The Hunted (Crash Post)

**Location:**
*Arrow Flight*'s hallways, just outside of the reactor room

The timer on Jet's HUD had hit 0:20, stopped counting down, and disappeared from his HUD seconds later. Jet half expected to die at any moment, but nothing happened. He hoped that was a good thing.

The trooper watched as Harald pulled the panels of the door to the reactor room apart. First thing that he noticed was that the room was pitch black, apart from the occasional streak of red from an emergency light. He activated his VISR and looked back at Amelia and Harald.

**[ CPL. Hope ]** "Spartan, does that helmet of yours have low light vision?"

**[ Harald-077 ]** "No need, *I* have low light vision. But yeah, it does."

**[ LCPL. Thompson ]** "Showoff."

**[ CPL. Hope ]** "Can we just get this done? Jet, you first."

**[ LCPL. Thompson ]** "What ever happened to 'Ladies first?'"

Jet stepped through the doorway and checked the room. He looked for any red on his VISR, and when he was sure there was none, he called back to Amelia.

**[ LCPL. Thompson ]** "Clear!"

**[ CPL. Hope ]** "Copy, Jet. Harald, you take care of the reactors, we'll watch the door."

She turned back towards the door, gun raised. Jet watched as Harald just stood there, staring at the reactors. Jet could tell that he was thinking.

**[ LCPL. Thompson ]** "Need an explosive?"

**[ Harald-077 ]** "What're my options?"

Jet checked his belt for something explosive enough to destabilize the reactors, and grabbed the C-7 canister and a breaching charge.

**[ LCPL. Thompson ]** "Pick one."

Harald grabbed both and examined them, as Jet turned his attention to Amelia and the door. It was times like these that he wished Amelia had a helmet cam, just so he could tap in and see what she saw while doing his own thing.

*I mean, Isaac and I have helmet cams, why doesn't she?*

But this wasn't the biggest concern at the moment. Jet was still fixed on the mission timer, which inconveniently lacked a description. It could've been anything from how long until the air vented completely in a hallway to an evacuation timer, telling everyone aboard to get the hell of the ship.

*Please let that not be an evac timer. There better still be a way off of this ship, there has to be.*

**[ LCPL. Thompson ]** "Hey, Spartan, how long until you get those explosives set? 'Cause the ship isn't gonna wait. The planet is getting closer by the minute, and we still need-"

Jet was cut short as he saw an orange "environment" outline shift off to his left. He guessed Amelia noticed too, as she narrowly dodged the outlined silhouette as it swung it's illuminated sword at her head. She rolled off to her right, towards Jet and Harald, as Jet opened fire on the camouflaged elite.

**[ CPL. Hope ]** "Spartan, we got company!"

Jet heard the shifting of power armor behind him, and saw the green-outlined blur sprint off to his left. As Amelia got up to open fire, two more crates shifted as another pair of camouflaged split-jaws vaulted over them. Harald froze, pistol raised, standing halfway between the split-jaws and the troopers.

The room was nearly silent, with neither side willing to make the first move. For the most part, three stealth elites were just as difficult as three normal ones to an ODST using VISR, the only real difference being that VISR incorrectly identifies a cloaked enemy as "environment." This makes them the same color orange as the rest of the shapes around them, and makes the ODST's job slightly harder.

*This just gets better and better. What next? Drones? Or something more explosive? There are Hunters aboard, I wouldn't be surprised if these guys lured us into another ambush.*

But both sides just stood there, weapons raised. It was clear that the elites knew the troopers could see them, but they didn't make an effort to deactivate their active camouflage. Only the center elite, the one that almost got Amelia, was wielding a sword; the other two pointed their rifles at Harald. Jet fixated his rifle on the elite on the right, and Amelia had her gun pointed at the one on the left.

Amelia shot first, stunning the leftmost cloaker. Jet pulled the trigger, getting a lucky shot that made his target drop its gun, which his VISR automatically outlined in blue as it hit the ground. Harald used the opening and charged at the center elite, grabbing its right wrist to prevent it from swinging its sword in defense. As Harald and the commander wrestled to gain the upper hand, Jet turned towards Amelia's target.

The leftmost elite had recovered at this point, and started spraying plasma in Amelia's general direction. Amelia ducked behind a control panel, and the elite roared as its rifle vented its excess heat.

Jet pulled his rifle's trigger three times, watching the ammo counter go from 9 to 6, then to 3, before running out of ammo. The shields on the armed elite flickered as his VISR outlined it in red, indicating that its active camouflage had depleted.

Jet ejected the empty magazine and reached for another one. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that Harald had been able to wrestle the sword out of the leader's hand and was now on top of it. As Harald reached for his combat knife, the elite that Jet disarmed shoved him off of the commander, only mildly stunning the Spartan as opposed to the hit from the Hunter before.

As Harald recovered from being thrown off balance, the weaponless elite activated its two energy gauntlets, glowing bright. Jet aimed at the new threat, as the gauntlets were just as deadly as a handheld energy sword. But before he could pull the trigger, a streak of plasma flew past his eyes, even brighter with his helmet's built in low-light vision.

Jet took two steps back and opened fire on the still-armed lizard, hitting its recharged shields with another three bursts of his rifle. The split-jaw rolled out of the way before Jet could land a headshot, taking cover behind a control board, the same console Amelia was behind.

Without hesitation, Amelia vaulted over the panel and tackled the elite, drawing her combat knife. But the elite was simply to strong to stay down, and pushed Amelia off of itself and into the console.

*Fuck!*

Jet fired four more bursts from his rifle, taking down the elite's recharging shields and landing a fatal hit. He ran over to Amelia and helped her up. She gave Jet an "okay" sign with her hand as she grabbed her gun off of the ground. Setting her rifle to semi-auto, she fired another bullet into the dead elite's head, ensuring that it won't be getting back up. Jet looked to Harald, who was on his back, unarmed, with the elite standing above him.

Harald rolled to his left, dodging as the elite brought its gauntlet's blade down and into the ground. As Harald rolled into a crouching position, he pulled his knife out of one of the slots in the floor paneling and swung it behind him. The elite dodged out of the way, burning a small line into the floor where his blade still touched the ground.

**[ CPL. Hope ]** "Thompson, help Harald!"

**[ LCPL. Thompson ]** "What are you gonna do?"

**[ CPL. Hope ]** "I'm gonna- Jet duck!"

Almost instantaneously Jet dove to the right, turning around just in time to see Amelia attempt to block a flaming sword of plasma with her rifle. The energy sword cut straight through the rifle, slicing across Hope's chest.

**[ LCPL. Thompson ]** "Amelia!"

Jet grabbed his battle rifle, which he dropped as he dodged the sword, and fired the remaining five bursts at the leader, who he'd forgotten about up until now. As he ejected the empty magazine, the leader swung its sword in Jet's direction, who was lucky enough to be just outside of the elite's reach. He could tell now that the leader was wearing a variant of their Infiltration harness, something that he had seen more than once before (from afar).

*Well, that's to be expected from a SpecOps officer.*

Jet ducked under another swing of the officer's sword. He payed attention to the fighting styles of the squid-faces he fought, making it a little easier to predict the officer's next few swings. But he wasn't ready for the kick from the leader, which sent him flying backwards towards Harald and his combatant, sliding along the floor until he was next to them.

*Okay, gotta remember the kick next time.*

**[ Harald-077 ]** "Jet?"

**[ LCPL. Thompson ]** "Sir."

Looking back to the leader, he could see that it was charging towards him. Jet rolled in between Harald and the gauntlet elite, emerging on the other side with his pistol in hand. Harald, hearing the sound of the officer's footsteps as it ran towards him, ducked under a quick but powerful stab from the officer. Jet looked up, seeing that the officer had just accidentally stabbed his own soldier through the chest. The officer spoke, in English:

**[ SpecOps Officer ]** "Demon, you will not walk away from this alive!"

The officer swung its sword around, cutting the impaled elite in half as it sliced across the Spartan's chest. Based on Harald's reaction, Jet could tell that the sword had only just grazed the suit of armor, and didn't come close to actually causing Harald any harm.

**[ LCPL. Thompson ]** "Is there a problem, officer? I swear I'm not drunk."

Jet fired six rounds of his M6C/SOCOM into the elite's side, before the red outline swung his sword towards him. Jet dove behind Harald and the sword sliced another control panel in half. He emptied his pistol's magazine, watching as the elite's shield flickered but remained active.

**[ LCPL. Thompson ]** "I'm telling you, I only had one beer!"

The elite swung its sword towards the Spartan's neck, but Harald leaned fast enough to allow the sword to pass right in front of him. Jet reloaded his magnum and fired another dozen rounds at the officer.

**[ LCPL. Thompson ]** "Okay, maybe three."

**[ Harald-077 ]** "Can you stop? It's not that funny."

Harald caught the officer's arm as it made another attempt at his head. Blocking a punch from the elite's free arm, Harald kicked the officer in the shin. Jet reached for his combat knife on his back.

**[ LCPL. Thompson ]** "Yeah, I'll admit that wasn't the best. I have better material..."

Jet ran up behind the elite and climbed onto its back. The leader tried to shake the trooper off, but Jet was just too quick. Before the elite could get Jet off of him, he had already driven the knife through the elite's face, killing the split-jaw almost instantly.

**[ LCPL. Thompson ]** "Like high carbon steel!"

The officer fell to the ground, and Jet removed the knife from its head. Both Harald and Jet looked down on the now uncloaked SpecOps Officer.

*Fuck, what am I gonna tell Isaac? "Oh, Isaac! Hope died because she was too busy saving my ass to save her own. But I'm completely okay, and that's what matters." Ugh, I'm not looking forward to that discussion.*

**[ LCPL. Thompson ]** "Do aliens go to Hell, or do they have their own underworld that they go to? 'Cause I don't want to see these guys again after I die."

Harald's head perked up for a second. At first, Jet thought that Harald failed to hear him. But it was followed by another jerk, as if he was listening to something that Jet didn't hear. Jet decided not to interrupt and instead walked over to Amelia's body, looked around it, searching.

*They've gotta be somewhere.*

He removed her right shoulder pad, and a set of shiny yet old dog tags fell to the ground. He picked them up, inspecting the lettering pressed into the tags. they belonged to Sergeant Samuel Hope, Amelia's father who died against the Covenant and inspired her to join the Marine Corps. Jet promised her that if anything were to happen to her, that he would bring the tags back to Earth in one piece.

He put the tags into one of his many pouches, and put his rifle away. He reached for her helmet, which had fallen off and was sitting at her side, so he could give her an ODST's funeral when he regrouped with Isaac. But before he touched it, he heard Harald yell from across the room:

**[ Harald-077 ]** "Move!"

As Jet turned, he saw Harald running towards him. Before the trooper could react, Harald had already grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him back through the door. He felt the sudden pain as his back smashed into the floor, and Harald braced himself on top of him. Jet tried to say something, *anything*, but he couldn't find the words. The ODST managed to do a quick gear check before he finally lost consciousness from the increasing g-forces.

The ship was falling. Crashing. And it was doing it fast.