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Covenant Corvette, 600km above Reach
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“Well done Noble Six. Uppercut, initiated. Corvette is underway.”
Natasha felt a cruel smirk etch its way across her sweat-drenched face as she heard the words of Col. Holland sounding through her comms. They were finally going to deal a major blow to these Covvie bastards after all the shit they’d put her through.
“Six, our ride outta here is taking heavy fire. Get back to the hangar,” Jorge came in over the channel, cutting her revelry short.
“I’m Oscar-Mike,” she replied and checked her plasma rifle, ensuring it was topped up. She motioned for the few marines who’d made it this far to follow her as she led the way back.
As they walked through the corridors of the corvette, she was surprised at how many more xeno’s were still alive after they’d cleared their way to the bridge. Thankfully, they were little more than Grunts with a few Elites and Jackals thrown in here and there, nothing her squad couldn’t handle.
“At your earliest convenience Noble Six,” Jorge’s voice came in again and Natasha could hear the sounds of heavy rifle fire in the background. Though the man sounded composed, she knew that he was speaking more for the marines with him than himself.
She blipped her comm twice in acknowledgment while effortlessly finishing off the two Grunts that had charged at her squad. Turning to face her marines, she pumped her first into the air twice before taking off in a light jog, she didn’t want to leave the boys behind after all.
The five of them quickly made their way to the hangar bay, cutting down any aliens that came across their path and clearing out the corridors of any possible ambushers. Upon arrival, Natasha immediately noticed the reason behind the urgency and leapt in to support her men.
“I live for this!” Jorge shouted over the comms as he mowed down three elites with the Pelican’s detached turret. “Going hot, take them out!”
Natasha dropped her plasma rifle and picked up a fallen marine’s shotgun as she sprinted behind a group of unaware Jackals.
*Bam!* *Shick*
*Bam!* *Shick*
*Bam!*
With three shots the group was torn to shreds as their large shields flickered out and fell to the ground. Natasha ignored them however, as she rolled into cover to avoid Jorge’s spray that nailed a cloaked Elite coming up behind her position.
“Clear!”
“Clear.”
“Clear…”
“Clear~”
“All clear!” Marines shouted from all directions after checking the area.
“Good of you to come. ‘Ostiles ‘er pounding the hell outta the Pelican,” Jorge laughed boisterously as he shouldered the massive turret.
Natasha ignored the man after giving him the stink eye and walked towards the Pelican to resupply. She tossed away her empty shotgun and picked up a fresh BR from the crates in the back, alongside some grenades and spare mags.
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“Incoming hostiles!”
Before she could grab the rocket launcher that had been calling her name, a marine’s scream came over the comm and she rushed back without a second thought.
“Fuck, they got snipers!”
“Get over here Six!” Jorge called out, his prior calm nowhere to be found. Natasha slid into cover next to the Spartan and began taking pot shots at the Jackals overhead.
“Shit! Sankey’s down!” a marine cried.
“They got the LT!” another called out.
Natasha glanced at her HUD and saw that two marines had been taken out in a near-instant and became engaged at herself. No matter how much she checked for ambushers on their way to the hangar some had undoubtedly slipped by.
She glanced over at her fellow Spartan and nodded as the two of them covered the last two marines through four more waves of Covenant fighters. With her popping heads with a single burst and Jorge doing the same with a sniper, they almost kept them safe till the end.
“Fuck! Ling’s been h- ARGH!” the last marine’s cry fell short as his body, which was punctured by over a dozen needles, exploded into a mess of plasma and gore.
“Dammit!” Natasha stood up from behind cover and tossed three plasma grenades at the remaining enemies. As they dove out of the way, Jorge stood up and popped them once each in less than 2 seconds.
Her teammate sighed as he scanned the hangar bay before solemnly announcing, “Clear.”
She did the same and repeated his call with a sigh of her own, “All clear.”
Jorge shook his head sadly while walking towards the back of the Pelican, patting Natasha’s shoulder as he passed. The woman sagged as she followed behind.
All of a sudden, their AI, DOT, came over the comms with an announcement, “Distance is closing on this vessel’s refueling track with the Covenant Super-Carrier. Seventy-six seconds to endpoint.”
“Dammit,” Jorge cursed while overlooking the damage that’d been done to their ride. “So, it’s gonna be like that.”
He slammed his palm against the wreckage in frustration before turning back to her, “Well, I got good news and bad news.
This bird took some fire and her thruster gimbal is toast. Which means the only way off this slag heap, is gravity.”
Natasha stared at the 7’4 Spartan blankly. After seeing he had no inclination to continue, she asked, “And the good news?”
“That was the good news,” he said with a nod.
“At current velocity, fifty-three seconds to endpoint,” DOT reminded the duo.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah…” Jorge muttered while removing his helmet, idly dropping it, and looking Natasha straight in the eye. “Bad news is, timer’s fried. I’m gonna have to fire it manually-”
“That’s a one way trip,” Natasha cut in.
“We all make it sooner or later,” the man muttered softly while averting his gaze downward, though not offended by the interruption.
After looking back up, he patted Natasha on both shoulders and smiled, “Better get going, Six, they’re gonna need you down there.”
Natasha was about to say something, but Jorge raised a hand to stop her before reaching into his armor and continuing, “Listen, Reach has been good to me. Time has come to return the favor.”
He pulled out his dog tags and shook hands with his fellow Spartan, passing them over within their grasp, “…Don’t deny me this.”
Their hands still clasped, Jorge subtly locked Natasha’s armor before picking her up by the arm.
He walked towards the energy field acting as the hangar bay door and looked into her eyes through the visor one last time with a smile.
“Tell ‘em to make it count.”
With that, he pushed her out into space and away from the corvette which was now beginning to dock with the super-carrier.
As she fell through space, Natasha had no words. She knew why he was doing this and so, only a silent tear and a haunting background melody accompanied her as she watched the corvette’s slip-space drive activate within the larger ship’s hangar bay, cutting it in two.
As the explosion’s radiation wave washed over her, her armor-lock failed and she regained full movement. Alas, there was nothing more she could do now than wait for gravity to pull her back to Reach.
Or so she thought as, soon after they came back online, her comms were flooded with reports.
Natasha quickly realized she could do one thing as she fell, despair.
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New Alexandria, Eposz
August 23, 2552 15:34 Hours
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A lone figure stood atop a hillside, gazing upon a city being torn apart. Distant gunshots cracked through the air and bursts of AA flew into the sky amidst plumes of smoke, all under the watch of her cold eyes.
“Tell ‘em to make it count.”
The words rang through Natasha’s head as she clenched down on the pair of dog-tags within her grasp. Not even her free-fall from orbit hurt as much as what she was witnessing right now.
They had just taken down the Covenant’s main super-carrier and for what? Not five minutes later and the biggest fleet she’d ever seen jumps in right on top of them, making all their efforts up till now pointless.
“I’m sorry Jorge,” she whispered as she readied her sidearm, the only thing that had survived the fall besides herself. “We couldn’t save your home, but you can be sure as hell were going to avenge it…”