The Enemy Within

==Chapter 3 - The Enemy Within==
:Almost immediately Captain Cage started barking orders to his troops while Kerst’ Ledane went to brief his troops. Dr Angleman and Keith were to secure the Forerunner Cube that the scientists had been working on. Claire and Matt were to intercept Dr Jerald and retrieve the Brute Corpse while Cage would prepare the base for evacuation while James led the UNSC Marine stationed in a counterattack and then breakout to the rendezvous site. As the others were filling out the door to their battle stations Captain Cage put his hand on Keith’s shoulder.
::“Son I have an additional task for you.” Cage said his face grim, “You must ensure Willow doesn’t fall into the Covenant’s hands. Who knows what they will find if they catch her.” He turned to Willow and offered an AI storage card to which Willow transferred her self to.
::“You look different to your file photo.” Willow said seductively.
::“Don’t get any ideas.” Keith replied, “I’m sure the Doctor is waiting impatiently for us to get him out of here.”
:Out in the freezing cold Gnarrp watched as his brothers left the Shadow and charged towards the Human Base. To Gnarrp they seemed very eager to get inside. In part this was due to the fear that the Jiralhanae inspired in his entire race and also as the heating in the Unggoy was limited at best. But running into bullets just so the Jiralhanae would have fewer casualties to deal with was insane. Better to hide in the cold troop compartment of the Shadow rather then running into humans or worse demons in the warm base.
:For a man who had spent his entire adult life on the battlefield this attack made Dr Angleman particularly nervous. Despite being a medic for the UNSC for ten years this attack inspired a strange kind of fear as it had been initiated from inside. Reaching the Security Room long before Keith he quickly typed in the code to collect the Forerunner artifact and be out ready for evacuation in a few minutes. The door chimed and whooshed open. Angleman stepped into the cold smoke filled room running over to the storage cylinders he opened the one containing the cube and turned to leave when he heard a low grow. Turning round he saw a translucent shape moving towards him. Reaching for the pair of pistols he carried on his belt he backed away firing at the brute as soon as they were unholstered.
:Despite his fear Angleman was able to use his pistols to dissuade the brute from attacking with a few well aimed shots. As he backed towards the door he suddenly had an idea. Firing a round at the Brute he keyed open an empty cylinder. There was a hiss as the coolant gas escaped causing the last shot from his pistol to detonate the gas swallowing the Brute in an impressive fireball. Impressed with his work Angleman turned to leave the base. As he turned he felt the cold muzzle of a Magnum on the back of his head. There was a single shot and he dropped to his knees. In one last act of defiance Angleman threw the Forerunner Box as he fell to the floor.
:From down the corridor Keith heard the shot and ran gesturing to two passing UNSC Marines to follow him. Reaching the storage room it only a matter of milliseconds for Willow to trick the lock into opening although it felt like years for Keith. The door opened and Keith entered the room the marines flanking him hands on their Assault Riffles ready to fire. Inside Keith found the body of Angleman a single pistol wound to the back of the head as well as a charred corpse of a Brute. Keith surveyed the scene trying to piece together what had happened and where the Forerunner Artifact was.
::“This is wrong.” Willow said analytically, “The Brute was armed with a Mauler but that kind of weapon would have blown his head off especially at the range my simulations suggest.”
::“Wasn’t a Mauler anyway.” One of the Marines added, “You can smell the gunpowder scent.” While the small group was debating another shot rung out. Keith turned just in time to see one of the Marines go down blood pouring from a head shot. From out of the fog came the huge bulk of a Brute Chieftain.
::“Spartan” the Chieftain growled.
::“Lepidus” replied Keith
::“So glad you remember me” Lepidus replied almost as if he was having a conversation with one of his pack mates.
::“You won’t get away this time” Keith yelled his anger bubbling to the surface.
:Claire and Matt ran down the halls carving a path through the grunts and brute stalkers that tried to stop them. They came round the corner to see two burley ONI service men dragging the corpse of the brute to Hanger Bay 2. 
::“Stop where you are.” Matt shouted.
:The ONI service men responded firing their SMGs causing the two Spartans to jump behind a handy crate that was sitting unattended in the corridor. The rattle of bullets was soon joined by the pounding boom of a Brute Shot and plasma shots as a group of Grunts and a Brute Captain joined the fight. To late Matt realized the crate contained the Plasma Grenades that he had requisitioned. The first Brute Shot detonated the grenades causing the ceiling to collapse sealing the Spartans from their quarry.
:Dr Jerald was sitting in Hanger Bay 2 using the rear Machine Gun to keep the UNSC Marines from boarding the Pelican from round the corner a Brute Captain appeared dragging the corpse she had sent her burly henchman to collect. The Brute dropped the corpse into the Pelican bowing to her ready for new orders.
::“Where is Lepidus? He should be here by now.” Jerald said to the Brute
::“The ceiling collapsed and the Demons are not far behind us. The Chieftain will never make it before the Demons arrive here.” The Captain replied
::“We are to wait you insolent beast.” Jerald replied blasting the Brute with the Machine Gun blasting him back against the wall.
:A large blast door to her right flew off its hinges as Lepidus threw Keith into the Hanger. The Chieftain picked up the Spartan and leered before throwing him against a Warthog. Lepidus got into the Pelican and just before the door closed he turned to Keith and leered at the Spartan. Keith groaned as the Pelican flew off into the Blizzard. He turned just in time to see a group of Brutes enter the Hanger. Over the internal Comms system Captain Cage’s voice rang loud and clear.
::“All UNSC and Elite forces retreat. The base is overrun any survivors rendezvous at Rally Point Bravo.”
::“All the Vehicles in this hanger are out of commission.” Willow informed Keith as he returned fire to a Brute using a dead marine as cover, “If we hit corridor three and activate the supply elevator we may be able to catch a ride.”
:Captain Cage and the 2nd Squad of Marines rounded a corner to find a group of Jackals torturing a dying technician. As they prepared to fight the wall next to the aliens exploded as Matt activated the C7 foaming charge he planted to escape the collapsed corridor. The two Spartans emerged from the hole and quickly briefed Cage on the loss of the Brute Corpse. From over the Spartans Helmet Comms Keith listened filling the others in as he searched for the elevator.
::“This isn’t the time for talk.” Cage interrupted, “I have remote activated a FERNIS Nuclear War Head to detonate. We only have six minutes on the clock.”
:With this news everyone acted at once. The Captain, Matt and Claire ran down the corridors heading for a Motorpool where hopefully there would be some Warthogs to transport them to safety. A minute in they reached the outer door. Cage ran to input the code to open the door but as he did a group of Brutes converged on their location.
::“We have to cover the Captain.” Claire announced as the Spartans and Marines opened fire on the Brutes.
::“The code has reset.” Cage cried, “Some kind of AI has overridden the locking combination!”
“We need cover” a Marine yelled as a Carbine shot knocked him to the floor.
::“Enough of this” Matt responded activating a Bubble Shield, “This should give us a few more second” as the Gel Shield formed around them, “Can you hotwire this thing.”
::“Damm right” the Captain replied,
:Kerst’ Ledane and his Sangheili Warriors had been fighting hard but their numbers had been reduced. There were a few Marines that had tagged along with the Sangheili and the Shipmaster was surprised that they were still in the fight. The Humans he mused were much tougher then they looked and were more loyal then the Unggoy. They small party entered Hanger 1 to see a lone Brute retreating to the Shadow parked a few feet from the large blast doors.
:Krull had yet to reach adult status yet after this battle he would be allowed to add the ‘us’ suffix to his name. He had fought so hard that his Spiker had run out of ammo and that the bayonet had detached itself into the body of a marine. There was no point in going into battle without a weapon so he would pick up a new Spiker from the Shadow and catch up with his pack mates later.
:Gnarrp awoke from his sleep as Krull entered the Shadow’s troop bay. The brute picked up a Spiker and then notice the sleeping Unggoy. He laughed loud enough to wake Gnarrp fully from his sleep as he advanced planning to test the blades of his new Spiker. Gnarrp panicked picking up his Plasma Pistol firing shots as the Brute advanced. His panic paid off Krull’s power armor exploded triggering a spare Methane Tank hanging on a supply rack to detonate. Krull was vaporized immediately as Krull jumped under one of the benches as the blast knocked him unconscious.
:Kerst watched as an internal explosion rocked the Shadow best to take the vehicle and leave now for the rally point. The two remaining Sangheili and the three Marines boarded the shadow while the Ship Master took the wheel activating the Shadow’s boost before the Brutes could scramble some Banshee’s to take them down.
:Cage was working hard to hotwire the door as he knew the bubble shield would soon dissipate the Spartans and Marines remaining had their hands on their Grenades hoping to buy Cage some extra time. Claire watched the Brute’s had stopped firing obviously willing to wait until the shield cut out. The Bubble shield in question was a new Elite version that could last a minute which gave her and Matt time to work on a strategy. They had just begun to plan when a Brute came foreword and fired his weapon. A blast that almost knocked the Spartans backwards and caused the Marines ears to bleed struck the shield causing a gapping hole to appear. Before the shield could repair itself a Spike Grenade came flying through sticking a Marine in the face.
::“Got it.” Cage shouted triumphantly as the door opened. The remaining Marines and Spartans filled through just before the Grenade detonated behind them.
:Selecting a Troop Carrying Warthog the survivors mounted up and the Hog blasted out into the falling snow. Matt looked back from the passenger seat and sighed at what he saw. Only two Marines apart from Captain Cage had made it to their Warthog. Dodging a few blasts from a squadron of Banshees and the Scarab that were positioned outside the base Claire drove the Warthog into the Blizzard towards Rally Point Bravo.
:Keith had reached the gantry picking up a Power Drain as instructed by Willow.
::“One Minute remains on the clock.” Willow informed Keith.
:A Banshee came swooping past and Keith threw the Power Drain. The Banshee’s engines stalled and Keith leapt grapping onto the left Engine Pod as it fell. At the last moment the Brute Pilot gained control pulling out of the fatal dive. Keith crawled up onto the fuselage and lifted the cockpit. The surprised Brute fired his Plasma Riffle but Keith easily lifted him out of the Banshee throwing him to his death. Activating the boost function spread away towards the Rally Point leaving the following Banshees sucking the snow his engines disrupted as it fell.
:James exited the hanger. Scans showed all the vehicles were either destroyed or taken by the escaping Marines and the Scarab had destroyed most of the Shadows in an attempt to mop up survivors. The countdown couldn’t be stopped without Captain Cage and he had no place to go. The countdown reached one as the Brutes entered the Control room. The warhead detonated destroying the base completely leaving behind charred concrete ruins.
==Characters==
:Red Team 
::Spartan 115 
::Spartan 182 
::Spartan 219 
::Spartan 221 
:Captain Alex Cage 
:Doctor Bruce Angleman 
:WLW 0291-6 
:Doctor Catherine Jerald 
:Brute Chieftan Lepidus
:Krull
:Gnarrp
:Shipmaster Kerst' Ledane
==Planets==
:C2196
==Weapons==
:M6G Personal Defense Weapon System
:Type-52 Pistol
:M7/Caseless Submachine Gun
:Type-25 Directed Energy Pistol
:Type-25 Grenade Launcher
:Type-1 Antipersonnel Grenade
:Type-2 Antipersonnel Grenade
:Type-46 Antipersonnel Weapon
:Type-25 Carbine
==Vehicles==
:Shadow
:Type-47 Ultra Heavy Assault Platform
:Type-26 Ground Support Aircraft
:M831 Troop Transport
:D77H-TCI Pelican 
==Other==
:Power Drain
:Mysterious Brute Corpse
:Harvest Artifact