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The Siege of Zion Base; Part Three: Revelation - Chapter 13
Posted By: Scimitarex<scimitarex@omegacell.net>
Date: 25 March 2004, 8:13 PM
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Ebyo and his team, The Hand of Retribution, had followed the human to the planet's main research base. The base entrance was fortified somewhat, but most of the forces were in the city fending off the Covenant's push toward the military command center in the center of the city. The entrance was only really protecting from threats that might appear in the air or near the other parts of the base that were attempting to evacuate.
'Labadee stopped the vehicle outside the perimeter of the base entrance and shut the power down. In whispered tones the occupants discussed the best way to enter the building and follow the human. Ebyo decided since 'Labadee had the active camouflage generator that he would take the main entrance. He would attempt to follow the human in his own steps and the rest of the team would follow the tracking signal emitted by 'Labadee's tracermap. Since the Brutes and Ebyo would be visible they were going to go around the base until they could find a secluded place to enter the base while alerting and causing as little a disturbance as possible.
'Labadee disconnected the camo generator from the vehicle and engaged his cloaking field. He fitted his weapons to his body's armor. With no glowing weapons to give him away he would have a better chance of infiltrating the base. He jumped out of the hidden vehicle and started toward the base entrance, hiding behind cover, and being very careful in his movements.
Ebyo turned and motioned to his Brute teammates to exit the vehicle and proceed along the perimeter of the urban building behind a small tree line that had obviously been artificially grown and implanted in the ground. It made at least some cover from the small garrison of troops around the base. The Marines had some stationary turrets and some small ground vehicles that ran patrols around the perimeter. The Elite and his team made their way ever so slowly through the small building and brush, circling the base, looking for a way in.
And then, he saw it. There was an entrance for non-military personnel on the south side of the base. It was guarded, but only by four armed humans. They would be no trouble unless they raised an alarm, which meant they needed some stealth.
Ebyo keyed armor's communication sequence and called 'Labadee who was already inside the base. "Leba, don't respond to this transmission. It's coded, but I don't want to take any chances. We have an entrance to the base, but it's guarded and we need you to come up behind them and take the humans out so they don't raise an alarm. We can wait here until you have found where the human has gone. Take your time, but make sure you take these humans out so we can get in. I'm sending you the coordinates of the entrance"
No response came, as ordered. Five minutes later the entrance made a noise, barely perceptible by the Covenant hiding on the outskirts of the base. One of the humans turned and opened the entrance door, the sound was a simple activation beep so he had no idea of what awaited him. As soon as the door opened he was pulled through the door by some unseen force. The human's yelp was cut off, along with his head, but the sound had alerted the guards anyway. They never even knew what was happening, and one by one, a suspended, blue glowing blade of energy cut them apart one by one. They hadn't even had time to react let alone have the sense of mind to sound an alarm.
Ebyo, Varadel, and Damacus came out of their hiding spot and crept up to the base entrance, their weapons leveled and ready.
'Labadee deactivated his energy sword and replaced it at his hip. "The human went down a lift carriage to a secure bunker below the base. From the schematics I was able to find, there are multiple entrances to these bunkers and they are all connected together via various passageways."
Ebyo nodded. "Damacus, Varadel, hide the bodies in the brush. I want to see these schematics, Leba."
After the Brutes had hid the shredded body parts in the brush and trees, Ebyo showed them the plan. 'Labadee had seen that most of the base personnel had evacuated and taken their research with them. The only humans left in the base were patrols of soldiers and a minimal guard detail. 'Labadee would follow the human along their original pathway to the bunkers, and Ebyo would take a different bunker entrance to the south and make his way through the tunnels there, cutting off any other avenue of retreat from the human. The Brutes would enter from the opposite side of Ebyo, from the north, and come in fast and hard to catch the human if he chose to flee that way. The human would be caught in the bunkers with no way out, except through them.
Ebyo signaled the plan into action and they went to their assigned path.
# # #
1710 Hours, December 8, 2552
Sinai Star System, UNSC Test
Facility, code name: Zion,
planet Genesis
John dove backwards as the blur charged forward. An instant later, a blue energy blade sparked to life and slashed right where he had been standing. He ducked and rolled to the right, out of the blur's way. He then started backing up to get some distance between him and the blur, which he knew now to be an Elite Infiltrator. There wasn't much room in the bunker, and his Battle Rifle was only useful at medium and long ranges; close combat in a bunker wasn't especially suited for a rifle. He dropped the rifle and snatched his SMG from its holster on his leg. As the Elite with the energy blade moved toward him John fired a steady spray of bullets at his enemy.
The Elite dodged and took cover behind a support brace built into the bunker wall that holding the ceiling up. John continued retreating back into the barracks section of the bunker, toward the exit to the south, hoping to find another way out of the bunker system. He reloaded his SMG and took out a frag grenade. He found the barrack room entrance and went through the door, which closed behind him. He looked behind him and saw the door open again, giving admittance to a floating energy blade. The Elite saw him and bellowed a load sound that reverberated off of the walls. John armed the grenade and threw it back at the Elite as he ran toward the intra-bunker tunnel entrance. The Elite deftly dodged the grenade, and managed to duck behind another support brace before it exploded.
John didn't look to see what happened, he was running low on ammo, and didn't want to go head-to-head with an Elite wielding an energy blade. He turned and continued running toward the tunnel entrance activating the entrance door panel.
Cortana, who had been silent throughout the fight, suddenly gasped and screamed, "Duck!"
As he did, he heard another bellow behind him and ducked just in time to avoid the energy blade slashing at his head. The energy blade seared through the wall and left a smoldering stripe of charred metal in its wake.
John swung backwards with all his strength and hit the Elite square in the chest. His MJOLNIR-assisted strength sent the Elite flying backwards into a set of bunks built into the walls. The Elite hit the bunks and fell to the ground, unconscious, or dazed. John wasn't sure if the Elite were faking, so he fired a few shots with his SMG from a distance rather than get closer.
To John's utter surprise, the Elite blocked all of his shots with his blade. The Elite's blade moved to intercept most of his shots, and the bullets melted under the intense heat of the blade. The Elite got back to its feet and moved forward.
John turned and ran into the tunnel and took out his last two frag grenades. The tunnel was about eight feet high and five feet wide, with support bracings attached from the walls to the floor and ceiling. Pulsing yellow warning lights from the ceiling and steady red lights on the floor lit the tunnel with an eerie glow.
John turned and threw his grenades back toward the tunnel entrance, one at the bracings on the floor, and one at the bracings connected to the ceiling. The Elite was about to enter the tunnel when the grenades exploded. The collapsing of the floor and ceiling braces caused the tunnel to start caving in. The Elite made a sound like a gasp and threw itself backward, away from the collapsing tunnel, and was lost from sight by the smoke and dust.
When the dust settled, John could see that the tunnel entrance was gone for good. Twisted metal, slabs of concrete and collapsed supports blocked the tunnel in a pile of debris. It would take a whole engineering crew at least a week to clear it out. John, hardly even out of breath, turned around and looked down the long tunnel. The lights in the tunnel had gone out, so he activated his helmet's built in light so he could see.
Cortana now decided it was a good time to speak, "Well... that went well."
John grimaced, "We need to get out of here, how long does this tunnel extend?"
"About three hundred meters, it exits into another bunker, but that bunker doesn't have a surface exit, we'll have to continue on until we find one."
John started down the tunnel at a brisk pace, enough to cover the distance quickly, but not enough to tire himself out in case he ran into another Covenant soldier. If one Elite could infiltrate the compound, there's no telling how many others there might be.
# # #
'Labadee gasped and threw himself backwards as the tunnel entrance began to collapse. The human's grenades had fractured the supports, and if he had remained where he was, he would have been crushed underneath the rubble.
'Labadee got back up from where he had fallen, and stood back up. The tunnel was completely cut off. The human had escaped him, but not the entire trap. He activated his communication signaler, and reported to his commander, "Sir, the human escaped me, but his only means of exiting the bunker system is to move toward your position."
"Excellent, recall the Brutes and try to follow my signal. If you can get into the bunkers from my end to support me, we can be sure to kill this human, but I do not want to take him alone, he is much to powerful."
'Labadee smiled to himself, "I do not think he is as powerful as you think, he used most of his ammo and weapons in our engagement, he is nearly unarmed."
"Very good, I'll try to cut him off before he finds an exit, but be there to support me none the less, we can't take chances."
"Yes, sir," said 'Labadee. He shut his signaler off, turned around headed back to the elevator that would take him
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