Truth of the Rings 2 - The Heroes Of Earth

Part 3 - Cairo

Floyd lifted the Battle rifle and looked down at it. Personally, he HATED this weapon, and it's platform. The MA5 series was always his true love, and just the overall annoying usage of the Battle rifle ticked him off, especially with his hatred of burst weapons. However, he was competent with every weapon and knew it was either BR or hand gun. And a handgun wouldn't get him as far as a BR, no matter his hatred. He loaded the weapon and slid it onto his back, putting the pistol on his hip as he looked at Miranda. The small woman had grabbed the same loadout, and the two began on their way with Master Chief.

As the group made their way through the Cairo, they first came to a glassy room with panels, and a large door. The covenant were audible on the other side. The Spartans stacked up with the Marines, setting up an ambush for the covenant.

"When the door blows, let em' have it!" Johnson yelled out, as he perched his rifle on the edge of his cover.

The sparking of the door slowly moved down the front of it, cutting through the center locks... And the door exploded open. Covenant rushed through and immediately got cut down by the Mass gunfire of the Soldiers. Once they cut through the covenant, Miranda went through with Chief, Floyd and Johnson plus a small entourage. Chief wasn't actually an escort but they were happening to head the same way. They went through a few more rooms, making quick work of each group of Covenant until coming to a room not too unlike the first room they went through. After helping the Marines clear it, one of the Marines looked out the window.

"Hey look at that, the Malta already pushed them out!" The Marine pointed.

Floyd peered out the window at it. Something wasn't right. The covenant were leaving at retreat speeds from the Malta... But the fleet was only advancing. They weren't running away. And he soon figured out why.

The Malta exploded into bits, almost like it was destroyed. Bomb? Reactor damage? They couldn't tell. Floyd couldn't pull his eyes away from it, as the two warring sides of his brain both got to work.

One side was trying to piece together the mystery. What happened to the Malta? Could it happen here? Is there any reason to target the Malta more than Cairo? But the other side.... He couldn't fathom the amount of lives lost. And unsure how to react to them, he just froze up.

A second or so later however, he felt a tap on his arm as Chief once again brought him back to reality and gestured to follow. The group kept moving through the ship, cutting through another hanger area. The phantom seemed to be overly loaded, and it was just Pumping groups after groups of covenant out of it. Floyd advanced on their left side, lifting a grunt by the large pyramid shape on its back and threw it at another grunt, as it shrieked out in fear and raised its small arms to protect itself. Turning his attention, Floyd raised his rifle to an elite and fired, but this elite was wearing much higher class armor. Being more experienced, it moved with perfect grace and elegance to its left, dodging out of the way of the first burst and grabbing the rifle in his hands. It drew a small energy knife in its other hand and lunged it for his throat, but he caught its arm and the two locked in each other's grips for a second. After a good bit of pushing, he headbutted the elite, causing one of the 4 mandibles on its face to bend strangely. Using the short time of it being concussed to his advantage, he spun behind it and began pulling the energy knife toward it's neck as it tried to hold back and defend itself. Floyd instead drew his handgun with his off hand and began letting off multiple rounds into its back, causing it to lose grip as he stabbed the knife into its neck. He dropped the elite, reloading the Handgun and Battle rifle and holstering the Magnum on his hip.

As he finished his fight, a Marine looked out the window and pointed in fear "Oh no... I think they are leaving the Athens."

Sure enough, same as the Malta, it exploded moments later. This time, Chief and Floyd could tell what happened. Cortana beat them to the assessment however.

"That explosion came from Inside the Athens. The covenant brought something on board. A bomb."

Lord Hood responded, getting in contact with the Spartans. "Then they sure as hell brought one here. Master chief, find it."

The group continued, making their way through the Armory as they found the corpse of the Armorer from earlier. Lifting his shotgun, Floyd and the group made their way through another room with mounted turrets this time.

Chief looked at Floyd expectantly while they were behind cover, kind of confusing him. So chief asked. "What's the scan say of the room."

"Scan?"

"Your AI. Did you flick the switch?"

"No... This one?" He flicked a small switch on his armor as an AI's voice began talking to him In his helmet.

"FUCKING finally! I've been cramped up in there for like an hour and a half with no way to tell you! My name is Jen, I'm your new AI, NEVER do that again."

Floyd responded to her "we need a scan of the room. There are mounted turrets across the way."

"Oh. Yeah, hold on." A large pulse went through the room, seemingly scanning for sounds and what they reflect off of to get echo location. It lit up 6 targets, including 2 grunts on turrets and their locations.

Floyd pinged them on chief's HUD and nodded to him. Both counted to 3 and turned the corner simultaneously, headshotting both grunts and moving forward. Finally, they reached the docking bay for Miranda Keyes' ship, as she, Floyd and Johnson began making their way Inside. She turned to chief as he went along. "Thanks chief. Good luck."

Heading Into the ship, the crew immediately began take off procedures... And the space battle began.