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The Siege of Zion Base; Prologue: Zion
Date: 11 February 2004, 12:52 AM

0600 Hours, December 6, 2552
Sinai Star System, UNSC Test
Facility, code name: Zion

      John couldn't sleep. Then again, he hadn't been able to sleep well since the incident on that ring world known only as Halo. Ever since the escape from that place he had been having dreams. No. Not dreams...
      Nightmares.
      The kind of nightmares that woke you up in the middle of the night, sweating. The Flood had almost killed him. His injury where that small Flood infection form had stuck him still throbbed whenever he had these dreams.
      But he was trained to deal with them. Not only had the Spartan program given him extraordinary speed, strength, sight, and hearing, but it had also given him a superior mind. He could control his pain.
      Spartan-117 awoke to this pain. He immediately shoved the pain to the back of his mind. He knew the pain was only really in his mind anyway, the wound had healed completely months ago. The pain that was real was the pain of seeing so many of his brothers in arms slaughtered on Halo. But he was a soldier, and so were they. They knew the risks just as he did. He would not give into pain when he knew they would ask for nothing less than simply knowing they had done their duty.
      John got out of his bed and strode to the showers. He had to be ready for today's evaluations. He was going to undergo testing for some minor adjustments to his neural implants. Shortly before the events of Reach and Halo, he had undergone some changes to his implants so that Cortana, the AI who had helped him through many challenges, could be linked directly into his MJOLNIR battle suit, and, in a way, his own brain. After several months of getting used to having this new advantage he was beginning to rely heavily on Cortana for tactical information and many other uses. Today was going to be another evaluation to test out some newfound advances in neural implant technology. They were relatively minor changes but they were helpful none the less. If there was one thing John knew, it was that he could, and would, use every advantage over the Covenant that he could get.
      The evaluations were a series of tests of coordination, sight, and thinking that would be the grounds of which these improvements would be. The changes would make the neural implant, and himself, less dependent on Cortana. If for some reason she had to be somewhere other than in his battle suit, her subroutines could be duplicated and left in the suit to help him just as if she was really there. This had been a minor problem on Halo when he had to leave Cortana in Halo's Control Center and go off by himself to find Captain Keyes. She had not been with him and unable to help aid his reflexes and give him tactical information. Cortana had developed this procedure herself. A few months ago she had duplicated her infiltration subroutines into the Chief's suit so that her duplicate self could infiltrate the Covenant battle station Unyielding Hierophant. She had designed the whole procedure herself and asked John if he would be willing to try out the modifications.
      He had agreed to the changes only after reading her hypothesis that if they were ever separated and separates a backup AI module of her tactical and infiltration subroutines would kick in automatically and help the Chief until they could be reunited. Of course, the duplicate Cortana would be less effective than the full Cortana but she projected and increase of at least 76% in combat effectiveness with the duplicate rather than the normal effectiveness without her full self. After seeing her projections he had agreed to go along with her experiment if ONI approved it. With Dr. Halsey MIA and unable to help she had had a difficult time getting the brass to accept her experiment. After a few days of petitioning they had finally agreed, though John suspected that she had done a little "dirty work" to get them to accept.
      He knew that she would, without regret, modify files and snoop into databases that she wasn't supposed to if it meant getting what she wanted. If it meant making "her" Chief more capable of combat effectiveness and keeping him safer she would do whatever it took. He liked the fact that she looked out for him with the same determination as a mother or big sister would.
      The fact was he admired her.
      The PERSCOM system sounded in the barrack. It was Cortana, obviously calling him to make sure he was awake.
       "Chief, today's the big day. Just making sure you have enough time to eat get dressed and down here within an hour."
       "I'll be there in 45 minutes," John replied.
       "Showoff. Just don't be late," Cortana said and then signed off.
      Cortana was certainly taking this seriously. And I should too, he thought.

# # #

0655 Hours, December 6, 2552
Sinai Star System, UNSC Test
Facility, code name: Zion

      John, fully dressed and in uniform, walked down to the laboratory straight from the mess hall. He had finished his shower soon after Cortana had called and had gotten dressed. After his morning meal in the mess he had made his way to the lab by quickly jogging around the outside of the compound. He hadn't had time to workout this morning so he had jogged to get his body more fully awake and ready for this morning's tests.
      Cortana had decided that the UNSC Test Facility code named Zion would be the best place to perform the tests and procedures. Since Reach had fallen, Zion was the best-equipped facility to handle these kind of tests and experiments. It was out of the way enough and highly fortified, at least compared to the those colonies that were left, that a surprise Covenant invasion would not set back their plans and give them a fighting chance to escape if need be.
      For the few days he had been here he had seen many new vehicle and weapon prototypes that the UNSC were developing. He had seen technicians working on a new form of gravity plating that was being reverse-engineered from the Covenant's own technology taken from salvaged wrecks. The UNSC had already distributed this technology to all of the UNSC's main battle ships and stations. It wasn't perfect, but it was definitely better than working in zero-g or having huge spinning rings inside every starship. If the rings were to fail in combat it almost certainly meant destruction as everything would go haywire in seconds.
      Another promising piece of technology he had seen were some new infantry weapons, though he had only seen them briefly. He didn't get to see them test fired so he didn't know what exactly they did or what calibre round they used. He was confident that when they were perfected the UNSC would distribute them to the troops for use in combat. To John, the idea of new weapons excited him.
      He got to the lab in exactly 45 minutes of when he had told Cortana he'd be there. He congratulated himself silently in superb timing. He had expected to be one minute late but evidently he was a little faster than anticipated.
       "You are a showoff you know that?" said Cortana as he entered the lab. John smiled and stood to attention.
      "Master Chief Petty Officer 177 reporting for evaluation."
      A lab technician entered the lab from an adjacent workroom. She was about 35 years of age from what John estimated and had close cropped brown hair. She bid him to sit down on the medical table near the wall to his right.
      After he was finished sitting down she introduced herself.
      "I am Dr. June Mathis, I will be performing the changes today with the help of Cortana."
      Cortana immediately appeared in holographic form from the small holotank mounted on the wall near the medical table's end. Her purple body flowing with mathematical symbols and equations looked human in form. "I've handpicked Dr. Mathis for this procedure. She has extensive experience in neural technology. Let's get started shall we?"
      John was told to lie on his stomach on the table and was administered a strong dose of something that made him sleepy. He remembered vaguely someone saying that he needed to be fully asleep since it was a rather lengthy procedure. He was unconscious within seconds and all he remembered was Cortana's pleasant voice telling him he would wake up in a few hours a new man.

# # #

Ninth Age of Reclamation, Step
of Truth Covenant Battle
Cruiser Swift Retribution

      Ebyo 'Icsumee was apprehensive. The Prophet of Retribution had summoned him from his command on the cruiser Revealing Light to come to his personal ship, Swift Retribution. The Prophet of Retribution was punisher of those soldiers who confused their loyalties or got too ambitious for their own good. He was the punisher of the disloyal, and executioner of those that defied the will of the High Prophet of Truth.
      Ebyo knew he was not disloyal so he had no idea why he was here. Hopefully all would be explained before he went mad with anxiety.
      Everything had been so swift. He had been going about his normal duties on his former ship when all of a sudden the Guardians of Truth, a revered and feared sect of Elites had come aboard. They had not been scheduled to arrive so he was somewhat displeased when they immediately ordered him to report to their small craft in the docking bay. No sooner had he gotten there when they had taken him into custody and ushered him onto their ship where they departed for the fringes of Covenant controlled space.
      He had been confined to a small cabin that was furnished only with his necessities. He was given a generous amount of food for what he thought was solitary confinement. Obviously he was not a prisoner, but was rather being reassigned. When he had found out that the ship he had been taken to was the Swift Retribution his purple blood had gone completely cold.
      Now, as he sat waiting for admittance, he could not only think about his fate, but why fate had led him here. Into the inner sanctum of the perhaps the most feared Prophet of them all.
      After countless agonizing hours of waiting in his chambers aboard the ship, he was lead into the Chamber of Decision, the massive hall where you were told that you were disloyal and not worthy to serve the Truth anymore. From this chamber, none returned who were guilty.
      As he passed the enormous purple-hued doors that made the entrance to the Chamber, he looked up to the ceiling. It was so high he could not determine how high it was. The walls were adorned with metallic tapestries that were only made for those Prophets who had earned them with their piety. They were beautiful, yet hideous. The swirling lines and concentric circles of purple, blue, yellow, red and dozens of other colors made patters that at first appeared beautiful. But upon closer scrutiny one could tell that the lines and swirls were not random but told the tales of those who had been found guilty by the Prophet. Depictions of the most gruesome and terrible deaths imaginable were on every wall. The most horrid of all was at the end of the hall above a large circular platform.
      Ebyo immediately knew what the tapestries were for. They were there to wear down the mind of those who knew they had committed the crime of which they were about to be accused. They were designed to make the guilty so apprehensive that they could be immediately recognized as guilty.
      No sooner had he come to this conclusion than the High Prophet of Retribution appeared out of thin air. He was a little unsettled that he had not seen the Prophet enter to the room. But he knew it was futile to dwell on it now. He was about to find out why he was here when he had done nothing wrong.
      The Prophet was bathed in light the came from the high ceiling above. He sat upon a large hovering pedestal. His head was covered in an immense headdress that stood towering above the Prophets body. He was clothed in robes of pure yellow with swirling patterns of red, blue and purple. He wasn't sure, but he thought that the same kind of swirls that were present on the tapestries were depicted on the Prophet's robe. His next thought was to try to discern whether the robes told tales of horrible death also, but his thoughts were interrupted by the immense voice of the Prophet as he spoke.
       "Do you know why you are here?" boomed the voice of the Prophet of Retribution.
       "No. Great one," replied a suddenly weak Ebyo.
       "It is as it should be, then," said the Prophet. "I have summoned you here to propose to you a most... worthy... assignment."
       "What would make me worthy of an assignment by one such as you?" said Ebyo, barely able to contain his fear.
      The Prophet's voice became suddenly louder, obviously enhanced by his telepathic mind. "The fact... that you have met the Immortal One in combat and survived."
      The Immortal One. The mention of that very name gave him fear that chilled him his very soul. Four cycles ago he had been present on the Ascendant Justice when it had been lost to the humans. He had been fortunate enough to have been near the docking bay when they had boarded the ship. He had fought with the Immortal One, the one with armor greater than the Elite's own. He, being of the Special Elite of his caste had been wearing the hardened black armor of his sect. This alone had helped him to survive, as his armor was more advanced that the lower of his caste. After a few minutes of fighting the Immortal One, he had been knocked unconscious in a corridor leading away from the docking bay. The humans had locked them in the corridor from the bridge, but he discovered this only after he awoke.
      After this the humans took the ship back to the system of the great battle at the human planet called "Reach". When the ship attempted to rescue survivors he had been able to slip back into the docking bay and exited the ship in a small atmospheric fighter. After the humans had escaped he had reported to the nearest base he had been able to find and was debriefed and reassigned to Revealing Light. Now, he almost wished he had not encountered the Immortal One.
       "Well?" said the High Prophet.
      Startled from his own thoughts, Ebyo looked up at the prophet floating above the raised platform. "I am... honored that you think me worthy of such a mission. What would you have me do?"
      The Prophet smiled ever so slightly, "I would have you accept."
       "Then I accept," replied Ebyo instantly.
      The Prophet's small smile turned into a very blatant smirk.
      "Very Good."

The Siege of Zion Base; Part One: Mission - Chapters 1 & 2
Date: 13 February 2004, 7:23 PM

Part One: Mission - Chapter One

0900 Hours, December 6, 2552
Sinai Star System, UNSC Test
Facility, code name: Zion, planet
Genesis

      John awoke lying on his back in a hospital bed. He felt somewhat disoriented and blinked his eyes a few times to get the blur out of his vision. He sat up in bed and stretched his aching muscles, then climbed out of the bed. He was wearing a hospital robe, barely enough to cover him completely due to his size.
      He got up and cued the PERSCOM on the wall near the door. He waited a few seconds until finally Dr. Mathis' voice sounded through the COM system.
      She sounded nervous when she answered, "Oh, you're awake. I'll notify Cortana at once. She's been busy with some analysis about Covenant ship deployments in this region and has been waiting for you to wake up."
       "Thank you," said John, and turned the COM off. Why had she sounded so overtly nervous? It wasn't a good sign whatever had caused it.
      John saw his uniform sitting folded on the table in the middle of the room. He went over and got dressed and left the laboratory looking for someone to report to when Cortana called on the PERSCOM, "Master Chief, please report to examination room three in the east wing of this building, I have something I wish to show you."
      Without waiting for a response she had cut the channel. Something was definitely afoot, but it didn't seem to be dangerous so he continued on to examination room three.

# # #

      Ebyo was astonished at what the High Prophet of Retribution had told him. So much so that he was fearful that he had been in some dream or nightmare. He had been told that the only reason he had not been executed upon return from the Ascendant Justice was because the High Prophet himself had spared him. Many in his sect had wanted him dead because he had fled battle, but the High Prophet had spared him because he saw the wisdom in Ebyo's reasoning for abandoning the ship. Having fought and survived battle with the Immortal One, his information was invaluable and worth a little dishonors if it meant getting it to his superiors. Ebyo didn't quite know whether to feel grateful, flattered, or simply reassured that his decision had been the right one.
      The High Prophet had told him that he would be called upon within two hours to talk again about the assignement that the High Prophet had given him. He was anxious to find out what the Prophet had in mind for someone like him.
      After two hours he was escorted by two Brutes, members of a race that guarded the Covenant's temples, to the High Prophet's inner sanctum. The Chamber of Decision was exactly the same as the last time he had been there. The High Prophet of Retribution sat on his floating dais above the circular platform. He appeared exactly as he had when Ebyo had left.
      The Prophet opened its eyes and stared intently at Ebyo. With a simple wave of the claws on it's hand the Brutes receded from the room and closed the door. The Prophet began to speak, "Now it is finally time for you to know why I have brought you here: I have determined that this "Immortal One" is too great a threat to be left alive for much longer. It is for this reason that I have appointed you leader of a special force that's only purpose will be to kill it."
       "Kill... the Immortal One?" said Ebyo in disbelief.
       "Precisely. I think that the others of his kind are dangerous enough in their own right, but there are so few of them now... if we were to destroy their leader, the Immortal One, then the others would not be as dangerous. For they would be without his leadership."
       "Your Grace... how would you have one servant exterminate such a threat? He has slain thousands in battle, my lord. Not ten, not a hundred, thousands!" said Ebyo with a certain degree of emphasis.
       "Yes... yes. I know. Who does not? This one is something other... something more than his underlings. He is formidable, no doubt, but he is also..." the High Prophet paused a moment then finished his sentence with more vehemence than Ebyo ever thought possible, "...guilty."
      Ebyo was petrified. When the High Prophet of Retribution declared anything "guilty" it was summarily destroyed in the most terrifying way imaginable.
       "Guilty... of what, Imminence?"
       "YOU KNOW WHAT!" The Prophet's voice echoed into the reaches of the entire enormous hall. It was the loudest thing Ebyo had ever heard, and his head hurt with pain because it was so loud. "Do you know nothing?!" the Prophet continued, "He has destroyed Halo, the very fortress world of the Great Ones! He has destroyed a relic of theirs! And stolen yet another! He must be punished!"
      Ebyo's very brain hurt more than he could ever have thought possible. The room was becoming quiet again, but the psychic waves continued to linger in his mind.
       "What do you want of me?" asked Ebyo after several long minutes of silence.
      The Prophet was once again the avatar of tranquillity, as if his outburst had never happened. He spoke quietly, only loud enough so that Ebyo could barely hear it, "I want you to select a small group of the most elite of our castes, and kill the... Immortal One."
      "If it be your will, I will do so. May I ask how I am to track down this creature?" asked Ebyo.
       "No need, for my spies have already located him. An attack is already underway."
       "An attack? But he does best in large engagements, perhaps if we were to infil-" he stopped suddenly. "The attack is a diversion," he stated matter-of-factly.
       "You surmise correctly Ebyo 'Icsumee. The main attack force will only engage in battle in the void, only a small contingent of ground troops will assault the planet's main facility to get his attention. I want your team to kill him before he is ready."
      "But... would not he be immediately aware of our presence? He would be ready for any ambush long before we could get to him."
      The High Prophet smiled widely, "Ah, but you see... this planet he is on... he is there to undergo some sort of additional training. My spies have told me that he has not worn his armor because of the tests he has been undertaking."
      "Yes... so we strike hard and fast when he is weakest. Cut off from the others of his kind... and at a disadvantage. You are wise and powerful, Great One. When shall I proceed?"
       "Immediately. You will pick seven of the best soldiers in our forces. You will bring them before me and we will choose together who will comprise your team. Be warned though, those that are not chosen shall not speak of our meeting or they will die the same death reserved for traitors. Make sure they know that before you bring them before me," said the High Prophet.
      Ebyo understood completely of the necessity for complete secrecy. "Yes, my Grace," he replied, then left the Chamber to see who would be joining him on the greatest hunt for the greatest of prey.

# # #

      Cortana had briefed the Chief on what she had found. After the procedure Cortana had linked herself to the Chief's neural system while he was asleep. She had to make sure all the adjustments were fine and in order. Once she had finished checking the pathways she tried the memory buffer that they had installed to house the backup Cortana subroutines, they checked out fine also. Only after extensive scans did Cortana find the program. Somehow, the Covenant had managed to smuggle a very basic subroutine into the Chief's neural implant, inside the memory buffer. All it was designed to do was record his brain's neural patterns and store them for eventual transmission to Covenant spies. Theoretically they could then be interpreted into visual, and audio information. Fortunately Cortana had found, and detained it before it could sneak away into another system within its transmission distance.
      "I think you got it back on the Unyielding Hierophant," said Cortana. "It may have simply been a new security program or it could have been placed in you on purpose. I think the second option is what really happened. I think these Covenant AI's are smarter than we thought. Maybe one saw that it could hack your system and place this thing in your neural lace for eventual retrieval."
      "Well whatever the case, I'm glad you found it before it could transmit anything vital," John replied. Cortana had told him earlier that she had looked into the program's memory logs. It had only sent one transmission and that was dated the day after their return to UNSC controlled territory after the incident in the Lambda Serpentis system a few months ago. The message had only been an activation signal and it had lain dormant for these last few months.
      "Same here, the only reason we found it to begin with was because it was dormant in the memory buffer that we upgraded. If we hadn't gone ahead with the procedure when we did it might have moved by the time we noticed it."
      Cortana was right, it was a stroke of luck. But luck had always been on his side. That had been the reason Dr. Halsey has chosen him to be the team leader all those years ago. Or least, that was how Cortana told it.
      "But other than that, everything's fine? Nothing unexpected from the alterations?" said John.
      Cortana's body flickered blue then back to it's normal purple. "Everything is perfect. In fact I want to test your... or I should say my... newfound freedom. Let's get you out to the test center to begin your evaluations with the new, copied subroutines."
      John felt the need to ask, "Do I need my suit?"
      "No, not now. We're just going to be doing tests on the subroutines and the neural systems to make sure that they work properly. We can begin on the armor tests after we're finished with that."
      "Fine," John conceded. He had always felt uncomfortable without his MJOLNIR battle suit on. Ever since he had first tried it on he had never wanted to take it off. When he did have to remove it he always felt as though part of him were missing. As if half his brain were misplaced and his legs and arms were only stubs.
      What he really felt was vulnerability.
      He simply did not like the thought that he was not fully equipped for combat. After all, he was built from the ground up to be the best combatant in the UNSC. He shrugged it off. Cortana knew what she was doing. She always did.
      "Let's get this over with," said John.
      "That's the spirit!" Cortana interjected, "No time like the present. Report to the obstacle course and well do some drills on your reflexes with the subroutines. After that I'll give you some logic and tactical problems that you will solve with the help of my duplicate." Cortana paused, as if to think. "After that we'll get you back into your suit and do the same drills over again to test the differences."
      John started toward the obstacle course. "Lets get started."

# # #

Chapter Two

0930 Hours, December 6, 2552
Sinai Star System, UNSC Test
Facility, code name: Zion, planet
Genesis, Quartermaine Airfield

      Quartermaine airfield was the main airfield on the small planet known as Genesis. Genesis had been so named for the experimental weapons that were created at the planet's secret base, Zion. Zion was built on a high plateau overlooking the airfield in the plains below.
      The planet had an earth-like atmosphere, like most colonized worlds, but was mostly either jungle or desert. The planet had a few oceans, but the main continents were either covered in vegetation, completely devoid of it, or a combination of both desert and jungle. The planet's ecosystem was maintained this way by microscopic organisms, which lived in the desert's soil. These organisms prohibited reproduction of the dense vegetation of the jungle by consuming the seeds and spores that the jungle's plants used for reproduction. Only small plants that were immune to the organism grew in the deserts. This unique phenomenon caused the planet to have a very unusual appearance from orbit.
      At Quartermaine airfield Flight Officer Eileen Franklin was going through her preflight checklist. She was about to take her Skyhawk atmospheric JumpJet out for her regular patrol and was making sure the flight preps hadn't screwed up again. Twice before, the preps had forgotten that she liked going on patrol with everything fully powered and fueled, not to mention it was standard procedure. Complacency had settled in a little around the base of late. The base hadn't seen any action at all during the war and some of the lower ranked people had gotten it in mind that since they would never see action anyway that they didn't need to give a hundred and ten percent effort in their work.
       Idiots, she thought as she found that her fuel tank was only three fourths of a tank full. Never stop to think what would happen if the Covenant were to attack. Of course three fourths of a tank was more than enough for her patrol route, but if the Covenant were to show up in system she would be caught in the middle of a war with less fuel than she needed. This was the kind of mistake that could cause a man to be shipped back to OCS for a refresher course in military procedure. But out here in the fringes of space reinforcements weren't exactly top priority and they needed every man.
      She was 25 years old, and had been out of OCS for two years and she was already a First Class Flight Officer. She had been a good student and had graduated with top honors. She was somewhat petite in stature though she worked out and jogged daily to keep in shape. Her black hair was cut short and hung loosely around her face. She had gone to OCS without the consent of her parents. They had wanted her to stay on Earth but she would have none of it. After leaving Earth for OCS at Luna she had befriended the new recruits and conscripts on her transport.
      Unfortunately she had befriended them only to watch most of them die in their first few engagements. They hadn't died because they hadn't trained hard enough, they had died because it was war. That was why she wanted to be ready for anything. She didn't want to die because she got caught flying on only a half a tank of fuel.
      She cued the COM and called for a flight prep. After a minute a small man appeared to ask her what was wrong. He in his late 40's, with graying hair and bulging muscles. Even though he was only barely taller than five feet he was an imposing figure.
       "Those idiots forgot to fuel my jet all the way again," complained Franklin.
      "Aye, I'll see what I can do. If they don't shape up I'll have 'em scrubbin' the grime out of yer jet's intake valve with their tongues if ye want."
      Franklin laughed, even though she didn't know the man's name he managed to get things done with efficiency that impressed her. She had always admired his tenacity and willingness to help. It was his manner that made her laugh, not to mention his accent.
       "Thanks, I'll keep it in mind. Make sure they do too."
       "Will do. Anything else ye be needing before yer patrol?" asked the small man.
       "Well not really. May I ask your name though? I've seen and talked with you so many times and I don't even know your name."
       "Ye can call me Willie. If ye need anythin' don't hesitate to call me. I'll make sure to keep those lugheads in line."
      "Thanks, Willie. I better get going," replied Eileen. It had been so long since she had tried to get to know someone. Ever since her first military friends had died she had tried to stay away from friendships with people that could be killed.
      As Willie walked away she thought to herself, Yeah, but this guy's a non-combatant. It's not like the Covenant are going to go out of their way to kill a flight prep commander.
      She turned away and headed off to get dressed into her flight suit while the flight crew finished with her jet.

# # #

Ninth Age of Reclamation, Step
of Truth Covenant Battle
Cruiser Swift Retribution,
Chamber of Decision

      Ebyo stood before the High Prophet. The Prophet was looking down from his dais at the seven soldiers Ebyo had selected as candidates for his mission. These were the most dangerous and deadly warriors that the Covenant Hegemony had. If they couldn't kill the Immortal One, nothing could.
      "A fine selection," stated the High Prophet. "A fine choice indeed."
      Ebyo bowed in respect. "Thank you, High One. I am honored that you think so." Ebyo stood back up to look at the Prophet, then he looked out at the eight warriors he had collected.
      Leba 'Labadee was at the end of the lineup before the Prophet. He was an Elite of the Infiltration sect. He wore his shimmering light blue armor with pride. Leba had been in more engagements than Ebyo himself, and had proven his faith and dedication on many occasions.
      To Leba's left was Damacus the Brute. The Brutes were charged with guarding the temples and significant structures, though they often were deployed in infantry engagements for their massive strength. They were as quick as Elites and nearly as strong as the Hunters.
      On Damacus' left was Rhad 'Ussumee. He was of the command sect and commanded his own ship, the Ray of Purity. He had shown his tactical prowess many times in the void. His ship had fought to bring down the human's planetary fortress called "Reach" and had shown himself worth of a place among these candidates.
      Futher along the line was Varadel, another of the Brute species, Funi 'Affotee an Elite of the Commando sect much like himself, and Ragado Juru Larrac and his bonded brother Efado Juru Klana the Hunters.
      The Prophet began to speak again, "Only three of these may journey with you on your quest. A small team of four is more likely to succeed. Who do you think is best experienced to fulfill this task?"
      Ebyo turned to face his warriors, "If it were any other mission I would take all of them. But, since discretion is required my choice would have to be the two Brutes, Damacus and Varadel, and the Elite of the Infiltration sect, Leba 'Labadee. The Hunters are too massive and would be a hindrance if we needed to move quickly and Rhad 'Ussumee's prowess would be better put to use in the void as would Funi 'Affotee be more useful in the diversionary ground attack."
      "So it is settled. Leba 'Labadee, Damacus, Varadel, and you Ebyo 'Icsumee, step forward. You others may return to your other appointed duties with full honors."
      The others murmured their respect and left the room. After they were gone those that were left looked up at the High Prophet. He stared down at them and then spoke, "I, the High Prophet of Retribution, now command you four warriors to kill the human soldier known as the Immortal One. From now until this task is done you shall be known as "The Hand of Retribution". Let nothing stand in your way."
      Ebyo bowed, and was then duplicated by the others at his sides. He knew now that they would succeed or they would die trying. Because if they failed, he knew that The Prophet of Retribution would not forgive.

The Siege of Zion Base; Part One: Mission - Chapter 3
Date: 13 February 2004, 7:29 PM

Chapter Three

01200 Hours, December 6, 2552
Sinai Star System, UNSC Test
Facility, code name: Zion, planet
Genesis

      After running the obstacle course five consecutive times, John's patience was wearing thin. Cortana and her knack for wanting perfection was running him quite literally into the ground.
      "OK, lets have one more go at the course, I think the calibrations are finished and are at peak efficiency," said Cortana.
      The neural implant adjustments had worked normally at first but after Cortana had let the new subroutines take over, there had been some minor problems. A miscommunication here, wrongly interpreted data there. Cortana had been running him through the same drills and stimuli in an attempt to recreate the subroutine's mistakes so she could fix them. He had run the course so many times he knew he could do it with his eyes closed and one hand tied behind his back.
      "It's about time. I'll definitely feel better once I'm back in armor and not so..."
      "Vulnerable? Naked?" finished Cortana.
      "Take your pick," shrugged John. He knew that it didn't really matter right now, but it was his nature to want to be in his armor.
      Cortana's voice popped in over the COM, "OK, do everything as before and let the subroutines work in the background. They can't help right now, but I want to make sure all the neural networks are ironed out. After this last run, you can take a break then we'll fit you back into your armor. After that I'll take you through a new course and let the subroutines guide you through. Understand?"
      "Sure, can I go now?" asked John with a certain degree of annoyance.
      "On your mark, get set, go." Said Cortana sarcastically.
      John bolted forward toward the first obstacle, a huge fifty-foot high wood climbing wall. He leapt upward and grabbed hold of two handholds and slammed his foot into the foot grooves. He climbed upward until he reached the top and then climbed over it to climb down. After reaching the bottom he sprinted toward the next part of the course.
      He came to the minefield, or more actually, a fake-mine field. The explosives used in the field weren't lethal or dangerous, but if you triggered one you got covered with paint from a small explosive in the ground. This he did with ease, since he had already been through it four times.
      The next part of the course was more difficult, even for someone who had just been through it and knew what to expect. He had to run up an inclined hill toward a group of mounted guns that shot large paint-filled globs of weak plastic at him. The globs with harmless but they hurt like a real slug to the unarmored skin. All he was wearing was a white workout T-shirt and running shorts. One hadn't hit him yet, but he wasn't going let complacency due to previous successes make him slip up.
      He ran up the hill, hiding behind small wooden planks that had bet set up to give at least some cover. He waited until the firing died a little and then bolted to the next wooden base. He did this all the way to the top of the hill, dodging globs of paint all the away. He finished that section and headed to the next.
      The next section was the last and was most definitely the most challenging. But that was all it was, challenging. And John liked a challenge. He suspected that Cortana may have lain some surprises for him this time around but he hadn't seen any yet. He knew that if she were going to do something to throw him off it would be now.
      The next section was a multiple-tiered platform with several square floors made of solid wood panels. Each floor was built on large circular beams of wood that were two feet thick and spaced evenly apart, at the corners of each square and in the middle. Through a hole in the first floor a rope hung from the underside of the second floor. From the first floor he had to do the same thing, find the rope and climb through the hole onto the third floor. He had to continue this routine up four floors and reach the top of the fourth floor. At the top of the fourth floor there was a rope to repel down to the ground and then he was finished. However, he also had the climb the platform while dodging stun mines, paint-gun traps and whatever else might be waiting for him.
      To a marine, this was hell. To a Spartan, it was a playground.
      He ran flat out to the platform. Suddenly, without warning, paint pellets started impacting the ground around him as he ran. He glanced up and saw that some Marines with training weapons were standing on each floor of the platform and were shooting at him.
       So Cortana, this is your little surprise.
      John didn't hesitate, he ran for the rope suspended underneath the first floor. He grabbed hold of it and climbed up. The Marines didn't shoot at him through the hole he was about to climb through. He was so fast they didn't realize he was already climbing it. As he climbed through the hole he quickly got to his feet and faced a stunned Marine. The Marines has only just started to think about turning to the hole when he grabbed the first Marine and threw him threw out of the tower. The other Marines turned their paint guns on him and fired, too late. John had already moved out of the way and ducked to allow the shots to fly over him. He noticed a paint mine mounted on the pole next to his head as it started to fire. He grabbed the mine, tore it off of the pole, and threw it as exploded in mid-air in the face of one of the Marines. The Marine yelled and fell to his knees trying to wipe the paint out of his eyes.
      The last Marine knew he was done for but decided to go out with a blaze of glory. He pulled a stun grenade from his belt and armed it. John though that the Marine was going to throw it at him at first, but soon realized that the Marine had no such plan. Instead, the Marine ran toward him with the grenade in his hand. At the last second the Marine dropped the grenade as it went off, releasing a bright light and electric charge. The Marine yelped and staggered, and John, temporarily blinded from the flash was immediately disoriented.
      After a few seconds John could see the Marine bringing his gun up his chest. He fired at near point-blank range right at John's chest. Only his Spartan augmented reflexes saves him. Even without his MJOLNIR armor he was still incredibly fast. He dodged the shot to the left by a millimeter and smacked the gun out of the Marine's hand with a deft right rook at the same time. The Marine gave up and sat down on the floor, letting John continue.
      John thought, These guys were good. I wonder what platoon they're with, they should be out on the front lines.
      He continued and finished climbing the platform. After reaching the top he found himself face to face with four ODST troops. They wore less armor than the Marines had. They obviously didn't think he was going to make it all the way up to the top of their platform. He could see on their arms the Elite-skull tattoo of the 108th Orbital Shock Drop Trooper platoon, the Skulls. The Skulls weren't as well known as the Helljumpers, but they were every bit as nasty.
      They held in their hands large pieces of wood that they had themselves carved out of the platform and fashioned into clubs. He only hoped that the knives they had used to cut the wood were sheathed. Not that that would have been much of a problem, but he was tired from running the course five times already.
      The ODST leader charged at John with his club raised high. John sidestepped to his right and drove a quick, but not lethal punch into the man's back. He wanted to incapacitate them, not kill them. The other three ODST's joined the fray, all from different sides. John stepped back and dropped to his knees right as the trooper to his left swung. The club missed him and hit the trooper to John's front square in the chest. John swung both arms forward knocking the troopers to his right and left on their backs, their clubs flying off of the platform to the ground. The trooper who had taken the hit to the chest was already back on his feet and swung to hit John's head from the right with his club. John lifted his left fist and swung it to intercept the incoming weapon. John hit the club with full force, splintering the entire length of it. The ODST was somewhat shocked at John's strength, but he wasn't phased for long. The other two ODSTs grabbed his arms from behind and held him for precious second that the trooper in front of him needed to get a hit landed on John's face.
      This only spurred John of further. He flexed both arms out and literally flung the two ODSTs binding his arms off of the platform. The last remaining ODST looked on in shock as his comrades fell seventy feet to the ground. His momentary lapse of concentration found him in the air meeting a similar fate.
      With all the opposition defeated, John repelled down the rope to the ground to finished the course. As soon as he stepped on the ground he heard a sound he hadn't heard in a long time. Applause.
      He looked around and saw that a hundred or more Marines and technicians had made a crowd and had watched his performance. He even saw a few Marines exchanging money over a lost bet. He had never thought much about his ability to do so well against such odds, but that was because he was constantly around his team who had the same abilities and augmentations that he himself had. It was gratifying to think he could help boost morale in such a backwater base with simple expositions of his strength, and speed.
       "I knew it," said a voice behind him. John turned around to see a man in a colonel's uniform approaching him. He was in his 50's or early 60's but the man had a full head of red hair and was more in shape than most colonels John had seen. John immediately snapped to attention.
      "At ease, son. No need to salute me out of uniform after such a display. I knew you were a Spartan the moment I saw you, but I wasn't completely sure until now," said the man.
      John reluctantly lowered his hand and put his arms at his sides. "Thanks you, sir," John replied. "Just undergoing some testing for some new modifications to my neural implant."
      "I see. Well that was one the best pieces of tactical awareness I've ever seen. I think whatever modifications you had worked."
      "I tend to agree," the voice of Dr. Mathis spoke behind John. John turned away from the Colonel to face Dr. Mathis who was dressed in a purple civilian dress and white lab coat. "Cortana says the algorithms, though not fully active due to you not being in your suit, worked perfectly. The subroutines were able to boost your reaction time just as Cortana would have been able to were she linked to you, through MJOLNIR. This is very promising. I can't even begin to imagine what your reaction times would be with your armor on."
      John was satisfied with his performance. He knew he had given his best and had done exceedingly well even without his armor. Though right now, all he wanted to do was rest and take a cool shower.
      "I'd like to rest for awhile before we begin testing with the armor, if it's possible," stated John.
       "Of course, Cortana gave me instructions to order you to do so anyway. I'll call you when Cortana is done evaluating the data and is ready to begin armor testing."
      With that, Dr. Mathis turned and returned to her duties back in the main building. John turned back to the Colonel who was still standing right where John had turned away from him. The Colonel stuck out a hand and offered a handshake.
       "Colonel Arthur McLeod, base commander. I've been watching you since you've been here. Best soldier I've ever seen. Only heard of you until now."
       "Yes sir. Thank you, sir," replied John. "I've heard of you as well, your engagement with the Covenant at Theta Agni was well executed."
      "Why, thank you. That was a long time ago, I'm afraid. Not as young as I used to be. Anyway, I am due for a staff briefing, those lab rats have been wanting to test some new weapons and I have to authorize it or they'll keep on me like a pack of ravenous hyenas."
      "Good day to you sir."
      "You too, I'll see you around. Might even show you my trophy case of Covenant skulls sometime. Keep up the good work, Master Chief."
      "Sir, yes sir!" John saluted as the Colonel saluted, turned and left, then started walking back to the barracks. It had been a long morning, and he was itching for some food and rest.

The Siege of Zion Base; Part One: Mission - Chapter 4
Date: 13 February 2004, 7:35 PM

Chapter Four

Ninth Age of Reclamation, Step
Of Truth aboard Covenant
Frigate Ray of Purity, en rout to
Sinai system

      Ebyo stood on the elevated bridge platform of the ship they had been assigned to take on their mission. Although the ship's commander, Rhad 'Ussumee, had not been assigned to the mission to kill the Immortal One, he had been chosen as the commander to convey them to their destination as well as transport the ground troops to the surface for the diversionary attack.
      The Hand of Retribution had been given a Seraph fighter outfitted with a special device that would mask it from the human's sensor screens. Their objective was to jump in system, and once the Ray of Purity was close enough to the target planet, Genesis, they would depart the ship at the same time as the rest of the atmospheric fighter craft and drop ships, masking their approach. It was a good plan, he only hoped that the device would work properly since it was experimental.
      Ebyo turned to his lieutenants that were standing behind him on the lower platform of the bridge. "Make ready for jump to the lower space," commanded 'Ussumee to the crew, "for now... we ride into battle."
      Ebyo stepped down from the elevated platform to face his soldiers. "Prepare the ship. And gather your weapons and gear. We travel light, take only what will make you the most deadly."
      The two Brutes and Leba 'Labadee bowed and made their way to the exit from the bridge to the docking bay. Ebyo watched them leave and then walked back up to the elevated bridge platform. He stopped beside 'Ussumee and whispered so that no one else on the bridge could hear, "If we fail in our mission, please convey my apologies to the High Prophet of Retribution. For if we fail, it means we are dead."
       "I will do as you ask. But I pray for your success. It is the will of the gods."
       "We shall see if their will includes our deaths. If it does, I only hope our end brings glory to them," replied Ebyo.
      'Ussumee nodded and gave the order to jump, the ship shuddered as it jumped to Slipspace. Ebyo left the platform and made his way off the bridge. He walked the corridors, mulling over his own thoughts. He thought of the Immortal One and how likely he was to be ready for an ambush. He thought of his lieutenants and the High Prophet who had sent him on this mission. So much had happened to him so fast. It was an honor to have been so elevated in so short a time.
      He walked until he had made his was to his destination: the ship's armory. His team was already within, choosing their weapons and equipment for the mission. Damacus chose a plasma rifle, several grenades, as well as a slender assassin's plasma knife. Varadel had chosen for himself the Brute's traditional weapon: a high-velocity grenade launcher with a long blade attached to the underside for close up melee fighting. Varadel picked up a few grenades, attached them it his armor's belt, and left to board the ship with Damacus. Ebyo moved forward to see what 'Labadee had chosen. "Labadee had picked up two plasma pistols and a energy sword hilt which he quickly fastened to his utility belt. 'Labadee looked up to see Ebyo approach from the doorway. Ebyo nodded his approval of 'Labadee's choice and went over to the wall on the right that held the selection of medium caliber weapons.
      Ebyo chose for himself a Prism Gun, a relatively new addition to the Covenant's arsenal. After the Covenant had landed on Halo seven cycles ago, they had met some resistance from automated defense drones that had attacked them with a type of light beam. The Covenant hierarchy had instructed the Engineers to capture one and bring it back to Covenant controlled space for study. After immense study of the weapon, the Covenant Engineers had created a new weapon with the light beam technology. They replaced the energy source with the same energy that the Covenant's needler weapon used to guide its projectiles. This energy was able to reflect off of non-targeted surfaces. The effect the Prism Gun created was a forward firing beam of bluish-purple energy that bounced off of any surface that was not a target. Its range was quite long and it's effect, though practically useless in outdoor environments, was quite an advantage in close quarter, indoor firefights.
      Ebyo wanted a weapon that the Immortal One had not encountered before. He wanted to surprise him.
      'Labadee was turning to leave for the ship when Ebyo spoke, "You are our best hope of killing the Immortal One. Your experience with stealth combat makes you our greatest chance for success."
      "I will not fail you, commander," 'Labadee replied.
      "It does not matter if you fail me, Leba. If any of us fail, we all die."
      With that last remark, Ebyo turned and left 'Labadee to ponder that possibility.

# # #

1300 Hours, December 8, 2552
Sinai Star System, UNSC Test
Facility, code name: Zion, planet
Genesis

      John was exhausted. Two straight days of training with the new subroutines were taking its toll. Cortana had had him doing test, after test, after test. He was beginning to get anxious to get back to the front lines. He was confident that his team, or what was left of it, could get along fine without him for not, but he wanted to get back into the action. All this testing and probing wasn't his style. He had had quite enough of that during his Spartan-II training.
      He was back in his armor, which made him feel more at home. The Cortana duplicate had all the same tactical, infiltration, and cognitive abilities that the original Cortana had, but it couldn't learn and grow in the same way that Cortana could. It was essentially a "dumb" version of Cortana's most used subroutines. Only those programs which were useful in combat situations.
      Cortana was quite the happy camper at the moment. She had found that the speed with which the new algorithms took over her "duties" was faster than she had anticipated. Cortana had assured him that everything would be finished within the next twenty-four hours and then they could head back to their ship and make for the front lines. He was simply waiting for Cortana to finish filing her report with ONI.
      John was resting in his quarters when the medical wing of the base suddenly exploded.

# # #

1300 Hours, December 8, 2552
Sinai Star System, UNSC Test
Facility, code name: Zion, planet
Genesis, Quartermaine Airfield

      Eileen Franklin was just returning to her duties from her afternoon workout. She had been jogging and lifting some lightweights in the gym a few minutes ago. After she had finished she had taken a quick shower and gotten back into uniform to prepare for her patrol at 1400 hours.
      As soon as she had gotten to the airfield she had hardly had time to react as a loud, resounding explosion rocked the plains. She immediately turned to look to where the explosive sound had originated.
      It was the Zion facility at the top of the plateau. One of the main building's wings, she couldn't tell which, was ablaze with fire and huge sections of the wing itself were missing altogether. Not a second sooner had she seen this than the plain erupted with alarms. The Covenant had come.

The Siege of Zion Base; Part One: Mission - Chapter 5
Date: 13 February 2004, 7:43 PM

Chapter Five

1310 Hours, December 8, 2552
Sinai Star System, in orbit of
planet Genesis

      When the Covenant had exited Slipspace, they had exited right in the very midst of the planetary orbital defense net. Because the planet was worth so much to the war effort the system had a dozen orbital MAC battlestations, as well as a small fleet of destroyers, and frigates for protection. The most powerful ship, being the command ship of the flotilla was the Barca, sister ship the Hannibal which had been destroyed at Reach.
      The Barca's commander was Commodore Helen Pierce, who was also charged with Genesis' defense fleet. Pierce had been taken by complete surprise for several reasons; it was not known to the UNSC that the Covenant had even known the location of the Sinai system; and they had jumped into the midst of their entire defense network. That meant that they had known the precise locations of each MAC station and ship before they had jumped in system.
      Within the first seconds of the Covenant's exit into the system, they had bypassed the early warning system and destroyed the communication arrays of the main orbital control platform in orbit over the planet. The planet-side forces had no warning at all until the first plasma volley had reached the surface of the planet, obliterating medical facilities and communication bunkers.
      Commodore Pierce was a brilliant tactician, and held her own against the Covenant who, much to her surprise, had brought only half the number of UNSC ships. The UNSC fleet not only outnumbered the Covenant two to one, but they also had the advantage of the orbital defense stations. The Covenant's whole attack seemed to be based around surprising them. Now that they had lost that advantage she wondered what they would do next.
      Her first thought was that the Covenant might have reinforcements waiting to jump in-system, but she had never seen the Covenant attack in this manner before, so she kept ready for anything.
      Then she saw it, a large battle cruiser, flanked by two smaller frigates, made they're way toward the planet, suddenly breaking off from the engagement. They were after the planet-side structures on the northern continent and were going to invade.
      She ordered a few ships to follow and eliminate the threat to the planet, and sent a transmission on the emergency frequencies to the ground facilities warning them to prepare for invasion.
      Pierce then turned her attention to the battle, and how they Covenant had planned this attack. She knew there were only a few possibilities; either the Covenant had a spy in their forces; they could scan star systems from immense distances; or the UNSC had a traitor who was giving the Covenant information. She discounted the last idea almost immediately, it was a possibility, but it didn't fit the precision with which the Covenant had orchestrated the attack. The traitor would have had to be in the Sinai system to have relayed such precise information. The security in this sector was so tight though, that not even Covenant sympathizers, as rare as they were, could have know the system's location let alone the exact positions of their fleet and battle stations.
      The second option was also unlikely. The Covenant had never been able to scan from other star systems from known experience, though she supposed that they could have developed the technology. But even that possibility seemed remote.
      That left only the first option, the Covenant had a spy in this system's forces. Any Covenant spy that was organic would be immediately recognized, so it wasn't one of the aliens. A ship perhaps? Even if the Covenant had developed the ability to jam a star ship's sensors, they would have detected a transmission. Or would they? If they were using a unknown type of stealth transmission, it was possible they might have mistakenly thought the transmission to be background radiation.
      Then it occurred to her. What if the spy was one of them, but not a person?
      She immediately ordered every ship to scan their AI databases for anything out of the ordinary. Ten minutes later reports came in from every ship. There was no Covenant AI present in any ship. So it wasn't an AI. Then it had to be something they had overlooked.
      Pierce returned her thoughts to the battle in space and left the thoughts of how and why this had happened for later. After they had driven the Covenant out of the system, then they could think about how the Covenant had done it. How they had passed every defense measure in one of the most tightly defended locations in UNSC space.

The Siege of Zion Base; Part Two: Siege - Chapters 6 & 7
Date: 17 February 2004, 9:55 PM

Part Two: Siege
Chapter Six

1320 Hours, December 8, 2552
Sinai Star System, UNSC Test
Facility, code name: Zion,
planet Genesis

      John had been trying to reach Cortana for twenty minutes before he had finally made his way back to the laboratory where she and Dr. Mathis had been working. The attack had begun by complete surprise he had thought at first that the Covenant seemed quite inclined to sit in orbit and pummel the planet into rubble. Though after the initial assault, the attacks had ceased. He wasn't sure why, but he felt that something else was going on.
      John felt useless on the ground while the fighting was in orbit, so he made himself useful by clearing pathways into the damaged sections of the medical wing so the Marines could search for survivors. His superior strength enabled him to reach the interior of the damaged wing and the Marines were able to evacuate the seriously wounded. Several dozen were already dead.
      John had been about to go back into the building to search for Dr. Mathis and Cortana when a general alarm sounded a large, pulsing wail. It meant that the planet was going to be invaded. He was torn between staying to help or going to battle in the city. He knew his best chance of finding Cortana was now, before the structure was hit again.
      He made up his mind: he went inside. After several minutes of clearing rubble and searching through different rooms he finally found the laboratory the doctor and Cortana had been using. He entered it to find the lights flickering in the darkness. Several fires had broken out where the power lines had ruptured. He searched everywhere and found nothing.
      Maybe they hadn't been here when the attack happened, thought John. His mind raced. He tried raising Cortana on the TACCOM, and PERSCOM but to no avail.
      His last thought was to check in with the Marines who had evacuated the survivors and see if the doctor had been picked up. But if Cortana and Dr. Mathis were trapped in the in the building, they wouldn't be able to get out without his help.
      There was nothing else for him to do so he was about to start back when he heard a muffled sound. He turned toward the sound and listened. "Is anyone there?" he asked.
      There was a faint sound, just barely enough to be perceived by his super sensitive ears. He walked over fallen support beams and pieces of concrete until he got close enough to discern that the sound were voices coming through a wall.
      No... not a wall. Part of the roof had caved in and landed upright giving the appearance of a wall. The slab was big enough that it was hard to tell it apart from the real wall in the dim, flickering light.
      He began punching through the slab, which was too big to move, until he had chipped enough away to hear the people on the other side. He quickly finished removing enough of the wall to step through into a dimly lit room. The slab had fallen in front of a doorway leading to an adjacent room which most of the lab technicians had been working in when the attack had happened. The technicians were astonished at the way the massive Spartan had punched through the wall to rescue them. One of the technicians stepped forward to lead the others out of the hole back through the path that the Chief had made.
      John turned to one of the lab scientists and asked, "Have you seen Dr. Mathis? Or an AI named Cortana?"
      The scientist nodded, "They left just before the first explosion. They were going to another wing of this building when the first salvo hit."
      So they were alive, hopefully. He knew to search for them now would be fruitless, he had to get these people out of here.
      He led the way back to where the Marines had set up a temporary trauma ward. He helped the wounded get settled in before he headed off to report to Colonel McLeod. He had to find out where the Covenant were invading and get there to help repel them. Cortana and Dr. Mathis would have to wait.
      John made his way into the main city from the base. The actual Zion base was on the outskirts of a larger city that served to meet the needs of the people who lived on the planet. It was much like any other human city, with towering skyscrapers and busy streets, but much smaller in size due to the few thousand people living on the planet instead the millions of the larger colonies. He had to report to the military command center where he would link up with a squad and find out where the fighting was.
      John had no weapons, and was about to try to find some when the first signs of invasion began to manifest. A trio flight of Banshees, the Covenant's signature atmospheric combat craft, streaked over the city. They made strafing runs through the skyscrapers shooting at the troops crowding the streets making their way to the combat zone.
      He needed a weapon, and fast. No telling when or where an attack could happen upon his location and he did not want to be caught without a weapon.
      He ran from the base and found a vehicle that could take him to the command center in the city faster than on foot. It wasn't much, a civilian ground car that was almost too small for his massive size. He had to squeeze in but finally found a comfortable position that allowed full range of motion. He found a set of extra ignition keys in a small compartment under the driver's seat and started the car up. He sped off into the city streets to find the command base.
      He only hoped he wasn't too late.

# # #

      Ebyo stood in the command cabin of his small ship. The stealth ship had just departed the Ray of Purity with the space fighters before the ship had entered the atmosphere and was making it's way to the planet's main base and city structures. He and his team were to set down on the outside of the city and proceed on foot in stealth to find and kill the human that was their target.
      The ship flew through the atmosphere, lower into the clouds, and finally down far enough to where Ebyo could see the city. It was small, only large enough to serve a few thousand or perhaps ten thousand people. Most of the city's occupants were likely to be non-combatants.
      He wondered how long it would take to find the human. He knew that if they failed, then the ships in orbit had orders to disengage the main opposition and proceed to the planet for orbital bombardment. The only reason they weren't doing so now was because they still didn't want the human to know that this whole trap was specifically for him. Any other damage was a bonus. They could bombard the planet after they were sure that the human was dead.
      Ebyo turned and looked at the threat signature readouts. Their forces were landing on the north end of the city, just west of the military base on the eastern side of the city. The base to the east overlooked the plains below the plateau that contained a human airfield, which was scrambling its complement of aircraft for the defense of the city.
      He also saw that the planet's forces were already converging on the invasion forces' landing site. Artillery, infantry, and aircraft combat was sprouting up all over the northern half of the metropolis.
      Wraith tanks were dropped to level the buildings, and Banshees were deployed to cover them. The infantry forces were conveyed to the surface through the gravity lifts of three large capital ships, including the Ray of Purity, along with their attack vehicles. Drop ships and Phantoms were deploying shocktroops to key locations that could be held to make an invasion corridor into the center of the city.
      "Sir, we are nearing our landing zone. Shall I give the order to prepare for landing?" said Damacus, the Brute, behind him, his voice a deep guttural growl.
      Ebyo turned and saw their landing zone, a small urban housing district with few clustered areas, and enough clear space to put their craft down on. "Yes, give the order to land."
      Damacus nodded and made his way to the forward cockpit to tell the pilots to land. After a minute he came back and nodded. Ebyo walked back the cargo bay where his team was prepared to depart. Damacus followed him and took his place in the line beside Varadel and 'Labadee.
      Ebyo stood before his troops and began to speak, "Today, we go into battle with the fiercest of our enemies. We may not survive, but if we do, and succeed, we show these humans that their precious super soldiers are not invincible once again. We destroy the one human who gives them hope the most. We crush their hero!"
      Grunts and howls of impatience bellowed from the Brutes. They were stifling for a fight. 'Labadee simply nodded in his own silent show of approval.
      Ebyo picked up his weapon and equipment. He raised his weapon over his head and yelled, "This day, make us worthy of the gods! To battle!"

# # #

Chapter Seven

1343 Hours, December 8, 2552
Sinai Star System, UNSC Test
Facility, code name: Zion,
planet Genesis

      John was having a hard time making it to the command center. At almost every turn he was being pelted with debris and ash. The buildings around him were beginning to become more and more damaged from the onslaught of the Covenant's invasion forces.
      He drove until he finally saw a company of troops making their way through the streets toward the forward engagement line. He figured he would be better off with them than mewling about in a small useless tin can. As he approached the troops he saw them turn toward him and look on bewilderedly as he approached them in a civilian car. He stopped a few meters away from the main body of troops comprising the center of the company and opened the door. The expressions of the Marines turned from bewilderment to awe as he stepped from the vehicle and moved toward them.
      "Who's in charge here?" asked the Chief.
      A man in a Sergeant's uniform pushed through the line and stood before the Chief. The man was of medium stature and age and wore a standard issue Marine commander cap, which covered his white, shaved head; the figure of an eagle emblazoned on the front.
      "I am," the man stated and stuck out a hand, "Sergeant Major Lincoln Winsor. You must be the Master Chief. I was told you were back at the main facility."
      The Chief shook the man's hand. "I was, but I figured I'd be more useful in the fight. Where do I report?"
      "To me for now. We're making our way to the northern part of the city, the Covenant seem intent on capturing the facility intact. Our job is to repel the Covenant's secondary invasion corridor leading from the north to southeast. Go get yourself a weapon and rendezvous with the forward squad. Then hop in one of the transports and we'll head out."
      "Sir, yes sir!" saluted John, then turned to find the weapons cache. The cache was in the back of a stripped-down M12 LRV Warthog; the M41 LAAG removed to make way for crates of weapons and ammo. He surveyed the weapons and chose one of the Marine's newly issued Battle Rifles. The Battle Rifle's scope and 9.5x45mm ammunition would be useful for ranged targets. He then picked up a Sub-Machine Gun for close up work, the 5x23mm caseless shells were devastating at close range, and fired extremely rapidly making it ideal in close quarters. He strapped it to his right leg in its holster grip.
      He picked up some extra ammo packs and fragmentation grenades and headed to the front of the company. He counted two standard M12 LRV Warthogs, in addition to the stripped down 'Hog, with M41 light anti-aircraft guns for aerial protection, a refitted M12A 1 LAAV Warthog, which had a 102mm SC-HE triple barreled rocket launcher replacing the standard M41 LAAG. A M808B Scorpion main battle tank added muscle for heavy firepower and headed up the rear of the column heading down the street.
      The column moved forward and John jumped aboard the leading Warthog and manned the LAAG. He began watching the skies for incoming threats and spotted a flight of Banshees bearing down on their position from the left side of the column through a crossroads in the street. The Banshees dove into the urban canyon and opened fire with their plasma cannons. He opened up with the LAAG and spewed hundreds of 12.7mm slugs into the air surrounding the Banshees. The other Warthog's gunner fired his own stream of metal slugs at the incoming Banshees. The Banshee's plasma fire burned into the column and vaporized Marines, pavement, and whatever else got in the way. The return fire from the Chief's gun found it's mark as a Covenant pilot veered out of the way of the Marine's return fire to run head-first into his. The Banshee exploded, showering the street with debris and fire.
      The other Banshees broke of their run and retreated back out of the range of return fire above the city. The column continued forward until it met with the main Covenant ground forces advancing toward the main Zion facility. Battle irrupted instantly and plasma fire lit up the darkening light in the city streets. The Chief continued to pump shells out of the LAAG and completely devastated the Covenant's advancing infantry line.
      Ahead, the street split down the middle, the right going up to the upper level of a two-leveled bridge and the left half of the road continuing on under to the lower level. The bridge spanned a small rift in the plateau on which the city stood. It was, in effect, a small canyon dividing the city for a few blocks over which the Covenant had to make their way to get to the other side without having to go around. On the upper level of the bridge, the Covenant's anti-armor vehicles came into view. Ghosts made up the front of the line, followed by Wraiths and Shadows, which were, in turn, followed by troop transports known as "Creeps". The Covenant's infantry were making their way across the bridge on the lower level, emptying out into the street.
      The forward Covenant forces fired into the Marine lines and the column broke up into smaller groups to avoid the falling plasma bombs of the Wraith mortar tanks. The Chief's Warthog drove suddenly to the left and turned off to drive on the side of the street. The Warthog slowed to a stop at the corner of the street crossroads just in front of the bridge. The other forces took cover around buildings, parking garages, and made their stand there at the front of the bridge.
      The Marines made their way into the surrounding buildings to hold the bridge and force the Covenant into a bottleneck. The Covenant Ghosts charged the line and attempted the break through the street. The Scorpion tank put a stop to that with its 90mm high-velocity shells and mounted machine gun. The Marines did a fine job of repelling the initial assault but John saw that all the Marines were going to do was be worn down by sheer numbers and that they needed to find an edge.
      While John was busy covering the street with the LAAG, he saw that the crossroads the Marines had fortified was an opportunity. The street was facing the north toward the bridge and the east turnoff to the right led to a road that curved upward and left attaching to the upper level of the bridge. While the Covenant's infantry that were pouring through the lower level posed no immediate threat, if the Covenant's vehicles on the upper level made their way down that curved road, the Marines would find themselves in a crossfire. He decided that the best way to take out the vehicles on the upper level from moving down the front road was to take the curved road up towards them and flank them.
      He dismounted the Warthog's gun and told the Marine in the passenger seat to take his place. He made his way through fallen rubble and through the street to find Sgt. Winsor. John found him and his squad pinned down behind a few toppled cars and buses by a few Jackals that were protecting black armored Grunts with their overlapping wrist shields. The Grunts were lobbing Fuel Rod Guns over the Sergeant's cover and he couldn't make any headway with that kind of firepower bearing down on him. The Chief unhooked two frag grenades and armed them. From his position to the Jackals right he could throw them behind the Jackal's shields. He aimed and threw both grenades. He watched as they landed behind the surprised Jackals and Grunts and exploded, sending their twisted, bloodied bodies into the air. Sergeant Winsor immediately ordered his troops to move forward to stop any further advances from that angle by the Covenant.
      "Thanks. Those guys had us pinned down," said Winsor as John approached.
      John immediately told Winsor of his plan and his need of the Scorpion tank, and LAAV Warthog. Winsor nodded and replied, "Well, the Hog's pinned down, but the Scorpion's free. Take a few rocket launchers and get some men together. The plan's all yours, just make sure you bring the tank back in one piece. If it gets destroyed we're done for here."
      John nodded and moved to get his plan in order. His switched to the TACCOM band and ordered the tank to begin moving into position to take the bridge from the curved road. He ordered some M19 surface-to-surface missile launchers and operators to rendezvous with the tank and wait for him. He grabbed a few Marines along the way who were waiting for orders and took them with him. John made his way across the battle torn streets toward the turnoff, which would take them to the upper bridge road.
      Suddenly a large explosion blew through the building in front of them. The Covenant had blown through the building from the other side with a Wraith tank that had made it's way from the upper level of the bridge down into the main street. John immediately opened fire with his Battle Rifle at the Grunts, Jackals and Elites that spewed through the opening. He activated his scope and dropped Grunt, after Jackal, after Grunt, blood spewing from their bodies. The other Marines opening fire at the infantry that moved out of the hole in the building with heavy machine guns and assault rifles.
      The Wraith that had blown through the building began to emerge from the wreckage. The Marines armed a Jackhammer missile and fired at the Wraith. The first rocket exploded on the outer armor, denting and destroying the outer layers, but it wasn't enough to stop it. The Marines were about to fire another rocket when the Wraith began to charge them to run them over. At close range the Wraith's plasma mortar was nearly useless and the pilot obviously thought that running the Marines over was a better option. Marines were about to be flattened between a building and the Wraith when a 90mm HV projectile slammed into the side of the Wraith, obliterating the pilot and overloading the main plasma cannon, which exploded in blue fire. The Marines were covered in fire and hot metal but their armor saved most of them from serious injury.
      The Scorpion had made it way to the rendezvous just in time, and had saved them from certain death. The tank made short work of the rest of the Covenant who were pouring though the building's wreckage. After a few minutes of mop-up work the Chief was able push on with his troops.
      John switched his channel to the SQUADCOM and gave orders to his troops. "Okay, that upper level on the bridge has most of the Covenant's heavy vehicles on it. They've been lobbing plasma down at our forces that are holding the crossroads directly in front of the bridge. We are going to take them out."
      John pointed at the curved road leading to the upper level. "We need to take that off-ramp before the Covenant find it and flank us. It'll put us right behind the Wraith tanks and we can pummel them from behind with the tank and rockets. Any questions?" asked the Chief.
      No one said anything and John gave the order to move out.

The Siege of Zion Base; Part Two: Siege - Chapter 8
Date: 17 February 2004, 10:03 PM

Part Two: Siege
Chapter 8

1350 Hours, December 8, 2552
Sinai Star System, UNSC Test
Facility, code name: Zion,
planet Genesis, Quartermaine
Airfield

      Eileen had been shell-shocked at first by the initial assault. The Covenant attack had destroyed planet-wide communication stations to disrupt the defense of the city so quickly they hadn't had any chance to respond. This had only lasted a few minutes as the backup systems came online and communication was partially restored, after which the confusion cleared up instantly as orders were issued and fighter craft at the base were scrambled for the defense of the city. Eileen had quickly readied and gotten into her Skyhawk JumpJet and went through her preflight checklist in record time.
      After less than one minute she was in the air with her squadron flying to fend of the landing troop transports and their escorts. As she neared the city she could see plainly the shape of the Covenant battle cruiser and frigates that were descending through the atmosphere toward the city's northern border. Banshees and Seraphs, the Covenant's space superiority fighters, were escorting Phantoms and drop ships into the city for the invasion; it was her job to stop them.
      As she approached she could see the Seraph's purple, teardrop shaped hulls glistened in the failing light, and the Banshee's anti-gravity pods glowing with orange light from the tips of the spoke-like wings. The larger Phantoms dotted the sky with their bulbous, purple-reddish hulls and light blue landing lights.
      She switched to her squadron's frequency on the TACCOM and issued orders to her flight. "Talon group, you are to engage and destroy the drop ships and troop transports at any cost. Hellfire group on me, we're going to provide cover for Talon and keep those escorts of their backs."
      "Acknowledged, Hellfire leader, engaging troop transports," said a voice over the frequency. It was Talon leader, Isaac Dalton. He was her second in command and leader of Talon squadron, a subsidiary of the 351st Airborne Division. He was a very capable pilot and was taking his squadron headfirst into the fray, as ordered.
      The Skyhawks of Hellfire squadron ignited their afterburners and zoomed into the space above the city. The Banshees immediately turned to engage them, but the Seraphs broke formation to engage Talon squadron.
      Franklin armed her Scorpion missiles and fired two of them toward the Seraphs as she broke and dove toward them, away from the Banshees. Her missiles impacted the lead Seraph, whose shield shimmered a few times, then blossomed into a ball of purple and blue flame. She had barely enough time to brake and dodge the plasma coming from the Banshees, who had settled in behind her and had fired their plasma cannons, streaking at her with a hot, blue glow, at her unprotected flank. Plasma melted through her jet's armor plating on contact, but didn't do enough damage to cause any significant problem.
      Her wing-mates covered her flank and fired their 50mm cannons at the Banshees, keeping them from getting a decent target lock on Eileen's fighter, however, she was still forced to break her attack on the Seraphs and took evasive maneuvers to avoid plasma fire. Her wing-mates were finally able to get locks with their Scorpions and fired them at the Banshees, which could not evade the missile's tracking warheads. The Scorpions impacted the rear of the lead Banshee disabling one of the Banshee's anti-gravity wing pods. The craft spiraled out of control down into the city to explode into the side of a skyscraper. The other Banshees broke formation to avoid the missiles tailing them. One flew down through the tops of the buildings below and managed to lose the missile, but the other Banshee pilot wasn't as fortunate. He wasn't fast enough to avoid the missile and it collided with his port side, obliterating the cockpit and pilot.
      Eileen was now free to engage the Seraphs without having to dodge plasma fire from behind. Her squadron formed a flying V pattern and protected the lead fighters who launched their missiles and fired 50mm rounds at the Seraphs who were attacking Talon group.
      "Get these guys off of me!" yelled the voice of a Talon pilot through the TACCOM. Eileen saw a NAV point mark the location of the pilot and saw two Seraphs firing plasma torpedoes at him from behind. She dove and fired two ASMD-11 tracer missiles at them to take them down. The Seraphs, unlike the Banshees, were equipped with energy shielding and it took several attempts to take them down.
      She looked on as the Seraphs launched two torpedoes each, seconds before their shields collapsed under her fire. The 50mm shells broke through the shields that her missiles had weakened and tore through the craft's armor like paper. The Seraphs exploded and fell, flaming though the sky, to the ground below.
      But it was too late, the torpedoes, though now unguided, were still too close to the Skyhawk pilot and one impacted his right wing, which melted completely under the intense heat. The pilot screamed as he ejected just before his craft exploded. Eileen cursed. At least he survived, she thought.
      The remaining four Skyhawks of Talon squadron continued toward the drop ships. Once they were in range they fired their ASMD-11 missiles and autocannons in unison, sending a wave of destruction toward the drop ships. The missiles impacted the purple metal hulls of the troop transports, rending metal and annihilating the troops within. Ship after ship went down under the onslaught, falling from the sky into the city. The drop ships returned fire as best as they could, but they only managed to destroy a handful of the human fighters with some random, well placed shots from their under-slung plasma turrets.
      There were hundreds of drop ships, and Eileen knew that they couldn't hope to destroy all of them. Her squadrons were reduced by a fourth by now, and more waves of enemy fighter craft were heading in from the battle cruiser's position.
      She spoke into the flight's COM channel, "All right, people, another wave inbound, lets give them a first class trip to hell."
      She and her flight broke and engaged the new waves head on. She fired a missile at the lead Seraph and timed her autocannons to hit the fighter just as the missile did. The missile exploded, taking down the energy shield, just as her cannon fire impacted the cockpit, tearing thought the pilots and armor. The ship exploded and the craft that were following it had to break formation to avoid impacting the debris from the explosion. Her wing-mates broke to into separate engagements with the Seraphs and Banshees, while continuing to protect the pilots of Talon squadron.
      She eased back into a tight loop and got a view of the city while upside-down. There she saw some of the drop ships landing in the city squares and parks of the city's northern borders. She couldn't help but wonder how the battle was fairing on the surface, she wondered if it was as fierce down there as it was up in the lower atmosphere.
      She hoped they could hold the aliens long enough to begin evacuation procedures. She hoped they would make it out of the system alive.
      She shrugged the thought off and turned back to the battle at hand.

# # #

      At that same time on the ground, Ebyo and his team had just set down in a cloistered urban neighborhood to the east of the Covenant's main landing zone. Ebyo and his team exited the craft in a small park bordered by trees and small buildings used for housing. Their cloaked craft, unseen by the human's forces, had slipped down without notice, and luckily, there were no human forces occupying the immediate area.
      Ebyo stepped off the invisible landing ramp and moved swiftly to find cover near a small, square building on the clearing's western edge. His team moved silently behind him, and took positions to protect from possible ambush. Ebyo looked around to take in his surroundings. To the south of the clearing the skyscrapers rose into the sky behind a small grouping of medium height buildings built into a small hill. Beyond was a series of streets that lead into the city proper.
       "Move toward those buildings near the city's edge. Transport: you are clear to leave, find a good spot to stick yourselves and keep on station," Ebyo signaled.
      The ship silently lifted off and left to carry out its orders, while his team got up and moved under cover towards city. Ebyo took point with the Brutes to either side of him, and 'Labadee bringing up the rear in a diamond formation.
      Once they had got to the edge of the city, Ebyo turned on his tracermap and consulted a tactical overview of the immediate area. He saw that the secondary force leading toward the planet's main facility was making its way southeast while the main body of troops was plowing itself through the middle of the city towards the command center in the center of the city.
      He signaled 'Labadee to his side and showed him the overview. "What do you think? Where would the human be?"
      'Labadee scrutinized the readout and nodded his head. Finally he spoke, "Assuming he is not at the main facility, he would most likely be engaging the main force if given a choice. However, if he was not able to reach the interior of the city before it was cut off, we must assume he is engaging the secondary forces here, heading to the southeast toward the facility which he would have encountered first."
      Ebyo agreed, he knew that even a formidable warrior would fend off a threat that was closest to his position first, rather than bypass them to a larger objective. "I concur, I believe we should head in that general direction and see if we can catch him off guard while in battle, or in transit to a new objective after he has finished with his current one. However, he is by now in his armor. He will be ready to fight us if he becomes aware of our presence. We must be as careful as possible"
      'Labadee nodded and replaced himself back to his former position. Ebyo lead the group into the city, while keeping themselves hidden in the streets, strewn with debris and damaged vehicles. They moved from the smaller buildings at the edge of the city into the interior where the towering skyscrapers darkened the streets by blocking the setting sun.
      After a few minutes of traveling without any signs of military forces, they finally started getting closer to the main battle. They drew their weapons closer and prepared for anything that might attack, while traveling under off-ramps, through streets, alleys, and through buildings and garages.
      The Brute's superior hearing made them stop and Ebyo stopped with them followed by 'Labadee. They assumed a defensive position near the corners of two building that led into an alleyway, while the Brutes sniffed the air for something.
      "What is it?" asked 'Labadee, his hand on his active camouflage generator.
      Damacus sniffed the air and crouched. He looked at Ebyo and shook his head. "I heard something, then smelled a human. I am not certain but I think they are near to our position. I do not think they are aware of us."
      "Good," replied Ebyo. He signaled them to continue. They kept aware at all times, though they still saw no sign of humans anywhere. They kept traveling into the city; they were nearing the secondary invasion corridor.
      As they approached they saw that the Covenant forces were making their way across a bridge spanning a small gulch that dropped a few hundred meters. Their only options to cross it were either to cross with the main force heading over the bridge, to find another way around the whole rift, or to find another bridge entirely. He was more inclined to find another bridge, but that would take time. If they met up with the main force, they could secure a vehicle for transport, and pose as part of the main force. Of course, they couldn't let anyone in the force know who they were, and his weapon was a dead giveaway, as only the most highly ranked commanders even knew about it's existence.
      He decided they would find another way and take the extra time, but he was going to have 'Labadee find and "borrow" an unused vehicle from the forces in the back of the column that were still waiting to get across the bridge.
      'Labadee activated his camouflage and made his way from their place of hiding towards the bridge. He was approaching the bridge from the right and spotted a group of vehicles that were waiting for pilots to arrive. He saw a ground craft, a Shadow, and made for it. He climbed aboard and activated the hoverpods that made the craft float. It had space for a driver, and a gunner, plus one or two more could hang off of the sides if they so wished. He made his way back through the streets to Ebyo's position, carefully avoiding anyone or anything that might raise an alarm.
      After 'Labadee had returned, Ebyo climbed into the passenger seat beside the 'Labadee, the driver, on the left. Damacus manned the plasma turret in the back of the vehicle and Varadel climbed onto the side and grabbed a handhold to ride along.
      "I have an idea I think you might like, Commander," said 'Labadee. If I were to take my camouflage unit and link it to the main engine pod, it can feed off of the backup energy packs and increase the power output. In theory it would be powerful enough to fully conceal the vehicle. We could then move faster, while still retaining an element of stealth."
      "Do it," replied Ebyo. To his knowledge none of the Covenant's Engineers had done this before because it was deemed not needed in practical combat situations. However, this situation called for such a vehicle and he was glad 'Labadee had thought of it. After a few minutes of labor, 'Labadee activated the device and the vehicle, along with them inside of it, disappeared into a bubble of bending light.
      Ebyo found a route with his tracermap to another, smaller bridge and started a course along the rift's northern edge heading west. A few kilometers later, they found a small civilian bridge, barely wide enough to permit passage. However, they had some difficulty crossing it as the bridge was strewn with debris and abandoned vehicles. They had to get out and physically move large portions of debris from their path before they could continue.
      Once they had finished, they moved on towards the interior of the city. After the crossing, they headed back toward the main bridge over which the Covenant force was traveling by traveling down small by ways and on ramps.
      He could see it was a two-leveled bridge, the main armor vehicles on the upper level and the Covenant's infantry on the lower lever making their way through the streets. The humans were being beat back severely; they had fewer numbers and were unable to hold the crossroads in front of where the bridge merged back into one street.
      Ebyo signaled for 'Labadee to stop the Shadow. He stood up and activated his monocular scanner, to survey the battle ahead. From where he was, with the vehicle stopped near a street corner, he could look to his left all the way down the street to see the crossroads being held by the humans. He could wait here until he caught sight of the human, or he could risk getting closer to the fight and take a chance at being discovered.
      Just then, a large explosion rocked the metal canyon of the buildings around him. Then another, and another. He immediately demanded that 'Labadee pilot the Shadow back to the small bridge, which they had just crossed. Once back on the bridge, and without his vision being obscured by towering buildings, he could look east and see the larger bridge from where the explosions had come. A small force of humans; a tank, several soldiers with high-explosive weapons and a small number of regular infantry had somehow came in from behind the Wraiths and Shadows near the front of the bridge and were destroying them from behind, exploiting the weaker armor in their largely unprotected flanks.
      They had circled up to the upper level using a smaller bridge connecting the upper level to a large street on the city's side. The Covenant force commander must have overlooked it or it wasn't big enough for the Wraiths to traverse safely.
      The person commanding the human's forces must have seen this and saw the opportunity, even though it would have placed him at grave risk, being caught in the between two forces of armor vehicles. His only protection was the fact that the Covenant couldn't shoot his small force from the position of the bridge. He couldn't quite see the whole, smaller bridge from his position, he being on the western side, and the bridge on the east. However, he could tell that the bridge curved up to meet with the upper level, and the large body of infantry on the lower level had no idea of what was going on above them besides hearing large explosions.
      Ebyo had to admire the plan. Brilliant, he thought. The bridge is low enough that he can simply retreat down that same path whenever he wishes, and our forces can't touch him unless they follow him down, right into the guns of his men waiting at the edge of the small entrance.
      Then, he had an epiphany: This is the work of the Immortal One... it has to be! No other commander would be as brave and courageous.
      He had found his prey, now it was only a matter of setting a trap, and snaring it.

# # #

      John was immensely satisfied with the way his raid had worked. He had came up behind the Wraiths and Shadows, and his anti-armor Marines had leveled them with their rockets. The tank had come up behind them and was fending off the advancing vehicles that were further behind the forward force. All the while they could retreat at any time without taking return fire.
       "Excellent, men," he congratulated the Marines over the COM. "That's enough, they have enough debris to clear that they will be stalled there for a while and we can regroup at the crossroads for a counter offensive." John smiled; this would give the Marines some much-needed breathing room. He switched to the TACCOM to speak with Winsor. After a minute of static, he finally got through on the channel. "Sgt. Winsor, I bought you a few hours or breathing room, get some reinforcements here on the double."
      "Good work, Master Chief," replied Winsor. "I just called the reinforcements in. We're getting more armor to hold the exit of the bridge. Also, Longswords are being scrambled from Quartermaine Airfield to the east to blow the bridge as we speak. That'll keep those freaks at bay for quite awhile. They're going to blow every bridge spanning that rift."
      John closed the channel. At this rate, the Covenant would take a lot longer to reach the facility, at least a few hours, and at most a day. In any case, they only had a short amount of time to evacuate the planet, or else they were all as good as dead.

The Siege of Zion Base; Part Two: Siege - Chapter 9
Date: 23 February 2004, 2:40 AM

1545 Hours, December 8, 2552
Sinai Star System, UNSC Test
Facility, code name: Zion,
planet Genesis

      Cortana had been off-line for hours. After she and Dr. Mathis had left the medical wing, they had been walking toward the main complex when the first bombs hit. Dr. Mathis had taken Cortana, in her small, portable holotank off-line when the attack had begun. Cortana had told Mathis that they needed to find some place quiet and out of the way to hide in until it the facility was safe from more bombings.
      Mathis had been briefed on a bunker system that was buried beneath the main buildings of the Zion facility that had been built as fallout shelters. The bunkers could hold nearly the entire complement of the base's personnel, which was why most of those people were already in the bunkers. The bunkers were small, and self-contained. Each bunker had their own medical quarters, which could service twenty people in an emergency, sleeping quarters, which consisted of mostly a few rows of bunk beds, and a command room that contained a communication system, computers and hard-lines to the rest of the facility's databases. There were eighteen of these bunkers under the main facility and its various wings, and all of them were interconnected which small hallways. These hallways served as fail-safes so that if one entrance into the bunkers was destroyed or blocked, the occupants could travel to another bunker and still have a way out after the danger had passed.
      They had made their way to one such entrance and once they were safe again, Mathis had found someplace in the command room to link Cortana into the main facility's computer to find out what in blazes was going on.
      However, it had been nearly three hours before Mathis had been able to get into the bunkers and link her up, so the battle had been raging for quite awhile already. The Covenant had landed and was advancing toward Zion base through the city, using it as cover. Drop ships were deploying troops throughout the city, holding key positions along invasion corridors clear of Marines so that they could advance without any heavy resistance. The humans had stifled the Covenant's secondary invasion group, but the main force was pushing though to the command center in the middle of the city.
      However, the city itself, though larger than Zion Base, had it's own network of bunkers that were slightly larger built under it, inside the plateau. The thousands of people who had lived there had started evacuation procedures immediately after the alarms had sounded. The populace had entered "The Catacombs", as they were called, and were waiting for the all-clear signal to depart. The bunkers had one facility that the base bunkers didn't have: a hangar. The hangars exited from the cliff wall in the plateau a few hundred feet below the city's edge, and held escape vehicles that had semi-light drive capabilities. The ships, though numerous, were only for a quick escape in an emergency and nothing more.
       "Well, it looks like our boys need some help. Any way to get a call for reinforcements out?" asked Mathis. Her face was blotched with soot and ash, her coat and dress had numerous small rips from debris that had caught her in the explosions. Fortunately most of the damage to her body was only superficial; a few scrapes and bruises, but she had received a rather large piece of shrapnel in her right thigh. She had access to a small medical bay in the bunker they were currently residing in so she had patched herself up already with BioFoam patches for the larger cuts on her thigh, and bandages for the smaller cuts.
      It was a good thing they hadn't been in the building when it had been hit. The laboratory they had been working in was nearly leveled to the ground. Luckily they had finished their research and fully implemented the new neural network before the Covenant had arrived, otherwise they would have lost weeks of data.
      Cortana, in holographic form from the holotank she was linked with, was linked directly with the Zion main tactical computers. She had access to video and audio feeds, field reports and transmissions. She tried to find a Slipspace frequency that wasn't being severely jammed, but she could find one.
      Cortana let out a long sigh. She didn't need to breath, but emulating human responses came natural to her since she was a direct replica of Dr. Catherine Halsey's mind. "No, I'm afraid not. They've jammed everything. Our forces on the ground and in space can communicate with each other, but getting a transmission out of the system is impossible."
      She hated to be right, but it was true. Sometimes, but only sometimes, the Covenant overlooked an emergency band or two, but now they were getting much better at effectively jamming all out-system frequencies. Their only hope to was jump a ship out of the system and then signal for backup, but that would take time. Time they didn't have.
      The Covenant had only three ships left in orbit, with three more on the surface disgorging troops every second. The UNSC only had six ships, and nine orbital cannons left from the original nineteen ships and twenty-four orbital cannons they had had at the start of the battle. The Covenant had only lost four ships total and the UNSC had taken thirteen losses in ships. The battle was much in the favor of the Covenant. Their only choice was to get word out for backup.
      Only a ship with Slipspace capability could get away, and all capital ships were engaged with the Covenant. The escape craft for the civilian population had Slipspace capability, but only for short distances and their COM equipment wasn't as sophisticated as a capital ship's and didn't have the range that was needed. They had to persuade the commander of the fleet that it was worth it to send a ship.
      "Open a channel to the fleet commander, will you please, doctor?" asked Cortana, without bothering to explain her actions.
      "Channel open," replied a tired Mathis. She was not an AI and was susceptible to fatigue. She was looking very dreary eyed from working on the project for so long and now the battle was taking it's toll.
       "Thank you," said Cortana. "Why don't you get some sleep? This bunker can protect us for a long time, and I need no further assistance. Get some rest."
      Mathis yawned and blinked her eyes. "Well, I suppose it couldn't hurt. Wake me if you need anything. And thank you." She turned and left the small room in the bunker and headed to the adjacent bunkroom.
      Cortana turned back to her work and linked with the channel Mathis had provided. "Commander, this is Cortana, what is your status?"
      Commodore Helen Pierce appeared on the screen. Her face was disheveled and looking tired much like Dr. Mathis had looked. She looked around at something that took her attention then back at the transmission. "We can't hold out, they've got more than enough fire power left to finish us off. How goes it ground side?"
       "Not well, the Covenant are invading the city to capture the Zion facility."
       "It's as I thought," sighed Pierce, "they're after the base to capture all our research. We can't let that happen, but we can't destroy the research either."
      Cortana squinted, "Commander, I think you should send a ship out of system to bring reinforcements. There's no other possible way to hold out otherwise."
      Pierce nodded with a resolved look on her face. "Very well, I'll send the ship that has the best chance of making it out of the system. But even if they get a signal out, there's no guarantee the UNSC will send enough ships. And what if the Covenant bring in more ships of their own?"
      "We have to consider the possibility, but we have to try, too much is at stake here."
      Pierce nodded gravely, then inched close to the holoscreen. She whispered, as if so that only Cortana could hear her, "Cortana, there is something I need to talk to you about, but I'm busy at the moment. I'm sending you a document on a special encryption key that you should have no trouble decoding. It regards my suspicions about a possible traitor, or traitors, that might have precipitated this attack."
      Cortana frowned. That did explain the suddenness of the attack, and the fact that they had been taken so completely by surprise. She couldn't comprehend the repercussions this could have if it were true.
      "Ready to receive file, Commander," Cortana replied.
      Pierce signed off to return to the battle after the transfer was finished. Cortana opened the file and it read:

      INCOMING TRANSMISSION
      Priority:Alpha
      Encryption Code: Bravo-Echo-One-Three-Niner
      From: Commodore Helen Pierce, Commanding Officer, UNSC
      Cruiser Barca
      To:Cortana, (Artificial Intelligence Identification Number:
      923E1-7G3-AIS5602)
      Subject:CLASSIFIED (Wolf in the Fold)
      Classification: RESTRICTED

      /start file/
      Cortana,
      I made this file a few hours ago after I had found evidence of possible treasonous activities by UNSC personnel. As fleet operations commander, I knew you were in system, and I think you're the best hope of helping root out any possible information leak due to your previous experiences with infiltration. You were listed as MIA when I tried to send this, so that's why I haven't sent this document until now, I've been waiting for more news on your current status.
      I had had a calculation created on the possibility of a traitor or collaborator based on the data of the recent attack. The speed, and precision of this attack, not to mention that fact that the knowledge of this system itself is was previously unknown to the Covenant, could have only been carried out with inside information.
      Now, the calculation predicted a 96% probability that a traitor is the most plausible explanation. I have ruled out the possible scenario of a Covenant spy, due to the security of the system and it's location. The only way they could have gotten this information out was if someone high up in the chain of command had let it to get out.
      I'm not asking you go snooping around to root the leak out by yourself, but if you find anything, please let me know. This leak needs to be stopped at any cost.

                    Sincerely,

                           H. Pierce.

      /end file/

      Would you like to read attached documents? Y/N?


      Cortana activated the attached documents; several were visual recordings of when the Covenant had jumped in-system. The precision was flawless, they had known exactly where each of the UNSC's ships had been. The calculation file was exactly as Pierce had described. All the evidence pointed to a leak, and the only way that leak could have happened in this system was if someone high up in the UNSC command chain had let it through.
      She knew she had her work cut out for her. She had to find evidence of a traitor who knew exactly what he was doing. At first thought, she thought of the possibility of a Covenant AI, but when she checked Pierce's files she saw the file of the universal fleet ship scan she had attempted. No foreign AIs were present.
      Cortana sighed again. She didn't like this. The leak had to be plugged before something even more disastrous happened. And she had no idea where to even start looking for it.

The Siege of Zion Base; Part Two: Siege - Chapter Ten
Date: 23 February 2004, 2:49 AM

Part Two: Siege
Chapter 10


1600 Hours, December 8, 2552
Sinai Star System, UNSC Test
Facility, code name: Zion,
planet Genesis

      So much for that air support we were promised, thought John. He and Sgt. Winsor had been told they would have Longswords inbound to take out the bridges that the Covenant had been using to cross the gorge. After nearly two hours of waiting, John was beginning to think they weren't coming at all, and started thinking of a new plan in case they didn't.
      John and his team had been ordered to destroy the off-ramp they had used for their attack, so the Covenant couldn't use it. He had had it destroyed immediately without question, but that had been back when they thought the air support was moments away. The damage they had done to the Covenant's armor on the upper bridge level was severe enough that the Covenant still hadn't cleared the debris and wreckage out of the way. But it was only a matter of time before they did and resumed their movement into the crossroads ahead of the bridge.
      John had pulled the tank back to defend the bridge exit from the infantry that was still pouring through the lower level into the streets. The Covenant had advanced so far that they had begun fortifying their positions with portable energy shield generators and whatever else they could find that provided protection.
      Fortunately, the Marines had gotten the backup they had been promised. One more Scorpion tank, two M12 LRVs, another M12A 1 LAAV and several M12E 6 Warthog light troop transports that had brought much needed ammo and infantry reinforcements. The LTTs were loaded with weapons, ammo and medical supplies that were immediately distributed to the troops.
      The tanks and other Warthogs had started fortifying the other exits to the other bridges that the Covenant had started to cross. Being caught up on the main bridge had provided a bump in their plan, and they were splitting some of their forces off towards the smaller bridges to the east and west of the main bridge the Marines were defending now. The main bridge was being defended with ferocity and determination and the Marines were holding their own.
      John was busy in a firefight at the moment and needed ammo fast. He was behind a fallen slab of an over head ramp that had collapsed under the mortar fire of the Wraiths in the first minutes of the engagement. The ramp had originally connected two buildings on opposite sides of the street together. The ramp had taken fire and part of it had fallen into the street facing the exit to the lower level of the bridge and provided good cover from the Covenant troops that were still advancing. John was throwing grenades and picking off troops as best he could, but he was without backup and needed to get more ammo or he was going to be forced to retreat.
      He peered over the fallen bridge remnants that comprised his cover and sighted the fortified Covenant troops near the bridge's exit. The Covenant had moved large pieces of debris into strategic positions for cover, and had set up some portable energy shield generators in between the cracks in their barrier. They had made their barrier facing toward the Marine line but at an angle so that the Covenant troops could exit the bridge with cover.
      He aimed his Battle Rifle and fired at the Elites that were giving orders to the lesser infantry of Grunts and Jackals. The first Elite dropped with a bullet penetrating his skull, while the second Elite, aware that his lieutenant had just been killed, dropped behind his portable energy shield for protection. The purple energy distorted his view and he couldn't see his quarry anymore. John pulled an M9-3 flammable-liquid incendiary grenade from his belt, he looked back to where the Elite was hiding. Two blue armored Elites had taken up a position behind the energy shields with the other red armored Elite, and were not aware that he knew where they were. He armed the grenade and tossed it, then drew his rifle back up to aim.
      The grenade landed behind the energy shield and the Elites screamed and leapt out of the way, exposing themselves to his elevated position on the "ridge" of his cover. Before the grenade had even exploded, John had aimed his rifle so that the Elites would run into his fire zone away from the grenade. The Elites had dodged the grenade just as he predicted and fired at them. The Elites, now aware of their mistake, tried to return fire, but were torn apart by John's Battle Rifle. Bullets penetrated their armor and destroyed internal organs as they passed through. Purple blood leaked from their perforated bodies into the street. This had all taken place before the grenade had even exploded; his reflexes had been faster than the grenade could explode. The detonation spewed fiery liquid adhesive in every direction. Grunts and Jackals ran screaming on fire looking in vain for something to put the fire out. John aimed his rifle and shot the now exposed flaming enemies one by one. Fire, blood and flesh mixed in pools on the walls and ground where they fell.
      John stood up from where he had been crouched looking over his mound of concrete and metal cover and walked back to where the LTTs had brought in the supplies. He grabbed more grenades and ammo and picked up a M205 Grenade Launcher and some high-yield rounds. He was going to try to collapse part of the upper level of the bridge and try to block the lower entrance to the bridge, cutting off the advancing infantry.
      He slung the launcher over his back with a carrying strap, picked up his Battle Rifle, and turned to make his way back to the crossroads. Once there, he looked at the entrance to the bridge. It was crawling with Covenant, and as he was looking he saw two pairs of Hunters making their way to the front of the line around the Covenant's Barrier leading to the right. They held their massive shields before them to absorb the machine gun fire of the Marines. The Warthog's LAAG guns couldn't even penetrate them and they advanced even further.
      Finally, a Scorpion tank turned its cannon at the new threat and fired at the pair that was the furthest to the right, near the walls of a large building. The shell plowed into the left most Hunter of the pair and blew it apart, sending metal and orange flesh into the air. The second Hunter had only been damaged a little in the explosion and had been knocked off it's feet. It reared itself back up and bellowed a long, guttural scream and charged headfirst into the Marine's lines. It knocked over destroyed cars and literally threw debris out of its way. It was about to reach the line when a Marine fired two SPNKr rockets at point blank range at the advancing behemoth. The Hunter knocked the first rocket aside with a well-timed hit with his shield and it exploded behind the Hunter harmlessly, but that left his exposed chest without any protection from the second rocket. The rocket impacted and blew the Hunter in two, sending halves in opposite directions.
      That only left the other pair of Hunters to deal with. John had a decision to make; he could take out the Hunters with his grenade launcher, or try to stop the advancing troops coming trough the bridge. From where he was, to the Hunter's right, their shields were on the other sides of their bodies and he had a clear shot. But if he went for the bridge, he would give away his position behind the corner of the damaged building, they would see him and turn to face him. He decided he had to stop the main body of troops, the Hunters he could take, even if they knew he was there, but he had to cause as much trouble for the Covenant on the bridge as possible.
He ran to his left, heading towards a large overturned bus for cover. Dropping his Battle Rifle, he flipped the grenade launcher over his shoulder and inserted five high-explosive rounds into the firing chamber. The weapon could hold a total of five rounds and then needed to be reloaded, but if it was attached with a fast-loading magazine attachment it could hold 10 rounds instead of five. Without the magazine attachment, it acted much like the M90 Shotgun in operation, though the grenade launcher could be used with many different types of rounds: concussion, incendiary, and HE rounds were very commonly used with the M205.
      He loaded the rounds and held the forward grip tight. He braced the stock against his shoulder and sighted the bridge. He looked for the weakest points and tried to find the ones within range of the launcher. He found two damaged pylons holding the upper bridge aloft near the ramp that lead back down into the street, one on the right of the ramp, closest to him, and one on the left but further back. He aimed for the one that was further away and fired, then quickly aimed at the closer pylon and fired again. The first and second rounds flew through the air in an arch and impacted at nearly the same time. They exploded right on target and destabilized the forward, upper level of the bridge, which was still blocking the exit ramp.
      But it wasn't quite enough, the pylons held. He quickly aimed and fired in the same sequence as before. This time, when the grenades exploded, the upper level gave way and fell forward, breaking away from the exit ramp onto the lower level, crushing the infantry underneath. The wreckage that was still on the forward upper level fell with it and added to the massive wall that blocked the infantry from advancing. The forces on the lower bridge were now cut off until they could clear the debris and the forces on the top of the bridge would have a hard time getting to the lower level with most of the bridge's upper level exit destroyed. They would either have to drive of the top level and hope they landed without overturning, or they would have to backtrack and find another bridge to cross.
      The forces that had already crossed the bridge were now cut off. But that didn't mean they didn't keep fighting. The Elites kept the Grunts and Jackals from retreating and started lobbing plasma grenades over their cover into the Marines. Some stuck, killing some, but others were avoided or bounced off the Marine's cover.
      John looked back where the Hunters had been, they were advancing directly toward the closest Scorpion tank toward the front of the Marine's line and were now in it's dead zone. The tank couldn't defend itself from the Hunters and it couldn't retreat without crushing its allies behind it. The Hunters charged and fired their Fuel Rod Guns at the tank, whose armor held, but started glowing hot red and then turned black. The Hunters moved closer and fired again. The tank's armor was now glowing orange and was starting to melt, cooking the Marines inside. The Marines and Warthogs around the Hunters could do nothing to stop these frenzied killing machines as they continued on.
      John reloaded his grenade launcher and moved back into the street toward the Hunters. He fired at them from behind, causing them to suddenly lose interest in helpless prey and turned to face the Spartan. He pumped a new round into the chamber and fired at the Fuel Rod Gun that was charging on the arm of the Hunter to his left. The round hit the gun in the firing chamber right as the Hunter shot his own and the rounds both exploded at the same time, blowing the Hunter's arm off. The Hunter reared back in pain and clutched its bloody stump with his other shield-hand. The Hunter to John's right bellowed and charged, closing in for a melee attack. John had barely enough time to ready another shell as he sidestepped the lumbering beast. The Hunter ran past him and turned quickly, attempting to slice John with the long, sharp, armored spines on its back, but John was too quick. He ducked and rolled under the spines and fired a round into the Hunter's back at the exposed patches of orange flesh showing through the armor. The Hunter exhaled and fell to the ground, orange blood seeping from the deep hole in its back.
      John got up and turned to see the other Hunter, the one with the missing arm, right in his face. The Hunter swatted him with full force with its alloy shield, sending John, and his weapon, flying though the air into the side of a building. His energy shield flickered and went dead. He got to his feet to see the Hunter running straight at him at flank speed. Only John's superior reflexes saved him as he jumped up and over the advancing Hunter, avoiding the spines standing up on its back. He landed on his feet behind it, turned, pulled his SMG from its holster on his leg, aimed and fired all in one quick move at the exposed backside of the Hunter. The 5x23 rounds tore through the flesh of the Hunter's weak spot, obliterating the spinal cord in its back. The Hunter reeled over and fell to the ground, twitched once then died.
      John got up to see the Marines pulling back from the crossroads in front of the bridge. He ran to catch up with the main force, and called Winsor on the TACCOM. "Sir, why are we pulling back?" he asked, quite out of breath.
      Winsor's response was a little delayed, then came in; "The cavalry has finally arrived. Those Longswords finally made it. Apparently they had some trouble getting here."
      With that last remark the Longswords flew over head. John looked back towards the bridge, and saw the bombers firing missiles and dropping bombs at the bridges. They fell, along with the all of the Covenant forces on them, into the rift. The battle here was over. But the battle for the planet was still going strong.
      John was about to climb aboard a Warthog bound for a new objective when his PERSCOM activated. "Chief? Chief you there?"
      It was Cortana! Obviously she was safe if she could call him from a dedicated communication system.
      "Yes, I'm here. Where have you been? I knew you had escaped the initial bombard-"
       "No time," she interrupted. "I need you get to the underground bunkers below the main Zion base. I have something I need to show you, right now."
      John was curious, what could Cortana have found that required him to be taken off of the battlefield so immediately. Well, whatever it was it must be important if she had called him personally.
      "OK, let me check with Sgt. Winsor and find out if he can lend me a transport."
      "Be quick," said Cortana. She then signed off without warning.
      There were obviously more developments on this planet that were more important that continuing the fight. He found Winsor and told him what he needed. Winsor let him take one of the empty LTTs, which were useless in combat anyway at the moment. He drove off toward the base, hoping that whatever Cortana had found wasn't as bad as his mind was thinking it could be.

The Seige of Zion Base; Part Three: Revelation - Chapter 11
Date: 2 March 2004, 11:21 PM

Ninth Age of Reclamation, Step
of Purity Sinai Star System,
planet Genesis

      Ebyo had tracked the human into battle and had watched him single-handedly kill two Hunters, and destroy the exit to the bridge their forces had been trying to cross. A Hunter had slammed the human into the side of a building, and still he had the strength to finish the fight and kill it. The Brutes had been nearly been unable to keep themselves from rushing into battle right then, but they had kept their bloodlust in check as not to give themselves away. Ebyo knew that the only way they were going to kill this human would to be to simply follow him and attack when he was least expecting it, otherwise they had no chance at all.
      Ebyo had been watching the battle from an elevated position on the second floor of a skyscraper to the west of the Marine's forces looking north towards the bridge entrance. He had seen the human from behind when he had taken out the bridge pylons, effectively stopping their advance. If he had brought a sniper rifle he would have taken the human out then, but his shortsightedness had cost him dearly.
      He climbed down the building and exited the main entrance back into the street. He climbed aboard the Shadow that had been hidden behind the skyscraper's corner and sat into the passenger seat toward the front of the craft. 'Labadee engaged the camouflage generator and the craft disappeared once more.
      "The human left the battle, though I do not know why. He is moving towards the main base to the far east of the city," said Ebyo. "We must follow him, perhaps we can ambush him in the base itself, they may not be prepared against stealth."
      'Labadee turned the craft about and moved south, avoiding the main body of Marine troops. They made their way east, carefully, as not to draw the attention of the Marines. After the battle the human forces had split up into splinter groups to take down the landing drop ships that were securing streets for the main invasion corridor. The stealth craft could easily avoid detection at long and medium range, but if they passed too close to a human patrol they could be detected.
      The invisible vehicle neared one of the city's market squares. It was circular in shape, their southern-heading road emptying into the north of the square. Roads lead to the east, west, and south from the square, and in the middle there were trees and a park-like area surrounded by the streets around it. Unfortunately, the humans had set up a small command post in the park area in the middle of the square. There were about twenty armed humans, and two vehicles with mounted guns. The camp looked like a medical base of sorts, though if it were, then other forces would be in close proximity.
       "Is there any way around without detection?" asked Damacus from his station at the Shadow's turret.
      'Labadee looked ahead at the encampment. "Perhaps. If we move slowly and skirt the eastern road to the path leading to the base."
      Ebyo peered ahead, then readied his weapon. "Do it, but go as slow as you need to, we can't afford to be discovered now."
      'Labadee nodded and moved the craft into the square. The square, with the skyscrapers blocking the orange light of the setting sun was getting dark, so they had at least a better chance of going unseen. They turned to their left, avoiding debris in the streets, and carefully moved forward. The main thing they had to worry about was that someone in the camp would hear their craft's engine and sound the alarm, but they were far enough away that they still had a good chance that they could get by.
      As 'Labadee maneuvered the vehicle, Damacus aimed his plasma turret at the camp. If they were discovered, he wouldn't hesitate to open fire, but Ebyo hoped he would at least wait until they were absolutely sure they had been discovered. Ebyo aimed his own weapon, though the range was limited, he could and least jump out quickly and close in for the kill. Varadel hung onto the side of the craft aiming his weapon as well. If the humans were alerted, they would have a good chance at escape, but their element of surprise would be blown.
      'Labadee moved to the right, then the left, heading toward the road that lead east. He had to avoid abandoned vehicles, and fallen pieces of the damaged skyscrapers around the square. The humans still went about their business in the camp and made no move towards them.
      Suddenly one of the humans on the edge of the camp quickly stopped what he had been doing, looking up straight at them. "Stop, quickly," Ebyo whispered loudly to 'Labadee.
      The craft stopped and the human continued looking up at them. The human moved closer to them into the street, the other humans around him looking up as well. The human stopped but three meters away from them, looking not as much at them, but through them. The other humans moved closer into the street as well, many drawing their weapons. Ebyo looked at Damacus at the turret, he was barely able to keep himself from firing. Ebyo turned back to the humans in the street.
      The first human, who was also the closest, muttered something in his language and turned back to the camp. The other humans turned as well and resumed what they had been doing before.
      The Shadow's occupants breathed a collective sigh of relief that their stealth was preserved, and they continued on. After another ten minutes of slowly avoiding large roadblocks and debris pieces, they finally made it into the eastern street heading toward the base. Once safely out of sight of the human camp, 'Labadee was able to speed up to make up for the lost time they had spent in the square.
      Ebyo activated his tracermap and calculated the distance to the base. If they didn't have any more run-ins with human forces, they would be at the out skirts of the base in forty-five minutes. That would put them thirty minutes behind the human, who not only had a head start, but also had not had to slowly creep through the city for fifteen minutes.
      Ebyo powered down his weapon and tracermap. He looked up at the passing urban buildings around them, wondering how the battle in space was going. He knew that by now the commander would have probably called in reinforcements for his forces, as they had jumped in system with a minimal force to begin with. The forces would take about a hour or so to get there, but it would be better than nothing at all. He looked down ahead of the craft as they continued on.

# # #

1650 Hours, December 8, 2552
Sinai Star System, UNSC Test
Facility, code name: Zion,
planet Genesis

      John was still wondering what Cortana have found that would have made her recall him from battle. In this situation, a Spartan would be most valuable on the battlefield fighting, for that was what the Spartans had been created to do. If this was more important than the fight, then he had no idea what it could possible mean.
      He was still pondering this all the way back to the base, putting together possible scenarios and ideas. He pulled the LTT Warthog up to the main parking space in front of the base's main entrance. He exited the vehicle and walked inside the front lobby area of the central, main building of the Zion facility.
      The main lobby was a large, oval-shaped room. There was a large circular infokiosk in the center of the room with various people on stand-by to help people get where they wanted to go if they were new or had gotten lost. The room's ceiling was very high, probably three or four stories high, with the other floors having balconies showing from the walls. He had entered the lobby from the main entrance facing east toward the city. There were corridors leading to the north, south, and straight-ahead west. The lobby itself was painted white, and gray primarily, but the different corridors were painted in slightly darker shades of gray, with colored highlights.
      The north corridor was painted with blue colors, and signified that that particular part of the building housed the Weapons Division. The red colored corridor leading to the south contained the research departments of Medical Technology, Equipment Technology, and Holography. The corridor in front of him, behind the kiosk was painted with yellow colors and lead to the main research departments of Chemical Warfare Division, Communications, and the special "ATR" room. "ATR" stood for Acquired Technology Research, where UNSC scientists were researching Covenant technology that had be retrieved by the Marine forces during or after engagements. The ATR room received most of the UNSC's acquired Covenant technology, now that Reach had fallen.
      John looked around and saw a digital holo-map being projected from a small holotank near the right wall to the left of the infokiosk in the center of the room, and on the left side of the entrance to the southern corridor. He walked over to the map and told the holo-map to show him the nearest entrance to the emergency bunkers, and it brought up the schematics of the base. There were three entrances in this main building, to the north, to the south, and in the center. He was closest to the center bunker entrance, which was only three hundred meters away, and starter lightly running toward it. He figured he could waste no more time by walking, and that Cortana was probably still waiting for him.
      Just then, as if on cue, Cortana's voice piped through his COM system into his ears. "Chief? Where are you? I need to talk to you right away."
      John sighed and spoke back, "I'm coming, I'm only about three hundred meters away from the bunker entrance in the middle of the main Zion building. Which bunker are you in right now?"
      "Number four, and hurry up already," said Cortana with a hint of impatience. She had always been a impulsive, but she was really at it today for some reason.
      "I'm hurrying, I'll be there in a few minutes," replied John. The COM signal shut down and he sprinted toward the bunker entrance at a brisk jog. It took him about two a minute or two to reach the entrance. It was a large door marked with a "2" painted in yellow, signifying that it was the second entrance in the building. He approached the door, and it slid open to admit him. The security system hadn't locked down yet obviously, in case the bunker needed to be accessed quickly no doubt. Most of the scientists and base personnel had already entered the bunkers, but there could always be more at any time.
      The corridor was well lit, with lights leading to three large elevators at the bottom of a small staircase. The small staircase led to a flat concrete floor in a large room with the three elevators built into the wall to his right. These elevators were used to convey large numbers of people, about ten to fifteen John guessed, at a time down into the bunker system. The elevator farthest away from him was marked with a yellow "4", the other two being marked "5" and "6". He walked past the two other elevators to the elevator marked as "4" and pressed the elevator's recall button. After a few seconds the metal door slid aside and he entered the elevator vehicle. The door slid closed again, and the vehicle began it's descent downward. After a minute of super high-speed descent, the elevator slowed and then stopped at the bottom of the shaft, nearly a thousand meters under ground. The elevators used gravity-altering technology, probably taken from some Covenant technology no doubt, and "cushioned" the passengers from the extreme speeds it used to make it's way down. That way it could make the long distance in very little time to get the people into the bunkers as quickly as possible.
      The door slid open and John stepped through into the bunker. Dr. Mathis immediately approached him, from where she had been sitting, waiting for him. The bunker was also well lit, it was not dark at all, and the main room he was in now had pathways leading to the sleeping quarters, medical bay, and communication-command room.
      "Cortana is waiting in the communication room," said Mathis. "She's been busy trying to find a possible collaborator that may have given the Covenant information on this system's defenses. What she's found is very interesting, but I'll let her tell you about it." With that, see pointed to the command room to his left.
      He walked into the room, while prying off his helmet. He took his helmet and carried it into the room, setting it down on the chair near the console to his right. The room was sparse, just three consoles to the center and sides with a small entrance off the main room and that was it.
      Cortana appeared instantly in holographic form, being projected from the mounted holo-projector on the center console's desk. Her translucent form was not it's usual purple tint, but rather a greenish red color. She was definitely disturbed about something. She turned and looked at him, a large frown on her face.
      "Well, now that you're finally here, we can get down to business," she said.
      John needed answers, so he asked, "What am I doing here? Why couldn't you have simple told me this over the COM? I'm needed with the troops."
      Cortana looked down, then back up at his towering form. "I couldn't, there was a risk we could have been overheard, and that wouldn't have been acceptable." Cortana turned to the console, "Commodore Pierce, the commander of the fleet in orbit, sent me a message that alluded to the possibility of a UNSC traitor. Her calculations are flawless; there's no question anymore. There is someone in this system that led the Covenant here."
      John was almost surprised that he wasn't surprised, but it fit. He had entertained his own thoughts about the attack, but he hoped that he was just being paranoid. Obviously he hadn't.
      Cortana continued, "As far as I can tell, the source was a transmission that had been piggy-backed on one of our own transmissions a few weeks ago. The cruiser Belfast had sent a transmission to one of our listening posts for transmission to the UNSC base in the Kappa Lidonus system a few parsecs away for eventual re-transmission to Earth HQ. I believe the rogue signal was buried in the stronger signal and was intercepted by a Covenant ship along the line of transmission where it was decoded and then relayed to whatever intelligence branch they might have. However, the only reason I found the source of the signal was because whoever sent it left traces of activity in the transmission logs." Cortana stopped, then turned around to face John. She looked up at him once again and frowned.
      "That person left those logs there on purpose, they were definitely not overlooked. Whoever sent that signal wanted someone to find out about it. The only think I can't think of is why."
      John mulled this over. If someone had turned traitor, then why would they purposefully leave activity logs with traces of the transmission? John thought of a few reasons, but they all seemed far-fetched under the circumstances. He finally decided to at least give his opinions to Cortana, "Could he have felt guilty and wanted to give the people here a chance to defend themselves?" he said.
      "Maybe, but unlikely. Though whoever sent that transmission did it with a lot of precision, the only trace of evidence was buried deep enough that someone would find it, but only if they were looking for it. Odds are he may have created a lead for us to follow. Perhaps like a breadcrumb trail. But that still leaves the question of why."
      John had a thought, "If he wanted us to find it, then we better be careful, this may be a trap of some kind."
      "Agreed, we definitely want to be careful now that we've found this. I'll call Colonel McLeod immediately informing him of what I've found."
      "That won't be necessary," said a familiar voice behind John. He turned around to see Arthur McLeod standing just outside the elevator shaft with Dr. Mathis beside him. "I'm afraid I've already been made aware of the situation. Dr. Mathis called me an hour ago, and I've been trying to get down here ever since. Command duties kept getting in the way."
      John saluted and McLeod returned it. McLeod stepped toward the command room. "I am aware we have a security leak Cortana, but I've known about it for quite awhile."
      Cortana looked a little confused, "Did Pierce tell you? I thought she said she hadn't told anyone."
      McLeod stood up a little straighter, and hung his head, as if in penance. "No... not quite. You see, I had that transmission sent."

The Siege of Zion Base; Part Three: Revelation -Chapter 12
Date: 25 March 2004, 8:10 PM

1705 Hours, December 8, 2552
Sinai Star System, UNSC Test
Facility, code name: Zion,
planet Genesis

      "You what?" said Cortana incredulously. She obviously couldn't believe the fact that Arthur McLeod, the Colonel in charge of the planet's defense would have been the one to lead the Covenant here.
      McLeod raised his head back up, "I can't give you the answers you want right now, however, I am still in command and I am ordering you to stop searching for source leaks."
      "With all due respect, I think that if you did send those signals whatever command authority you had is nullified," said Cortana, her temper flaring. She was normally temperamental, but John had not seen her act this way since their time on Halo. There, once she had found out about 343 Guilty Spark's plans to destroy all life in the galaxy, she had been more than somewhat aggressive in her attitude, just as she was now.
      "Look, this goes beyond what you can know. Just drop it. That's an order," said McLeod, asserting his authority.
      Cortana's skin flared dark red. "I think you need to explain a bit more before I do anything. Don't forget I am an AI whose main purpose is software and hardware infiltration. I will find out, one way or another."
      John just stood there, unsure of what to say so he said nothing. Obviously McLeod had sent the transmission; he had admitted it himself. But why had he done it? And why had he told them he was the one who had sent it? Finally he thought he knew the answer, and it all fit together like a big puzzle.
      "He's telling the truth, Cortana," said John in McLeod's defense.
      Cortana's mouth almost dropped. "How can you say that? He's admitted he sent it, and now he has the audacity to tell me to keep quiet? I think you took a bigger beating out there than you thought, Chief."
      John didn't back down. "Exactly: he told us he sent it. If he really were a spy or traitor, then why would he tell us?" John turned to face Dr. Mathis, "You were in on this too weren't you?"
      Mathis looked at her feet. "Yes, for my part."
      John looked back to Cortana. "Dr. Mathis called McLeod as soon as you had found something. She had to make sure that word didn't spread of this, and the best way to keep it secret was to convince us that there really is more going on that what you had found, which you couldn't have known. If you had found out about McLeod before he told us, he would have lost all credibility."
      Cortana seemed to ponder this. Her skin turned purple again as she calmed down. "Okay, let's say I buy this theory of yours. That still doesn't explain his actions."
      McLeod nodded and folded his hands behind his back. He was hesitant to say anything, but as he thought about it, the more he realized that they deserved the truth, or at least a portion of it.
      "Very well then," said McLeod finally. "About a week before you arrived here, we discovered a Covenant AI spy in our facility databases. The AI was programmed simply to spy on us and report all activity in the system of potential tactical value. One of our scientists was able to contain the AI in a repeating diagnostic matrix, effectively trapping it, and it was no longer able to send piggybacked transmissions. After a few days of study, the spooks from ONI sent an envoy here to check it out. Less than twelve hours after he had filed his report to HQ, we were told to initiate an operation code named "Burning Bush". This operation required us to reverse-decompile the memory centers of the Covenant AI and access the command codes within it. We extracted the signal transmission codes and used them to feed the Covenant false information on this system in hopes for them to attack it sometime in the future. That way, we could determine the ground of this battle and hopefully deal a big blow to the Covenant. The Covenant never knew we had even caught their spy, let alone replaced it with our own."
      McLeod stopped and crossed his arms in front of his chest. Cortana simply took all this information in. "Did Commodore Pierce know about this?" she asked.
      "No. We were under orders not to tell anyone any more than we absolutely needed too, to keep the illusion that nothing had changed. She was more astute as discerning the situation than I gave her credit for. I had no idea that you, or anyone, had found out about the transmission until Mathis had called me."
      Cortana was still a little confused. Why had McLeod left that tiny bit of telling evidence in the logs? "Why did you that ghost log in the transmission buffer then?" asked Cortana.
      "Oh yes, that. That was my tactical AI's handiwork. Gabriel wanted to leave a little telling evidence just in case I was accused of treason. He thought that it would go a long way to help me if someone, like you, found something else that we might have overlooked, that way it would look like we were trying to warn the people here. It was his personal backdoor for me. He only told me about it after Mathis had called me down here. I should have had him reprogrammed, but he was only making sure I didn't get burned," he paused, "not to mention the fact that ONI hasn't been above turning their back on someone or something they didn't want out in the open."
      Cortana understood better now. If ONI decided to disavow all knowledge of the operation and put him away, he would be able to go to the UNSC brass and tell them what happened. ONI had its ruthless moments, and a man like McLeod wasn't one to become some spook's fall guy if the OP went south.
      John understood as well, and he commended McLeod with his commitment to duty. If the Covenant could be beat here in another decisive victory, it would set their march on Earth back even more. "So, where to we stand?" he asked.
      McLeod moved and pointed to a screen on the console on the right wall of the small command room. "The Covenant brought less ships than we anticipated, and still they are beating us. However, we knew that with the forces we had here that they would attack in a smaller number, and we counted on it. Thanks to Cortana, who saved me the time of ordering it myself, Pierce sent the Firebrand-class destroyer Faust out of the system to call in reinforcements. After they arrive, the Covenant will undoubtedly bring in their own, all we have to do is make sure that the Covenant don't catch on that we want their reinforcements to show up." McLeod was pointing at a screen showing the positions of the UNSC and Covenant ships in orbit. The Covenant was falling back to the edge of the system and the UNSC were letting them, trying to regroup.
      John saw that the Covenant could send out a transmission or ship for reinforcements at any time they chose from that distance. They might be waiting until they knew how many reinforcements they needed before they sent for it. They were biding their time now, but that didn't stop the larger ships from sending the occasional plasma torpedo toward the planet.
      Cortana spoke up, "A good plan, though when can we expect the reinforcements to arrive? And how many ships will we get?"
      McLeod pointed to an exit vector in the system. "What the Covenant don't know, is that we have a fleet ready in a adjacent star system that will jump as soon as it gets word from the Faust. They will exit here, in between the planet and the Covenant position at the edge of the system. The fleet contains about a hundred or so ships of various classes. Leading the fleet will be three Dreadnought-class heavy battle cruisers: the Liberty, Freedom, and Justice. Even if the Covenant does bring in reinforcements, they wouldn't have thought that they would need so many to take down this force." McLeod paused for a few seconds then continued, "The fleet will jump a small force into the system, wait for the Covenant reinforcements to show up, then jump the remaining larger force in system to crush them."
      It was a sound plan, but John was getting anxious. He was about to ask if he could be allowed to go back to help defend the city, which was still a problem in itself. The Marines had to defend the city so the people had time to evacuate the planet as soon as it was safe in orbit.
      "What about he ground forces?" John asked.
      McLeod hit a few controls and the image on the screen changed from the space battle to a view of the planet's surface. "The main city population is ready to depart the planet now. I was still deciding whether or not to give the go ahead for evacuation, but with the city still a hot zone, the population has no where to run except to space. The Marines are holding their ground, the rift to the north halted the Covenant's secondary advance all together, but the main force still drives toward the command center and the Zion facility."
      John saw the potential danger. If the Covenant did manage to knock out the command center, the city would be lost and the Covenant could enter the underground evacuation hangars and kill the entire civilian population. "The fighting in orbit had dulled, perhaps you should order the evacuation codes and get the civilians out of the system. That way at least they wouldn't be a potential factor in command decisions in the future."
      "The skies above the city are still filled with air and space fighters. Could the airfield to the east cover so many ships in orbit?" said Mathis.
      McLeod changed the view again to view the airfield. It was a well-oiled machine, fighters being re-armed, and re-fueled, taking off, landing all in a very efficient way. "Quartermaine's lost a lot of fighters, but we might be able to break off some fighters from orbit to escort them. All right, I'll give the order to evacuate the planet's civilians. Once they're out of system they'll be safe and out of harm's way in the event something happens that we haven't foreseen."
      McLeod turned and left the room, Dr. Mathis with him. They went to the elevator and ascended to the main floor at ground level. Cortana waited until they left to speak. She had been thinking on something since the beginning of the conversation and she couldn't keep it in any longer. "Something's not right."
      John turned around, searching for his helmet, which he had taken off. "What makes you say that?" he said while re-attaching his helmet.
      Cortana looked back at the screens of battle. "I don't know, I just feel like there's more danger here than McLeod is letting on. Either that or he doesn't know all the facts. He seemed a little sidetracked, like something was out of place."
      Cortana turned around on her holotank and sighed. "Well, whatever it was, it might not be important, or even existent for all I know. Let's get me back in the suit, my work here is done."
      John disengaged Cortana's datachip from the holotank and inserted it into his suit's neural lace attachment slot behind his head. He felt the refreshing coolness of Cortana's matrix interacting with the suit.
      "Home, sweet home," said Cortana. She had always liked it better in the MJOLNIR suit, than a holotank for some reason. Probably because she felt safer under all the armor.
      John hefted his Battle Rifle back up and checked its ammo. "Let's get going, I want to get back to help defend the command center. They'll need ever hand they can get," said John. With that, he walked out of the control room over to the elevator that would lead back up to the surface. He hit the button and waited for the lift to descend. He waited few seconds and the door slid open.
      In the elevator was a shimmering blur that bellowed a war cry, and charged.

The Siege of Zion Base; Part Three: Revelation - Chapter 13
Date: 25 March 2004, 8:13 PM

      Ebyo and his team, The Hand of Retribution, had followed the human to the planet's main research base. The base entrance was fortified somewhat, but most of the forces were in the city fending off the Covenant's push toward the military command center in the center of the city. The entrance was only really protecting from threats that might appear in the air or near the other parts of the base that were attempting to evacuate.
      'Labadee stopped the vehicle outside the perimeter of the base entrance and shut the power down. In whispered tones the occupants discussed the best way to enter the building and follow the human. Ebyo decided since 'Labadee had the active camouflage generator that he would take the main entrance. He would attempt to follow the human in his own steps and the rest of the team would follow the tracking signal emitted by 'Labadee's tracermap. Since the Brutes and Ebyo would be visible they were going to go around the base until they could find a secluded place to enter the base while alerting and causing as little a disturbance as possible.
      'Labadee disconnected the camo generator from the vehicle and engaged his cloaking field. He fitted his weapons to his body's armor. With no glowing weapons to give him away he would have a better chance of infiltrating the base. He jumped out of the hidden vehicle and started toward the base entrance, hiding behind cover, and being very careful in his movements.
      Ebyo turned and motioned to his Brute teammates to exit the vehicle and proceed along the perimeter of the urban building behind a small tree line that had obviously been artificially grown and implanted in the ground. It made at least some cover from the small garrison of troops around the base. The Marines had some stationary turrets and some small ground vehicles that ran patrols around the perimeter. The Elite and his team made their way ever so slowly through the small building and brush, circling the base, looking for a way in.
      And then, he saw it. There was an entrance for non-military personnel on the south side of the base. It was guarded, but only by four armed humans. They would be no trouble unless they raised an alarm, which meant they needed some stealth.
      Ebyo keyed armor's communication sequence and called 'Labadee who was already inside the base. "Leba, don't respond to this transmission. It's coded, but I don't want to take any chances. We have an entrance to the base, but it's guarded and we need you to come up behind them and take the humans out so they don't raise an alarm. We can wait here until you have found where the human has gone. Take your time, but make sure you take these humans out so we can get in. I'm sending you the coordinates of the entrance"
      No response came, as ordered. Five minutes later the entrance made a noise, barely perceptible by the Covenant hiding on the outskirts of the base. One of the humans turned and opened the entrance door, the sound was a simple activation beep so he had no idea of what awaited him. As soon as the door opened he was pulled through the door by some unseen force. The human's yelp was cut off, along with his head, but the sound had alerted the guards anyway. They never even knew what was happening, and one by one, a suspended, blue glowing blade of energy cut them apart one by one. They hadn't even had time to react let alone have the sense of mind to sound an alarm.
      Ebyo, Varadel, and Damacus came out of their hiding spot and crept up to the base entrance, their weapons leveled and ready.
      'Labadee deactivated his energy sword and replaced it at his hip. "The human went down a lift carriage to a secure bunker below the base. From the schematics I was able to find, there are multiple entrances to these bunkers and they are all connected together via various passageways."
      Ebyo nodded. "Damacus, Varadel, hide the bodies in the brush. I want to see these schematics, Leba."
      After the Brutes had hid the shredded body parts in the brush and trees, Ebyo showed them the plan. 'Labadee had seen that most of the base personnel had evacuated and taken their research with them. The only humans left in the base were patrols of soldiers and a minimal guard detail. 'Labadee would follow the human along their original pathway to the bunkers, and Ebyo would take a different bunker entrance to the south and make his way through the tunnels there, cutting off any other avenue of retreat from the human. The Brutes would enter from the opposite side of Ebyo, from the north, and come in fast and hard to catch the human if he chose to flee that way. The human would be caught in the bunkers with no way out, except through them.
      Ebyo signaled the plan into action and they went to their assigned path.

# # #

1710 Hours, December 8, 2552
Sinai Star System, UNSC Test
Facility, code name: Zion,
planet Genesis

      John dove backwards as the blur charged forward. An instant later, a blue energy blade sparked to life and slashed right where he had been standing. He ducked and rolled to the right, out of the blur's way. He then started backing up to get some distance between him and the blur, which he knew now to be an Elite Infiltrator. There wasn't much room in the bunker, and his Battle Rifle was only useful at medium and long ranges; close combat in a bunker wasn't especially suited for a rifle. He dropped the rifle and snatched his SMG from its holster on his leg. As the Elite with the energy blade moved toward him John fired a steady spray of bullets at his enemy.
      The Elite dodged and took cover behind a support brace built into the bunker wall that holding the ceiling up. John continued retreating back into the barracks section of the bunker, toward the exit to the south, hoping to find another way out of the bunker system. He reloaded his SMG and took out a frag grenade. He found the barrack room entrance and went through the door, which closed behind him. He looked behind him and saw the door open again, giving admittance to a floating energy blade. The Elite saw him and bellowed a load sound that reverberated off of the walls. John armed the grenade and threw it back at the Elite as he ran toward the intra-bunker tunnel entrance. The Elite deftly dodged the grenade, and managed to duck behind another support brace before it exploded.
      John didn't look to see what happened, he was running low on ammo, and didn't want to go head-to-head with an Elite wielding an energy blade. He turned and continued running toward the tunnel entrance activating the entrance door panel.
      Cortana, who had been silent throughout the fight, suddenly gasped and screamed, "Duck!"
      As he did, he heard another bellow behind him and ducked just in time to avoid the energy blade slashing at his head. The energy blade seared through the wall and left a smoldering stripe of charred metal in its wake.
      John swung backwards with all his strength and hit the Elite square in the chest. His MJOLNIR-assisted strength sent the Elite flying backwards into a set of bunks built into the walls. The Elite hit the bunks and fell to the ground, unconscious, or dazed. John wasn't sure if the Elite were faking, so he fired a few shots with his SMG from a distance rather than get closer.
      To John's utter surprise, the Elite blocked all of his shots with his blade. The Elite's blade moved to intercept most of his shots, and the bullets melted under the intense heat of the blade. The Elite got back to its feet and moved forward.
      John turned and ran into the tunnel and took out his last two frag grenades. The tunnel was about eight feet high and five feet wide, with support bracings attached from the walls to the floor and ceiling. Pulsing yellow warning lights from the ceiling and steady red lights on the floor lit the tunnel with an eerie glow.
      John turned and threw his grenades back toward the tunnel entrance, one at the bracings on the floor, and one at the bracings connected to the ceiling. The Elite was about to enter the tunnel when the grenades exploded. The collapsing of the floor and ceiling braces caused the tunnel to start caving in. The Elite made a sound like a gasp and threw itself backward, away from the collapsing tunnel, and was lost from sight by the smoke and dust.
      When the dust settled, John could see that the tunnel entrance was gone for good. Twisted metal, slabs of concrete and collapsed supports blocked the tunnel in a pile of debris. It would take a whole engineering crew at least a week to clear it out. John, hardly even out of breath, turned around and looked down the long tunnel. The lights in the tunnel had gone out, so he activated his helmet's built in light so he could see.
      Cortana now decided it was a good time to speak, "Well... that went well."
      John grimaced, "We need to get out of here, how long does this tunnel extend?"
      "About three hundred meters, it exits into another bunker, but that bunker doesn't have a surface exit, we'll have to continue on until we find one."
      John started down the tunnel at a brisk pace, enough to cover the distance quickly, but not enough to tire himself out in case he ran into another Covenant soldier. If one Elite could infiltrate the compound, there's no telling how many others there might be.

# # #

      'Labadee gasped and threw himself backwards as the tunnel entrance began to collapse. The human's grenades had fractured the supports, and if he had remained where he was, he would have been crushed underneath the rubble.
      'Labadee got back up from where he had fallen, and stood back up. The tunnel was completely cut off. The human had escaped him, but not the entire trap. He activated his communication signaler, and reported to his commander, "Sir, the human escaped me, but his only means of exiting the bunker system is to move toward your position."
      "Excellent, recall the Brutes and try to follow my signal. If you can get into the bunkers from my end to support me, we can be sure to kill this human, but I do not want to take him alone, he is much to powerful."
      'Labadee smiled to himself, "I do not think he is as powerful as you think, he used most of his ammo and weapons in our engagement, he is nearly unarmed."
      "Very good, I'll try to cut him off before he finds an exit, but be there to support me none the less, we can't take chances."
      "Yes, sir," said 'Labadee. He shut his signaler off, turned around headed back to the elevator that would take him

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