Sword

Shar ran across the burned ground. She was running straight for the main part of the city. If she could get there then maybe she could get to the civilian evacs and find where the Covenant were coming from. She could hold them off, give the evacuation the time they needed. She slowed when she heard the distinct cry of a small child. Shar looked around, trying to find the source.

She spotted a young child lying on the ground beside a smoking body. There was a flash of a memory from so long ago but it vanished and Shar ignored it. She moved without thinking, changing her course. She spotted the purple tank turning to aim again at the child. Shar moved faster than the tank's cannon could recharge. She grabbed up the child and rolled out of the way as the second shot was fired and hit the ground where the kid had been. Shar moved behind a house and set the child down.

The young boy clung to her armor and she tried to pry him from her. She was too distracted by the boy clinging to her that she didn't even notice the shimmer behind her. Pain flared across her back as the energy sword cut through her armor and power pack. Her systems went dead and she was sure that the energy cells had been destroyed. She knew the elite would strike again and she dropped down to her knees. Luckily the boy's grip had loosened enough for her to pull him from her.

In one movement she used her left hand to push the boy down to the ground and out of the way while her right hand grabbed the knife on her chest plate. She spun around to face the enemy, her knife striking out. It sliced at the elite's hand and the alien roared in pain. She moved to swing again but the elite stepped back and she hit only air. Shar cursed as the alien pulled back its arm to swing again. She moved forward as quickly as she could and tackled the elite.

They both fell to the ground and Shar grabbed the elite's sword hand, holding onto its wrist, trying to keep the hand at a distance. She couldn't take another wound from that sword. This mission had really only started and already she was finding it hard to move. Each and every motion sent new pain from the cut on her back. She could swear that something from her power pack was leaking into the wound, but she'd have to worry about that later.

The elite roared in Shar's face and she acted on instinct. Her head came forward and slammed into the alien's. The enemy was stunned and Shar followed it up with a second blow with her right hand. The metal would hurt more than if she'd hit him with her left hand. Not to mention her left hand was currently busy holding the sword away. Shar continued to strike at the elite until the helmet had cracked and the arm in her grasp went limp. When she was sure it was at least unconscious she removed her left hand from its wrist. Shar grabbed up the energy sword and with one swing severed the alien's head from its neck. She wasn't about to take any chances of it being alive.

Shar clicked off the sword and attached it to her hip. She then turned back to the little boy and found that he was now several feet away and seemed to be cowering away from her. Shar felt a pain, but it wasn't from the wound on her back. It hurt that the child was afraid of her. She had just saved his life after all. She moved over to him and he seemed to shrink away from her. It hurt more because a part of her had hoped to be like the three Spartans that had saved her life. They had come out of nowhere and had saved her, killed the enemy, and she'd been grateful. This boy wasn't happy to see her. He was terrified of her. She looked down at her hands and realized that her right hand was coated with purple blood from the elite. She clenched her fists and looked at the child.

Shar moved forward and before he could stop her she'd grabbed him up. He struggled in her arms, asking her to let her go. She took off at a run toward the city, leaving the wraith far behind them. Right now she was too injured and she didn't have the weapons to take care of that sort of problem. She stayed focused on where they were going, ignoring the boy who was now begging her to let him go.

Shar didn't stop until she reached the view of the escape ships. She dropped the kid on the ground and pointed at the shuttles. The boy didn't waste any time and took off running. There was something insulting that he was more afraid of her then he seemed to have been of the Covenant. She was the good guy after all.

Shar turned her attention back toward the streets that were heading toward the shuttle. This is where the Covenant would strike first, trying to kill as many people as she could. She did a quick check of her systems which had been working their way back online. One of the fuel cells was useless, and the other was only running at half power. Her armor systems couldn't support any equipment and her motion tracker had moved down to a very close range. VISR was down and for now she didn't have enough power to contact the ships above. Her back stung as she started to walk. She was injured, her armor was greatly damaged, and she was trying to protect civilians. Yeah, this was going to be a challenge.

Shar moved to the main road and stood in the middle of it. She grabbed the energy sword from her hip and clicked it on. She stood and waited, knowing that if an elite saw her with it he would challenge her for the honor of a fallen comrade who had wielded the blade. She ignored the people that ran down the street heading toward the shuttles. They all kept far away from her, just as scared of the blood splattered Spartan as the aliens that chased them to the shuttles. She gripped the sword tighter and waited for a challenge to come her way.