Halo: Anesidora

7

Jason let out a quiet breath, before putting his finger on the trigger, he then turned to peer around the edge of the tree he was behind, and began to return fire on the covenant troops. they were entrenched in the woods, and had the defensive advantage. he saw an elite pull out a grenade and was about to warn Jessica when he saw the elite go down, he glanced at her, he could tell by her posture that she was nervous, but clearly his talk had gotten through to her

"i like her, she's a badass" commented Juno, Jason couldn't help but agree.

Jason pulled out a grenade and chucked it, hearing a few grunts scream as it exploded, he peaked the corner again, firing a few shots through a jackals shield. its partner getting put down by the ODST, a couple grunts tried to run for it. but were put down with lethal efficiency.

Jason put his gun away, and glanced at Jess, nodding to tell her good work "Juno?"

"covenant battle-net is quiet. they don't know the ambush failed yet. they weren't expecting a spartan" said Juno. she paused for a second "I'm sorry, i should have picked something up-"

"it's not your fault Juno, you aren't perfect" responded Jessica "besides they could have decided to do it face to face rather than over comms"

Jason walked over to the dead aliens and knelt down next to the elite, examining his armor "field commander, high rank, dangerous foe. nice kill" he said, he grabbed the Elites grenade, putting it on his belt "we need to move, the fighting could probably be heard from the summit, they'll want to check in on our friend here"

"wait, grab his com-link. we can return the favor and hack into their coms" said Juno. Jason felt around the elites helmet, until he found what he was looking for, he attached the device to his helmet"

it would take Juno a second, but she patched the two soldiers into the covenants communications network. an elite could be heard over the radio

"I'm translating.  in the meantime, it's quite a hike" stated juno 

Jason and Jessica would begin to follow the road further up the mountain. the relay was still a climb upwards, it would take a minute to reach it, it would have been quicker to drive or just land up there, but that was too obvious.

"hug the trees" commented Jason, pushing Jessica against the forest as a couple of banshees flew overhead "security is going to be tight. if we're not careful they might be too much"

"with our backs against a sheer cliff-face and our front towards a legion of covenant?" added Jessica. Jason nodded grimly, then began to start hiking again.

"I've only partially translated that Elites broadcast. it's from one of the elites in charge of the entire invasion, a field marshal. apparently he's here at the relay station. it's just general orders. but the one we picked up was him checking on the commander we killed. I've routed back a fake all clear but that will only fool him for so long" said juno. the two soldiers were about half way up, they dodged a couple of patrols on the way up, until they reached the last checkpoint before the facility

jackals and grunts were patrolling the parameter, and had set up defenses, mounted turrets, sniper nests, the works.

"can we sneak through?" asked Jessica

Jason studied the defenses for a few seconds "No, I don't believe so. there's no other entrance to the facility on this side of the mountain, Snipers would catch us if we try to run past..." 

"I might be able to draw some away using a fake battle-net message, but not all of them" suggested Juno

"do it" Jason said, he thought for a moment, before holding out his assault rifle "can i borrow your DMR?"