HRP reboot - Chapter 2: On the Run

Lina dragged Lin back. "She wasn't killed right off! She wasn't killed right off! Don't fucking lose it until we know hat's going on! COCKPIT!" She easily tossed Lin back.

Set walked over to the dead humans as his comrades hacked the City AI. He looked over at their plasma burnt faces, and stomped them in. Drawing out his Energy Cutlass, he dragged them into the street, and began to cut them into pieces, separating limb from limb. There were two males and one female of the human species. When he finished cutting them, he threw their body parts over the road, to serve as a distraction for any other humans who would undoubtably show up.

Rha' lowered his blade, grinning as he watched the ship fly away. In a flash, the two blades were deactivated, the Sangheili holding the girl close in his grasp. He looked down at her and quickly snatched something from her - a datapad, with codes. She was technical, it seemed.

"Tell me, human... were you the one locking those doors? Ensuring your friends escape as we chased you?"

He'd been getting periodic calls from the Kig-Yar, telling him that the AI of the city was proving far more capable than expected, and if he'd found a human who could hack through the systems, then this would all be far easier. No doors would be locked for them, no gates closed, no defences in operation. The city would fall to them, and Rha' would be commanded, again, for a victory over the humans.

"Well?"

"Yes." She gritted her teeth. "And if you want them, then you don't kill me. Because if you do, I will ensure that you lose ten thousand men for every city block you take." She growled. "Understand me splitneck? Or do I need to speak in worts?"

I make it to the fire escape and start my way down it. I curse silently every time the fire escape groans.

After the group passed, Daniel tried the frequency again. "Hey, Requi-whatever, you find Lin and Siri yet?"

Rha' let go and immediately backhanded the human, snarling. There were many things humans could say to him, dozens of things. But insulting his species was something he despised. Splitneck... And the mere idea that she could in any way ensure such loses was bizarre at best. Rha' growled, looking down at the human.

"You will learn to speak to me as a Sangheili. I am not an Elite, I am your superior in every way. Superior to every human! Understand this! I could kill you right now. We don't need you alive. If the need arises, we will simply glass this planet, as we have glassed so many before! So learn your place now, human, or accept death!"

The Sangheili Ultra stood over the girl, a foot heavy on her chest.
"Understand?!"

Set walked over to his fellow Skirmishers, and told one to cover the position he had been covering, and ordered one of his inferiors to give him a progress report. Set and the other Skirmisher spoke in their raspy voices, detailing the report on the AI.

The other Skirmisher believed they were almost finished here.

"Under...stood." She said. "Sangheili." Siri added. She gripped the terminal, her brain speeding through ways to direct the superintendant to ensure people got out but to satisfy the alien asshole currently pressing her into the rooftop.

"Lin is currently with the Spartans. From reports...Saoirse Monroe has been captured by the Covenant." Requiem curtly informed Daniel. "Long and Dark December is currently lifting up from the sea. The Pelican is heading your way now. Do us all a favor and keep Rin alive."

RARGHK! The skirmisher roared at the portal they were using to get to the Superintendent. The portal had shut down. It was no longer a feasible route to access the AI. The Skirmisher took out his rage on the bus stop, burning the metal with plasma, and melting the glass. Instead of letting his anger get the better of him, Set pointed out that there was another portal nearby they could use, and the group of skirmishers set out to the new point.

I sit on one of the more well concealed chunks of stair. I unlatch and take off my helmet, revealing my scarred face. I rasp out, "Should not have done that." I rasp out a quiet laugh. I look down to see some Jackals moving about.

"What? Siri was captured?" Daniel shouted, and Chris turned a bit pale. Not out of love for Siri, but she knew how Lin was going to react.

"Unfortunately. A rescue is impossible due to the amount of enemies. We are almost to you." He paused. "You have to restrain miss Tanaka. My Spartans are really not going to risk it."

Rha' raised the human up, ensuring he held her by the neck tightly, to keep her from running. Suicide was always an option to the humans.
"Faster. Faster."

"Commando Set, this Ultra Rha' Taydumee. I have captured a human who is ensuring the cities associated intelligence gives in to our attempts. The city will fall easily as soon as she is finished. I want you and your men back on the Eternal Perdition immediately."
The comm was shut down as Rha' opened a new one with the pilot of the Type-56 Ground Support/Ultra Heavy Deployment Platform, commanding him to converge on Rha's location as soon as the Kig-Yar and remainder of ground forces were back onboard. As he spoke, the soldiers within the office building began to emerge from the door.

Five Sangheili, ten Kig-Yar, and a trio of Unggoy, with weapons ranging from Type-25 Directed Energy Pistols all the way to Type-50 Sniper Rifle Systems used by a few of the Kig-Yar, all continued to fire down from the roof, more as suppression than anything. The enemy was in full retreat in this area, the Jiralhanae and Sangheili decimating the defences with ease.

"You will be coming with us, human."

Siri shook.
"Will...will you at least make it quick?"

She raised the hand terminal. "U....um...I'll start then..."

AGHK. "Yes, Ultra." Set rasped into the communications relay. In the tongue of the Kig-Yar, Set ordered his men to return to the Eternal Perdition. The skirmishers ran on their way, quickly and with such agility that debris did not slow them down. They returned swiftly to the Eternal Perdition without incident, arriving before Rha'.

"Will someone here please explain to me who this person is?" Lindsey asked her squad mates feeling out of the loop. Judging from their reactions the person in question was someone important, yet it just felt like a secret was being kept from her and Lindsey disliked that in a squad.

"Long story short," Chris said. "Lin's girlfriend." Rin, who had stuck to Chris and Daniel like glue, immediately went very pale. "Oh....oh no. We have to get her back," she said, but Daniel shook his head. "We can't, not with this much chaos everywhere."

"And right now, we have to get you all out." Requiem's voice sounded. "Now get in the Pelican before Lin runs out."

Above them, a Pelican began to descend, ramp lowering to reveal Lina, assault rifle raised.
"Nice to see you again, Dragon." She said. "been awhile...not since this entire cat and mouse game started."

Rha' and his unit waited, before the sound of rushing wind began to pick up, and one of the Sangheili spoke up, raising his Type-25 Directed Energy Rifle as he and the rest of the Covenant force ended their spray.
"Ultra! The Eternal Perdition!"

The Type-56 Ground Support/Heavy Deployment Platform flew up over the top of the tower, deploying it's gravity beam, and quickly accepting the soldiers that made way into it. Before long, it was just Rha' and Saorise left.

"Make it quick? Oh no, my dear. This will not be quick."
The Sangheili Ultra threw her into the beam, and when she came up into the dropship she was quickly apprehended by the Sangheili standing at the entrance. Rha' came up behind her and let out a cool breath against her neck.
"Shackle her up."
The Sangheili nodded and Rha' made his way to the upper level with the pilot, the escorts taking Saorise with them. The Sangheili Ultra saw a green armoured Kig-Yar standing near by, and easily recognized the larger-than-average Skirmisher.
"Set. I'm glad to see you."

Rha' turned, looking down at the human as he stood by the controls.
"Enjoy this ride, human. It may be the last you ever experience."

Saoirse didn't struggle at all; she went with it, opting to hope that, just maybe, she'd live.

And she had an idea to how she could help the city as well as make the Covenant happy.

Set nodded, "Ultra. Why have you brought this human with you?" Set was blunt with his superior. His concern was shared among the other Kig-Yar, not that they disliked humans, but that it was not the way the Covenant usually operated. Humans were defilers, pests to be eradicated. Even as Set spoke, the glassing of the world had begun. Thousands of square miles turned into a radioactive glass by beams of cleansing fire. Set kicks Siri in the stomach, as she was a prisoner, and nothing.

Reluctantly, Dragon squad got into the pelican, Chris and Daniel restraining a screaming Lin, even going so far as to sedate her before they strapped in. Around them, the city fell apart as the battle was lost, UNSC forces decimated. Scarabs were dropped from the sky and spraying the ground with plasma fire, Wraiths bombing hiding spots where humans attempted to hide from the aliens. Ships fled to the sky, pelicans and shuttles. Covenant forces stormed the city, while ships in orbit began glassing the surface and wasting another world. As civilians attempted to flee, a lone child stood at the landing zone for evacuating pelicans, and watched as Dragon squad's pelican flew away to dock with a rising frigate. A scarab came marching in, plasma cannon firing and sweeping over the area. The child ran, getting onto the pelican as it took off......and was promptly destroyed, along with the others by Covenant ship fire. It was one more planet lost in a long line of worlds destroyed by the Covenant.

Lindsey starred at the door of the Pelican as it closed, blocking off her view of yet another battle she had survived, another battle she had fled from instead of standing, fighting and if need be dying. She glanced at her squad mates but said nothing, she had no words, no sarcasm or jokes to comfort them. Lindsey lowered her head and slumped into a seat, she felt guilty, terrible for the fact that she had once more survived. Others always died but no matter how hard she tried to save them she couldn't, Lindsey did not have even the decency to die alongside them.
Another shameful display, she seemed to have been defeated though she expected no words of comfort her squad was after all trying to comfort or had been till they sedated Lin. There was nothing anyone could say anyway, abandoning someone you loved to the enemy was a terrible burden. Worse than fleeing the battlefield, worse than surviving when all around you your buddies, your friends... Your team died.
A single tear cut through the grim and dust, coating Lindsey's cheek and splashed on her knee pad. She squeezed her eyes tight and prevented the flow of any more.

As the pelican flew, Daniel immediately headed for the cockpit, his visor depolarized and clear, showing the world his expression. There was a certain measure of calm, but a twitch here and there on his face showed he was nearing the edge of an explosion. "What's our status? When do we get her back?" he barked, asking whoever was still in charge of this cluster-fuck.

"When we do. Now sit down." Rika growled. "Because Lin will be fucked up currently, and we need to get our asses to December. Hold on."

She angled it, and, before anyone could scream, slid under the water. "Watertight bulkheads, don't go crapping your skivvies." she said dryly. "About two minutes until we reach the ship. You, Chris, the new girl, and the Tanakas are all I managed to find. Everyone else is dead or dying."

"Then we should try and ally with the people who are still fighting," Chris said from where she stood. "If we're going to even try and get Siri back....we're going to need all the help we can get." No one seemed willingly to argue the idea of actually rescuing Siri from the Covenant. It had almost become an accepted fact, that she was only going to be spending the night in their company. So strong was it, that no one short of Rin actually blanched when they had hit water.

"We should be fighting... I should be fighting" Lindsey commented her voice speaking to no one in particular. She may have just been thinking and spoke out loud without realising it. Shame burned deep within her, once more Lindsey had survived, once more she had fled from the fight.
Another battle, another one where she left before it was over leaving others to fight and die in her place.

Rha' looked down at the Kig-Yar Commando, snarling softly. Any other figure would earn themselves a hit and a demotion, but Set was a special exception - second in command and all that, and even more importantly a close friend of Rha'. The two had operated on so many missions together it had gotten hard to count.
"She is clearly smart, at least as far as humans go. I will break her down until the only thing left is information - every planet she knows, every secret base, everything. And with her information, we will destroy the enemy, utterly."

Rha' looked over at the pilot, patting the Sangheili on the back.
"To the Exoneration, and then we will return to the Prevailing Conviction. I have received word that it's repairs are completed."
As soon as he was back on the Exoneration and done with the interrogations, he and his entire crew would finally be off that ship. And Rha' could not be happier.

---

David looked down at his data pad, scanning the information he was being sent. A nice little conference chat, in a way, just without any speech. A few Admirals, a few other members of GOLDCAT, and of course Serin Osman.

David shook his head, sighing to himself. ONI already knew about the attack thanks to him and a contact he had on the surface, but as always they weren't going to send any aid just yet. Seemed like they wanted to see what the Covenant did to a planet with such minimal defenses.
They always wanted to see that.
David wondered if ONI just liked that the Covenant were cleaning up so many planets. Lord only knows how many Innies had been wiped out thanks to them, and how many possible Innies had been evaporated or melted.

David looked out across the mess hall of the Long and Dark December, sitting alone as always. He wondered when they'd get to depart the sea, and hoped it'd be soon. He didn't want to spend the next few weeks stuck under an ocean.

"Ultra! Incoming transmission!"
Rha' tuned into the Battlenet and suddenly was greeted by a loud, shocking boom of noise. Rha' turned down the comm for a moment before speaking.

"This is Sangheili Ultra Rha' Taydumee of the Type-56 Ground Support/Ultra Heavy Deployment Platform Eternal Perdition, responding to distress call."

The Sangheili was met by a loud bark, the sound of bullets and firing, and then the gruff recognisable sound of a Jiralhanae roaring.
"Taydumee! This is Sangheili Major Than 'Darayee calling for support! I spotted you overhead, and we are fighting against humans based in a nearby building! Heavy support requested!"
The comm cut out, and Rha' made the safe assumption that the Major had gotten caught up in combat.

"The two of you keep an eye on this human."
Rha' looked at the two Minors who nodded softly, gripping the human by her arms and holding her tight. If she tried anything she'd have her arms shattered.
"Set, come with me."

The Sangheili and Kig-Yar made their way down to the lower level of the ship, and soon the two of them were standing on one of the open ports of the Eternal Perdition, staring down as the Type-56 GS/UHDP circled around the human law enforcement building.
"Kig-Yar, hand me your rifle."
One of the Kig-Yar onboard quickly handed their Type-27 Special Application Sniper Rifle over, looking over to see what the fuss was about. Rha' checked the battery of the rifle and smiled to himself before propping it up and looking through the scope.

Two human orbital troops, often sent behind enemy lines to bring a sudden rear guard. Rarely effective on attacks like this, with little to no naval support or human supremacy in numbers. Simple targets.

Rha' let out a single sharp burst of ionised particles and watched as one of the humans was hurled back, a large chunk of his chest and an entire shoulder completely vaporized, one of his arms set a few feet away from him.
Rha' grunted to himself, annoyed he'd missed but still glad the human was dead.
It seemed only one was left.

The Lich had stopped and an Elite had appeared. He'd took aim and Josie heard a brief scream from downstairs. Then her radio crackled

"Foxtrot, this is Big Bird. We're coming in now. Request you get to the roof right now. We will not wait."

Josie leaned over the wall and took a few shots at the Elite who had fired with her rifle before gunning it for the stairs. There she met up with Numi. She knew what had happened to Ryan. They both nodded at each other. Josie started up the stairs while Numi took out a pair of grenades, unpinning them and throwing them down the stairwell.

Josie burst out into the sunlight. The Falcon was already coming in, it was slowing down but she knew by it's speed it wouldn't stop. They'd have to jump for it. She started for the edge of the building, Numi following right behind her. Her helmet was stifling, so she threw it off as she ran.

Rha' felt a few rounds of human ammunition spray off of his shields, and heard as a few others pointlessly pelted the hull of the Eternal Perdition. He had to give the one firing credit for being able to hit from that distance.

The Sangheili moved the rifle a bit, adjusting as another human soldier appeared. Two in retreat now, it seemed, heading for a human extraction craft.

Rha' let out another burst, skimming the ground behind one of them. He waited a moment, letting the rifle cool, before aiming slowly at one of the humans. This one was wearing their helmet, and it seemed they'd taken the lead in the retreat. To Rha' that was a cowards act.

Another burst, and the Ultra watched as the head of the human was caught in the beam. The purplish smoke cleared rapidly, and Rha' watched as the humans now completely headless body did not slump to the floor, but instead went reeling off the edge of the building and down to the earth below. Rha' was not able to hear the sound of the body shattering and splitting as it hit the ground.

Rha' opened the comm with the Major, and was glad to get a contact.
"Thank you for your support Ultra!"
The red armoured Sangheili was the first of his unit to get to the roof and begin firing. Rha' wondered if they'd be capable of taking down the human craft.
Rha' shut off the comm without saying a word; though he was grateful, the Major knew why. It was hardly honourable to attack an enemy from so far. Rha' shook his head.

A pair of Type-26 Ground Support Aircrafts flew past the Eternal Perdition, and the pilot looked over to Rha' as the Ultra returned to the upper deck, having just spoken with one of the many other active pilots.

"Our brothers were follow and eliminate those humans. We will return to the Exoneration with the prisoner."

Rha' thought on things for a moment, looking at the human captive. He'd ignored an order of the Covenant by taking a human captive, and now he'd acted the coward by using one of those damned rifles - he would need to redeem himself soon, and killing a human coward did nothing to level his redemption.

Rha' could see, out the large front screen, as dozens of fighters and ships came down on the human city.[/i]

Skye caught the punching bag, breathing hard. She had spent most of the day training in the Iris's gym. A couple of marines had been in there when she'd arrived, but they'd left after getting tired. Letting go of the bag, she opened her water bottle, taking a long drink as she wiped sweat away from her face. Her muscles ached, so she sat down on the floor near the bag, glancing around the gym. There were a couple of crew members in there, mostly marines or Special Forces, but she'd never spoken to any of them. She sighed, standing up again to leave.

David scratched his neck as he went through numerous conversations. Invasion, Innies, artefacts, something about SPARTANs, and a bunch of other far less impressive things. Before long he'd grown very bored, and very very tired, by the official talks and meetings. In person he could handle it, but like this was just unfair on him.

The First Lieutenant went through a few links he had access too, and of course, that weren't on any sort of missions or duties. A vast majority were other members of GOLDCAT or Force Recon, a few were from operating SPARTAN units, and there were a few officers here and there.
David checked some random name and looked at it for a moment, before smiling with a bit of a scoff.

"G103. Been a while since I spoke with any of them."

He was referring to SPARTAN-IIIs, and for a brief moment he felt sad as he realized why it was he hadn't spoken with them. David decided to think of something to type. He'd never been good at opening conversations. It took him near thirty minutes before finally he thought of something, something nice and easy to roll with.

>.1STLT-SNAKE> Hey

As Skye dried her face on a towel, she saw her Data pad screen light up, a short message appearing on the screen. The only people who communicated with her via her data pad had been Oliver and Neil, or whichever officer was giving her orders for a mission.

She picked it up with one hand, and read the message, not recognising the name,

>S.G103> Who is this?

David had already begun flipping through a few files he'd just been sent, detailing an operation a few other members of GOLDCAT were being propositioned with. Though David didn't like the sound of it right now, he simply agreed to it, not willing to get into an argument. Besides, some worthless little Innie base near the front lines couldn't draw that much attention from the Covenant anyway. They'd be fine, he was sure of it.

Flipping back through the pad, David saw he'd got a response. He was a little hurt that one of the SPARTANs had already forgotten him, especially one from Gamma of all places. Then again, remembering the face of someone who had just beaten the shit out of you was something they'd been trained to avoid.
And he'd tried to forget the faces of the children that beat the shit out of him. That was way harder than he'd expected.

>D> Forgotten me already SPARTAN? I was one of the trainers that could actually put you kids in your places

Skye frowned as she read the message again. Putting her towel down on the bench next to her bag, she sat down, her suspicion turning into curiosity.

>S.G103> That still doesn't answer my question.
>S.G103> There were a lot of trainers on Onyx.

David smiled to himself. He loved this sort of thing. He'd learnt, when reading, talking, and training, that SPARTANs tended to think very differently to normal humans. Not subject to the lies, the ridicule, the complexities of the world around them. Even as adults, many of them had the minds of children, at least socially. It was astounding.

Of course, this SPARTAN was nowhere above sixteen. Gamma Company was young back when he'd trained them, they'd still be kids even now. David wondered how to phrase things now.

>D> There were more than a lot. There needed to be to handle SPARTANs. But none were as devilishly good looking or capable as me.

That wouldn't sound weird to say to a teenage girl, right?
David shrugged. Even if it did, who cared, not like he was being traced. He was one of the ones doing the tracing half the time.

>S.G103> None of them particularly stand out.
>S.G103> Most of them seemed under-qualified to train Special Forces.

Skye took another sip of her water, keeping the data pad in hand. A couple of female marines passed her, but didn't say anything.

>S.G103> Unless you give me a straight answer I'll have to report this to my commanding officer.

... Under-qualified to train Special Forces?

David frowned to himself, tapping the screen of the data pad and questioning how to respond. He could act offended and tell the young SPARTAN a few things from the file he'd just pulled up, or he could retain some level of maturity. When it came to being offended by a fourteen year old, David preferred to stick with a level of civil maturity.

>D> You could report me if you wanted, though it wouldn't do anything

David smirked, scratching his chin for a moment before continuing.

>D> Codename Snake. First Lieutenant. Service number 21522-49933-DP

David leant back for a moment, clearing his mind slowly as he smiled. These were the most basic things a soldier was allowed to give out, as was the bare minimum of the Geneva Convention. It was only a moment later that David remembered who he was and groaned, typing again.

>D> You might wanna keep that service number under wraps

Skye read the messages carefully, trying to remember a Lieutenant Pliskin from her time at Onyx.
>S.G103> G103, Skye.
>S.G103> Petty Officer, Third class.
>S.G103> Service Number is classified.
Skye put down her water bottle, holding the data pad with both hands. She didn't remember Pliskin, or any of the trainers, really.

>S.G103> I don't remember who you are.

>D> You shouldn't
>D> The only times we gave names was during punishments and rarely ever else
>D> I don't think I ever had to punish G103

David thought back, and shook his head after a moment. He would've remembered. He remembered all of the SPARTANs he'd interacted with to that degree, and G103 didn't register at any point. Perhaps this was their first time meeting. That was a little unusual for David.

>D> I'm surprised we've never met properly
>D> I know most of Gamma Company to some degree, even some of the ones still in training
>D> What's it like, being out on the field all the time rather than stuck on Onyx?
>D> The war anything like you expected?

=sends a message to dan=

yo dan come to the bridge fast

>S.G103> I was removed from Gamma along with several others
>S.G103> That might be why we didn't meet.
>S.G103> I would rather be in the field than still training on Onyx
>S.G103> The war is exactly as I expected it to be.

Skye sent the messages, answering each of David's in order, before posing her own question.
>S.G103> How long were you assigned to Gamma Company?

>D> Officially one year
>D> Technically three years
>D> Really seven months

David looked at what he'd written for a second, and realized that ONI tended to make things far more complex than it needed to be. He shook his head as he remembered what years he'd operated from, making the wild assumption Skye hadn't been pulled out of the operation before she was ten.

>D> Between 2544 and 2547

>S.G103> Then we should have met.
>S.G103> I was on Onyx until 2548
Skye sent the message and tried to remember Onyx. She could remember bits, most of it training. She remembered a few faces of the other Spartans, but she had forgotten most of their names. She felt sad as she realised this, she couldn't remember the friends she'd had there.

>D> Then who knows, maybe we did
>D> It'd be easier to remember person-to-person

David tapped his chin for a few moments, and then began to sigh, closing his eyes and thinking for a long moment. They were probably lightyears away from each other.
It only then hit him what he could do.

>D> I'm sending you a file
>D>

FILE B.2435-56PI:

>D> Had to confiscate that from a 'civilian'
>D> Doubt that'll do as much as I'd hope

David had given up hope reminding this SPARTAN about him - Hell, he wasn't even sure if he knew her to begin with, other than a few tasings and beatings.