An Elite's Tale

Oh, how the tables have turned, I thought, feeling smug.

"Looks like we'll be able to stop them after all," Wildcat said to me with a grin as we watched the alien-on-alien warfare.

It occurred to me that this was one of the few times I was seeing her without her yellow striped helmet. With everything going on, I hadn't really noticed how attractive she was. Soft, creamy skin sprinkled with cinnamon brown freckles, emerald green eyes, light reddish-blond hair tied back in a neat bun. Maybe after I helped save the world, I would get the girl too. One could hope.

Wildcat turned to tell me something, but caught me before I could avert my gaze and stopped short. She narrowed her eyes at me and smirked. I just grinned back and returned my attention to the extraterrestrial carnage. In my peripheral vision, I saw her bite her lip and give me a sly look out of the corner of her eye. Her petite, celestial nose did a slight crinkling thing as she smiled about something.

I changed the subject.

"So what was it you were going to tell me?"

She looked away for a second and her expression faded into seriousness. For a moment, I thought she wasn't going to answer at all, but then she spoke.

"Back at the Library. When Serpent..." she began, trailing off.

She looked at me and continued, "You were standing in front of me when that grenade went off. After you guys went down I... I kept fighting. I tried as hard as I could to kill them for what they did you... to everyone. But I was way out of my league. I'm honestly lucky to be alive."

That was something that had been bothering me as well. I mean don't get me wrong, I was definitely glad we were still here, but the Covenant never takes prisoners. Never. Yet, here we were. I briefly wondered if this had anything to do with the civil war they were having. But the next thing she said had me cleaning my ears.

"Say again?" I asked her.

"They thought Shadow was dead, so they left him for the Flood. But they took us. I still don't know why."

I squinted.

"What do you mean thought? He is dead. I saw him."

"You're wrong," she told me. "He opened a private COM channel before they took us away. All he said was, 'Still in play'. C'mon Ice, you know how Shadow is. Always scouting ahead. He wouldn't abandon us."

I chuckled dismissively and shook my head.

He wouldn't do that, huh? No, not trustworthy, open-as-a-book Shadow.

"I don't care what he was doing," I snapped. "He wasn't at his post. If he had been, the others would still be alive and we wouldn't be stuck in this mess."

I stared forward. The Phantom was still glassing the Wraith when our Banshees swooped down on the tank one by one like giant purple hawks, each tearing into it with their twin plasma cannons. This news about Shadow really pissed me off like you wouldn't believe. But something about Wildcat's calm demeanor, even after my outburst, made me feel slightly embarrassed. Ashamed even.

I had to have better self control if I was going to set a good example and truly represent how a captain of the orbital drop shock troopers operates. As the team leader, it was my responsibility to keep everyone safe. Shadow was being his usual self. It was far too easy to find someone else to blame.

"My bad," I began. "I'm ju-"

"Don't sweat it."

I nodded my thanks. She gave me a one sided shrug and a grin. Cool as rain. Figuring that I might as well make myself useful, I decided to take a look around and gather as much info as I could about our defenses. Despite the plasma beam and impenetrable armor, I could tell that the Scarab was clearly not designed for conventional warfare.

It consisted of three decks, none of which had turret armaments. The bottom deck offered the most protection, but it was the control room. Johnson was taking no chances and sealed the door shut behind him. I couldn't blame him. But then again, I could. The way this thing was set up, we were just asking to be boarded. We were sitting ducks up here.

The main deck had some okay cover from an aerial assault, but not in terms of a firefight. If one were to take cover on the ramp leading down to the sealed off control room, they would put themselves at a downhill disadvantage and be vulnerable to thrown grenades. A double walled column, with technical control panels, stood in the middle of the deck holding up the top level.

The best option, I discerned, was to utilize the support columns as best as I could.