As the Spirit of Fire emerges from the Forerunner dock, blinding light burns the eyes of everyone on the bridge, even the Spartans and Serina aren't spared, as the world turns white for several burning seconds.
As Captain Cutter blinks away the spots in his eyes, he sees something causing him to shout, "Hard starboard!" "Hard starboard, aye!" Serina obeys immediately as the others see what alarms the Captain; they're closing in on a collision course with the Covenant ship!
Everyone on board the ship grabs whatever they can as Serina tries her best to avoid collision, but just misses it as the two warships scrape together. The Spirit takes the most damage, losing several Herons as the Covenant ship emerges unscathed, protected by its shielding.
As both ships slow to hover in the air, Serina yells as alarms blare throughout the ship, "Captain! They are charging weapons!" "Battle stations! Bring weapons online. Tell Forge he's not done out there yet!" "Alerting the Sergeant - aye, sir."
As repair crews scramble to work, plasma turrets start raining fire upon the Spirit's hull as deck-mounted cannon return fire. Forge gathers his men as the Spartans rush to his side, ready for action.
Back on the Spirit of Fire's bridge, Serina gazes at the holo-table for a moment before noticing something, "So... am I the only one freaked out by the fact we're inside the planet?"
As the cannons on the Spirit's deck open fire, more plasma turrets return the favor as one of the Spirit's cannons is turned to molten slag, useless. "Captain, we need damage control, or the Spirit of Fire is going down." Serina says as Sgt Forge reaches the deck, followed by dozens of Marines and a Cyclops. "Forge, use Cyclopes to repair the power core, while you defend against Covenant attacks."
Forge acknowledges as Hawks leave their hangars to engage Covenant Banshees in the skies above, keeping them from harassing Forge and the Cyclops. "Captain, they're transporting an invasion force onto the hull." Cutter nods before connecting to Red Team, "Red Team, repel all boarders, I want those alien bastards off my ship, use anything you want."
"Huh, must be my lucky day!" Douglas says as he beelines it towards a tank, while Jerome and Alice decide to run ground interference, keeping their more boisterous companion from getting into too much trouble.
Not wanting to be left out, Shawn decides to grab assembly-line fresh Hawk and takes to the skies. Though it had been a while since he'd been in the cockpit of any USNC fighter, he quickly remembered his training and got to work as he chased after Banshees, taking pot shots at any Phantoms and landing craft while he was at it.
Immediately noticing the threat Shawn posed, the Covenant ship master deployed more Banshees as well as a pair of Vampires to deal with him, or at least keep him busy until they could destroy this heretic ship.
Noting the increased pressure, Shawn didn't hesitate to burn more fuel to get better angles on his targets. The Banshees posed little threat, their pilots skilled but not aces. The real problems were the Vampires, true pilots.
Shawn noted how, other than taking a few runs, the Vampires mostly stayed back and let the Banshees harass him. If he had to guess, he'd say they were observing him before moving in for the kill.
They didn't get the chance to capitalize on any observed weakness, however as as Forge and Red Team got more anti-air turrets up and running, putting more pressure on the Covenant air forces as more and more Banshees were blown out of the sky.
Just as Shawn finished the last Banshee tailing him, the Vampire started to move forward, before breaking off as a trio of Hawks opened fire on them, forcing them to move away from him as Shawn decided he'd had enough fun, and took the Hawk back to the hangar.
Not a moment too soon, either, as Captain Cutter received word from Forge that the ship's power core had been repaired. "The power core is fully repaired, Serina. Best speed away." She didn't need to be told twice as she pushed the Spirits' reactors, getting them away from the Covenant ship.
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Although she wasn't a professor on alien behavior, Professor Ander was pretty sure the massive Elite dragging an energy sword across the floor was pretty mad.
"Restraints, off!" It snarled as she collapsed, finally free after days in stasis, though it mattered little to the alien. "Your judgment has waited long enough."
Grabbing her roughly, she is dragged over to the center console as Anders tries to find the strength to resist, "Just... get it over with!" The Arbiter grabs get hand and slams it onto the console, the control console begins to emit a steady beam, which terminates in a flash as the once dormant structures surrounding the platform begin to slowly unfold and awaken from their millennia of inactivity.
Professor Ander watches it unfold in horror, realizing she'd been surrounded by massive ships this entire time, though the Arbiter is much more jubilant. "The ancients have granted us the power to doom your race. Let the deconstruction of our gifts begin! The majesty of our new fleet will be unparalleled!"
Seeing all the Elite around her distracted by the ships moving around above them, Anders drags herself over to where the stasis beam held her moments before. She shakily stands as she looks up, eyeing the metal ceiling far far away. "Nothing ventured . . . Surface!"
With a gentle pulse of light, Ander suddenly finds herself in a forest, away from the aliens. "Hmm... that worked out pretty well." She hums to herself, quite proud until she notices a trio of fleshy creatures creeping towards her, "Or maybe not."
She backs up as the creatures get closer, the one is the lead jumps at her but is blown to bits, as the other two are softly after, and a voice she thought she'd never hear again starts to mock her. "Lady, I haven't got all day. You want to be rescued or not?"