Even with covering fire, Tar’s shield rippled and broke during her run for cover. Some of the Human combatants were only a few metres away and basically couldn’t miss the Sangheili sprinting toward them. A bullet pinged off Tar’s shoulder plate as she slid into a prone position behind a row of three crates. She grabbed up the Mauler she’d kicked across earlier just as a grenade bounced off her headpiece and landed by her free hand. She quickly picked the grenade up and chucked it back over the crates behind her back. She swore in her mother tongue when the reddish Spartan broadcast he was chucking a grenade too. This could get messy.

Her shields still recharging, Tar braced against the crates milliseconds before the grenades went off. The deafening chain explosion, paired with what sounded like a plasma grenade, savagely pushed the crates and Tar’s prone form several metres across the slick Forerunner floor. For a split-second, Tar was suspended in mid-air as the explosion sent shockwaves through the floor. As Tar opened her eyes and took her hands from her ears, half a Human body landed in front of her. Reaching out, she pulled the corpse toward her before relieving it of the pistol from it’s chest holster.

Clambering to her feet, Tar was confronted with a hellscape of bloody scraps and dismembered bodies. One kneeling, screaming URF rebel patted wildly at her body that was aflame with blue plasma. Holstering her Mauler to hold the pistol in a defensive stance, Tar put a round through the woman’s head. The Brutes further back had taken cover for the explosion, but were now re-appearing to spray them. “Advancing!” Tar roared, setting off on a diagonal run across the combat zone. She kept up fire with her pistol held out in front of her to suppress a golden armoured Brute who was behind a Forerunner column by the edge of the platform.

After taking a few hits to her shield, Tar slid back into cover close by her target. The mere sight of a weakened enemy in such proximity was enough to lure the hefty golden armoured Brute away from cover. What Tar hadn’t accounted for is the fact that he’d been keeping a Brute Shot hidden behind the column. Pulling it out, the Brute fired at the crates she was behind, scattering most. Tar quickly placed her pistol between two mandibles, freeing both her hands to grab one of the larger metal boxes and hold it in front of her. The Brute, sensing he had the upper hand, walked forward while firing shots at Tar, quickly shredding the box. "Taking heavy fire!" Tar shouted, her feet scraping backwards along the floor with every impact from the Brute Shot.