The Rise: A Post Covenant War Story: Mission Two

=My eyes flutter open. A sigh of pain escapes me. A nusre walk up to me and puts her hand on my chest as I begin to sit up=

"Lay down, you need more rest"

=I shake my head=

No, I'm fine.

=She shakes her head towards me=

"No, you arent. You had massive damage to your legs and arm. Not to mention some chest wounds."

=I nod=

Fine. Thank you.

=She nods and walks away=

S bi fired a few more rounds off into the crowds of Insurgents.

"Zealot, did you get...a reply from their Commander?"

"Negative."

He nodded and continued firing. The Zealot was already formulating an escape plan, not that it would work, they had already lost too much.

"I repeat Commander Aegir, we need support and---INCOMING!!! (Sounds of explosions)."

S bi looked around, he appeared to be a few meters away from Paarthurnax, huge smoke clouds just gathered around them. He saw everyone else on the floor as well.

"GATHER THE WOUNDED! RUN, RUN!"

S bi ran towards Paarthurnax and grabbed his arms, pulling him backwards. He saw Torix grab Quna and pull him backwards. The other two Operatives covered them out. This might have been the break they were looking for. S bi continued to pull Paarthurnax back, the others covering them.

"THEY'RE FOLLOWING US THROUGH!"

"Go, we'll cover you out!"

S bi nodded.

"Its been an honor!"

The Zealot and F'alas, Quna and Torix, S bi and Paarthurnax proceeded through the boggy woods, the other two staying behind and watching their backs, true brothers.

=the pelican arrives near the lz and they circle around occasionaly firing the main chin mounted gun or the MG in the cargo bay killing any enemy caught in the fire
this is whisper can you guys hear me we're at the lz



btw this lz is not near you guys it's near edge of town we're clearing out any ememies so they can't retake it also don't control my char saying he took off went somwhere i can take care of that

"We need to go deeper."

=Signaling his squad, and the others. =

We had pulled back, it was the best we could do. We have already lost too much.

S bi looked around with Paarthurnax still on his back.

"Where now Zealot?"

The Zealot pointed straight ahead.

"There it is!"

S bi looked ahead, clueless. Then it appeared, a green; moldy Phantom, which was dug half into the ground.

"That's our best chance of escape brothers. S bi, you will place Paarthurnax into the Phantom as well as Quna. Torix, you will ensure the plasma valve is connected and fueled. F'alas, defend the area whilst we try to make amends."

Everyone headed to their duty positions. S bi walked nearby Zuka.

"Zealot, how did you know this was here?"

"Back in the war, a Phantom crash landed here. Infact I was aboard it. My mission did not go as planned and we were shot down. Strange is it not?"

S bi nodded and placed Paarthurnax down, making sure he was okay. He then saw Torix bring Quna it, before he nodded to S bi.

S bi walked into the cockpit and saw everything overgrown, it was a mess. The Zealot was seated and cleaning off the controls, trying to start them in the process.

"Is it usable?"

"No, not currently. It might take a while to start the engines, however this Phantom has enough energy to deliver us back to Athena's Province, nothing more."

"Understood. Paarthurnax is doing okay, although he is in a bad way. Without medical attention he will die soon. As for Quna, he is fine. Just a few minor injuries."

"Fantastic. Now go, comfort them. I will call when we are ready."

"Yes Zealot."

S bi walked back into the cabin, and saw Quna standing over Paarthurnax supporting him. What a fantastic brother. Outside F'alas stood guarding the Phantom, and Torix was making sure that everything was connected, and in working order.

Crepusculum wrote:

"We need to go deeper."

=Signaling his squad, and the others. =

=I nod and move forward=

Aye, aye sir. Moving.

=I continue to look for enemies as we move deeper into the sewers=

F'alas guarded the Phantom, while the Zealot and someone else were talking. He had thrown away his Jiralhanae Plasma Rifle, as it ran out of battery. The only thing he had now was a Plasma Repeater, with only half left. "I never signed up for this," F'alas thought. He heard the Zealot say something about the war. Would rather be back in it than out of it. Well, he was barely a veteran joining just before the Shadow of Intent came to Earth. He had fought the Flood. He didn't want to remember the horrific scenes of the parasite infecting a fellow brother.

S bi heard Torix jumped into the Phantom and go into the cockpit. S bi followed him in.

"All systems check Zealot, everything seems to be in working order, except for a burnt out reactor and thruster."

The Zealot nodded and tried starting up the controls, what a surprise, they wouldn't.

"That's no surprise. This ship is years old. Electronics are dead."

"I could take a look Zealot?"

"That would be most appreciated. Torix, stay with the wounded. S bi tell F'alas to recon the area and report back in five minutes."

"Sir yes sir."

S bi charged out of the room and walked over to F'alas.

"Zealot says you are to recon the area, and report back in five minutes."

S bi then walks over to the front of the Phantom, and begins removing the front panel.

F'alas heard the Sangheili, and started walking in the creepy boggy forest. "Of course..." thought F'alas. Yhar would laugh his little rear off if he saw him...if he was still alive. Some ODST put the little bastard in his place. He walked all around the Phantom, nothing. He continued the patrol, waiting for the five minutes to be up. When three minutes had passed, he realized he was lost. He frantically looked for a way back.

He made quick work of the panel. The electronics seemed a little old and torn. They weren't that bad in all honesty. He got out his little repair kit that he carried around with him and started doing what he could with the wires and the mainframe.

"Red to black, blue to green."

S bi moved some of the wires around and did his thing, very quickly infact. Then he fixed the switch panel which had been wrecked in the landing. The switches now worked.

"Electronics, on. Lights and turret systems, on. Boosters and thrusters, on. Main engines, on. Secondary engines, on. Navigational system, on."

He turned around and grabbed the panel, now screwing it back into place very quickly. He packed his tool kit away and made his way back to the Phantom.

=Aegir moves further into the building.=

Great, Sparrow is here. Why doesn't Command just give me a headache and throw me into a barrel.

=i stayed silent as we moved along. No point in talking now=

Why are we here if we're going orders? What's going through Sparrow's head I wonder.
=Continues Walking With The Group=

He walked back into the Phantom, Torix still maintaining the wounded. S bi headed straight for the cabin. He looked to the Zealot, who returned the look.

"I have fixed it Zealot, all the switches are working and operational."

"Fantastic work warrior. Call F'alas in, we're going to make lift-off."

"Excellent, right away sir."

S bi turned around and jumped out of the Phantom. He looked around and checked the time. It had been longer than five minutes. He ran back into the cabin.

"Zealot, it has been longer than five minutes, and he has not returned."

The Zealot shook his head.

"We cannot wait. We must go. It will take five, ten minutes maximum to get this ship off of the ground. If he does not return within that, he will be remembered."

"Understood. I will search for him."

"No, I need you here. Try and contact him via your communication equipment."

S bi nodded and sat down next to the Zealot and prepared the Phantom. He flicked many switched activating the ship. The targeting system; lights; engines and thrusters; secondary thrusters and engines; navigational systems and the electronics. Everything was in working orders except some minor faults and the burnt out engine and reactor.

"Everything seems in working order Zealot. Excuse me, I will try and contact F'alas."

S bi walked out of the room and again jumped out of the Phantom.

"F'alas, F'alas come in over. You need to return, we will be leaving soon. F'alas respond, over?"

S bi awaited a response, if any.

She is potentially saving lives....Spartan lives. I see why now
=I nod to her=

=i check my motion sensor, and a large contact appears=
Contact. Motion sensor. Large size. 75 meters....friendly?

=it was yellow, which means it was already tagged as friendly, but we didn't have anything this far down. In fact, my sensor was telling me it was even lower, farther down=

"Rubble, you seeing that friendly?"

I've got a bad feeling about why it (the yellow dot) appears so big.

"What, I don't remember anything that large being deployed here"
=I check my sensors and also see it=
"Thats strange, what should be our course of action captain?"

Yes, sir. Do you know of anything that might be deployed down here that is that big?

F'alas ran through the forest, hearing the comm beacon, trying to make it. "Oh no," F'alas said, as he heard the whizzing of the Phantom's engines. He flicked on the comm, "Wait, Wait!" he screamed running as fast as possible.

G-man wrote:

Yes, sir. Do you know of anything that might be deployed down here that is that big?

=I move forward=

Sir, permission to scout ahead?

I murmur to myself.

No-one ever listens to Sparrow.

=I take sparrow to the side=
"Sparrow, they've found something odd on they're sensors, see for yourself. What is our course of action?"

I can see that kid.

I sit down in the tunnel.

Our course of action is to wait.

=i ran a quick check of my motion sensor, to make sure it wasn't a glitch. I restarted the system, and waited for it to boot up again. It was still showing the friendly, but now it was changing size and altitude=
What the hell...

"Alright"
Bummer, then again, what was I expecting?
=I lean on the wall=

S bi could hear F'alas.

"Wait, F'alas is coming!"

The Zealot dropped the controls and the engines powered down. He looked out the front and F'alas was running towards them. S bi checked his motion tracker, enemy contacts. A lot of them.

"Enemy contacts, check your motion trackers."

S bi grabbed his weapon and ran out, it was time to defend the ship. He ran out shooting his Plasma Repeater, at the closing targets. He span around and shot the others coming from the flank. He saw F'alas getting closer.

"Come on faster, faster!"

He looked back and an unexpected bullet clipped his shoulder knocking him to the floor, he quickly scrambled to get his weapon and started returning fire. F'alas arrived, sliding across the floor and grabbing S bi by the chest and throwing him onboard the Phantom. He too jumped on. S bi looked to the cabin to see the Zealot looking back.

"Wort Wort Wort!"

The Zealot mustered the controls and tried to lift the Phantom whilst bullets continued to spread inside of the cabin, hitting S bi a little. Torix jumped in the way, and put his back towards the bullets, allowing them to bounce off. S bi smiled and then rested back.
The Phantom was really old, and was not lifting off that fast, they had got to around two meters. A lot of fire bounced off of the Phantom.

"Warriors, return fire. We're taking too much of it!"

The three able warriors returned fire, as they reached around five meters. S bi then ran into the cabin.

"Lets go!"

S bi rammed the thrusters up to full blast and the Phantom finally took to the air, over a twenty meters now at least. The Phantom shook at first, trying to steady out.

"Negative, Hawk. I've got a feeling it's not really a friendly."

Though it could be Hotel, scattered across an area like an elevator, like the employees.

Crepusculum wrote:

"Negative, Hawk. I've got a feeling it's not really a friendly."

Though it could be Hotel, scattered across an area like an elevator, like the employees.

=I grunt begrudgingly=

Understood, sir.

=I then check my IFF transponder/reciever to make sure its working=

Sir, I recommend one of us checks it out. Open comms. No sense risking everyone.

G-man wrote:

Sir, I recommend one of us checks it out. Open comms. No sense risking everyone.

=I nod in agreement=

As I said before, I could easily poke my nose out sir. So to speak.

"That could just as easily be sending someone to their death."

Crepusculum wrote:

"That could just as easily be sending someone to their death."

=I point to myself=

Sir, I've experinced far worse in Airborne training. And I'm the only trained scout here as well, sir.

May as well just sit and wait. It's moving after all.

I put my feet up on one of the bodies

"We'll follow you to the end of the corridor, after that, scout away."

=to Sparrow=
Yea, but not towards us, just up and down.

Hmm. We'll see about the not towards us part.

Crepusculum wrote:

"We'll follow you to the end of the corridor, after that, scout away."

=I nod=

Roger that sir.

=I take point and motion for the others to follow=

=I grab my rifle and prepare for the worse=

=i raise my SMG and get ready to follow=

I sigh.

You're going to make me move aren't you.

=i look behind me=
Unless you'd like to be alone with the bodies in this dark cramped tunnel, yes.

"Do I count for something?"

Rainbow Dash wrote:

I sigh.

You're going to make me move aren't you.

=I nod and grin under my helmet=

Sorry,ma'am. You'll have to trust me on this.

=Moves toward the end of the corridor=

"We don't have all day."

Crepusculum wrote:

=Moves toward the end of the corridor=

"We don't have all day."

=I nod=

Roger that, sir.

=I move around the corner and head for the elevator=

=i was watching my motion sensor, it still kept moving up and down and changing sizes, then just stopped and disappeared=
Okay...what the hell...

S bi got his hand and placed it on the thrusters, pulling them back. The Phantom was battered, as well as hardly having anything in the power supply. He looked down to the red flashing lights. It showed the propulsion system with some faults, this was connected to the turbines in some way.

"Pulling back thrusters Zealot, we have some faults in the propulsion system. Would you like me to take a look?"

"Yes you can, but before you go, reduce engines to fifty percent capacity, and reduce flap strain."

"Right away Zealot."

S bi pulled all four throttles back and loosened up the flaps, ensuring that the Phantom was at optimal working condition. He exited his seat and walked back into the main deck. He walked straight on and attempted to open the compartment to the propulsion system.