Chapter 10

Daniels was as ready as he could be, wearing his new armor and wielding his trusty assault rifle, he tried not to think about how easily he could get killed in space, without any way to fight back

He could tell the rest of his squad we also nervous, as was told by their tense movement and clipped speech

Harvest had a shotgun, Young had her battle rifle, Alex wielded a turret, Will had a SMG, and Abigale had a sniper rifle

The team each carried four grenades, while Harvest and Will carried six, four frag and two plasma

It was nothing new that this was a suicide mission, but Daniels couldn't help but calculate their odds of survival, say if they managed to steal a phantom or something

It still boiled down to heavy losses to all out wiped, there was nothing he could think of that would save them

So here he was, inside a drop pod and waiting for the order to release, in normal circumstances the sideways position was ludicrous, but since they were in low-orbit they could use their air brakes and thrusters to get through space

His squad and Alex's faces appeared on the screens as they linked up

"We should be ready within the minute!" Alex called

"This is gonna be fun eh guys?" Harvest laughed, "I'd like to see their faces when the UNSC catches wind of what we're up to!"

"Let's stay focused" Daniels advised, "I don't want anybody getting cocky and winding up dead."

"I'll be fine thank you very much" Will said, "I'm Alpha after all, you're just…Delta."

"Don't even start" Abigale warned, "We don't need you to get us into any arguments."

Will grumbled but didn't protest, which meant Abigale was a higher rank

Daniels realized he had never been told their ranks, as if it was imperative he didn't know

"Launching in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…" Daniels counted down, "Troopers! We are green and very, very mean!"

Harvest laughed as he launched, the rest were silent and serious

Halfway through Will began to laugh as well, and then it was just those two on the COM, while Daniels and the rest of the occupied pods began to avoid Banshee fire

"They're charging up!" Young's voice cut through

The plasma cannons indeed glowed a hellish red as they began to warm, now noticing the UNSC ship and the swarm it had sent out after the troopers

"Activate your boosters!" Daniels advised

The team did so, as they shot right into the Covenant's cruiser bay

Daniels wasted no time as he shot the explosive bolts off the door, allowing him to exit the pod

Several grunts and elites were running around, putting out fires and fixing broken pipes

Will had him backed up as they let loose with a flurry of bullets and the surprised Covenant were cut down easily, which just so happened to be a portion of them in the room

Daniels saw a red blip on his motion tracker, out of instinct he ducked and rolled, avoiding a plasma grenade that was thrown at him

Then Harvest climbed on the elite's back, shoving a grenade down it's throat, causing brains to explode all over the room

"That's a pretty sight" Will commented

"Well it can only get worse, take of your helmet for example." Harvest cracked

Will ignored him as they checked to see if the room was clear

Morris was in charge of keeping the battle-net focused on himself, and avoid going onto the subject of the pods that crashed in the launch bay

It was easier with the help of Qualomee, who was still in town using a wireless transmitter to stay in touch

"I look forward to seeing you again" Qualomee had told Daniels, "I wish to go myself, but your superior will not allow it."

Daniels had taken that as something to fight for, he still had to get back to his friends on the surface

"What's the condition of the bomb?" Alex called

"A bit roughed up" Young looked it over, "The timer's knackered but it should still explode."

"So we set the timer and get out?" Will asked, "It's never that easy. What's the catch?"

"We need to kill the fleet admiral" Daniels said, "That'll keep them confused long enough for us to make this happen."

"Abigale, Will, with the bomb" Alex ordered, "Young and Harvest, sabotage their slip-space drive if you can, Daniels and I have the admiral."

"Right" Daniels agreed, "I think this'll work."

And so they split up, ready to tackle this problem

[…]

Daniels had snuck up to the room with Alex, he was unsure of what to do once they got there so he was going to follow Alex's lead

Alex had snuck behind one of the barriers, sneaking from one to the other, Daniels had wired up eight total grenades to the walls most important wiring

Not lethal, but should cause one heck of a show

Alex had the admiral in his sights, but Daniels knew this plan was flawed, there were too many elites on red alert from the attack, and they were all armed

It hadn't taken long for one of the elites to spot Alex, but it was too late by that time

Daniels had fired a single magnum shot at one of the grenades

It had caused a chain reaction that destroyed a large portion of the controls, the lights flickered and all of the elites were watching Daniels

"Okay here's the deal" Daniels stalled, "You want something on this planet, the Artifact of Ages, but what exactly is that?"

"Like we would tell you human-scum!" One elite said

"I think he deserves to know" the admiral faced Daniels, "If he has made it this far, he must be the one in charge."

"Then gut him and we can take the Artifact!" One elite suggested, "It has been a while since the brutes ate a human."

"The Artifact requires patience" the Admiral scolded, "And this human deserves to know why we want it."

"Alright, explain it." Daniels crossed his arms

"The Artifact of Ages, a special item that the Holy Ones have given us in order to destroy mankind and all that stand in our way, those equines do not know what their land holds, and therefore they must be brought down." The Admiral said, "We can cut down this petty war at its roots!"

Then Alex successfully thrust a wayward energy sword through his chest

The rest of the elites roared in rage, turning to fire, but Daniels had his rifle out and was shooting