User:K4/Chronicle 7: A Great Journey

 Part 7 of the Chronicle saga, a collection of short stories regarding K4's characters. 

 PART 1 ''"What little information I have been able to glean from around all of the redaction [note—I was quite literally expecting the ONI to start redacting page numbers] gives the impression that B315 is more akin to a hyper-lethal vector than a soldier....Call it the luck of the draw. S-291’s 1156 has been filed since 22/04/2552, every active duty Spartan-II is on Reach for special training, and it seems that Ackerson wasn’t able to keep his own private grim reaper out of the pool—only time will tell if this luck is of the good or bad variety." ''

Lyall-B315 cautiously peered around the steel grate wall of the control center. He kept a firm grip on his rifle, it's rubber butt-pad a reassuring calm on his shoulder, and slowly swept the room with his eyes. Several computer terminals, most of them blackened and crumbling with damage, probably plasma; a stuttering florescent light unit above; the acid smell of recently burned plasteel and flesh. The later smell was emanating from a human carcass on the ground before one of the damaged terminals. He winked his status light at Carter-A259 and he spotted the body as well. "Noble Six, search that body." he ordered. Lyall acknowledged and kneeled by the body.

Setting his rifle down, he rolled the man over and swept his hands nimbly over the man's lab coat, feeling for anything in his pockets or tucked in a shirt. Off the the side, Carter was coversing with a barely-conscious Army trooper and Kat was inspecting the ruined computers. She attempted to key several commands, but the terminal only responded with a low, angry tone. "Damn, plasma damage..." she scowled. Six continued to pat down the body when a rectangular object fell out of a front breast pocket. He picked it up and observed it in the flickering light. A data chip, one, Lyall noted, was used by the Office of Naval Intelligence as a tamper-proof transfer unit. Those things were nigh-impossible to hack—and extremely hard to destroy. "Found something", he reported. Kat turned and immediately snatched the chip from his hand. "I'll take that, Six. Not your domain." Lyall was taken aback, but decided not to impose. He was the FNG to this team, after all.

Jorge announced his presence as he pulled a young woman out from under a hollow grated ramp. "I've got a live one over here. Come on, out you come." She was resisting him rather vigorously, pounding on his armor and yelling at him in some strange guttural, yet elegant language. "Jorge..." Carter warned in a low tone. "I've got her." Jorge set his weapon on the floor and held her tight by her shoulders, ceasing her attack on him. "Keep still, and I'll release you." He offered her. She said something else, much more calmly this time, but it seemed to put Jorge off ease.

A metal rattling emanated from above them and several ceiling panels burst off, revealing a massive Sangheili that landed just behind Jorge. He had just enough time to duck, covering the woman with his large frame as the Sangheili swiped at them with a cackling energy sword. The huge alien roared, it's four mandibles wavering with a baritone no human could muster. Two more Sangheili, in different armor than the first one, leaped out of the hole in the ceiling and readied their weapons. Emile, who was outside covering the entrance to this relay facility, must have heard it's challenge, as Lyall heard him quering the team's status. "We've been engaged!" Carter bellowed. Lyall snatched his AR off the floor and pulled the trigger, rounds sparking off the Sangheili's personal shields. It moved forward suddenly, covering the distance from the entrance to the computer terminals in no time. It swiped again, this time a upward-sweeping arc intended to cut Kat in half, but Carter grabbed her collar and pulled, forcing her to the floor. The sword encountered one of the terminals, which screamed and regurgitated sparks and white-hot shrapnel in protest. The creature swiftly used it's momentum to make an about face and threw out an arm, grabbed Six and threw him to the floor. He lost his grip on his AR and it slid away as the hulking alien sped out the entrance.

The other two aliens charged toward the team, one of them leaping towards Lyall as he attempted to recover. It activated a plasma dagger in it's gauntlet and tried to stab through him, but he snapped it's head back with a quick right hook. It absorbed the blow and yelled in Six's face, giving him both a good look at Sangheili dental structure and alien spittle on his visor. Carter assisted Six, kicking the Sangheili off. Kat immediately exploited the opening and fired her pistol, it's high-explosive rounds pinging off shields. Recovering quickly, it skittered to the entry door, joining the other Sangheili, who had snatched the Trooper and held him by the throat. He attempted to scream, but only made sick gurgling sounds. The young woman Jorge found was screaming incoherently this whole time, making it difficult for Six to think clearly. As he rolled to his feet, Carter kicked his AR to him and he retrieved it, focusing it's targeting recticle on the towering aliens.

They slowly backed off, and rounded the corner. The Troopers gurgling came to a abrupt halt, indicating his expiration. Emile's voice came on the TEAMCOM again. "That tango blew past me. Permission to pursue?" "Negative Four," Carter ordered, "stay on the entrance. Two, handle her. Five and Six, clear the hole." He pointed towards the door the Sangheili had retreated through. Noble Team acknowledged with status lights and Jorge and Lyall moved towards the door. Lyall reloaded his weapon and stepped through first, quickly sweeping the room, which he noted as a storage chamber, and advanced forward. Jorge sealed the control room's heavy bast door and joined him. As they searched, several Unggoy and Kig-Yar marched towards them, their plasma pistols moving wildly as they walked. Six took cover behind a large crate and opened fire, his AR's 7.62mm rounds punching through their weak armor easily. Jorge moved past the bodies and rounded a corridor, his heavy machine gun bellowing. Six moved up to him, and noted with satisfaction another cluster of dead Covenant soldiers. They entered another chamber, looking to be one of several server farms located thorough the facility.

"There's more. Flush 'em out, I've got you covered." Jorge told Lyall. He nodded and quietly crept towards the stacks of machinery. He slung his AR and unholstered an M6G pistol. As more Unggoy paraded about the server stacks, Lyall activated the weapon's smart-linked scope and put a single round through each one's head. The two Sangheili encountered earlier barged out of a room to the left and sighted him as he reloaded. They bellowed a challenge and rushed him, energy swords glowing with ethereal blue light. Lyall sighted again as he strafed around the server stacks, putting high-explosive rounds into their shields. Jorge assisted him, his machine gun chewing through their flesh and they eventually faltered.

"Noble Five reporting," Jorge said over TEAMCOM, "Contacts neutralized." Carter acknowledged and ordered, "Kat needs you to reset a junction. Do it and get back up here." Lyall reloaded again and found the junction's control unit. He keyed the command Kat sent to him and the monitor indicated the command accepted. He joined Jorge and they walked back to the control room. As he observed Kat attempting to get the relay back online, he pondered where that Sangheili had gotten off to. He understood that Noble Team's priority was to get the relay online again, not pursue tangent enemy contacts, but something about that thing and Carter's willingness to let it go nagged at him. He doubted they'd seen the last of it.