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2553
Aboard the "In Amber Clad"
Location: High Charity, in orbit of Installation 06
Two days ago
Master Sergeant Jeremy Ryan lay prone in the debris inside of the "Amber Clad". His vision blurred and finally cleared. He looked around trying to remember where he was. Blood was smeared across the floor, giving indication a body had been dragged away….but by what? Ryan felt his head then looked at his hand…slicked in blood. He pulled a bandana from his pack and bandaged the wound. He rose to his feet and pulled out his M6C pistol surveying the room, a battle rifle lay on the ground; he holstered the sidearm and bent down to handle the BR-55. The door sensed his presence and slid open. A marine lay propped up against the wall at the far side of the hallway. The Sergeant ran to him. The marine clenched the Sergeant's chest plate and breathed: "Sarge….they're dead. It killed them…it killed them all." the private muttered quietly and released his grip and slumped back against the wall, breathing his last. Ryan pulled away and swung around to the doorway. A rotting corpse fell from the ceiling grating. But then it came to its feet looking around. Jeremy let loose a fury of rounds ripping into the creatures decaying flesh. It stopped inches from his face and fell backwards, riddled with bullet holes. The Sergeant ran to a wall mounted directory finding the Pelican drop ship bays. He found the quickest route and sprinted down the indicated corridors. The room before the bay was an armory. Ryan took a deep breath and hit the door control. The door slid open. He was faced with two stationary 30mm gun turrets and four shotguns at his face. "Sarge, is that you?!" a familiar Australian accent asked. "Yea Shaw sure is." The marines relaxed. "Good sir, the flood has been trying to use this route to the pelicans for hours. Jeremy took note of the spongy terrain he was standing on happened to be bodies of fallen combat forms. "Let's pray to God that there's still a drop ship out there for us." an ODST stated. Three more of the Helljumpers emerged from the darkness. Everyone in the room was armed with shotguns. "Alright, we have to get off this ship, Patterson, police those Jackhammers, Shaw you got the radio, Jumpers-you boys got our six, we'll move the supplies into the pelican and you guys make sure we get off this death trap in one piece, you hear me marines?" Ryan asked, "Yes Sir Sarge!" The marines entered the bay. The side they had entered was deserted, only two pelicans remained. The opposing side had four pelicans and was bustling with Flood. The Pelican off to the right was a gunship; it would come in handy for the marines. Ryan motioned for the ODSTs to get that gunship ready for launch ASAP. Ryan waved the rest of the regulars to load the supplies and the injured. They did so, quickly and quietly. Lance Corporal Sam Reinhart took the pilot position in the gunship and warmed the engines. Weapon displays filled the view screen he selected a Pelican that had just filled up with Flood. "Sir? Permission to fire?" asked the ODST. "Hold up Reinhart, we're movin' out the last wounded, okay granted, fire at will." Ryan replied. "Jimmy! Brock! Get in we're getting' outta here! The marines looked at each other then at the door. The door dented imprints of tentacles. Decaying fingers pried it open. The guns flared up, as did the door gun of the pelican. Jimmy broke off and grabbed Brock by the collar and pulled him to his feet. The marines sprinted through the door as the drop ship broke from the hanger and separated from the platform. The marines jumped. Patterson and Shaw caught them and pulled them into their seats, buckling them down. Reinhart fired the ARCHER missiles mounted on the wings of the gun ship. He crippled two Flood controlled drop ships. "Okay Sarge punch it we got your six, we'll follow you out!" Reinhart called over the comm. "Roger that marine, thank you."
Cortana surveyed the various corridors and council chambers of High Charity. Surprisingly, The Brutes had mounted a formidable offense for taking back the city. But Cortana saw that too many of the larger areas were infested with Flood. Cortana sighed as she locked down several rooms cutting off the Flood from spreading. Then something surprised her. A human transponder, in fact eleven total and two human controlled pelican drop ships. She looked up the transponder as belonging to Lance Corporal Samuel Reinhart. "Corporal Reinhart? This is Cortana do you read? Corporal? Say again do you read?" Cortana said hopefully. "Cortana?! What are you doing here?" Reinhart answered. Cortana sighed with relief. "Never mind that marine, touch down at this NAV point; I'll take care of the hostiles. Cortana concentrated and commandeered a ceiling mounted turret in the same sector the Chief had witnessed Truth escape on a Phantom. Flood stood watch until superheated plasma melted their rotting bodies. The crashed pelican lay dormant…with no Flood emerging. Cortana quickly programmed the gun to target Covenant and Flood and focused on protecting the incoming gunship. "Sergeant? This is Reinhart; Cortana is in the city, I'm moving in to pick her up, roger?" Sam asked. "Absolutely Corporal, but make it quick its getting hot up here." Jeremy replied. Sam approached the landing pad. A Pelican lay in wreckage but the pad was clear. Sam eased the Pelican down. "Okay, JC go get Cortana!" "Sir!" The ODST jumped from the gun ship and sprinted over to a fallen Prophet's Hover chair. The Prophet lay with a hole in his neck. The Helljumper stepped over the corpse and Cortana appeared on the chair's arm. "Good to see you marine…and thank you." Cortana said. "Anytime ma'am." JC said as he retrieved the chip from the pedestal. The door burst open pouring infection and carrier forms followed by hundreds of infected Humans, Elites and Brutes. JC stood there paralyzed with the sight of four of his teammates' rotting corpses rushing towards him. Sam turned the pelican and opened up with the 70mm on the ship's belly. JC shook it off and grabbed Rob's hand, the third hell jumper, and pulled himself into his seat, buckling down. Sam got airborne and headed for the gap in the ceiling of the city. Sam patched his comm. into Sergeant Ryan's pelican speakers. "Alright Sarge, I'm right on your six." He said. "Uh-oh, we got trouble marines, the gap is closing." Ryan replied. A Covenant Cruiser had stationed itself over the gap. Seraph fighters flew out from the bays and into the city. They surveyed the carnage and as if not content with what they saw broke off and returned to the cruiser. The marines exhaled in relief, but they were quickly worried again when particles of energy began to gather on the Cruiser's main gun. "We have to get out of here Reinhart, punch it!" The Sarge said. The two human ships accelerated to make it to the gap in time. Sam pulled ahead and above Ryan's troopship. The beam fired. The tail of the Pelican Gunship was lit ablaze. Sam's comm. shorted out. The gap was in reach. Sam's craft sputtered as the engines flickered off. The gunship crashed onto the outer dome of High Charity. Jeremy maneuvered away from the flaming hull of the gunship. Jeremy closed his eyes trying not to think about the doomed men. He had the ring in view as he accelerated to the control center. The damaged pelican wobbled into the atmosphere and surveyed the layout of the terrain around the structure. A wrecked phantom lay half buried in the sand of the beach. A Scarab stood near the main door, which had been blown open. Jeremy slowly approached the doorway and turned the troop compartment to the door. Six marine regulars hopped off the ramp and to the door. They cautiously entered the burnt hallway and into the room beyond that was littered with dead brutes. "Holy crap mate, it's safe to say the chief was here lately!" Shaw said crouching next to the Honor Guard Brute's body with a hole in its chest. "That wasn't the Chief marine." A familiar voice stated. "That was our new ally." Sergeant Johnson stood with a shotgun leaning against his shoulder. An eight foot tall Elite emerged behind him. The marine raised their weapons. "Hold your fire boys, he's a friend." Johnson said. The Arbiter gave a nod to the marines and signaled to several more Elites behind him. They were counselors, clad in silver armor and elegant helmets, all of them bearing energy swords. The marines nervously backed down. Another marine sergeant and a private ran into the room, bearing plasma pistols. "Glad you boys could make it; I thought we were the only ones left." Sergeant Stacker said. Miranda Keyes emerged from the control room gripping the index in her left hand and a plasma pistol in the other.
Jeremy flew the pelican around the structure and finally found a landing pad. Another Phantom lay in wreckage. He set the pelican down and found an open door. Jeremy slowly walked down the hallway studying the various tapestries of ancient times hung on the wall. Hundreds of the pictures were inscribed on the walls. They were extremely symbolic. Some had shown the Covenant, others the Flood. He relaxed his BR-55 and began to stroll. There were no doors along the hall. A large inscription along with another tapestry hung at the end of the hall. It was a Forerunner. It appeared a mix between Human and Sangheili or an Elite. It was strong but had a wise look upon its face. Its armor was elaborately detailed and elegant. Jeremy was entranced, something about the picture…something. An explosion detonated right in front of him propelling him backwards and onto his back. His leg burned then he lost feeling of it. He turned to see an approaching Brute wielding a Brute shot. The blade on the edge of the weapon raced towards his head. Ryan rolled as he fired his BR-55 at full auto. The plasma coated rounds tore through the Brute's leather-like skin. The creature sneered raising the Brute shot one last time to fire the last grenade, suddenly a hail of plasma washed the Brute form beyond and the creature fell, dead. A silver clad Elite veteran strode down the hallway, two zealot Elites following swords and plasma rifles drawn. Their golden armor was spattered with dark purple blood. The Spec Ops Commander nodded at the Human and gathered the control to help him up. The Commander sighted the green blood of the Flood staining his armor. "I see you have encountered the parasite, Human." He said to The Sergeant. "Yea, just a few." The Sarge said uncomfortably. "Come with me warrior, I shall lead you to the rest of your kin." Ryan hesitantly followed the silver clad veteran along the cat walk to the main door into the "lobby" outside of the control center. 4 Elites stood waiting there, along with 9 marines. His HUD read them as SGT. AJ Johnson, SGT. Pete Stacker, Lance Corporal Jerrod Shaw, PVT. Jimmy Caldwell, PVT. Brock Davidson, Corporal John Dash, PVT. Tyler Maniaci, Corporal Nick Guerra and Corporal Shifty Patterson. These were the finest marines Jeremy had had the pleasure of fighting along side. Then he remembered the four ODSTs lost in the escape of the city.
"Reinhart…Reinhart, wake up." Sam's vision blurred as he tried to recognize his surroundings. He was still in the gunship…thank God. Cortana continued to speak to him. "Are you alright Marine?" she asked. "Yea Cortana, I'm ok, how's my squad?" he replied. "In the troop bay, I don't think we had any casualties." Cortana stated. "JC! Rob! Adam! You boys ok?!" Sam called back. "Yes sir, Corporal!" the three said in unison. "Um, Corporal? We have a problem." Cortana said. Sam looked out the view screen. The gunship was slipping off the dome; the wreckage of the Phantom in front of them wasn't keeping them still. "Everybody back there buckle up!" Sam yelled as he prepped the engines. The Phantom skidded away and left the limping pelican in free fall towards the Ring. An alarm blared in his ear as he struggled with the controls to let him use the engines. "Emergency thrust…now!" The blast propelled the gunship into the atmosphere of the Ring and sending it barreling towards the surface. The clouds cleared and Sam sighted a large dome like structure with tall towers. But they were headed to the water below it. The canyon he was falling through began to open to the ocean. A small bridge came into view…a Phantom along with it. "How does this happen to me?!" Sam yelled as he selected the target and fired the missiles. The ARCHER missiles detonated on the engines and the guns of the Phantom. It fired two rounds then suddenly dropped to the water below. The pelican brought his nose up slightly enough to crash land on the bridge. The nose bounced up unto the extension then gunship turned sideways and skidded edge of the bridge and broke through the wall of the extension. The nose leaned over the edge and the tail was mostly destroyed while being propped against a support column. Sam pulled Cortana's chip from the control panel and slipped it into the slot in his helmet. He pulled open the door to the troop bay. JC had a gash running from his forehead to his cheek. Sam helped him up and met the other hell jumpers outside. They had a defensive position set, with two of the turrets operational.
It must have been awhile since the crash, because several Brute and Jackal carcasses were littered near the door. "We got your back sir." Rob said as he locked in another chain of ammunition. "My last one sir, I don't know how long we can last; I can hear 'em talking back there, they're going to try and overrun us. Sam noticed Rob's arm had a large piece of shrapnel protruding from his it. "Rob, take care of that arm." He said. "Yes sir." The marine pulled out his knife and began to dig out the metal. Jackals poured out both doors with a few Brutes behind them. Plasma washed over the wreckage the marines were hiding behind. The guns lit up. The Jackals pushed forward at first but then faded back as the 30mm bullets ripped through their alien skin. The Brutes threw the dying creatures out of the way and rushed the guns. Sam fell backward from his post and brought his shotgun to bear. The M90 fired two 12 gauge rounds, leaving the Brute near death. Sam grabbed the trigger of the turret and finished the beast. A berserker Brute charged, JC and Rob let loose with their MA5B assault rifles. The marines circled the Brute and continued firing, not letting up. The turret came back to life and after about 200 rounds of ammunition the Brute went down. This Brute was clad in Honor Guard armor and extremely strong. "We got trouble sir!" Adam called as he picked up his assault rifle. Drones flew down into the crash site, they seemed to be everywhere and they didn't stop coming. Assault rifles opened up, and dozens of the creature's bodies began to litter the bridge. Grunts began to march out the doors, along with more Jackals. "There's too many of them Sir, I'm running low!" Rob called out. Adam swung around and shot done a drone about to shoot Sam and received a blast in the chest. The plasma didn't penetrate the armor but the strength of the blow threw him over the edge of the bridge. "Man down! Man down!" JC yelled as he fired off the last of his clip and ducked to reload.
"Alright marines listen up." Johnson said. "We still got too many Brutes in this area to settle down, now"— an explosion went somewhere outside. Johnson jogged out through the burnt hallway and raised his binoculars. The other marines and Elites followed. Johnson sighted 4 ODSTs taking refuge behind a crashed pelican. Covenant infantry had surrounded them, firing at will. Johnson saw a marine fall from the Bridge. Patterson hefted his S2 AM sniper rifle and began to fire. The Arbiter and The Spec Ops Commander signaled to the Elites and they ran back into the structure. SGT. Johnson raised his Beam Rifle and assisted Patterson. "Where'd big, tall and scary go?" Shaw asked referring to the Elites. Three banshees and a Phantom flew overhead. "Was that them?" Stacker asked. "I don't know but keep up the fire!" Johnson ordered.
The Grunts, Jackals and Drones were closing the gap, and the ODSTs were running low on ammo. Rob crashed to the ground with a barrage of needles in his chest. For some reason they didn't detonate, but just stuck. The marine began to pluck the projectiles out as he held his assault rifle with one hand to give himself some protection. Sam fired three rounds, ripping apart a Jackal, and then turned to cover his wounded comrade. JC fired off his second to last clip and began to use his MA5B as a club. A Grunt and two Jackals fell with indentations in their skulls. "Don't let up marines!" Sam ordered. A Jackal turned the corner owning a plasma rifle. Its finger twitched as it was about to fire, but a 14.3mm round entered and exited his neck. Purple blood sprayed the marine. "Phantom and Banshees coming in from the West Sir!" JC called. Reinhart turned as he saw the Banshees fire their fuel rod cannons. He closed his eyes. The blasts struck a reinforcement team of Grunts and Drones. The Phantom sprayed the Jackals with superheated plasma then continued on its way. "What the?" JC said, not believing that a Covenant drop ship had just saved their lives. A blade swung in front of him, it had killed a Grunt attempting to throw a grenade at him. "Hey thanks—He stopped talking when he realized it was a Brute that killed it. The ODST swung his rifle, continuing to bash the Brute in the teeth and skull. The Brute lost its balance and fell backwards to its death. The marines began to collapse from exhaustion. Each of them slapped their last magazine into their rifles. The bodies began to pile up; the ODSTs were now inside the gunship. A shower of bullets peppered the minor infantry units. A figure stood in front of the troop bay. He gestured to them and the shock troopers rose. The man that had saved their lives was Staff Sergeant Stacker. "C'mon marines we're getting out of here pronto!" The ODSTs followed the Sergeant through a war torn room and through a long hallway and all the way to a landing pad on the opposite side of the canyon. A pelican hovered slightly off the edge. Sam and the two remaining hell jumpers felt a wash of relief spread through their bodies. Master Sergeant Jeremy Ryan waved them in. The ODSTs jogged to the pelican and stepped inside. Sam recognized several of the marines that he fought with on Earth. It seemed so long ago, when really it had only been a week or two. "Good to see you again Marines, welcome aboard." Ryan said. The Pelican glided back towards the Control Room when something happened that they had had the fear to hope for, Human ships, dozens of them exited slip space above their heads, and routes of Pelican dropships streamed towards their position. The Elites saw this as well; already knowing that their time here would soon come to an end bade the humans' farewell and departed to their own ship, which soon jumped out system.
* * * * *
2553, Covenant High Council
Aboard the Gods' Wrath
Field Officer Sola Rolazee stood impassable in his black with gold trimmed Forerunner armor. The Sangheili had taken his position in the center of a dimly lit room which housed the Council of Masters. Seven platinum clad Elite Councilors sat silently until one of them stood. The Senior Warrior spoke briefly with his colleges and then addressed him.
"Sola Rolazee. You were said have contact with the demon before he struck down my newly elected Field Master, if so, why not attempt to kill the human?" the Councilor asked his tone calm but was infected with a hint of challenge.
"I support the field report that stated I had contact with the demon, Excellency, just as Motrumee was slain, the prisoner was compromised, I took the initiative to avoid that danger—"
Therefore, in conclusion the prisoner was lost, if you had stood your ground and killed the demon, we would have the human commander now, you, Rolazee, are found responsible for this loss." Another Councilor interrupted.
Rolazee stole a glance to another council, just in time to see the Sangheili on trial be executed. Just as a smile crept at his closed mandibles he saw the lead Councilor draw his sidearm and fired. The Sangheili tried to scream the superheated bolt had already melted his face. The Sangheili's hands clawed at his face and then finally dropped to the floor in a puddle of deep purple blood.
To add to the Covenant's already surprising nature, they did not glass Earth, but curiously landed more and more ground forces onto the surface, while the brunt of the Fleet followed the fleeing humans. Unbeknownst to the Covenant forces, a UNSC "Prowler" had seen and recorded everything that the Covenant had been up to.
* * * * *
Staff Sergeant Jeremy Pearson rested his assault rifle on the moss covered log that lay on its side. His team scuttled up to the severely damaged entry way to the walls that housed the Quarantine Zone.
"Eagle four this is Bravo two-thirty-six, heard you called for a lift, touchdown in five." The dropship pilot called over Pearson's SQUADCOM.
"Roger Bravo, just a little boost to see what's on the other side of this wall." Pearson replied.
"Affirmative Eagle four, happy to help." Bravo said.
The plasma scored troopship glided lazily to their position. Two Marines hopped out, rifles at ready, scanning the area for anything hostile. Fitzgerald and Bauer cautiously approached the dropship, when satisfied it was friendly, signaled to Pearson and Kemp.
The Crew Chief called "Clear!" and the Pelican fired its belly jets and the craft accelerated upward and over the immense wall. Lieutenant Finn's motion tracer flashed an alert, his hand hovered over the Pelican's nose gun and ARCHER pods. Then the signal was gone, simply vanished. The pilot shook off his curiosity and focused on flying this bird. The Pelican finally cleared the wall, only to reveal something worse than Hell itself beyond. Hundreds, no thousands of contacts appeared all at once, Finn eyed a pair of fallen Pelican dropships, along with countless crashed Phantoms and Banshee fliers littering the scene. Finn quickly accessed the Pelican's zoom features, getting a closer look at whatever those things were. When he saw them, he wished he had not. Grotesque creatures scrambled to and fro, most of them disturbingly reminded him of rotting humans' and Elites' corpses, which in theory were exactly what they were.
"Lieutenant, we've seen enough, get us out of here, the Brass is gunna wanna hear about this." Pearson called into his boom mike over the roar of the monstrous engines.
After a three second pause Finn replied, "Granted Sergeant, one last fly by of the Pelicans' crash site to see if there are any survivors, then we'll pull out."
The magnification of the dropship had shown three marines, not of any regiment within the new colony, firing assault weapons at full automatic. The living dead corpses threw themselves at the marines' position. Finn's helmet was linked to the 70mm chain gun mounted on the troopship's nose, he turned his head and clenched the trigger, dozens of the creatures shuddered under the sheets of highly explosive seventy millimeter bullets. The chatter of the Marines rifles in the troop bay grew more furious as the dropship edged closer to protect the trio of battle-exhausted marines. The Pelican hovered close to the ground and its contingent of marines stepped off the craft, while the trio of marines stepped on, after nearly ten seconds of protecting the marines' perimeter the other six marines quickly entered the Pelican as it lifted off, every manner of its weaponry firing everything it had, dozens of the corpses were transformed into paste, while even more came to take their place. Finn's co-pilot, Petty Officer Tao, took control of the ship while Finn continued to control the weapons.
"We're clear! All hostiles are outta range, cease fire." The Crew Chief called to Finn.
Finn exhaled deeply and took the craft over the wall and back into the forest beyond the wall and set the dropship down in a sheltered clearing, well within the forest's protection. The three marines they had rescued weren't in great shape, but well enough to fight and talk.
"……Lance Corporal Chase Strewcker, Sir, me and my men crashed there yesterday, then starting today, all hell broke loose, they wouldn't stop coming, we're lucky you boys came when you did, you guys crew from the 'In Amber Clad'?" Strewcker asked.
Pearson eyed him wearily. "The 'In Amber Clad'? I'm sorry Marine we lost contact with those boys when they jumped from Earth, recent contacts prove she was later lost to the Covenant, don't worry Marine, you and your men will be fine, we've got a lot of backup here." Pearson answered.
Three hours later the Pelican flew towards the island base which housed the map room. The island's beaches had tank barriers set up, along with bunkers carved into the walls of the cliff face. A pair of Warthogs sped across the sand, racing towards the base HQ in the center of the island. The Headquarters was protected by surrounding wall-like cliffs, with sheltered the installation from all sight but the air, there were multiple circular landing pads, one of which Finn touched down on. The Marines bailed and helped their wounded comrades to the infirmary, were to their best knowledge would be scanned from any infection form the hostile presence on the ring. The loud speakers belched static then: "Staff Sergeant Pearson and First Lieutenant Finn, report to debriefing immediately."
When the two soldiers entered the large ONI room, there were already two noncom Marines there.
"Ah, Pearson and Finn, come to the center of the room, please." A deep male voice commanded. "Now let's get started, we've located a total of a few dozen UNSC personnel throughout the Ring, none of them belonging to any of our Regiments, they have all been debriefed, or will be soon, but so far they have told the same story, A Sergeant Avery Johnson, fourteen other noncoms along with a Commander Miranda Keyes, near the beginning of this operation, where found very near our base at the Control Room. Their ship was lost in the ransacked Covenant Holy City that's floating above our heads. Since the Spartan 117 and his team have killed the Prophet of Truth and captured the "Ark" the fate of the Halo Installations are in the safety of human hands, but now your mission report speaks of Flood in the Quarantine Zone? Impossible. Covenant reports confirmed the action was successful in exterminating them, how could this be Lieutenant?" the voice asked.
"Sir, with all do respect, everyone of those things had their sights on our heads, they fit the description of the Flood, and acted just like them, what we saw was true, every marine in my boat would tell you the same story, Sir." Finn replied. "Sir, I suggest a nuclear strike on the Quarantine Zone, the walls have been analyzed and they would contain the blast from going anywhere but within their perimeter, though the blast would exterminate everything inside wall sections, along with anything inside the Library, and the structures below, the Flood were only in this area Sir, the Covenant pulled their resources to make sure of it, we could wipe them out, Sir."
Jeremy Pearson was quiet while Finn gave them the analysis of the situation and now waited while the members of the Brass contemplated the consequences of a nuclear strike on the ring.
"Lieutenant, how would a Pelican dropship pilot be so educated in the art of nuclear warfare? Say we trust your analysis of the situation, how soon would this strike be able to take place?" A female voice interjected.
"I have a complicated past Ma'am, and the strike should take place as soon as possible." Finn answered.
Very well Finn, your suggestion will be turned into an operation going down tonight at 0900 hours, after you and another one of our pilots drop the nukes, The Master Chief and his Spartans will enter Ground Zero and exterminate any surviving Flood forms." A raspy male voice ordered. "You can fly a Skyhawk fighter can you not?"
"I can sir, and will be honored to carry out this mission." Finn replied "Good Lieutenant, get two Pelicans prepped for launch approximately fifteen minutes after your Skyhawks, the Spartans should be arriving soon, good luck Lieutenant."
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