“I think there’s a small chance it might just blow us all up when we fire it,” Mike said. “So if we do this, we need to make it count. We should make sure we’re standing right next to Hekabe.”
“Adriana?”
“I want a second good shot,” she said.
Jai studied the governor one last time. She was trembling slightly. Not out of fear—just too many stimulants. He wondered when she’d last slept. Could they trust something built by someone shaking like a detoxing drug addict? Probably not, but they didn’t have a lot of other options at hand.
“Hekabe has burrowed deep down into the Forerunner structure at the center of the crater,” Jai said. “Last seismic readouts I saw indicated that it’s a long straight shaft three hundred or so meters and then it flattens out into a larger chasm. Beyond that, we’ve got nothing. Right now, the crater is crawling with Sharquoi. We can’t fight through everything down there—but we have the skies free. So we do an insertion drop. Fast, drop down the shaft, and pull chutes or jump-jets just before impact. Then we move through the installation, no stopping or gawking.”
“Can we fly a Pelican with a Warthog down there?” Ellis asked. “The opening has been uncovered by Sharquoi already.”
“No. Need the air drop, so that we’re hard to hit. I’m not even sure a Warthog would work well,” Jai said. “Do you have anything small and nimble that we can mount this weapon of yours to?”
“Jackrabbit would work,” Mike said. “You have any of those?”
Ellis thought about that. “We did at one time. Lamar will be using them for the evacuation. I can try, but don’t get your hopes up. Like I said, we don’t have a wealth of assets anymore—not ones I have access to. Everything has been leveraged to get people out of Suraka safely.”
“If we can get one, this could work,” Mike said. “A low-altitude drop into the shaft, we go on foot, and I’ll guide the bike in and drive it once we’re inside. They’re highly versatile. We can park and shoot it. It’ll get to just about anywhere we need.”
It was a long shot, Jai thought. They all knew it.
“One small question,” Jai said. “How do we find Hekabe when we get inside? A Forerunner structure can be pretty vast, and the recon feeds we’ve seen go blank after they hit the bottom.”
“We have sensor data that gave us information about Hekabe’s electromagnetic activity. It’s a signature we can track once we’re inside. That’s what this is for.” She put her hand on the pulse cannon’s display. “It’s built into the EMP weapon. But we’re running out of time. We need to go now before Hekabe’s larger force returns from the desert and takes over the airspace around the crater; otherwise we’ll never get in.”
“I’ll go as well,” said Melody.
Adriana shook her head. “You’re not trained—”
“I’m the one who freed you and almost died in the process. And I’m familiar with the site and what we’re up against—more than anyone else here. You’ll want me there.”
Rojka stepped forward and conferred with Melody. After listening, he spoke briefly in Sangheili to them all.
Jai smiled as he heard the translation in his earpiece, and he gave the Sangheili a curt nod.
Melody said to Ellis, “Rojka says he pledges himself to your battle against Hekabe and his Sharquoi. He adds that we will destroy him or die gloriously in our attempt.”
Jai looked around. A ragtag band of fighters and one cobbled together EMP cannon running off a repurposed nuclear bomb.
“Okay, that makes six of us,” he said. “Let’s do this.”
CHAPTER 24
* * *
* * *
Ellis fumbled with the straps of the pararchute as the Pelican flew low over Suraka’s roads. She would be flying tandem with Jai. “This thing opens automatically, right, if something happens to you?” she asked him.
“No, it does not,” Jai replied. He patted the ring on the strap against her shoulder. “If anything happens to me, pull this as hard as you can once you enter the structure. Flex your legs right before you land on something.”
“How do I steer?” she asked.
“It’s too late to show you now,” Jai said. “You shouldn’t worry about it. If something happens to me, with you this close, you’ll probably be dead anyway.”
Ellis flinched as the pilot flew them underneath a bridge. “That’s not as reassuring as you might think.”
Jai looked back at the bridge through the open ramp of the Pelican, and the swaying Jackrabbit magnetically anchored to the dropship’s tail. Mike already sat inside, staring back at them.
Jai ignored Ellis’s statement and continued. “We’re gonna be just high enough that the Sharquoi can’t reach us, and low enough to get in before they can formulate a response.”
Plasma fire whipped down the steel and glass canyons of Suraka’s skyscrapers toward their transport. The attack came from Jiralhanae gun platforms that had been combing the streets, high above the Sharquoi infestation. Ellis held on to the Spartan as some of the plasma grazed them. The dropship shuddered, the pilot struggling for a second to get altitude and regain control as the Jackrabbit swayed wildly.
The vehicle faced backward, the larger rear single wheel hanging just above the Pelican’s ramp. The yellow, single-pilot chassis of the Jackrabbit shook, the two wheels on booms at the front bouncing slightly as another splash of plasma fire shook the Pelican. Usually a heavy gun sat over the rear wheel, but they’d replaced that with the significantly bulkier pulse cannon that Ellis and her team had cobbled together.
Ellis had convinced Lamar to let go of one single ground vehicle for this operation. That was all they had: one Jackrabbit, and a crate of small arms and explosives. They had successfully rigged the vehicle with the pulse cannon and a chute, ready to be deployed once they reached the shaft. The installation process had gone smoothly. The Spartans seemed to be comfortable with the habit of regularly soldering guns onto things.
The other concession Lamar had granted paced them in their wake: a second Pelican with an alternate squad of eight Surakan milita. Led by a Corporal Wyse, Lamar had pulled them from running diversions in the streets to assist with the drop.
Jet wash kicked up debris on the street below as they raced on. Ellis wrapped her hands around the straps and tightened her grip. She looked forward through the pilot’s cabin again and saw the crater rapidly approaching. The female Spartan and the envoy would be jumping tandem, and the Elite would go on his own. They were all making final prepartions.
Then we face Hekabe and his monsters.
The Jiralhanae chieftain had taken everything away from Ellis. She wanted to rip everything away from him in return. She wanted him to see her rip it all away. For him to know, deep down, this same horror and helplessness she felt.
Ellis closed her eyes, her rage dancing in the flickers of light behind her lids. She was exhausted, but there were reserves of strength somewhere below, torrents of energy that now came to the fore.
Their Pelican burst free of the cluster of buildings and screamed over the rim of the crater. Sharquoi littered around the basin floor turned to face them as they passed overhead.
“Almost there. Get ready,” Jai said to her. Her harness connected directly to him. Thanks to the Spartan’s size, Ellis felt like some kind of pack strapped to his back. Ellis gripped her straps tightly as Jai climbed out of the Pelican’s bay and onto the Jackrabbit’s frame, nothing but air whipping past below her legs, the ground a blur far below. Her heart hiccuped and she gritted her teeth.
Jai, on the other hand, didn’t seem at all bothered by the height or the fact that the dropship was still racing forward as he casually maneuvered into position on the Jackrabbit.
Adriana, with Azikiwe strapped to her back, moved out of the Pelican’s rear bay onto the other side of the Jackrabbit. The kaidon, Rojka, followed a moment later, climbing onto the bike’s rear wheel and hanging on to a series of grips underneath the pulse cannon.
Then the Pelican nosed straight up into the air. Ellis was slammed into the Jackrabbit’s cage by the sudden climb. Below them, the crater fell away as the Pelican gained altitude. They were now right over the petal-like iridescent green opening to the aliens’ underground structure—which, at this point, looked like a small dark cavity.
From this height, it looked far too small to drop into.
“Five.” Jai reached up behind his helmet and tapped her shoulder, and held up five armored fingers.
“Four.”
Ellis closed her eyes and held her breath on three.
“. . . two, one, go!” Jai said out loud. There was a short metallic clank and then they fell.
Ellis swallowed a scream as the wind struck her face and the Jackrabbit tumbled, dizzying her as she opened her eyes and saw crater, buildings, Jai, and the Pelican whip end over end around her. She closed her eyes again. She opened them again just in time to see the Pelican struck by plasma fire, its tail blown free by the blast.
The second Pelican had pulled the same maneuver, climbing up into the sky before releasing its passengers out of its back. Bodies tumbled out with arms and legs stretched out to control their descent. Corporal Wyse’s militia joined them in the air, arms outstretched as they fell. Plasma bolts soared upward but couldn’t get a bead on the small targets—just as the Spartans had planned.
Jai and Adriana pushed free from the Jackrabbit, flying up behind it. Rojka followed suit. Mike and the bike plummeted toward the splayed Forerunner petals and the shaft at the center. Above, both the Spartans twisted in the air, controlling their descent.
The petals around the opening of the structure started slowly raising themselves off the ground to close back up into a tower. Even more plasma fire rose into the air around them. This time Ellis could see the source: Jiralhanae gunner positions stationed across the crater. The energy snapped and hissed around them.
Ellis screamed as one of the bolts zipped by, searing the air by her arm as she threw it up to protect her face. She pulled her arm away and looked back down.
The shaft grew larger, even despite the closing petals. A series of stairs and structures wound around its walls into the dark reaches below. Even as they rushed toward it at terminal velocity, it still looked too small to aim for.
Ellis had studied the scans of the structure and saw how much space was down there radiating out from around the central shaft. It was a vast series of underground caverns, and Forerunner structures coiled throughout.
The petals were trying to snap shut before they dropped through the shaft. If they did, they would all be dashed against them and it would be over in an instant. Hekabe sensed their approach and was trying to react, no doubt.
Then the hole grew wider, massive even, and the closing petals rushed past in a sudden blur as they dropped through the center of the structure. Floors of blue-gray metal flew past her until Ellis violently jerked to a stop. She smacked her head against the Spartan’s armored back and spat blood.
“You okay?” Jai asked.
He and Adriana had deployed their own parachutes, as did the Sangheili. And then the Jackrabbit followed suit, punching upward with a quick jerk as its canopy spread. The Spartans pulled at their cords, controlling their descent as they spiraled quickly inside the dark shaft in the middle of the structure.
“No. I’m not okay. But I’m alive,” Ellis said.
The Jackrabbit hung slightly forward, favoring the twin booms connected to wheels. Mike swung around again, using his own weight to aim for one of what appeared to be descending ramps situated around the edges of the open bore, running down the middle of the structure. The Jackrabbit bounced horribly as it landed but appeared to survive the descent.
Right before their own impact, Jai cut Ellis free. She dropped to the ground at the base of the shaft. Adriana dropped Azikiwe to the ground and landed. Armor screeched against the floor as Adriana and Jai slid and came to a stop, severing the chutes and letting them blow into the shaft’s interior wall.
“No Sharquoi—it’s a quiet spot,” Jai said. “They weren’t expecting this stunt. But be ready, they’ll be coming.”
Ellis reached for the pistol she had taken from the armory, unlatching its strap as she steeled herself for what lay ahead.
The Surakan militia came in hard next, one of them collapsing on impact. As squad leader and medic, Corporal Wyse ran over and crouched by the soldier lying on the ground. She wadded the parachute under his head and ripped open a pants leg. The limb underneath had been completely shattered.
“Corporal?” Ellis asked. “We can’t carry anyone, this isn’t that kind of mission.”
Wyse hit the man with a dose of painkillers and looked up. “I know. I’m stabilizing him. We need to find somewhere to try and hide him as best we can. Everyone deserves a chance to live.”
They dragged the injured soldier to a shadowed corner at the side of the shaft, then readied their weapons and followed Wyse behind the first group.
Ellis walked along the back of the Jackrabbit, checking the pulse cannon over, looking for any damage from the landing. So far, so good. She breathed relief.
“Sharquoi,” Rojka called out from ahead, the word recognizable to all of them. He stood upslope, looking out across a large chasm with an ambient red light filtering upward. His body language was clear: impatience. He was ready to fight and Ellis couldn’t really blame him. She wanted this to be over more than anyone else.
Mike spun the Jackrabbit around toward Rojka. Jai grabbed on to the vehicle’s frame, locked into positon next to Mike.
“Ready?” Mike asked.
Adriana pulled herself onto the other side of the vehicle, holding on as the Jackrabbit edged forward. She had a sniper rifle magnetically anchored to her back, and a battle rifle in one hand at the ready. “One good shot is all we need,” she said softly.
The metal ramp under them trembled with the sound of even larger feet thundering their way.
“Hop on back,” Jai said, offering Ellis a hand. She climbed up behind him, holding on to his armor with her hands and her foot lodged into a groove on the bike. The vehicle moved methodically into the cavern, and Ellis peered out across a vast bridge slung over a lava pit.
Then a Sharquoi came around the bend.
Jai looked down the chasm as Mike gunned the Jackrabbit around a corner and onto a bridge. The chatter of a rifle echoed back down from where they’d come, followed by three explosions. Jai glanced back. The injured soldier they had left behind hadn’t been able to remain hidden, or had chosen not to. That was the sound of his last stand.
The rest of the squad sprung around with only a few pained glances behind them, weapons trained forward as they all proceeded across the large bridge.
“The Sharquoi arrive!” Rojka shouted, Jai’s earpiece translating.
“Hekabe has found us,” said Mike over the comm. “Remember: watch out for synchronized behavior. They fight as one, not individuals.”
Two Sharquoi bounded directly across the bridge at them. Adriana leapt from the Jackrabbit and pulled out her sniper rifle. Two direct shots, and the lead Sharquoi slowed. It stumbled and fell to its hands and knees. Blood and brain matter leaked onto the bridge floor. Still it fought to drag itself toward them.
Rojka lunged for the other Sharquoi’s limbs. The energy blade flashed in the gloomy light as Rojka sliced the creature’s arms free of its body. It roared as it struggled to get its footing and fight Rojka. The Sangheili instead kicked the creature in the back, forcing it over the edge of the bridge and down toward the lava below.
The half-dead Sharquoi on the ground crawled painfully on its hands and knees. Rojka now walked over to it. He leaned down to glare at it.
“We are coming for you, Hekabe!” he roared. “We are coming!”
He drove his sword into the creature’s skull.
“Not as heavily defended down here,” Adriana said. “Most of the Sharquoi are outside and above us. I don’t think Hekabe ex
pected that we would jump right into the hole like this.”
“Who would?” Jai asked, stepping from the side of the Jackrabbit. Ellis and Azikiwe followed, as they warily walked across the bridge and toward a series of large towers that came into view.
Rojka slipped back to a position on their left. “Hekabe knows only violence and trickery. Not general strategy. We shall use this to our advantage. We will attack the human way.”
Jai wasn’t sure if that was intended as a compliment or as an insult.
Mike braked to a stop as they reached the center of the bridge that spanned the dull blaze of liquid rock below. The glint of fire reflected off distant walls.
Jai looked back to Ellis. “Governor? Where next?”
She climbed up onto the back of the Jackrabbit and looked at a screen strapped to its frame. “Deeper. If something happens to me, know you need to just keep going deeper.”
“If we go too much farther, we’ll end up pretty warm!” Mike shouted. “In case you didn’t notice all the lava.”
“I see the lava,” Jai said as they continued crossing the bridge. “I also see the Sharquoi waiting for us.”
Fifty gray forms waited for them at the end of the bridge, where an island of earth held a Forerunner structure comprised of a large wall, towers, and an opened gateway. And far more Sharquoi than that now thundered down the shaft’s spiraling ramps, corkscrewing along the walls rising above them all. The creatures poured in from the surface in a landslide of Hekabe’s will that would bury them soon enough, Jai thought.
Rojka paused as the Spartans stopped in the middle of a bridge.
Standing on the shallow apex of the bridge Rojka could see the enemy Sharquoi waiting for them at the end. This Forerunner fortification must have been where the governor’s scans located Hekabe.
Jai stepped aside to ask the human governor something. She looked across the bridge toward the structure and shook her head.
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