My subconsciousness faintly heard the sound of muffled voices as my head was moved slightly and I began to slowly awaken. As my thoughts became a bit clearer, I mentally encouraged myself to wake up and managed to convince my eyes to open. However, when I did my vision was still obscured by a complete lack of light. I was a bit confused but then concluded, my suit must be offline. I twitched a finger to bring my suit online, but nothing happened. Then specs of white slowly entered my view. I shook my head as they began to piece together into larger dots that were mottled with bits of color and realized it wasn't my suit that was malfunctioning, I was.

The voices slowly got louder. "chief... Chief... Steele!"

The white fully took over my vision, my system diagnostics the first thing my eyes were greeted with. My visor then focused on the helmet of Selina standing over me, and further behind her the helmets of Kade and Scott. "Come on, we need to go, I know you're hurt but we can't let them escape with Kyle, we'll lose the signal soon." She said, assuming I was still out and shaking me.

I put up my hand to let her know that I was awake and nodded at her remark, groaning. My system showed my suit had a blown pressure seal, inevitable with my high velocity impact and the pressurization of my suit. However, with the blown seal I was now unable to go back into a compromised atmosphere without getting it replaced. No space travel for the time being.

I turned on my side, my muscles and back screaming in pain. I made a muffled grunt, getting into all fours. I put one knee up, pausing for a moment to keep the pain from crippling me. I put my hand on my knee and Selina helped me stand. I almost collapsed but I wouldn't let myself and I finally stood up. My leg was most likely fractured, my knee had a torn tendon, and I couldn't even think about what happened to the rest of my body. Pain would have to wait for the moment until we could get moving again. My filters were oozing hydrostatic gel to release some of the pressure, mixed with specs of blood.

"Are you ok?" Selina said in a voice tinged with worry. I looked at the silent and emotionless visors of Kade and Scott. They were probably shaken after my seemingly fatal fall from near-atmosphere despite their calm façade.

"I'm fine for now, we need to get moving." I said, taking a few steps unsteadily before getting used to the feeling of walking again and making my way over to where I could see the Pelican.

They exchanged a few small finger signals and twitches nearly out of sight of my view, and then, with a silent agreement, followed. They had been asking each other about my condition, and felt that I was resilient and If I could walk, I was good enough. I stepped into the clearing where the Pelican was waiting with it's ramp down. It had security measures built in to prevent theft by anyone other than our squad.

With a slight limp I boarded, immediately taking a seat on the seat nearest the ramp. I slumped over a bit as I rested against the backing and was breathing heavily as my lungs had taken some damage too. Scott climbed on afterwards and took his seat in the cockpit. Kade and Selina took seats across and beside me. The ramp raised and the Pelican rose, following the faint signal of Fireteam Prime. I opened the two teams rosters, a full list of names coming up. I paused at marking Smith and Strang KIA. Would the MIA rule extend to non-Spartan IIs? I marked them KIA. I doubt there was anyone left to care. They had died honorably and I couldn't stand the rule anyway. I marked Kyle as POW.

"Selina, grab me a new pressure seal from the equipment compartment. Kade, track the route Prime has taken so far and try to find where they are headed." I said. They nodded and got on it, Selina nearing the front of the pelican and Kade using his helmet.

She came back with the seal in her hand and gave it to me. I grabbed a small mechanic kit and twisted around, taking off the old seal. I put the new seal on and made sure it was tight. Selina took the old seal and disposed of it. Now, where was Fireteam Prime? If I could even call them that anymore. "Kade, what do you have?" I asked. He looked over at me and said, "Still looking, but I'm pretty sure a faint signal near Fort Cause is them." Selina looked towards him sharply, "What would they want with Fort Cause? That place is glassed, nothing would be left that they could break through to anyway."

He shrugged, an extremely hard motion in such complex circuitry and heavy armor as MJOLNIR. This meant he was showing me he was still capable of immediate combat, and that he was requesting to go on a mission to help investigate. Without me.

I thought for a moment. I didn't want him to go, it would mean splitting up and last time that happened... But IF they did land, they would bring Kyle with them, and we probably would need to go ground side. Though I couldn't stand the thought of sitting back while my team saved the person who had come to protect me. They waited for me to respond expectantly. "On one condition. I'm going." They immediately started to protest but stopped mid-word and sat back, remembering that I was the commanding officer.

I said nothing but instead opened a channel with Scott. "What's our status?" There was a crackling before he replied. "Closing in, the ship has landed at another facility close to Fort cause, reason unknown." He replied. Why would they land again, it seemed un-strategic. Unless they were trying to get a ship into atmosphere. "Scott, don't let them land. Fire on their Pelican and aim for their fuel tanks. If we can cripple their reserves then they will have to leave the base but won't have enough fuel to make it to another. Maybe then we can refuel and keep from drawing this out any further."

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"Affirmative. And then we can get You fixed up. I've looked at your vitals and you will need medical attention before you are ready for combat again." He said. I frowned but said, "Noted." He wasn't wrong, and ultimately when considering my condition I would indeed need to get fixed up before we battled them in individual combat again, but I didn't want him to worry about me in the dogfight ahead because I agreed with him.

There was an exhale of disapproval and he closed the channel. I looked back at Kade and Selina, both of whom had been cleaning their weapons, something I should have done during the down time. "Get ready for a rough flight team, engaging the enemy with ship to ship combat." I said. Selina looked up and nodded, re-assembling her gun lightning fast, Kade followed suit. I quickly disassembled my assault rifle and wiped off the big pieces, re-assembling quickly as well.

"Target spotted." Scott called back. They pulled the bars down and held on, just in case.

"Target engaged."

Then there was the muffled sound of the guns on the sides of our Pelican firing in a steady beat. I risked getting up and walking across the vibrating floor. I opened the door to the cockpit and stood next to Scott, the door closing behind me. I saw the slightly banged-up Pelican ahead some hundred feet below. Currently it was flying erratically, swinging to the left and then back at random intervals.

The stream of bullets from our Pelican followed, scraping the hull every once in awhile. Scott growled and followed it, trying to get as close to the fuel tank on the back half of the pelican. The landscape flashed below, a base with 2 scout towers and a frigate dock coming into view on the horizon. Scott then fired the chain gun as well, pointing both to opposite sides of the Pelican and then dragging them inwards. No dodging could keep them from getting hit this time.

The Pelican flew straight for a moment, the bullets closing in on the fuel tanks. However, then it slowed and suddenly flew straight up. Scott dragged the controls upwards after it. I sat down in the co-pilot seat as well and buckled in as I could or would be thrown backwards as we followed. Scott yanked back on the forward thrust lever, stopping our forward path nearly instantaneously.

I was yanked forward against the harness.

The Pelican shot straight up. I then was forced backwards and my head banged against the inside of my helmet, my helmet hitting the back of the seat. The ground disappeared and my view was switched to the back hatch of Henderson's dilapidated Pelican. A piece of damaged rear panel fell from the shaky ship and whipped past our window.

"Their Pelican can't leave the atmosphere!" I shouted over the rumbling of the engines and the chain and machine gun. Scott nodded and slowed, his fire still aimed at the fuel tank as Fireteam Prime's Pelican rolled and rocked back and forth. Then it's engines cut off. It hovered for a moment with the momentum, and then gravity pulled it back. The falling Pelican came straight for us, turning around and aiming for the ground. Scott swerved as it shot past us, Henderson's triumphant face flashing by for a moment.

Scott pulled the throttle again and our own Pelican came to an abrupt halt, metal groaning and the G-forces making me feel dizzy. Then he pushed it forward as we tilted and we flew in a curved path down after them. Scott sped up, pressing us against the chairs so hard that I couldn't have lifted my head if I wanted to. I felt nauseous but kept my eyes open. The guns had stopped and Scott now had a missile lock on their engine. He fired and it spiraled downwards. The ground was coming up fast. Their flares took it out. He fired again immediately and this time it was a hit.

Their Pelican shook heavily at the impact, gas and metal flying up at us. They curved into a horizontal line, away from the base. Scott slowed and marked their path, heading towards the base. "Now we can get repairs, we practically lost a flap in that chase. Heading in." Scott said, our descent becoming more vertical and turning towards the closer one. He pinged the base, requesting to land. Soon we landed and disembarked.

My team walked next to me, making it clear I needed to go to the medical bay by blocking me from turning. I let out an exasperated breath and let them take me. We walked into a hallway at the back of the hangar and two medics with a stretcher approached us. They indicated I get on. I shook my head and said, "I can walk"

They shrugged and led us to the medical room. My team stopped at the door. I looked back and the door closed, blocking my view. A doctor came up to me. "Now, lay down here and we will see the extent of your injuries."

I nodded and lay back, my armor pressing against me in a slightly uncomfortable manner. Now that the adrenaline had worn off I could feel pain in my sides, legs, and back. I exhaled as the machine turned on and they scanned me. Once the buzzing had stopped they looked at each other with panicked and worried faces.

I began to sit up but one, noticing me, hurriedly ran over and pushed me back down. Pushed is a strong word, it was more like, she put her hand on my chest plate and I knew to lay back down, I doubt she would have been able to push me.

I laid flat and she looked at her data pad. "Well, um, let me just say you have severe wounds. You have torn two ligaments in your knee, fractured your fibula, and have suffered a.. Mild concussion." She said. I looked at her as she paused. "That's it?"

"No, I just wanted to give you the short news first. Thanks to your spine protector that is mostly ok but you have broken 4 ribs, suffered moderate to severe contusions, or internal and external bruises, throughout your midsection, and have a surprisingly moderate compression fracture in your lower spine. You also have some kidney damage that is not too severe and a partially collapsed lung. We will have to fix that compression fracture and widen the vertebrae, and fix your knee. Casts and your armor should help with stabilizing. Otherwise you should be able to walk normally after about 2-5 days depending in the success of each."

I sat there kind of surprised. I didn't think it was that bad, not with how little pain I felt now compared to everything else, it was probably my suit, lingering adrenaline, and my high pain tolerance that helped it. "When will the procedure begin?" I asked. She looked up from her pad, doctors now milling about and retrieving tools.

"Oh, right now, we have wounded still coming in from across the planet so we wanted to get you fixed up ASAP." She replied.

"Ok, just tell my team to track the.. Relatives and make sure they are ok." I hope you guys get the message.

"I will, Don't worry, you won't feel a thing and we have calculated for your fast healing so the sedative won't wear off until well after we are done." She said, taking a tool from the table. "Now let's begin."