The Hunted (Wreck Argument)

**Location:**
Crash site of the *Arrow Flight*

Three Spirit dropships in an inverted vee emerged from the smoke. Harald instinctively shifted under a bent piece of metal, which appeared to be part of the floor in the reactor room. He heard the thrusters as the dropships flew past, but they didn't completely leave. His motion tracker indicated that the three large, red dots stopped moving.

Harald peered out from around the edge of his little metal cave, and spotted the three dropships. They were hovering above a small clearing in the middle of the wreckage. A few squads worth of grunts and jackals hopped out of the two front dropships, accompanied by four elite minors, a major, two hunters, and an engineer from the rear ship.

The engineer's presence indicated that the Covvies were searching for something, possibly related to the NAV data.

*Protocol dictates that they cannot, under any circumstance, get that data.*

And although Harald could probably take on the force alone, he most definitely wouldn't walk away from it without injury or wasted ammo. He looked back towards the treeline that he sent Thompson to, but didn't see him through the smoke.

*Great. Where could that trooper have wandered off to?*

He ejected his rifle's magazine and checked it for ammo. Although he had an ammo counter on both the rifle and his HUD, he wanted to ensure that he wasn't walking into a fight with an empty gun. The magazine was nearly full, so he stored it and grabbed a fresh one to use. Loading the new magazine into the rifle, he could hear the elites grunting orders at their subordinates.

He heard a piece of scrap metal shift behind him. Instinctively, he turned and brought his gun up to the approaching hostile. Only... it wasn't hostile.

**[ LCPL. Thompson ]** "Don't shoot."

At least the trooper was smart enough to whisper.

**[ Harald-077 ]** "What are you doing here? I told you to go."

**[ LCPL. Thompson ]** "I brought friends."

The trooper shifted to reveal three marines and a pilot behind him. Harald didn't recognize any of them, but that was to be expected. The group moved into concealment, ensuring that the large Covenant recon team didn't spot them.

**[ Harald-077 ]** "I thought you were wounded."

**[ LCPL. Thompson ]** "Still am. Pain's killing me, but I'm not gonna back down from a fight."

**[ Harald-077 ]** "I gave you an order, and you disobeyed it."

He heard one of the hunters shove a large piece of ship out of the way of the team's path. They were getting closer.

**[ LCPL. Thompson ]** "Wouldn't be the first time. Plus, nonverbal orders can be interpreted differently."

**[ Harald-077 ]** "That doesn't mean anything. I told you to leave. To get out of here."

**[ LCDR. Zaytseva ]** "And then I told him to go back for you. You should be thanking him."

The Covenant search party was almost right on top of them. There were only a few more seconds, at most, until one of the elites discovered them.

**[ Harald-077 ]** "I'm sorry, but who is she?"

**[ LCDR. Zaytseva ]** "Right now? Your superior officer."

**[ Harald-077 ]** "My apologies, ma'am. But right now—"

He felt the rubble he was leaning on shift out from behind him.

**[ Sangheili Major ]** "We found you, Demon."