Battle of Base Duff

Battle of Base Duff is a story in a set of many others following Tara-021 and Gabriel-074 during the Battle of Base Duff and the Battle of The Rings in the Human-Covenant War. 
This story focuses on "Base Duff", a base located on Chaon, which is a Planet in the Soell system near Installation 04. Base Duff carries the "Agony Rod", an artifact in which the Covenant believes to have a significant role in their conquest.
==Story==
===Pelican===
Tara-021 found herself in a daring situation. She was in a Pelican, thousands upon thousands of feet in the air with a bleeding leg, and in the middle of a war. The deafening sound of gunfire and explosives were silenced by earsplitting hissing. 
She propped her body up with her elbows, and looked outside a severely cracked window. It was only a second before she was blinded by the sight of an explosion inside the Pelican. Weightless was the only thing she could feel, fire was the only thing she could see, and blood was the only thing she could smell. Suddenly, there was nothing.
===Gabriel===
"Rick! Make it quick." Gabriel-074 called. Base Duff was under attack, and the casualty count was beginning to skyrocket. Gabriel provided cover fire for Gunnery Sergeant Rick Dunlap, who was risking his life for a fellow Marine who was injured.
5 or 6 Unggoy stumbled into the battlefield, weakly crying and chanting. Gabriel-074 didn't hesitate to eliminate them with his M392 DMR. As he fired, 3 Unggoy found cover under small barricades and barriers. It was only another 30 seconds before the last of them were killed 
Rick picked up the injured man, and dashed across the field, carrying his broken body. "Gabriel! Behind me!" Rick cried unto Gabriel. Two Kig-Yar jumped over an ammo supply crate and immediately opened fire upon Rick and the injured man. Gabriel only saw what was left of Rick before he could respond.
===Shotgun===
Tara-021 woke up to intense pain and rapid gunfire. She crawled under what was left of the Pelicans wing, and scavenged the debris for weapons and supplies. 
After 20 minutes of searching, she almost completely gave up, if she were to head into the battlefield, she would die. But up came a noise. Tara looked to her left, then to her right, and spotted Private Fist Class Nathan and Private First Class Frank. 
"Nathan, Frank." Tara-021 called. "Where are the others" She strolled towards Nathan, who was leaning and crying over Frank. Nathan turned around, tears and blood scattered his face.
"He's dying!" Nathan pushed Tara over and shoved her onto her back, he proceeded to punch her, but she retaliated and forced him back. "What the hell, Nathan!?" Tara subdued him successfully and spoke. "Yes, he IS dying! I know that," She picked up a nearby Shotgun and forced it into Nathans hand. ", so someone is going to have to end his suffering." "No! You're a Spartan, you are smart, you're supposed to fix things! We can fix Frank!" Nathan begged, but Tara couldn't help to hear Frank suffer. 
"Fine." Tara-021 grabbed the shotgun, tears creeping from her eyes, she aimed at Franks head. Frank finally sighed, before the deafening crack of the shotgun filled the air. 
Another sound filled the air. Tara-021 turned around, and there he was, Nathan, with his face blown off. 
===We Have A Spartan===
Gabriel-074 dashed across the shipyards of Base Duff in an attempted to reach the main building, and it wasn't long before the Covenant interrupted. A Sangheili jumped in front of Gabriel and charged. He quickly reacted to the attack and shot the Sangheili in the head. Another one appeared, but saw the 5 UNSC Marines behind itself as a bigger threat, and wiped them out in a matter of seconds. Gabriel could only watch in horror as it tossed the remains of his allies like toys. 
His only instinct was to run as the Sangheili and ten Unggoy smashed through the debris of several Pelican Airships. He blind fired in an attempt to divert the Covenant, but to no avail. Gabriel continued to run as more and more Covenant hopped on the "Kill a Spartan" bandwagon. A Kig-Yar finally gained the chance to throw a Plasma grenade, and took advantage of the moment. He tossed it into the air, until it landed by Gabriel, where it detonated violently. 
The Plasma grenade began to create an intense smoke, giving Gabriel-074 the sufficient cover he needed to escape. He felt his way through the smoke, and walked into a wall. Eventually, he felt a doorknob and pulled it, only to be greeted by multiple figures. Once the smoke cleared, the only words spoken were: "We have a SPARTAN". 
Gabriel was pushed further into the building, until he saw Tara-021. "Gabriel, right?" Tara spoke,"Nice to see you again." 
===Saviors===
Tara-021 walked through what was left of "Duff Pueblo". She could loosely remember the lively young Marines and the sound of chirping birds on Base Duff just 3 years before. And now, almost all of it was gone. 
Tara-021 came across two contorted bodies. She looked at them, and retrieved their dog tags. "Rick Dunlap," Tara sighed. Not knowing Rick, Tara could only imagine the pain his family would feel, knowing he died. She clutched it, and read the next dog tag,"and George Whitefield." George, Tara knew. They weren't close, but they met on Duff 3 years prior. 
George was one of over 200 returning from an anti-insurrection mission on an unidentified planet just outside Installation-04. He was awarded shortly after in a small ceremony for saving a total of 5 dying soldiers on the battlefield. 
Tara-021 continued on her walk, and wasn't surprised when over 15 Covenant hopped in front of her and began discharging their weapons. She was hit once, but ignored it and killed 4 in less than 10 seconds. Of course, there were always fodder Unggoy, spewing random insults at Tara and ranting about nothing important, but one cry spouted questions: "Hail Hami 'Rantak! Hail Tren 'Krom!". Even through years of studying, Tara-021 never heard a single word of Hami 'Rantak or Tren 'Krom. New Covenant leaders meant no good at all. This absolutely shook her to the core. So much so, that she had no idea that she was in the clutches of a Sangheili who's Energy Sword was just inches away from penetrating her chest plate.
Reacting quickly, Tara jumped out of its grasps and immediately stormed the Sangheili with kicks and punches. She rammed him until he dropped the Energy Sword, which she used to dismember him. She threw the weapon to the ground and charged for the bloody shotgun she used to kill Frank, knowing that any breath could be her last as the Covenant threw rounds at Tara. 
Without warning, Tara-021's chest collapsed as the wind escaped her lungs. It felt as if her lungs were empty toothpaste tubes being pulverized by hands. She immediately flew into the air and abruptly slammed onto her back. 
The intense g-forces of the blow blacked Tara out, and she watched as a towering Mgalekgolo walked towards her, ready to kill. The last thing she thought she would see was a group of Marines opening fire upon the covenant army; luckily, it was not.
"Cease fire!" An oral, professional, but relatively young female voice cried out. "Oh my goodness." She continued. "What is it, Maddie?" A rough male voice followed hers. "Look..." 'Maddie' said. Tara-021 observed as the man gazed upon her in awe. "Holy shit, that's a SPARTAN!". The man leaped from the small bridge he and 4 other marines were previously occupying, and bolted towards Tara.
"Spencer! Occupy her northern region! I think this might be Tara-021!" Maddie called. "I'll carry her from her feet." Maddie and Spencer weakly propped up Tara, to which Maddie requested aid. "Lily, Alan! Help us carry this Spartan!" The pair took both Tara's left and right arm, as another marine watched.
"Bernd! Cover us, we can't have a Covenant Soldier walk up on us and kill us all." Maddie commanded. "Yes ma'am!" Bernd immediately crouched and stood aware, inspecting everything he could see. 
At this moment, this small group of ordinary UNSC Marines realized they had become the saviors of not only a SPARTAN II, but Tara-021.
===Explosion in Duff Central===
"I honestly never thought that I'd get so close to a SPARTAN." Alan said in awe of Tara-021. "Well you're in luck, kid." Tara giggled at Alan. "The closest I've been to a SPARTAN until now was last year." said Maddie. "I had a small run in with Frederic-104." Tara lifted her head up, for she new Frederic quite well. "What did he say?" Tara asked. "Not much, he greeted us at a ceremony on 32 Pegasi B after the Battle on 32 Pegasi D; he attended the dinner." Maddie loaded in a magazine and stood up. "He didn't talk too much, but he was very kind when he did so." 
Maddie peered through the window behind her and readied her rifle. "Very interesting story." Spencer exclaimed. "Nope," Maddie replied "now get your butt up here and wipe out these covenant, I need you to fire controlled burst, conserve ammo." "Yeah, yeah."
Tara had only taken down 3 Covenant when they began to mindlessly fire back. Though not controlled, one Covenant (unfortunately) managed to make a successful hit on Lily's upper arm. Lily kicked back and screamed in terror and pain as she witnessed the purple spike penetrate her.
Bernd, who was the only soldier with medical experience in the group, quickly rushed into the scene, attempting to use the last of his bio-foam to repair Lily as he removed as much of the crystal as he could. He knew he was the key to Lily's survival, and hoped he was able to open the door.
"Crap! I'm out of rounds!" Alan howled as the Covenant moved closer to his station. "Take these, I won't need them." Bernd dumped his magazines and passed them to Alan, who had only begun to load his firearm before he was faced with the horrid sight of a live plasma grenade. It was only a matter of time before the grenade landed in front of his window, ready to detonate. He ducked as Tara-021 dashed towards him in an attempt to save him, running at top speeds across the building.
*BOOOOM!* The deafening crash of the grenade rang throughout the halls. Tara looked back through the smoke, seeing that but a scratch was on her armor. The wall seemed to have collapsed, tearing through the half the hall. She knew it wasn't just a grenade, they were firing detonatable plasma mortars! "Guys, we need to move now." Tara-021 ordered. "We should have done that earlier!" Alan screamed, Lily was his closest friend and was obviously mad that Maddie 'let' her get injured. "Now Lily is dying and a SPARTAN- who is obviously very important, is injured!" "Wait, I'm dying?" Lily asked in fear. "No, you are not, now calm down, it's just a 'bullet' wound." Bernd reassured Lily.
"I'll get Lily." Tara along with Bernd lifted Lily off the ground and moved her while avoiding Covenant fire. "You're injured, Tara. You shouldn-" "I'm a SPARTAN, I can take Plasma mortars." Tara argued. "I'm talking about your leg." Tara looked at her leg and noticed it was bleeding again. "Dang it! That blasted mortar must have opened up my wound." Though just a simple wound, Bernd was still afraid that it could enlarging during the firefight. 
The group began to make it down the stairway when Bernd's face exploded in an instant. As he began bleeding all over Lily, Tara shoved her down the stairway and watched in horror as Bernd choked on his blood with what was left of his face. "Holy crap!" Spencer screamed in terror and sorrow. "We need to move!" Tara slowly walked back, at the edge of fainting due to shock.
===We Have (Another) Spartan===
"We're out of Duff Central." Maddie wailed as she ran along with a limping Lily. "No shit Sherlock!" Alan exclaimed as he passed a sign that read: "YOU HAVE LEFT DUFF CENTRAL in large black text. 
"That's how they say my dad died, you know." Lily sighed. "By reading a sign?" Maddie questioned sarcastically. "He was shot in the face. An Innie threw a grenade at him and hurt another soldier," Lily stopped right in her tracks "he went to help, but a bullet went into his face and killed him." The whole group stopped. "That sounds familiar." Tara-021 remarked.
The group stood still for about 10 seconds, contemplating the last few hours. Tara finally spoke, "We should get going, the Covenant lost us, but their like children with a toy, they'll rampage until they find us." "Wait, so you're saying that we are toys to the Covenant?" Spencer yelled. "I'll have you know-" "Spencer, shut up, it was a metaphor." Lily groaned.
"We mustn't bicker," Maddie grabbed a hold of Lily and flung her arms around her, she continued,"Come on, let's go." 
BOOM! The whole group dropped as the deafening ground of a grenade rung in the air. "Do you think that was a mortar?" Alan whispered. "No," Tara protested,"That's plasma smoke, it doesn't come from plasma mortars." Tara skipped to to the wall, which had a small door in the middle. 
The Plasma grenade began to create an intense smoke, giving Gabriel-074 the sufficient cover he needed to escape. He felt his way through the smoke, and walked into a wall. Eventually, he felt a doorknob and pulled it, only to be greeted by multiple figures. Once the smoke cleared, the only words spoken were: "We have a SPARTAN". 
Gabriel was pushed further into the building, until he saw Tara-021. "Gabriel, right?" Tara spoke,"Nice to see you again." ''
===Agony Rod===
"Where did you find these soldiers?" Gabriel-074 asked Tara-021. "They saved me," Tara responded, "I would be dead if it weren't for them." The soldiers smiled, contemplating the wondrous experience of saving two SPARTAN's.
Silence fell upon the group, though not completely, as the sound of gunfire and explosions still encompassed the planet. "Why would the Covenant attack us?" Alan finally spoke. "Because they're the Covenant," Spencer replied bleakly, "it's what they do. They are worse than those who killed my Grandma." 
"I might know," Tara's eyes widened as a giant light bulb activated in her head. She continued, "The Agony Rod...they are here for the Agony Rod." She picked up her and rushed to maintenance door D. "What are you doing?" Maddie asked in confusion. "Maintenance doors lead to the archives, the Covenant want something in the archives." "And that thing is..?" "The Agony Rod," Tara finally entered the correct code and slid the door open. "I've been here for a long and have never heard of such thing, what is it?" Lily asked as she followed Gabriel-074 to the door. "Something you definitely do not want to see in the hands of Covenant." 
The group walked through the maintenance door and down several flights of stairs. "How far down are the archives?" Gabriel-074 spoke. "I've heard it was around 10 floors down." Said Maddie. The group eventually hit the 10 floor, and activated the archive door, which was shaped as a pentagon. The door opened, revealing a green and blue interior, scattered with hexagons. "Who designed this?" Maddie asked in awe as the pentagon shaped building shifted, revealing 7 doors titled as Sectors 1-7. "Definitely not a 6th grade geometry student." Spencer replied sarcastically.
"Now which one do we go through, Tara-021?" Alan asked. "Sector 5." Tara began walking towards the 5th door and began typing the access codes. "Tara!" Gabriel-074 called, "That's the wrong door." "What?" "It's Sector 7. 5 has NBE-8, and Nektann specimens, not the Agony Rod." A moment of silence followed, until Maddie spoke. "7 it is." She smiled and walked towards the door. 
===Sector-7===
Gabriel-074 was known to be very clairvoyant and precognitive, and the event he was perceiving in his head was not a good one. Just then, a ball of light flashed before him, hitting the ground and going into a standstill, the group immediately stopped, and watched in fear as the grenades fuse began to activate. 
The next 30 seconds were but a blur. Gabriel-074 could see only white, and deafening ringing pulsed through his head. Then all was "quiet". He looked up in shock to see Spencer... gone. Spencer's head loosely hung from his ruined body, blood was scattered everywhere, and the hole in his chest didn't make is corpse any cuter. Gabriel-074 slowly stood up, slightly shook by the blast. "Is everyone ok-?" Tara stopped, and stood in horror upon the sight of Spencer. "We have to get out of here!" Tara-021 proceeded to drag an injured Alan, who began to protest, "Seriously!?" Alan struggled from Tara-021's, ignoring the intense pain of the explosion. "We have to get the Agony Rod, or more people will look like Spencer!" Maddie watched as a Sangheili ran towards the pack, Energy sword to the sky. "Guys!" Maddie cried, "Look behind you!" 
In an instant, the sangheili was directly on top of Tara-021 and Alan, and they both knew all to well, one wasn't going to make it. The zealot slammed his energy sword into Tara's breastplate and tore apart her helmet. Accounting Tara's fate, the zealot turned rapidly, and took aim to Alan, who watched in horror as an almighty Spartan was eliminated in less than second. 
Before further damage to the group could ensue, the Sangheili's head shattered into hundreds of tiny debris. "You deserve much worse you fucker!" Maddie screamed at the dead Covenant. 
The group didn't dare take another step, still completely shook by the past few minutes. Bernd and Spencer were dead, Alan, Lily, and Maddie were injured, and Tara-021 could only hope that being a Spartan would save her from succumbing to her wounds.
"We can't stay here all day guys." Alan spoke, "If we do, the Covenant will run away with the Agony Rod and glass us. We already know all too well that they're in here with us." "We know that," Lily replied, shakily propping herself up on her knees, "but we can't go with all of us half-dead." "Well someone is going have to!" Alan snapped, "Who knows, we may be the only people alive on this planet, and if we die without that Rod, this planet, and many others will go gone!" 
The group stood in silence for a moment before Gabriel-074 made his move. "Alright, Maddie, Alan, and I will go retrieve this Rod," He loaded in fresh magazines and began pacing deeper into the the Sector, "Tara and Maddie, you will stay here." "Why me?" Maddie wailed. "We will need someone to help Tara get out if things don't go as planned." Gabriel-074 stated firmly. He began walking with Alan and Lily, and delved into the darkness, and when no one could notice, she made her move
===Escape===
Lily was still trying to comprehend the last few minutes. She, Alan, and Gabriel-074 charged into the crypt that encased the Agony Rod, and all hell broke loose. She remembered seeing Gabriel swiftly take out the Sangheili carrying the rod, stripping it from the corpse's grasp, and making a break for it, Alan close behind. She remembered standing up to the sight of Gabriel ten feet in the air, and Alan's torn carcass, full of blamite. A Mgalekgolo grabbed the rod and slammed it into Gabriel-074's armor... THUMP!...THUMP!. 
She remembered Maddie running into the room screaming "Axios!" as she held a live grenade close to her hand, and her body disappearing in a blaze of fire and smoke along with the Hunter. 
She remembered running out of the room watching as Gabriel-074 took his final steps towards a zealot with only his broken fist as the door slowly closed encasing Gabriel-074 in darkness. 
Now, she was hundreds of feet in the air, stuffed into a Pelican. "Are you okay, Lily?" Tara-021 asked weakly. "No," Lily said. "Not at all." 
===*TO BE CONTINUED IN The Omega Keys*===
==Characters==
===SPARTAN===
*Tara-021
*Gabriel-074
===UNSC Marines===
*Rick Dunlap
*Nathan
*Frank
*George Whitefield
*Maddie Ross
*Spencer Hayes
*Lily Baker
*Alan Thang
*Bernd Eichinger
==Trivia==
*The main battle in its entirety only lasted about one to two hours. The first part lasted 8 days.
*It is estimated that around one to three thousand human casualties were received during the main battle. And 17 during the first part.
Category:UPgraded
Category:Stories
Category:UPgradedverse
Category:BoBD