Halo: The Cole Protocol (24 page)

CHAPTER

FORTY-FOUR

INFINITE SPOILS
OFF HABITAT TIAGO,
THE RUBBLE, 23 LIBRAE

Jai whipped out his submachine gun and peered around the cloud of smoke the grenades left behind. Jackals lay draped everywhere on the bridge, thrown clear by the explosions.

Nothing stirred in the haze, but Jai walked around, putting a round in the head of each Jackal for good measure.

“Bridge is secure,” he reported.

ODSTs streamed in after him. “Bridge is clear,” they confirmed.

They had plowed through the Jackals quickly on their way up to the bridge, Jai running in front. Five Jackals, unable to hide behind their energy shields, had died in the corridors. Same for the bridge crew.

But from the sound of battle chatter, the bulk of the fighting Jackals had run out of the ship to fight the initial attack from the dock.

A good hundred or so of them had held their airlock against that threat, not even for a second imagining that they were going to get boarded from the outside. It was easy enough to keep them from getting back in.

The AI and Lt. Keyes had a flair for this, Jai thought.

“Spartan, can you head back and provide protection for Lt. Keyes?” Faison asked.

“On my way,” Jai replied. He took one last look around the bridge. The ODSTs were throwing the dead Jackal bodies into a pile in the corner.

He double-timed it back down the corridor.

ODSTs snapped quick nods at him as he passed, some flat-out stared as he thudded his way back toward the
Mighty Sparrow.
He passed Li and Kirtley running toward the bridge with a pair of ODSTs guarding them.

Keyes waited in the airlock. As Jai stepped inside, his earpiece crackled. “Jai, this is Delgado.”

“Go ahead,” Jai said.

“I’m passing on a message from
Petya.
They report success, and are on their way back. That’s all.”

“Thanks,” Jai said. He smiled inside his helmet. Adriana and Mike had taken care of business. “You ready?” Jai asked Keyes.

“Yes. And by the way, Spartan?”

“Yessir?” Jai looked down at him.

Keyes smiled up at Jai. “Boy, is it nice to see you out here with us.”

So many things could still go wrong, Jai thought. But they’d stormed a Jackal ship, destroyed most of the nav data, and had control of the rest. So far, so good.

“Jai, Faison, Keyes,” Delgado’s voice burst over Jai’s moment. “We have a problem. There’s a ship inbound. Not ours. Covenant.”

Keyes frowned. “Already?”

Jai put a hand on the lieutenant’s shoulder. “Come, Lt. Keyes, we need to move quickly, then.”

CHAPTER

FORTY-FIVE

UNNAMED KIG-YAR TRANSPORT, THE RUBBLE, 23 LIBRAE

Thel looked at the monitor, not quite believing what he saw: a human freighter, docked with the
Infinite Spoils.
And he was listening to the Kig-Yar battle channel, where they screamed about human attacks by their UNSC warriors.

Zhar looked over at him. “This Rubble grows stranger by the day, Shipmaster.”

Thel shook his long head. “As strange as this may be, it cannot surprise you. The humans are heretics—it was foolish of the Kig-Yar to think they could enter into an alliance with them.”

“Nonetheless, the airlock is occupied. What do we do now?” Zhar asked.

“Shoot the human ship,” Thel ordered. “It will either move, or we will have to burn our way in.”

Thel leaned back in his command chair, watching plasma leap out toward the human ship.

CHAPTER

FORTY-SIX

MIGHTY SPARROW
NEAR HABITAT TIAGO,
THE RUBBLE, 23 LIBRAE

Delgado grabbed the sides of his navigation chair as the cockpit shuddered. Air pressure dropped—the ship had been holed. He pulled the visor shut on his suit and sealed the gloves. It made operating a console clumsier, but it was clear this bucket was going to be full of nothing but vacuum soon enough.

The monitor showed the Covenant craft firing another round of plasma at them. Delgado winced as the
Mighty Sparrow
groaned. A large chunk of the cockpit ceiling caved in, and the glass all blew out.

This was bad. They needed to bug out.

“We’re losing the freighter,” Delgado reported. “Get your men out of this ship, Keyes. It looks like the Jackals have reinforcements.”

“Get inside the
Infinite Spoils
with the ODSTs then,” Keyes said. “Abandon the
Sparrow,
it’s a lost cause. If we leave the
Sparrow
docked, they’ll have a hard time getting through her. We’ll fight our way out down the docks.”

Delgado cleared out of the cockpit. At the airlock one of Keyes’ men waited for him. Faison, if he remembered the name correctly. “I came back to make sure all my men were out,” Faison barked, putting his black helmet on. Delgado could see the corridor he’d just run down reflected back in the visor. “Keyes and Jai are on the bridge, jacking the AI in. We’re headed for the docks. I want to lead the breakout there.”

“I’ll go with you,” Delgado said. Running with the leader of the Helljumpers had to be a safe bet.

They ran through corridors, Faison leading, turning the corners with his battle rifle up at chin level. Delgado followed, handgun out.

He was struggling to keep up with the marine, though. His legs hurt, his lungs hurt. Everything was one big ache.

Faison turned a corner well ahead of Delgado and plasma fire burst out. Faison dropped to the ground with a grunt, firing as he fell. The smell of burnt flesh filled Delgado’s nostrils.

Delgado rounded the corner firing his pistol low, shifting his aim to hit a Kig-Yar running down the corridor in the feet. It howled, energy shield falling to the ground, and Faison shot it in the head.

“Damn it!” Faison shouted. He sounded angry, not hurt. Despite that, the floor was slick with his blood. The shot had been close to an artery, Delgado guessed. Even without the charring, Faison was in bad shape. “This corridor was supposed to be cleared.”

“He could have been hiding until now.” Delgado crouched in front of the marine. Faison’s right thigh had been hit. As he cursed the Jackal, Faison used a knife to cut off long strips of cloth from his left pant leg.

Delgado helped him make a makeshift tourniquet, tying it off around Faison’s upper thigh to reduce the bleeding. It was a blood-soaked rag by the time they finished.

Delgado wiped his hands on his trousers. “You need a medic.”

Faison leaned his helmeted head against the wall and groaned. “I know,” he grunted. “But if we call someone down we’re putting them in risk.”

Delgado sat down against the opposite wall. “What are you doing?” Faison asked.

“Waiting for help with you,” Delgado said.

Faison shoved the battle rifle across the floor. “No, you keep moving. You’ll have a better chance of getting out of here if you head for the docks. Keep your eyes open.”

“There is no way I’m leaving you behind,” Delgado said.

“Leave me your pistol,” the marine said. “Take my rifle. I’ve been shot in the thigh and I’ve already lost too much blood. I’m not walking out of here, pilot. It’s just not going to happen.”

“You have men to lead. We can get them to come back via the docks for you,” Delgado said.

“I’m not spending lives to save my own,” Faison said. He shifted his position and winced, and then he yanked his helmet off, throwing it down beside him. “I turned the corridor too fast, I let my guard down, and I paid the price.”

“And if I wasn’t in such rough shape, I would have been right there beside you,” Delgado said.

“Battle is random like that, sometimes.” Faison gestured for Delgado’s pistol, and Delgado tossed him
Señora Sies.
The marine examined it. “Fancy piece.”

“It has a long history,” Delgado said.

“I’ll bet so,” Faison muttered. “I’m sorry to have to ask for it, but you’ll be better off with the rifle. Now go, quickly.”

Delgado stood up, and grabbed Faison’s wrist in an extended handshake. “You’re a good man, Faison. For UNSC.”

Faison laughed. “I bet it hurts to say that.”

Delgado smiled. “Not really, soldier. Not really.”

“Go,” Faison hissed. “Please.”

Delgado turned the corner with the battle rifle up and at the ready, his footsteps echoing softly off the walls as he left the ODST marine behind him in a pool of blood.

Once he was down the corridor he ignored Faison’s commands and radioed Jai. “Faison is down. If you can get back to this location at any point, he really needs a medic. He’ll need backup—we were ambushed.”

CHAPTER

FORTY-SEVEN

INFINITE SPOILS,
OFF HABITAT TIAGO,
THE RUBBLE, 23 LIBRAE

Keyes watched as Juliana appeared over the alien console, her form wavering and sparking.

“It’s getting bad out here,” he told her. “We have Jackals on the docks in solid numbers still holding out, and reinforcements at the door on the other side. We abandoned the
Mighty Sparrow.
Please tell me all this was worth it.”

Juliana ignored him as her eyes flashed incandescent white and she dropped to her knees. “Strong security,” she whispered. Then she opened her eyes wide. “But it
was
worth it. We’re in real danger. All of us. Yank me, Lieutenant, and get me back into the Rubble. I have the data I need, and we need to act fast. The Kig-Yar are coming for us. The Rubble will need to make a stand. Get me out of here, Keyes. Now!”

Keyes pulled the chip and pocketed it.

“To the docks?” he asked Jai.

The Spartan’s gold visor turned to him. “I need to make a detour. Your man Faison’s hurt. Delgado asked if we could help.”

Keyes nodded. “Get to him.”

Jai thudded out of the room, and Keyes turned to the ODSTs inside the cockpit. “Let’s get out of here.”

CHAPTER

FORTY-EIGHT

INFINITE SPOILS,
OFF HABITAT TIAGO,
THE RUBBLE, 23 LIBRAE

Thel stepped aboard the
Infinite Spoils
with a snarl. The human ship had clogged up their attempt to board, and they’d had to shuttle over on boarding ships, burning their way aboard the docked human freighter.

It left him in a testy mood. And with Unggoy milling about bumping into each other, Thel’s mood had darkened further.

He leaned over to Zhar. “Have any of them figured out how to move this human ship away?”

“No,” Zhar replied, looking over the Unggoy standing around the cockpit, pushing buttons and chattering to each other.

Thel sighed. “Leave five Unggoy here to cut the ship loose with plasma torches once we get through the airlock.”

He stalked back to the airlock and made his way through after several Unggoy. They fanned out ahead of him into the corridors, their ungainly steps making far too much noise.

The Kig-Yar ship felt empty. No Kig-Yar had even tried to hold the airlock. Had the humans killed them all?

And if so, where were the humans?

Zhar followed him through. After the airlock closed, the sound of welding and cutting came through from the other side. A moment later a loud creaking sound filled the corridor, then silence.

“The human ship is cut loose. The Unggoy Deacon and Saal say they’re towing it free and casting it off,” Zhar said. “So far, no human ships have come to sniff around.”

“Good.” Thel looked around. “Unggoy toward the bridge. Zhar and I will secure the other airlock from the docks and eliminate any Kig-Yar there.”

The Unggoy dutifully headed up the corridor.

Zhar patted the plasma rifle in his hands. “Let’s go, then.”

Thel’s old friend took the lead, turning corners as Thel quickly followed behind, keeping him covered as they thudded down the inside of the ship through bulkhead after bulkhead.

Zhar turned a corner and flinched as human gunfire slapped into his armor. The old Sangheili fired downward, and the shots stopped.

The now dead human, its back against the wall, had been already wounded. A large shot to its thigh had bled the creature’s strange red blood out onto the floor. Zhar had shot it once: clean through the head.

“It was sitting down,” Zhar said. “Startled me. I barely got a return shot in.”

“You are lucky it didn’t have a more powerful weapon.” Thel kicked away the handgun lying by its side.

“Indeed.” Zhar actually sounded somewhat shaken. He squatted in front of the dead human. “I wonder why they left one of their own behind like this? Was it a trap?”

“Who knows how they think?” Thel said. “Who cares? They are heretics. They do not deserve names or life.”

Zhar wouldn’t stop worrying at some idea deep in his head, “I don’t know, Thel. You’re a true zealot, I know, and I would never doubt the word of the Prophets, but we’ve fought the humans for years and they show some capacity for honor. Look, they left behind one of their own, who was bleeding and dishonored, to spring a trap and die with honor. Don’t you think that indicates something profoundly noble about them?”

Thel looked down at the dead alien and thought about it, “You think too much, Zhar.”

As he said that, Thel saw something move quickly out of the corner of his eyes. Zhar snapped out his plasma rifle and fired, just as the large, gray-armor-clad human fired back with a rifle of its own.

Thel pulled out his energy sword as the armored human smacked into him, carrying them both rolling down the corridor until they struck a bulkhead hard enough to make Thel’s vision blur and knock his sword loose.

“I cannot get a good aim,” Zhar shouted, as Thel struggled to get a grip on the powerful human’s rifle.

The loud human gun fired into the floor several times as they fought over it, and then Thel got the barrel in both his hands.

He stared at his reflection in the alien’s visor and roared as he bent the weapon, straining to make it useless. The gold visor stared implacably back at Thel. There were no sounds, though the alien was straining just as hard.

What creature did not choose to show its face that wasn’t a soulless and dead one? Thel roared again. “Demon! Heretic. Unholy alien!” He headbutted the gold visor, snapping the human’s neck back with each whiplike blow.

The human threw him back and yanked a primitive knife from the chest of its armor.

The two warriors stood, staring at each other for a split second. Thel suddenly realized that they would both die, fighting to the very end, equally matched.

Equally matched with a
human.
Thel spat purple blood from his mouth. This was a surprise.

The human looked over at the other dead marine, shook its head, and then took off down the corridor.

“We follow it,” Thel gasped, out of breath. He’d broken a rib with that impact.

“What
was
that?” Zhar asked, cautiously pointing his plasma rifle around the corner.

“I do not know,” Thel said. “It was strong, though.” He joined Zhar, turning around the corner.

“Looks like it was headed to the docks. Let’s go.”

Zhar had a small limp, and it hurt for Thel to run, but neither of them would allow these to slow them. Both Sangheili ran all out, grunting occasionally, to the airlock dock.

They got there just in time to see the gray-armored human disappear past the lip, running out into the large cavernous docking area where human tracers and Covenant plasma filled the air.

Kig-Yar corpses lay around the airlock.

Zhar took one side, Thel the other, forgetting about the strange new human for now. “It looks like the Kig-Yar were protecting the ship,” Zhar said. “But were surprised by the attack from inside.”

“The humans are moving out onto the docks, back into their habitats,” Thel noted. “They have done us a favor. They cleared the ship.”

He shut the airlock door with a laugh and walked over to Zhar and clapped him on the shoulder. “Guard this door, old friend. I will head to the bridge and get us moving. We will pick up Saal, and then we will see what our options are.”

Zhar nodded.

“But you should also check to see what it was the humans were doing aboard when we get clear,” Zhar said. “We do not need anymore surprises.”

Thel thought about the pain in his ribs, and what had felt like a close brush with death, and nodded.

What
had
that human been?