I tossed a grenade far ahead of us as we ran, all the way to the front of the group of Covenant in an attempt to slow them down. It exploded, killing a group of grunts and throwing Covenant nearby to the ground. They simply picked themselves up as they disregarded the dead and kept going, the ones in the back more fervently firing at us as we pursued.

I need to cut them off before they reach the base. The group was large and so they weren't moving much, more like retreating and ducking behind cover to fire a few shots before running back to another piece of cover. This was the section of the city with scattered houses, but it eventually lead out to open ground. That open ground had on it the main road to the gates of the base, not a mile from our current position.

I ran faster, signaling Scott and Selina to follow. We passed through large groups of Covenant as they failed to keep ahead of our augmented speed and scattered as we pushed through them. We dodged shots fired at us from every which way, our shields inevitably draining as we pushed through, nearly being stopped by an Elite as he tried and failed to slash at us passing through. The overall group was getting closer to the base, a Banshee even flying overhead directly towards it. Soldiers ahead of the Covenant were running as best they could and shooting backwards every so often. My guess would be that the Covenant were ordered to kill any forces that might have a chance to stop them, including me.

I looked to my side again where Scott and Selina were running and signaled them to move up to the left. We sprinted faster and quickly passed most of the Covenant, taking out a few faster Elites and dodging a few shots by scattered forces that hid behind barriers or crouched in ditches.

We passed the rest of them quickly and left the confused group of Covenant behind to chase the marines. Unfortunately we didn't have time to stop or help the soldiers who happened to be pursued by the Covenant on the way, but I did manage to carry an injured man bridal style to the gate. I skidded to a stop at the gate and quickly scanned my identification to let me in, handing the injured soldier to the guard.

A guard at the entrance watched me go by curiously as he hesitantly took the injured soldier's arm, then turned to discover the oncoming Covenant running over the hill, and quickly ran inside his post to sound a warning. Most of the soldiers had helped in the city but so far the fighting had not been at the base and there was no reason to follow eradication protocols. They didn't want to follow protocol to destroy any essential research or data if it wasn't necessary.

The Covenant approached the gates, taking cover from the few turrets on the wall while fighting marines still on the ground who finally reached the barricades outside the gate. I spotted an open turret on the wall and moved to my left. I crouched and jumped, flying high up onto the wall next to the turret. I quickly moved behind the turret, placed my rifle on my back, and grabbed the handles. I fired into the covenant that were approaching. An unlucky group of grunts and an Elite trapping a marine were soon obliterated, leaving the marine unharmed of course.

I took out the front lines, but they were quickly replaced. Risking a glance to the side of the road, I spotted a few Elites tucking into the forest. I tilted my head in confusion... and then stepped back as a plasma grenade flew up straight towards the turret.

I quickly tore it off of it's stand and used my thrusters to push me to one side. The grenade exploded where the turret had just been and my HUD wavered slightly as the electrical charge passed over me. I stood from where I had slid on the ground and turned the now-portable turret to the trees, laying down a stream of fire into the foliage.

The bark from the trees splintered off, deadly shards flying everywhere, as the heavy ammunition ripped through the forest. There were a few Sangheili growls of pain but they quickly cut short as I swept back over the area they came from. I stopped and turned back to continue attacking the main force, satisfied that the Elites were dead.

Selina and Scott were on my left on top of the wall as well, Kade on the other side sniping some of the Elites and the few vehicle drivers.

There were other soldiers on the wall firing now as well. However I looked over to see only about ten or twenty troops beside me. I laid suppression fire on the advancing forces and yelled to a soldier next to me. "Where are the rest of your troops?"

"They went to help fight off the covenant in the city, the others are inside deleting data or dead."

"How long will that take?"

"Should be about ten or twenty minutes."

I turned back to the covenant. We don't have that kind of time, We need to take them all out at once. The last tactic I used won't work here. I paused a moment and looked around. There were almost no tactical options. The only things were abandoned warthogs, covenant, discarded weapons, and of course the Covenant. There were too many and they would definitely see by the empty turrets that there were only a few of us if they hadn't noticed already.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

I thought back, way back to some of the first wars on Earth. One of the battles had been won by pulling in fake cannons too make it look like the force was much larger than it really was, causing the surrender and retreat of the opposing force. (Yes this actually happened)

If I could replicate that here with some of the manned turrets before the Covenant got too close, we could ward them off. I turned back to the soldier. "Tell your men to bring up every turret you have, automatic or not, and set them along the wall."

He turned to me with a bewildered expression. "What for? We don't have enough men to man them all." He yelled over.

"You don't need enough, they will be fired randomly to give the impression that you have more men than they do." I yelled back.

His eyes widened in realization and he immediately called half of the soldiers to get them with him. The rest continued firing and I relayed the message to Scott. Soon at least a hundred turrets were set up along the wall. There was a visible hesitation in the Covenant forces.

I continued firing but crouched behind the turret so they couldn't see me and I could see them. The other soldiers positioned behind a turret as well, spread out so two or three turrets were in-between them.

I signaled them with my hand and called on the radio to Scott. "Rotate now." Immediately fire from some of the turrets stopped and previously unmanned turrets fired up. A few of the soldiers had been waiting off-sides to improve the illusion. They randomly approached a turret, making sure the Covenant couldn't see them.

I moved over to a second turret, and then at the same rate to the third, alternating between them to make it look like they had cool down times. I quickly risked a look over the wall at the large group of Covenant. It was working! The grunts were now backing up or even running away, frightened by the seemingly massive force of enemies on impenetrable turrets. Even some of the Elites subconsciously stepped backwards. Only the few Hunters left were undisturbed, simply following orders.

I ducked as a rain of rubble from a Hunter's plasma shattered the wall next to me. I quickly engaged my invisibility, darting across the destroyed remains of my second turret and firing up the next turret after the "cool down" for the existing and no longer existing turret passed. Scott and Selina had already been doing this in their sections. This deterred them even more, since there could be seen no crossing troops to fire up another turret. As the last Hunter fell, the Elites began calling for a retreat. Grunts stumbled over each other and the Elite's who had appeared to be commanders were picked off by Kade.

The men cheered, and I copied and amplified a portion of the sound to make it sound like an army. The hesitantly retreating Covenant were thoroughly convinced now and ran for their lives.

Finally the last Elite was out of sight, the straggling grunts picked off by the men actually on the turrets. I stood up and looked past the celebrating troops to Scott and Selina. They nodded and hopped off of the wall, walking towards the base. I approached the soldier from before and he turned to greet me. "Have the men destroyed the data?" I asked. He nodded, "Finished a few minutes ago. You're welcome to take any equipment or supplies, we got word the Covenant ship finished the city and is heading here now. Thanks for your help, we have it covered from here."

"Thanks for the offer, and no problem."

He nodded and started shouting orders to take some of the turrets down. I jumped off the wall and walked into the base near the hangers. I walked trough a door into a hanger and saw Selina and Scott standing there. A few Pelicans had been stationed behind the base as precaution to being shot during the fight. I gave a thumbs up to one of the pilots and the first of five Pelicans filled with civilians and base staff slowly took off.

I watched it go, followed soon after by the second. There was motion from the forest to my right and I looked to see Kade running out of the forest. He slowed as he neared and eventually walked towards me.

"The Pelican is refueling at a nearby station. We might need it when we leave atmosphere," He said.

"Grab some extra equipment too. Then we leave, the carrier will be here soon." I replied. He nodded and went over to a crate, stocking his sniper with ammo. I grabbed a few extra cartridges myself and for a brief moment just stood there and watched the Pelicans leave.

(don't change after this point)

The last Pelican left, taking with it the rest of the Civilians off to the same Frigate that had brought Kyle here not so long ago. My team packed up the last extra supplies from the hangar, clipping on ammo and anything they could carry without hindering themselves. I looked out at the Covenant ship coming increasingly closer. My team walked up, weapons on their backs, each nodding that they were ready. "Let's go." I said, and we ran out of the base, accelerating to our top speed. I led them towards the trees east of where the ship was coming in towards the base. Soon as we passed the first layer of trees we heard a terrible crumbling and burning sound. I looked behind myself and saw what I had expected, the facility was being glassed. I looked away and we continued to run, the ground a blur, darting around obstacles until we were about 15 miles away. I slowed down as we reached the edge of the forest, the others following suit. I paused near a large hill and slowly walked up it to see what had been done. I reached the top and stopped.

I stood there silently and watched as yet another evacuated facility become a wasteland of molten rock.

I ran my thumb over the ridge of the energy sword I was holding, then lowered my hand and placed it on my thigh. I heard footsteps as Selina, Kade, and Scott walked up behind me. I turned my head slightly to signal them that I had heard but kept my eyes on the destruction unfolding in the distance. "We'll find him Steele. And whoever did this will pay along with the Covenant, you have our word on that." She said, resting a gloved hand on my shoulder in a rare show of comfort, leaving it for a moment before she lowered it. I nodded, clenching my fists.

"Chief, we have company." Kade said. I turned and looked up to where he was pointing. A Covenant ship was lowering through the clouds not too far away as it's beam charged and fired. They turned to leave, jogging back down. I looked back at the facility for a moment. Then I turned and ran down the hill to join my team. We dodged rocks, jumping over logs and forgotten Covenant, heading towards our next clue. I clenched the dog tags in my left hand, grimacing. Whoever you are, get ready, because we are coming, and we will find you.