---

Once everyone on the mesa had boarded, Vol closed up the grav lift and Tar activated the internal comms system. “Lock in tight, things could get bumpy.” As she said that, the shockwave from the Brute cruiser crashing into the valley behind the base hit the Phantom, buffeting it backwards. Tar gunned the engines and pushed them swiftly forward while Vol plotted them a course.

Their objective was to insert the team on a flat staging area beneath the main Forerunner structure. Enhanced stills Vol had taken while Aegis was boarding showed it was littered with large crates and lifting vehicles. Between them and this landing zone were an assortment of Brute drop ships and Banshees. However, they were distracted by the teams of Phantoms currently attacking the walls of the compound. There were also a handful of lethal AA guns around the compound, devastating any airship it could find. However, one had just erupted into a towering jet of flames, opening up a gap in their coverage. Tar pointed to it. “That’s the entry point, adjust our approach solution.” Vol obeyed with a cursory “Yes, commander.” They were working well, considering this was their first time together, Tar noted.

Maintaining a breakneck speed, they dropped down to just above the height of the walls and roared past the destroyed AA battery. The courtyard and the IFF tags for the rest of Aegis team zipped past underneath. “Fuel rod round, front left side!” Vol called, pinging it on the nav dashboard. Tar hauled the controls to the right, and the Phantom drastically tilted, throwing them against their harnesses. The round fizzed by close underneath their Phantom. “Can you get a shot off?” Tar asked. “No, they’re above us. Coming in hot!” Tar tugged the controls up and to the left, and the top of their Phantom crushed the wings of the Banshee above. A titanic scraping, clattering sound echoed through the troop bay, the banshee sliding along the length of their vehicle and falling off the end.

Tar cooled the engines slightly as they approached the landing zone. Vol marked a clear space near the ramp up from the courtyard and together they brought the Phantom in. Vol reactivated the grav lift and opened the side doors while Tar addressed the bay’s occupants. “Green light to disembark, go go go!” They both surveyed the area as Aegis team quickly headed out of the Phantom. The landing zone was very hot, and they were taking small arms fire from practically all directions. They only had twenty seconds before someone with the right armaments took notice. “Rockets! Right side!” Vol hollered. “Everybody out NOW!” Tar shouted, tugging the controls sharply. Vol closed the side doors up to increase their protection. If Aegis team hadn’t jumped already, they’d be coming on this evasive maneuver with them.

Grikgar /Grik/ Seeker

// Unggoy Ultra // Demolitions and Artillery // Location: Court yard LZ

Grikgar continued to survey the base from where they were. He was aware that he wouldn’t have to be quiet forever and need to memorize what he could about the topside layout. Entrances, exits, weapon caches, crates that could be explosive, crates that are explosive, weapon emplacements, weak areas of the walls and fortifications, and the best path to the central structure. He was knowledgeable on the basic layout of most Forerunner buildings but nothing was ever the exact same with them.

The others seemed set on a stealth approach to start and make an opening for a drop ship. A simple and solid plan something the Unggoy has come to expect about the humans. He was a bit to clunky for what they wanted to do so Grikgar decided to stay back and observe, he was still unsure of just how cooperative all of them would be together and Ben didn’t seem to mind him.

It didn’t take to long for them to be given the signal slip space rifts and the fleet emerging seemed to make everyone stop what they were doing and stop. The Brutes on the ground were the first to roar. A sound that was quickly muted by a MAC round being fired in atmosphere. The human’s definitely where not pulling any punches, all he did was smile. Seeing the brute ship catch fire and split in two was always a glorious sight, the resulting dust storm from the MAC round hitting the ground followed by the ship would be very good at causing more frustration. However, Grikgar could only wonder at the sentinel response if they thought the ships were being hostile towards the instillation.

The comms came alive again this time from a drop ship coming to pick them up. The Unggoy did not waste any time to get in the ship first. Not out of cowardice, but the excitement of being the first one in the base and the fire fight to come. He knew he didn’t have to be silent anymore. The explosive expert was very excited now, it had been too long since he had been in a hot drop.

And a hot drop it was, small arms fire covered the drop point. Lead and plasma filled the dark and dusty air. Just like he wanted Grikgar was the first out of the phantom, his hands glowing blue by the time he hit the deck with activated plasma grenades. Both were aimed at separate choke points where enemy fire was coming from. Hot plasma rippled from those areas while Grikgar quickly made it to cover and began opening up with his dual plasma pistols into enemy positions.

The waiting was the worst part for the two as they had to wait for the team to do their job, Elna had posted up in a position to support the poor individuals that were left behind when the team of camo wearing creatures went into do their job. Roy took up a defensive position aswell for once as he went to hold up his M7 scanning for any URF or covvies that might make their way to their defensive line, but for the most part it appeared that they were in a solid position. There was noises below, maybe some kind of scuffle but it wasn't noticeable by anyone in the group. They continued to wait until the ships came out of the atmosphere, it was evident that they were just going to MAC the fuck out of the base those who pondered may of been incorrect in the fact if they had actually captured the HVT.

It wasen't long before the drop ship came to take them away, the two boarded without too much discussion or remorse at this point it as obvious that there had been some success in the mission. They were wrong as the dropship became to fly around dodging anti air fire as it zoomed towards it's objective of landing on a staging area for an assault. What felt like a few seconds dragged on as the dropship landed, the two hustled out and laid down suppressive fire in the general direction of the URF/Brute lines.

This is where the fun begins.

As Aegis team disembarked the phantom, they were met immediately with hostile ground fire. The roof of the structure they had been dropped on was large and mostly flat, with little cover for either side, save for some weapon crates that had been dropped where they were when the attack started. There were ten or so armed rebels surrounding a ramp leading down into the interior of the structure, as well as a group of four Brutes that were closer to the edge of the roof on the north side. The rebels were fighting defensively, seemingly to guard the entrance, though the Brutes had started to rush at Aegis team to get in melee range before the first of them had even touched the ground.

When the rockets came in, it was from another squad of rebels that had emerged up the ramp at the center of the structure. They were carrying rockets, fuel rod cannons, and other high explosives, and had likely been sent up as a response to the attack in general. However, they had eneded up in the right place at the right time to deal with Tar’s phantom. There was little chance for meaningful evasion before two rockets struck one of her engines directly. The heavy weapons might have been meant for anti-vehicle roles, but they would still be a massive threat to the members of Aegis.

Lucas had followed Aviza and Vael from their incident at the turret they knocked out to the rendezvous point, but once the fleet had appeared, the need for stealth was a lesser concern and he turned one of his two SMGs on a nearby patrol of URF soldiers and fired, putting them down before they could register what was happening. With everything happening and the swarm of phantoms descended on the base, he had no clue of knowing which one was heading to pick up the rest of the team as the group of three moved towards the roof. Another pair of URF troopers tried to move up behind them, unaware of the cloaked figures, who were extra hidden by the sandstorm. Swapping from his SMG to the DMR, two head shots dropped the pair where they stood.

"Won't lie, not having to worry about shielding around the head is a nice change of pace." Another pair of shots dropped two more URF soldiers, their bodies hitting the ground and disappearing in the storm. As they neared the top, the sight of Jiralhanae and a heavy URF squad getting ready to attack the rest of the team drove the SPARTAN IV to action. Storing his DMR on his back as he dashed past Aviza and Vael, his twin energy daggers coming free as he rammed his shoulder into the first Brute he reached. "Grikgar, hit those heavies with plasma!"

The Brute wasn't expecting an invisible SPARTAN, who suddenly became visible upon impact, to ram into him and went sprawling with the SPARTAN IV leaping on top of him and ramming one dagger into his neck and the other into his forehead. Ryker didn't even wait for the overgrown ape to stop moving before the twin blades came free and he leapt off to slide across the roof into the legs of another Brute, knocking him over and into the legs of a third. However, Lucas knew he was gambling being away from the others like this, but he was confident enough in his CQC skills to stay safe until the numbers were thinned out.

Grikgar /Grik/ Seeker

// Unggoy Ultra // Demolitions and Artillery // Location: Court yard LZ

The fire fight was going well for what the Unggoy was used to. Having the support of Spartans and Sangheili was a sight to behold but one he would have to dwell on later. A bright color of covenant shielding caught his eye for a moment. A couple humans were using shields normally for Kig-Yar, obviously the brutes had some stashed away and had given them to them. The Oni humans could use those and so could he if he was able to grab a couple. Another plasma grenade toward them knocked out the shields, indicating the user was dead.

Another Spartan called out for ordinance while the enemy heavy weapons team reloaded. The rocket would be a problem for all of them especially the bigger targets like Tasuma. Using the cover of the sand storm Grik rushed to cover facing the advancing opponents. His energy shield flared for a moment with a few plasma bolts hitting him as he moved. Getting to cover the Unggoy hit the wall and immediately pulled the Sentinel power source from his belt. Sticking a plasma grenade to it and throwing it at the cover they were using.

Honestly Grik gar wasn’t sure what would happen, he had only seen it happen once by accident. An explosion set the last one off. A barrel exploded and detonated it at the dismay of the Huragok that had repaired the two power sources. The resulting secondary explosion created a singularity for about 3 seconds that pulled everything toward it then violently expelled what was pulled in. it also seemed to rile up the sentinels that where left in the area as well.

If it didn’t work and all it did was just the plasma grenade Grik was ready to follow it up with the fuel rod gun. “Tasuma.” Grikgar called out over his comm, “major enemy cluster bearing 200 Degrees from insertion point. Enemy has heavy weapons watch yourself.” He was waiting for the explosion to go off before he would proceeded with the assault.

---

As soon as the rockets hit, warning lights erupted across the width of the pilot interface console. Urgent alarm sounds blasted in Tar’s ears as she wrestled with the controls to bring the Phantom level again. “We’ve lost drive number one, and I'm getting a lot of vibration in number two!” Vol shouted over the din. Tar felt her stomach lurching as the Phantom span around in the air, heading for the side of the tall Forerunner structure. "Get me more power from somewhere, now!” Tar ordered, pulling the steering as far to the right as she could. "My console isn't responding. Power capped at 40%!" Vol reported through gritted mandibles.

The Phantom crashed against the side of the Forerunner tower and scraped along it, sparks skittering off the top of the hull. The alloy sides screeched and buckled until suddenly they were free of the tower and spinning again. Tar could see hostiles running to get out of the way as the Phantom gradually lost altitude; they couldn’t stay level on just two engines. “I have this now. Brace for impact!” Tar shouted, doing her best to hold it upright as the Phantom span toward a flat area packed high with crates.

The drop ship’s aft section hit the deck first, sending up another shower of sparks and ship fragments. The front soon followed, with the forward plasma cannon snapping off and cartwheeling to one side. Still slowly spinning, the Phantom’s bow ploughed into piles of crates, sending them flying. With the controls now useless, Tar put her arms over her head and crunched up into a ball in her seat. It was a good thing she did, because hidden behind the stacks of cargo containers was a much more solid object. A row of Forerunner columns, sticking from the base plate.

The Phantom hit the columns at speed, its rear end jumping up in the air. Everything in the cockpit seemed to come loose and fly about. Something solid whacked Tar in the stomach, forcing all the air from her lungs. As her arms instinctively flinched to her chest, another piece of metal flew from the console and smashed into her face and everything went black.

---

For the somewhat improvised explosive that Grikgar had thrown, the effects did not entirely go to plan. Though, it was still far from a failure. Normally, a plasma grenade would detonate a few seconds after coming to rest, which could make them easy to evade for those not stuck by them. However, the excess plasma from the active grenade melted through the power source’s casing in-flight and detonated it before it even touched the ground. The resulting airburst sent superheated plasma burning through the center of the rebel heavy weapons squad, either killing or incapacitating three of their number.

There was at least one rebel with a fuel rod gun remaining, but Vael was in position to see him as he tried to scramble to his feet and take aim with the large, unwieldy weapon. Vael had gone most of the way up the ramp, but stopped at the top. He peered just over the top across the roof, then drew his carbine and braced it on the roof in front of him. His position was off to the rebels’ right flank, so he had clear lines of sight on many of their foes. The first shot he fired to reveal his location went straight through the center mass of the Human with the last heavy weapon.

For most of the remainder of Aegis team, there was little cover and a lot of pressure from the rebels they were charging into. Many of them would find their shields steadily draining from hits they were taking. However, there was also little cover for the rebels as well, and they did not have shields nor sufficient armor to protect them. A few had taken to using Kig-Yar point defense gauntlets, presumably that the Brutes had been willing to trade to them, but most lacked suck protection. From his position on their flank, Vael focused fire on the Humans with the shield gauntlets first, as they could not protect against both his angle and the rest of the team at the same time.

Vael had seen the phantom go down on the far side of the roof, and it did seem like there were some hostiles emerging from another entrance that were moving to secure the crash. However, Vael could not afford to divide his attention from the battle in front of him.

Yalu's actions right out of the drop ship was a tacit blend with the ONI human operatives suppressing the emerging enemy. "We're flanked!" He announced by habit, not that anyone failed to realise the situation. Chaos ensued with explosions, gunfire and plasma bolts. The phantom was hit overhead. He was a second away from believing themselves overwhelmed before the infiltrators and Grikgar's improvised explosive gave half a second of respite.

They needed to relocate. Yalu sent a few rounds into the brutes tangled up with Lucas, took a few hits to the shield from the gauntleted humans to the other side, and then he knew he needed to punch a hole for the team.

"I'll have them scattered!" He said, taking out the bulky concussion rifle from his back. "Those pilots can be recovered!"

Green bolts of plasma jolted out and blasted the base of the humans' shield gauntlets with superheated explosions while Yalu advanced on them, step by step. He had to rout them before the crash site was cleared out.

Lucas dances back again as the Jiralhanae takes a swing at him, barely avoiding a blow that would have sent the SPARTAN IV careening off of the rendezvous point and sailing to the ground. That was close. Gotta get this one down faster. The two monkey-men had recovered quickly enough from getting bowled over, though his positioning with the second of the two to get knocked over had allowed him to ram an energy dagger into his throat and jugular vein and he had been loosing blood quickly, though that had ceased to matter when carbine rounds impacted his back and down him. The first one...well, he was angry and swinging like a wildman who's only volition was to kill the enemy in front of him, which was the over all goal for the team right now, so fair was fair.

However, as he dodges another heavy uppercut from the Brute, he realizes the crashing sound he'd heard was not from the Banshees shooting down another Brute phantom, but from the one the rest of the team had arrived on crashing. Hearing the major call out that the pilots could be recovered from the crash, there was no hesitation from Ryker. Avoiding another attack and letting his shields absorb a small burst of assault rifle fire from a rebel before another member of the team gunned them down, one of his SMG's came free of its holster and he opened fire on the Brute in front of him. The large alien didn't expect the hail of bullets, but due to their caliber, it still took most of the clip to down it. Moving and reloading at the same time, Lucas opens the channel to the Major again.

"I'm heading down to retrieve our pilot friends, keep my covered when possible but focus on helping the rest of the team." Taking advantage of the opening provided by the Major's concussion rifle, he sprinted down the ramp towards the wreckage, the SPARTAN IV peppers an approaching group of six rebels with fire from his dual SMGs, downing three and wounding one while forcing the other three into cover a nearby the door way. Holstering one SMG, he expertly pulled a frag grenade free of his belt, the pin falling to the ground as his thumb pulled it free, counted to two and then tossed it, the explosive going off midair just inside the doorway and killing the other three. Reaching the wreckage relatively unharmed, though his shield was dangerously close to breaking, he began trying to pry open the troop bay door. "Anyone alive in there?! If you are, you need to help me get this open! Rebel forces will eventually get here if you don't hurry! Hello?!" The din of the battle around him hopefully helped hide his voice, but all the same, he needed the pilots, if they were alive, to hear him and hurry.

While the firefight edged on the two continued to fight viciously as ex-marines do, lot of shooting lots of death the bad part was there was no fucking cover. Quickly, the elite team seemed to dispatch useless URF thugs and the Spartans - well they did their song and dance with the brutes. Though the battle was waning and bullets were not so friendly, shields were almost at the point of popping at this rate. Roy grabbed one of the gauntlets that had rolled her way, he turned it on making a small shield for the two. Roy kneeled in front of Elna as she shot over him, Roy shooting back with his M7 simply in hand as they dealt with the onslaught of enemies. What a fucked up plan.

Yael started to run away, probably in the direction of the bird that went down citing "We can save them!" Though it appeared most of the group went for that kind of heroics at Lucas started bounding towards the bird corpsing everyone and everything in his sight at that moment. "Pull back with the splitjaw." Roy ordered Elna as they began to inch back towards Yael though not abandoning the fight entirely as they continued to put down firepower as the elites and Spartans did their rescue mission. Besides none wanted to get yelled at again by Spartan Mom Aviza, Elna ejected a BR mag dropping it hastily as it bounced off Roy's helmet with a satisfying clink.

Tar woke suddenly to the sound of rending metal. At first she didn’t recognise where she was. The carefully ordered interfaces of the Phantom’s control dashboard were gone, replaced by a twisted forest of metal shards, jutting out as if trying to touch her. Blue energy sparked between the shards, feeding fires in all corners of the nose cone. “Vol!” Tar choked as acrid smoke wafted into her face. “Vol!” Carefully negotiating a long spike pressed against her exposed neck, she turned to look at her co-pilot.

Even through the smoke, Tar could see Vol had been impaled through the abdomen by another metal blade. His upper body was slumped over it, arms pointing to the floor. Tar let out an anguished roar and quickly slid out of her seat toward him. Her right arm caught on something jagged, but the sharp stab of pain barely registered. Tar carefully hoisted Vol’s body into an upright position and tilted his face toward her. “Prax Vol, can you hear me?” She tried one more time. No response. She growled and let his face go. Vol’s body slumped forward again.

Tar got up and rushed from the nose cone, choking from the toxic fumes as she grabbed her Storm Rifle from where it now lay on the gangway. Moving through to the troop bay, she heard someone shouting to her from outside. They must have been pulling on the side doors, because the mechanism was making a sharp screeching noise to try and keep them closed. Smoke hovered just above eye level and fingers of blue lightning played across the inside of the Phantom’s hull.

Tar hit the emergency manual door release and the screeching stopped. The door was still stuck though, so she rushed over and kicked the side door with the bottom of her foot. The entire section crashed to the floor; Tar raised her Storm Rifle to deal with whoever was on the other side. She was a little relieved to see a Spartan in reddish armour, but she didn’t show it. She walked down the ramp the side doors had created, smoke billowing out of the Phantom all around her, weapon raised.

“Warriors!” Tar bellowed, pointing. A gaggle of Brutes, mixed rank and armour, were charging through the mess of boxes toward them. She supposed they’d seen the Spartan isolated, making a lot of noise, and wanted to catch him unawares. Behind them, she spotted a whole load of URF spilling out of a nearby entrance to the Forerunner structure. They looked to be trying to cut them off.

Tar rushed past the Spartan, firing a whole battery into the closest charging Brute until her rifle overheated. Turning it sideways, she savagely broke the rifle over his head, crumpling him to the floor. The next Brute was on her instantly, the shot from his Mauler raking her shields almost to breaking point. Tar forward rolled under the Brute’s outswung arm, got up behind him, activated her energy sword, turned and plunged it into his abdomen as he turned around.

Pistol rounds hit her shield from behind, breaking it. Tar smartly stepped back behind the impaled Brute, using her sword to keep him upright while turning him between her and the hail of bullets coming from the direction of the installation. “Shield recharging!” Tar shouted, kicking the dead Brute’s Mauler behind cover about ten metres in front of her. She grunted from the pain and effort of holding the Brute up as a bullet skimmed her exposed leg.

Moving them both forward a couple of metres, Tar peeked out and saw humans taking cover behind the same boxes she was aiming for. The remaining Brutes hadn’t committed yet, content to stay back and spray them with spikes and plasma. With her shields recharging now, she shouted “Transitioning! Cover me!” before sliding her sword out of the Brute and running for the boxes and the Mauler she’d kicked over. Humans and Brutes fired at her from the other side.

Having broken off from the rest of her squad, Spartan Aviza moved to higher ground. Climbing one of the Forerunner towers untill she reached a flat enough surface where she could perch herself and set up a sniper nest. From her newly acquired vantage point, Aviza was able to give her squad full overwatch of the field of battle below. The hybrid muzzle flash hider and silencer that she had installed onto the end of her SRS99-S5 AM proved to be an invaluable addition to her collection of attachments as Aviza picked off high value targets from great distances, causing panic and chaos to those who were around their leader when their head ceased to exist. While doing so, she kept a close eye on her squad, having Shih constantly give her updates on their whereabouts and how she could best assist them. Targets were marked, and subsequently taken out shortly there after, either giving breathing room for Aegis below or helping cut down upon the enemy number.

What broke Aviza's concentration was the appearance of a Phantom, though this one was firing upon the other hostile vehicles, and was being fired upon in return. Shih was quick to inform Spartan Aviza that the Phantom was friendly, and would be heading towards their location shortly with reinforcements. The friendly Phantom would then be highlighted for her convenience. This Phantom did not stay airborne for long though as a barrage of rockets collided with the drop ship, causing bright flashes of light to illuminate the night and field of battle around it. Aviza watched as the Phantom slammed down violently on the far side of the roof of the complex, though thankfully her position already gave her an advantage. Enemy forces immediately began to swarm in the direction of the crashed Phantom, hoping to either kill or capture anyone left from the crash.

The mention of possible survivors from Yalu made Aviza quickly open her coms, she was about to speak when Spartan Lucas Ryker beat her to it. Once he had finished speaking, Aviza would follow up with a comment of her own. "I will provide cover from my position, if there are any wounded at the crash sight, I can be there shortly to stabilize anyone in need." Were there any survivors, it was very likely there would also be wounded. While she would have rather been along side Spartan Lucas Ryker's side, she was more useful at her current position for the moment being. This was proved all the more true when friendly forces did emerge from the crashed Phantom, and were immediately engaged from the hostiles that had been forming upon the crashed drop ship.

"Watch yourself out there Ryker, I will be firing rounds close to your position." said Aviza as she made the correct adjustments for distance and wind-barring upon her sniper rifle. To prove this point, Aviza took careful aim at a Brute that was now charging Spartan Lucas, and was shortly within melee arms distance to him before its upper half torso and everything else connected to it ceased to exist.

---

It was safe to say that the start of their assault was not going as well as Vael could have hoped. They were encountering more resistance than he had expected, and earlier than anticipated. Hopefully that would mean less resistance later, but regardless, he needed to focus on the enemy in front of him. The phantom that had inserted the rest of their team had been shot down by a heavy weapons squad and crashed on the opposite side of the structure. Already, Ryker and Aviza were focusing their attention on trying to rescue the pilots.

Normally, Vael would prioritize the mission over a detour for a rescue, but the same soldiers that were attacking the crash site could easily turn around and pursue them into the structure. Vael had a feeling there was some confusion among the rebel ranks, else they would have little reason to devote forces to a crashed phantom. It would be best to take advantage of that confusion , as Aegis currently had a potentially advantageous position to deal with them.

With neither side having much cover, the rebels that Aegis had initially been fighting had routed quickly and retreated back down the ramp into the interior of the structure, leaving only those on the far side of the structure fighting Ryker and the phantom pilot, with just a few crates from cover. Himself and the rest of Aegis could move in from behind to flank them, but they needed to move quickly.

Unlike most of his allies, Vael had strong cover from his position on the ramp during the fight, so his shields were at full strength. From the hits his allies had taken, he doubted many were as well-off, so he sprinted out from his position on the ramp, reloading his carbine as he ran and taking the lead ahead of the rest of the team. ”Push forward! Keep towards the front if you still have shields.”

There was at least one squad of Humans and a small pack of Jiralhanae, both far outnumbering the single Spartan and Sangheili defending the crash site. Seeing as the Brutes would take far too many shots to bring down quickly, Vael decided to focus on the Humans while he still had the element of surprise. As he moved around the central tower, Vael took a plasma grenade in hand and tossed it in the middle of the enemy position. He did not focus on sticking an enemy as much as just placing it in a position to force them out of cover, allowing them the chance to cut down the vulnerable Humans quickly.

To Ryker's credit, he between watching the Sangheili pilot come sailing out of the troop bay and disembowel the first Brute she saw and the one nearest him exploding into chunks mid-swing for a bunch, the initial shock of the Pilot yelling a war cry and seeming fine quickly wore off as he danced back from a second Brute in melee range, avoiding a vicious left hook and countering with a powerful round house kick to the right side of the ape-man's face, stumbling them. "Copy that, Fireteam Lead." Before the Jiralhanae that Lucas had just roundhoused could recover, his wrist mounted energy dagger was activated and he rammed the weapon into the side of his head, twisting to ensure it was dead before pulling it free and moving on to the next opponent.

As he dashed at the Brute, who was distracted emptying spiker rounds into the corpse of his companion while the Sangheili was holding it up. “Transitioning! Cover me!” rang out as the body was suddenly dropped and the warrior dashed for the boxes, which prompted Ryker to draw his second SMG and open fire with both, pushing the humans into cover and distracting the Brutes enough to lighten up the fire they were putting on the Sangheili enough she could reach cover, even as the upper torso of a second Jiralhanae vanished in a puff of red mist and chunks. Taking cover behind a set of boxes stacked high enough he could stand, he reloaded the SMGs before holstering one and pulling out another frag. "Grenade out!" he called as the ball of death flew into the group of humans taking cover nearest him. The explosion would ideally kill most of them and wound the rest critically enough they couldn't fight further.

Even with covering fire, Tar’s shield rippled and broke during her run for cover. Some of the Human combatants were only a few metres away and basically couldn’t miss the Sangheili sprinting toward them. A bullet pinged off Tar’s shoulder plate as she slid into a prone position behind a row of three crates. She grabbed up the Mauler she’d kicked across earlier just as a grenade bounced off her headpiece and landed by her free hand. She quickly picked the grenade up and chucked it back over the crates behind her back. She swore in her mother tongue when the reddish Spartan broadcast he was chucking a grenade too. This could get messy.

Her shields still recharging, Tar braced against the crates milliseconds before the grenades went off. The deafening chain explosion, paired with what sounded like a plasma grenade, savagely pushed the crates and Tar’s prone form several metres across the slick Forerunner floor. For a split-second, Tar was suspended in mid-air as the explosion sent shockwaves through the floor. As Tar opened her eyes and took her hands from her ears, half a Human body landed in front of her. Reaching out, she pulled the corpse toward her before relieving it of the pistol from it’s chest holster.

Clambering to her feet, Tar was confronted with a hellscape of bloody scraps and dismembered bodies. One kneeling, screaming URF rebel patted wildly at her body that was aflame with blue plasma. Holstering her Mauler to hold the pistol in a defensive stance, Tar put a round through the woman’s head. The Brutes further back had taken cover for the explosion, but were now re-appearing to spray them. “Advancing!” Tar roared, setting off on a diagonal run across the combat zone. She kept up fire with her pistol held out in front of her to suppress a golden armoured Brute who was behind a Forerunner column by the edge of the platform.

After taking a few hits to her shield, Tar slid back into cover close by her target. The mere sight of a weakened enemy in such proximity was enough to lure the hefty golden armoured Brute away from cover. What Tar hadn’t accounted for is the fact that he’d been keeping a Brute Shot hidden behind the column. Pulling it out, the Brute fired at the crates she was behind, scattering most. Tar quickly placed her pistol between two mandibles, freeing both her hands to grab one of the larger metal boxes and hold it in front of her. The Brute, sensing he had the upper hand, walked forward while firing shots at Tar, quickly shredding the box. "Taking heavy fire!" Tar shouted, her feet scraping backwards along the floor with every impact from the Brute Shot.

"I am aware you are under heavy fire, about to resolve that problem for you." said Spartan Aviza as she adjusted herself and took very careful aim at the Golden armored Brute that was assaulting Tar. Slowing her heart rate with the breathing exercises she had learned back in training, Aviza aligned the cross-hairs of her sniper rifle upon the Brutes head, before squeezing the trigger, and releasing the shot. The fifty caliber round left the barrel of the sniper rifle and flew towards its target, striking the golden armored Brute in the head. His head, and most of the Brutes upper body would explode into a fine red mist while the other half of the body fell to the ground near Tar, hopefully missing her.

"Hostile Brute is down, providing more cover fire from my position." said Aviza, though before she could reposition herself, her armors sensors informed her that a particular Banshee was now lining up for a shot at either her or the tower she was hiding upon. The aircrafts heavy fuel rod cannons had already fired upon her before she had the chance to climb or jump from the tower, resulting in an explosion that threw the spartan from a great height, and at tremendous speed into the distance where the crashed Phantom was.

If anyone had been paying attention, they would have noticed Aviza fly through the air following the explosion, and land upon the ground roughly ten meters from the crashed drop ship. The impact of the heavily armored figure would create a loud thud, followed by a cloud of dirt and debris that hung in the air for a while afterwards. It would obscure anyone from seeing if Aviza was still alive or in one piece.

---

Where as the rebels had been surrounding the phantom’s crash site, now they were routed. Many of the Brutes that had been among them were dead, and the Humans that remained were without cover and did not have armor that could last against the weapons arrayed against them from multiple angles.

There were many among the Sangheili who doubted what the strongest of Humanity’s warriors could do. The Spartans were rare, minuscule in number compared to the Sangheili, so most had never seen them in person. For Vael, though, he had known the truth for many years, and now, those serving under him had experienced the truth as well. From the moment they had landed, their foes had been picked apart with haste. Not just the weakly armored Humans, but Jiralhanae warriors were cut down almost as quickly. That was not to say that neither Vael nor those serving under him were fighting effectively, but the roof of the structure would not have been cleared so efficiently without the team of Spartans. The constant sounds of gunfire was like music filling the air, and Vael had to call upon all of his skill just to keep to their bloody tempo.

As fast as he could, Vael fired his carbine at scattered rebels. One, perhaps two shots for each, but he did not have time to shoot many, as the Spartans were doing the same. Vael did not have a quick enough way of dealing with the Brute captain, but fortunately, he did not need to. A round from Aviza’s sniper rifle cut through his shields and his head thereafter in one, clean shot. The momentum was strongly in their favor, with the remaining rebels sprinting down the ramp to retreat down into the structure. Vael sprinted around the side of the tower to try and cut down the stragglers, but the explosion above grabbed his attention. A banshee flying past had taken a shot at Spartan Aviza, and it seemed like it had found its mark. She hit the ground fast and hard near the downed dropship. A Spartan she might be, but a fuel rod blast was still enough to threaten her. Vael allowed the remaining rebels to retreat, instead rushing over to determine Aviza’s condition.

(Still alive! Getting back to RPs on this site. Long story, as is much of 2020. No, I'm not dead, sick, homeless, bankrupt, or in danger of any of those things.)



True to form, Ben had kept himself hidden from the fray, disappearing from sight but not from mind. His impact on the battle so far was minimal, apart from a few sniper shots to grease the wheels, taking out a rebel gunner here, a sentry there, and so on. Part of his success was measured in not being noticed by his adversaries or his allies. This was useful in the event one of his team went rampant and needed to be put down for the sake of everyone else. It also gave him, ONI, and the UNSC in general a case of plausible deniability in the event someone was killed by "a sniper" or "an unknown assailant."

Even so, the SPARTAN-III at least attempted to stick to the plan, notwithstanding his greater directives to shoot traitors, deserters, and the rampant. So far, he hadn't seen any of his teammates qualify as any of those undesirables, but he knew that he could be missing something; even a highly decorated member of a company which legally didn't exist had his limits. He wasn't the only one.

"Phong, status report. I need an estimate of how many rebels are left."

"Insufficient data. Please re-enter query."

"Fine. Set markers for Aviza, Vael, and Grikgar. Do you have any status updates for any of them?"

"Based on the telemetry stream, Aviza has just withstood an injury from a banshee attack. You may want to head over to her first. Vael is on his way there too." Without another word, Ben sprinted over in the direction indicated by two of the three markers. "And Grikgar?"

"Don't worry about him yet. What readings I have been able to pull show that he's alive and isn't exhausted yet. Unggoy stamina isn't a match for those of other sapient species, so it may be an issue if this battle keeps going on much longer. I would advise that you assist Aviza before any of the others. Oh, and mind that Jiralhanae." Sure enough, one of the members of the pack whose leader Aviza had killed charged at Ben, brandishing a brute shot. One quick sniper shot to the face made quick work of him. He made it to Aviza's side a few seconds after Vael did.

---

Tar’s view was obscured by the large crate in front of her, so she didn’t see the Brute captain get hit. But when the relentless force against her from the Brute Shot abated, Tar dropped her cover, pulled her pistol from her mandibles and pointed it where her aggressor had been. She discovered the Brute was missing his head and some of his shoulders. He fell to his knees and then onto his side.

Tar growled; part of her had wanted the captain alive so she could question him about her father. The ships were being destroyed above them, and she couldn’t shake the feeling that important clues were being destroyed with them. Nevertheless, she appreciated the assist - wherever that had come from...

Tar pivoted and saw the last of the rebels running down a ramp into the belly of the Forerunner structure. She fired her pistol at them until the bullets ran out and then moved to kneel by another dead rebel. Keeping her eyes up to scan the battlefield, Tar pulled two magazines from the female’s tactical vest. She deftly reloaded with one of them, checking the new rounds were chambered correctly before standing. She held the second mag against the pistol grip, comfortably secured by her long Sangheili fingers.

Before her eyes, a fast moving object slammed into the ground ahead of her, throwing up a cloud of dust. Tar cautiously moved forward with her pistol out and slightly tilted in front of her. Gradually, the dust settled and Tar saw another Spartan in grey and silver armour on the floor. She knelt beside the downed Spartan and lifted their forearm off the floor as a few more presumed members of Aegis team gathered around. “Can you hear me? Are you operational?” Tar shouted over the sound of gunfire, peering into the soldier’s individual eye holes and gently shaking their arm.