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Cochraine, Silverblur, and Fireteam Harmony pointed their weapons at Harvey and the Trust troops. All five of them faced their backs away from the entrance, facing every soldier. Cochraine pointed her magnum at Harvey, unsure if she should have made the first move and contemplating the odds of getting away with it.
Cochraine: "What do you want, Harvey?"
Harvey: "Captain Cochraine, I'm here to break up this meeting. I'm also here to capture the wanted fugitive known by the alias, Silverblur. I must thank you, without your help, we couldn't have gotten him out in the open. Your help was instrumental. I thank you."
Silverblur turned his head slightly to catch Cochraine in the peripheral, still pointing his gun at the Trust troops.
Silverblur: "What are you saying? That Cochraine lured me here just so you can capture me?"
Harvey: "That's exactly what I'm saying. We told her to message you. We knew she had the right way to get you to come out here and she completed her objective perfectly."
All four Spartans were slightly dumbstruck. They couldn't believe what they were hearing.
Silverblur: "Is this true, Captain?"
Cochraine had made a face of shock and disgust.
Cochraine: "Of course it isn't! After everything that has happened to me in the last 15 years, do you really think I would betray my people to them?"
Harvey watched silently, a smirk on her face. She had begun to sow the seeds of dissent among the would-be allies.
Silverblur: "Well she's not wrong! I was lured out here by you and evidence points to the contrary. Here we are, surrounded by a couple dozen Trust operatives, all of them ready to open fire."
Cochriane: "And I'm telling you, I do NOT work for the Trust!"
Silverblur: "You have some nerve, you know that? I thought Reynolds was a treacherous snake, but at least he owned up to it. You don't even do that."
Cochraine lowered her weapon and addressed Harvey.
Cochraine: "When you have Silverblur, will you allow me, my team, and my ship to leave in peace?"
Harvey took a moment to think, bringing her left hand to her chin and rubbing it for a moment.
Harvey: "I suppose I could. I wasn't ordered to deal with you. If you put up no resistance and walk out quietly, you can leave with no blood spilled."
Cochraine took a moment to think about what Harvey said, looking her in the eye to see if she was lying. She then looked at Silverblur, her morality debating whether or not to leave the pirate to his fate or save him. She wanted his help but he was refusing to cooperate. She brought her pistol back up and aimed it at Harvey.
Harvey: "Very well, Captain. I see you made your choice."
Harvey took a couple steps back to allow the ODSTs to fill in the space where she stood. She then tapped her earpiece.
Harvey: "Open fire."
The Trust soldiers open fired on the five. Robertson managed to push Cochraine with heavy force, behind cover, keeping her safe. All four Spartans then dove for cover, their shields taking the shots. They all took several moments to allow the shields to recharge. When the first wave of soldiers stopped firing, Cochraine peaked from behind cover to see Harvey boarding her vulture. She felt an explosion as the landing pad began to break and fall apart, destroying the ships.
The second wave of Trust soldiers opened fire, spraying the cover. The Spartans were blindfiring from behind cover. They had no plan for a counter offensive and no way to call for help. They were truly alone. Robertson then spoke out loud.
Robertson: "I have a plan; Axlon and I will toss two flashbangs."
Robertson then tossed Silverblur a grenade.
Robertson: "You and Cadieux will toss the smoke grenades first, with our flash afterwards. We'll give them time to switch to thermals. When they do, we'll toss the flash into the smoke. From there, the four of us will engage in close quarters. Sound?"
Silverblur had no objections, so long as he got out alive. The other two Spartans nodded. Silverblur looked at Cadieux, counting down on his fingers. When he made a fist the two tossed their smoke grenades. The group could hear the Trust ODSTs yelling to take cover. The grenades went off and they audibly ordered to switch to thermals. Axlon and Robertson were ready to toss the flashbangs. Robertson poked his head out to see how much smoke was covering the room. All the Trust ODSTs were engulfed in the smoke. Robertson did the same countdown, the two synchronizing their grenade toss. They ducked behind cover where they heard the grenades go off and the agonizing sounds from the Trust.
The Spartans didn't even wait for a signal. They immediately fell in taking out their knives. They, like the Trust, had their thermals engaged and could see the Trust troops, since they didn't get blinded by the flashbangs. Cochraine watched from her cover. She couldn't see much. She could occasionally see a black silhouette, but she could hear the bodies dropping. When the smoke cleared, the last of the Trust troops were being killed. When the last one fell, they Spartans were covered in blood, looking around at the carnage, verifying that everyone was killed. Cochraine stood up from cover and saw Harvey's vulture lining up with the main hall's windows.
Cochraine: "GET DOWN!"
Cochraine yelled to the Spartans as the vulture began to spin up its machine guns. The guns continued to fire and then rockets were launched with the guns. All four Spartans were in cover, but that was changing quickly. Silverblur then yelled out with a plan.
Silverblur: "I can take it down! You three need to be a distraction for me though!"
Harmony didn't speak, they just nodded in agreement. Robertson then counted down on his hand again. Fireteam Harmony advanced to the front of the facility, kiting around the remaining bits of the wall, namely support structures. Cochraine watched as Silverblur waited for his moment. When a break cleared he began to run as fast as he could out the far left entrance to the science station. With Harvey distracted on Harmony she didn't see Silverblur's charge. Cochraine watched as Silverblur used thrusters to enhance his momentum. When it looked like he was about to run off the side of the science station, a jet pack activated and the forward velocity he achieved thrusted him right onto the cockpit window of the vulture.
The pilot was shocked to see the Spartan in front of him on the window. Silverblur didn't waste his opportunity. He began to punch the window repeatedly. When he finally got it to shatter, he yanked the pilot out and threw him. The Trust pilot landed on the remaining balcony of the facility where Harmony dragged him into the safety of the facility. As Cochraine was checking his vitals, she, along with Harmony were watching the vulture spiral out of control. Silverblur jumped off the vulture, activating his thrusters and then the jetpack to land on the balcony.
The vulture continued to spiral downwards to the surface of the planet, the fog and vegetation quickly absorbing the ship. About a minute later, the party heard an explosion, the vulture finally meeting a surface harder than it. Silverblur approached the group.
Silverblur: "Is he still alive?"
Cochraine nodded.
Silverblur: "Good, now we can use him to radio for help."
Silverblur took a moment to look the man over.
Silverblur: "Thank you for the help. But my terms are still non-negotiable. Salvage rights or no help in the fight."
Cochraine: "Okay, I will need to clear it with my superiors, but I can't make any promises."
The Trust pilot began to wake up from his temporary unconsciousness where he saw the four Spartans looking over him. Silverblur then grabbed the man by his collar.
Silverblur: "With communications out, we're in a bit of a pinch. Mind doing us a favor and radioing a ship to come down here?"
The Trust pilot spit on Silverblur's VISR. Silverblur merely tightened his grip.
Silverblur: "Let me rephrase that, you will call for a ship to come down here."
The pilot put his hand to his radio in his helmet.
Trust Pilot: "This is vulture 4-9 requesting reinforcements on the surface. The Spartans are loose."
Silverblur then snapped the man's neck. Everyone else looking at him in disgust.
Cochraine: "Was that really necessary?"
Silverblur: "Letting him live could have let him give a detailed analysis of the situation. He served his usefulness."
In about a minute, the requested vulture descended. The five took cover, hiding out of sight. ODSTs disembarked and made a perimeter. Axlon engaged his cloak and began to slowly move past them, not allowing his cloak shimmer give him away. The ODSTs began to advance into the facility where the first two were met with gunfire. As the ODSTs became distracted, Axlon hurried his pace and boarded the hovering vulture. He then disengaged the cloak and began to kill any remaining Trust personnel on the vulture.
Axlon then took a seat in the pilot's chair and turned the vulture around to point its weapons at the remaining Trust ODSTs. Axlon used the mounted machine gun to mow the rest of them down. When it was clear, he moved the ship to allow everyone else to board. When they were on-board, he closed the hatch and began to fly into orbit. As they began to break atmosphere, they could see that the eight pirate ships and the Infinity's Voyage were engaged in combat with a sizeable Trust fleet. Axlon then radioed the Infinity's Voyage.
Axlon: "Infinity's Voyage, this is Spartan Axlon. We are in a Trust vulture on approach. Authorized verification Delta-3-9-Alpha."
Littleton: "Verified. Hangar Bay 2 is empty and awaiting return."
Cochraine climbed into the cockpit and took the co-pilot's seat and used the helmet's commline.
Cochraine: "Commander, when we're on board, prepare a retreat. Signal the pirates to meet us back in orbit of Midnight. We'll finish negotiations and drop off their leader there."
Littleton: "Yes ma'am. See you on board."
The vulture continued to beeline to the Infinty's Voyage, now gaining the attention of the Trust fleet. A fighter squadron began to break off of it's previous attack and intercept the vulture.
Axlon: "We have incoming! Hang on!"
The vulture began to take evasive maneuvers avoiding as much fire as possible. The vulture was nearing the hangar bay when it took a direct hit to a stabilization engine. The Infinity's Voyage's point defense system began to focus on the lone squadron, shooting down most of the pursuing fighters. The vulture entered the hangar, but couldn't stay level. Axlon dropped the ship and a loud thud echoed throughout the underbelly of the Halcyon-class cruiser.
Cochraine: "We're on board, go!"
Cochraine watched as the ship began to make an emergency slipspace jump. After several moments, the ship entered slipspace and was safe for the time being.
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07-03-2016
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