The Battle of Installation 04 Part 1

"This is just terrible." I said after we pulled up to the Master Chief's crash site and saw all the dead marines strewn about, "How much do you want to bet that all these guys had wives and children?"

"Your sincere grief is noted." John said as he gathered up supplies for the coming battles.

"Don't need sincerity when I got a foldable plasma turret in the back." I told him as I hit the button that collapsed the lid of the trunk and a high powered chrome plasma turret deployed itself, "Get familiar with it then lets go save everyone not killed by faulty landing gear."

The Master Chief climbed into the back of The Good Evening and tested out the ballistics of the orange bolts of plasma against nearby materials. When he stopped he ran a hand down the length of the death spewing turret.

"This." He spoke, "This I like."

"Of course you do." I commented, "My husband made it and he is the king of precision applications of overkill."

"I beg to differ." Linda chuckled as she racked a round into her sniper rifle.

"Keep that attitude up, Eagle Eye." I grinned, "We'll need that when we're neck deep in Flood swarms. Or at least you two will need it, I really doubt the flood can interact with me."

"Lucky you." Linda snarked.

"Eh, luck, quantum cannibalism. Same difference." I smirked and hit the accelerator.

We made great time hooking up with fire team Charlie, the first of the marines we'd save during the day and I grinned as I looked at Sargent Johnson, who would apparently survive a guaranteed death on this ring through 'classified' means and an ass groping by an Elite. Or ass groping an Elite depending on which version of the game you played. Grunt theorized that the power of friendship protected them from the blast.

God I hate the power of friendship.

We spent the rest of the day running around the ring world saving various teams of soldiers before retiring to FAB built by both the Covenant and later the ODST soldiers that took it around Forerunner structures on a bluff. It was impressive how much the marines and ODSTs had accomplished in their salvage runs. The position was as secure as we could make it without getting some heavy AA guns set up.

It had been a full day of rescue ops, but we were still too late to prevent the capture of Captain Keyes and the deaths of his escort and command staff in a box canyon. It wasn't a huge loss. Keyes was pretty cool for a CO, but he wasn't essential to my mission. None of these guys are.

As I enjoyed the hot water shower set up at Alpha Base I thought about the weird disparity between convenience and firepower the humans of 2552 had. They could get working plumbing up in hours on a new world, but were still using gas operated powder based weapons and had just figured out energy shielding.

I was joined in the communal shower by Linda who had been taken out of her power armor using equipment that had been recovered from a crash site. She looked like a bigger version of Commander Shepard with a more crimson red to her hair and a less vibrant green in her eyes. Other than that they were both military hardware to the bone, literally in both their cases, though Shepard's cybernetic upgrades were more extensive and at the same time less extreme.

Shepard was enhanced for baseline power and durability, the Spartans had that and were enhanced to cut down microseconds off their reaction times.

And It was all done by a shadowy government agency with near unlimited funding and near zero morals and oversight. All they need is for ONI to go rogue and you have a perfect Cerberus look alike.

While on the trail of the familiar, I know that look. I know I am eye-catching, had to redo the tattoos a couple times and cover old bullshit up with better memories, but I was still a work of art head to toe. Just a little bit less angsty art.

I doubt Linda was used to looking at many people at eye level, especially not people as close as I got to her or as naked. I could feel her inexperience when we kissed, which is pretty sad for a woman just over forty, but she was ultra high grade military equipment, and they couldn't afford their perfect soldiers to have attachments that could fuck things up in the field. Not on an investment improved to the microsecond.

Despite that, she was a quick study and even managed to get me off after I introduced her to multiple consecutive squirting orgasms.

Tough broad.

Linda didn't talk much, but Goddamn she could scream.

I enjoyed the slack jawed ODSTs at the briefing for the Captain Keyes rescue operation after we woke up and ate. Yes you tools, she is human too. I probably broke some protocol or another in regards to interacting with the space faring war gods in olive drab, but fuck them. I don't give a shit about the carefully crafted persona surrounding the Spartan IIs.

"That's a great plan, team." I snarked when they finished up the briefing, "Not like you guys are going to see much action, but I liked all the thought that went into a plan so complex as, go to the area the Captain is held in and rescue the Captain. Fucking great work."

"You got a lot of nerve stowaway." the ODST Commander Silva barked before I trapped him in a stasis field.

"I'm not like my husband." I stated while everyone pulled their guns on me, "I don't get off on fair fights, I don't meet enemies halfway to draw things out. I can rip that ship apart with my mind. So here's the new plan. I go in a tear the Covies a new one, and the rest of you guys form a perimeter and the Spartans will secure the Captain."

"Release the major." the Master Chief growled.

"Don't make me put you in time out too, John." I sighed, "I'm not doing this right. Grunt, or Grax, or whatever he's calling himself these days would already be your best friend and you guys would be going off on kickass galaxy saving adventures that tickle the lizard part of his brain that craves violence. But me… I'm more of a top down authoritarian. Now you can all go grab your gear, or I can hold you all still with my mind till you feel like complying."

"Capitulation is not an option." John said.

"Suicide is." I told him, "And you are about to lead all these soldiers straight into it."

"John." Linda put a hand on his shoulder, "Take yourself out of the moment and breathe. We haven't seen everything she can do, and what we have seen we have no way to fight against. Put the ego and the training aside and preserve the lives of the men around you."

"Damn it." He growled and de-escalated the situation, "Everyone stand down."

The ODSTs didn't listen and ended up in time out with the Major.

"Holy shit!" A marine shouted as they spread out and formed a perimeter around the grav lift to the disabled Covenant battle cruiser Truth and Reconciliation.

He did this in response to me destroying a Spirit Class dropship with an incendiary biotic Flare.

I caught the pieces in a Lift field and sent them flying into the Covie ground forces with a curving Throw that impacted the field in a powerful combo destination, adding even more umph to the flack barrage raining down on the helpless aliens.

A couple of Shockwaves later and the Covie defenses were nothing more than burning wreckage.

"Alright, Linda, John, you're with me." I shouted, "The rest of you swinging dicks are out here in the breeze waiting for the chance to prove that you are more than window dressing."

"Lady?" a nearby marine asked, "Do you accept disciples for whatever new religion is going to be forming around you? I'd really like to get in on the ground floor of that, my name is Jeff and I am a true believer in the fiery blue destruction goddess. Please rain death down on all my enemies. Amen. "

"About time people started worshiping me." I grinned and stepped onto the grav lift to fuck shit up on the Covie command center.