Chapter 12 - Sometimes, you can't win

"Dammit girl, we got to go back for jenkins, the boy ain't gonna make it!" yells out Sergeant Johnson. "Sarge! those were our guys shooting at us, we need to tell the captain!," yelled Mendoza. "Mendoza, shut your ass up, we got a marine to save, and dammit girl, hurry the hell back!". "Roger that sarge!"

The man grins at jenkins, smiling as his soldiers tie jenkins up, he thinks about the gung ho man that the kids under, and orders his soldiers to start packing up, "take them both, Avery's coming, and the bastards to stubborn to die. haha, can't wait for him to see what's gonna happen to you."

Jenkins, angry at the man, spits at him, but he's too far. Seeing the spit on the floor the man laughs, he pulls his gun, and shoots Jenkins leg. "you'll be fine little private, we just need you to help with our little experiment" laughs the man

jenkins glares at the man, "I ain't helping shit!" the man laughs even more, and shoots Jenkins in the other leg, "you don't have a choice." nodding at his men, they knock jenkins unconscious, while the other tied up man waits, hatred in his eyes.

They can see Johnson's pelican flying towards them, but they didn't have many supplies outside to begin with, so they quickly take off when they secured the two of them.

A chase has begun with the pelicans, the man orders the pilot to fly steady while one of his men shoots rockets at Johnson's pelican. The other pelican dodges the rockets with a few near misses as they get closer.

Sadly even though the pilot keeps dodging, shes starting to have issues, "sarge, what do you want to do, we can't keep dodging like this, the machinery can't handle the strain" Johnson smoking his cigar looks at the two strapped marines in the back of the fleeing pelican, tells everyone his answer, "hold on tight, ram them"

Her eyes widen, but she follows his orders, she sends a distress signal back to command, climbs up above them, and dives down.

..

The man smiles as one of his other men get ready to fire a second set of rockets beside the first soldier, and as they both start to send rockets at them, he laughs once again. He cares nothing about the wasted resources as he still has another container full of rockets. Yet, as he sees the other pelicans actions as they climb up out of his sight, he stops smiling and yells at his pilot, "DODGE THEM". By the time his pilot realizes what he meant, it was too late.

He feels the impact first, as he and his men go flying into the ceiling. The sound of metal screeching in his ears stuns him, while his two men fly out of the pelican hundreds of feet in the air. He glares at jenkins as he tried to seat himself, but the few restraints he set, snap, no longer holding him, sending him flying before his vision goes dark.

.....

A young man sits in an outpost, delegating orders when he receives a distress signal, he patches to captain Keyes comm, "Sir, were getting a distress signal from Avery's pelican, seems they ran into our passengers"

Captain Keyes sighs, the future has changed for everyone, and he, unlike in the vision, did not board with them. Still even with the changes, sometimes you can't win, no matter how you try to make sure they live while changing as little as possible. He brings up the young officers comm, "send two units to aid them, and save those you can, and make sure our passengers regret attacking us."

.....

On the way to truth and reconciliation, banshees have been pelting plasma fire on a lone drop ship. The drop ship climbed up in order for their bottom guns to hit them, but more banshees come to reinforce their attacks on them. Annoyed the Elite swears at them on the comms, but the only reply was threats of death, and heretic. The elite looks at the landscape, only seeing cliffs and crevices, frustrated, he curses. Another heavy blast of plasma hits them shaking the drop ship, but he still can't find an escape path, looking at the scared pilot, he makes up his mind, and orders him into a nearby crevice running through the area. the pilot scared, refuses citing it too thin, but the elite quickly slams him down, "do it, or we die"

Frightened, the pilot pushes into an incoming banshee, and dive crashes sideways into the crevice. The leader orders his men to brace themselves right before impact, metal screeching from the walls as they forcefully push themselves into the crevice.

The impact jarring them as the leader recovers from the side he had slammed into, checks on the pilot. After what seemed like minutes, he quickly orders his men to get out, and take what supplies they have left. the banshees overhead try to get in as well, but deem it too dangerous for their banshees to fly through. They pass word back to command, and are ordered to retreat as covenant reinforcements are on their way to route the heretics. The leader opens the hatchway, dragging the unconscious pilot, and sees how their section of the drop ship tore off from the impact, how the two of them lived he does not know, but he quickly drags the pilot with him to the bottom of the crevice, as his soldiers struggle to get out from the damaged areas. He, and his men eventually regroup, but seeing how much time they wasted, he orders them to follow.

Deep in the crevice, he notices metal on the floor, likely a facility nearby as well, he hurries.

.....

...I look at the architecture of the walls and wonder how they made everything. as I reach the top, the elevator has taken me to the next location, careful of what's inside I put my ear to the wall, but I hear nothing. I make my way through, but I don't come across anyone.

Reaching the exit, I think about the next location being the bridge, there is a likely chance of fighting out there. I don't know how I'll make my way through, but I am hoping they're too busy to notice me, I'll try to run through it all.