Six: Two Betrayals
Whilst the Infected were busy running around like chickens with their heads cut off and panicking about being shot on Zero-Five, the Spartans had successfully made their way to the second canyon and were hovering just inside the door, waiting for Cortana to give them the "all clear." She had picked up enemy movement outside the hatch, and they had decided to wait to try and get some distance between them and whatever foe was on the other side, a plan that was working out so far. Finally, they proceeded through and found themselves on the bridge spanning the gulf between two rock walls, and their motion trackers went haywire, showing a multitude of enemy dots on either of the two bridges. The Covenant were holding the one that they were now on but the Flood controlled the other, and there was a wild firefight going on, led by the gold Field Marshal Elite on their side.
The Spartans held position behind the metal barrier just outside the door and listened to the sounds of battle, waiting for the aliens to eliminate as many of each other as they could, which took a surprisingly short amount of time. When the noises of shots fired died down to a minimum, they emerged and picked off the stragglers, resenting it immensely when the Flood on the opposite bridge leaped over to attack them, as two of them managed to land directly on top of Linda and Kelly. That made Cortana start laughing as the pair beat down the combat forms and tried to wipe off the Flood slime now firmly attached to their armor, their faces disgusted behind their visors.
"O-oh-okay," the construct said, finally getting calmed down as they entered the opposite hatch, "let's keep going – mpht!" She sounded like she was smothering a snort when the two female Spartans came into view of Fred's helmet cam, and thus the AI. They gunned down the Flood waiting for them inside, swept the room for ammo, and listened to the two Elites fighting the Flood on the far side of the room, waiting for one of the sides to obliterate the other. The foursome tore around the corner when there was only a single Elite left and beat him down, and Sam took the rocket launcher that one of the combat forms had been wielding, noting that the heavy weapon hadn't seemed to have done it any good against the Elite. The next room was a simple matter to clear out, as well, and Cortana said, "I'm going to contact Alpha Base, have Red and Green Teams ready for our arrival."
"Roger," Fred grunted as they emerged onto the opposite bridge. There were quite a few Flood hanging out there, and somewhere down range, someone was taking potshots at the two Elites in the Banshees, who were doing strafing runs on the bridge. They patiently waited – again – and the combat forms took care of the Banshees for them. Sam collected their ammo for his own rocket launcher, and they proceeded through the next room and down the lift relatively unhindered. When they appeared at the base of the cliff, a nearby Elite and its Grunt began firing on them, but they were quickly taken out, as was the Ghost that assaulted them from the right and the Banshee from above. The Spartans sped through the next canyon, following Cortana's nav point and adding a Wraith, a pair of Shades, and a small army of Grunts and Jackals to their "confirmed kills" list.
After making their way back down through the tunnel from before, they took out the Jackals guarding the area, and Kelly made the trek back to claim on of the undamaged Ghosts while the other three waited for her in the overturned Warthog they found at the base of the slope. The now-speedier Spartans tore up the slope and mowed down the Grunts and Jackals at the top, sending those they missed spinning back down to the ice-covered riverbed below when the aliens lunged off the cliff to evade the vehicles. They spotted two more Banshees on the ground to the left of the enormous plateau jutting up from the center of the canyon, but they chose to circle around to the right, taking out the Hunters there as they did so. It also gave them a golden opportunity to take out the Wraith lurking next to the entrance to the underground section, and they followed NASCAR's trend of turning left, coming up on the Elites guarding the Banshees from behind.
This time it was Linda who came up with Fred; there were bound to be enemies on top of the plateau, and her incredible accuracy was essential for clearing them out. They bombed the hell out of the Field Marshal Elite and his companions on the platform leading to the next generator and disembarked, sweeping the area a second time just to make sure. Linda switched out her sniper rifle for her shotgun and followed Fred inside, standing guard by the door while he sprinted for the energy stream. The explosion shook the ground again, making him reel within the beam, but he tore himself free of the suction and sprinted to assist Linda against the Flood that burst into the room. Their shotguns tore huge holes in the enemy ranks –
"Goddamnit! That fucking hurts, you lot!"
-And they swiftly made their way out onto the platform again, their Banshees enabling them to swoop down on the Flood engaging their comrades and strafe the hell out of them. The aerial and ground vehicles ducked into the slowly sloping tunnel leading down into the cliff face and hovered just inside the entrance, watching as the Flood overtook a group of Covenant, complete with Shade turret. At that moment, Cortana piped up, "I've located the Pillar of Autumn. She put down twelve hundred kilometers up-spin, and energy readings show that her reactors are still powered up. However, the systems on the Autumn have fail-safes on them that even I can't override without authorization from the Captain. Let's take care of the final pulse generator, then go and collect Red and Green Teams before we go looking for him."
All four of the Spartans flashed an acknowledgement at her and proceeded down through the tunnel, gunning down the Flood survivors, narrowly avoiding the rockets that whizzed past them from further inside. The LAAG on the Warthog pumped the combat forms full of lead as the vehicle raced past, and Sam stopped briefly so Kelly could gather up the ammo and dump it into the passenger seat. All three of the vehicles then swerved around the corner and came to a stop outside a large blast door, which Sam moved to open with the Banshees circling as best they could in the confined space.
However, something on the other side exploded, damaging the door panels as they slid open, and it looked as though nothing wider than the Warthog could get through, royally screwing the Banshees. Linda hopped into the passenger seat, shoving the rocket reloads out of the way, and Fred carefully settled between the front seats and the turret, trying not to fall off when the vehicle accelerated through the gap. Miraculously, they made it through the cavern and up the reverse slope without losing anyone, and Cortana flicked up another nav point over the final pulse generator. It was somewhere in front of them and high above, and there were no Banshees in sight, meaning that they would have to proceed onward a little to find them. There were Covenant and Flood doing battle below the platform, and for a long minute or two, the Spartans sat and watched, observing both the Flood and the Covenant for patterns in their battle strategies.
In the end, the two groups killed one another off, and Fred slid from the Warthog to claim one of the Ghosts sitting stationary nearby. The cavern that they had passed though earlier had collapsed, so they circled around to the gap in the wall, pausing when they heard the sounds of battle once again. There were some Flood with rocket launchers running around, based on the occasional bawhoosh followed by an explosion; if this held up, they'd have enough launchers and ammo for each of them to have one. The sounds died down after a few moments, and they arrived to find that the Flood was the victor. Not for long, of course; the combat forms roared and died under the hail of bullets and plasma. Linda picked up some reloads for her sniper rifle when they passed a Flood munitions stash, and then continued onward into the next canyon, where four Banshees mercifully waited.
The Flood was in that section of canyon, too, and amidst the chaos it caused, Sam launched two rockets at the visible Wraith patrolling the far side of the canyon. Both impacted, and the tank belched black smoke into the night sky. A second one emerged from behind a rock outcropping and began launching plasma bombs at the collection of combat forms gathered on a snowy ridge, but they scattered at the last second. A handful had rocket launchers and used them to great effect on the tank; however, they were not counting on the Spartans coming up from behind and running them down. The Warthog and the Ghost took turns on either side of the canyon, the moving targets making it almost impossible to get a proper bead on them, and the Hunters that appeared from behind the immense rock at the back of the canyon disappeared in a small storm of bullets, rockets, and plasma balls.
It was a very tight fit for all of the Banshees on the platform, but they managed and headed inside after blowing the Sentinels guarding the place out of the sky. There were more of the bastards inside, but a few plasma grenades and coordinated fire took them out, too. From there, Fred stepped into the energy beam of the final generator and managed to keep his feet when the ground shook, and they gathered together in a brief conference of war when he tugged himself free of the slight suction. "Let's find a ride and get to the Captain," the Senior Chief stated, already preparing to leave, but Cortana interrupted him.
"No, that'll take too long."
"You have a better idea?"
"I learned how to tap into Halo's teleportation network while I was in the Control Room, but each jump requires a substantial expenditure of energy that I think I can take from your armor without permanently damaging your shields. I've worked out a way to make it so that each person's armor provides the energy for their own jump."
"Mm…" He didn't sound happy at all, but it was a faster way to get to Alpha Base and Red and Green Teams before continuing on to the Truth and Reconciliation. "All right, do it."
After a brief hum split the silence, the golden rings of Halo's teleportation appeared around their bodies, and they were gone.
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"Tell everybody I'm on my way;
New friends and new places to see!
With blue skies ahead, yes, I'm on my way,
And there's nowhere else I'd rather be!"
"Venera…"
"Tell everybody I'm on my way,
And I'm loving every step I take
With the sun beating down, yes I'm on my way
And I can't keep this smile off my face!"
"VENERA!"
"Yes?"
"Please stop singing."
"Sorry, sir."
"And don't call me that. If I've told you once, I've told you a hundred thousand times."
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The group appeared in a miraculously open space on the rock plateau, and though they were not surprised to find weapons leveled at them, it still caused the hairs on the backs of their necks to stand on end. All four of them were hauled off for the shortest debriefing possible, which still took almost half an hour, and then the three Spartan teams were off, teleported by Cortana to the Truth and Reconciliation. Though she knew about the necessary adjustments that needed to be made, she let the Spartans appear upside down both to hide her prior knowledge of Halo and for her own amusement. The Spartans crashed to the deck in a heap, and she snorted. "Oops. It looks like the coordinates – "
Fred slapped his helmet, and she obligingly shut up, though her snickering continued in the background. "What's the status of the ship?" he grunted at her as the three teams moved down the hall, sweeping every alcove they came across.
"Oh, so now you want me to talk? Hmph. Typical man.
"The Covenant network is in absolute chaos. Their HIGHCOM ordered everyone to abandon Halo when they found the Flood, but they were too late. The Parasite overwhelmed this cruiser, and the Covenant are terrified that they'll repair it and use it to escape. They sent a strike team to neutralize the Flood and prepare the ship for immediate departure." The AI shuffled something around inside his head, whispering something that sounded like, "Wow, two Spartans and an AI in one suit of armor."
[I was bored,] John grunted as he trickled in through Fred's COM system, [And you lot were taking too long. Besides, if I'm going to throw combat forms at them, it's easier to see through their helmet cams rather than the Flood's nonexistent eyes.]
Cortana chuckled as she shifted aside to give him room in the limited MJOLNIR's systems. 'I gathered that. How are the Infected?'
[Your comment has them spooked,] he said as the Spartans headed through an unlocked door in front of them and beheld an armless combat form chasing a Grunt, [They know how dangerous Spartans are because of my memories, but now that they might be on the business end of that level of lethality, they're terrified. Most of them are in the Basis space dock, and those that aren't, are as far away from Alpha Base as it is physically possible to get without leaving the ring. I've sent transports to them; they're evacking now in preparation for the Autumn's fireworks.]
'Ah.'
The three teams mowed through the foes between them and the next room – and found themselves on the verge of overbalancing and toppling through an immense hole in the floor of the docking bay. Kelly almost fell through, but Fhajad grabbed her by the back-plating and hauled her away from the gap. However, it looked like they didn't have much of a choice; the Flood was closing in on them from behind, dropping from a maintenance hatchway in the ceiling, so one by one, they jumped into the open air, freefalling into the thick coolant below. When they emerged from the glutinous substance, they were met with the sight of some combat forms just standing around, kind of watching them, some dead Covenant strewn about on the ground.
'John!'
[Oh, right.]
The combat forms instantly turned hostile, throwing themselves at the Spartans and firing wildly with their plasma and assault rifles – [A-salt with a deadly weapon,] the Chief commented, his voice clearly bored – but the Flood vanished in sprays of green blood when the human warriors returned fire. It was almost insultingly easy for the twelve Spartans to weave through the various canyons and trudge through pools of coolant collecting below the ship, unaware of the hitchhiker concealed inside Fred's armor. There was a pair of Hunters between them and the gravity lift leading back into the ship, but ammo was precious; they chose to let the carrier forms waddling about take care of them and the Elites further up. The lift itself was not as well-guarded as they had expected, but that might have had something to do with the fact that there were six or seven Flood mobbing the Covenant's tiny defense force, consisting of a single Elite and two Grunts when the armored humans showed up.
'How's Keyes?'
[Sleeping. Yellow Team's on watch. I've got about sixteen or seventeen forms guarding them, but this group should mow through them no problem.]
The Flood decimated the Covenant and were in turn annihilated by the Spartans when they galloped by on their way to the lift. The warriors were plucked from the rock outcropping and deposited in another cargo bay of some kind, and headed out of it through an open door, weaving through a short series of halls with carrier forms in them. The things' popping spewed Infection forms everywhere, and though there was a near miss with Grace-093, Fred stepped on the pod before it could renew its assault.
[Ooh, so close.]
'Bad Spartan, BAD! No infecting the others!'
[Right. Dammit.]
'Having problems?'
[Kind of. Sometimes I just get carried away.]
A door slid open and admitted the Spartans into another cargo bay, combat and carrier forms wandering about below, and after carefully measuring the distance and gunning down the Flood, the warriors leapt one by one onto a Wraith and then down onto the room's floor, using the short cut that Cortana suggested to save time. A side door opened and spilled more infected Covenant into the room, but the humans had already disappeared down another hall. They moved through the corridors, letting the Covenant and the Flood wear each other out when they came across the groups fighting, and eventually they reached another shuttle bay. Once again, the two alien races were duking it out, but there was not enough room for all of them to hide without being spotted; trusting the races to destroy one another, they tore by unnoticed and entered a hall of the far side of the bay.
For the umpteenth time that night, they ran across the Covenant strike team attempting to eliminate the Flood and said, "Fuck it," charging through the enemy lines and gunning down everything that shot at them. This worked to great effect, getting them up onto the third level of the bay and through the halls leading to the bridge, where Cortana said that Keyes was being held. Flood charged in swarms through the door leading to the bridge, and they could hear the delighted cries of the Marines imprisoned within. A few grenades cleared with the enemies, and they entered the bridge, utterly surprised to see everyone from the storage facility alive and well if a little worse for wear. Jenkins was missing his helmet.
"But… we thought…"
"I know," Keyes interjected, clambering to his feet, "We thought we were goners, too, but those things – the Flood? – brought us here, where we met their leader, I guess.'"
"Their leader?"
"We suspect so – they obeyed his orders – but he disappeared." Keyes coughed a little, and flecks of blood appeared on his hand. "Why did you come?"
The Spartans explained the plan as Cortana called Foehammer to come and pick the Marines and the Captain up in the shuttle bay; all she needed was the codes that the Captain readily gave, saying, "If the Autumn's going to be destroyed, it's no use keeping them a secret." They made their way back through the halls, and John trickled out of Fred's armor without saying a word, already on his way back to the human ship.
A Spirit dropship had arrived on the Truth and Reconciliation, along with a pair of Banshee escorts, and though the ordinary soldiers longed to come with them, everyone knew they were in no condition to go gallivanting about detonating reactors. The now four teams of Spartans staved off assaults from the Flood and the Covenant until Foehammer arrived, bearing a relay point to Alpha Base. The Major there and Keyes quickly conferred with Cortana, determining that the best course of action was to commandeer as many dropships as possible to evac their people from the ring; it was clear that the Covenant ship they were on was going nowhere fast, and they needed out before 2553 came a-calling. Two of Yellow Team took the Banshees to cover the bay entrance while the Marines and other escaped Spartans piled into Foehammer's Pelican, leaving the Spirit for Blue and Red Teams; there was not enough room for Green Team to join them, so they took over a "conveniently" arriving, Flood filled Pelican that had obviously crashed and been subsequently repaired.
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"Okay, Venera, Kenera, now you can sing."
"YAY!" They slung their arms around each other's shoulders and burst into song, utterly delighted.
"Tell everybody I'm on my way,
New friends and new places to see.
With blue skies ahead, yes, I'm on my way
And there's nowhere else I'd rather be.
Tell everybody I'm on my way,
And I'm loving every step I take
With the sun beating down, yes, I'm on my way,
And I can't keep this smile off my face.
Cause there's nothing like seeing each other again,
No matter what the distance between.
And the stories we tell, will make you smile
Oh, it really lifts my heart.
So tell 'em I'm on my way,
New friends and new places to see,
And to sleep under the stars and could ask for more
With the moon keeping watch over me.
Not the snow nor the rain, can change my mind.
The sun will come out, wait and see,
And the feeling of the wind
In your face can lift your heart.
Oh... there's nowhere I'd rather be,
Cause I'm on my way now
Well and true.
I'm my way there,
I'm on my way now,
I'm on my way now,
I'm on my way now,
I'm on my way now.
Tell everybody I'm on my way.
I just can't wait to be there,
With blue skies ahead, yes, I'm on my way,
And nothing but good times to share.
So tell everybody I'm on my way,
And I just can't wait to be home.
With the sun beating down, yes, I'm on my way,
And nothing but good times to show.
I'm on my way,
Yes, I'm on my way!"
"Nice to see we've gone from professional soldiers to Disney cast members." John scratched an immaculate spot on his armor.
"Oh, shove it. Sir."
The Master Chief distinctly growled at the last word, and Venera and Kenera sprinted around to the other side of the invisible fish-shaped transport, laughing as they did so. The mood of the Infected was distinctly lighter, so the crazy twosome had served their purpose, which was the only reason John put up with their antics: they had the almost supernatural ability to make anyone happy, even him, and they did their job extremely well. It was no wonder that they had come so highly recommended by the Didact himself.
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The flight was uneventful, but their arrival at the Autumn brought an unexpected and unwelcome surprise: the camouflaged figure that had met Keyes on the Truth was already there. It was sitting astride a large four-legged, wingless dragon-being that was standing on the very edge of the ship's dorsal structure, and it was very clearly watching their approach, though they could see nothing of it because of its active camo, no discernable characteristics. Its cloaking, they realized abruptly, reminded them of the dream that they had had while in cryosleep, where a figure concealed in the same manner had approached them and called them family.
"This is gonna be a long day."
**********
I feel it deep within, it's just beneath the skin
I must confess that I feel like a monster
I hate what I've become, the nightmare's just begun
I must confess that I feel like a monster
- "Monster," Skillet (Awake)