Back on board the Spirit of Fire, Captain Cutter kept all hands at combat alert. After the mess they'd just left behind, he didn't want to risk any infection getting onto his ship, not even the smallest spore.
"I don't get it. Why is the Professor's transponder coming from under the water?" Sgt Forge said as Serina gazed at something under the waves. Both Red Team and Shawn weren't present on the bridge as Shawn was forcing them through harsh decontamination protocols, almost to the point of burning their armor, almost.
Suddenly, Serina looked up, murmuring under her breath. "Docking? Cleansing?!" She looked at the Captain, "You aren't going to like this." The ship suddenly lurches as the water below splits open, and hundreds of small drone-like constructs swarm up and around the Spirit.
"Sir, something is dragging us in. I can't stop it." Serina says as Captain Cutter yells orders, trying to keep the ship in place as the reactors strain to stay optimal. "Sir, I've found several pylons on the ground that are powering the tractor beam!" The Captain wastes no time as he orders Sgt Forge and Red Team to go down and buy time for them to evacuate their people still down there.
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Shawn takes his time going towards the bridge as he has AUTO retreat to orbit, not wanting his Prowler to be dragged into the shit that's about to go down. After double checking his ship was far enough away, Shawn made his way to the bridge.
Along the way, several crew members gave him a wide berth, while the Marines on board saluted, only the ODSTs went out of their way to avoid him, though it was better than them being hostile as usual, so he couldn't complain.
Shawn entered the bridge and saluted the Captain, "Sir, what's the situation?" Captain Cutter returned the salute before waving him over to the holo-table, where Serina was busy coordinating rescue flights of soldiers, and directing Sgt Forge and Red Team towards the pylons that were slowly overcoming the Spirit of Fire's engine.
"The second pylon is down, more of those drones have appeared Captain. Orders?" Serina asked as one of the 'drones' hovered in front of the bridge, giving them a good look at it. It was an Aggressor Sentinel!
Shawn stared in wonder at the floating construct as reports came in from the ground. "Sir, Alpha and Bravo platoon are under assault by airborne Flood creatures." The Communications officer called out as Cutter nodded, "What about Charlie, and where is Sgt Forge?" "One moment . . . Charlie is taking the last of them out, Red Team put in the work. Sgt Forge is busy clearing a Flood colony, says it's almost finished."
Seeing how things are going Shawn steps forward, "Sir, permission to assist down below?" "Denied." Cutter said surprising him, then he went on. "I want you to remake our standard issue equipment, Serina and I noticed what you did for Red Team, I was hoping you could do the same for the rest of the crew."
Shawn thought about it for a moment, going over the materials it would take to do such a thing before shaking his head. "Sorry Sir, I don't have enough time to remake the armor of every crew member aboard. I could remake the standard gear for the Marines and ODSTs though, if Serina doesn't mind having to use the Spirit of Fire's foundry lines to make something other than standard issue."
Captain Cutter and Serina discussed this as Shawn mentally went over changes that would help the Spirit of Fire both here, and on the Ark 28 years from now. He could at minimum, give the Marines better protection against the Flood spores, maybe make a few armor plates a bit thicker, but plasma is a bitch, and if Flood forms are closer enough for melee, well the Marines were fucked either way.
Finally Captain Cutter and Serina came to an agreement as Shawn got a green light to start improving the standard issue gear for the Marines, a trial run before he got to mess with the ODSTs. He was glad to take it as he went and grabbed a couple fresh sets of armor before holing himself up in Professor Anders lab, while Serina tried her best to fight back against the field trying to pull them down.
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"Sir, Alpha and Beta are requesting support." "Send Charlie to help them out, Red Team should help lighten the load." Forge ordered as they got the last Gremlin into position near the pylon.
As the EMP went off, Sgt Forge and the two squads with him made their way back to the base, picking up those who'd been left behind as the hurried to make it. "All UNSC forces in the area, this is Sgt Forge. Withdraw to Alpha base, evac is on the way but can't wait forever so hurry up!"
Forge didn't have time to respond to everyone calling in as they gunned it towards the base. The swarms of Flood didn't make things easier, but with Forge driving the Warthog, the smaller infection forms were run over as the gunner didn't spare the ammo, mowing down the larger forms as the Marines hoofed it to keep up.
Pretty soon the booms of cannons got louder as they reached Alpha base, where dozens of Flood creatures were attacking the base. "Let's show them how we roll!" Forge yelled as he slammed into a trio of Flood forms before drifting into another pair, with Marines throwing grenades into clusters of infection forms, thinning them out as they quickly mopped them up.
"Alright, who's alive? Sound off!" Forge said as Alpha and Beta platoon called in. "Charlie platoon, where ya at!" "Almost there Sgt! Pretty big swarm got the jump on us but Red Team almost done tearing 'em apart, we'll be there!"
With Charlie on the way, Forge called down the first wave of evac transports as Alpha got on and sped back to the Spirit of Fire. "Sgt Forge, how goes the evac?" Serina called in as Forge answered, "Alpha's on the way, Beta is waiting for their turn and Charlie is on the way back to base." "Copy that, be sure to be on the look out for any more Flood attacks." "Roger."
Rather than stay idle, Forge had the Marine's reinforce the base, while he grabbed a few engineers and had them make a few more turrets, to help out the ones already up and running.
"Contact!" One of the scouts yelled over the radio as Forge left the engineers to help fend off the Flood. This time is was only a small swarm of infection forms, so they were quickly dealt with, just as Red Team and what was left of Charlie platoon reached the base.
"Welcome back. Everyone's back safe and sound, send us some more transports, Captain." Cutter acknowledged as more Pelicans arrived to take them away, Beta got on first and left as another wave arrived to take away Charlie and Red Team.
As they lifted off and left the base behind, they all felt a collective dread watching the Flood swarm the base, the turrets cleared out some but the base was taken as hundreds of infections forms swarmed into the base.
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The transports make it just in time as the Spirit of Fire is dragged into the the water. Floodlights are turned on as the gap closes behind them. Another Sentinel hovers in front of the bridges viewport as Sgt Forge, Red Team and Shawn enter the bridge.
"All according to plan, right guys?" Serina asks as the massive structure appears before them. "Report Serina, what is going on." Captain Cutter demands as Red Team and Forge go to clear off Flood forms from the ships' hull.
"Well Sir, we appear to be getting pulled through a docking system. The Flood seems to have followed us through, and the structure seems to not like that, more of those drones keep arriving."
Forge and the Spartans get to work as Shawn goes out to help field test the Marines new gear. He wasn't able to change much, just closing the gaps in the armor and adding a rebreather and filtration system to better protect against spores.
Watching the Sentinels burn away Flood growths that are starting to appear, Shawn is almost tempted to shoot one down to tinker with its sentinel beam, but holds off not wanting to trigger and protocol the Forerunners might have left behind. Unfortunately, the ODSTs didn't get the message as they fired on anything not human, both Flood and Sentinels got their fare share of lead.
As scraps of metal and heaps of flesh piled up, Serina intercepted something that set of alarms in her circuits. ""Bad news, I intercepted a signal from the alien AI. Those drones have declared us a threat and are massing behind us." She said as the Sentinels withdrew momentarily. "Sergeant Forge, get your men into the airlocks. Something very bad is coming."
Forge didn't ask questions as they went as fast as they could to the airlocks, leaving the Hornets outside to deal with the Flood as Serina turned to the Captain. "Captain, if our air units fly through the ring in the opposite direction it will minimize damage." He had the Hornets do as Serina said as the watched the ring of energy engulf the ship, burning any Flood it came into contact with, something Serina noticed.
"The drones and the cleansing ring seem to be able to remove the aliens if they're already damaged." She noted as Forge and the men surged back out of the airlocks, though they didn't go far as they went to work on the fresh groups of Flood that landed on the hull, taking out any Sentinels as they did.
As they cleared out everything not Human from the ship, more Sentinels arrived, large ones as well that seemed more than happy to target Human vehicles as Serina connected them to the Forerunner A.I's radio wave. "Decontamination sequence commencing."
"Take cover! Another cleansing wave is coming." Forge called as everyone booked it towards the airlocks, with an unlucky Marine getting caught outside and cleansed with the Flood. Forge cursed as the wave passed and they were free to go out again, he stopped briefly to collect the dog tags before joining the fray again.
For another half hour they cleaned up as many Flood growths as they could while dodging Sentinel beams as the A.I sounded off again, "Decontamination sequence commencing." "The ring is back!" Forge yelled as everyone ran back to the air locks.
As they emerged for another round, Captain Cutter contacted Forge, "A pair of Vultures have just been repaired, I'm giving them to you to help out the Hornets. Have fun Sergeant." Forge turned and saluted towards the bridge as the Vultures rained down ordinance on the more entrenches Flood growths.
With the help of the Vultures, a good chunk of the Flood was blown to bits as Anti-Air emplacements mowed down Sentinels, though several larger Sentinels had to be dealt with by the Vultures. Finally, what seemed to be the last energy ring appeared as Forge corralled everyone not in the air into an airlock as the last of the Flood was singed from the ships hull.
"All clear! The hull is clean." Forge reported as Cutter wasted no time. "Serina, maximum power to the engines. Get us out of here!"
A/N-Hellooo everybody, enjoy the chapter? Maybe consider leaving a power stone, maybe two! If your're feelin reeeaall generous, a review!!!