Ohai people. Yeah, it's been a while, I've got a lot on my plate at the moment,so I can't keep my promise of faster updates. :( Anyway, time to explain. Some friends at school have asked me to help them to do a actual, proper, non-school frame-by-frame flash animation, and I'm getting a Wacom tablet too, so I'll be busy animating and drawing away for the next few months, and writing in between in the spare time I have between those and my ESSA exams.

I shifted my weight to compensate for the slight jostle the Pelican made as it whooshed around the blazing beach, lined with UNSC Marines and Covenant aliens. The scope of my new bolt-action SRS-99-C modified to suit my standards, flashed over Elites and Grunts alike. The stock of the rifle rested against the wooden box that allowed me to fire out the small firing slit on the newly acquired DTC-77-SMS. Painted jet black,white and blue in SMS livery, the Pelican carried standard SMS modifications to increase lethality in air-to-air and air-to-ground combat. Cutter was behind the controls, banking hard left to keep our weapons to bear.

SMS Class-4 Pelican Support Gunships were not usually deploying troops, but instead providing a continuous, hard-hitting support system from the air. With this in mind, the SMS engineers had installed a powerful fighter-type Pulse-Doppler radar system in the nose, capable of supporting a next generation combat and support suite, more than six three-rail weapon pylons under the stubby wings, capable of carrying any weapon in the UNSC arsenal except for specialist combat weapons due to the universal mounting platform integrated into it, and was capable of carrying eight fully armed soldiers firing out of gun-slits of the fuselage.

When the Master Chief returned to Firebase Beta with captain Keyes, he had personally briefed the entire base population on what he had learned from the Covenant during his stay in their brig. Apparently Halo, was a weapon, one of unimaginable power. Knowing this, he would attempt to use Halo against the Covenant, to assume control before they did and wipe the alien races clean off the Milky Way with this Halo. To find the control centre of this ring, they had to first find the 'Cartographer', a map system of Halo. Locating it was easy enough, but it turned out that the Covenant was already there, and were setting up a forward base in the shelter of the building.

In that case, then we would storm it and find the Cartographer. The operation would take place in three days. In the training before it, I trained myself in 'speed-sniping', the users called it, essentially a combination of reflexes and reloading training, only applicable with mounted, bolt-action rifles. What somebody had to do was prepare shells in home-made tubes which would fit nicely in between one's knuckles, and load them into a sniper-rifle shell canister. Each bullet would then be pushed semi-firmly into each tube, filling up the canister.

Then, you would fit three shells in between the fingers of the reloading hand, while keeping your thumb free. After each shot, the thumb pushed back the bolt, and the bullet between the fingers was pushed in, completing the reload in scarcely a second. A two second pause followed three shots as you jabbed down into the canister for a new set of three bullets.

"Keep pouring it on!" encouraged Sergeant Johnson as Cutter chipped away at the Covenant position with the dual-linked chin-mounted 70mm cannons, sending the Elites and Grunts who had dared to come out of cover scurrying back behind the dull grey of the alien facility the Marines were assaulting. The SRS-99-C Custom barked as the blue ring of the reticle flashed past a red-armoured Major's head, which spurted blood as the shell smashed through. By then, my thumb had pulled the spring-loaded catch back, sending the ejected bullet casing spinning out, and I pressed the next shell into place, releasing the catch with a snick and scanning the ground for my next targets.

The squad were only shooting targets of opportunity, such as red-armoured Majors and Minors commanding their squads of Grunts. As each leader fell, the squads milled about in confusion, making easy targets for the Marines charging up from below. "We've got Covenant armour moving up from the side of that mountain, SMS Skull Team, take them out!"

"Roger. Moving to engage." Cutter crackled off the air, and banked us towards the line of bloated hovering tanks. Plasma fire hissed off the black armour of the Pelican as the turrets opened up. I peered forward through the firing slit as Cutter prepared the four rocket pods mounted on the pylons for firing. I watched as Cutter called the shot, saying clearly into the mike, "SMS Skull Four, beginning full rocket fire." The Pelican shuddered, belching black smoke from the four pods amidst brief yellow flashes of fire as the rockets lighted off, arching out from the pods in a rain of destruction, hammering the tanks with the force of the blasts.

Cutter pulled up, soaring high over the battlefield, and returned to the landing zone, where the Marines were stamping out any Covenant resistance left. "Captain, what's our orders?" asked Cutter, rapping the side of the cockpit window absent-mindedly. "The Master Chief just went inside the facility. Stand-by for further orders." crackled Keyes through the radio. "Roger that, SMS Skull Four standing by."

I had scarcely gotten out and given my legs a stretch before the radio crackled to life. "Have you found the map room yet?" asked Keyes impatiently.

"Negative Captain. The Covenant have locked the door and we don't have enough firepower to get through."

"I see." the captain sighed wearily. "All forces, we have to find that map room. Chief, find a security override for that door."

"I'm reading a facility over the north side of the island, it appears to be a security facility. We'll go take a look over there." replied Cortana.

"Good, good. Master Chief, head towards the facility. The other UNSC forces, set up defences, we're putting up a forward camp. I'll scramble Pelicans with the gear shortly. SMS, I want you to conduct a CAP around the island, keep home plate advised of bandits."

"Affirmative, Keyes. SMS, mount up!" shouted Cutter, disappearing into the hold on the Pelican and into the cockpit.

I scrambled in, snapping the rifle into its firing slits and sitting down on the metal floor next to it as the others drifted aboard. Cutter spun up the four massive P&W 114-0 turbojets, rotating them downwards and pushing the big dropship unsteadily off the ground. We shuddered to a safe altitude, then Cutter engaged forward thrust, and we screamed around the island, radar and radio blaring.

"Got anything on radar, Skull?" asked Keyes.

"Nothing, home plate." We flew circles around the island for more than an hour, when the radio blared. "This is the Master Chief, I've got the location pinpointed and stored, requesting an extraction- I'm coming out."

"Affirmative, Master Chief, Echo 4-19 is inbound."

"Warning, warning! Inbound contacts at bearing zero-niner-zero, angels twenty, diving in on you, evade, evade!, Echo 4-19, evade! SMS Skull Four, move in to engage! Do not let the bandits get to Echo 4-19!"

"Affirmative, we're going in!" shouted Cutter, slamming the throttles of the SMS Gunship to full Zone Five afterburners, and rolling left and screaming for earth. I clicked the safety belts on my waist into position, plying on my stomach and trying not to be sick as Cutter increased the aggressiveness of the turn. "They're all over me! I can't shake them for long!" shouted Foehammer urgently. "Hold on, we're closing in on you, replied Cutter, levelling out and roaring over the island.

Banshees appeared on the radar linked to my VISR, and I pulled the safety off the SRS-99.

The Pelican screamed inbetween the two forces, absorbing the plasma fire from the Banshees. Foehammer raced away, while the Covenant aircraft turned their attention to us. The twenty or so Banshees roared forward, to be surprised when Cutter, flung the giant air-brake on the top of jet wide open, slowing us dramatically and at the same time pushing the stick all the way forward so that the Pelican suddenly dropped my a stone. My stomach rose as we plummeted beneath the Banshees, then was squashed back down as Cutter retracted the big sheet of metal and re-engaged the engines, setting himself up for a perfect missile launch.

The gunship carried a total of four Sidewinder-J II heat-seeking missiles below the middle pylon, and I heard the distinctive growl of the warheads topping each other until they made a single roar , barely noticeable from the troop bay, but clear in the cockpit. At the same time, the Pelican datalink from my helmet closed six 'coffin' missile lock-on symbols over six of the triangles in front of us.

"Skull, good lock, good lock, Fox! Fox!" announced Cutter, indicating the six missiles' launch. The white streaks of smoke lanced out towards the selected Banshees, which broke hard in all directions, splitting up and doubling back towards the Pelican. I fired twice as a purple shape screamed by the firing slit, the first shot going wide and lancing into the clear blue skies, the second shell smashing into its left anti-gravity drive, causing the Banshee to veer uncontrollably in a dive to the left.

The dropship shook as it took a fuel-rod cannon to the armoured right flank, throwing us all off balance. Grafton opened fire on the offending aircraft with a mounted LAAG, tearing the Banshee to shreds. The next target entered my line of fire, and I sent it scurrying with a shot into its rudders. The game of cat and mouse continued, with the Banshees moping about just outside the range of our weapons, sometimes darting in and firing off a few shots before pulling up and away from Grafton's reply from the LAAG.

"Echo 4-19 to home plate, I've got a visual on the Master Chief, going in for extraction."

"Roger that, SMS, just hold them off for a while longer." answered Keyes.

"Affirmative, Captain." answered Cutter, beginning a gentle descent towards the island as Serena blew another Banshee out of they sky, flipping it end over end as raw plasma fuel exploded from its wing root. The rest decided they had enough, and one by one, peeled off and screamed away.

"This is Echo 4-19, I have the Master Chief, patching through a live voice-feed from Cortana."

"Keyes, can you hear me?" asked the AI.

"Strength Five, Cortana. Go ahead."

"We've activated the Cartographer. I've got a reading, but it seems like the co-ordinates are underground."

"Damn. I don't think we have any mining-"

"I'm not done yet, captain. I've also got a second set of co-ordinates here, the entrance to a vast underground chamber, big enough to eventually fit six Pelicans side by side. Sending you the co-ordinates now, I recommend moving all available units to the objective in order to secure it."

"Affirmative, Cortana." confirmed Keyes, "Alright. Make your way down to the chamber and find that command centre. I'll send units down as soon as I get transport arranged. SMS, you're going down there too."

"Hold on, Keyes, I need to run an inventory." objected Cutter. The radio crackled offline, then Cutter asked, "How much ammunition do we have left?"

"I've got forty rounds left for the SRS." I said. Serena had thirty shells in her belt, Harris and the rest all carried full loads for their weapons on account of having manned LAAGs in the Pelican. "Good. We're going in, Keyes." said Cutter calmly over the radio, and pulled us down and over the middle of the island, where there was a massive facility, sprawled out on the flat grasslands. In the middle of the cluster of buildings was a massive hexagon-shaped, drain-like opening, complete with the edges of a sliding door.

"Alright, we're going under." breathed Cutter, levelling us and dropping us slowly into the gaping hole. Darkness enveloped the black DTC-77, broken only by a row of blue lights glowing dimly on each side, and Cutter slowed us further, increasing thrust to the engines so we descended at a crawling pace. However, after a while, true to Cortana's description, the excruciatingly narrow chamber widened, until it was over sixty metres across, broken by the occasional Forerunner structure protruding form the sides, bathing us in a light blue, gentle light from its deserted chambers.

A friendly blip appeared on the SMS Pelican's radar, and it quickly morphed into Echo 4-19, who soared up past us, the pilot giving us a friendly wing-wag as she pulled up. Cutter threaded his way slowly down through the increasingly dense forest of thin bridges and narrow chambers that criss-crossed the gap. A red blip suddenly flashed into view on my data-linked scope. My heart nearly tore itself from its chest as a Spirit ominously ascended out from below, passing us without a sound.

I allowed myself to relax a tiny fraction, then peered downwards as Cutter held his position, running as quietly as he could. Below us, a film of mist obscured whatever was below us, but I could definitely make out the purple glow of Covenant lights. Cutter set us to the most secure channel on the UNSC radiowaves, then contacted Cortana. "Cortana, what are our objectives?"

"I'll set up a beacon." replied the AI, and promptly, a blue diamond shimmered into view, below us.

"Uh, we may have a problem, Cortana."muttered Cutter nervously. "There's a Covenant base in front of our objective point."

"Hold on. I'm conducting a scan... Confirmed, SMS Skull. However, your SMS grade Pelican has unique RAM paint applied, plus additional stealth measures. It would be highly unlikely that you'll be spiked. In fact, you're well within range of their radars, and their scans are just washing over your ship."

"What about those searchlights?" asked Cutter, referring to the ten or so bright lances of lights that swept the base, slashing through the blue mist, and highlighting the dull grey Forerunner metal structures black as the searchlights passed over them. "You can take them out with you snipers. Do you have silencers?"

"Yes." I answered, producing two black tubes from my pocket and tossing one to Serena, attaching the other one to the end of my rifle. "Good, but remember, as soon as you take down one, they're gonna be on the alert once they find out it was a sniper. Try and evade rather than shoot, and get down to the bottom floor. There should be a main entrance. Foehammer had to stop at the twenty-third level because of the Covenant radar, so you should get there before us. Try and divert their attention somewhere else if you can."

"Alright. Will do." Cutter slid the idling engines back from a hover and once again into a descent, dropping further into the tunnel.

I screwed the silencer onto the end of the gun, wincing as the metal made strange squeaking noises. Cutter dropped past the first searchlight without a problem, but the Grunts manning the lights noticed our jet and squawked in surprised. Without a word, Serena fired, her two rounds snapping the Grunts head over heels. Cutter quickly dropped us lower, passing a manned Shade turret. I quickly neutralised the Elite manning the turret as he swung towards us, then scanned the area below us for any more threats as Cutter pushed onwards. Serena's rifle clicked as it fired twice, taking out whatever target was on her side of the Pelican.

I let out a long, shuddering breath as I fired again, hitting an Elite grasping the controls of a searchlight, creating a window for Cutter to go through as the beam of light stopped. The next target swam into focus, and I fired again. The shot missed the Grunt by centimetres. As the round made a quick incision in the wall, the tiny alien swung the light towards us, nearly blinding me with the intensity of the light before I managed to hit it.

It was too late. More and more lights highlighted the sleek Pelican's dark shape against the dull grey of the buildings spanning the gap. "Shit!" I shouted, as Banshees began to spin up and launch, while Shades whirred towards us and opened fire with their powerful plasma weaponry. Cutter slammed the nose over, diving straight down as the first of the eerie purple energy hissed overhead. "Nowhere to go, it's time to run." the leader said calmly, slamming us to zone five afterburners and screaming down.

Buildings, arches and Covenant aircraft whizzed past as Cutter threw us left and right to dodge the plasma cannons raining hell down on us. The LAAGs opened up, stitching their lines of bullets in sweeping waves as the Banshees closed in. I winced as one crunched into a bridge, breaking through the underside with a brutal crack and a rain of metal and concrete. The Pelican shuddered as Cutter pushed the engines as fast as they could go, screaming through the network of thin bridges and breaking through the last floor of the base, emerging into a vast emptiness broken only by a single rod coming down from the base, probably a lift of some sort. That was confirmed when I saw a platform jam-packed with Elites and Grunts rocketing down towards us.

"Look out! Banshees, up high!" shouted Morales.

"Shit!" Cutter swerved wildly as the fuel-rod cannon shots blossomed all over the fuselage, knocking me off the wooden perch I crouched on and sending me into Saotome. I watched the sniper fell away, sling across the floor as a lucky spray of blue plasma hissed into the rear left engine, melting the blades and jamming them, resulting in a fatal explosion when Cutter pushed the throttles to full military and tried to pull away.

The Pelican slewed drastically, smoke billowing from its destroyed engine, sending all of us sliding across the hard steel floor, weapons abandoned in the chaos. "I can't keep her afloat... Brace for impact!" shouted Cutter, opening the cockpit doors. We all pressed our bodies against the outer wall of the cockpit as the features outside began to blur. I clutched the sniper rifle, praying it wouldn't be mangled in the upcoming crash.

The 55-ton dropship fell out of the sky, curving gracefully in a final landing approach dictated by emergency autopilot, then, smashed nose-first into the hard, metal ground, sending Forerunner resource crates flying as it screeched along the ground, kicking up sparks, then plunged into the wall, burying its nose almost a metre into the thick silver coating. Inside, Harris cried out when the Pelican made impact, then everything shook as the dropship slid wildly, and suddenly came to an abrupt end when the aircraft slammed into the wall. Everybody was thrown forward and landed in a sprawl of limbs. I was out immediately.

The Anadrin worked quickly, sending bolts of pure electricity through my veins. I jumped upright, nearly hitting Serena in the face as she dosed up Morales. Everybody else was outside, and I heard the sound of human weapons firing and Covenant plasma responding. I muttered an apology as I snatched the SRS Custom and dashed out the open cargo door, immediately wedging three shells into my knuckles and taking aim.

My first shot was past Serena's ear, into the forehead of an Elite about to strike down Cutter with its plasma rifle. As the reptile-like alien toppled over, Cutter jumped away, emptying his MA5 into the next Elite, an Ultra. Behind me, Morales pivoted and fired a tube from his SPNKR into the opening doors, filling the entryway with rubble and stopping the next instalment of troopers from getting out. "Quick! Everyone, through the door!" shouted Grafton. I whipped around, searching for the door that he had mentioned. It was a roughly triangular, giant doorway with green flashing lights.

Grafton stood at the side of the door, desperately fending off a pair of Elites attacking with Carbines. Saotome let an arrow fly, embedding it up to its tail in the first Major's leg. As the wounded animal fell forward, Grafton caught it with the remainder of his clip from his MA5. The other Major attacked from behind, but Grafton hadn't forgotten about him either. The ODST dropped as an energy sword slashed through the air, then dropped to his knees, raising his fists and drove his right metal gauntlet into the Elite's stomach. As soon as the reptile withdrew with a wheeze, Grafton plunged his switchblade through its shields and armour, straight into its gut.

The soldier gave the knife a brutal twist, then withdrew as the Elite gave a strangled gasp and collapsed. "Through the door!" shouted Cutter, waving us through. Harris went first backing into the door, blasting away a Minor trying to cut him down with twin trails of plasma from its rifles with his M90, then spun and retreated inside the door. The squad followed, running backwards while fending off the Elites desperately trying to cut us off. One dived between the opening and Saotome. The girl spun, slicing a gash through the reptile's shoulder blades, issuing blood, while the Elite was thrown towards me. I had my combat knife out and in a combat position, ready to strike. As the reptile rolled over me, I slashed down, cutting through the Elite's chest.

I pushed Morales into the door and ran in myself, turning back as the last member of the squad, Serena dashed through, rolling on the ground as a final blaze of plasma screamed through, ripping the rocky, cold cavern we were in to shreds. Morales turned round as the door closed and fired his remaining rocket into the side of the cave as the door hissed shut. An explosion rippled out, throwing out rubble the size of basketballs in a massive heap next to the door.

We dashed down the corridor as the door again hissed open, and the Elites rushed in-only to stop at the massive wall that Morales had knocked up and begin digging frantically. "Good work! Through the cave!" ushered Cutter, driving us onward. An unlocked door hissed open for us as we ran out, emerging in a massive wintry landscape. "Are we still underground?" asked Morales. I peered through the lens of the rifle. There was definitely a metal roof hanging overhead, barely discernible, but still there. "Appears so." I said, putting the rifle down.

"Cortana. We're out of the Covenant base. I need a location." reported Cutter.

"Affirmative, SMS. Objective is just to your right. Begin your attack."