As Shawn and the Marines descend to the planet, he listens in on Forge and Captain Cutter talking, with Cutter filling him in on what Shawn got from the Elite captive. "I haven't seen anything that looks like an 'Arbiter,' but I'll be sure to keep an eye out," Forge says as an explosion is heard from his end.
"Sgt Forge, Report! What was that sound?" Cutter demands as Forge comes back after a few seconds. "Two Rhinos just got taken out! There's a Scarab up in the ruins, still under construction, but not enough to walk, head and gun work just fine though!" He yells as more explosions go off.
"Shawn, take the Marines and back up Sgt. Forge. I'll try and funnel troops in from outside, but don't count on it." Cutter says as the pilots touch down and they disembark, ready to go.
As Shawn leaves the Marines to organize the defense of the firebase, he finds Professor Anders on the radio with Sgt. Forge. "Forge just took down a Locust; we can't let them get close to the base." He nodded and decided to go hunting for Locusts, making life easier for everyone involved.
"Glad you could join us, Spartan! The Scarab's gun seems to be powered by energy nodes scattered around the area. If you find one, let us know, we'll blow them to kingdom come!" Forge said as Shawn ducked behind cover as a trio of Ghosts floated by.
He pinged them to let others know before moving on, picking his way through the ruins, before finally getting a good look at the Scarab.
Just like they'd said, it was almost complete; the main chassis seemed to be in order, but the legs were only half finished. The problem was the head, fully finished and firing. The silver lining to this whole thing was that the energy nodes weren't moving around, plus the Scarab wasn't being actively built, something that bothered him.
He shoved that into the back of his mind as he found one of the nodes and another problem. "Sgt Forge, this is Shawn. I've found one of the nodes powering the Scarab; a Locust is guarding it." "We found one too. Mark it and we'll deal with it. I've got heavy vehicles inbound and anti-vehicle munitions on the way."
Shawn did just that; he may be a super soldier, but he'd rather not tangle with a Locust by himself. After marking it, he went looking for me, smiling to himself as he listened to the boom of cannons as Forge and company destroyed the first node.
"First node down! Move to the next one marked by the Spartan. Keep an eye on that Scarab!" Forge said as Shawn spotted Scarab through the ruins. "Forge, the Scarab's head has slowed down." "Yeah, I noticed, we're going to take out more nodes and see if it gets any slower."
Not long after, another node went up in flames as the Scarab slowed down even more, giving their heavy vehicles much more room to move around, though the Banshees were still posing a problem. He didn't let that stop him as he found and marked another node, while also taking out any Covenant patrols he came across.
Seeing the Scarab slow down even more, he knew that another node had been taken out as Serina came over the radio. "Alert, massive Covenant force is heading towards the base."
Just as Shawn was about to reinforce the base, he spotted something floating towards the Scarab; it was an Engineer. "Forge, you'll have to keep the base safe by yourself. Some Engineers are trying to fix the Scarab." "Ok, you deal with that, we'll head that way as soon as we deal with these jackasses." "Language!" Anders shouted as they went at it again.
Shawn didn't bother listening as he got closer to the Scarab, taking out a Carbine he'd looted from a Jackal earlier. Taking out the first Engineer, he had to be more patient for a while, as the two remaining ones were hiding and not exposing themselves.
It also didn't help that Covenant patrols were starting to appear in force now that enough nodes were destroyed to the point that the Scarab's head was moving at a snail's pace.
"Forge, lots of activity at the Scarab, they've caught on to what we're up to." He said as he domed an Elite that got out of cover. "We're on our way, keep them honest till we get there!"
Shawn kept picking off the Grunts and Jackals he could until Forge arrived with plenty of troops. "Focus fire on the Scarab! Be aware of where the head's pointing and we'll all make it home!" Cannons thundered as Scorpions blasted a pair of Hunters before turning their barrels on the Scarab.
A few ODST squads used the last of their rockets as Marines threw grenades, every little bit adding up as they chipped away at the metal monstrosity. "We got more coming in, from the East!" Shawn called out as several Grunts on Ghosts flew out of the ruins, followed by a pack of Jackals.
Shawn and the Marines dealt with them as Forge corralled everyone away from the Scarab's turret. Deep blue flames started burning as they inflicted more and more damage to it. They still didn't let up as more soldiers and tanks arrived from the base, adding more firepower to the mix.
After a full ten minutes of firing, the Scarab finally went up in a bright blue and purple fireball as Forge sent most of the men back to guard the base, while he went to pick up Professor Anders.
Shawn scouts the area around the Scarab as Anders and Forge return. Anders starts to document the battle as Forge picks up a piece of debris. "Hey, how about one for the scrapbook?" He jokes as Anders rolls her eyes with a smile. "If you don't mind, Sergeant, I'm trying to document this area for study." She says with no real heat as Forge shrugs and pockets the debris.
As Forge turns around, Shawn spots a huge shimmer of air land behind the Professor, and he brings his rifle to bear, just as a massive silver Elite grabs the Professor the the throat. "You're coming with me." It snarls as Forge spins around, drawing his sidearm.
"How about we put the lady down and talk, man to freak?" Forge taunts, but the Elite just snorts. "I will not lower myself to playing games with your pathetic race." He says as the hum of Phantom engines approaches.
Not wanting to let Anders go without a fight, Shawn tries to fire, but can't get a shot as the Elite keeps her right in front of it, already knowing how dangerous the Human Demons are. As the Phantom beams lower to take them away, Shawn decides to fuck with the Elite's mind since he can't kill it, yet.
"Tell Regret that in twenty years, the Master Chief will kill him on the Sacred ring, and that Truth will do nothing to stop it." Ripa's eyes widen and his jaws open to roar, but the Phantom takes him at that moment, and leaves Shawn and Forge in the forest.
A Warthog appears, firing at the Phantom as Red team jumps out, "What happened?" Shawn fills them in as Sgt. Forge radios the Captain. "Forge to Spirit, we have a problem."