The Ashes of Reach

8.

She kept on pushing forward, with no thought of the dangers that could lead to this mission. She had to find her friend. She just had to. Her AI continued to warn her and she ignored every warning. If there was even a sliver of a chance of him being alive, she had to take it.

She would soon make it into the system and sees the planet in the distance. "Oh god..." She said to herself as she started to get pictures in her head. One by one she thought of her team dying. First Jorge, then Kat, then Carter, then Emile, then Jason. For the first time, she started having second thoughts about the mission. They definitely don't want her to die with them. They would want to keep going right? But the thought was quickly subsided as she slowly approaches the planet.

She then started noticing covenant ships floating in the air, though only a couple. She decides to wait for an opening and when she finds it, she fully speeds into the planet, heading for the last place she was before getting off the planet. As she was about to land, Jesus would speak up to say "Alert, multiple contacts spotted around the area. Three elites. Two minor class, one general class." She says, making Alison nod and land on the same place she found the Pelican in the first place.

Alison would take a deep breath before loading up her DMR and opening the back door. Pointing her weapon, she would start to walk from the Pelican to the destroyed base. Where Jason took his final stand and sacrificed himself for Alison. She remembers that day like it was yesterday, and not by choice either. It keeps on coming back to haunt her.

She would quickly take cover in one of the broken bunkers and peeks her head out to see the general talking to the minors, seeming to be ordering them to do something. As he finishes, the three spreads out. She then quickly came up with a plan, to eliminate the three elites and search the area in hopes to find clues to where Jason might've gone. She starts off with the closest elite, one of the minors. She would quickly sneak up behind it before grabbing it by the back of the head and stabbing it in the neck with her knife, then she heads to the other minor, which she made quick work of him as well by stabbing him in the side, pulling the knife out then finishing the job with a stab to the head.

Almost immediately after, the general saw what happened and rushed to her with a plasma repeater, getting good hits on her shields. She would quickly turn around and charge at him while shooting her DMR, but then the general would kick her in the face, making her grunt and stumble back, breaking the rest of her shields and dropping her rifle. She would be left dazed for a couple seconds but managing to jump out the way when the General tries to take a couple shots at her. Pulling out her knife, she was determined to finish the fight by tackling him to the ground and sticking the knife in his neck, killing him almost instantly.

She starts panting as she stands up and puts her knife away while her shields recharge. She would then start to search the area, finding next to nothing important besides old, broken USNC log dates she didn't care about. For a while there was nothing, no footprints, no blood trails, nothing. She grew frustrated and sad, thinking she had just wasted her time. When hope was almost lost and she was contemplating going back home, that's when she found it. Jason's helmet.

She sprinted towards the helmet at full speed, and kneeled down to it. It had been damaged heavily but the distress signal was going off. She found what she was looking for and she was starting to feel hope again. She would pick it up and as she did, a tape recorder would fall out of it. Confused, she picked it up and played the tape, and it played the message she'll never un hear ever again while staring at his helmet

Jason's voice was heard on the recording, sounding very hurt and tired. He would say "Agh... I-I don't think I'm going to make it... bastard Zealot fucking... punctured a lung or something... I-I don't know how much time I have left but... if I go out... I'm going out happy... i was so happy to see you fly out of here... knowing that you were safe is all that mattered to m-me in the end. Alison... my partner... I don't know if you're ever going to hear this but I... I want you to know... you're strong... you're the toughest person I know... and you have the drive to survive, the skills to survive... please... never give up... never s-stop... moving forward... and keep your head up high... with all we've been through I realize that may be hard but... I k-know you can do it. You always can do it. Goodbye Alison... my friend."

Listening to the clip made Alison consumed by emotion, but she couldn't move. All she did was stare at his helmet, even after the audio was over. She examined every piece of it, the broken visor, the signal, everything. The words kept echoing in her head, she couldn't hear anything else while tears stream down her face. She couldn't stop looking at the helmet, she couldn't move. It wasn't until Jesus said to her "Alison, we must leave immediately."

The voice broke her out of her trance. She stood up, gripping onto the helmet tight and the recording in the other hand, she walked back to the Pelican without saying a word. With ease, she went into the pilot seat and took off, fortunately not being followed. As they flew into space, Jesus would ask "Are you alright, Alison?" But Alison wouldn't respond, she kept the helmet on her lap before starting to fully break out into a sob, harder than ever she's done before. In between those sobs, she would quietly say to herself "Jason... I love you..."