Chapter Text
Cooper maneuvered BT under a large, nearly horizontal tree trunk, careful not to hit it by mistake, with BT’s large chassis.
He and the Master Chief had been moving through the thick jungle for over an hour, and it had been slow going. Fortunately, they had not run into any Covenant or Prometheans in their trek, and had instead spent their time learning of each other.
He hadn’t realized it earlier, but Cortana had told him it was the year 2557. He was from 2721. He had technically gone back in time 164 years. Despite that, the technological differences weren’t as large as he reasoned they should be. Cooper reasoned that centuries of war between the IMC and Militia had significantly stunted his universes technological growth, while the UNSC had been forced to advance with the appearance of the Covenant.
As they say; necessity is the mother of invention.
Cooper and Cortana had spent a large amount of time discussing how each society could benefit from each other. Self-contained plasma weaponry, technology that had eluded the understanding of the UNSC for decades, could easily be produced with the help of the information present in BT’s storage.
Another thing that Cortana believed the UNSC would profit greatly from, was Jump-Drives. Pelicans, the standard troop deployment vehicle they used, were much too small to be outfitted with a Slipspace drive, and even if they could supply the massive energy demands, they would not be able to safely jump from atmospheric conditions. Jump-Drives had no such issues. Their relatively low energy cost meant they were outfitted on nearly every craft that could leave the ground, and were indeed commonplace on dropships used by Pilots. Cortana believed that being able to nearly instantaneously transport troops to and from a planet’s surface would be invaluable against the Covenant, who were restricted to physical flight, just as they were.
While his universe may have the edge in technology, he believed that the UNSC was most certainly more competent with their troops. From what he had heard, he doubted that a squad of Riflemen would even be able to hold a candle to an equal amount of UNSC Marines. Then there were ODSTs. While he was no stranger to orbital drops, the merits of the elite forces informed him that the name was more than just an acronym. Then there were the Spartans. He had no doubt that the Chief was better than he, but he believed in the urban conditions Pilots often found themselves in, that they would be able to go toe to toe with Spartan IVs. With Titans though, well, a Spartan wouldn’t be able to do much, no matter how well trained they are.
“Stay low,” Cortana warned, “Covenant sortie heading this way.”
Cooper ducked back behind the thick foliage and watched as three Phantoms, and a number more Banshee’s flew overhead towards the downed Infinity. Hovering ominously above it, the Didact’s ship scanned the vessel with a wide horizontal plane of orange light.
“The ship looks intact,” Cooper observed.
“Something tells me that’s only because the Didact wanted it that way,” Chief speculated.
The radio crackled slightly.
“This is Lasky to UNSC Infinity. We’re up to our necks in bad guys here; does anyone read?” came the voice. Different to what they had heard when they were still within the planet. They were also male, but sounded significantly younger.
“This is Sierra-117 of the Forward Unto Dawn. We’re on station, ready to assist,” Chief replied quickly.
“Negative copy, sounded like you said ‘Forward Unto Dawn’? Come again-” he returned, his voice cutting out into static.
“Signal’s bouncing in and out,” Cortana explained, “I can’t clean it up.”
Master Chief took a moment to think, then spoke. “Light up their Friend-Or-Foe tags,” he instructed, “We’re gonna need something to zero in on.”
“Got it. I’m seeing numerous IFF tags below the tree line. Painting the nearest one on your HUDs,” Cortana said, as a blue marker appeared, 183 metres away.
“I am detecting movement around the marked target,” BT informed, “Pilot Cooper. I suggest you disembark. My large chassis will only impede you, should this become a combative engagement. Furthermore, I may trigger a hostile reaction from friendly targets.”
“Right,” Cooper agreed, slipping free from BT onto the soft ground.
“That scans the same one we saw on the Dawn,” Chief observed.
”Is it?” Cooper asked, curious.
“It is,” Cortana confirmed, “Except now, the Didact is free to handle it personally.”
They walked towards the marker, BT following a dozen metres behind, ready to assist in engagements without getting in their way.
The radio crackled again, “Infinity to Commander Lasky. We’ve lost contact with your Pelicans. Report in!”
It was the first voice. He sounded irritated, as though affronted by ‘Lasky’ being unable to comply, despite his dangerous circumstances. Jack already did not like the Infinity’s captain.
“They must not have received his distress call,” Chief speculated.
They continued toward the marker, walking down a sharp slope, then underneath a low overhang of foliage. They reached the end of it, just a dozen metres from the ping, when they saw three Knights standing over the corpses of a squad of Marines.
Cooper and Chief immediately began firing at them, but they all managed to portal away before any could be taken down.
After a quick scan of the surrounding area, Chief spoke. “Lasky?” he asked, hoping that the young commander was not among the bodies.
“One of them’s an officer,” Cortana said, not able to answer his question as he would have liked. “Check his IFF tag.”
He walked quickly to the officer’s body, and picked up the dog tags containing all the digital information he required.
“The tag I.D.s him as Jimenez, Paolo J.” Cortana informed.
“So Lasky’s still out there,” Cooper offered, as BT climbed over the tunnel of foliage and branches to join them in the small clearing.
“Right,” Cortana agreed.
Chief stooped down, and scooped a rifle from the ground beside the fallen Marine. A DMR. “Cooper. Try this out,” he guided, handing him the weapon.
The Pilot didn’t have access to a weapon that could reasonably kill Prometheans from any range other than ‘point-blank’. While the DMR used ammunition like that of the MA5D, the assault rifle he had left behind after his second engagement with the Prometheans, the DMR had an extra 200 millimetres of barrel over the MA5D, which would ultimately result in much faster projectiles with superior armour penetration. He suspected that rounds fired from this weapon would net similar results to that of his Magnum.
The Pilot accepted it, and looked it over. He removed the magazine, racked the slide, and caught the full round the weapon ejected when he did so, sliding it back into the magazine after inspecting it, and then the magazine back into the weapon. He racked the slide once more, chambering a round, and fully readying the weapon for combat.
“Great,” he said, before turning to his Titan and tossing him his R201. “Hold onto this for me, would you BT?”
BT caught it deftly, and slid the weapon into a small compartment to the side of his faceplate.
They then continued along the available path, down a small slope. At the bottom awaited a cluster of Crawlers, which began firing upon them soon after spotting them.
Chief immediately returned fire, moving quickly behind a multi-metre thick tree trunk for cover, while Cooper pushed himself into a run, before dropping into a slide, using his momentum and the remainder of the slope to move quickly to a short ledge looking over the Promethean forces.
Cooper took careful aim, and fired, watching in satisfaction as the head of a Crawler crumpled and detonated with the force of the high velocity projectile, a loud crack and thin vapour trail signifying the successful hit. He didn’t let it distract him for long, and quickly located a new target as the Chief peaked from cover to assist in the conflict.
Cooper looked on in amazement as the Chief decimated their numbers. It seemed that in the time that Cooper took to find a new target, the Master Chief had already dispatched two more of them. Chief seemed to spend barely more time than the duration of the burst on each target, before finding a new foe, and locking his sights on them by the time the Lightrifle was able to fire again.
Cooper surveyed the area quickly, and finding no more Prometheans, turn to the Master Chief.
Chief completed his own sweep, and signalled them forward with a forward wave.
They began moving forward again, but stopped a moment later, weapons coming up as they heard the roar of a Knight, and the low whine of a Watcher.
Cooper looked around quickly, taking stock of his surroundings. He could see above there was a series of wide, horizontal branches which he could use as walkways. He waved to get Chief’s attention, then pointed to himself, Me, he tilted his head back, Up. He pointed at Chief, You, then tilted his head forward, Down, then lifted his hand in a fist, Stay there.
Chief nodded, and slowly made his way forward, while Cooper quickly shouldered his DMR, ran at a vertical trunk and scrambled up it with a boost from his Jump-Kit. He moved quietly along the branch he made it to, before stooping into a crouch and surveying the Prometheans ahead.
Chief waited below, and left of him, by a circular opening in the thick trees, ready to move to the next clearing and engage. He watched as Cooper lifted his left arm from his weapon, and started gesturing to him.
Three fingers up, ring finger held down by thumb, Seven. He lowered his arm by his side, and lifted his palm upward in a cupping gesture, Dogs. First finger up, One. He moved his hand up and rested it on his bicep, Leader. First finger up again, One, then he flattened his palm and flapped it slightly. A Watcher, he must mean.
Cooper looked back to see Chief nod, before he lifted his left hand just above his head, palm flat and facing down, Cover, then he pointed a single finger at himself, Me. Cooper nodded back, and then Chief raised a hand, his thumb, forefinger, and middle finger up. His thumb folded in. His middle finger went down.
Cooper stood as Chief clenched his fist, quickly finding a target, a Crawler, and firing at it. He missed its head, but it was staggered, and he was able to take another shot as the attention of every Promethean snapped to him.
That was their first mistake. Chief rounded the bend and began cutting them to pieces, landing shot after shot with deadly accuracy while their focus remained on the Pilot. Their attention began to shift to the new combatant, but Cooper continued firing upon them, killing many with accurate fire. As Chief finished the last Crawler, Cooper set his sights on the Watcher. He struck it once, followed by a burst from Chief, and one more shot finished it off.
All that remained now was the Knight, which tried to duck back into cover as it started taking hits, but Cooper fished a Firestar from his belt, and lobbed it. His aim was true, and it struck the Knight in the helmet, where it burst into an adhesive pool of burning thermite, carving through its shield, then armour, before the Knight burst into burning orange polygons, signifying its death.
After a short sweep to make sure they hadn’t missed anyone, they began moving forward again, only to be stopped by Cortana.
“Hold up,” she said, “What was that he dropped on the ground over there?” she asked, highlighting a strange, roughly ‘V’ shaped box that sat on the ground where the Knight had been killed.
Chief walked up and inspected it. It looked like an Ability Module, like his Hardlight Shield. He removed the Hardlight Shield module, and replaced it with the new one, and waited for a moment so Cortana could integrate it to his suit.
He activated it, and the world turned a dull blue, while Cooper turned bright green. He turned to his right, and despite the surrounding trees that should have obscured his vision, was able to see dull red Crawlers in the next clearing. The ability ran out of charge, and his vision returned to normal, the Crawlers vanishing from visibility.
“This must be what they’ve been using to see through the fog,” Cortana concluded.
“What is it?” Cooper asked.
“Some kind of high frequency Sonar and infrared Thermal vision augmenter,” Cortana informed.
“Got it. You lead the way Chief,” Cooper responded.
They continued forward, before stopping before a short drop, the area below them coated with a thick fog. Cooper could see numerous bright points, lit with a soft orange glow, within the fog. They were almost certainly Prometheans.
Chief activated the new Ability Module, and the Promethean forces all became visible. He fired on them immediately, aiming to kill as many as he could before the Ability went into a cooldown period. Cooper engaged with him, firing at the vague shapes moving in the fog. A few minutes later, and they emerged victorious, dropping down to the fog covered lower area.
“We’ve got another IFF tag on the far side of this thicket,” Cortana told them, as their path became impassable, save for an arm of alien flora that stemmed from the ground and continued upwards in a lazy incline. They used it as a ramp, and started wrapping back around the main trunk.
They found the tag, belonging to another dead marine, laying down between the tree and ground. Cooper scavenged the ammunition from his rifle while Chief inspected his tag.
“You’ll want to listen to this,” Cortana told them, “Playing most recent recording.”
“We should get eyes out there looking for the others.” It was Lasky.
“Peters!” A female voice this time, “You heard commander Lasky.”
“CFB ma’am,” responded a new man, presumably Peters, “Bulldogs! On me! We’re going for a walk.”
With the recording finished, Cortana began speaking again, “Lasky’s been through here, recently, by the timestamps.”
“Then we must be close,” Cooper mused.
“Right.” Chief agreed, “Let’s keep moving.”
They did, encountering only a handful of Crawlers before Cortana spoke up once more.
“I’ve got another IFF tag,” she said, a marker appearing on their HUDs, “but as far as I can tell, we’re moving into a choke point. This may end up as a dead end.”
Together they walked to the marker, where they found a Forerunner structure, seemingly set into the trees and ground. The floor of the structure was too high for Chief to reach. He started moving around, looking for a new way up, before Cooper stopped him.
Cooper made a Jump-Kit assisted jump, pushed against the Forerunner structure, and jumped again, clambering to the floor level of the structure. He turned around, and offered a hand to the Chief. Chief ran at the wall and jumped, taking two steps up it to reach the Pilot’s outstretched hand.
Cooper grunted in exertion as he started a large amount of Chief’s weight settled in his hand. He was incredibly grateful for the physical augmentations his body had slowly been undergoing, thanks to the nanites the Jump-Kit had injected into his bloodstream when he initially acquired it from Lastimosa. He pulled with all his strength, and managed to lift Chief up enough so that he could pull himself the rest of the way up.
“My god,” he groaned, “How much does that thing weigh?” he asked, waving at Chief’s armour.
Chief felt a tug at the corner of his lips, but remained focused on the task at hand.
“That’s the Friend-Or-Foe tag, but where’s whoever it belonged to?” Cortana asked as Chief inspected the card. “Playing most recent file.”
“XO! We got it!”
“Move! Move! Move!”
“Light’s green!”
“C’mon, crank it!”
“Palmer,” barked Lasky, “Get your folks inside!”
“Yes sir!” a female, Palmer, responded, “FOURS! Go!”
Cooper moved beside Chief, looking at the large triangular wall that he believed may actually be a door.
Suddenly, marker after marker appeared on their HUDs, just on the other side of the wall.
“Multiple I.D.s! They’re friendlies!” Cortana cheered.
Most of the wall, which, as Cooper had guessed, was actually a door, slid upwards, while smaller triangular sections at the bottom corners slid away to the side. As it opened, light spilled into the dark room, revealing multiple figures, wearing armour similar to that of the Chief’s. They must be Spartans.
Three of them stepped out into the light, and immediately levelled their weapons at Cooper.
“Drop your weapon!” barked the helmetless woman, Palmer.
“Whoa! Take it easy!” Cooper returned quickly, lifting an arm off the rifle and showing them an open palm in an effort to placate them.
“Drop your weapon!” Palmer repeated.
“Stand down,” Chief ordered, voice low, but firm. “He’s with me.”
The Spartans lowered their weapon hesitantly, watching Cooper closely.
“Stand down,” echoed Palmer, “Continue sweep,” she directed, not taking her eyes off him.
An unarmoured man walked towards the pair, look Cooper over curiously, before he began speaking with the Chief.
“Afraid we’re gonna have to give you an IOU on that welcome back party,” he said, a small amount of amusement in his voice. “Tom Lasky, first officer of the Infinity. Never thought I’d see you again,” he said, shaking Chief’s hand, before he turned his attention back to the Pilot. “Who’s your friend here?”
“Jack Cooper,” he introduced, outstretching his hand, and giving Lasky a handshake.
Cortana’s hologram appeared over Chief’s shoulder. “It’s a long story,” she explained, “Just know he’s helped us out, and he’s very skilled.”
Lasky nodded in acceptance, “That’s high praise coming from an AI, Cooper,” he began, “Not going to lie, we could use all the help we can get.”
Jack noted with amusement how similar his and Commander Briggs’ remarks had been.
“I’ll do what I can,” he offered in return, receiving a grateful smile from Lasky.
A shudder ran through the structure beneath their feet.
“What was that?” Lasky asked quickly.
“Don’t worry,” Cooper assured, “That’s just BT. How far away are you buddy?”
“I will be visible in a moment,” came BT’s instant reply.
True to his word, a large metal hand came to rest on top of a large trunk. A moment after, the 7 metre tall robot nimbly vaulted over the thicket, and came full into view, shaking the ground as he landed.
The Spartans quickly levelled their weapons at BT, but lowered them again at Chief’s hasty command.
“Pilot Cooper,” BT addressed, “It is good to see you are unharmed.”
“What in the hell?” Lasky said.
“Like I said; long story,” Cortana repeated.
They turned as a voice came through the radio.
“-ground forces are ordered to return to Infinity immediately!” came the voice of Infinity’s captain.
“Commander!” one of the marines within the structure called, “Radio’s hot!”
“BT, watch the doors,” Cooper quickly commanded, “Motion sensor at max range. Fire a pulse at anything you suspected is a target.”
“Understood.”
Lasky quickly turned and strode to the radio, with Cooper and Chief, as well as the other Spartans, following behind him.
“-respond to comm… On what frequency? What frequency dammit!”
“Infinity, this is Commander Lasky. Pelican recon teams are down. Repeat; all birds are down. We’ve got numerous casualties and require immediate assistance, over.”
“Finally… Did you get the coordinates to that gravity well?”
“Affirmative sir, but we’re gonna need a bus outta here-“
“Make it happen.”
Lasky grimaced, but didn’t respond.
“You were sent on a scouting run, in the middle of an attack on the ship,” Cortana said, her voice incredulous.
“The Captain thought Infinity could provide us cover and hold off the attack at the same time,” Lasky said.
“Sir,” Palmer stepped forward, “We’ll never get the wounded back to the ship on foot.”
Lasky’s eyes turned pained, before he let out a tense sigh.
“I don’t know if it’s too early to ask for a favour,” he began, looking to the Chief, then to Cooper, “but we’re gonna run out of breathing room here real quick.” The man forced a half smile, “I don’t suppose you’re any good at clearing LZs?” he asked.
“On occasion,” Chief returned, “I’ll send the all-clear once the area’s secured.”
“BT, can you get around to the other side of the structure?” Cooper asked. He’d much rather have access to BT’s impressive firepower if it was possible.
“I will be able to climb over the structure. I will meet you on the other side shortly.”
“Great. See you there.”
“Alright!” Palmer barked, “Seal ‘er up!” and behind her, the large doors slowly slid back down, locking away the sight of BT as he began to climb.
“Over here sir!” called a marine with a strong Australian accent near the back of the room, “Blimey, it’s good to see you again Chief,” he continued, walking forward and shaking hands with him.
“Likewise Priv- Sargent Dubbo. You made it off the Ark alright?” Chief corrected, noting the increase of rank on the marine he had fought alongside with, on numerous occasions.
“I did,” he said, leading them through the winding hallways, “I made it back fine an’ dandy. Took part in your 21-gun salute, actually, but I knew you were still alive an’ kickin’.” He looked back and grinned, “And what-do-ya-know? Here you are! Right, now let’s go get this LZ cleared, yeah?”
“Sounds good Sargent. Lead the way.”
“You two!” he called, pointing at a pair of marines, “With me! We’re going to get this LZ cleared!”
The marines fell into step behind them as they reached the exit to the complex, taking the short ramp down, and stepping through the opening door into the light.
“A topographical scan of the area shows a break in the foliage north of here,” Cortana told them, “Should be big enough to land a dropship for evac.”
“Contacts!” Dubbo warned, “Get to cover marines!”
Cooper immediately activated his Cloak, and vanished from visibility, to the surprise of the following marines, if the “Holy hell!” was anything to go by. He jumped against the left wall and sprinted along it, before jumping to the right to gain height, then off towards a Crawler that was sitting perpendicular to the ground on a tall trunk.
His boot connected with the Crawlers head, and he felt it collapse beneath him. He then used his remaining momentum to carry himself upward, so that he squatted on the trunk, where he began firing at the Watchers that represented the most threat to the Chief and marines.
Chief stepped in front of a marine, withering blow to his overshield that would likely have killed the marine. He returned fire at the offending Alpha Crawler, killing it with a burst from the Lightrifle, then directing the marines to a line of sandbags just out from the exit hallway.
With the Crawlers dealt with, the Marines focused on keeping the Watcher occupied while Chief and Cooper worked on the Knight.
Cooper kicked off his perch to the left of the Knight, while Chief managed to get off a couple of bursts, before the Knight returned fire and he was forced back into cover. With the Knight’s attention solely on Chief, Cooper rushed it, drawing the Scattershot from his back, and putting a shot into the surprised Knight. In combination with Chief’s earlier shots, the Scattershot broke the Knight’s shield, despite the longer range that Cooper fired from. Chief stood out from his cover while the Knight turned in surprise, and put a burst into its helmet to finish it off.
A moment later, the Watcher exploded as the focused automatic fire from the trio of marines cut it apart in the air.
“Damn man!” Dubbo cheered, jogging over to them and looking at Cooper, “You sure can move!”
Cooper chuckled, and shared a handshake with the man, “I’m not too bad. Jack Cooper,” he introduced.
“Chips Dubbo,” he returned with a grin, “Happened across the Chief did ya?”
“Yeah. Oh, hey BT, made it over alright?” Cooper asked, his focus shifting as he spotted his Titan making his way down to them.
“I faced no major obstacles,” BT responded, quickly striding over to his pilot, before lifting him from the ground and into his cockpit. “Let us continued forward to clear the LZ.”
“You heard the robot!” Dubbo commanded, “Move up marines! Double time!”
The marines ran after Chief and BT, struggling to keep up with their significantly faster pace.
“Chief, it’s Lasky. We’re getting reports of friendlies pinned down near your position. Can you assist?”
“Commander, this is Cortana. We’re on our way.”
The sounds of gunfire quickly became apparent, and soon after, the pinned marines were visible, a cluster of Prometheans beyond their sandbag encampment.
Cooper started firing the 40mm into their forces, quickly eliminating those that posed a threat to the marines, while further still lay beyond.
“Holy fuck! Is that a giant robot?!” screamed a marine, as he turned to look to their saviour.
“And the Master Chief? I thought he was dead!” cried another.
Another cackled, “We’re gonna get out of this boys!”
“God damn!” came the last one, observing BT, “And I thought Mantis’ were tough lookin’ SOBs!”
“Focus marines!” Dubbo commanded, “We’re not outta the woods yet! We gotta get up to that bunker!”
Sure enough, at the top on the small incline sat a Forerunner door, imbedded in the rock. Cooper started pushing up the hill, BT’s large frame and powerful armament keeping the Promethean’s attention, so that the marines could dispatch any remaining foes out of his line of sight.
“Get the Watchers!” Dubbo commanded, noticing a pair of them beginning to bathe 2 areas on opposing side in a blue cone of light. It was the same thing that had summoned a turret earlier, while Chief was still on the underside of the planet.
While Chief focused on picking off those distracted by BT, the marines focused fire on the now stationary Watchers. After a second of concentrated fire, the left one detonated, and they switched targets to the other, destroying it a moment later.
They were slightly too late however, as a turret formed in the ashes of its fallen creator. Before the marines could attempt to destroy it, they were forced back into cover by a barrage of hard light. The turret whirred, rotating to point at BT, the pitch of its whine slowly rising until it began its bombardment.
Cooper reacted quickly as the beam began burning through BT’s shields. He turned on his left heel, left arm coming forward and activating the Vortex shield. The Vortex shield dispersed the attack across its surface, but it was chewing through his power reserves to keep it active. Fortunately, it survived through the bombardment, and Cooper returned fire with the 40mm cannon.
Three hits weren’t enough to put it down, but the cluster of guided rockets were, cutting through it and destroying some Crawlers behind it. Two more shots, and the final Knight fell, and they were free to push up to the marines’ previously held position by the door.
“The marines got trapped trying to get through these doors,” Cortana said, “Look for an interface.”
Chief spotted one easily enough, as to the right of the door, a sole podium stood. He walked towards it, and extracted Cortana’s data chip from his helmet, pushing it into the receiving slot on the interface.
“These doors open into a cave system with a space large enough for an LZ,” Cortana said, before she was cut off by a Knight’s scream, “Hold them off for long enough for me to open the doors!”
The marines quickly dispersed themselves along the encampments of sandbags, collecting ammunition from abandoned weapons and setting themselves up on stationary machine gunmachinegun turrets.
The powerful rotary cannons, BT’s support, and Master Chief’s incredible aim made short work of the Promethean forces before they could even reach an effective firing distance, and before long, Cortana got the doors open, revealing the cave system behind it.
“You go on ahead Chief,” Dubbo directed, “We’ll hold down the fort.”
Cooper managed to get BT’s large chassis into the caves, but it was a tight fit, and he was forced to lie prone and crawl through behind the Chief. Fortunately, with BT’s long limbs, he was able to keep a distant pace behind the Chief, until they reached an open cavern where he was free to stand.
They continued quickly to the marked location, Cooper doing his best to quieten his movement.
“Knight!” Cortana warned as they rounded the corner, “Wait, what’s he doing?”
The Knight stood facing away from them, waving his arms and pointing in various directions.
“The Covenant?” Cooper asked, noticing a cluster of Grunts past the Knight, watching him, and then seemingly following his commands.
“They’re working with the Prometheans?” Cortana asked.
Cooper decided to take the initiative while they were still hidden, and eliminated the Knight with two shots, the Grunts scrambling into a panic as their leader was killed.
They pushed into the clearing, quickly eliminating the Covenant and Promethean forces.
“I’m shocked how quickly the Didact has unified these Covenant,” Cortana admitted as they cleared the last Knight.
It was then that a Phantom lifted over the lip of the cliff and slowly floated into the cave.
Cooper was quick to paint it with the tracker cannon, and fired a quick rocket barrage, to unfortunately small results. He realized that he wouldn’t be able to do sufficient damage to the armoured vehicle with his current methods, and instead activated his Salvo Core.
Pods lifted over both shoulders, each spitting out dozens of laser guided missiles in rapid succession.
The Phantom pilot tried to dodge, but the bulky vehicle wasn’t nearly fast enough, and the rockets began slamming into it. After a couple of seconds, Cooper saw the hull collapse under the assault, and the rockets then started barraging the insides of the vehicle, until a moment later, it detonated with a resounding boom and bright purple flash.
“Cortana to Lasky; LZ secured.”
“RogerRodger that Cortana,” Lasky replied, “I’ll get you the coordinates-“
“Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! Code Red! Hostile elements are attempting to gain entrance to the Infinity bridge!” Came the Infinity’s captain’s voice.
“They’re outside the hatch! Doors breached! Doors breached!”
“All units return to Infinity immediately! That’s an order!” the captain said.
“Chief,” Lasky began again, “I’m redirecting the Spartan IVs to rally point Alpha Sierra Foxtrot.”
The low whine of an engine could be heard, and they turned to see the approaching friendly dropship. Cooper quickly slipped out of BT, ready to board.
“Until we catch up, you have tactical command of the forward assault force! Rendezvous with those men and take back the ship!” Lasky instructed, the Pelican lowering in a hover, the back doors opening.
“Yes sir,” Chief responded.
“Good luck, Chief. Lasky out.”
Cooper spotted one of the pilots step through the door to meet them.
“Holy!” he exclaimed, quickly spotting BT, “You’re the special cargo? Chief, you board, I’ll get the cargo locked up tight for the trip.”
“Do not worry.” BT told the pilot, “I will be able to hold on to the vehicle by placing my hands and feet here and here.” BT pointed to the locations, and demonstrated by hooking his hands into position.
The pilot nodded, and quickly gestured to them to follow him aboard.
Cooper stepped onto the ship, and couldn’t help wondering just how much longer he would be fighting for.