Attack on 0089

000666 woke up late, which surprised him. He usually woke up early, but he supposed that staying up late last night might have something to do with it. He shook off last night's nightmares and got up for the day. He walked down to the mess hall, which was really nothing more than a couple benches and tables. But the food was good. Every bit of food was good. If you were alive long enough to eat food, that was good. He looked around the room. 99 of his brothers sat in the room with him. He wondered how many would be alive by the end of the day.

The bell rung. 0900. Every Spartan in the room got up and walked to their hangers. Lucky put on his armor. Strapped on his jetpack. Loaded his gun and slipped magazines into his pockets. Loaded up his battlefield HUD. Got ready to drop. He looked around. The others looked nervous. Apprehensive. They were finally going to war. The Marauder neared position, as 099999 walked to the end of the ship. He aimed, turned around, and walked back.

"No Go."

The plan should have been simple. Knock out the communications, then go down there and blow stuff up. Simple, but foolproof. At least, it should have been.

They boarded the Crusaders. The pilots seemed to look back. Was it pity? or was it something else? Compassion? Lucky didn't know. He had had enough of compassion.

The Crusaders swooped down. Fast and bumpy. Rockets streaked down from the Crusaders. This was risky. If the base communications managed to detect the rockets and get off a distress beacon, then it would be game over. The Marauder wouldn't be able to take on a major fleet. Which was what would come to defend 0089 if the base got off a distress beacon.

Lucky watched as the massive communications disk on top of the base collapsed. A green light popped up on his HUD. Drop time. He was the last to jump. He always was. The Crusaders pulled up as the base's flack cannons began firing. Lucky drifted down behind the walls of the base. The base was a relatively small one, but it was still large. At the base of the mountains, a large concrete structure stood, and it should have had a large communications disk on it, but instead, a pile of rubble covered the base. In front of the base, there were rows upon rows of barracks. As he watched, other Spartans began tossing explosives into the barracks. Sirens wailed. His helmet beeped a warning, and Lucky turned around. A half a dozen men were running towards him, brandishing rifles. Lucky took his rifle and unleashed hell on the troopers. They didn't get off a single shot.

"Lucky!", shouted Fire. Lucky turned, as Fire pointed towards the massive pits in the ground at the far end of the base. He watched as the massive troop carriers and warships began rising, trying to flee. He nodded confirmation and started his jetpack. Normally, a Spartan carried a rocket jumper pack. It allowed the troopers to control their fall and jump higher and farther. But only a few of the Spartans carried jetpacks. Jetpacks were difficult to fly. They needed fuel. And most importantly, if it got shot, you would go up in a fireball. But they still needed fliers.

As Lucky jetted to the nearest Marauder, he landed in the side hanger. The people in the hanger looked up in fear. Lucky walked past them. He walked to the engine room just behind the side hanger and put a bomb on the engines. He set the timer and walked down the length of the ship. As he reached the end of the ship, the back of the Marauder burst into flames. The ship began to turn, just as Lucky jumped. The ship began to fall, as sections of it bust into flames.

As Lucky flew towards the Prometheus rising from the nearest hanger, he wondered how many people he had just killed. He shook his head. It didn't matter. They would have killed more people. He landed on one of the engines of the Prometheus and planted his bomb. Several actually, considering the titanic size of the ship. As he fell, the ship above him burst into flames, and it began to spiral towards the ground. He landed on the last Marauder, attempting to flee, and felt the ship jerk. He looked up and saw the Spartan Marauder fire on the Rebel ship beneath it. Lucky decided to focus his attention on hunting down the remaining survivors. He looked around and saw a trio of utility vehicles leaving the base. He aimed his rifle and pulled the trigger. The driver in the first car slumped forward, and the car began to spin. The second truck crashed into the side of the leading car, while the third swerved, narrowly avoiding the wreck ahead. As Lucky looked, the driver in the last truck fell out of the door. He looked up and saw Snipe standing. As the Marauder crashed onto what remained of the Rebel base, the Crusaders came down to pick up the Spartans. Lucky got on, looked back, and reminded himself.

"They would have killed more people."

But a part of himself thought, "Does it mean we can kill them?"