The Good, the Bad, and the Didact

Attack

Night fell on Requiem. I stood by the window of my bedroom. Getting off this ship would not be easy. Truth was I had been waiting until nightfall and still had not figured out my escape plan. If my parents did not give me freedom then, I would give it to myself. What would I do? Cut the power? That would trigger some suspicion. Jump out an escape pod? Probably not, the ship's AI if they had one would alert anyone that an escape pod had launched, and there was no emergency.

To my surprise, as I looked at the sky I saw ten Covenant phantoms, plus two cruisers, heading straight for the ship. At first I kept my hopes up that it was the Covenant we had a truce with, and I would get to see the Elites I befriended again. I had been itching to see what the Arbiter had been up to for four years, if he still wanted a truce with humanity that is.

But my hopes vanished when I spotted four banshees flying alongside the phantoms and cruisers. It was not alliance; it was an ambush! Now that was bad of course, but at the same time I thought that it would be the perfect distraction for me to slip away unnoticed. The Covenant would deal enough damage for no one to notice I was missing. Suddenly, a huge green plasma round fired straight at my window, they were beginning their attack.

I jumped aside, and the window broke right next to me. They were coming in; I could feel it. What I had to do was get outside the ship without being noticed. But the trickiest part was that Marines would be all around me in seconds trying to get me to safety. One wrong move and I would be back in the life again with no freedom. It was almost too hard. Soon there was another explosion, and the sound of gunfire below. It was time to make my escape now or face being trapped again.

I ran for the door and into the hall. A group of Marines ran right past me and didn't even stop to notice. Good, they were distracted, that was all that mattered. I had to get off the ship. Jumping out my window was not an option as there might be Covenant forces right below me. The jump was also so high it could be fatal.

A pair of Elites were coming towards Marines and engaged them right away. I wondered where Palmer was. Getting past her would also be a challenge. She may not be my mother, but she was a Spartan, and Spartans didn't stop until they saved everyone, and neutralized every threat. Pretty soon Grunts were joining the Elites, and forces were building up. I ran down the hall jumping and dodging rounds of plasma coming at me from behind. The Elites took out three of the Marines and spotted me trying to flee the battle. If only I knew how to use a weapon, this would have been the perfect time to learn.

"Somebody, please find that girl! Get her to safety now!" I heard this cry coming from a nearby room, and I didn't realize they were so close!

A Grunt was coming near to where I was, and that gave me an idea. I turned around to look at the Grunt, and it growled at me. Go on shoot, I won't move. I thought, and then a single green plasma round came straight at me. I jumped to the side slightly, and it barely hit me. Then I pretended to act as if it did hit me to fool the Grunt. It all worked too well, and I allowed myself to fall on my stomach in front of the little alien.

I lay very still and tried hard not to breathe. The Grunt muttered something in gibberish that I did not understand and then it left to rejoin its fellow Grunts led by an Elite. But I wasn't playing dead to make it go away. I was playing dead for another purpose. I knew my foster parents were nearby, and if they thought I was dead, then maybe they would not come over here. But it was too late for me to think of that. A group of Marines came with two scientists down the hall. I tilted my head on my side to see them; my eyes wide open without blinking.

Playing dead was way too easy. But before they could take notice of my fake corpse, the Grunts with the Elite turned around and began firing at them. To make things worse, a pair of Hunters appeared behind them. I had seen Hunters before, but only on screens of attacks going on. They looked so monstrous, and if they were harmless, I'd want to touch one to see if that orange stuff under their armor was made of worms after all.

Then at that very moment, a huge green blast fired from one of the Hunters. I quickly rolled to the side and closed my eyes. I could hear screams as each cannon fired another round. Turns out the direction I dodged, made me roll down a ramp in a dark hall towards the lower floor. As I reached the bottom, I got up and ran down the direction of the red arrows on the floor. I hoped it would lead me to the escape pods.

It was quiet down here; no Covenant or Marines. I was still worried where Palmer was, and as I mentioned, getting past her would be a problem. Then to my left I found a row of escape pods lined up, today is my lucky day, I thought. I opened one of them and climbed in, but then suddenly I heard the voice of Palmer nearby.

No, no, no I have to go now! I told myself, and I quickly buckled myself in as the sound of gunfire started to get louder. The fight was coming to me. I had no choice but to eject it myself. I had to leave now. Then without hesitating, I pushed the button, and the pod ejected.

First it seemed okay, as the pod free fell from the Infinity like an apple falling off a tree, but these pods were meant for usage in space. Then it bounced off a rock that made me bang up against the side.

"Ouch!" I cried as the pod tumbled down the hill into the depths of the jungle.

As it hit the ground, it began rolling. I was getting dizzier by the minute as the pod rolled down the path, and then came to an unexpected halt up against a tree. I didn't know how far I had fallen from the ship but, hopefully, far enough that no one would find me. Exhausted from a long fall, I passed out into the darkness.