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The structure of the building would not hold for long. The Plasma wouls soon eat at the supports, and the building would fall... and Karr was only onl the 3rd level.

Fear was taking over his mind, everything was bogging up and down from his running. His vision was no longer straight, and his mind was no longer in his control. No fear contolled his mind. The fear of not getting out of the garage, and the fear of not serving his CO again.

He was about to bank on a turn, when suddenly, a green flash arose, and the floor begin to quagmire. Gravity reversed itself as he fell with the sections of flooring.

His back hit the slab of flooring that fell, and he rolled away. The pain shot through his back, but he ignored it. Saving his life was the first priority.

Now realizing that there were only 2 Pelican's left, the grim truth dawned on him: He wasn't going tto make it.

That truth stuck untill he looked at the whole about 3 yards away from him. Due to the structure of the building, hole's were common to see through out the garage. This one, happened to lead to where the Warthog's were kept.

He thought fast. Approching the hole, he gently dropped his rifle down into the passanger's seat of a warthog, then followed it a moment later. His feet landed square on the Hog's hood, to keep from losing his balance, he jumped off, and rolled to avoid any damage.

Regaining his posture, he saw that one Scorpion was still remaining.

"You!" he shouted at a passing Marine. "Man that Hog and follow me. I have a plan..."

---

The 3 O'clock wall exploded with the massive blast of a 1 ton shell from the Scorpion. The massive tank rolled out onto the Covenant Forces, striking them down with the 50cal Chain gun ontop of its chassie.

Spikes and plasma did not stop the large monster, as it let loose a round into the front of a withering Wraith tank. The shell plummited into the front, and exited the back; the Wraith's anti-Grav technology failed, and the scrap heap fell to the ground before exploding moments later.

The tank went into idle for a second, the top hatch opened, revealing the Warrent Officer of Able Company.

"Smith! Get you and your men on the Hog! Mount up and follow me! All other units, go into the armory through this door! Grab all the gear and equipment you can and follow us! We're moving out."

Karr slipped back into the Tank, and keyed into the Global frequency.

"Able Red Able Red. This is Detachment Bravo One-One-Six. Karr calling in. Commander Hammer, I couldn't make it in time. The last few birds left with full hands, so the boys that didn;t make it and I are pulling out on foot untill we can thin out their forces enough to where we can take them out. We're going to meet you... Here" He dropped a NAV marker on the spot. "We meet you there. We have 1 tank and 5 Hogs. I'm going to patch through to the whole company... stand by..."

He switched to GLOBAL-COMP. FREQ.
"Able-Baker listen up. This is Karr. Right now, I'm about a click away from your current position. And while you all are safe and sound in a damn Pelican, I'm getting my a** shot off in a tank. But that's beside the point. Here is the Game plan. The 5 Pelicans consisting of our company is going to drop on the outskirts of Voi and hold there for the moment while the new armor comes up. Meanwhile, the other 5 containing Charlie and Dog, are going to make the first strike. Hold up a base camp, and wait for the support.

CO's Any questions?" he asked, letting off another round into a squad of 3 ghosts, causing them all to be capsised and damaged.

Winter drove pulling dirt as his mongoose left dirt trails in his wake, for hours he held the accelerator maneuvering through the bumpy patches, catching air to pass the long drive to the NAV marker, but they had made it hadn't they? With a sigh of relief he jumped from his mongoose, body sore from the long ride of sitting but with only several steps around the clear barren grassed ground he felt himself revive and ready to blast away.

"Lets move." With that word they rumbled to a stop, everybody clambering around bringing down weapons and ammunition, mines toppled upon one another. Grabbing several he jumped onto his mongoose, "I'll be back." With that the mongoose rocked forward and drove into the distance.

With one hand on the steering the other moved freely dropping mines across the ground, one after another they fell. Makeshift mines from grenades and brute spikes fell equally with the others, creating a warning for them of approaching ground forces. Within several minutes he returned and helped with the distribution of weapons, Winter kept his own pairing. Jackel shield, a plasma and a frag, and the familiar feel of a magnum upon his hip.

Warren ran into pelican bay 4, and plasma shots flew right above his head, and warren threw himself to the ground. He then turned around and opened several bursts from his rifle, killing the 2 jackal's who were chasing him. "Master Sargent Henry in pelican bay 4, anyone out there?" Warren said into the com. His question was answered soon enough, he saw a marine pinned by a hunter and he opened fire at the giants back. The beast turned and then charged at Warren. This saved the other marines neck, but now Warren a** was the one on the line. The hunter stopped and fired his cannon and Warren dived off his balcony and onto the ground. He heard the fuel rod cannon explode behind him and he rolled onto the ground. He got up and opened fire again, and waisted the last of his clip into the hunter and the giant charged him.

He dove to the left, barely evading the down-swipe of the beast's shield. The concrete under the metal device, however, cracked as the Hunter wrenched its arm free again. Warren scrambled underneath a low catwalk, pulling his legs in as the beast swiped for him again.
"HWOOOOOAR! HHHH-GRUFFF!!" The monster tried slamming its clubbed arm down on him again, but he crawled away. It was only when the thing charged up its Fuel Rod cannon, illuminating the whole room with a green glow, did Warren roll out from under his scarce cover and bolt down the hallway. The lance of exploding plasma chased his heels for a moment, then it succumbed to gravity. The bolt hit the wall just near the blast door Warren ran through, throwing him onto his side with harsh burns on his face, and his clothes melted. His fatigues were smoldering and beginning to light, but he figured the Hunter would kill him a hell of a lot faster than the small cloth fire he was nurturing.

"Look, this one runs!" Cried a brute, pointing its claw at the fleeing Marine. The others grunted eagerly, throwing down or finishing off the Marines they were "playing" with, and gave chase. The Hunter Pair also lumbered after the sole survivor, the scent of burnt meat and flesh no less appealing to them than their own feces, but they never left a job unfinished. Never.

They bellowed, and all the lower filth that called themselves warriors, the Grunts, Jackals and Buggers, all broke from their tasks, fearing for their lives if they disobeyed the Hunters. They all coalesced upon the door the Marine had run off to...

Warren heaved and panted. Locked. God damn! He cursed, as yet another Door failed to open. Protocol, my a**! He brushed at his pants again, trying to pat out the fire without touching the horribly burned and blistered skin beneath.

Where the hell is Ashton when I need him? Off playing more cards, I'll bet. He thought grimly, then limped off, a trail of blood following him, to another door.

The sound of approaching footsteps and wing beats, along with the glow of plasma, made him quicken his pace. He finally entered it.... the Armory. It was a heap of mess now, but he remembered about the bases back on some of the colonies. Just like his cereal, all the good stuff floated to the bottom... He descended a steep ladder as fast as he could, into the sub-floors of the room.

And there they were: the ordinance that supplied all the heavy gear in Crow's Nest. Tank rounds. C-12 packs, at least five 4cm blocks of the crazy s**t, about a thousand bandoleers of Frags (with 4 frags on each band), and enough SPNKr Tubes to make any Marine happy, at least a hundred of them. This was going to be fun.

He heard the Covenant enter the room above him, separated from him by a good two floors. He palmed the "SHUT DOOR" command and heard as the Covenant jumped in surprise as the Armory's solitary door, a meter thick of Titanuim-A, slammed and locked shut. He prayed, hoping he wasn't being too odoriferous... Still, a Jackal's nose was a tough thing to fool, and he was sweating and bleeding, not to mention burning, quite vigorously now. One of the beasts sniffed, then turned down. Their eyes locked through the metal grated floor. It screamed, and pointed its plasma pistol to the ground and fired. It was not long before the others were following suit, but their Chieftan quickly waved them off.
"You fools! Stop! Stop!" They did as he commanded, but only barely so. "There is a reclamation on this one... Surely a meager prize by comparison to the planet as a whole, but one worth taking!" He jeered, then quickly smashed his hammer on to the floor. It buckled and gave way, and the beast's weight and momentum carried him the rest of the way down.

Landing in a shower of metal and rust, rocks and dust, the Brute Chieftan rose to his full height before striding quickly over to grab Warren's throat, lifting the crippled man a full four feet from the ground, bringing them to eye level. The other Covenant hooted and hollered with sadistic joy.
"One chance, Human. Where is the reclamation you guard?"

Warren reached in to his pocket, and pulled out a small box. He flipped it open...

"You know," he struggled past his collapsing airway, "I was gonna tell you, even show you where. But, the thing is:" He brought the box up to eye level, showing the Brute the text written on the device's display: ARMED
"I think it'd be a whole lot simpler to tell you, and all your friends, when we all get to Hell."

He pushed the button, and a brilliantly deafening sound greeted him for the split second he still existed. Then, only heat and light.

-*-*-*-*-

Far off, a marine dispatched a lowly grunt with a quick pull of his pistol's trigger. The dust shook from the cut-out ceilings of the tunnel he was in, and the lights flickered as the rats scurried around, confused at the low rumble.

"Goddamn tremors. These earthquakes getting on your nerves yet, Hal?" He called to his friend, who grunted in acknowledgment....

Seth felt the pelican rock as it's engines roared to life. His grip on his gun was tight as he hung by a handhold, not seeming to trust the seat below him.

The platform the Pelican rest on gave a violent but subdued shudder. "What the Hell was that?" Seth asked a Marine next to him.

"No idea Sir." The Marine shook his head and gestured a shrug.

Seth felt like the floor of the Pelican began to push him upwards as the bird began to lift up into the sky. He felt his weight settling and evening out, suspended a moment then the thrusters kicked in and the bird was sent bursting forward.

Seth's HUD gave an emergency tone, a Company status update. Seth accessed the crew roster, and it scrolled automatically down to settle on Master Sergeant Henry. His vitals were flat. He had just been marked KIA.
"s**t..." He cursed. Henry was one of the few survivors to make it through Installation 79. From where he was it looked like to Seth that Able company was doomed to an early grave. Right from the get go.

Well, it had to be someone. Why not Able? They were first on the Battalion roster after all. . . Seth felt sickly laughter bubble in his stomach. Death operated alphabetically.

Putting the death of Master Sergeant Henry behind him, Seth contacted the pilot of the pelican over the COM. "This is Lieutenant Adams, what's our best ETA?" If they were going to take out the Covenant AA they had best do it fast.

Ashton hardly cared that the Pelican was barely staying in the air. He hardly noticed the severe change in direction they took, and he was slightly aware of the crushing Gee forces that pressed him in to his seat.

He was accutely aware, though, of Master Sergeant Warren Henry's KIA status as it scrolled across his screen.
Video feeds indicate--
"No video feeds." He said aloud, not caring if he looked crazy. He turned his mind elsewhere. His good friend dead... well, it was war, after all.

Men yelling and an arm slapping him in the face, accidentally, shook him from his reverie. They were in a Pelican. They were taking fire. And if they didn't change something or take some kind of action, they were royally screwed.