"I will, sir." A particularly large marine spoke up, climbing onto the gun. "What's your name, marine?" The Major asked. "Corporal Manning, sir." The Major nodded, and I hit the gas. We sped around the semicircle of overturned warthogs, and saw what was left of the ground assault. A small group of warthogs were surrounded by the small number or revenants that Strauss had mentioned. As we neared the first revenant, its driver still unaware of our presence, Major Salvich fired the first rocket. The trail of smoke found its way quickly to the target, tossing the once powerful machine into the air in a cloud of smoke and red fire. The explosion alerted its allies, and we became the new target. I dodged and weaved between the red bursts of plasma, expertly avoiding the shots as I made my way around the circle. The revenants thinned their ranks around the other warthogs as they converged on my location. I veered, changing direction to confuse the revenants. Almost immediately, the battlefield became a maze of mangled machines, enemies, and our warthog, all concealed by a thick cloud of dust kicked up by our vehicle's tires. Stone and Manning fired away, all of us blind, save for the streaks of red and blue that arced through the dust, the intense heat melting the dirt and sand. Every breath was filled with shards of glass, stinging my lungs like needles as I tried to concentrate on the concealed enemies all around us. The warthog spun wildly as my mind raced to find a target. Out of nowhere, we stopped abruptly, slamming into one of the revenants at full force. After my head stopped spinning from the impact with the steering wheel, I heard the angry cry of an elite, no doubt the driver of the vehicle. I heard movement behind me, and I turned to see Corporal Manning leaving the gun, and running across the top of the warthog. He jumped off of the hood, diving at the elite with his combat knife drawn. Unable to see what was happening, I waited and listened for the struggling to stop. I saw streaks of blue light the dust as the elite fired his weapon wildly, no doubt as blind as us in the dust. A few more seconds passed, and the firing stopped. "Got him!" I heard the Corporal exclaim. His face materialize in the settling dust, a grin spread widely across his face. "Do you think we can use this revenant?" Before I could answer, a blue mortar arced just overhead, searing the tip of the warthog gun. It slammed into the revenant, sending the warthog flying high into the air, throwing Stone off of our improvised gun as it did so. We hit the ground, hard, with rockets spewed along the path we had just taken. The warthog was upside-down, and I was a few feet away, the Major not far from me. I stood, wiping what was either sweat or blood off of my face, and looked at the warthog, noticing the still glowing-hot front bumper, then turned to where the revenant lay, the majority of the vehicle evaporated by the heat, while the ends had melted, now infused with the dry dirt. Manning was nowhere to be seen, no doubt a part of the red cloud of plasma and metal that was rising from the destroyed vehicle. The dust was beginning to clear, and I could see the two remaining revenants let loose a volley of mortars, the wraith turning its attention to the other warthogs once again. Both mortar shots missed us, luckily, but the Covenant wouldn't stop there, I knew. They were barely visible through what was left of the dust, but I watched as they raised their guns once more. Before they could fire, two warthogs materialized out of the dust, and slammed into the revenants simultaneously. Both were thrown abruptly, their mortars firing in completely different directions, one of them hitting the other with the shot, taking out the revenant, but also one of the warthogs. As I pulled the Major up by the arm, and hobbled over to Stone, I watched two marines take out the revenant's driver, two more warthogs appearing behind them as the rest of our small force made it to the battlefield. The Major slowly regained consciousness, as I neared Stone, who was already rising onto his feet. The three surviving warthogs drove over to us, and I was relieved to see Young and Reynolds among the survivors. I climbed into their warthog, and Stone and Salvich each took the passenger's seat of another. The nine of us headed straight at the wraith, who now had us in its full attention. Before it could fire at us, the other warthogs all charged it, knowing that it was defenseless against two fronts. It went down quickly. The two groups of warthogs rendezvoused, and we finally met the men we had worked so hard to save. One of the marines approached me. I noticed the emblem of a Staff Sergeant on his uniform, and gave a firm salute. "Save it, Sergeant." He spoke, "I'm Lieutenant Ryan Williams, this is Sergeant Marvin Mobuto." He pointed to a very large man behind him. "We were in charge of this unit, and you saved our asses." He gave me a stiff salute. "It is me that should be saluting you." I gave a firm nod, then stepped down from the Warthog, the other marines following suit. "I'm Sergeant Jonathan Roland, this is Major Salvich. It was his plan that saved you." I motioned to the Major, who was still a little groggy from the impact. "Roland, come in!" Luck's voice sounded in my ear. I motioned to the Staff Sergeant to hint at the message, then walked off to the side as the Major began talking to him. "I hear, you Luck. You still okay up there?" "Those banshees tore us up bad, Roland, but I'm alright. How'd you make out down below?" "Almost got massacred down here. Got ambushed by revenants and a wraith, but we got 'em." "So I take it you don't need the pickup?" "I-" A shockwave ripped past us, nearly knocking me off my feet, taking my attention before I could finish. I looked up and saw a ship, the UNSC Grafton, low in orbit. It had just fired its MAC cannon. "Damn, that was loud!" I heard from somewhere amidst our group. Cheers erupted from all around. However, the cheers were soon drowned out by another explosion, as a stream of blue fire tore its way through the Grafton, demolishing it in an instant. Suddenly, the sky was filled with terror, a massive ship, hundreds of times bigger than anything I had ever seen materialized in the amber sky. The cheers had been replaced by silence. "Roland!" Luck spoke fearfully, "Please tell me you ain't seein' what I am." "... We need that evac... We need it ASAP, Luck!" I turned to the Major, who met my fearful gaze. "Retreat!" He called out, "Fall back! Now!" The marines scrambled into their warthogs, a clamoring mess of men all running for their lives. Before we could find our way into our own 'hogs, another wave of revenants, no doubt from the newly appeared ship, came from the side. A volley of red plasma seared across the sky, striking many of the warthogs as they fled. The sounds of explosions, screams, and engines clashed horridly in my ear as I ran for the warthog. A second volley landed all around us, the warthogs destroyed. All of us that were left ran blind, like ants avoiding the magnifying glass. We knew not when nor where the next shot would land, all we could do was hope that it wasn't where we were standing. I barely heard the whirring of engines over the thunderous noise of plasma striking dirt. I looked up to see Luck's pelican swirling through the dust and smoke. "To the pelican!" I yelled into the comm. I ran as quickly as I could to the dropship. Luck was keeping it moving, about five feet off the ground. I jumped for it, and two hands grabbed mine, pulling me in. Looking up, I saw the faces of Stone and Reynolds, but the rest of the marines were nowhere to be seen. I scanned the dust for others, Young and Strauss both making their way to the ship soon after me. While Stone and Reynolds helped them in, I searched for the Major. Finally, I spotted him, silhouetted in the dust by a flash of red. "I'll be back!" I yelled over the noise, leaping from the pelican, despite the protests of my squad. My knees buckled at the impact, and I stumbled, but kept on running in the direction of the Major. Then I saw him, confused and lost in the dust. "Major!" I called to him, and he turned. A look of relief on his face. A flash of plasma appeared behind him, and he was thrown into the air. I myself was knocked to the ground. I ran to him, determined to get him to safety. I looked down to him, his side badly burned by the plasma. "Get out of here!" He said, struggling over a bloody cough. "I won't make it. Look at me." "I'm not leaving you here, Major." "Look at me, Roland! I'm going to die here!" "Like hell you are." I grabbed his arm and leg, slinging him across my shoulders, and ran. The hot shards of glass in the air bit at my lungs, and my legs strained in protest, but I kept going. Plasma scorched the dirt around me as I neared the pelican. Luck lowered it almost to the ground, and I stepped in, lowering the Major into a seat as gently as I could. "You're a damned lunatic, Sergeant." He coughed, closing his eyes and wincing. "Get us out of here, Luck!" I called forward. The hatch closed, and we sped away from the battlefield, weary, but alive. ------- [Edited on 08.06.2011 3:24 PM PDT]