PELICAN DROPSHIP 406

EN ROUTE TO APPROXIMATE COVENANT POSITION, SAN PALOMINO DESERT

1635 HOURS

Aaron, Zeke, AJ, and a squad of eight marines sat in the seats of the passenger and cargo hold of the dropship all armored up with weapons in hand.

Zeke’s MJOLNIR-GEN2 armor suit was donned as full red and white GUNGNIR class with a light blue visor. Being the heavy weapons specialist, his weapon system consisted of the M739 LMG as a primary; and a ARC-920 as a secondary.

AJ donned a dark blue and yellow SCOUT class armor suit with a deep red visor. His weapon system of choice was the SRS99-S5/AM as a primary since he knew deserts would have very long lines of sight along with possible high vantage points. His secondary weapon was a M395.

Aaron went this time with a BR85 as his primary, and his signature M45D as a secondary incase the situation turned to close quarters; or if orders were changed to infiltrate the citadel if the opportunity seemed possible.

After about several moments without anyone saying a word, the pilot spoke up.

“Uh, Spartan Jensen. You're gonna want to see this,” he said through the COMMS.

Aaron got up from his seat and made his way to the pilot.

“What is it, pilot?” Aaron asked as soon as he entered the cockpit.

“Didn’t intel say the citadel was cloaked and shielded?” the pilot counter-questioned.

“Affirmative,” Aaron replied. “Why would you ask?”

“Because of that,” the pilot said, pointing to a certain area.

When Aaron looked in the direction of interest, he was quite baffled.

About two clicks away from the Pelican’s current location stood the indicated Covenant citadel--but it was unshielded, uncloaked, and showed no signs of being in operation. However, Aaron still was cautious.

“Approach low and set us down half a click away from the citadel’s position,” Aaron ordered to the pilot.

“Yes, sir,” the pilot said and began to decrease the Pelican’s altitude.

Aaron then headed back to the cargo and infantry hold where he was greeted with curious glances from his allies.

“What’s going on, Jensen?” AJ asked.

“Apparently the intended Covenant citadel appears to have no signs of occupancy, and has no shields or anything to cloak it,” Aaron replied.

“Maybe they knew we were coming and headed for the hills because they were afraid of us,” Zeke remarked.

“I highly doubt that, Fredrickson,” AJ said. “We know that these freaks would never flee from a fight; unless the entire installation was completely under the control of Grunts.”

“Whether I want to say it or not, but I think Fredrickson maybe half correct,” Aaron said.

“Well. What am I fully correct on?” Zeke asked.

“The part about them knowing we were coming,” Aaron stated. “We got a confirmed fact that the citadel was cloaked and shielded from the witnesses. Since it’s not that way anymore after we confirmed it’s vector, the Covenant are definitely on to us.”

“Well that’s a reassuring thought,” one of the marines remarked.

When all eyes glanced at him, he decided to remain quiet.

“Intended LZ looks clear, everyone. Touching down now,” the pilot reported.

After a few moments, Aaron and company felt the Pelican slowing down its flight before hovering in one spot. Then it decreased a little more altitude before there was a slight bump from the Pelican landing. The back hatch then opened up to reveal the dry and barren landscape of the San Palomino Desert.

“I hope you’re going to be alright all by yourself, lieutenant,” Aaron said to the pilot who needed to stay in position incase they needed emergency evac.

“Don’t worry about me, sir,” the pilot reassured with a cocky smile. “I can beat the heat. I’ll even set up for a sun-tanning party when you get back.”

“Looking forward to it,” Aaron chuckled before the pilot closed the cockpit hatch over his head.

“C’mon, everybody. Lets get a move on before our ride out of here gets a sunburn,” Aaron said to his company.

They then began their half a mile hoof to the apparently empty Covenant stronghold. A Warthog or two would’ve been more convenient for travel for both Spartan, and Marine units, but the engine noises the vehicles gave off would blow their cover. This had to be a foot operation.

After nearly half an hour of trekking through rough and hot terrain, Aaron and his fire team got a good visual of the Covenant citadel, but not before getting low so they wouldn’t be spotted. AJ however was instructed to climb to the top of a moderately high cliff with a smooth, but rocky backside so he could get a better visual angle of the base.

Once he reached the top, he looked through the scope of his sniper which was currently set at 5x. He then carefully examined each part of the citadel, and the grounds around it.

“See anything, Harrison?” Zeke asked after a bit.

“Negative,” AJ replied. “Not a Covie in sight.”

“Try looking closer,” Aaron suggested.

AJ flipped a switch on the scope which zoomed it to 10x. He then scanned again in the same process.

“There’s still no signs of activity anywhere,” AJ confirmed.

“Understood,” Aaron said and activated his COMM watch. “Captain Kenwood, do you read? Over.”

“Affirmative, Jensen. Has your team found anything yet?” Kenwood replied.

“Yes, sir. We have a confirmed sighting of the citadel. But surprisingly it isn’t cloaked or shielded as our sources said it was. Also, there are no Covenant forces in sight.”

“Can we have a visual please?”

Aaron gave a nod to AJ who pressed a button near his visor which would transmit a visual to the bridge of the Express.

***

A first-person visual of AJ’s perspective appeared on the main interface of the corvette’s bridge in front of Kenwood.

As Aaron described, the citadel wasn’t shielded--and lacked Covenant presence which seemed very suspicious to the captain. He wanted to know what the Covenant were up to and whether they were present or not.

***

“Here are your new orders. I want you and your team to infiltrate the citadel and find the main control center. Hopefully there we can find out what the Covenant are really up to. Be careful though, and be ready for anything.”

“Understood, captain,” Aaron affirmed. “I’ll be sure to let you know if we need backup on anything.”

“Will do, Spartan. Good luck,” Kenwood transmitted before signing off.

“Ah. It’s been awhile since we have ever broken in to an enemy stronghold,” Zeke remarked with a chuckle. “It seems too easy though, since the Covies have deliberately abandoned their own base.”

“It could be a trap, Fredrickson,” AJ reminded. “We all know how tricky these bastards are.”

“I knew that,” Zeke excused.

“Cut the chatter, guys. Let’s get a move on before we get discovered before we should be,” Aaron urged.

No one said anything more as Aaron and his team carefully made their way toward the citadel while checking around the areas where an enemy could jump out and attack them. AJ constantly checked high and far vantage points with his sniper rifle where Jackal snipers could plant themselves and pick off the Spartans, and their Marine company unexpectedly.

After a long, and pretty much too easy foot-log, Aaron and company finally arrived at the entrance to the citadel, which looked more frightening and intimidating up close. The main command building towered what seemed to be nearly over a hundred feet, and glowed its symbolic dark shade of purple in the sun.

In front of the group was the main door to the installation which looked locked down and sealed. This was pretty much the first official obstacle to the mission.

“Great. Now what?” Zeke asked. “We didn’t bring anything to hack the controls.”

“You got me,” AJ said.

“Hmm. I wonder,” Aaron murmured to himself as he cautiously approached the door.

“What are you doing, Jensen?” Zeke asked, confused by Aaron’s unimpressive action.

Not responding, Aaron touched a single part on the door’s interface which caused the door to miraculously give off an approving *bing* before opening up. Aaron’s team readied their weapons when this happened incase there were any surprises laying behind.

“How did you do that?” AJ asked a bit baffled by how easily Aaron managed to unlock the door which would’ve needed an unknown and complicated password, or code in order to unlock.

“I frankly have no idea,” Aaron replied. “But it could be part of a trap that you assumed, Harrison. Let’s stay sharp, everyone.”

When they entered the citadel, they were given a sight of complex corridors which would make navigation difficult, gravity lifts and descends in between certain floors, terminals for a specific task or operation, and weapons caches to supply any useful weapons to Covenant troops--or Aaron and his squad--if they needed them.

To help his squad navigate, Aaron took out his NAVPAD and brought up the schematics of the entire installation. It even displayed where they currently were.

“Looks like this one corridor here will take us directly to where we need to go,” Aaron said, pointing at the route.

“What if it’s infested with guards, though?” AJ asked. “Surely the Covenant would know we would take that way.”

Aaron pressed a few buttons on the NAVPAD to switch its mode which would point out hostile forces. The result was blank. There were no other souls in the citadel besides them.

“Perhaps they abandoned this base after all,” Aaron said. “But let’s not stick around here any longer than we need to.”

Aaron led his squad through the intended route while still having their weapons ready for anything that might pose as a threat, despite the installation being vacant. But they knew to never let their guard down no matter what.

After making their way through the suspiciously quiet corridors of the citadel, they finally made it to the citadel’s control center. The large mass of the room and terminals proved otherwise.

Aaron issued six of the marines to set up a defensive perimeter around the room while he had the last two to guard the main door. Aaron, Zeke, and AJ however walked up to the main interface and began to hack into its systems with the help of his neural implants.

It was time to discover all of the Covenant’s intentions for Equis; but the question was would he get to discover anything in time?

As the interface was being hacked, the two marines standing guard at the main door held their position with their backs turned away from the door. It was rather boring for them both because it was pretty much a lame job.

After several seconds passed, the marines heard the *bing* of the door opening behind them.

They both swung around and readied their MA5D’s to fire on whatever was about to enter the room. Strangely, there was nothing there that would’ve triggered the door to open because it was automatic.

“What just happened?” one marine asked his partner.

“I don’t know,” the other replied. “Maybe Spartan Jensen just hit the wrong button and it opened by mistake.”

“Could be possible. Or maybe there’s just a glitch with it’s own controls.”

“Very possible.”

Shaking off the incident, the marines turned their backs once again to the now opened door. Shortly afterward, one of the marines felt a huff of hot air travel down his neck. If felt like he was being breathed on.

“Dude, that’s creepy.”

“What?”

"You breathed down my neck. That’s what.”

“What are you talking about? I’m over here.”

The marine turned to his partner who was, sure enough, standing far enough away from him so he couldn't have been close enough to perform such an invasion of space.

If his partner didn’t breathe down his neck, then what did?