- soulguard
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- Exalted Mythic Member
Simyaldee furiously glared at the distant ship. “The Brutes were scouts and scavengers, used only to gather the artifacts left behind by the Forerunners in their quadrant of the Galaxy. We would not allow them to fight at our side because of the sins they committed against our kin. We have been blinded for so long. Even the eyes of the Mirratord have been shielded from this. I knew their forces were large, but not of this magnitude.” Simyaldee clinched the hilt of his twin blades. His eagerness to attack the Brutes held steady only by the distance between him and the approaching ship.
“How many soldiers can that ship carry?” Kelly questioned into Simyaldee’s ears.
“Four thousand troops.” Simyaldee replied.
Kelly switched channels. “Lieutenant. Return your squadron to Eden, refuel and stand by for orders from Fleet.”
“Roger that.”
The Marines all looked upward as the fighter squadron of Longswords and Banshees broke off from combat and began to retreat. They all questioned what was going on. They could not see the lurking ship in the distance.
“Simyaldee, I recommend we retreat?” Kelly sighed over the com.
Simyaldee lowered his head. “I was on the verge of making that decision as well.”
Mathew cut in. “Retreat? Chief, what do you mean?”
“I mean, the Brutes have won.” Kelly added as she turned to the marines. She changed her frequency to a wide channel. “Everyone, load up on the tanks and fall back to the Airfield for immediate extraction. 08, get the marines to the airfield, double time.”
Simyaldee accessed his channel. “Elder, the Flood are in pursuit of our forces and a Jiralhanae assault carrier is on the way. We are retreating from the area. Tell the Unggoy to prepare a defensive stand until the human extraction teams arrive.
Kelly turned to Melanie. “The mine field?”
“Twenty yards behind the main line.” Melanie fired her last round. “I’m out!”
“Move!” Kelly and Melanie turned and began a full sprint across the field. Marines began to fire passed them, giving them cover fire. “No time! Run!” Kelly screamed to the marines. The Marines stood and began to flee. Simyaldee held his line for a few additional seconds but then waved for his Elites to retreat. The Elites all turned and raced behind the humans, eventually passing them. Simyaldee back peddled, waiting for the two humans to join him. He found it impressive that they alone were able to hold off an entire wave of Flood forms for nearly a minute.
Simyaldee joined them and began to flee. “You held the Flood long enough for your team to retreat. Impressive.”
“I’ve dealt with the Flood enough to know what makes them tic.” Melanie shouted. “Kill the gunners and the rest will become hesitant to attack.”
Kelly, Melanie and Simyaldee sprinted through the mine field, kicking sand up at their heels. Behind them roared the flood, hundreds of gargling and knowledge hungry creatures that were eager to rip their bodies in half. Melanie slowed her pace, and began to unclip her trigger.
Simyaldee also began to slow in concern for the human, but Kelly eased his nerves. “She’s got the detonator. Keep running.” They crossed the field, but Melanie knew they needed more distance. The Lotus patch she setup would produce enough destructive yields to kill anything within a hundred feet; unlike the cluster of bombs that nearly killed Eric, this patch was more spread out.
Melanie watched her distance and then at one hundred yards she stopped, turned, and grinned. “Boom baby.” She tripped the switch and gleefully watched as several dozen lotus mines went active. A chain of puffs and echoes filled the area in a rapid succession of spats, as each mine exploded a tenth of a second after the next. The Flood were vaporized in a matter of seconds, as the gore of parts littered the sky and ground. Fragments rained downward as Melanie marveled at the carnage.
The dust settled, and beyond the mine field stood the surviving flood forms. Melanie smirked, but she knew she couldn’t kill them all. She turned and began to run again as the Flood began to regroup and pursue. They had bought themselves more time, but that was all they had… time.
Kelly stopped as she jumped onto a tank and assisted Melanie onto its side. “Good job, that should slow them down a bit.”
“Four minutes tops.” Melanie replied.
“Fleet, this is Spartan 087 requesting immediate Evac of Abu Simbel Troop Supply territory.” She banged on the tank, and the driver began to follow the retreating human and Elite forces toward the airfield.
“087, the Elites are in command of that region, we can only pull out the human troops.”
Kelly froze. She clinched her fists and struggled to remain calm. “Sir, I am requesting immediate Evac of all support from Abu Simbel. Requesting any additional troop transports you can spare.”
“087, Fleet can not extract Elite forces. They are on their own…”
“Damn it, they are risking their lives as much as we are! Pull them out!” Kelly roared; her patients and discipline tossed to the wind.
The voice on the line changed. “I never thought I’d hear a Spartan demand that we aid the Elites.” The voice was unfamiliar to Kelly, but it was clearly a senior officer in the UNSC. “You were given an order to return to Eden, and you ignored that order. Now, you’re telling me that you we shouldn’t leave the Elites behind? How many of the Elites standing beside you killed humans? How many of them still hold a grudge against us? Can you guarantee me that each of those Elites are trustworthy and not a spy for the Covenant?”
“Sir, I need them if I am going to establish an offensive against the Brutes. They have an assault carrier inbound and…”
“An offensive?” The man questioned. “087, has it not occurred to you that we lost this battle three days ago? The moment Truth and that Forerunner ship entered Earth’s atmosphere, it was game over. The Brutes occupy seventy five percent of the Earth’s surface and we are on the retreat. Problem is we have no place to run to! Now, get your ass on a Pelican and fall back to Eden, as you were ordered. I am sending six Pelicans… six! And they will be instructed to only extract human combatants and non-com. Any Elites that approach the Extraction LZ on the Northern edge of the Abu Simbel airport will be seen as a threat and eliminated. Do you understand my orders?”
Kelly bit her lip. “Yes Sir.”
“ETA to Pelican extraction is Ten minutes.” The man sternly stated. “I drastically advise you not to be late. Fleet out.” The signal cut and Kelly sat motionless.
She turned and looked over her shoulder at the group of nearly sixty Elites following behind the fleeing human forces. The part of Kelly that had been fighting the Elites for more then twenty five years demanded that she follow orders without question, yet she couldn’t. Simyaldee sped up and approached the tank with his Specter.
“Did you hear?” She questioned to Simyaldee.
“Indeed.” He calmly replied. “Do not fret over us. We have the means to defend ourselves. This union is built on unstable ground. Trust will take much time to earn.”
“I did what I could.” Kelly stated as she turned on her team channel to the Marines. “Evac in 9 minutes.”
“Sir, may I add that I do not agree with this.” Melanie sternly stated. “Fleet and HighCom do not understand the situation. I’ve fought by Simyaldee and Gridolee’s side for almost three weeks now, and if he trusts the men under his command then so do I.”
“We have our orders.” After a quick junket to the airfield, Kelly watched as the Marines policed the wounded and double timed it the few hundred yards to the LZ. To the south of the Airfield, the Grunts were keeping the flood at bay with stationary plasma cannons and shield units. “Lieutenant Simyaldee, I have a request. Move your troops north, toward Camp Eden. I don’t think you’ll want to be here after we leave. I think they plan to level this area.”
Melanie looked at Mathew. “They wouldn’t.”
“Yeah, they would.” Mathew replied.
Melanie turned to Kelly. “Chief?”
“I could hear it in his voice. They plan to Nuke this site. It’s the only option they have to slow down the Flood and the Brutes. Most of our forces are scattered across the globe and the fleet was gathered at Mombasa, but if they were defeated, then all we can do is protect what ground we have left.”
“A Fury Tactical Nuke is clean.” Melanie added. “But useless against a Covenant ship’s shields. It’s pointless.”
Simyaldee huffed. “Give the enemy no ground to occupy. If you must retreat, leave it barren; standard operations that your forces have employed on countless worlds.”
“When you’re trapped in a corner, deploy your last resort.” Melanie sulked.
The Spartans and marines gathered at the North end of the Airfield, while Simyaldee began to instruct the Grunts and the last of his Elites on the situation. Wraiths, specters, ghosts and Phantoms began to be loaded as the Sangheili Defense Zone prepared to abandon their post, but several packs of Grunts continued to fire into the Flood, slowing them down as much as possible and giving the escaping units as much time as they could.
Kelly and the Black Ops watched as seven Pelicans quickly soared into the region. “Seven?” Kelly questioned to herself.
Six of the Pelican’s landed at the LZ, but one Pelican drifted several yards away. The Marines quickly began to load the wounded and civilian workers into the six Pelicans as Kelly and the Black Ops approached the seventh. The ramp lowered and a figure in all Black ODST fatigues stepped down the ramp.
“19?” Melanie questioned.