Hailey, and Tiff head out once it gets dark.
To pass the time I do more reading on the Covenent, or I try to.
I've never really learned from anyone. Kesha never taught me because she said I wouldn't need to. I'm pretty sure that Sergeant expected us to know.
Reading comes with writing.
"106, come here" I call over the com. She appears from the woods, and plops down next to me. She's not taller than she was for some reason.
"We're gathered over there" she says pointing to where she came from. I reply with a shrug.
"Any word on Hailey, and Tiff?" She questions, and I shake my head finishing my report. I hand it to her to read over then make corrections on my spelling.
"No, but I told them to explore all of the details. Hailey said she's write me notes, and areas of interest" I explain.
She hands the datapad back to me, and Destiny drags me to my feet. With a grumble I follow her to where they're gathered.
"You need to socialize with everyone" she says.
"Where's Ian?" I ask.
"With the medics. He's got an interest in medical stuff. Says it's cool to be able to save someone's life. Wants to learn something I guess" Kaleb explains playing with his rifle.
"I mean we might need a doctor sooner, or later." I reply.
He just shrugs, and we sit around some more. Anna arrives waving something in her hand.
"It's a deck of cards. I learned how to play from watching the marines" she says sitting down, and I scoot closer.
She says that they taught her how to play one called war. Anna gave seven cards to me, Mathew, Eddie, and herself.
Then what we're supposed to do is put down a random card, and the person with the highest gets them all. Losing all your cards mean you've lost.
We play a few games before the girls return.
Now we can finally do something.
Hailey hands me back the data pad, and I give it back to Destiny. She reads it to tell me what they found then I walk towards the war-tent.
Sgt. Adam is still standing over the holograms when I step in.
"What's the best way to get around?" he questions then looks at me.
"Wrong person. Sorry."
I just shrug then take a look at the map where the base is.
"They aren't expecting an attack, and the front of the base is guarded with minamal troops. Mostly grunts. There is a Wraith on it's way, so I suggest we prepare."
I stay quiet long enough for him to spread the word. However, the Sgt. doesn't let me speak.
" Hope you don't mind, but you Spartans are much more advanced when it comes to stealth, so I want you to cut off the supply of troops. I'd spare men, but otherwise we'll be overunned." he says.
Not sure if I should be worried, or offended I just nod. In one sense he's right, but at the same time the Marines have more combat experience.
"We'll leave immediately." I say before exiting the tent. I make my way back to the group, but Covenant troops crossing through the forest forcing us to delay our exit.
Marines yell warnings, and I race to the barrier.
I flick a red acknowledgement light over the com to warn them.
After a while the Wraith fires the first plasma rounds, and we scramble for cover. I can hear the humming sound as it moves from left to right.
"Destiny, Wraith." I order over the com.
"Heavy vehicle. Plasma motar rounds. Slow, but can boost. You can either break through the hull under the gun, or destroy it from behind. Two occupants, one driver, and one gunner. Killing the gunner makes life easier" she explains.
"Kaleb, get on that. Mathew you're going for the driver. Anna you distract it. The rest of us will deal with the escort." I explain.
Using my assault rifle I stand up enough to fire at the Jackals. They duck behind their shields, and I throw a grenade to finish them off.
I switch to my BR to focus on the elites. Keeping an eye out for my teammates I reload then continue firing. Dropping down I grab my knife.
Putting my battle rifle on my back I vault over the barricade.
Rushing over to the first elite I duck to avoid its sword, and swing the knife frantically. Unable to land a blow I charge forward to tackle the elite then aim for his neck.
Once I ensure he was dead I find two blue spheres on his waist. Grabbing them I figure out they're similar to my grenades.
Must be alien grenades.
With one in each hand I throw them at incoming elites. As I suspect they duck away before they explode.
Curiously I seize the sword from the dead elite, and ignite it.
Deep down inside of me I grin like a child.
Aw yes! I'm keeping this thing!
Stepping over the dead one I take a stance, and wait for them to come closer. I move forward, and plunge the sword into the chest of the first one.
Before the first one falls over the second one opens fire. With no other choice I use the body as cover. I drop the elite, and dash forward swinging the blade as a I move.
I cut the elite down, and glance to the wraith to see Mathew punching the vehicle's hull until it breaks. What I'm assuming is a swift death he jumps back into the ground.
After it explodes I signal my team.
It's time for us to move.
Gathering the teams we follow the same route that Hailey, and Tiff took to reach the base. We have to strike before they regroup.
Two, and a half miles isn't hardly enough to make me tired anymore. The problem is that I needed the time to formulate a plan of attack.
I did keep the frontal attack part because they checked the base. We just have to deal with turrets, and grenades should do the trick.
Taking cover around the front of the base, and I drop to a crouch. We remain low to get into position.
"On my command. Kilo left turret, and Tango right then we storm the base. No prisoners" I tell them over the com.
Laying on my stomach now I wait for patrols to pass by then move out of sight. It will buy us some time. With my fist raised I motion forward.
Moving behind Tango I cover the rear as they take down the turrent. With the same swift motion we cross the distance to reach the entrance.
Sylvia brings Kilo, and we ambush Grunts on their way outside. The base has two levels with what is called grav lifts to the second floor.
We push through Covenant troops with superior firepower. It was as I predicted they weren't expecting an attack.
"Boss what if we tried pulling info from the control room?" Anna suggested shooting down more Grunts. I just twitch my head towards her, and she seems to get the point.
Anna takes off, and Hailey follows her. I motion for the others to continue. We need to clear out the base, and figure out how to destroy it.
"Looking for something explosive" I tell them. The problem is that the base doesn't have much to offer. It has mostly troops with the exception of the couple vehicles.
They won't create a big enough explosion to take out the entire thing.
"I think there's a jammer boss. Can't get through to Adams for the firepower" Eddie reports with frustration throwing something purple to the floor.
"What if we took everything we could find into the center of the base, and blow it up with grenades?" Mathew suggests using hand gestures as effects.
"A pile of junk, and grenades won't be effective enough to destroy an advanced base that probably had shielding at one point" Destiny snorts putting her hands on her hips.
'The ship has to have a power room somewhere'
'It's a base Dylan'
'Knew that Creature'
I walk off checking all the rooms we pass through, and in anger punched a door.
Nothing. Why is there nothing? It doesn't make sense.
The radio buzzes, and I smack the side of my helmet.
"Boss got something" Anna calls.
Wait
"Destiny why is it that we can hear them just fine in here, but not outside?" I question her. Destiny looks upset now, "I can read Dylan that doesn't make me a genius."
I'm taken back honestly. Usually no one raises their voice against me.
What are you going to do about it?
Nothing.
Shame. You allow disrespect within your platoon.
Shut up
Whatever
"You quit with that shit, and find out what Anna found?" I snap at her. With nothing better to do I trail behind her.
Anna is busy messing at a consol when we arrive.
"We couldn't destroy the base because we've been looking in the wrong place. The zone is rugged, and unstable sometimes. Weird, anways the base has an external power source." she began waving her hands around.
Anna seems excited.....
About alien tech.
"English?" I pressure.
"If we would have crossed the mountain range then we would have discovered the cable. That's why the base isn't as guarded as the back. It's like you said Dylan. They really weren't expecting an attack, and we might still have the element of surprise" she finishes perking up.
What makes her so happy?
Not sure, but she made better progress than we did.
"We'll follow the line, and destroy the source. Let's move" I order eager to get going. Retracing steps we follow back to the outside, and follow the black cable.
With stealth we slowly creep through the woods.
So far, so good.
With a sense of urgency I pick up the pace. The slope forces me to put away my rifle, and use my hands to climb. The slope rises, and we cut into a trail.
Waiting a look around, and check my radar. It's clear for now.
"Wraith!"
I duck down as the giant plasma ball explodes in the trees. Welding my battle rifle I open fire. I growl as my shields deplete, and my skin starts to burn. Moving constantly to avoid fire from the plasma turret I unleash my last grenade.
It's ineffective to the armor of the Wraith.
Every one is scattered around, and the Wraith is firing plasma balls at us. They can do serious damage even to our shields.
I'm not sure who did it, but the gunner was shot in the head.
I circle around the the back of the Wraith.
"Hey off. My turn."
Mathew shook his head, "I am Mathew. The Wraith Destroyer."
Laughing a give him a playful wack before he destroys the Wraith. After he gets off I take a handful of stones, and chuck them at him.
"Shithead" he curses kicking dirt at me. With the intention of getting the last laugh I threw dirt at him. We mess around for a minute or so.
"As tempting as it might be to see you two act like fools we have something to finish" Tiffany says with her hands of her hips.
"Right" I agree with a sigh.
Idiot. You're a Spartan, and you were distracted by child's play.
Ignoring Creature we keep moving. The distraction was refreshing actually. It helped get away from the fear of death.
On the other hand Creature is right. By wasting time we are leaving the soldiers defenseless, and vulnerable. I mentally smack myself.
Get it together.
Moving at a running pace we follow the cable line up the ridge, and back down the other side. There is a small purple thing about the side of an ODST drop pod.
"Who wants to do the honors?" I ask turning around to face them.
"Don't you look at me I'm the Wraith Destroyer remember?"
I roll my eyes then kicked the purple thing, but it held firm. Curious I looked for a control panel of some sort, or something to gain access. The are lights, so I shoot them out. Making a big enough hole I grab a grenade of someone's waist, and pop it in there.
When it doubt, blow it out
We move back as it lights up with purple fire, or plasma. I'm not really sure.
"I don't like the whole situation it seems wrong. Old Fashioned. Covenant bases usually don't have power supplies like this, or a lack of troops." Destiny says waving around the datapad.
I'm not an expert, but I do believe her. I just don't know what to do now.
I'm stumped.
With nothing better to do we retrace our steps back to the base, and dig some more. Now that I think about it there weren't many soldiers. The base didn't seem like something for combat. I did however report back to Adams that we cleared the base. I didn't tell him about my thoughts though. Didn't think it was important.
He wanted us to return, but I lied to say we were scouting. I'm not sure if it was the right thing to do, but I didn't need other things to be concerned about.
"Check everything again. We missed something."
Walking around I went as far as to check personal rooms, the mess hall, and the armory.
"I think it's interesting that these elites eat plant-like stuff considering their teeth." Anna thought out loud. I shrugged scanning the floor.
"Boss, I think it's a research base. There aren't many vehicles here. Noticeably when we cleared it out the first time there are bodies of lower ranking species. Grunts, or Jackals. Might be a research base, but still doesn't explain the power source. I'm certain that they are looking for something, but it isn't in the country. Most of their forces are near large settlements."
Doing a little thinking I pause for a moment.
"The power source may not make a huge impact, but it could be used to deter UNSC forces. To draw our attention away from their true intentions. Is there any way to determine what they are looking for, and if they found it?" I ask.
"No boss. I don't even know when to start. I hardly know Covenant systems."
Dead End Again.
This chapter might not make sense, but I'm not just throwing words into a chapter, and publishing it. You'll understand why soon. Bear with me, and hang on. Please vote, comment, and follow.