Mission Two: Belly of the Beast (Part the Second)

[hollowsaber]

Private Jake Furrow Nova Squad; Fireteam Alpha Gravity-Lift Room

Jake new his Lieutenant was serious this time. The man's voice sounded as if he was going to beat the crap out of Jake. Even so, Jake wouldn't risk going to the med-bay, he would rather be shot again then be forced out of a fight because he needs a few stitches. Though, as the Lieutenant grabbed his rifle, a fire sparked in Jake and he tore his weapon from the man, hastily stepping away. The gun was the only thing he had left, and it had been with him ever since training. No way would he let someone take it. They would have to pry it from his cold, dead hands first.

"No Sir. That's an order I will not follow... I will fight and help everyone get out. When we're on the bird out, I'll see a medic." Jake muttered, his hands shaking in both pain and from his tight grip on the rifle.

[Jakob]

Lieutenant Jakob Zaborowski

Jakob looked around, the kid was more stubborn then a Mule and over eager to fight. He spoke as quietly as he could, attempting to hide the anger he breathed in and out slowly and then he spoke.
"Private Furrow if you disobey this order you will lose this promotion, hell you might lose your job. Years ago I lost EVERYTHING and I promised I would not let anyone else die when I COULD HAVE PREVENTED IT now get the hell over to the damned med area NOW."

[hollowsaber]

Private Jake Furrow Nova Squad; Fireteam Alpha Gravity-Lift Room

Jake sneered at his Lieutenant’s threat on his job, then turned his back on the man. Jake growled and began walking to the medical area with his fists clenched on the rifle to restrain himself. He slung his rifle across his back and hooked it tight so it wouldn’t jiggle around and set off his balance. The Lieutenant had his past, and that was his problem, Jake didn’t care. Jake would have rather punched the guy through his helmet then actually care at this point. What happens in the past is already done, you can’t change it, dwelling on it was even worse. Jake shook his head slightly and looked at the Captain across the room as the man worked. The man had his own allocation of his past, and apparently Jake did something that reminded him of himself. Was that why he got the offer? Reminding the man of his past? Or was it his stupidity that did it? Either way didn’t matter, as long was he made the Covenant bleed, he would be satisfied.

Jake continued his walk until he reached the station, moving up to a medic who was standing around. Since there wasn’t anyone else to look at, he was chatting with a wounded ODST who didn‘t have a squad anymore. The fighting was still ringing out in the halls, but as more and more squads returned because of the “evacuate“ signal, less and less wounded came in. The medic had a questioned look at the battered soldier who just appeared in front of him. Jake watched as the man looked him over from helmet to toe and laughed a little bit.

“How in the hell are you still alive?” The man asked, chuckling.

“I got something to do, now would you ever so kindly?” Jake moved next to the man and sat against the wall.

“No problem. You’re going to need a real doctor when we get out of here, but I’ll do what I can. You look like a goddamned marshmallow by the way.” The medic joked as he started to fix up Jake.

The pain was still there, but with another burning sensation and the feeling of millions of ants crawling inside of him again, it started to recede. Jake relaxed against the wall and closed his eyes, he might be able to get some rest too, hopefully. Exchanging bandages and putting on some more was all the medic could really do, so he wouldn’t be out for long. Jake asked for sleep, the medic nodded, and darkness had overcome him once again.

[inhert]

Red Wing (SOG-A)

Target Hades

Bridge

Murph finished cutting the man sized hole in the wall of the bridge. Teetering for a second the large chuck of metal fell outward into a dark hallway. The thunk it made hitting the floor punctuated the appearance of a message on Murph’s HUD.

"Flash Traffic. Priority Alert: Arrival of Covenant forces in-system. All ground forces prepare for emergency withdrawal."

With the appearance of Covenant reinforcements, every second that passed narrowed the chases of getting off of Lethe alive for all UNSC forces. Of those present in the Bridge it was Crash who spoke-up first. The technician made a viable point; the ODSTs, SPARTANs and SOG operators needed an extraction route. Murph was amazed by this kid, he was clearly in the wrong career path.

“Do it Crash.” The comment was accompanied by a pat on Crash’s suit. “Everyone wait till we’re out, and head to that bay. Silas stick with us and we’ll get your comrade.”

Murph’s order sent all in the bridge into an overdrive. The only two that seemed unaffected by the new plan were Paula and Yellow, the couple stood face to opaque helmet visor.

“Stay safe.” The impact of the situation had dawned on Paula as she looked into the reflective visor of her boy friend.

“I love you.” Tears flowed from her eyes and pool at the edge of her breathing mask.

“I love you too.” Yellow said from behind his reflective gold visor. He too was crying looking at his girlfriend. With their exchange complete Yellow stepped away from his beloved and joined the rest of his team in the dark purple hallway. They were on their way.

Super Six-Four

Airspace Around Target Hades

Over the course of this mission Rocco had made multiple entries and exits of Lethe’s atmosphere, but this was the hairiest. Nothing had changed in the atmosphere but the situation had changed; a Covenant force had jumped into orbit and destroyed the Cruiser Fenix. A glace out of the window of the cockpit would reveal the burning wreckage of the Frigate as it dropped to the surface of Lethe.

“Feet dry.” Rocco announced into COMs, he was the first Pelican of Super squadron to come out of atmospheric reentry.

[Soulstep]

Corporal Andrew Deiran Indigo Squad Target Hades Bridge

Andrew glanced over his shoulder as Red Wing and one of the Spartans clambered through a hastily-cut hatch. Crazy bastards, hope they'll get out alive.

As the 2 ONI spooks and a Spartan remained with the ODSTs and Marines, Andrew called over his shoulder, "Awaiting orders, sir!"

The Covenant were probably minutes away from a counter-attack at best. At worst, they were right around the corner. The UNSC forces in the bridge were caught with their backs to a wall, a quick assault would wipe them out, no matter how well guarded the bridge door was.

[smoke]

Kane stood still waiting for the reply, he counted the heartbeats, one...two...three. When no response came he let out a loud sigh, realising that not only had he let down fellow solders but also that he was holding his breath. He silently muttered a pray and then looked back to the situation at hand, he knelt down and again with a pray he took the tags of the dead bodies before climbing back out the side corridor past the hunters remains.

Once out his team covered the three injured marines back towards the lift room. “Right guys lets go” Kane said grimly. They made it to the check point in good time, the barricades had been up turned and scattered. Bodies littered the site; the remains of a hunter lay in the middle of the carnage.

“Callahan, collect these poor SOB’s tags. Wiley you and Bear get these barricades back up. Dead meat police these bodies; I want ammo, explosives the works.” Kane moved forwards on Stag before radioing back to the lift room “Zeta 6 to command reached objective check point, position overrun. Reinforcing position and awaiting further orders” several moments passed when a wide band transmission filled the COMs channels
"Flash Traffic. Priority Alert: Arrival of Covenant forces in-system. All ground forces prepare for emergency withdrawal."

Kane turned back to his squad “you get that guys? Bear, Wiley drop that give Dead meat a hand policing those bodies. We bug out in 5.” After policing the bodies of their ammo, grenades and a few packs of C12, Kane and his squad fell back to the lift room.

[maxii1]

Captain Nigel Lennox

It was with a tinge of regret that Lennox realized that the battle was effectively over, the data had been recovered and new intelligence gathered.
However with one Spartan missing and Covenant reinforcements inbound the mission seemed to have been poorly run, Nigel reflected that at least the objectives had been met.

“All Ground Forces Must Evacuate the Ship NOW!” he radioed to everyone, he was not going to spend an age explaining why the entire UNSC force had to leave their prize; still infested with the original occupants whom now cowered and hid.

He nodded over to the rest of the gathered forces in the Grav-Lift room “Get on the ground and board those awaiting Pelicans” quickly checking that Super Squadron had entered the operational zone and where currently now landing.

He quickly keyed in SOG A and Gamma Team’s reference number on his PDA; radioing exclusively these two groups: “I’m sure you heard my first transmission, we have to leave now, I’m afraid Harry’s going to have to be left behind”

Lennox had tears in his eyes. He had been abandoned once on the battlefield, could he bring himself to let another man suffer the same fate, if the Spartan where unfortunate to still be alive then surely Nigel had to save him, even if that led to career suicide.

“Sod it!” he exclaimed and stormed out of the bridge, not offering an explanation to anyone as he walked along the secured corridor.

The Radio crackled into life “Hey Nigel, where the hell are you going?” asked the EOS operative.
“Along here, is it secure?” answered the Captain.
“Yes Sir, eh, you are aware of your last order aren’t you sir, to evacuate the ship?” the operative had quickly switched to a more business like tone.

Captain Nigel Lennox grunted and turned the radio off.

[hollowsaber]

Private Jake Furrow Fireteam Alpha; Nova Squad Following Captain Lennox

Jake gradually returned to consciousness, opening his eyes carefully after getting the few minutes of rest that he certainly needed. His body ached with soreness, and every muscle seemed to burn. He felt as if he was on fire, but he knew it was just pain. The medics were tending to the other squads that were returning from their fights, and those that were treated were moving around again. Even Jake’s small fireteam was up and walking already. The three of them were chatting about their little adventure in the ship with a few other squads who had their own stories. Jake chuckled at the view and sat himself up against the wall, his arms pulsating as he did so.

This trooper was in no condition to fight, but he would pick up his rifle if he needed to. His chest and stomach was wrapped up under his burned armor, restricting his movement slightly. His leg armoring was shreaded, but the medic tapped together what he could and sowed a lot of it up as well. Everything but his knees felt covered with tape to hold him together. That explosion screwed him up badly, but now he at least knew how badly. A laugh came from his lips as he felt a rush of victory over death. He was on the brink of tumbling down for a while, but it seemed that he would live to make it back if he stayed put, though that may not happen.

He was about to close his eyes again, when he heard the EOS having some trouble. Something was happening, and as the Captain stormed off, after swearing really loudly, it didn’t seem like a good something. Jake watched quietly as the angry man walked down the hallway to the fighting alone, and looked to see if anyone would follow. The EOS soldiers stared in confusion, and everyone waited for something to happen. The grav-lift room was scarily quiet, and the atmosphere sent cold chills down Jake’s spine. The Captain was heading for the bridge, and a lot of Covenant would be down that hall.

His body burned and sharp pains coiled across Jake’s body as he forced himself to his feet. The wounded around him looked at him as if he was an idiot, but as the thought that he said to his Lieutenant came to mind, ‘No rest for the weary’, resting wasn't going to do anything in this situation. The Captain was unguarded, and losing him would risk the operation. Since the EOS wasn’t doing anything, somebody had to.

Jake lumbered to the small weapon pile and snagged his rifle from the side, grinning at finally having it in his hands again. He slipped the clip from it’s belly to check the number of shots left in it; 4 rounds, then slammed it back inside the rifle. Someone must've reloaded it for him. Jake took a final look at the EOS unit, listening as the Captain closed the COM channel to them. Jake chuckled then jogged for the corridor the Captain went down. He poked his rifle out and checked the night-vision scanner on his scope. The man was fine and still walking, nothing was in the dark around him either.

“What luck…” Jake muttered then moved into the hallway, forcing his burning legs to move forward towards the Captain.
“Sir! Moving alone isn’t a good idea Sir!” Jake called out as he moved close to the Captain.
"Private Furrow, Sir." Jake saluted slightly as he moved and slowed down.

Jake closed to a fast walk, stopping a few feet behind and to the left of the Captain so he could hide partially in the shadows. He held his rifle ready, pointing it down the hall but tipped it to the floor slightly so he could see over it at the Captain. The Covenant were still here, and he had to be careful with the Captain around.

[Jakob]

Lieutenant Jakob Zaborowski

Jakob looked around, he realized that he had to gather his platoon and get ready to haul ass, but then he noticed the Captain walk off. Jakob looked around, the bloody Private had chased after him, Jakob was not going to let the idiot get himself killed yet. Especially not the Captain.
Jakob tapped Aborn on the shoulder and pointed, he whispered to him,
"Assemble any able bodies in the platoon, I am going after them."
The Sergeant was about to protest, his Lieutenant going alone and could get himself killed but he knew that Jakob would not relent, he nodded and began opening channels.

Jakob unclipped the rifle from his back and jogged ran after the Captain.
He ran up to his right and spoke so only the three could here,
"Sir Meta platoon sends there regards, we are here if you need us sir."
He gave a quaint nod to the Private as while saying it.

[jaden1985]

Joel tapped off his polarized helmet for a second as soon as he heard the commanding officer give the orders to evacuate the ship. Joel quickly motioned summoned all his fire team around him. “You heard the CO, time to head out.” He took a moment noticing a few wounded troops and marines around him. Assist with the wounded and make sure your get ground side huah.”

“But Sarge, we haven’t even even gotten a chance to fight we’ve been babysitting in this damn room since we been here.” The young private said in a dissatisfied tone.

The days where Joel didn’t have to send his men into any combat, were good days. “Turtle, I know you haven’t been here long so I’m letting you slide. Next time if you don’t cut the bullshit from your mouth I’ll personally make sure your on guard duty after your tenure with my fire team. You copy?”

“Yes sir”, the private replied in a sigh. Joel continued to look into the eyes of his newest private before shaking his head damn rookie, he muttered to himself. Joel knew that he had a long way to go to replace Vik, hell he hadn’t killed a grunt yet, he wasn’t broken in yet. He longed for a fight, anyone whose been in war knows its not something you long for; its just something you have to do. For Joel, he was good at it, his fire team was great at it, but that didn’t mean he wants to put the lives of his men and woman at risk whenever the opportunity came.

“Anything else?” He said looking around at his team. All of them had there helmets depolarized, something he commanded they do when he was talking to them. No one else had anything. Joel stood up from his kneeling position noticing the CO who ordered them ground side walk away then a couple follow behind him, one seemingly in bad shape. A younger Joel would have offered his team’s support to escort the CO where ever he was going, but after the death of Vik. Joel wasn’t the same and he knew it. Joel heard the CO loud and clear, if the CO had something else to do that was the CO, not Joel’s fire team unless ordered differently. His orders were to head ground side and hop on a pelican; and that’s what he was gonna do follow orders. Something must have happened to make the UNSC turn tail between there legs and retreat, something big, and Joel was determined to have his team survive today no matter what was going on.

“Alrighty then, move out...”

[inhert]

Red Wing (SOG-A)

Target Hades

Deep within the Assault Carrier

SOG-A and their SPARTAN compatriot ran down the dark hallways that lead away form the Bridge. They did not have a second to spare; the appearance of a Covenant Battle Group in orbit of the planet Lethe had spurred the evacuation of all UNSC personal from the area of Target Hades. For the six member rescue team there the urgency of the evacuation only compounded the importance of their objective.

The path that the group was taking had them three levels above where Harry was assumed to be. They would stay in their current corridor until they reached grav-lifts that would take them down to where Harry was. That was the plan, in the rush to make it to the grav-lift none of the six men did not notice the condition of the hallway until Jester slipped.

“Shit.” Jester twisted his body to adjust his sudden shift of his body, “Damn that’s not right.” Realizing He had slipped in deep bronze colored goo Jester tried to scrap it off of his boot. Jester’s comment drew the attention of the other four SOG-A operators to the floor which was cover in goo. The slit pause caused all of the men to realize their surroundings.

The corridor was no longer the purple metal, here the walls were coated with a chitinous substance. Unlike earlier portions of the of the corridor the portion where SOG-A found themselves now was completely black. Activating their helmet light did little to show their surroundings, the light was only reflected by the thick fog that surrounded them. As the six tried to step forward deeper into the fog they were confronted by a cacophony of shrill clicks high above them.

With out warning a large incest lunged from the fog in front of them wielding a plasma pistol. The insect tackled Murph and began trying to rip into his armor. The matte coating of the armor denied the creature from getting a grip on the armor and gave the pinned Murph a change to react. Grapping the first appendage of the incest he could Murph pulled it away from him. The appendage ripped from the insect’s body with ease, in an instant Murph realized he held a leaf like wing. The insect let up it torrent of attacks from the pain of its amputated wing. This pause was a fatal mistake as Murph was able to roll and reverse his position on the insect. Now pinning into the bronze colored goo Murph upholstered his M6S and sent two rounds into the insect’s abdomen.

With only time to stand from his ordeal Murph and the other five in the corridor heard the clicks be joined by buzzing sounds. “BUGGERS!” Murph hollered as he joined the rest of the rescue team fleeing back the way they came.

[nex]

Steve 'Crash' Colsten

Target Hades

Bridge

Crash watched as SOG-A finished cutting through the wall of the bridge, a sizable chunk of metal hitting the floor.

“Do it Crash.” Murphy said, accompanied by a pat on the back of his suit.

He moved to a console and begin to enter a series of commands, trying to lock down the area of the ship his colleagues - for want of a better word - were heading into. That was the easy part. The harder part, was trying to create a sequence to open them again. The ship was desperately trying to keep some kind of atmosphere within the ship. Overriding those systems would prove troublesome.

Murphy turned to give the troops their orders; echoing his plan with his own authority.
“Everyone wait till we’re out, and head to that bay. Silas stick with us and we’ll get your comrade.”
After that, he turned and left through the hatch.

Crash turned to watch him go, before he became painfully aware of the stares of the troopers on the bridge. He turned to them, as one spoke up.

"Awaiting orders, sir!"

"What are you looking at? Secure that door. Shoot anything that doesn't look human. Except the Spartan", he added, still slightly nervous about the towering green figure. Some people still reckoned they weren't human. They looked more machine than human. He'd heard stories about the things they'd done during Operation: Trebuchet. It unnerved him. Especially given his colourful past.

"Keep an eye on that hatch too". He added, gesturing to the way the SOG-A had just left through. He didn't need the covenant catching him unaware.

"Paula up here." He called out, turning his attention back to the console. She'd just said a rather tearful goodbye to Yellow, but right now he needed her to be on form.

"I need you to trying to open up a route here." He told her, tracing a path from their position, to the decompressurised hanger.

"Meanwhile, I'll try to shut down any defences". The ship's points lasers could prove problematic. Surely they'd been disable when the Welrod had done it's bombing run. He'd very much like to keep them that way. He also didn't know what the bay would be like; a few static defences there might complicate the plan.

[inhert]

Paula Santa-Maria

Target Hades

Bridge

Paula hadn’t moved from her spot in the bridge after her boyfriend and the rest of SOG-A left through their hole. She could shake the image of Rob’s capture and inevitable death at the hands of some grotesque alien creature. In her state of mind she was immune to the hustle around her.

"Paula up here." Crash’s call rocketed her back to reality. "I need you to trying to open up a route here." The kid was barking orders like a seasoned veteran, he had potential. Before she moved she pressed the heels of the palm into her forehead, an action that shifted her uniform hat out of place on her head.

With a clear head she pounced on the nearest console. Viewing it through her TACPAD computer she realized it was communication panel, a small hurdle in her task. A quick manipulation of the halo controls sent the console into the root menu. Done with the alien technology she turned her attention to her TACPAD, on its display a single white block eagerly awaited input. With fast taps of her keys she found herself staring at the Assault Carrier’s damage control system. Locating the hanger she followed the route that Crash had pointed out and sealed off any intersection bulk heads. Not willing to take that chance of facing Covenant resistance in the path, she activated the fire suppression system along the path. Marked only by blinking read on the bridge’s holo display air from the path was vented out suffocating anything living in the sealed off path. With the same ease she activated the system she entered a command to flow air back into the path. Their escape route to the hanger was secure, that hanger was another story.

Red Wing (SOG-A)

Target Hades

Deep within the Assault Carrier

The members of SOG-A and Silas ran as hard as they could through the dimly light corridors of the Assault Carrier. All the while they ran the sounds of the Drone horde pursued them.

Super Six-Four

Airspace Around Target Hades

Rocco settled his Pelican into an orbit around the large Assault Carrier. Though he was the first of Super Squadron to enter the atmosphere, he was not the first Pelican to do so. The airspace was chocked with Pelican trying to evacuate the UNSC troops form the area. On the ground stressed and panicked Forward Air Controllers braked orders into their radios for one Pelican to take the place of one departing.

“There has to be another way to get the guys out.” Courtney commented the nervous tapping of his foot vibrating the metal flooring.

“Other then risking the Hangers. Even then who knows what’s in there.” Rocco commented on the predicament of the soldiers still inside the massive ship.

[SuperCommando]

SPARTAN-009 (Silas)

Inside Target Hades

Drone hive

Silas ran behind SOG-A as they all fled the huge swarm. This was unbelievable! He hadn’t expected to get all the way to Harry without running into at least some form of resistance, but who knew their route would have taken them through what was clearly a hive full of angry Drones! He found himself wondering if the Covenant allowed the buggers to convert this area of the ship into their nest or if the alien insects simply took over in the wake of the chaos and damage. Either way, it wasn’t relevant at this point – running like hell to avoid getting ripped limb from limb was!

The Spartan shrugged off one of the large bugs as it tried to tug at the sling keeping his battle rifle to his shoulder. Even though he could easily run ahead of SOG-A, he remained at the end of the group to defend them from some of these relentless Drones. Grabbing his shotgun from its place on his back, Silas twisted around as he ran and fired off a blast into the swarm. One Drone exploded into goo and a few others dropped to the floor, but the loss of a few buggers hardly seemed to deter the swarm’s wrath.

He kept right on SOG-A’s tail, occasionally shooting back at the mass of humming wings and high-pitched chirps as they raced to escape death.

[nex]

Steve 'Crash' Colsten

Inside Target Hades

Bridge

First, the Point defenses, he thought to himself.

They were powered down for now; that power was being channeled towards the life support systems. But he couldn't risk those systems being reactivated once he'd left the bridge. And he didn't want to risk blowing those explosives until he was off the ship. For all he knew, that could disable the only things keeping the ship afloat, and sending crashing into the thin, barren crust of the planet below.

So, he had to find a way to permanently turn them off. He figured the covenant would be able to bypass any type of restriction he put on those systems; afterall, they were undoubtedly more familiar with their own technology then he was.

He could try to erase the targeting software - but that could leave the turrets still able to fire blind. Still a risk.

He erased the software anyway. Well, part of it. The turrets fired short bolts of plasma, that were formed by the use of magnetic coils. But in order for them to fire, the shields would momentarily drop in those sections. He'd erased the sections of code that controlled the automated lowering of the shield. Although not something that would disable the turrets on it's own - The covenant crew no longer had any reason to power the shield -, it provided the means to do that himself. He rerouted some of the power still being produced by the ships reactor, into a number of shield emitters around the point defenses that were close to the hanger.

He waited until he was sure that all the turrets were covered by little pockets of their own shields, before channeling large amounts of plasma directly into them. The turrets fired instantly; an automated process to avoid overloading the system. However, with the shield still intact, the plasma was blasted backwards onto the turrets, melting large amounts of the hull.

As a series of warnings flashed across his screen as each of the turrets was destroyed, simply melted away, he shut down the systems that were providing the power for them. He left the shield up a moment longer, until he was certain that the hull had cooled in those section.

Next to him, he watched Paula type away at the console next to him. She seemed to to be activating the fire suppression systems in the corridors. It was no doubt effective; it would kill any serious opposition in those sections. Apart from the Grunts. Those little b******s had masks for their much needed methane. But they wouldn't be too hard to clear out.

The hanger, however, couldn't be so easily cleared. The fire suppression systems wouldn't work, since the area was already open and exposed to Lethe's atmosphere. The area was sealed off though. And with heavy damage to the hull, it had actually warped the shape of that section. The covenant dropships that had been docked, had crashed to the bottom in a blaze of plasma. It had since cooled, and the lack of a breathable atmosphere had put the fires out. There wouldn't be any reason for anyone to still be in there. To be on the safe side though, he sounded several fire alarms throughout the section, and overloaded a few power conduits, sending a spray of sparks everywhere. Anyone still in there would panic and run.

He waited for a few minutes, before shutting those systems down. That would have to do. He locked the console he was working with and headed towards the door, stopping to pick up his Carbine from the wall he'd left it leaning against.

One last thing however, remained. There had to be someone to get them out once they reached the hanger. He hit his comm:

"This is Warrant Officer Colsten to any receiving extraction flight. We're making an emergency extraction from a decompressurised hanger on the ship's starboard side. You should be able to visually spot for it. Point defenses are down, but LZ is hot. Recommend you wait for our signal before beginning extraction run."

It had been a wideband broadcast - He'd essentially spammed any small craft over the planet - but it guaranteed he'd be heard.

"Right, time to move. Take point." He said gesturing to the ODSTs. They would have the easy job of killing whatever might still be alive in the corridors. However, what worried him more, was any covenant who decided to follow him.

"Spartan, bring up the rear and watch our six."

Hopefully, the big, green, fighting machine would stop them being followed.

[abroad]

The skies of Lethe were alive with swarms of aircraft, newly arriving Seraph Fighters and Spirit Drop-ships duelled with Pelicans and other UNSC craft in a scramble to extract personnel off of the faltering Assault Cruiser – at one end, of the craft Covenant reinforcements landed partially empty drop-ships, reclaiming several hangers from the UNSC amongst heavy fighting, clearing paths to many of the embattled Covenant aboard the vessel to escape, the Zealot Shipmaster barking orders over a momentarily repaired battlenet calling for the general retreat of all forces aboard, those who refused to retreat were left to seek their deaths as they saw fit, but for the most part the greater number of the surviving Covenant were loaded onto the waiting drop-ships for the return to space.

With the Assault Carrier so heavily compromised the Covenant had little choice but to scuttle the vessel, with its self destruct protocols damaged, a total purge and shut-down of all internal systems was quickly activated, a brute force burnout of the ships internal systems – in lieu of the self destruct, a group of Sangheili readied the necessary explosive devices to completely obliterate the vessel.

The confrontation between the Shipmaster of the Flagellant and the surviving command officers of the Pious Charity was short and summary, the majority of the Sangheili paid heavily for their failures with their own lives, either at the hand of the newly arrived officer, or by ritual suicide out of shame, a few bought their way out of their shame with the presentation of the unconscious form of the captured 'Demon' – once the prize was presented their failure seemed suddenly much less of an offence, those who managed to ride the claim of capture, omitting the role of their Jiralhanae subordinates in the efforts walked from the Assault Carrier with their lives, and their honour, intact. Heavily manacled, the form of Harry 152 was dragged aboard a Spirit, a prize that many of the gathered Sangheili knew would gain them great recognition by the Prophets, no one missed the bodies of the Jiralhanae blistered and burnt by plasma discharge.

The Shipmaster of the Flagellant was the last of the Covenant to leave the Assault Carrier, his cold uncaring eyes glancing over a small group of stragglers to arrived moments too late to board the final overladen drop-ship – he offered them a salute, as one would to a departed warrior before turning his back upon them as the drop-ship closed its doors.

–

The Covenant evacuation did little to improve the UNSC situation, while some units had managed to disengage and capture hangers for their own use, the remaining Covenant, abandoned by their fellows to their fate, seemed no less inclined to continue fighting, while some of the lesser races did panic, the majority of the Covenant aboard the Assault Carrier seemed only to fight harder still, filled with some sort of fanatical lust to seek death in combat, while the warriors found death in abundance, they managed to inflict casualties on the retreating humans in the process. In the corridors leading to the UNSC-controlled hangers Covenant bodies were piled high as they kept coming in fanatical suicidal waves.

Fighting through the swarms of vessels in Lethe's atmosphere, a good number of Pelicans were lost or forced to retreat from damage, but the brave pilots of many flights persevered in making it to the men trapped aboard the dying Assault Cruiser, and, without a moment to loose, the last Pelican carrying UNSC troops off of the vessel managed to depart as the Covenant weapon planted within detonated, taking much of the vessel with it, moments later, fire lanced down from the heavens, as the orbiting Covenant ships made good their intentions, and burnt the vessel from the skies. Obliterating it in a holocaust of plasma fire.

The rally call bounced out to the UNSC ships out in orbit, there were Pelicans inbound from the planetary surface, and they needed hangers to roost in – the UNSC had been victorious, but at a cost.

Mission 2 is now officially ended for the ground, please move all final summaries of the missions for your characters to the UNSC/Covenant Post-Mission topics (as relevant) when they are posted (upon similar conclusion post for space).