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Chapter Five: Part Three: Disappointment

      "Wait, we'll make a stop here. We got some supplies from the Agony and Retaliation, lets use them before leaving. The ones with the greatest need of health supplies are prioritised first, and when all of the wounded have got their share, we'll split the rest up between us and keep it for future use. It's the same with other supplies, the ones that are in greatest need gets first, and when everybody has got their share, we'll split the rest up." Awacar ordered.

      A break was taken before the force moved on. At the other side of the valley were two passages, the one that they came from and another one, where they would have to walk upwards in a 40-degree slope.
      They knew the risk if any resistance showed up, but still choosed the one with the slope. The passage frequently changed direction, so the way they walked was much more strenuous than if it had been straight. At the end of the passage was a gate, one of those Forerunners made, which split up into three pieces that withdrew themselves, but in large scale. Awacar prepared himself for a wave of attack that would wash over him when the gate opened, but there was just the noise originating from the door that was heard, the view of a hallway that was seen, and the feeling of air flowing around your face that was felt when the force entered the hallway behind the gate.

      "Cortana, can you check if there are any enemies around here?" Awacar asked carefully.

Cortana:
      "I read some sort of life signs when you follow the paths that are shown to you at the end of the hallway, but its a hundred meters away or more. The thing I can say about the lifeforms is that they're not human, but more than that I can't say because the thick walls here stop clear signals from getting to me."

      "Okay then, lets walk on, and if you can identify the life forms before we get there, you're welcome to say something about it." Awacar said in fear of the unknown; he didn't want to have another enemy, he thought that he had his hands full.

      The Covenant walked the only path that could be walked, and after a while when the forces had walked through the winding tunnels and through tens of smaller gates, Cortana could read what type of life forms it were, the readings clearly indicated: Forerunner presence. She told this to Awacar, and the forced gathered close to the next metal door, before they stormed in. And as Cortana thought, there were Forerunners, Engineers in the room, a large, round room with pillars rising from the floor, and strange lights were sitting along their sides. The lights, shape of the room, pillars and mirrors on the walls created optical illusions, making it very hard to determine where the Forerunners were located.

Awacar:
      "Since the Forerunners don't want us to know where they are, shoot at the mirrors and make them angry."

      Glass that broke apart, grenades that detonated, and screams of Engineers in fear was heard as a fight broke out. The Forerunners couldn't really put up with a fight, and they were quickly killed. Green blood had been sprayed over the floor, and the Covenant stood in it as they tasted the sweetness of a small victory.

      "Move, we aren't here on a vacation!" said Awacar as he ordered his force to continue.

      They got to yet another gate, and the Hunters used their powerful weapons to break it. Suddenly, a cracking sound could be heard between the explosions of fuel rod cells, and after a chilly wind blew into the room, as a majestic scenario could be seen. On the other side of the broken gate, there was an enormous bridge reaching to the opposite side of the area, where another gate was. Above the middle of this bridge, there was another, running at right angles to the one that the Covenant was about to get on.
      A lot of Forerunners fought masses of Betrayers at the other bridge, but they also had time to fire a couple of shots towards the Covenant. Master Chief was given a plasma sniper, and an order to take out as many enemies as possible. Rays of plasma hit chests and heads of Engineers, Commandos, Elites and Brutes, who were the fighters at the bridge above. The Chief felt a slight joy as he shot Forerunner after Forerunner that was about to fire anything against his comrades. Covenant ran over the giant bridge and fired at random, while Master Chief covered them, and when all of the Covenant was below the other bridge, the Chief had to make a rush to get to the Covenant.
      It was harder than he thought, and he started to realize the importance he made when the troops were running on the bridge. He dodged, jumped, sidestepped, even rolled on his side when he ran for cover. He got wounded, his evasiness couldn't completely save him from the horrors of grenades. His shield went down, as so many times before, and he lost two of the marks in his health indicator.

Awacar:
      "Cortana, what will the rate of survival be if we all run towards the other gate at the same time?"

      "10% at most, more realistic calculations tell me that 5% is believable." Cortana informed.

      "That's unacceptable, do you have any suggestions about what we can do?" Awacar asked, feeling worried.

      Before Cortana even had the chance to say "No.", he asked her another thing.

      "Where's the Forerunners on the bridge above us located?"

Cortana:
      "On the west side of the bridge. We were moving from east to west, so they get that we want to get to the west. When we run out there, they'll shoot at us. Why do you ask this? I thought that you, if anyone, would know."

      "Yes I know, just wanted to make sure that I was right. You see, they won't shoot at us when we run out there." Awacar said with self-confidence that was bigger than a galaxy.

      "Why wouldn't they shoot at us?" Cortana asked.

Awacar:
      "By then, I and two more dozens of Elites have been firing our rod cannons from the east gate for a few seconds, and after the start of this, Master Chief will be standing next to the west gate, sniping at Forerunners that might check to see if any Covenant will run over the bridge and use the chaos created. And we will, people, when the Chief is at place, make the run. Grunts, those of you that have rod guns, switch them for needlers, and give the rod guns to the Elites."

      "We will follow you, Awacar. We can be a great supplement with our weapons." a Hunter said.

      "You'll have to be with those who go on, and you'll be returning fire if any Forerunners attack you. Besides, we'll have to sneak to the east gate, your foot shields will make too much noise." Awacar informed

      Twenty-five Elites carefully walked to the place that they came from, and when they reached their target location, a massive volley was sent towards the bridge where the Forerunners were. As Awacar thought, the Forerunners returned fire, and after a while the Master Chief was on the move. He took sniping position, and the Covenant ran to the west gate. MC did get to shoot a few Forerunners down, but not enough, and fortunately, the Hunters did their job well, the Forerunners that went for Covenant forces didn't get many shots, but still a few, which killed several Covenant.
      Now, all of the infantry had got to safety, and only Awacar and the twenty-four Elites remained out there.

      "Awacar, you'll need to get back here now, to stay there doesn't serve you any purpose." Cortana informed via comm. link.

      "Comprende, when we're under the bridge, cover us!" Awacar replied.

      "You know that we will." Master Chief told Awacar.

      All of the Elites started to move towards the other side of the bridge, a mission that would have been suicide if they hadn't used their rod guns as frequently as they did, or if Master Chief wouldn't cover them. Now they got over without a single loss.

      "Lets walk on." Awacar said when he got through the gate.

      Heavy footsteps could be heard by the Chief, and they were accompanied by explosives that tried to break the gate that an Elite had put effort in sealing. When the troops moved on, they engaged a team of Grunts, Jackals and Brutes.
      As Master Chief aimed at a Brute, a Hunter put his shield in front of the gun, and the Chief understood that the Hunter would take care of the Brute, whether he shot or not. Eyes in fear could be seen if you looked at the Betrayer, the heavy creature that moved towards him scared him. One hundred and twenty kilos of shield was smashed into the Brute, but the Hunter had to run to a wall and bash his enemy into it, with an incredible effort, and the Brute died.
      The Jackals were under heavy pressure from the Elites, and of course, they were killed quite quickly. A Covenant Elite lead the chase for the Brutes, and found what he was looking for. Blue light travelled the room when the Elite threw a grenade, and it continued to glow even after it had attached to the shoulder of the Betrayer. Explosion-like sounds ringed in the ears of the Elite, but he only enjoyed it, and when he looked closer, he became happier, the grenade had brought another Brute to hell.
      While this happened, Covenant Jackals faced Grunts, and plasma pistols were the only appropriate weapon here. Three Jackals lost their shields, and one of them also lost his life, together with the Grunt he killed by aiming at the poor creatures mask. After the Jackals started to organize, they took the command. They pinpointed their attacks at single Grunts and killed them before firing at anyone else.

      "We're done here, lets move!" Awacar ordered.

      The sound of metal that clashed together as the winning force moved was barely heard, with different body fluids on their feet. Sounds of the footsteps still echoed unfriendly, until the end of the path was reached, and a gate opened. They were back in the second area they were in at Perambulate, but now, they could only walk on the bridge made of rock, and had a thick layer of packed snow on it. Awacar ordered them to cross it, and Forerunners took the bridge as a target. Incredible trembles shook the bridge as grenades hit it, and detonated.

      "Why is it shaking so much? It is made by stone, right?" Awacar asked while worry rushed through his mind.

      "I'm not completely sure, it might be a trap made by the Forerunners, the possibility occurs to me when I examine it at this range. ... ... Damn! Get of this thing ASAP! It's just pieces of ice that was painted so it looked like stone, and somehow they managed to mess with it, so that all the signs indicates solid stone when examined." Cortana said, being in, and causing panic.

Awacar:
      "The one that stands still here to long will be dead! Get out of here!"

      When they started running, Banshees spotted them, and tried to kill them.

      "If a Banshee gets in firing range, get so far away from it as you can. If you are near the edges of this bridge, a miss will be more easy t do, and a hit won't do as much as a hit at the thickest place." Awacar said, trying to minimize the chances for a bridge collapse.

      Banshees approached from all directions and the infantry was forced to move from side to side as a snake. Two Hunters managed to get a vehicle to the ground, not landing it, and a few Brutes took out two. As every one knew, this wasn't enough, especially when the Covenant suffered so many casualties as they did.

      "Cortana, how many have we lost?" Awacar wondered.

      "We've lost thirty percent of the crew that lived from the crossing bridges." Cortana informed.

Awacar:
      "Okay everyone, make a last run to the land at the other end of this thing, I don't care if you get in the line of fire, you will anyway if you don't increase your speed!"

      They knew that they might have to pay with their lives for not following that order, so they did follow. Another ten percent of the crew that got of the last bridge was killed due to banshee shots made from the darkness in the snowy night. Shortly after the forces got off the bridge, it was no longer. A shot from a Bio-tank had hit it, and it collapsed.

      The infantry moved through the passage that they had got into by crossing the former bridge, and the passage slowly got wider, to at last become a big, round area where you could get into two more paths, walk up to the top of a huge, cone shaped temple building with the architecture that looked as the temple near the control room of Installation 04, or go snowboarding down the hill that the Covenant were at now.

Awacar carefully looked himself around, before he spoke:
      "This planet should not be called Perambulate, its name is Destiny."

      "What do you mean? Have you been here before? No, wait, you can't be, this is an unexplored piece of the universe for both Human and Covenant. How come that you recognize it?" Cortana asked.

      "I don't know what the planed does here, but I've been here before, the Blood Faction used it as a place to send unholy people to, this was the place where you could be free if you reached the gravity-lift in time, or be killed by the Dactyls. Together with Gaurough and Queterie, I was the only one that managed to get out of here alive. Gaurough killed my best friends, Icod and Febuluc, here, I'm sure. About the name of the planet, any prisoners that were sent here had made the worst crime in the eyes of the Faction, to be a non-believer, and they were said to face their Destiny." Awacar said, as he looked extremely sad.

Master Chief:
      "You can release your anger at the Betrayers down there."

      "Sure that's a good idea? The Forerunners are charging their weapons against the Betrayers, and I don't want to be close when that happens." Cortana interrupted.

      A big cannon, absolutely enormous, was activated, and inside it blue, heated gas flowed. It almost looked as a giant cement mixer, but a one that instead was filled with rotating plasma. A shot was fired at the Blood Faction members that planned for their attack. The plasma flew out of the cannon, formed as a completely round ball, containing almost hundred plasma grenades. Before it landed, it threw plasma charges away, spreading them all over the Betrayers. When the plasma itself landed, it flowed along the ground, killing the Betrayers that found themselves in it.

      "We must storm the place now!" Awacar said determinedly

      "Are you out of your mind? The Forerunners are guarding that place as Betrayers would guard a Halo!" Master Chief said in protest.

      "That is right, but that is also why we're going to get up there. I haven't ever seen the Forerunners being so active about anything. This must be where the unknown power itself must be hidden." Awacar said.

Master Chief:
      "But how are we going to make it?"

      "That's a question for the gods, and I hope that they have an answer." Awacar replied quickly.

      As the many individuals moved at the same time, a cloud of whirling snow was created, and it looked almost as an avalanche. A rush was made to the foot of the temple cone, and a move up it was initiated. Awacar ordered Hunters to go in the lead, and they did so. Whenever the resistance showed its ugly face, a volley of rod cells was sent to it, causing the ones that formed it to die. Engineers, Commandos and Snipers were killed in masses, but no Bio-tanks were there. Everyone thought the same thought, they were guarding the source of power, and make the life short for the ones that tried to use it.
      Half the way up, Covenant had to face losses for the first time on this 'cone', and it was a Hunter, shortly thereafter followed by another, and they were both victims of Commandos using their weapons the best way they could. Ten more pieces of Forerunner infantry was encountered before the ones in front had to be covered by someone. The chief and Awacar took the position, and used grenade launchers together with plasma pistols. MC paralyzed several Commandos when he rapidly shot out plasma pistol shots, and it succeeded, he fired until the weapon was nearly overloaded, and before that he had put himself near the Forerunner, and raised a fist to smash it to its death.

      After many fights against Forerunners that were alone, they got to the top of the temple, and as they thought, the Bio-tanks were located there.
      Hunters were ordered to the left, Brutes to the right, and the remaining infantry had to split up by own judgement. Awacar had planted a grenade between two of his enemies, but had to put one grenade at each individually to kill them. Before he launched the last grenade, he sidestepped in the wrong direction, and was hit by a quick shot. Chief used all the battery he had remaining in his current weapon, and used two grenades to no good, since they were blown away by the Bio-tanks. These creatures didn't seem to care as much as they did before, which was strange, since the rest of the forces had defended this location with their lives. MC got a grenade launcher, and could finish the enemy with a grenade placed at the creatures tail. Two Hunters were seen cooperating, chasing an opponent towards the wall, and they thereafter moved fastly towards it, hitting at the same time, crushing the Forerunner to its death.

      Scenes were played to the eyes of Awacar, great, and horrible, after he had bashed his rod gun into the neck of his enemy. Master Chief picked up a plasma rifle from a fallen Elite, fired it at the closest Bio-tank, got the rifle overloaded and attached a grenade to his weapon. He threw the package to his opponent, it got stuck and detonated powerful enough to kill the creature. At the same time, he saw masses of Covenant that had been slain. They were now down to 20% of the ones that had left the crossing bridges.

      After all of this, the remaining Bio-tanks apparently got orders to clean the area, and did so, while a smile filled their faces.

Awacar:
      "Odd indeed, very odd."

      There was a gate close, and Awacar got to it, and it opened automatically. Inside the gate was a strange, eight cornered room. It had a path along its sides, but also a big hole, where something different toned grey hovered. It was large, so Awacar jumped onto this thing to see if it was the source of power. He had a bingo! This was it. He knew the bomb type, so he only had to cut a few wires and the electricity wouldn't get to the hydrogen that was supposed to create fusion.

      "Haha, the Forerunners has overestimated this source of power, it was just a simple fusion bomb." Awacar said in pride. A few seconds later, a hologram showed up above the bomb. Cortana translated the language spoken.

Hologram of an Engineer:
      "It has been funny to watch you, fighting to escape your destiny, but triggering it yourself. Too long ago, we Forerunners had this planet in possession, it flourished and was nicknamed 'Eden01'. Periods of freezing cold arrived, but we could still live here, before the filthy, evil Covenant took it from us and spoiled it. Now they seem to call it 'Destiny', a very appropriate name, very appropriate. This entire planet is a decoy, to gather as many enemies on as possible, and as watchers see you trigger your own death. The present bomb cannot nearly match any of the Halos in strength, but it can make an entire planet disinterigate. It is an anti-matter bomb, and you have just cut the wires that feed electricity to the magnetic fields, making them sustainable, the fields holds this thing up. The fields will weaken in time, and I'm not talking long time here. If it hits the floor, so does the anti-matter, and you... can face your destiny."

      "We have thirty to seventy-five minutes to get out of here, Cortana, set the timer for forty-five minutes, it's the least amount of time that I think this will keep hovering. Now, run!" Awacar said in panic.

      They got out of the building and the troops were ordered to evacuate.

Awacar:
      "Agony and Retaliation, we want you here ASAP!"

44.39.10...

To Be Continued...

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