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Halo 2: Uprising - Chapter 6
Posted By: Mad Max<madmax6251991@hotmail.com>
Date: 17 January 2008, 8:12 pm
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Chapter 6
Elevator descending to Fire Control Center
Cairo Orbital Defense Platform
October 20, 2552 (Military Calendar)
The Master Chief stepped into the elevator, reloading his BR55 as the doors shut and locked behind him. The airlock hissed air and the elevator started to descend. As it did so, he swapped the battle rifle for the shotgun.
"Just so you know," Cortana chimed in on the Chief's private COM line, "thermal scans indicate that there are quite a few Elites guarding the bomb. You may need to get creative."
"It wouldn't be the first time," the Chief muttered but Cortana didn't reply.
He wondered what kind of trap had been set for him, as well as the opposition he would face. He checked the M90, which was fully loaded, and racked the pump, deciding that however many rounds he fired would tell the tale.
Private First Class Daniel Munez had been sitting cross-legged under the compartment of the charging capacitor on the side closet to the elevator. The semi-muted sound of the elevator's descent was enough to perk him up, even bringing a smile to his face.
The cavalry has arrived!
Daniel thumbed the magazine release on his M7 to check the rounds, more from habit than ingrained training. Satisfied, he inserted it on the left side of the submachine gun and flipped the safety to the 'off' position.
He stood and scanned what little he could see. He saw what was unmistakably the Covenant bomb that Lord Hood and Cortana had referred to on the COM. It was strange looking, but then again, all Covenant technology was strange. The few aliens he could see quickly scattered out of his sight.
An ambush, he thought. Maybe the Chief could use some help, too.
The distant rumble through the wall to his right stopped and the elevator chimed.
"Shh! Be quiet and get in position!" Commander Zavi 'Peutomee whispered harshly. He had made sure the preplanned positions for the ambush were completely hidden from the elevator's sight.
The lift chimed and Zavi heard the doors part.
"He's here!" Zavi whispered so quietly that his voice was barely audible. "Attack on my signal!"
The elevator parted and John snapped the shotgun to his shoulder. He cautiously stepped in, his head whipping back and forth as well as up to the ceiling for Drones, of which there were none.
A covered compartment to his left was clear, but he saw no sight of the bomb until he peered around a crate placed up against the right side of the wall.
It was an oval cylinder of sorts, with various spikes protruding from its surface, and roughly as long as the Chief was if he laid on his back. One part stuck out in a rough circle, and it was pulsing red at a steady rate. That wasn't good.
The Master Chief heard a throat mic click over his COM. It was the universal gesture used by UNSC personnel to signal nearby friendlies of hostile forces in the vicinity, and it was virtually untraceable. The click had originated from the back of the room, according to the schematic overlay of the room on his HUD. He turned left toward the covered compartment, and then made another left into the room. At the back, he saw a shadowy figure underneath the MAC's charging capacitor; the FOF tag read PFC. Daniel Munez.
"Sir!" Daniel whispered. "Thank God you're here! I've been listening in on the chatter between you and Hood, so I'm glad you're here."
"How long have you been here?" the Master Chief asked.
"Ever since the Covenant attacked, sir. I was in the middle of a shift change, and then the power to the elevator shut off--" He gestured to the Spartan with his left hand. "--but I guess it's working again."
"Listen, Private. I need to clear this room and defuse the bomb; how many did you see?"
The private first class thought for a moment, one hand on his chin as looked at the ceiling and licked his lips. "A whole shitload of Grunts and...three Elites--no, no wait...four Elites, my bad, sir!" Munez looked slightly embarrassed.
"Not a problem." The Chief craned his head to glance back out at Earth. The Cairo shook as the second Covenant carrier from the radio report bypassed the Cairo, roughly following the first carrier's course toward the surface.
John looked back at the Marine. "I need you to create a distraction," he said, and began outlining his plan to the private first class.
Zavi started to feel his unease grow more and more as nothing happened.
The hen thought he heard the sound of not one, but two sets of footsteps creeping on the deck. Then he heard one pair break into a run, and that's when the shooting began.
"Fire! Suppressing fire!" Commander 'Peutomee barked. He quickly checked to see if his twin Needlers were loaded and he pointed them in the direction of the enemy.
But which one is it? he wondered. Zavi hadn't seen the target so he couldn't be sure.
Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit! Daniel Munez cursed as plasma fire flew past him into the wall. He was back at his previous hiding spot, from before the Covenant had entered the room.
He popped out and fired at a few Grunts with his M7, then took cover as lances of plasma slashed at the air where he had just vacated. He reloaded the SMG, crouching low.
C'mon Chief! I could use some help here!
And then the signal came.
The Master Chief ran up the right side of Fire Control to the far end of the room, knocking two Grunts off their hooves with blasts from his shotgun. He neared the bomb and hopped over it, placing himself between the bomb and the massive window.
The Spartan was surprised to be facing an Elite Major armed with two Needlers. It growled and unleashed a flurry of pink shards.
Zavi mashed the firing mechanism on the Needlers but the Demon rolled out of the way behind a crate.
He heard a grenade clink on the floor behind him. He glanced over his shoulder and was horrified to see it land in the middle of his squad. None of them seemed to have noticed through the wave of plasma they were creating.
'Peutomee did, however, and he dived over the bomb right as the grenade exploded. He rolled and then slammed into the opposite wall. Not suffering a single injury, the commander slowly rose and saw that the remainder of his squad had indeed been annihilated.
The rage rose inside of Zavi to where he couldnt contain it; he snapped. Tossing the Needlers to the floor, he saw a flash of green and with a furious battle cry, he threw himself at the Demon without a second thought.
John clamped his gloved armored hands around the Elite's wrists as he struggled to gain the upperhand. The alien had took him by surprise and he swore at himself for not being more alert.
The Master Chief cocked his head back and crashed the crude, impromptu weapon into the Elite's breast plate. Its shield flared, but the Covenant warrior briefly slackened its grip, allowing John to jab it in the face.
The Elite's head whipped back, its arms flailing back in the proces, and John used his other hand to deliver an open-palmed strike to its helmet. The Covenant warrior flew backwards into a crate, bouncing off and landing on its side. The Chief kip-upped and charged with his arm cocked back.
The commander felt a lance of pain shoot through his back mixed with a dull pulsing throb in his head. The Demon charged at him, but due to his animalistic desire to kill this scoundrel, he came up into a half-crouch with surprising speed, grabbed the Demon's incoming fist, and threw him to his right.
Zavi pounced and the two started rolling on the ground, exchanging blows, while both of their shields began to steadily drop.
The Chief wasn't sure how much more punishment he could take; his shield was about to fail, and he kept moving his head to avoid the alien's fists but some still connected. He and the Elite were rolling back and forth on the ground, fighting for control. He could see PFC Munez with his M7 raised, attempting to get a good shot, but due to the constant movement, it looked nearly impossible for him.
Then, once again, the Elite was on top and John was wrestling for control. He held the Elite's wrists tight and in response, the alien tried to headbutt the Chief; all the creature succeeded in doing was bashing its own cranium into the desk. A trickle of deep purple blood splashed onto his visor, and slowly slid down the sides.
Commander 'Peutomee was aware of his own blood dripping into his eyes as he furiously attempted to kill the Demon. He didn't feel any pain: his anger coupled with the adrenaline rush negated any feelings of hurt.
The Demon barked a command in a language he couldn't understand, but he still heard the words: "Private, kill this bastard!"
Zavi felt multiple stabs into his back, followed by intense pressure as blood exited his body. He cursed himself for being in a blind rage and forgetting about the other mongrel behind him. He felt his strength start to diminish and his vision narrowed.
Damn Muraw's incompetence! his mind screamed.
The only thing left to do was set the bomb's timer to ten seconds. He activated a button his wrist and closed his eyes as he entered the Divine Beyond.
The Master Chief felt the Elite's dead weight drop onto him and he shoved the corpse off. He stood and gave Daniel a thumbs up, who smiled and nodded. The celebration soon ended as the Chief heard the bomb start to squak loudly. He cocked his head toward the bomb and sprinted.
The red light on top started to blink with increasing rapidness. Cortana appeared in a holotank next to the bomb, something he hadn't noticed before.
"Me. Inside your head. Now!"
The Chief put his palm on the pedestal, causing the AI's image to disappear and a cold chill, followed by a spike of brief pain, entered his head. The bomb's squak also began increasing in pitch and without further thought, John put his palm on top of the blinking red area. The bomb chirped twice, and the red turned a cyan blue.
He hadn't realized he had been holding his breath. He exhaled and asked, "How much time was left?"
"You don't want to know," Cortana replied.
The COM activated. "Cairo, this is In Amber Clad." The smooth voice of Commander Miranda Keyes rippled over the channel. "The carrier's shield is down. I'm in position and ready for immediate assault."
"Negative, Commander," Lord Hood countermanded. "Not against a ship that size. Not on your own."
"Sir...permission to leave the station," the Master Chief asked, an idea swiftly forming in his head.
"For what purpose, Master Chief?" Fleet Admiral Hood sounded confused.
"To give the Covenant back their bomb."
Admiral Hood must've been thinking about the idea because there was a brief silence before his reply: "Permission granted." The COM channel snapped off.
John nodded to PFC Munez, who had been watching the Chief the whole time. Munez stood at attention and saluted crisply, which the Chief returned. Then he grabbed two of the spikes on the deactivated bomb and began dragging it across the floor to the elevator. Once inside, the doors shut amd Cortana made the lift ascend.
"I know what you're thinking," the AI said, her voice laced with doubt, "and it's crazy."
The Chief shrugged, then realized she couldn't see him. "So? Stay here."
"Unfortunately for us both..." Cortana replied with a hint of a playful tone. "I like crazy."
The elevator stopped at the top and the doors opened into a Longsword launch bay; he stepped through, dragging the bomb behind him. The entire fleet was falling back toward Earth, chasing the Covenant vessels. Exchanges of plasma and MAC gun fire flickered against the backdrop of space.
A single pillar stood in the center of the bay, stretching from floor to ceiling. The Master Chief strode to the column, slamming his fist into a square button. The door's release handle dropped down above him.
"Just one question...what if you miss?"
John tightened his grip on the handle. "I won't."
He pulled on the handle and the blastdoors began to cycle open. The bay rapidly decompressed, and small pieces of debris levitated and flew off into space. The Covenant bomb slowly began to slide toward the doors, the spikes creating sparks as it dragged across the floor. it started to speed up and as it drew even with John's position, he reached his hand out and grabbed onto one of the spikes.
Here goes nothing, he thought as the bomb banked up out of the doors then dove downward like a fish.
Now free-falling, the Master Chief guided his trajectory in the general direction of northern Africa. He looked around, scanning for the two Covenant carriers. He looked down, and spied the first carrier miles away.
Too far to reach, the Spartan thought.
Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, the second carrier filled his entire view, almost right beneath him. He saw one of its pulse lasers begin to charge, and he shut his eyes, thinking it was the end. He heard it fire, and the heat washed over his armor and his skin felt sunburned.
John opened his eyes to find that he hadn't been vaporized; however, the laser had been awfully close. Then he saw a human cruiser pass by below him, taking the plasma straight through the spine, then exploding. The Chief accelerated past it, watching as the cruiser's engines failed trying to relight themselves.
A trio of Longsword Interceptors dove past him and made a strafing run along the alien vessel. A staccato beat of fire resounded along the back of the carrier, nearly silent in the vacuum of space. As the fire and smoke cleared, the Chief slipped in through a small hole created by the Longswords.
The carrier's center was a huge, open chamber containing a massive fusion core, casting harsh white light across its innards. John's visor automatically polarized and darkened to compensate for the brightness. From the Chief's view, the vessel had sustained alot of punishment: the other side of the chamber was ripped wide open, exposing a view of Earth.
Commander Keyes noticed a vaguely forest-green object floating amongst the blackness of space, and pulled it up on the viewscreen.
"Increase magnification times ten," she said to her weapons officer, Lieutenant Peters. "I want a visual on that object."
"Yes, ma'am," Lieutenant Peters replied, tapping away on the weapons panel. "Visual on screen in three."
Three seconds passed and the view zoomed in. Miranda watched as the Master Chief glided through a hole in one of the Covenant carriers. He was holding onto a large oval filled with spikes.
Must be the bomb, she surmised as a plan formed in her head.
"Lieutenant Dilenger." Keyes turned in her seat toward her navigation officer. "The Chief's going to need a place to go when he's done. Plot a course that puts next to the carrier and slightly above it. I want engines to one-hundred percent; we'll have to be fast if we want to escape the blast radius when that bomb goes off. On the double!"
"Aye, ma'am," she replied, tweaking a knob and typing in the coordinates.
"Engines at ninety-five, ma'am, will be at full power in sixty seconds," another of the officers called out.
In Amber Clad slowly started to gain speed. Miranda prayed to God she got there in time.
Sergeant Johnson entered the bridge and approached Keyes, standing at her side. He took a long drag from his cigar, which was against every UNSC regulation, but he didn't give a damn. He used it to point at the screen.
"We pickin' up our boy, Commander?" the sergeant inquired.
"That we are, Johnson," Keyes replied, as the In Amber Clad drew closer to the carrier.
John crawled up the length of the bomb toward its activation panel. He glanced up to align himself with the hole.
This better work, he thought.
He pressed his palm to the panel and it started blinking red. He spun around, flexed his legs, and pushed off the bomb. He made minor course corrections as the Master Chief cleared the split in the carrier.
Behind him, minor blue explosions appeared up and down the length of the Covenant warship. They stopped briefly, and the entire ship detonated in a giant fireball. John felt his teeth rattle in his skull, and it felt as though his stomach was in his throat.
He started to free-fall towards Earth until a UNSC frigate miracuously broke his fall.
The thud was felt and heard throughout the ship, but more so on the bridge than anywhere else.
Sergeant Johnson couldn't help but grin. "For a brick...he flew pretty damn good!"
Commander Keyes flashed a small smile of her own, and activated the COM line. "Chief, get inside and gear up. We're taking this fight to the surface."
The Spartan's gravelly voice replied, "Yes, ma'am. I'll be inside in a few."
The Chief about-faced and searched the top of In Amber Clad for a maintenance hatch and spotted one fifty meters away.
Using handles and parts of the hull as hand-holds, he crawled along the frigate's spine until he reached the latch. He took a final glance at the carrier, now twisting lazily in the vacuum.
He twisted the handle, pulled the cover open, and glided inward. He grabbed the underside of the cover, pulled it shut, and locked the handle back in place. The atmosphere hissed loudly and a door directly behind him opened. Now back on his feet, the Master Chief marched to the bridge.
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