Halo: The Dunes of 2560

Chapter 3: Hangar 8

In a hotel room, the 6 individuals of the platoon sat around in a circle thinking, David had his Recon helmet in his lap, Red is first to speak up, "We are going to have to leave the UNSC. Something isn't right about it." David inhales deep, trembling slightly, "I have an idea." They all looked to him, as he rubbed his eyes, before continuing, "We're going to steal the a Swalwart class Frigate. There's one sitting at the Romanoah Base to the north, we will drive there and storm the frigate. We may have to kill our way to get on board, and we will also have to make our way towards the Star, Boltis, if we go towards it, they may lose us if we warp to a location in deep space uninhabited by either Covenant or UNSC." Candy shakes his head, "Plan won't work, Flood will see our warp position and launch an attack on us, no matter where we are." Trent shushes them, "No, we won't go for the Frigate. We have this." He holds up the papers of the SFA Leak, "You didn't read it all, did you David?" He shakes his head, Trent smiles, "Well, it says here the SFA created experimental vessels and there is one here in Romanoah, it was shipped here a few months back escaping from Flood infested space. It says here it's the only vehicle the UNSC owns that utilizes only an experimental gravity engine. Apparently it can perform anything a UNSC or Covenant vessel can do, but with far better efficiency. It says here," he points to the paper as he hands it to David, "It can reach speeds of half the speed of light, it doesn't need a warp drive because it can reach its destination 300% faster than any vessel known to exist." David looks at it before giving Trent like he's a monster, "You know nobody here can pilot this fucking thing you dipshit! Vixon had only experience flying a Falcon, Candy is not a certified captain but was mentored, right?" Candy scoffs, "Yeah, I guess. It wasn't even a Frigate, it was a Longsword MKIIX, a Prototype Nuclear Bomber back in 2558." Trent sighs, "We'll have to find the man who will, or better, can pilot it. He must be close by to its hangar, it says on the papers the vessel is in Hangar 8."

Upon leaving the hotel, they walk out onto the street and David looks toward the left side, at the far end of the street at an intersection he sees a warthog with a Gauss Canon on it, "Precision Gauss Canon 3 o'clock guys." As pedestrians walk around them, Vixon whispers to David, "They won't kill us if we got these people all around us." The warthog starts driving toward them, the Gauss Canon aims at them as it approaches, David starts panicking, "Red I hope you have one of those Plasma 'nades." The Gauss Canon barrel lights up as Red winds up his arm and throws the Plasma grenade as hard as he can at the Warthog, it sticks directly on the Canon Shield and explodes, the 6 of them immediately sprint to the right, Northward.

Pedestrians yell and scream, running from them, the explosion hadn't killed anyone, even the people driving it were climbing out of the wreckage with minor injuries and burns. The platoon found their way to a parking garage where they found an M831 with two marines eating some food, David and Trent grab the marines and throw them to the concrete, the 6 of them pile into the warthog and speed off. Because 3 Sangheili are like having 6 humans in the vehicle, it was crowded in the back seats, so Red knelt in the middle, "The UNSC needs to contract a bigger warthog for us to be comfortable in these things." Candy grabbed his arm, "Hold on tight buddy." A blacked out warthog turned the corner and is pursuing them, on it is a Non-Detachable Rocket Launcher, with nobody behind it, Vixon looks carefully at the strange warthog, "Nobody is behind the gun, oh shit!" The rocket fires and narrowly misses they front right wheel, the M831 kicks up left, Crystal leans out the back and fires back at the warthog with a charged shot from a plasma pistol. A falcon flies overhead them, it isn't an attack falcon, its a Reporter Falcon, with a camera shooting them. Trent in the passenger seat turns on the screen and sees that they are on the news, the reporter in the Falcon says, "6 soldiers of the UNSC are on a rampage in Romanoah, 3 Spartans and 3 Sangheili make up the 6 soldiers, conveniently one of them has a history with the Covenant. Reports from the UNSC claim they are defecting to the Covenant and are to be armed, dangerous, and mentally unhinged. Stay indoors, and avoid the streets for the time being!" Trent slams his fist into the screen, "Fuck the UNSC! Fuck the Covenant! Fuck all this!" He stands up in the warthog aiming his assault rifle at the falcon above them, David in the drivers seat, grabs him and yanks him down, "You asshole, don't! You'll only feed them a narrative!" Another rocket launches and hits the bumper, but doesn't explode, it gets lodged in between the bumper and the mudflap. David makes a turn, "We're here, that's the gate to the base." Vixon leans over the back of the Warthog and sees the rocket, he yells to them, "Jump now!"