Emmitt 114:
"We're not going to make it!"
Jack 114:
"We'll make it."
The Spartan's warthog roars across the terrain as covenant ships begin glassing the surface of the planet. Spartan Emmitt 144 man's the M12 warthog's M41 chain gun while Spartan Jack 114 drives the Hog at full speed towards the evac point.
Jack 114:
"5 more Kilometers to the Evac point."
Emmitt 144:
"Yeah and 5 million Covies between us and Evac"
Jack 114:
"you worry too much, we've got this"
Emmitt 144:
"as long as I've got the gun I'm not complaining haha!"
The warthog speeds down the highway towards the Spartan 114's ship the "UNSC Winter's Edge". "Enemy contacts" Emmitt calls as 3 Covenant Banshees appear over the horizon, "open fire on the lead banshee" Jack commands as Emmitt rotates the turret to face the enemy.
Emmitt 144:
"This is my favorite part"
Jack 114:
"let them have it Spartan, open fire!"
Bullets and plasma start to fill the air as the battle kicks off, not even 30 seconds into the engagement the first banshee falls out of the sky and hits the ground with a large "boom", the other 2 banshees follow soon after the first with every 12.7×99mm armor-piercing round meets it's mark on an enemy aircraft.
Jack 114:
"1 kilometer left to Evac"
Jack 114 (on radio):
"Aela, Prepare Winter's edge for take off, we're coming in hot"
A.I. Aela:
"Affirmative, powering up all systems now. Better hurry we will undoubtedly be all over covenant radar now"
Jack 114 (on radio):
"almost there, 600 meters. Aela, open the hanger bay doors"
A.I. Aela:
"opening doors now"
The doors of the UNSC Winter's edge open as the warthog roars through the dry dock headed straight for the ship, the warthog's tires screech as the vehicle comes to an abrupt stop inside the hanger bay of the Charon-class frigate.
Jack 114 (on radio):
"Aela we're on board, punch it!"
Emmitt 144:
"That was way too close for comfort, nice driving as always"
Jack 114:
"nice shooting, I thought those banshees were going to get us for sure"
Emmitt 144:
"not a chance in hell if you ask me"
Jack 114:
"Aela, what's the status of the Home fleet around reach?"
Aela:
"it-its all gone, every UNSC ship is either Retreating or has already been destroyed"
Jack 114:
"what about my father, Captin Keyes and the Pillar of Autumn?"
Aela:
"UNSC fleet com data says the Pillar of Autumn made a random slip space jump 12 minutes ago. Jack, Spartan John 117 and Spartan Linda 058 were on board as well.
Jack 114:
"can we track it's Slip space jump?"
Aela:
"I can't give you exact coordinates, but what I can do is send us in the same approximate direction, is that what you wish do do?"
Jack 114:
"Negative we we might draw covenant ships to their location"
Emmitt 144:
"dammit, what do we do now"
Jack 114:
"Aela plot a random slip space jump away from any human colonies, after that we will make our way back to earth and rejoin the fleet"
Aela:
"copy that, plotting a course n- Warning! Two covenant corvettes moving into intercept us! "
Jack 114:
"Dammit! what are our current defenses?"
Aela:
"M.A.C cannon is offline and charging"
Emmitt 144:
"what about Archer missiles?"
Aela:
"67% of our Archer missile pods are empty, we don't have enough left to take that corvette"
Jack 114:
"Aela focus on the Jump to slip space, hang onto your helmet Spartan, this is gonna be a close one"
The covenant corvette fires upon The UNSC Ship tearing through its titanium armor plating and damaging the ship.
Aela:
"hull integrity is at 73%, M.A.C Canon is offline and other core systems have been damaged"
Jack 114:
"Aela make the jump before that ship guts us from stem to stern!"
Aela:
"engaging slip space drive now"
The "UNSC Winter's Edge" jumps into slip space mere seconds before a volley of plasma could hit her hull.
Jack 114:
"Emmitt, get to the armory, I want to know what weapons we have on board"
Emmitt 144:
"I'm on it"
As Emmitt runs down the corridor to the armory Alea appears in front of Jack at a terminal.
Jack 114:
"Alea, what's the ships status?"
Alea:
"Winters Edge took a major beating sir, multiple damaged sections, I have sealed them off from the rest of the ship already"
Jack 114:
"Okay, that's not great, and what about our weapon systems?"
Alea:
"Two of our four point 50mm point defense guns have been destroyed, the MAC Canon is damaged and offline, archer missiles are at 23% maximum capacity"
Jack 114:
"more bad news, damn. How is our slip-space course looking?"
Alea:
"we are heading away from all UNSC colonies, estimates travel time is 2 weeks, for days and 9 hours"
Jack 114:
"2 weeks of undisturbed travel? Good, hopefully are there any repairs we can make while in slip-space?"
Alea:
"unfortunately, while in slip-space our opportunities for repairs are largely limited, entering into an area that is exposed to slip-space would be catastrophic"
Jack 114:
"agreed, in that case I'm going to review the battle engagements from the fall of reach, let me know if anything comes up, okay?"
Alea:
"sir, don't do this to yourself, not again"
Jack 114:
"I don't know what you are referring to"
Alea:
"sir- Jack, every time the UNSC loses a battle against the covenant you go over the data for hours on end, there is nothing you can do now"
Jack 114:
"I know, but maybe I can find a flaw in the covenants attack pattern"
Alea:
"sir with all due respect you need rest, you've been on the field since the attack on reach began"
Jack:
"I'll be fine. But, I appreciate the concern. Continue to monitor the ship and let me know if anything happens"
Alea:
"Aye sir"
Spartan Jack 114 went to the ships command deck to review the fall of reach while Emmitt 144 took inventory on the weapons stored in the armory of Winters Edge.
Three days pass on board without incident, during that time after reviewing the reach battle logs, Jack 114 spent the time to make repairs on the vehicles stored on board Winter's Edge, Emmitt spent the time resting up and cleaning weaponry.
After servicing the engine of his favorite M12 Warthog and replacing the left rotor on the falcon, Jack 114 was making his way towards the crew quarters to rest up when he was stopped at a terminal by Alea who had a worries look on her face.
Alea:
"Sir, something is wrong"
Jack 114:
"what is it?"
Alea:
"I've been monitoring the ships systems and something isn't right, the left engine has increased by 400 Degrees in the last two minutes, I'm worried that the damage we sustained in the escape from reach was more severe than we thoug-
Before Alea had time to finish her sentence, the ear piercing sound of metal being warped and torn apart rung throughout the entire ship.
Jack 114:
"ALEA WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?"
The rear half of Winter's Edge was pulled violently from slip space as a large explosion tore the frigate in half causing the rear half of the ship spinning out of control.
Jack 114:
"144 do you read me, 144 are you there?"
Emmitt 144:
"I read you, what the hell happened!?"
Jack 114:
"I'm not 100% sure, the front half of the ship including the bridge is just completely gone, Alea thinks the damage we sustained while escaping reach might have been the cause of the ship losing structural integrity.
Jack 114:
"Aela are you still with me?"
Aela:
"I'm here in the terminal"
As the Spartan moves towards the terminal the remains of the ship start to be aggressivly pulled towards something
Emmitt 144:
"what is it now?"
Alea:
"were caught inside the gravitational pull of an unknown planet"
Emmitt 144:
"wait, WHAT!?"
Aela:
"Jack remove my chip from the terminal and put me in your head, now!"
Jack 114:
"of course"
Jack 144:
"Lock your armour Spartan 144 and brace for impact!"
Emmitt 144:
"This is it here we GOOOOOOO!"
Alea:
"Oh I have a bad feeling about this"