- Wolverfrog
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- Fabled Legendary Member
The shots completely missed the ship though, one moment it was there, the next, after a faint shimmer, it was gone. Graham looked at the scene in bemusement. There was nothing to be seen. He held his breath.
A few moments later, there was a loud rumble below the battlefield. Eden seemed to gasp. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the same Dreadnought flew upwards, less than a mile away from the Soul of Ice. Shock-waves glistened, and the human flagship was shaken, before being plunged into complete darkness as the electronic systems were shut off.
"My God..." Eden breathed, staring at the wondrous sight before him. He then frowned, regathering his thoughts, before barking over the still working radio. "Someone hit the emergency generator!"
There was a pause, before a voice echoed over the small hand-held radio.
"It's fried too sir! The Dreadnought's sending a transport, it's heading towards this ship? What do we do?" the panicking officer cried, and Eden scowled.
"Pull yourself together man! Grab a rifle and shoot anything that comes out of that transport. I don't care what it is, shoot it!" the Fleet Admiral commanded, his usually calm complexion replaced by one of anxiety and fear.
"Oh my God, it's right outside the booth! With all due respect Lord Eden, screw you! We're out of here!" the officer cried back. Eden cursed at the man, threatening all sorts of things. The only response was a wave of static, followed by the sound of heavy boots pounding a few moments later. And those weren't the leather boots of an officer, they were something else.
"Well well, what now Phil?" Harper jested, still facing the observation window. The Forerunner Dreadnought had placed itself between the Soul of Ice and the rest of the skirmish. It was gargantuan, easily four times the size of the Soul of Ice..
"Shut up!" Eden screamed back, jumping up. Graham tried to crane his head backwards, but couldn't see over the tall head board of the chair. Eden then gave orders to the corrupt marines. "Form a defensive barrier, in front of me! Shoot anything that enters!"
The marines looked a little disgruntled that they were acting as a shield for the UNSC Fleet Admiral, but complied with the order, setting up behind any and all cover. Flash lights were activated, cutting through the darkness.
After a long four minutes, there was a bang at the reinforced door. Followed by another. Graham's heart was racing a mile a second, and Harper looked like he felt. After a few tries, the banging stopped, replaced by an eerie silence.
Then a hissing noise began, emerging from the other side of the door. A red glow began to appear.
"They're cutting through! Ready yourselves!" Eden screeched, a Battle Rifle in his own hand. Daniels doubted he could even fire it.
Regardless, the marines snapped to attention, aiming rifles at the spot where the red glow was moving upwards, cutting a hole in the door. After a minute of dreadful waiting, the metal chunk fell to the floor, and a figure stepped through the smoke.
The marines fired immediately, rifles ringing out shot after shot. Graham saw golden shields flare, before the owner of them stepped to the side, out of the smoke. He had his hands held up. The marines, shocked, stop firing.
"Whoa, hold fire." the Master Chief instructed, standing alone near the broken door. The marines immediately looked amongst each other. Eden had said to shoot anything, but, well this was the Master Chief. They turned to look at a stricken Lord Eden.
"Master Chief." the UNSC leader stated bluntly. The Spartan nodded.
"Yes, it's me. Long story. Why are you firing on the Elites? Stop it, now. The Flood are the greater threat." the Chief ordered, and Graham, watching for a sign, saw Eden's eyes narrow slightly. With that speech, the Spartan had just shown he was on the same 'side' as Graham and Fleet Admiral Harper. The Master Chief looked around the room, and, eyes resting on the bound up Harper, tilted his head in surprise.
"Admiral Harper? What are you doing tied up?" the Spartan asked, and Graham resisted the urge to groan. The answer was so obvious, how could the Chief not see it?
"Chief! Behind you!" the Fleet Admiral cried, and quick as lightning, the fabled Spartan spun around, only to see a marine with a sneaking look upon his face, which quickly turned to one of fear. The Master Chief looked down at the marine's hand, to see a plasma knife, given by the Elites back in the alliance.
"What are you--?" the Spartan began to ask, taking out an Assault rifle nervously. He then looked at the room as if seeing it for the first time, the marines with their aggressive eyes, and Eden with a sneer on his face.
"You couldn't stay dead could you? I'm not having you ruin everything Master Chief; marines, kill him!" Eden ordered. Before the corrupted soldiers who suddenly had a purpose could even release the safety on their weapons though, the Master Chief had already thrown the marine beside him into a group of others. The Spartan dodged the first wave of bullets, the few that got through bouncing to the floor with a hiss, reflected by his shields.
It's like he's doing an elegant dance that only he can perform. Graham thought with wonder. The Captain watched as the Spartan jumped into a small cluster of marines, limbs moving around manically. After a few moments, they were all crouching on the ground in pain; some unconscious. Daniels noted that the Chief wasn't using a weapon, but instead, head had ripped a bar of metal from the wall, which he was carrying easily in one hand. It must have weighed a ton.
As the one sided battle waged on, very few shots actually hitting the Master Chief, a marine was flung over to where Harper sat. He looked up at the bound Fleet Admiral with a small titter of apprehension. Harper snorted in disgust, before brining his feet off the ground and smashing the marine's face with his boots. The soldier quivered, out cold. As he did so, the power of the ship came back on, and the room was flooded with light.
Graham then spotted the unconscious marine's knife at his belt. He turned to Harper.
"Sir, can you get that knife?" the Captain asked, and the older naval officer's eyes brightened considerably.
"I can try. And for the last time, stop calling me sir." Harper said, toppling of his chair onto the unconscious man's body. It was an incredibly odd spectacle. Graham could only fidgit anxiously as the Fleet Admiral contorted his body in an effort to reach the knife. From what the Captain could hear, it sounded as if behind him, the Master Chief was winning. On his own. Against nearly fifty people. Incredible.
Eventually, Harper managed the wrestle the leather bound hilt of the small knife out with his teeth, and rose to his knees, grunting at Daniels to take the knife from him. The Captain leaned forward, and managed to grasp the hilt with three fingers. Soon, he had a good grasp of it. Harper shuffled towards him and held out his bound wrists. With no small difficulty, Graham managed the rest the the keen edge of the knife on the already frayed rope binding Harper. He then moved his body back and forwards, the dagger along with it. After a few seconds, the Fleet Admiral's hands were free. Captain Daniels then tossed the dagger to Harper, who caught it deftly with his free hands. From there on, freeing himself and Graham was a breeze, and in less than a minute, the two friends were stood on their feet.
The Captain turned around, and saw the carnage. Nearly every marine was lying on the ground, unconscious. It seemed a few were dead, necks snapped or twisted at awkward angles. The last few had fallen back to the pedestal where Lord Eden cowered, backed against the wall. Graham and Harper, picking up Battle Rifles, strode towards the group confidently, weapons aimed at the marines. The beaten soldiers looked at each other, and as if they were on some psychic link, simultaneously threw their weapons on the ground, putting their hands up. Eden growled.
"Cowards!" the Chairman of HIGHCOM ordered, but he got no response. The Master Chief then strode forwards, and grasped Eden with one huge, armoured hand. The Spartan lifted him as if he weighed no more than a bag of sugar, and threw him on the floor. Eden gasped in surprise, stumbling to his feet.
"Now, what's going on here?" the Chief asked Harper, keeping a pistol levelled at Eden at all times. The Spartan tracked Eden's every slight movement with the hand holding the gun, as if he could sense the small tremors in the ground.
"Lord Eden over there got a little too power hungry I think. He wants to wipe out the Elites." Fleet Admiral Harper informed the Master Chief, a smile on his face. "It's good to see you John."
"You too William." the Master Chief nodded. Graham's eyebrows rose, his friend was on first name terms with the Chief?
[Edited on 10.20.2009 2:57 PM PDT]