*Sorry for the short chapter, I've been feeling ill lately.*

Chapter 2

"I fully intend to make it off this planet alive." Ruby said. "But first, we have a mission to complete."

"Do you guys have any sense of self-preservation?" The pilot asked. There was no response. "Damn Spartans. Fine, what do you have in mind?"

"The Covenant have occupied and expanded an abandoned mining site." Weiss said. "We need to find out what they're up to."

"Once we do that, we'll steal a Covenant ship equipped with a Slipspace drive." Yang said. "All their ships, Phantoms and larger, have them."

"Until then I guess I'm your personal taxi service." The pilot sighed. "Where to first, the dig site?"

"No." Blake replied. "We need to find out more about it first. The mining company's headquarters is still intact. It may hold information vital to our mission."

"As long as it's not crawling with Covenant I'm happy to take you." The pilot said.

"You got a name flyboy?" Yang asked, leaning over the pilot to take a look at the Pelican's instruments. They seemed to be flying too fast and low for sanity's sake.

"Uh…Susan." The pilot replied.

"That's a strange name for a guy." Yang said. The instruments confirmed their suicidal speed and altitude. "I'm guessing that's a codename."

"You'll have to ask Frank, but oh wait, she's dead." The pilot grumbled.

"Well we're not, so if you don't mind, I'd like you to fly like you intend to keep it that way." Yang said. If they were under enemy fire, that would be different, but they were just flying alone.

"If you don't like my flying, take the controls." Susan said. "And in case you haven't noticed, while I would like to survive this cluster-fuck, the chances are slim to none. I'd rather die smashing into something than being tortured to death by the split-jaws." He took a hand off the controls to point. "There's your damn destination." He brought the Pelican in fast, slinging it sideways at the last moment to arrest its forward motion before touching down roughly on the roof. Any normal human would have been thrown around violently by the maneuver but Yang barely swayed.

Red Team disembarked as the Pelican's engines shut down. The rooftop groaned under the strain of the Pelican and their several hundred pounds of armor. It would hold, just. "So, our pilot?" Weiss said.

"He's skilled but reckless." Yang said. "With enough flight time he'll get us killed, but if we come under fire he's the one we want. So, what are we looking for here?"

"The mining operation was abandoned." Blake said. "We should find out why. It would also help to find maps of the site so we can get an idea of the terrain."

"How do you expect to find all that?" Ruby asked.

"I was planning to hack into the boss's computer." Blake replied. "I've got the relevant software onboard." She tapped her helmet. It did not take long to get to the top floor office they were looking for. Blake sat down at the desk and fired up the computer. She wired her armor into it and tapped at the keyboard. "And we're in." She announced. She cycled through documents, skimming as she went until she found what she was after. "There's the maps." Indicators on their HUDs confirmed the download. "I've got the relevant report. Just give me a second." Blake read through the document. "You've got to be kidding."

"What is it?" Weiss asked.

"It's the reason they abandoned the site." Blake said. "They drilled down for a while, but then they hit something they couldn't get through. It broke every drill bit they threw at it and they didn't even leave a scratch. It looked like stone but wasn't."

"That sounds like a Forerunner structure." Ruby said.

"That's exactly what I'm thinking." Blake confirmed. "Why the hell wasn't this followed up? Now the goddamn Covenant has it."

"I guess we'll just have to take it back." Ruby said.

The Pelican swept low and fast, heading for the mine. At the controls, Susan looked totally relaxed. The target was not far from the city and in minutes they could see it. The whole place was swarming with Covenant. Any hopes that the Covenant forces would be too distracted by the destruction of their cruiser to respond were dashed as a pair of Banshees rose up from the mine and made straight for the Pelican. Susan flew straight at the pair, firing the Pelican's Chaingun as they approached head-on. Bolts of plasma splattered off the Pelican's forward armor as their deadly game of chicken approached its conclusion. The Pelican won. One of the Banshees erupted in purple flames and disintegrated as it fell to the ground while the other swept around to pit itself behind the Pelican.

Susan banked and swerved in an attempt to shake the remaining Banshee but the nimble craft was easily able to keep up with the lumbering Pelican. A fuel-rod shot sizzled just wide of the Pelican as the Banshee continued to pound the craft with plasma. The Pelican's armor was strong enough to resist, but if one of the bolts hit an engine or control surface, the results would be catastrophic.

"Drop the hatch." Yang shouted to Susan as she stood in the center of the Pelican's cargo bay.

"Are you insane?" Susan shouted back.

"Just do it!" Yang yelled. An alarm blared as the Pelican opened up. The sudden increase in drag slowed it drastically and the Banshee almost slammed into the back of the ship, forcing its pilot to briefly stop firing to take evasive maneuvers. Yang dropped to a knee and steadied her rocket launcher on her shoulder. The Banshee lined back up and unleashed a hail of plasma. A few shots struck Yang and her shield flared. She pulled the trigger and a rocket leapt from her weapon. It crashed into the front of the Banshee, the explosion shredding the thin-skinned craft into a cloud of flaming debris. "Go ahead and close it up." Yang called. She returned to her seat and fastened the harness; sure their bumpy ride was just beginning.

"Nice shot." Susan said. "Hold on, they've got triple-A." The Pelican shuddered as it took a direct hit to one of its engines. It banked hard right but Susan jerked it back to level. "We can fly on one engine." He assured his passengers. The hail of fire was unrelenting as plasma filled the sky. "I think I'll have to set down some distance away. It's too hot." The ship shuddered again and then the only sound was the wind. "Well fuck." Susan tried to steer but without power it was hopeless. The Pelican listed left until it flipped over and into a dive. Susan refused to give up but only succeeded in sending the ship into a tumble. It smashed into a steep and rocky hillside, careened off and through several trees before coming to a stop on its side.

"That was unpleasant." Ruby said, suspended by her harness on what was now the ceiling. Weiss undid her harness and stood up from what was now the floor. The hatch had been sheared off in the crash and she was able to walk out. Ruby undid her harness and fell awkwardly, crushing the seat Weiss had formerly occupied. Blake stood and helped Ruby up as Yang dropped down beside her. "Somebody check on the pilot." Ruby ordered. Her HUD showed that her squad mates were in good shape, even if they were a bit sore.

Yang stood and walked to the cockpit. "Very dead." Yang reported. The cockpit had taken the brunt of the initial impact and crushed Susan. The trip through the trees had thrust branches through what was left. It was not pretty, but at least it would have been painless.

"When the Covenant gets here, we should be gone." Blake suggested. The hillside they had crashed down was mostly free of cover, so it would not be a good option even though that was the direction they needed to go. Their only reasonable course of action would be to take a detour through the forest.

"There's a wooded creek bed nearby that should provide some cover." Ruby said. "We'll head there and move after dark." They collected all the ammunition and supplies carried aboard and Ruby set the Pelican to self-destruct. All running at a full spring, Red Team put as much distance between themselves and the Pelican as quickly as they could. The Covenant would not expect there to be survivors from the crash, but they would investigate anyway and do so in force. They might even skip that part and just bombard the area with artillery. After ten minutes, the self-destruct countdown completed. The Pelican's reactor overloaded and exploded, engulfing the craft in flames and destroying anything that might interest the Covenant.

In shifts, the Spartans managed to get some rest. At nightfall, it was time to move out. "I hope they think we're dead." Weiss said as the group moved out. "It would be nice to have the element of surprise again."

"I think we gave that up when we blew their cruiser up." Yang said.

"We can attack at an unexpected time and from an unexpected direction, but they'll be on guard." Blake agreed. "Even though they shot us down, their response was pretty pathetic. Two Banshees? They were not expecting an attack or they would have had more."

"Whatever the Covenant is doing here, we're going to stop them." Ruby said. "We're still in pretty good shape. They don't know where and when we'll attack and I doubt they know they're dealing with Spartans."