Chapter 7
Making contact with their two missing Spartans was not Jackson’s first priority as they clawed their way back into slipspace. To avoid the entire mission being compromised, the orbital station they had just left would have to be disabled before the Cruiser that had chased them reported back.
It was a painful crawl back from the edges of the system under full stealth until the team finally reached the station. They targeted the communications satellites and wasted no time in destroying them, then it was a rush to forcefully dock and cut their way inside.
As expected, the Spartans were met by resistance as soon as they entered. Time slowed as Jackson stepped foot on the Covenant surface, and locked eyes with a towering Elite in blue armor. Its split mandibles spread wide as it roared at them and leveled its handheld weapon.
The squad leader sprung into action and launched himself from the airlock and slammed his shoulder into the Elite’s mid-section. The force knocked the alien onto its back where Jackson drew the knife from its holster and rammed the blade up through its mouth.
The Elite spat blue blood onto his visor and died immediately. The Spartan climbed off of its corpse and brought his Assault Rifle to bear then gunned down the remaining handful of panicking Grunts. Perish was second out and cleared the hallway for the others, then gazed at the dead Elite.
“What an ugly bastard,” Charlie remarked, poking the barrel of his Battle Rifle into its bloody jaws.
“What remarkable armor,” Janet noted. She crouched next to its chest and ran a hand under the armor, tugging at its harness.
“Eyes up,” Jackson reminded them. “Two teams, sweep the station and leave nothing alive. Melecia, stay with the Prowler and keep our ride safe.”
The squad leader took Chase and left the other three Spartans to head the opposite direction. Unaware of the layout, the two looked for what passed for a terminal and found one in a darkened side room. Inside was a heavy fog that hung low over the ground, and a pair of pods that had a group of Grunts sitting around them. From attachments in the pod, a tube led out of and into the Grunts mouths, which they seemed to be feeding from.
The Grunts jumped in surprise as Chase and Jackson entered to swiftly gun each of them down. The Squad leader lowered his weapon to interact with the terminal, and the barebones translation system ONI had provided their Mjolnir with led Jackson to download what seemed to be a map of the station’s levels. Not caring for secrecy at this point, he relayed this information to the rest of the team.
“Ilos-2, secure the hangar then make your way to the armory,” Jackson told the other team. Then to his partner, “We’re taking the command center.”
“Roger that, squad leader,” Chase answered.
A search team had already found the two and rained fire down the hallway at the Spartans. A single grenade rolled expertly uphill gave Chase the moment he needed to storm their position and send a pair of Shotgun slugs into the beaks of the Jackals who had tried to hide behind their shields.
What neither Chase nor Jackson expected was the overcharged Plasma Pistol that slammed straight into the charging Spartan’s side and sizzled angrily through the nano-weave techsuit. Now fueled with anger, the hulking Spartan whirled on the Grunt who had hit him and sprinted forwards, slamming the butt of his Shotgun into its mask and sending the tank on its back flying back towards Jackson.
“Status?” the Squad Leader asked his teammate.
Chase examined the partially melted material and made an annoyed grunt. “Biofoam’s holding, but my suit got holed,” he said.
Jackson holstered his weapon and checked over the wound to find bubbling flesh and fused material. The bio-foam had covered most of the damage, but as soon as the adrenaline wore off, his Spartan would be in trouble and needed medical attention soon.
There was also the more serious problem that without its seal, there was no chance Chase would survive if they got spaced. The chance of it happening was minimal for the time being, but the possibility grew every second they were on the station.
Jackson keyed his mic and made the call. “Fall back to the Prowler. Chase got hit,” the squad leader said.
It was Perish that answered, “We just secured the armory, and Janet estimates more than half of the population has been dealt with. If we seal off the command deck, and space the station-“
Jackson cut him off. “Fall back now,” he repeated.
There was a moment’s hesitation before Perish answered, “Yes, sir.”
Quickly retracing their steps led the two back to the airlock that was still secure, despite the handful of new corpses outside of the door. Jackson rushed Chase inside, then turned as the other Spartans came soon after.
It was Perish that held the squad leader’s gaze for a few seconds longer, which plainly translated as a protest of his orders. Now was not the time for discussion, however, and the team loaded into the Prowler’s airlock as Melecia sealed it up and unceremoniously tore away from the hijacked entrance.
The sudden vacuum sucked the corpses out of the hole, along with a handful of new arrivals that had followed the Spartans. The Prowler turned away from the station and initiated its stealth systems to burn towards the dark side of the planet as quickly as possible. The air in the ship was tense as everybody knew Perish was angry with the squad leader’s decision.
The silence was broken by Melecia’s calm announcement. “Slipspace rupture detected near the planet’s dark side,” the Spartan reported.
The squad leader made his way to the cockpit , and his heart jumped into his throat as he locked eyes with the readouts, and realized the ship’s signal matched the one who had been chasing them. With all hopes, the Spartans on the ground would stay quiet enough to avoid being noticed, and the ship wouldn’t spot them.
The Squad leader was faced with a tough decision of how to go forward. All of his plans had hinged on them picking up the team on the ground before the Cruiser returned, but now that had changed. There was only one way Jackson could think of proceeding, and that was to stay stealthed and sneak past the Covenant ship to swipe the team from under their noses.
With no other options presenting themselves, the squad leader had Melecia send them into a slow orbit that would lead the Prowler to their missing team’s last known location.
As they drifted ever closer, the Spartans held a focused eye on the Cruiser. It was moving away from them, beginning to pass the horizon line and disappear over the planet’s curve. The sun shining off of its hull was visible from the viewscreen as a blazing beacon.
It was fifteen minutes later when Melecia reported that the Cruiser had launched a number of Spirit dropships and Seraphs to the planet’s surface. Jackson cursed out loud and gripped the dashboard until it dented.
“Get us down there,” Jackson ordered. “Break stealth if you have to.”
Melecia hesitated. “If I reveal us, that Cruiser is going to tear us apart.”
Jackson vented his frustration by way of gripping the dashboard even harder, nearly breaking off chunks of the metal paneling. “I can’t let them get killed,” he growled.
Melecia sighed, and pushed the Prowler forwards and began accelerating towards the planet’s horizon. The Cruiser grew larger and larger in the viewscreen until it was looming overhead. Its menacingly smooth hull bristled with plasma weaponry that would rip the Prowler to shreds in a one-on-one fight.
It seemed all of the Spartans held their breath as they practically skimmed the Cruiser’s belly to follow the dropship’s trajectory down to the surface and where they assumed their missing team would be.
They made it into the planet’s atmosphere without detection, and there they saw a vibrant light show of gunfire surrounding what looked to be the charred wreckage of a Pelican.
“Chase, meet me at the airlock!” Jackson ordered.
Melecia twisted around in his seat. “You can’t-“ he started, but the squad leader was already out of the cockpit and sprinting his way to the armory.
Jackson secured the Jetpack to his suit, held the Sniper Rifle in both hands, and led Chase to the nearest airlock. Wind ripped at their arms and legs as the doors slid open, and they gazed out of the ship and down at the ground that was incredibly far away.
Neither said a word as Jackson was the first to eject himself from the moving Prowler and into open air. There was a moment where he moved side-by-side with the ship, until the squad leader angled downwards and began dropping much faster.
The ship fell behind and the ground began to draw closer, Jackson spread his legs and fought the wind to angle his Sniper Rifle downwards. There would be a small frame where he could use the weapon before he needed to initiate the thruster-pack, so Jackson was quick to find the biggest target and line up his shot.
On the ground, the Spartan saw Kia shooting from the corner of the Pelican, and a group of Elites who had formed a shield wall to push the Spartans. It was an inspired tactic that didn’t count on air support.
Understandably, it was difficult to obtain optimal accuracy while plummeting insane speeds through the air, but the Spartan picked his targets and made a hole in the Elite’s shield wall. Kia didn’t bother to look up, but rather sent a grenade through the opening and broke their line.
It was then that Jackson initiated the thruster pack and kicked his feet out underneath him. The harness jerked at his shoulders, but it was slowing him down to a safe enough velocity where he wouldn’t pancake into the dirt. As he got closer, the squad leader saw a pair of dead Hunters, and plenty of spent casings that spoke of a sudden and brutal fight.
He was seconds from hitting the dirt as a pair of Elites no one had seen snuck around the rear of the Pelican. One wielded an Energy Sword and pushed Kia away from the corner of the bird. The second alien stormed inside the Pelican, where Jackson caught a glimpse of a seriously injured Spartan leaning against the cockpit’s door.
The squad leader hit the dirt, knees protesting as they bore the weight of a fast landing. Adrenaline propelled him forwards and sprinted as fast as he could towards the back of the Pelican.
The Elite with the Energy Sword didn’t seem to be trying to kill Kia, rather it seemed to be corralling her away from Jackson and to the opposite side of the Pelican. The Spartan shouldered his Sniper Rifle and planted a bullet into its sword hand. The appendage burst into a spray of viscera and the weapon dropped to the ground.
Chase appeared on Jackson’s left and he sprinted ahead to intercept another pair of Elites who were beginning to push the nose of the Pelican.
It was then that an Elite in golden armor emerged from the inside of the Pelican with Parkson draped over his shoulder. The Spartan was limp in its grasp, suggesting a reality that Jackson refused to accept.
The squad leader was blocked from pursuit as the others who were beyond the Pelican pushed into the open and drove Jackson far back. He laid himself out into the dirt to provide as small a target as possible as Plasma streaked overhead.
“Shit, they got Parkson!” Chase exclaimed over TEAMCOM.
Jackson saw a shadow overhead and watched as the Prowler swept in and dropped its loading ramp. The vessel was taking heavy fire, and Melecia’s voice broke through the cacophony of plasma and lead being traded.
“Reinforcements incoming. Get back on the ship,” Melecia said.
“They’ve got Parkson!” Chase repeated.
The gunfire had shifted from Jackson’s location, and the Spartan rose to a knee and watched helplessly as the General with his Spartan disappeared into a Spirit Dropship.
Kia was standing behind Chase at the Pelican’s rear. Both Spartans weren’t able to fire back under the heavy return fire the Covenant were throwing back.
“We need to leave now, before we lose the Prowler,” Melecia urged.
“Damn it, Melecia, we can’t just leave him!” Chase bellowed.
The squad leader felt more helpless and angry than he ever had before. There was a call he had to make as their leader. There was a call to make that Jackson had never hoped he would have ever had to.
“Fall back to the Prowler,” Jackson ordered. His voice broke as he said this.
“God damn it, Jackson,” Chase snarled. “This is on you!”
Jackson gave the other two Spartans covering fire as they broke cover and sprinted back for the waiting Prowler. The squad leader backed up the ramp, and the ship lifted off. He watched with an aching heart as the enemy Spirit containing his teammate pulled away and rose into the sky. As it was leaving, the squad leader could see a cloud of arriving enemy fighters, and the Cruiser looming overhead.
Inside of the ship’s hangar, Chase had removed his helmet, so Jackson could see his furious expression as he stormed towards the squad leader.
Chase pushed Jackson so hard, the Spartan landed hard onto the deck, hitting his head and knocking his helmet clean off. He saw stars as the hulking Spartan grabbed him by the chestplate and stood over him.
“What in the actual hell did you make us do?” Chase demanded. “You left him!”
Jackson stared back defiantly. “There was no use trying to stay. If the reinforcements didn’t kill us, that Cruiser would have.” His voice was low as he faced the furious Spartan.
“You didn’t even try,” Chase said. “We could have saved him.”
It was then that Kia grabbed the Spartan around his middle and threw her weight into shoving him away. “Back off, Spartan,” she warned. “He’s not dead yet. Use that thumb-tack sized brain between your ears and think.”
Charlie and Janet pushed their way between Chase and Jackson, as Perish helped the squad leader to his feet. The other Spartan was still fuming, hands clenched tightly into fists and hands shaking with adrenaline.
“They took him alive, instead of executing him outright,” Kia continued. “We can still get him back.”
“The Covenant aren’t known for prisoners,” Chase pointed out.
“That is true, but there’s something different about the Shipmaster that’s been tailing us,” Janet said, stepping forwards. “For some reason, he wanted Kia and Parkson alive, which has not been documented yet.”
“May be just to get us all in one place,” Charlie said. “Go to get our boy, and walk right into a trap. Boom, eight Demons down in one go.”
“That is certainly what he may be doing, but it still gives us a chance,” Janet said.
Jackson retrieved his helmet and placed it back on his head to make a call to Melecia. “Don’t let that Cruiser out of your sights,” he said, looking at Chase. “We’re getting Parkson back one way or another.