Halo: Minorca Saga/Chapter Four

UNSC LIVINGSTON, ALPHA CANIS MINORIS SYSTEM, APRIL 12TH, 2551 (MILITARY CALENDAR) 

Jamal-002 and Gabriel-019 strapped into their Single Occupant Exoatmospheric Insertion Vehicles (SOEIVs) while Helen-130 stayed affixed to her seat, which groaned under the weight of her MJOLNIR Armor.

“You guys are honestly considering doing that?!” exclaimed Helen, who continued working with Natasha on the trajectory protocols.

Jamal nodded after making the “Spartan Smile” gesture, wiping two fingers across his visor in the shape of a smile. He checked the equipment in his SOEIV, as well as his chosen weapons, which consisted of a M90 Close Assault Weapon System and his customized M6D Personal Defense Weapon System, each chambered in 12 Gauge and 12.7mm ammunition, respectively. The M90, while not having very long range, was highly effective in close combat, which is where Jamal had chosen to fight, while the M6D carried an integral scope, acting like a “miniature sniper rifle”.

Gabriel did the same, however, he chose to use an SRS99C S2-AM and a M7 Submachine Gun, each one he had personally cleaned and put together. Gabriel had chosen the SRS99C S2-AM, as, after studying diagrams of what the inside of Covenant ships looked like, discovered that they had unusually long sightlines. Unlike Jamal, who was “fired up” about dropping into the Covenant ship, Gabriel was apprehensive, but placed his fear in the back of his head, just like he had been taught. He breathed deeply, and watched as the pod door slid closed, and closed his eyes.

UNSC AENEAS, ALPHA CANIS MINORIS SYSTEM, APRIL 12TH, 2551 (MILITARY CALENDAR) 

“How are they going to deploy with Orbital Pods into that Covenant ship?” asked Captain Stanley, looking at the asteroid belt and the Covenant ship now moving into it.

“Well, Sir, they’re going to drop into one of the Ship’s hangar bays…” said one of the crewmen.

“And how the hell are they going to do that?” said the Captain, skeptically.

“They want us to take down the Ship’s shields, and Natasha’s going to position the Livingston when the Ship takes a harsh turn to “avoid debris.”

The Captain chuckled at the daunting task. Natasha, after the ship’s shields were down, was going to scare the living daylights out of whoever was onboard, forcing them to take a harsh turn, which would provide (strangely) the perfect position of their hangar bays. The Captain agreed, and watched as the two AIs (Natasha and the AI of the Aeneas) communicated. Then, he watched as a single MAC slug screamed from his ship and into the hostile, flattening whatever shield was there. Then, watching as the Livingston navigated into a position above the ship, and he watched as it sped away. He turned his head down and said a small prayer.

“Sir, shields are online! Do you think they made it, Sir?”

“I hope to God they did. If they didn’t, it was a helluva waste of manpower…”

 CCS-CLASS PURITY OF SPIRIT, ALPHA CANIS MINORIS SYSTEM, APRIL 12TH, 2551 (MILITARY CALENDAR) 

Jamal kicked the door off of his Pod, and as he did, he grabbed his M90, throwing his M6D onto the metallic point of his armor. After doing so, he racked the pump of his M90, and, immediately seeing a Grunt, fired, blowing its head off in a brilliant display of blue pieces. Jamal looked over as Gabe’s pod opened, and he released a small chuckle as Gabe shook his head, latched his SRS to his back, and grabbed his M7. The two, now on the Covenant ship, moved to take a good covering position on the rest of the hangar bay.

It was empty, save for a few grunts that Jamal and Gabriel had dispatched. It was very large, not surprising considering the type of fighters that those things had carried. After attempting to initiate contact, only to have their radio waves scrambled, they picked up a small, hand-drawn diagram of the inside of a CCS-Class Battlecruiser, and decided that their best bet was to make it to the Control Center, kill whoever was there, and then attempt to blow the ship’s reactors… or crash it into the sun… they decided that they would figure all that out when they got there, watching as a patrol of three Elites, one red, two blue, and a pack of Grunts, one red, the rest yellow. Gabriel quickly moved into an excellent sniping position, and picked up his SRS, and sighted onto who he thought was the leader, which was the red one.

Simultaneously, Jamal jumped over a box, which he was hiding behind, and shoved the barrel of his M90 underneath the chin of one of the Blue elites, and fired, and watched while the red Elite fell in a pile. Turning his attention to the Blue one, he fired, and watched as Gabriel finished him off, doing the same with all of the Grunts. Giving a thumb’s up to Gabe, the pair moved silently and quickly down the several corridors that led to the Control Center, neutralizing several hostiles that stood in their way.

When they reached the Control Center, they immediately stood back-to-back, Gabriel sighting through his SRS, Jamal with his M90, circling around as several gold armored Elites surrounded them, jaws opening in either a “battle cry” or just out of sheer anger, holding energy swords. Jamal waited until Gabriel sniped the one Elite that seemed to be leading them, and the fight was on. Gabriel immediately switched to his M7, catching Jamal’s M6 in mid air with his left hand. Jamal sprung into action, his M90 finding a place in one Elite’s chest, and fired, grabbing the Elite around the neck to use as a body shield. Gabriel dodged the two swipes of two energy swords, and now, behind the Elites, let loose with a hail of bullets, finishing them all off with a melee to the back.

Jamal forced his M90 against the back of another Elite’s head, and pulled the trigger, sending the Elite’s brains all over the control center, and when he was about to be stabbed by another Elite, Gabriel fired with his SRS, killing said Elite with a headshot.

The fight was over within eight seconds, Jamal and Gabriel left standing, weapons smoking, with six dead gold Elites on the floor, blood splattered all over the control room, brains and guts lying on the floor.

Jamal ran up to the strange console and immediately began messing with the panel, not knowing how or what each of the glyphs meant, but was satisfied when numerous alarms came on, as well as the sound of the plasma reactors wailing, and the sound of one large explosion far from where they were. Picking up their weapons, Jamal and Gabriel ran back to the hangar, and reached their pods, put on thrust packs, and jumped out as soon as one of the Seraphs docked.

Firing the thrust pack through the cold vacuum of space, Jamal and Gabriel eventually made it to a point, and before their oxygen ran out, they disappeared from the Covenant ship’s vision.