have all been killed from those Wraith’s? It only takes one shot, and even then it doesn’t have to be direct contact. These things will be at it for a while.” Architect was done. “I guess you’re right. My bad.” Dumby said, just as they got to the other side of the bridge. The sound of engines boomed next to them, they all looked towards it. A civilian transport ship was ready to take off. The ship moved slowly out of the bay, and towards the beach to take off. “What are they doing!? Who ordered them to leave?!” A voice yelled. Team Lord looked over in the direction where it came from. There was a spartan right outside the door. Wait, that wasn’t just any spartan. That was Commander Moth. What was he doing here? ~End of Chapter 17-Part 2~ ~Chapter 17-Part 3: All is Lost~ “Team Lord, glad you could make it!” The spartan shouted. “Uh, who are you, may I ask?” Sarge walked up to the unnamed spartan. “Oh, my sincere apologize Commander Moth. I didn’t realize it was you...” “No need for that. I need you in here! We have things that need to be done, and need to be done quick!” Moth looked up in the distance. “Why is that transport leaving? Who gave an order?” Moth took off inside. “I guess we better get inside as well.” Sarge walked inside the building. Team Lord walked in a straight line behind him. Starting with Alex, Bek, etc. “Hotel-Whiskey 314, do you mind telling me what you’re doing leaving with that ship!?” Moth was angrier than ever. “You were under a direct order not to leave until Noble Six got those Anti-Air weapons online!” Hotel-Whiskey 314 responded back briefly, “We’re getting the hell out of here. Screw the evac!” The thrusters kicked on a few seconds later. “I swear to god those three will be court martialed when I get out of here.” Moth slammed his fist as hard as he could on a table. The legs crushed and the table fell apart on itself. It looked like what would happen when you match a Scorpion versus a mongoose. An explosion went off outside, it shook the entire building. Alex walked over to the window. “Commander.” “Yes?” Moth replied. “That evac ship that just started to take off, it’s crashing in the bay right now. Corvette got it.” Alex just stared vigilantly out the window. Moth was enraged, “God damn it! I told him not to leave until the area is clear.” Moth walked over to the other side of the room. “Civilian transport 7 Echo 3 to Warlord Actual. My engines are hot. Waiting for your go.” “Copy that 7 Echo 3. Fox Actual is on the beach. Spartan’s going to clear the skies.” Moth replied back. “Commander! The covies are almost through my door!” Duvall came in on the conversation, “Steady Echo 3, that Corvette is still up there!” “That’s it! They’ve breached the landing bay!” The AA batteries activated. They both turned at a 78 degree angle. Aimed at the Corvette ship right above the city. Duvall was over the radio again, “It’s now or never, Spartan!” The AA guns were online and fired. Six rockets were launched in the air. “C’mon. Hit it. Hit it...” Dumby mumbled to himself. Biggles heard him, but decided not to say anything, he only agreed in his thoughts. The Corvette was on the move, slowly but it was about to gain speed. Five of the rockets hit the face of the Corvette. A drastic explosion shook the building Team Lord was in. It was the Corvette, lit up in flames headed down towards the crash in the sea. “Civilian Transports, you are cleared for departure.” Moth was calm, a hint of happiness was in his voice. Not much. A loud pound was heard in the background. Doors were torn off and metal was being scraped. “What. What was that?” Destroyer acted as if he was the only one who heard it. “Whatever it is, we need to go deal with it and get out of here.” Moth was pumped as ever. "Sarge, take point. I'll cover the exit. Archangel, you flank the right. Bek, hold this position." Moth barked loud and clear. The sound of gauss and banshee's could be heard outside. "Paladin, how much longer before you get here?" Sarge opened his comms. He turned the corner and engaged two grunts. "Now now, controlled bursts Sergeant." He told himself. "Sarge, you there yet?" Moth broke in. He had his scope steadied on a brute chieftain. He fired the sniper rifle. Headshot. "Almost, just a little more... Oh no. This can't be happening." Sarge face turned to horror. "Spit it out, Sergeant." Moth dropped his magazine and clicked in a fresh one. "We've got ourselves three corvettes and a supercarrier out in the distance." Sarge relied. "May god have mercy..." Moth broke off. “Moth, you still there?” Sarge was worried. Did something happen to him? “Yeah, there’s an Elite. Could use some help. Nothing bad yet. Damn Covie won’t back off.” Moth sounded grudged. “On our way, Commander.” Sarge replied. “Alex, do you think you could meet up with us? Need your help.” Sarge ordered. “Give me a second. On my way.” Alex broke out of the room and hurried as fast as he could. He turned left. Wrong room. The door sealed behind him. There was someone else in the room, he could feel it. He could make an outline of a figure in the corner. "Hmmm... Again, we meet." The ghastly figure uttered out of the dark lighted room. "Who are you? You sound familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?" Spartan II-Alex was intimidated by this, this thing. Who was he? The voice was as if... "We've already met." The ghastly figure walked forward. Alex noticed something in his hand. An energy sword knuckle. "Lan Chorus..." Alex was in complete shock. At that moment, Phoenix ran in the room. "Alex, Sarge needs you out front right now!" He stopped. "Alex, what's going on?" Lan smiled and lunged forward. "Phoenix! No!" Alex screamed. Lan moved at an incredible speed. His fist hit Phoenix in the skull at such an incredible rate it knocked him out cold. “You’ll pay for that!” Alex grabbed an energy sword knuckle, activated it and rushed at Lan. Blocked. Lan just stood there and smiled. “Hehe. You’re not going to win this time, boy.” He kicked Alex in the chest. Alex held his ground, he lunged again with the sword, he had so much anger in him he felt like he could punch out a wall. Blocked, again. Alex was at such a high level of tolerance, he was absolutely done. Rage took him over. He swung fast and furious, the hits knocked back Lan Chorus. But did nothing, he blocked everything. Lan just stood there and smiled and laughed. “You’re going to lose boy.” Sarge came in from behind Lan Chorus. Shotgun on him, aimed at the back of his head. Slice. Sarge collapsed. “Sarge?” Alex looked over at him. He gasped in horror. An energy dagger was stuck in his neck. It was then withdrawn. The user uncloaked itself. It was an Elite Zealot. “Commander, we must go. The Arbiter needs you back on board.” The Zealot eyed Alex. “I’ll be back for you later.” Lan rushed Alex and knocked him backwards into the wall, the impact immobilized him for a few seconds with shock. Lan left with the Zealot. Jack and Biggles walked into the room, “We came as soon as we heard. How can...” They broke off after they saw Sarge. “No. No it can’t be.” Doc ran into the room, he fired two shots from his magnum behind him. “We’re ready to go guys. Bek just gave an all clear...” Tears began to roll down his eyes. “No. No it can’t be.” Doc bursted into tears. “Those two shots from my magnum, they must have been a coincidence from when I first met Sarge... I’m already remembering all of our memories...” Doc collapsed on the floor in tears. He couldn’t gain control, he felt like everything he had was lost. “I can’t do this. Out of all of you, I cared about him the most. He was always there with me to cover my back.” He sobbed some more. Now he was on the floor, arms over each other. All he could do was moan. Architect approached Doc, “Doc, we need to go. We can’t stay here.” He laid his hand on his shoulder. “No! I won’t go! Not without Sarge with us!” Doc broke into a rage of sadness. As quick as lightning, he pulled the magnum from his belt and fired it between Architects eyes. He was dead. The team just backed up. Doc was back on his arms, magnum in his belt. “We need to go. Leave him here.” The team left the room. “Fauz and Gregor. You to take point. Moth is waiting for us.” Alex ordered, though there was a hint of sorrow in him. He closed the door to Sarge and Architect’s bodies. He then sealed it shut, afraid Doc would come after them. “About time! Where’s the other three? Nevermind, doesn’t matter. We have a problem.” Moth pointed over in the field. Two Scarabs were headed right at them along with four wraiths, an anti-air wraith, and about eight ghosts. “Now would be a good time for your friends.” The team took a defensive position. Phantoms and Spirits were headed onto the field. Both Scarab’s stopped, they were charging their weapons. The first one fired, completely missed. The second one fired, with the utmost luck, Phoenix jumped off the gauss turret fast enough as it exploded. There was three wraiths down and all of the ghosts were eliminated. Only two Scarabs, one wraith and one anti-air wraith were headed at them. The phantoms were engaged on the left wing against Moth, Bek, Fauz, Gregor, Alex, and Archangel. “Really could use some help”, Alex said. “BAHAHAHAHAHA” Someone screamed over the COMS. “OUCH! My ears!” Jack covered them. “Destroyer, stop it!” “Wasn’t me.” Destroyer stared at him. Biggles noticed a light shined in the background. Now it didn’t, because it was in the hull of first Scarab. Which was now collapsed and about to explode. It did. Biggles must have been hallucinating, because it happened out all at once and so fast. “Get up. Get up.” Someone was going through trouble to lift him. It was Cajun. “Cajun. Why are you here?” Alex walked over. “Oh, I’m here to evac you then go for the other two.” Cajun replied. “Other two? What do you mea-” Moth looked over, there was a Scorpion engaged with the ground vehicles and phantoms and spirits. “Paladin?” He looked at the Scarab, which was awkwardly not in motion. Someone was on board doing one hell of a job with his knife. “Who’s that?” Cajun assisted the others onto the Pelican. “That’s Zen. He’s crazy, but ONI said it was necessary to drop him on there. Now lets go!” Cajun floored the Pelican over to Paladin, he waited on the side of his tank. He jumped in. Cajun then flew over to pick up Zen. Wasn’t noticeable at first, but a cloaked figure hopped on board. It then uncloaked as the hatch closed, it was Zen. He sat over in a seat, he had a great bright smile on his face and couldn’t stop the shake in his legs. “At least someone had a good time...” Muttered Dumby. “UNSC Warlord, this is Team Lord, inbound for boarding, roger.” Cajun prepped the pelican. “Eh, no.” They replied. “Open the doors, Osiris.” Phoenix felt like Cajun rolled his eyes when he muttered that. “I guess. I’ll take off the Archer missiles... Was going to have fun with you all. Heheh.” They boarded the Pelican. The door sealed behind them. The ship prepared for a jump. “We’re jumping, now?” Alex questioned Moth. Moth looked over at him, “Yes, and that’s why.” He pointed out the window. Three Covenant Cruisers glassed the area they just were at. Alex just stood there. The ship jumped. ~End of Chapter 17 Part 3~ ~Epilogue~ A loud sound came from the engine room. Destroyer was alone. Everyone else was in the mess hall. The sound came again. This time it was louder. Destroyer quietly walked his way over to the engine room. He looked behind him, afraid he was being watched. Nothing. He put in his authorization code. Denied. Destroyer felt for the authorization key he grabbed from Sarge’s body. He slid it into the slot. Accepted. The door slowly slid open. Each inch it opened, Destroyer felt his skin get hotter and hotter. Finally, the door slid open at an incredible speed. Destroyer entered the room. The door slid shut and locked behind him. He noticed something about the door. The door panel was damaged, he couldn’t get out that way. In search for the noise, he went into the room where the engines were stored. There it was. The slipspace drive was seared in flames and the wires were scorched around it. Destroyer ran over to the control panels for the engines. He applied the extinguishers and everything he could to put out the flames. It worked. The slipspace was still at work and ran fine. Destroyer went to exit the room. No. There was no way to get out from the inside, he was stuck in this room. He would have to radio Moth or Alex if he wanted out. Destroyer went over to the radio console. It was damaged, he couldn’t reach anyone. Why out of everything did I forget my ODST suit at a time like this? Destroyer thought to himself. Just then he remembered. He had a small stress beacon. Would it work in Slipspace? He could try to communicate to the others with it. He turned it on. Was this some sort of coincidence? The Slipspace Drive fell off the platform and crashed through the bottom of the ship, it left a massive hole. Destroyer just gaped as the Slipspace Drive fell into the ships shields. It knocked the shields offline. Destroyer quickly activated went to activated his stress beacon. He pulled it out and pressed the button. The signal was sent. He turned around. He walked right into an Energy Sword. He collapsed. His last moments were of him being drug over to the railing. The Elite was cloaked, all he could see was the energy sword. “You’re ships end is here.” The elite said as he threw Destroyer at the massive pit. ~The End of Book 1~ Credits: Nut/Doc- Unease P34nut Sarge- Yoshi1176 Dumby- The Dumb Marine Biggles- Mr Biggles Osiris Pendren- Vaulting♥Frog Paladin- Ledgend1221 Jack of Harts- Jack of Harts Destroyer- Caboose the Ace Architect- HaloGeek Cajun- Dexter Grif Phoenix- Yang Xiao Long Archangel- The Festive Follower Alex- Blake Belladonna Moth- Mothman Bek- Maggie Fauz- iSparky Zen- TheSilverCenturion Gregor- Connor Kenway After Credits... Alex sat in his bunker, all by himself. It was lonely. He looked over at where Sarge's bed was. It was empty and in the same condition as he got up that same morning before they left for the mission. Sarge's shotgun was placed up on the wall, neatly. The blood stains were left on it from his very last moment. Alex started to tear up, he let them flow down his cheeks, follow his arteries on his neck, and soak up in his shirt. "You will be remembered, Sarge." Alex just sat there for a few minutes. Nothing I could do about it, he thought. It was so unexpected. I just, I don't know anymore. That moment, it hit him. What he told Team Lord when he first joined the team. There wasn't very much of them at the time. Less than ten, that's for sure. This thought though, of what he remembered he told Team Lord. “Don't worry, I will do whatever it takes that you all live and the mission is finished." Alex stood up and grabbed Sarge's shotgun. He was in command now.
  22. ~Epilogue~ A loud sound came from the engine room. Destroyer was alone. Everyone else was in the mess hall. The sound came again. This time it was louder. Destroyer quietly walked his way over to the engine room. He looked behind him, afraid he was being watched. Nothing. He put in his authorization code. Denied. Destroyer felt for the authorization key he grabbed from Sarge’s body. He slid it into the slot. Accepted. The door slowly slid open. Each inch it opened, Destroyer felt his skin get hotter and hotter. Finally, the door slid open at an incredible speed. Destroyer entered the room. The door slid shut and locked behind him. He noticed something about the door. The door panel was damaged, he couldn’t get out that way. In search for the noise, he went into the room where the engines were stored. There it was. The slipspace drive was seared in flames and the wires were scorched around it. Destroyer ran over to the control panels for the engines. He applied the extinguishers and everything he could to put out the flames. It worked. The slipspace was still at work and ran fine. Destroyer went to exit the room. No. There was no way to get out from the inside, he was stuck in this room. He would have to radio Moth or Alex if he wanted out. Destroyer went over to the radio console. It was damaged, he couldn’t reach anyone. Why out of everything did I forget my ODST suit at a time like this? Destroyer thought to himself. Just then he remembered. He had a small stress beacon. Would it work in Slipspace? He could try to communicate to the others with it. He turned it on. Was this some sort of coincidence? The Slipspace Drive fell off the platform and crashed through the bottom of the ship, it left a massive hole. Destroyer just gaped as the Slipspace Drive fell into the ships shields. It knocked the shields offline. Destroyer quickly went to activate his stress beacon. He pulled it out and pressed the button. The signal was sent. He turned around. He walked right into an Energy Sword. He collapsed. His last moments were of him being drug over to the railing. The Elite was cloaked, all he could see was the energy sword. “You’re ships end is here.” The elite said as he threw Destroyer at the massive pit. ~The End of Book 1~ Book 2 is still being decided!
  23. ~Chapter 17-Part 3: All is Lost~ “Team Lord, glad you could make it!” The spartan shouted. “Uh, who are you, may I ask?” Sarge walked up to the unnamed spartan. “Oh, my sincere apologize Commander Moth. I didn’t realize it was you...” “No need for that. I need you in here! We have things that need to be done, and need to be done quick!” Moth looked up in the distance. “Why is that transport leaving? Who gave an order?” Moth took off inside. “I guess we better get inside as well.” Sarge walked inside the building. Team Lord walked in a straight line behind him. Starting with Alex, Bek, etc. “Hotel-Whiskey 314, do you mind telling me what you’re doing leaving with that ship!?” Moth was angrier than ever. “You were under a direct order not to leave until Noble Six got those Anti-Air weapons online!” Hotel-Whiskey 314 responded back briefly, “We’re getting the hell out of here. Screw the evac!” The thrusters kicked on a few seconds later. “I swear to god those three will be court martialed when I get out of here.” Moth slammed his fist as hard as he could on a table. The legs crushed and the table fell apart on itself. It looked like what would happen when you match a Scorpion versus a mongoose. An explosion went off outside, it shook the entire building. Alex walked over to the window. “Commander.” “Yes?” Moth replied. “That evac ship that just started to take off, it’s crashing in the bay right now. Corvette got it.” Alex just stared vigilantly out the window. Moth was enraged, “God damn it! I told him not to leave until the area is clear.” Moth walked over to the other side of the room. “Civilian transport 7 Echo 3 to Warlord Actual. My engines are hot. Waiting for your go.” “Copy that 7 Echo 3. Fox Actual is on the beach. Spartan’s going to clear the skies.” Moth replied back. “Commander! The covies are almost through my door!” Duvall came in on the conversation, “Steady Echo 3, that Corvette is still up there!” “That’s it! They’ve breached the landing bay!” The AA batteries activated. They both turned at a 78 degree angle. Aimed at the Corvette ship right above the city. Duvall was over the radio again, “It’s now or never, Spartan!” The AA guns were online and fired. Six rockets were launched in the air. “C’mon. Hit it. Hit it...” Dumby mumbled to himself. Biggles heard him, but decided not to say anything, he only agreed in his thoughts. The Corvette was on the move, slowly but it was about to gain speed. Five of the rockets hit the face of the Corvette. A drastic explosion shook the building Team Lord was in. It was the Corvette, lit up in flames headed down towards the crash in the sea. “Civilian Transports, you are cleared for departure.” Moth was calm, a hint of happiness was in his voice. Not much. A loud pound was heard in the background. Doors were torn off and metal was being scraped. “What. What was that?” Destroyer acted as if he was the only one who heard it. “Whatever it is, we need to go deal with it and get out of here.” Moth was pumped as ever. "Sarge, take point. I'll cover the exit. Archangel, you flank the right. Bek, hold this position." Moth barked loud and clear. The sound of gauss and banshee's could be heard outside. "Paladin, how much longer before you get here?" Sarge opened his comms. He turned the corner and engaged two grunts. "Now now, controlled bursts Sergeant." He told himself. "Sarge, you there yet?" Moth broke in. He had his scope steadied on a brute chieftain. He fired the sniper rifle. Headshot. "Almost, just a little more... Oh no. This can't be happening." Sarge face turned to horror. "Spit it out, Sergeant." Moth dropped his magazine and clicked in a fresh one. "We've got ourselves three corvettes and a super carrier out in the distance." Sarge relied. "May god have mercy..." Moth broke off. “Moth, you still there?” Sarge was worried. Did something happen to him? “Yeah, there’s an Elite. Could use some help. Nothing bad yet. Damn Covie won’t back off.” Moth sounded grudged. “On our way, Commander.” Sarge replied. “Alex, do you think you could meet up with us? Need your help.” Sarge ordered. “Give me a second. On my way.” Alex broke out of the room and hurried as fast as he could. He turned left. Wrong room. The door sealed behind him. There was someone else in the room, he could feel it. He could make an outline of a figure in the corner. "Hmmm... Again, we meet." The ghastly figure uttered out of the dark lighted room. "Who are you? You sound familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?" Spartan II-Alex was intimidated by this, this thing. Who was he? The voice was as if... "We've already met." The ghastly figure walked forward. Alex noticed something in his hand. An energy sword knuckle. "Lan Chorus..." Alex was in complete shock. At that moment, Phoenix ran in the room. "Alex, Sarge needs you out front right now!" He stopped. "Alex, what's going on?" Lan smiled and lunged forward. "Phoenix! No!" Alex screamed. Lan moved at an incredible speed. His fist hit Phoenix in the skull at such an incredible rate it knocked him out cold. “You’ll pay for that!” Alex grabbed an energy sword knuckle, activated it and rushed at Lan. Blocked. Lan just stood there and smiled. “Hehe. You’re not going to win this time, boy.” He kicked Alex in the chest. Alex held his ground, he lunged again with the sword, he had so much anger in him he felt like he could punch out a wall. Blocked, again. Alex was at such a high level of tolerance, he was absolutely done. Rage took him over. He swung fast and furious, the hits knocked back Lan Chorus. But did nothing, he blocked everything. Lan just stood there and smiled and laughed. “You’re going to lose boy.” Sarge came in from behind Lan Chorus. Shotgun on him, aimed at the back of his head. Slice. Sarge collapsed. “Sarge?” Alex looked over at him. He gasped in horror. An energy dagger was stuck in his neck. It was then withdrawn. The user uncloaked itself. It was an Elite Zealot. “Commander, we must go. The Arbiter needs you back on board.” The Zealot eyed Alex. “I’ll be back for you later.” Lan rushed Alex and knocked him backwards into the wall, the impact immobilized him for a few seconds with shock. Lan left with the Zealot. Jack and Biggles walked into the room, “We came as soon as we heard. How can...” They broke off after they saw Sarge. “No. No it can’t be.” Doc ran into the room, he fired two shots from his magnum behind him. “We’re ready to go guys. Bek just gave an all clear...” Tears began to roll down his eyes. “No. No it can’t be.” Doc bursted into tears. “Those two shots from my magnum, they must have been a coincidence from when I first met Sarge... I’m already remembering all of our memories...” Doc collapsed on the floor in tears. He couldn’t gain control, he felt like everything he had was lost. “I can’t do this. Out of all of you, I cared about him the most. He was always there with me to cover my back.” He sobbed some more. Now he was on the floor, arms over each other. All he could do was moan. Architect approached Doc, “Doc, we need to go. We can’t stay here.” He laid his hand on his shoulder. “No! I won’t go! Not without Sarge with us!” Doc broke into a rage of sadness. As quick as lightning, he pulled the magnum from his belt and fired it between Architects eyes. He was dead. The team just backed up. Doc was back on his arms, magnum in his belt. “We need to go. Leave him here.” The team left the room. “Fauz and Gregor. You to take point. Moth is waiting for us.” Alex ordered, though there was a hint of sorrow in him. He closed the door to Sarge and Architect’s bodies. He then sealed it shut, afraid Doc would come after them. “About time! Where’s the other three? Nevermind, doesn’t matter. We have a problem.” Moth pointed over in the field. Two Scarabs were headed right at them along with four wraiths, an anti-air wraith, and about eight ghosts. “Now would be a good time for your friends.” The team took a defensive position. Phantoms and Spirits were headed onto the field. Both Scarab’s stopped, they were charging their weapons. The first one fired, completely missed. The second one fired, with the utmost luck, Phoenix jumped off the gauss turret fast enough as it exploded. There was three wraiths down and all of the ghosts were eliminated. Only two Scarabs, one wraith and one anti-air wraith were headed at them. The phantoms were engaged on the left wing against Moth, Bek, Fauz, Gregor, Alex, and Archangel. “Really could use some help, Alex said.” “BAHAHAHAHAHA” Someone screamed over the COMS. “OUCH! My ears!” Jack covered them. “Destroyer, stop it!” “Wasn’t me.” Destroyer stared at him. Biggles noticed a light shined in the background. Now it didn’t, because it was in the hull of first Scarab. Which was now collapsed and about to explode. It did. Biggles must have been hallucinating, because it happened out all at once and so fast. “Get up. Get up.” Someone was going through trouble to lift him. It was Cajun. “Cajun. Why are you here?” Alex walked over. “Oh, I’m here to evac you then go for the other two.” Cajun replied. “Other two? What do you mea-” Moth looked over, there was a Scorpion engaged with the ground vehicles and phantoms and spirits. “Paladin?” He looked at the Scarab, which was awkwardly not in motion. Someone was on board doing one hell of a job with his knife. “Who’s that?” Cajun assisted the others onto the Pelican. “That’s Zen. He’s crazy, but ONI said it was necessary to drop him on there. Now lets go!” Cajun floored the Pelican over to Paladin, he waited on the side of his tank. He jumped in. Cajun then flew over to pick up Zen. Wasn’t noticeable at first, but a cloaked figure hopped on board. It then uncloaked as the hatch closed, it was Zen. He sat over in a seat, he had a great bright smile on his face and couldn’t stop the shake in his legs. “At least someone had a good time...” Muttered Dumby. “UNSC Warlord, this is Team Lord, inbound for boarding, roger.” Cajun prepped the pelican. “Eh, no.” They replied. “Open the doors, Osiris.” Phoenix felt like Cajun rolled his eyes when he muttered that. “I guess. I’ll take off the Archer missiles... Was going to have fun with you all. Heheh.” They boarded the Pelican. The door sealed behind them. The ship prepared for a jump. “We’re jumping, now?” Alex questioned Moth. Moth looked over at him, “Yes, and that’s why.” He pointed out the window. Three Covenant Cruisers glassed the area they just were at. Alex just stood there. The ship jumped. ~End of Chapter 17 Part 3~ Ready? REady? REAdy? READy? READY? ARE YOU READY, SOLDIERS?
  24. So it has come to my thought that I need to put a little more work into the UNSC Warlord Series. But how? Should I add non-canon items? Then that would ruin the story's purpose of giving the readers that feeling of 'It could have happened.' What if I added characters that weren't created by the readers and weren't in the books/game? That's stretching out to favor in myself to balance everything out. I don't want a balance, I want it to work itself out in favour of one or the other. Alright, then what if I did something simple, like with the writing? I guess that would add interest, after all, that's where the interest starts. What kind of interest should I add? How about teasers? That could work. Take any section from the upcoming chapter, from a simple sentence to three paragraphs and give it a post. Not only does it show I'm working on the chapter, but it adds excitement to what could be going on. It's a better idea than cliffhangers. So let's give it a shot. Ladies and Gentlemen. I give you, the UNSC Warlord Teaser Thread. Let's start off with Chapter Fifteen: "Sarge? Sarge, are you alright?" Bek called out. Sarge raised himself off the ground and threw himself back on his feet. "I'm fine. I'm fine. Damn banshee would've almost had me if it weren't for these Spartans." The team turned around. There stood a team of Spartans, ready at the go. The first one approached them, "We're under direct orders to clear this area. You need to leave. Now." The other four separated and swept the area for any remaining hostiles. "And who are you?" Sarge questioned the Spartan. The comm's broke in, "Team Lord, we need you to leave the vicinity, now. ONI has a Spartan team inbound to clear the area and locate transportation to ONI Sword Base. You need to leave. Now." The comm went offline. Sarge looked up, the blue Spartan was gone.
  25. ~Chapter 17-Part 1: New Alexandria~ Cajun fired the gauss. Everyone watched as it shot right over their heads. “What the hell Cajun? You need to get to explaining.” Archangel yelled. Alex looked at Archangel, “You’re not in charge. You don’t get to question orders.” “Sir, look.” Paladin motioned towards where the gauss was fired. A stack of enormous crates and containers were revealed. The camoflauge cloak just wore off on the last one. “Sorry sir, should’ve warned you about the shot. Osiris told me to shoot at that location as soon as I made contact with you. No idea why, guess we’ll be finding out here soon.” Cajun flew over towards the crates. He fired the machine guns at the locks. The crates opened. “Holy crap. They actually delivered!” Paladin exclaimed. The following revealed was: Two Standard Warthogs. A Scorpion. Two Gungoose. A Transport Warthog. “Alright, everyone get to your vehicles. All stragglers, hitch a ride. Paladin, get to your tank. Gregor and Dumby, go to your gungoose. Doc, to your transport warthog. Sarge and Destroyer, lets get the warthog’s going.” Alex hopped on the turret of Sarge’s Warlord encraved Warthog. “Let’s move out.” They set for the destination. Sarge at the lead. ~12 hours later~ “Alright, we’re here.” Sarge stood up in his seat. A few of the buildings of New Alexandria were on fire. A corvette shot down a civilian transport. It crashed deep into sea. “If we don’t make it there any faster, those three corvettes in the sky are going to burn the city down. We need to get those civilians out of there and the skies clear.” “Sir, Paladin isn’t with us.” Dumby commented. Alex looked over his shoulder, “He’ll be with us later. His tanks slow, but he’ll be our pack of punch when we need him.” Sarge drove towards the city. “Good lord the skies are full of aircraft.” Archangel stated. Cajun engaged against a banshee formation that came from the left. “Everyone, engage at the front!” Sarge commanded. The team split formation. Sarge, Alex, and Biggles engaged a group of Elite Commanders. Destroyer, Jack, and Phoenix engaged a couple Covenant Ghosts and Revanants. Dumby and Architect teammed up with Gregor and Fauz engaged a group of cannon fodder. Doc took everyone else in his transport warthog, and got out and engaged all the hunters. ~Sarge~ “Come on Alex and Biggles, work together!’ Sarge power slided away from a fuel rod. Alex told Biggles, “I’ll take down the shields. You finish them.” Biggles nodded in agreement. Alex shot down the shields of two of the Elite Officers, then engaged the Generals. Biggles shot everyone of them in the head as soon as their shields dropped. The Elite’s were done. ~Doc~ “Bek, cover me!” Doc ran up in front of the hunter. The hunter swang at him, Doc jumped out of the way. His back exposed to Bek. Bek opened fire on the hunter’s back, it turned around and faced her. Doc pulled out his magnum and shot the hunter in the back. The hunter went down. “Good work, let’s get back to everyone else.” ~Cajun~ “Hahaha! I love killing these things. It’s so much fun!” Cajun shot the banshee in the right wing. The right wing broke off, the banshee was going down in a downright position. Cajun quickly shot off the left wing. The banshee regained control and flew up towards Cajun. Cajun fired the gauss through the face of the banshee. It exploded. “No kill is as good as overkill.” Cajun returned to help Team Lord. ~Destroyer~ Destroyer had a tough time with all these vehicles. The ghosts were done with, it was just the Revenants that were such a hard time. “Don’t worry, Destroyer. I got you back.” Cajun took out the Revenants without hesitation. “Thanks, I thought these vehicles were going to be a tough ride for us.” Jack responded. “Uh, we have a Wraith headed straight at us. Any assistance, please?” It was Architect. “Sure, headed that way now.” They responded. ~Gregor and Dumby~ “Man, I love these SMG mounts. Their amazing.” Dumby just sprayed through a group of grunts, Architect took out the jackals with a pair of SMG’s as well. “No kidding, I wish the war was this easy.” Gregor plowed over a skirmisher. Fauz shoved a frag grenade into the hands of an Elite Minor. He screamed then blew up. His corpse went everywhere. “Oh crap.” Dumby slammed on the gas. With luck, he evaded the mortar. “Don’t worry, I’m on my way.” Cajun came in. “Well you better hurry, this one’s not going to give up!” Architect broke in. Cajun and the Wraith were at a standoff. The Wraith fired, Cajun thrusted backwards. He shot off the left clamp. The driver of the Wraith was unneedingly stressed. It opened up it’s plasma cannon and began to fire, then proceeded to shoot its mortars. Cajun evaded everything. “I’m done playing around.” Cajun pushed two switches. The Hawk pulled out a Spartan Laser cannon. He pulled the trigger. The blue beam of the laser shredded through the Wraith, it caused a massive explosion. “Oh man, I could see that explosion all the way from here! Bahahaha.” Osiris opened up the Comms. “Osiris. Any intel for us?” Sarge asked. “Noble Team has one of their members, Noble Six on the ground. Noble Six will be taking out the Corvettes with the AA cannons. You guys will need to get to the civilian tranports and safely evacuate them. By the time you get there, Paladin should be caught up and deliver the final round.” “Roger that, Team Lord out.” Sarge took off the Comm’s. ~End of Chapter 17~ Any questions or thoughts?
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