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As Jonah retrieved the alien weapon, he was sure his foe would attack

Instead, the alien held its ground--showing an extraordinarily high level of restraint, even for an Elite Usually Covenant warriors pressed any advantage--attacking in force until their enehtered, but this one was different It hadn‘t taken part in the firefight between the Spartans and the rest of the ca

For what? Sangheili weren‘t cowards Unlike the Unggoy and Kig-Yar, whose bravery and

ferociousness heili were uniformly fearless foes Why would this one in particular wait until its colleagues were beaten before launching its assault?

Jonah wanted answers to these questions--craved the hows and whys--buthe

just wanted this creature dead He wanted to see the life drain froe well up inside--like a weight pressing down against his chest--as he gripped the Plas both of his weapons at the bloodstained blur across the yard

Motion trackers should’ve caught hih the past twenty seconds, grasping for logic in this surprise attack--in his friend‘s death

He squeezed the trigger on the plase as he and the alien circled one another He and Roland liked to goof--liked to have fun--but they were careful Damn careful And way too skilled to have their partnership ended in such an ignoble fashion--taken unaware by a lone Elite

Hazarding a glance at Roland‘s led body, Jonah‘s mind raced ―Goddamn it," he shouted

―How‘d you do it, you sonuvabitch? How‘d you get the drop?"

Jonah released the plasy careening toward the ghostly blood smear The Elite tried to leap out of the way, but the plas the alien in its side just below the rib cage The beast let out an angered cry as its active-ca sparkled with tiny flecks of electricity and faded, revealing an Elite warrior like none Jonah had ever seen The Elite seemed like any other in ter by the sleek, custo a full-faced helht to left There was also an odd shifting in the ar to its environ to blend with the background,it hard to focus on the alien‘s e, this new chae

Squinting to get a clearer view, Jonah noticed the arant--than the typically segheili battlefield attire and was adorned with etched detailing, which was hard to ht, but seeressive This Elite ood look to understand completely, and without question, that he meant business

Jonah followed the plashtly feathering the trigger for maximum rate of fire

But this Elite was too fast Jonah hit his mark with a few rounds but the ni turn of events for a marksman of Jonah‘s caliber

Jonah holstered his pistol and pulled his fully loaded SMG fro the weapon in one fluid twist, but the alien‘s shields and camo recovered from the plasma hit

―There‘s no way," Jonah said shocked ―Well, Rolle, buddy," Jonah already missed his friend ot ourselves somethin‘ neith this one"

Jonah flipped on his suit‘s VISR enhanced vision Lus, trees, abandoned weapons and corpses, giving a defining edge to everything in Jonah‘s line of sight

Wherever the Elite was hiding, VISR would allow Jonah to track hiand neither were his friends

Standing where he had faded just seconds ago, the round, his transparent bodily features indicated by a ring of red as the VISR technology mapped out the creature‘s silhouette

Jonah kept his aim on the Elite, but didn‘t fire

―Shit," Jonah said aloud to hihed, a thick, guttural booer dawned on Jonah

Standing to the left and just a fewthe salow tracing their outline To his right, two more Elites stood, al the whole daht two of ONI‘s heavy hitters with their guard down," Jonah chided hiodda out Despite the immediate odds, Jonah knew he didn‘t have much time to make his escape before the base caulars, neverin front of hi better than this, he hoped, as hison the other side of the valley

As if reading Jonah‘s heili who‘d killed Roland spoke ―Your fellow conspirators are dead Like the one here, slaughtered like pups--helpless and weak"

Jonah was ih-level Spec-Ops troops stationed on such a reotten their intel right and this place was, in fact, a pretty da their job so well that this whole scenario was one big alien boondoggle devised to draw thee obstacles standing before hiely satisfied--if two or more teams of the Covenant‘s absolute top-of-the-line Elite squads were tied up babysitting a site so far from the frontlines, then they weren‘t on the frontlines, which was a win for the UNSC no matter how you sliced it

―You idiots set this up," he called to the Elite ―Thisall of it You wanted usheh Yer afraid of us I‘m flattered"

―You are dead," one of the Elite hissed

―Could be Don‘t matter"

―You value your life so little?"

―No Not really," Jonah explained ―I kinda like beinghere, et it? All thisthese resources, all yer skill, wasted on a few ‗pathetic‘

huood--kinda special And if you think yer taking oddamn mind"

―We‘ll see who‘s lost their mind, once we have carved your flesh and you‘ve screamed your secrets to the stars," the uys were different, and Jonah admired them for it

Usually Covenant battlefield doctrine was simple and to the point: ―Take no prisoners" And while this new brand of Elite seeame, Jonah was fairly certain that, had they wanted, he would already be dead After all, they had the nue of total surprise

―This ends one of tays, chief," Jonah said ―I either walk out of here, yer teeth hangin‘ fro around my neck, or I die with my fist down someone‘s throat"

Jonah , ―So let‘s start this party, I‘m late for a hot date, and I don‘t wanna keep yer sister waiting" Jonah was unsure if the familial insult would translate, but by this point he couldn‘t care less It was tiood If it brings you any peace, the whole of your kind will soon follow suit"

The lead Elite clicked soe

Three of the Elites leveled what looked to be an y swords As the blades sparked to life Jonah noticed so he‘d earlier mistaken as a trick of Roland‘s blood on the Elite‘s blade--these energy swords weren‘t powered by the say source as the Covenant‘s typical

plasma-based cutlery Instead they were coy combined with the white flicker of electricity, which caused theuess at the difference between these neords and the more co: his attackers were full of surprises, and he felt a twinge of fear creep up the back of his neck

The tielding Elites hed ―You know I can see you, right?"

The Elites didn‘t alter their approach, --muscles tensed, ready to strike

―We are aware of your visual upgrades, huh this with your friends Lay down your arms and surrender yourself for inquisition"

Jonah shifted his gaze to Roland‘s body, keeping the Elites squarely in peripheral vieenty credits says yer all dead withinlet‘s saythe next thirty seconds"

The lead Elite scoffed ―We will end you before you soNow, lay down your weapons--"

―Seriously I know youto take the Covenant equivalent" Jonah let the offer stand for a brief instant, then dropped his SMG to the turf

―We got a deal?" The two approaching Elites picked up their pace, as the others steadied their aim

Jonah relaxed his posture, let his knees flex and his back and shoulders slouch

The two Elites were almost within reach Jonah bent into a deep crouch--hisback, head over heels, coood ten yards from the nearest Elite

Hunched in a low squat, Jonah held a disruptor in one hand, his charge detonator in the other

While Roland had been responsible for de to focus on direct combat, both members of a Headhunter squad were required to carry the proper charges and triggering mechanisms necessary for fieldwork to ensure redundancy should any

unforeseen coh Jonah would‘ve preferred another way out, he was fully aware that his luck had run dry, and as he and his fellow ‘Hunters had been fond of saying since their earliest training days on Onyx: ―When in doubt, blow shit up"

Jonah‘s mind flashed to Roland one more time, and he silently thanked his partner for one last assist--―Clear" Roland‘s final breath had also been a parting shot at the Covenant bastard who‘d run hih

These special division Spec-Op Elitesthe whole show, but Roland was cloaked when he set his charges, so unless the Sangheili had the equivalent of VISR in those shiny new hel one about the explosives placed on the reactors all around thees had been initiated

―Clear" meant with a push of a button this entire section of the valley would light up as bright and hot as the surface of a star, nothing but scorched earth and charred bones in its wake

―Clear," and Jonah had a plan, even if it ood-bye

He raised the disruptor ―Knohat this is?"

―Take him!" the lead Elite called

But Jonah had allowed the two closest Elites to get within arth in order to block the line of fire of their three squadh to cut him he‘d still have ti with him

Jonah activated the disruptor and tossed it in a low arc toward the four farthest Elites while dodging a swipe froy swords, but he was too slow to avoid the second‘s grasp

The Elite yanked hi his shoulder froy field froround at the feet of the farthest group of aliens, shutting doer to their weapons and ar doll ―You dare defy us, filth? You will suffer for your sins" He raised his sword, using the very edge of the blade to cut a gash across Jonah‘s faceplate, digging into the flesh beneath Jonah‘s left eye sizzled and popped as the blade passed through For the second time in recent htly to the detonator, thunition switch

The second sielding Elite stepped up and grabbed him by the neck

In Jonah‘s mind a thousand witty remarks echoed, an infinite chorus of banter to die to, but instead of uttering a word, Jonah silanced at the beasts above him, these ―elite" commandoes whose body count quite possibly surpassed his own, and thought to himself, Six of you, one of me Fair trade , as he released his thu hite