Halo Reach: Downfall - FracturedGlass117 (2024)

Chapter 1: Prologue: Set in Stone

Chapter Text

2538, Nov. 7

Veltun

Sara Iwasaki stared at the flurry of people outside the car backseat window. It was a pleasant summer day in Shirogane with the sun reflecting off the high rises their car passed. Her parents had earlier promised a day out to enjoy the weather. The hospital her mother worked at for once let them have this when her father was on leave.

“Hey, mommy?”

Glancing away from the dashboard, she twisted around to face Sara. “What is it sweetie?”

“Where are we going?” Sara’s arms were still firmly wrapped around a stuffed toy shark and a toy panda.

“It’s going to be a surprise. You’ll find out when we get there.”

Aligning herself back with the seat, the car came to a stop at a traffic light. “Sonuva…” Her father started, but cut himself off as he looked back at Sara. “Uh, Yoko? Could you pull up a map? Traffic’s looking a bit more dense than initially anticipated.”

Beyond Sara’s sight, her mother reached into something and pulled out a thin, black box. “I don’t recall there being this much construction the other day.”

“It just crops up, huh? I think this is the most construction I’ve ever seen in Shirogane at one time.”

“Sorry I didn’t warn you in advance on the way back.”

“Hey… I’d trade a day in traffic for a year dealing with… y’know…” Looking back to the stoplight, he drummed his hands against the top of the steering wheel and sighed. “Now when’s the light going to turn?”

“Here; got the map set. Looks like if we turn here instead, we can head a block down and skip most of this.”

Even with her toys at her side, boredom had set much to her chagrin. “Mommy? How long until we get there?”

Her mother pursed her lips and glanced back. “Tell you what: how about we play a little game?”

“A game?” Sara echoed.

“A game of ‘I spy.’ I say I see something by a description and you see if you can find it. Then we swap roles.” Pausing, she scanned the streets outside for something to point out. “I spy… something orange.”

Sara peered over the bottom of the window, eyes darting back and forth. “Is that a… bakery?” There was a shop across the street with large windows and shelves displaying everything for sale. Baked goods of every size and type.

“Very good! Now it’s your turn.”

The father heaved a sigh of relief. “There we go. Light finally turned.”

Humming along with a cheeky tone, Sara started, “I spy with my little eye…” She didn’t get to choose before a flash of fire swept up the car and flipped them over. The last thing she felt was her head hitting something before everything went dark.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sara slowly stirred back from the depths of slumber. Her head hurt and exhaustion still clung to her. Something damp coated the side of her face. Reaching up and trying to wipe it off, her hand came back coated in red like the time she scraped her knee after falling off her bike. It took her a moment to remember what happened last. “Oowwww… mommy? I got a cut on my head.”

The room around her finally came back into focus. They were in the family car and on their way to a day out. Her mother was still in the front seat with her arms dangling loosely towards the ceiling. Her father on the other hand was flat on his back against the car roof and his window had broken open. Reaching as far forward as she could, she tried to give her mother’s shoulder a nudge. She didn’t initially respond. Whatever happened must have made her fall asleep too. “Mama?”

Sara’s own voice was barely audible over this painful ringing. Slowly, it died down to reveal another sound. There was more of the same distant noise, but she could distinctly hear popping. It reminded her of fireworks on New Years’ Day, but there were far too many and it wasn’t a holiday. Doing her best to look outside her cracked window. There were people dressed in uniforms similar to what her father would wear to work. Across the street, there were more people facing against the armoured green people, but they were too far away to see. Trying to see a bit farther, the haze eventually overtook her again and she drifted off.

Snapping back awake again, the fireworks had slowed significantly. Peering outside of the car, there were more bulky cars outside surrounded by the men in green with a few in hues of blue and grey. There was one of the differently clothed men outside of her window on his stomach crawling. He didn’t have sleeves or a helmet, but wore a tan version of her father’s usual vest. She only caught a glimpse of the purple hand painted onto the right side of the front.

Suddenly, another set of fireworks set off nearby and the man jerked sharply and went still. Outside, a man in grey approached and yelled, “Looks like we got another batch of people here. Check it out.”

Two of the men in green approached either side of the car and knelt by her parents. “Looks like a woman on my side. Maybe mid-thirties.” She could see a metal black club rise and shatter the glass. The sudden explosion of glass made Sara involuntarily scream. “sh*t! There’s a live one in the back seat!”

“Looks to be these people’s kid. I’ll get her out. Keep checking the vitals of the other two.” The man in grey had a blue-tinted visor hiding his helmeted face. “I’m going to have to break the glass and I’ll get you out of there, kid. Watch out.”

The first man in green managed to pull her mother free and partially out the window. “The mother’s dead, sir.”

The other man in green did the same with her father. His hand wrapped around some plain necklace that was still attached to him. “Major, this one’s got dog tags. Looks like a… Shigeru Iwasaki… Army, field medic… Poor bastard didn’t make it either.”

The grey armoured man punched in the glass and reached a knife to cut the seatbelt off of Sara. “Damn. Get some bags for their bodies and take his tags. I’ve got the kid.”

“What’s happening to mommy and daddy?” Sara demanded, voice trembling between pain, fear of these strangers, and confusion. Tears were starting to gather in her eyes from the well of emotion. “Hey! I’m not going without daddy and mommy!”

“One thing at a time, kid. What’s your name?”

She continued to squirm in his grip. “Sara.”

“Let’s get you some medical treatment first. We’ll help your parents as much as… we can.” There was a brief pause of hesitation there at the end. As the soldier carried Sara away, she got a close view of the name label on his chestpiece: Maj. A. Silva.

Chapter 2: Piece of the Puzzle

Chapter Text

UNSC Red Horse, inbound to Reach

Sara B-312 reached a hand to feel the paint job on what would soon be her new set of Mark-V[B] MJOLNIR armour. Her thumb brushed along a red, medical cross placed atop the white paint. The cumulative sieges following that fateful day would be referred to as the Firebombings of Veltun left a permanent stain on her memory, and even years later into the Spartan-III program she did her best to honour that memory. It was their memory that gave her a natural inclination for additional medical training.

Since then, she was recruited along with a few hundred other orphans whose parents had also died to insurgent and alien alike. Promised with revenge, they were given augmentations, training, and additional hardware to put them past even the average marine. Not that it helped. Most of the missions were taxing to say the very least. Chances of survival were further reduced by the lack of access to equipment their Spartan-II predecessors had. “I’ve never had a set of MJOLNIR to use before.”

“It’s a prototype,” the officer behind her answered simply. The captain of the vessel - a prematurely greying man - stood idly by with a holopad in his hand. “It’ll be a bit heavier than what you might be used to, but it does enhance strength and speed much more significantly. Along with various other improvements to materials and the manufacturing process, the biggest change is the addition of a recharging shield similar to what our Covenant friends usually sport.”

While she had been appreciative of how many times SPI had saved her neck, there had been moments where the extra strength of MJOLNIR would have been deeply appreciated. Despite her training and equipment, the Covenant were always an uphill fight, especially once her cloaking module had been forced to reset. Having the security of what effectively would be portable cover would have saved her precious time and many of her fellow Beta Company members their lives. “Anywhere I can test this?”

The captain shook his head. “Sorry, Spartan. This is a stealth cruiser. Not a frigate. We don’t have the physical capacity for training centres. Much less the time or staff to test the new hardware.” Pointing his thumb over his shoulder, he added, “You can however take it for a spin in the hangar if you please. There’s more than enough space and loose heavy equipment down there if you want to run around in the suit.”

“Speaking of new equipment, what’s with the sudden onset of new hardware? And why are a bunch of us being recalled to Reach?”

“I’m not at liberty to say. You’ll find out more when you’re assigned to your new team.” Leaving her alone, he took the sound in the room with him.

Looking back to the suit, Sara gave it another once over. Per her specifications, it was made with a white and red pallet to match her medical capabilities, though there was a pang of regret to it. The Covenant seemed to derive joy from targeting humanitarian staff and this choice was nothing different from just having walked about with no suit at all. Like the MK-IV, the MK-V was geometric in shape and the upper chest piece was slightly reinforced and additional pouches were placed along the torso and thighs. Mounted over the left collar bone was a knife and holster with a UNSC symbol right beside it. Opposite to the emblem was the character for ‘love’ in black etching.

She reached to the top of the suit and unlocked the helmet from the rest of the armour to have a better look. The CQB helmet had already been mounted with a pair of command network modules to either side of the helmet like a pair of ears. The Y-shaped visor was tinted a bright red as opposed to the usual copper, steel, or gold colouring. She could help but stare at her reflection and the way it shimmered under the cold lighting of the armoury.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Viery Territory, Reach

24 July, 2552

0728 hrs

The more natural lighting didn’t help. The way the white and red contrasted now felt wrong. All the same, it was just another consequence of life she would have to stick with for however long it would last. The only difference being this time, this was a result of her own decisions. Not that it did much to reduce the impact. Flipping the hunk of metal around in her grasp, she slid it over her head until she could hear the seals lock into place.

For what little she saw of the planet thus far, Reach was indeed a pretty world. Lush grasslands gave way to jagged rocks, steep mountain faces, and snow caps for as far as the eye could see. It was strange how her team was allocated at some outpost located fifty klicks from the space port out in the countryside. The tour of Reach was nice otherwise, but it didn’t remove the stink of impending doom.

Overhead, a pair of Falcons flew over her Warthog on the way to the outpost. They were quickly closing the distance with their destination and not a moment too soon. Boredom and some need for enlightenment on the next move was eating at her. It was no secret what the current point of the war was and she internally prayed that the UNSC command structure had a solution.

The Warthog screeched to a halt outside of a half-dozen prefabs nested in the crux between a couple mountains. Stepping out of the vehicle, she casually strolled over to the building with a telecom dish situated right on top. She had been assigned to a Spartan team designated ‘Noble’ upon arrival figured that would be the first building to check by. Walking by a powered down Falcon, the first staff member on station she spotted was another Spartan-III.

He wore a standard olive green set of MK-V armour with a few extra ammo pouches, a khaki shemagh, and a pipe leading to what she assumed was a camel pack. He was a bald Eurasian man with a tattoo of three clutched spears along the left side of his face and appeared hyper focused on loading rounds into a magazine until she came into view. “Going somewhere, Spartan?”

Sara stopped in her path and turned to look. “You a part of Noble?”

The sniper put down his magazine and pulled out an empty one to start loading. “I am. What about you? What’s your designation?”

“I’m Sara-B312. I was sent here right after I arrived planetside and was assigned to Noble Team. The briefing said I was to report to a Commander…”

“Carter’s inside. The building with the SATCOM module. You can’t miss it. Now hurry.”

“Thanks. What’s your name?”

A wince of irritation flashed over the otherwise deadpan expression on the sniper’s face. Stopping altogether, he answered after a short dejected sigh, “Look, we’ve been sitting on our asses all morning waiting for you Spartan. We can talk after you’ve talked with Carter.” He went straight back to loading the magazine.

Seeing as she wasn’t going to be getting anything more from him, Sara made her way to the open door, hearing a couple male voices on the way in. The first, who was very much present, held a commanding tone. “...which is why you’re sending us?”

The other sounded like a much higher ranking officer over comms. ‘The Office of Naval Intelligence thought that a Spartan Team would be a gross misallocation of resources. I argued that nothing is worth leaving to chance.’ Upon stepping through the doorway, Sara found herself facing a trio of Spartans, two with their backs to her and the third closer to the doorway. The more immediate one was a Hispanic man with a face like a cutting board in grey MK-V armour heavily laced with demolition charges, and a largely painted red right gauntlet. It accumulated in a crimson security pauldron with a holster for a kukri that he was currently sharpening on his arm plating. His EVA helmet was lightly modified aesthetically, having a skull carved into the face plate.

Barely a few seconds before she could introduce herself, a prosthetic hand swung in front of her, followed by the unseen forth Spartan walking into frame. The Ukrainian was roughly her height and had a short, black, sweat-matted haircut with a deep scar over her left eye. Her armour sported thinner platting and was painted a light sky blue. Her air assault helmet was tucked under her arm and sported a silver visor with an uplink module on the side. “Commander, our sixth wheel has arrived.”

One of the other two facing away from the door turned to reveal himself to be much bigger than she initially estimated; no doubt he was a Spartan-II judging by the height. He was Hungarian with a brown handlebar moustache over his lips. The armour was extensively modified with a hazard-yellow chest piece, red accents over his shoulder pads and collar protector, an ammo pack mounted on his back, and components that would appear much more appropriate on an EOD unit. “Boss, I wasn’t aware that our new Noble Six would be a field medic.”

The commander, Carter if the briefing was accurate, turned his attention back to a laptop screen on a table on the far side of the room. “And you haven’t heard anything from those army deployments?”

‘I sent three platoons. All units have failed to report within forty-eight hours after repeated attempts to reestablish contact,’ the colonel answered.

“And you’re sure this is because of rebels sir?” the big one asked.

The screen on the table shifted to show a typical schematic of a planetary communications station. ‘ONI believes it might be a local detachment. The Insurrection pulled a similar job five months ago on Harmony. They cut off the colony and stole a freighter from drydock before anyone could properly diagnose the damage done. Until you get that communications relay back online, not only are we blind to what’s happening on half the planet, but the same goes with the rest of the UNSC. Due to recent developments, that cannot happen on Reach. Is that clear?’

Carter sported mostly blue armour with grey plating. His chest plating did have extra ammo pouches, a tactical data mount on his wrist, and a bulky left shoulder pad. “Consider it done. You’ll hear from us within six hours. Carter out.” Closing the laptop, Carter picked up his commando helmet and turned to look at her. “Lieutenant B-312?”

“Commander.” She just nodded, continuing to observe the other team members around her.

“As you likely already know, I’m Commander Carter. Jorge here is our gunner and is our only Spartan-II on the team.” The commander pointed to the giant Hungarian, making his greater size make much more sense. “The maniac with the clawed-out visor is our CQC specialist Emile and Kat is our tech support. You happen to see our sniper outside?”

“The bald one loading ammo?”

“That’s Jun. He’s our eye in the sky. He’ll be providing overwatch for the most part.”

“Understood. If you don’t mind, I’d like to review the team’s diagnostics before we get to anything.”

The commander didn’t verbally acknowledge her request, instead gesturing to the other Spartans outside. “I can hand you all our profiles after the mission. We don’t have a lot of time right now.”

Carter started circling around her as Sara repeated, “Sir, it’s protocol that I give the team a greenlight before any ops.”

He visibly grimaced. “Sorry, Lieutenant. It’s just you’re stepping into some shoes the rest of the squad would rather leave unfilled. And I’m not used to getting replacements this soon. All the same, I’ll get you what you need after the job is done. Got it?”

“Yes sir.” Following the others back outside, the Falcons that arrived earlier were spinning up their rotors again. The sniper from earlier slid back on his helmet, grabbed his rifle, and stood to salute. “I assume you’ve had time to look at my profile then?”

“Just an hour before Colonel Holland gave us a ring. I’m glad to have someone with your expertise on the team. But I’ve also taken note about some references to… strange behaviour. Is that going to be a problem?” Jun and Carter climbed on before her.

“No, it won’t.” More than Sara would have liked to admit, over the years of Spartan training she had developed a bad inclination to pause and stare at other staff members during moments of downtime. “But I apologise in advance for when old habits slide.”

Under his helmet, Jun was audibly giving a sarcastic grin. “All the same, welcome to Reach.”

Chapter 3: These Rebels Leave Plasma Burns

Chapter Text

1 km from Visegrád, Ütközet County, Eposz

24 July, 2552

0846 hrs

Sara did little to pass the following hour except stare at Jorge, Kat, and Emile from her Falcon. The latter two were at the very least much easier to read. When Emile wasn’t admiring his own kukri, he was trying fruitlessly with humour among his peers physically with him. Every now and then, he would try and strike a pose at her from across the way. Kat on the other hand seemed completely disinterested in everything the others had to say with her nose basically protruding through her visor and into some mobile device in her hand. There was an air of irritation to her movements and it was probably through repetition that she hadn’t yielded to the desire to shove the other Spartan-III off the transport.

Jorge on the other hand was the most difficult to read. The Spartan-II seemed to be a much more passive participant in whatever conversation was going between the other two. He would shrug, gesture, nod, and other basic motions, but it was hard to pick apart much else about the giant’s personality. If he did have a personality, he had learned early on to keep his cards tucked underneath his MJOLNIR chest plating.

“Is this what your profile meant about ‘bad habit of staring’?” It was the first time that Carter had spoken to her since they left the outpost.

Sara leaned onto her knees. “Maybe. That’s not going to be a problem, is it sir?”

“Depends if it impedes team cohesion. I’d rather we didn’t get ambushed because you were too internally focused.”

“Sir, what is it we’re looking for specifically again?” Jun prompted. “If Reach is being attacked, the farms are as low priority as it gets.”

“Maybe if you hadn’t spent the entire briefing dealing with ammo like you should have yesterday, you’d have been enlightened about the current situation.” The commander sighed, “But since we’ve got a new team member with us today, I’ll recap. The point is we’ve got a downed communications relay out here, effectively severing off-world communications. ONI suggests it might be the local Insurrection. As for if this is part of a larger operation, we’ll have to find out.”

Kat buzzed in over team comms to inform them, ‘Carter, we just lost connection with command.’

“What about backup channels?”

‘Checking… nada… I can’t get a signal. Checked my devices too before liftoff. We’re on our own.’

“You heard her, Noble Team. Darkness zone confirmed. Command will not be keeping us company during this mission.”

Emile tapped into the channel to add, ‘Pft… I’m feeling lonely already.’

‘Shut up, Emile,’ Kat snapped.

Looking around them, Sara had barely noticed the transition from copious uninhabited mountains to farmland. But even at a glance, there was something plainly wrong with Visegrád. Columns of smoke dotted the skyline from various farmsteads. In the distance, the communications facility towered over everything else like a statue among ancient ruins. ‘There’s the communications outpost. Doesn’t look too damaged,’ Jorge noted.

‘That says nothing about what’s going on inside. I’m more interested in that burning Warthog below us. I’ve picked up a distress beacon right by it. Weak, but very present.’ Sara quickly spotted the burning wreckage the tech specialist pointed out.

“Right. Pilot? Shoot down the temperature lights and put us down on the bluff above the farm. We have some unwanted visitors and I want the initial highground for this. Jun, stay on the Falcon and keep an eye out for any threats.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The conversation between any of the Spartans died out during the initial trek through the fields overlooking the farmstead. Nothing so much as moved to greet them aside from squirrels and a couple moa. Kat was the first to the site finding a red device under a couple of shipping pallets. “Found our distress beacon. By the looks of it, it’s been active for almost thirty-six hours.”

Carter was close behind, cautiously treading through the grass like he was expecting an anti-personnel mine. “No casings either. This group barely got an opportunity to get a shot off.”

The first thing on Sara’s mind is the possibility of someone’s remains as a hint of what transpired. “You sure commander? I’m seeing blood, but no bodies. Not enough for anyone to have bled out yet. Maybe they got away before it blew and just booked it somewhere safe.”

“Hard to say. I’m seeing some nasty burns on the ground here.” Emile was squatting by a particularly burned patch of grass nearby. “What is that? Plasma?”

Jorge was hesitant to agree. “No… that looks more like… thermite… maybe white phosphorus. Rebels have been known to deploy that sort of thing.”

Dropping the spent device, Kat returned, “I don’t want to second-guess it. Let’s check the house ahead. There’s got to be someone here still alive.” The second-in-command looked anxious to move on. Taking point, Kat pushed past a large gate only for Emile to circle around her with his M45 shotgun at the ready. Their attention was trained on the front door and the latter moved to provide cover while Kat prepared to rip the door off its hinges.

Light poured violently into the farmers’ house followed by Emile’s barrel. A few people had hidden inside and were screaming back in Hungarian. All the same, the CQC specialist didn’t take lightly to their presence. “On your knees! Now! Hands where I can see ‘em!”

Jorge didn’t hesitate to push past him. “Can your antics, Emile. They’re farmers. Not rebels.”

“You sure? Maybe they killed the farmers, swapped clothes, and hid the bodies.”

Ignoring Emile, he began conversing back to the farmers in his presumably native tongue. He translated, “The fighting went on for hours, gunshots echoing throughout the night. Something killed his son out in the fields just as things kicked off. Nothing specific about who the enemy was.”

“That’s not reassuring,” Carter returned.

Jun suddenly buzzed in, ‘Commander, be advised: I’m getting heat signatures from another farmstead east of your position. I suggest checking it out. There’s no clear view of what it might be from above.’

“Good eye. Lieutenant, take point. Noble Team, double-time it behind her. Jorge, get these civilians hidden.” The commander pointed to Sara and shot a hand up the road.

Entering a light sprint, Sara bolted up the road to the house barely a hundred metres from their position. An open garage faced the road with whatever vehicle it housed long-gone. With her M7S suppressed SMG at the ready, she charged in. The lights were non-functional inside and it took Sara’s eyes a second to adjust from the early morning light to see the bodies inside. A pair of army troopers dangled from chains that hung from the rafters in the ceiling. One had his intestinal tracts poured onto the floor and both had already been dead for several hours by the looks of things. “Jesus…! I found that missing squad from the Warthog wreckage…”

Carter already caught a whiff of her tone on his way in. “How bad is it?”

She took a moment to observe the burns and multiple cuts made along their bodies through chinks in their BDUs. “By the looks of things, they were interrogated for a while. One was executed by being cut open like a Christmas present.” Glancing back at their frozen expressions, she added, “And neither of them died particularly easily.”

“Damn… Jun, you still seeing those heat signatures? We’ve got a couple dead troopers down here and I’m not seeing the perpetrators.”

‘Looks like they’re further into the structure. I’ll have the pilot adjust my position for a better view.’

Jorge was the last to catch up and got a good look at the scene. “Damn awful. But it does look like our perpetrators were indeed Insurrectionists.” There were some bloodied boot prints along the ground leading away from the site of the crime. But midway through the trail was another unrecognised shape. “Hang on… is that…?”

There wasn’t time to answer. Carter snagged the dead troopers’ dog tags before exiting the garage. “Let’s not waste anymore time. We’ve got a scent.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Even with a UV scope, it was difficult to make out much of what was happening. There was too much material between him and whoever was in the house with the rest of Noble, further dispersing their signatures. ‘Any updates from up there?’ Carter requested again. Even if the commander didn’t want to admit it, he was feeling nervous.

Instinctively, Jun gave another shake of his head like the other members would see his response. “No, but you’re definitely scaring them off. If you hurry, you might be able to catch up with them or force them out where I can see them.” His eyes fixed on the blurs of orange and white amid the tones of green and blue as seen through his SRS99 scope. Steadying his breathing and heart rate, his mind began running all the necessary internal calculations for trajectory, humidity, and wind. It wasn’t that far, but the fact he was on a mid-air platform would put an ugly damper on weapon stability.

The blurs that were the rest of the team drew close, causing the targets to hustle all the way to the other side of the building. There looked to be a few openings along the far side and his aim was trained to take the shot as soon as one reared its head. Tunnel vision had set in too comfortably and he barely heard the sound of another rifle firing in the distance - only the sound of his shields popping and the ringing in his ears afterwards. The bullet grazed the top of his helmet, but at enough of an angle to still translate a good amount of kinetic energy into the rest of his body. ‘Jun?!’

“Aaaugh!! f*ck!!” His heightened reflexes gave him enough time to bring his rifle up and follow the trail from the round to roughly triangulate where the enemy shooter had been in the trees across the way. Getting a fix on a vaguely human silhouette, and pulled the trigger. The head came clean off and the body plummeted into the bush far below. “I’m taking fire up here!”

‘Targets at one o’clock! Outside the backyard!’ their newest member screamed. Even over her microphone, he could hear the gunshots below.

Straightening back up, he could see maybe a dozen people in the distinct garb of rebels dotting the field beneath him. They still wore repainted and outdated UNSC BDUs. Jun immediately went to work picking off two and watched as the others hastily finished them off. ‘Damn rebels. How’d they manage to land on Reach to begin with?’ It didn’t sound like something that Jorge was taking very lightly.

‘Relax, big man,’ Emile chided. ‘At least we’re no longer playing Whodunit.’

A wave of groans and sighs followed. Carter looked right back up to Jun’s Falcon. ‘See any more from up there?’

Down the hill from the house was a bridge leading across a damned river to an open field that was dotted with trees and some rocks. More than enough cover than the steady herd of Insurrectionists hiding there. “Maybe a couple dozen more across the river from your position to the southeast. They’re quickly mounting a defence.” Looking back to his own pouches, Jun began internally counting how many rounds he had left. The rest of Noble would be able to cover it all, but the usual avarice for extra ammo set in after just a magazine.

The rebels came prepared with some SPNKRs and he took care to remove those threats as soon as possible lest they threaten the team. Aside from the sniper that nearly took his life, they only had high-explosives and a single flatbed truck with a retrofitted turret that posed a significant threat. It quickly became apparent that they wouldn’t be able to hold the line and quickly retreated down the next road before too long. Barely a minute had passed and a new layer of red now coated the hillside.

“You’re all clear from up here, commander.”

The commander let out something like a sigh. ‘Good. That said, there’s still a clear and present danger on Reach and we don’t have time to focus purely on dealing with the rebels. Kat, take Emile and recall one of the Falcons to drop you off at the comms facility and see if you can get it back online and radio for backup. Jun, I still want you to provide me, Six, and Jorge with covering fire as we ascertain just how many rebels are still in this region with us. Just keep in mind that there could be some SAM sites up ahead. Watch your scopes.’

“No need to tell me twice. Pilot, bring us around to the fields ahead and give me a look at what’s there. I’ll start marking targets.” Watching as the other Falcon touched down to give Emile and Kat a lift, the VTOL flew over the next treeline over another set of roads winding through a cluster of farmsteads. The rebels were taking surprising care to mop up as much as they could. Roads were kept clear and there weren’t many wreckages left strewn about like broken toys.

Down one of the winding roads bringing them to an open valley, the bridge normally leading over to the communications outpost had been shot out, leaving a gaping path that would take a particularly fast Spartan to vault across. Hovering over the nearest home, there were some rebels scrambling along the ground. It didn’t appear that they had any anti-air with them. Perhaps they had spent most of their heavy armaments initially trying to kill Noble with anti-tank weapons. “Boss, I’m marking the first house. Where are you?”

‘Procuring transportation. The lieutenant found a flatbed truck that the presumably long-gone owners left with the keys in the ignition. What do you see?’

“Another half-dozen rebels hiding in a house. Looks like they’re equipped with basic small arms. Nothing too hazardous. Heat signatures don’t imply they’ve got anything hidden.”

‘Roger. Stand by to provide support. Carter out.’ Peering out the other side of the open cabin, a civilian car tore like hell across the open roads. Carter was typically a passenger and Jorge would not have fit into the driver’s seat. If this was their newest member at the wheel, Jun was going to be cautiously mindful about getting in the same vehicle with her. Coming up to the main driveway of the house, Six nearly flipped the vehicle and sent Jorge rolling off the flatbed onto the dirt road. Stomping on the brakes long enough to slow down, she immediately jumped out and closed the distance while the commander was still rolling out of the passenger’s seat. Seconds later, Jorge hustled up the hill lugging along his machine gun.

The fight was over before it began. The commander did provide covering fire and scored a couple of kills, but Six dealt with the rest through a well-placed grenade and less than a spent magazine. ‘Area appears clear of hostiles. Jun, any updates?’ Six asked. It was the first time she had said anything after initial contact with the rebels.

“Nothing from up here. I’m heading down the road to have another look. I’ll buzz in as soon as I see anything.” Glimpsing back as the Falcon lugged across the valley, Jun peered back to see what must have been a stern talking to the medic, reaffirming his earlier sentiments. Down the road and following one of the roads from earlier, the next household was by a river with a bridge across; no doubt having once belonged to a much wealthier farmer. Unlike before, it seemed like the rebels were bringing out some large crates and were much more in number. “I’ve got another encampment sir.”

‘Any different from the last?’ Carter grunted and the car’s suspension audibly lurched.

“A few more than that first house. They’ve also got some heavy crates and they’re moving across a bridge to set up defensive positions. You might catch them off-guard if you’re fast enough, but I suspect those are weapons in those boxes.”

‘Thanks for the heads up. Lieutenant, I need- woah!’ Like before, Six treated the flatbed truck like a sports car. Driving up to the bridge, the rebels that were traversing the river didn’t have time to duck before she ploughed right through, either running them over or sending them over the truck’s hood. Jorge managed to remain on this time and he jumped off to start cutting through the stragglers. Out of desperation, one of the rebels was struggling to open one of the crates before Six shot him. ‘That went… better than last time. I think I found what’s left of one of the other units Holland sent.’

“Status sir?”

‘KIA. They held out here till the last man. It’s… messy. Seeing some rather inconsistent injuries too.’

‘Sir, you should come take a look at this…’ Six beckoned to the crate the rebels had been moving. Lifting out one of the contents, Jun had a peer through his scope hoping that wasn’t what he thought it was.

‘A Type-25 Plasma Rifle?’ Carter gasped.

Jorge walked over to a crate and lifted off the top to reveal another row of the same distinct blue weapon laid out side-by-side. ‘What the… how the hell did rebels get their hands on Covenant armaments?’

‘It’s no secret that Reach is a fortress of a planet,’ Six proposed. ‘Maybe they thought they’d have a better chance using these?’

Carter corrected, ‘My concern, lieutenant, is how they got them.’

In the passenger cabin of the Falcon, alarms and red lights suddenly flared around him. “What the hell?? We got a missile lock!” the pilot barked.

Shifting to look behind them, Jun saw the very distinct profile of the wrong-end of a fuel rod. “f*ck! Bank left! Bank left!” The cabin lurched, nearly causing Jun to fall out the other end. Clutching his rifle and holding on for dear life, there was barely a moment to spare when the VTOL finally levelled out. Over the next hill were two Banshees on approach with plasma bolts already peppering the aircraft. He levelled his rifle and fired thrice into the first one, tearing it to pieces along with its pilot.

‘Jun, what the hell is happening up there?!’

“Sir, we’ve got two Banshees on our tail! It’s not the rebels! We’re engaged with Covenant!” Tucking aside the emptied magazine, the sniper hastily conducted a tactical reload and fired off another volley at the other Banshee. The Falcon managed to turn enough to finish off the other before more damage could be sustained. “f*ck! That was close!”

‘But there’s more. We got to wrap up quickly and get to that communications outpost with Kat and Emile. This is beyond anything we can deal with today.’

‘Whatever they’re here for, we got to do it fast. We’ve got enemy movement in the skies.’ Six pointed towards their southwest.

Peering back out, a Spirit dropship flew in the distance to a point further along the road where the sound of gunshots now started to pepper the farmland ambiance. “Sir, I’m seeing signs of more possible survivors further towards the north.”

‘I see. We should pick them up too. Colonel Holland will want a full recount of what happened here.’

~~~~~~~~~~~

Aiming his M319 grenade launcher down into the parking lot, Emile fired off another round, timing the burst to catch another elite in the EMP field and knocking out its shields. Kat proceeded to place a well aimed shot from her sidearm into the side of its skull. There was barely a moment to admire her handiwork when another elite took its place. The two had cleared out roughly a platoon’s worth of rebels when a group of Covenant exploded out of the woodworks and returned fire. They had yet to inform the others. “You think Carter wouldn’t mind if we took our time reporting there’s Covenant on Reach?” Emile chuffed.

“That depends on if you start mouthing off again,” Kat grimaced.

“I ain’t joking.” He loaded in another round and snapped the barrel shut.

It wasn’t until he prepared to fire again when their commander called in. ‘Kat, we’re en route to the relay outpost. What’s your status, over?’

The two just exchanged looks. Since they arrived ten minutes earlier, they were no closer to breaking in. “We’re stalled outside the structure. They’re sticking up a stiff resistance. Worse, the rebels are being supported by Covenant troops. There are aliens on Reach,” she explained.

‘We know. Jun had a near shave. How stiff?’

“They’ve dug in like ticks. There’s at least nine elites posted out here. Six minors, a pair of majors, and an ultra playing ring leader. I think they know we’re here and are adamant about preventing us from calling this in.”

‘We rescued one of the trooper deployments Holland sent earlier. Even if we can’t get the station back online, they’ll get word back to the rest of the planet about what went down here. Our ETA is thirty seconds. Sit tight.’

The call ended and Kat wasted no time exchanging fire with one of the elites. “There. He wasn’t angry. Satisfied?”

Emile only blew air through his lips. “Obviously he’s not mad when you’re on the phone.” Getting up and switching to his shotgun, he started circling around back into the forklift garage to get a different angle. Barely making it down the stairs inside, another elite peppered his position, making him take cover behind an overturned truck. Outside, the familiar sound of a Falcon’s rotors echoed behind him. As Emile continued pressing the flank, the friendly sound of good old gunshots outside indicated proper help had arrived.

An elite tried to encroach upon his piece of cover only to get a shotgun blast to the thigh. It was only enough to pop the Sangheili’s shields, so he followed up with a swing to the gut before drawing out the kukri and shoving it into a chink between the helmet and a shoulderpad. Back through the garage door, the others managed to gradually but cleanly brute force the enemies’ shields and cut the rest down. Six was furthest forward and peppering a couple different elites’ shields to let the others have an easier time mopping up. Looking over to him, she suddenly ran up, arms outstretched and shove him to one side.

The ultra had managed to get the drop on him and circle behind and was about to bash Emile in the back of the head with the butt of its plasma rifle. Retaliating with a punch of her own, Six’s absurdly fast hands slipped a plasma grenade off the elite’s toolbelt, primed it, and stuck it right to the ultra’s chest plate. It fruitlessly attempted to dig the grenade back out before it melted a hole through its armour, throwing it lifelessly against the wall. “Hey! I had that one!” Emile barked.

“You clearly didn’t,” the medic retorted.

“I can watch after my own ass.”

“And when I can’t?”

“I’ve gotten out of tangles before. Just worry about yourself.”

The rest of the elites were dead and Kat finally got to work on cracking the doors inside. “Damn. The rebels have fried the controls.”

“More than one way to skin this cat,” Carter shrugged as he holstered his M392. “Jorge, help with the doors.” Beckoning to the gunner, the two each took a door and pulled them open. The security booth was dark and there were leftover arms from presumably the security team still strewn about the place. “These guys barely stood a chance. Let’s keep moving. Jun, stay by the door and radio if anything else shows up.”

Barely another door in, they could hear more gunshots and plasma being exchanged in the distance. Jorge immediately took interest. “sh*t… I didn’t think the security team would’ve lasted this long.”

“We’re not helping them from out here. Let’s hustle people.” Carter led the other four Spartans with Emile taking up the rear. Rushing towards the echoes of danger, the group found themselves facing the rear of a group of more Insurrectionists. Even in the dim lighting of the damaged facility, they could make out the distinct maroon and armour designs of the Sangheili zealots that cornered them. It was too late to save the last one as he was aggressively run through with an energy sword.

While the rebel was still stuck on the blade and hoisted into the air, Emile aimed his shotgun underneath the body into the zealot’s upper torso. The first shell worryingly only caused the elite to stumble. Hastily racking the next one, the second trigger pull did pop the zealot’s shields, but only threw it off balance rather than finishing it off. Jorge finished the monstrosity off for Emile, earning a competitive glare for both Spartans.

The three remaining zealots were starting to withdraw further into the darkened hallways of the compound. Ignoring the other two, Kat circled around the dead rebels and went straight to asking questions. “Carter, I thought you said that the rebels were working with - or at the very least for - the Covenant in this situation.”

Shoving a new magazine into his rifle, Carter dismissively answered, “We can figure that out when every tango in here is dead. Lieutenant, Jorge, Emile, deal with the remaining zealot team and make sure this outpost is secure. Everyone else is with me. We’re getting off that transmission.”

“You got it boss.” Their newest teammate was immediately on point into the next hallway after their quarry. Jorge was close behind with Emile himself right behind the Spartan-II. “So… what can you tell me about our newest addition?”

“She’s…” Jorge was always abnormally cautious with words for a guy his size. “...different to say the very least.”

“Different how?”

“Six is a rather plucky Spartan. But more importantly, she’s a team player. Suppose it comes with the job.” Jorge’s tone shifted to a hushed whisper. “But whatever you do, if there’s a choice, don’t let her behind the wheel.”

“The hell’s that supposed to mean?”

He was about to answer when Six started mag-dumping something in the shadows. “Later. Get going.”

The hallway they were in was littered with various barrels, crates, and working equipment including a forklift. At the very back, a zealot was directing a bunch of grunts to form a line between Noble and itself. Hoisting a grenade at the group of grunts, Emile started rushing at the first crate for cover as the zealot started peppering him with what looked to be a concussion rifle. His shields managed to withstand a direct impact before the ‘low charge’ warning started blaring in his ears.

Stuck in cover, Emile counted the shots the damn thing fired at Jorge. Listening to the sixth shot being fired, he prepared to charge right at the Sangheili only to find Six had beaten him to it. Using the alien’s digitigrade leg like a stepladder, she got the blade in at the right angle to pop its shields, plunge the tip right into the collar bone, and eviscerate a good amount of neck tissue. “Got it!”

Involuntarily, Emile blinked in surprise and admiration. “Wow,” he muttered beyond the audible range of the others. “A woman after my own heart.”

Jorge rushed past him. “C’mon! There’s more.” Peering down the next corridor, the giant fired off another volley at a group of Unggoy protected by a pair of jackals with shields. The hallway was short and didn’t take them long to push into a server room with a generator at the far side. At the far end of the room was a hole in the wall leading outside that the Covenant likely burned to get into the facility. A third zealot leapt over a railing in front of them and charged straight at them with an ignited energy sword. Pushing past the other two, Jorge hoisted the barrel of his chaingun into the stomach of the zealot and flung it against the wall. Pinning it, he squeezed the trigger and finished it off. “Looks like there’s a bit of an opening ahead.”

“We can flush them out if you lay down covering fire,” Six proposed.

Emile loaded more shells into his weapon. “Sounds like a plan. Just keep a steady pace.”

“Afraid you’ll fall behind?”

“Afraid you’ll trip over your own boot straps.” There were maybe a dozen grunts left in total. Closing the distance with the other side of the room, they started waddling out in single file taking pot shots with either plasma pistols or needlers. Jorge gunned down one line as Emile and Six dealt with the other. However, the absence of the third zealot seen earlier was perplexing. “Hang on, where’d the last one head off to??”

“We’re too late…” Six peered out the hole in the wall just in time to see a zealot whisked away by the underbelly gravity lift of a Phantom with a maroon paint job with white stripes before either Spartan could do anything about it. She thumbed on her comms device. “sh*t. Commander, we’ve neutralised the remaining Covenant in the area, but a single zealot slipped out before we could reach him. He’s escaping via Phantom.”

If Carter was disappointed, his tone didn’t show it. ‘Good job otherwise. Get back here in the meantime. We’ve got a downed trooper back here who could shed some light on what happened here. He’ll need your help in the meantime.’

“Are we able to inform the colonel?” Emile added.

‘Just get up to the main communications room. We’ve got different problems to contend with.’

~~~~~~~~~~

Carter and Kat’s bickering was the first thing he heard upon stepping into the main communications room behind Six and Emile. For as long as he knew the leaders of Noble Team, they would constantly bicker like an old married couple. “How long will this take?”

Following her trademark scoff, Kat explained, “Question of my life. I’m seeing at least three critical components with major plasma damage on them. Assuming they can still work, main functionality will be spotty at best.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

“And I’ve barely had ten minutes to diagnose everything. Best estimate I can give is two weeks tops assuming we can get replacement parts in within the next forty-eight hours.”

“Given how severe it was, we don’t have two weeks.”

“Which is why I’m currently working into the local landlines to see if I can get you a direct line to Colonel Holland to inform him of the current situation.” Flicking on the lights on either side of her helmet, she went to work.

Flinging a dismissive hand over his shoulder, Carter stood back to full height. “Good, the three of you are here. Six, that trooper over there in the corner could use your help.”

The medic nodded along. “Understood. What’s the situation in total?”

“The rebels and Covenant struck a deal. They hit Reach and get what they want while the Covenant worked right behind them. By the looks of things, the Covenant were hoping to use the Insurrection as a distraction while they were here and turned on them when we crashed the party.”

“What’s this going to mean for the rest of Reach, sir?” Jorge asked. “The Covenant being present has some ugly implications.”

“One thing at a time. For now, we’ve got a dead researcher here. Name tag says he was part of some archeological dig out here. We found a girl hiding up here. She’s been particularly resistant and can only speak the local dialect. I need some answers about what went down here.”

Peering around the corner, there was a girl in maybe her mid twenties. She wore a leather jacket and jeans and had her brown hair tied back. On the floor beside her was the researcher the commander had mentioned. He might have been in his sixties, but it was hard to tell with his mop-like grey hair obscuring his face. His beige coat was lightly soaked in blood from a pair of slits in his torso - the hallmarks of a Covenant energy sword. “On it. Give me a minute.”

Her eyes remained fixed on the floor in front of her at the feet of the dead researcher. Not bothering to look up, she started, “What do you want?”

Undoing his helmet, Jorge opted to sit beside her. In his native tongue, he opened with, “My name is Jorge. What’s yours?”

“Sára.”

Something like amusem*nt washed over him, making him glance at the medic over by the other side of the room as she pulled out various medical supplies for the trooper. “Small galaxy.”

“I’m sorry?”

“It’s… nothing. Say, your accent is familiar. You from Sopron by any chance?”

“Tengeri.”

Wincing in embarrassment, Jorge looked to change the subject. Eying the dead man, he carefully continued, “Was he a friend of yours?”

“That was my father.”

Jorge wanted to apologise, but found his words couldn’t escape him. Thinking back to it, either through conditioning or just the sheer passage of time, he could scarcely remember what his parents were like. There was a good chance they were still there on Reach and there was a moment where he reflected what things might have been like had he had been a bit dumber or hadn’t had his growth spurt at five. “I’m… sorry. Has he left you with much?”

“Just this…” In her hand tucked, he missed the thumb drive she had curled in her clenched fist. “He was trying to send its contents when it happened.”

Reaching for it, his fingers gingerly plucked it from her open palm. “Thank you. We’ll see to it he finds peace and justice.” Getting back up, he offered her a hand back to her feet. “Found something you missed, sir.”

Looking up from Kat’s work, Carter slid off his helmet, blinking with optimism. “What’s up?”

“Our dead scientist had this on him prior to his death. He had handed it off to his daughter hoping she would be able to send it in her stead before his untimely demise. She’ll need a psych eval after this.”

Emile removed his own helmet to reveal his smarmy smile. “She’s not the only one.”

“Knock it off, Emile,” Carter snapped, no differently from an agitated teacher. “Escort her outside. We’ll find her a hospital on the way back to camp, but that thumb drive is our main priority. Leave the researcher’s body here for the cleanup detail to deal with. Kat, what’s your progress?”

The tech specialist stood back up after being hunched over an open panel for the past few minutes. “The line with command is up and running. Should we leave you alone for this?”

He shook his head. “No. This is too important. Hook me in.”

Kat tampered with the controls on the damaged communications monitors a bit more before Holland’s voice came back into focus. ‘...m barely receiving your signal. Spartan-A259, are you reading me?’

“Yes sir. We’ve neutralised the local Insurrectionist elements, but there’s more to the radio silence in Visegrád. There were Covenant troops present here. The bulk are dealt with but I suspect there are more.”

‘Say again commander? Did you say “Covenant”?’ the colonel repeated.

“Affirmative. The Winter Contingency is now in effect.”

‘So it is. Get back to base while you still can. I’ll start breaking the bad news to everyone.’

Chapter 4: Damage Control

Chapter Text

Outpost 451, Viery Territory

26 July, 2552

0807 hrs

After a day remaining in Visegrád for cleanup, Sara and the rest of her team were recalled to the outpost she met them at. They had continued to provide a security detail for the repair crews until more units could be moved in to protect the relay outpost until it could be brought online again. A couple days later, they were being recalled to where she had originally met the other members of Noble Team. The outpost was much more alive this time with a couple other Spartan teams already present.

The Falcon touched down beside a stockpile of munition crates for Carter to disembark first followed by Sara and Jun. Beside the crates was another Spartan-III loading boxes for her M73 machine gun. Her armour was similarly plated to Jorge’s with a collar shield and was painted sand green and maroon with specs of yellow and grey along the heavier plates. Beside her machine gun was her CQC helmet with an additional plate above the visor and MILNET visor on the right.

Looking up from the depths of her work, the Spartan’s copper red hair flung about in the draft from the Falcon, casting a shadow over her freckled face. Her green eyes immediately hovered over the commander, making her abandon her station. “Commander. Didn’t think I’d see you again so soon,” she greeted, sporting a heavy Scottish accent.

Carter lifted off his own helmet and extended a hand to shake. “Rosenda. I assume you recently got rotated back to Reach?”

“Seems like everyone left in Alpha Company has.” Mid-handshake, she glanced over at the team’s new medic. “I don’t think we’ve met.”

Pulling off her own helmet, Sara brushed a random strand of black hair out of her face. “Spartan-B312. I’m the new Lieutenant of this group.”

“Lieutenant?” Rosenda posed. She looked at the other members of Noble as they reunited on the ground, her expression quickly souring. “You mean… Thom…?”

“He’s what ultimately got us off Fumirole,” Kat explained remorsefully. Her left hand nervously felt the prosthetic right wrist. “I was carrying an active nuke when I got incapacitated and he carried it the rest of the way. I just wish that taking down that battlecruiser would’ve won that day.”

Pursing her lips, Rosenda lamented, “There’s not much of Alpha Company left, is there?”

Carter tried to maintain his stoic appearance. “We just have to make do with what we’ve got. We’re being recalled for a briefing if I understand correctly. Anything on what’s going on?”

“Everyone’s waiting for you guys back at the main telecom prefab actually. Can you tell me if the mumblings about Covenant on Reach have any merit?”

“More than I’d like,” Jorge answered.

“Piss. Let’s get this show on the road.” Scooping up her helmet, Rosenda led the others inside where at least two other squads had already packed themselves in. On the holotable at the centre of the room was a map of the Babda Catha Ice Shelf and some ominous red blips barely a kilometre out. “Sirs, Noble Team has arrived.”

The colonel’s icon hovered over the table beside the presentation. ‘Good. Given the nature of the gravity of the current situation, I wanted all involved teams in the same room to discuss this matter. Currently, there’s a Covenant Corvette en route to an ONI facility designated Sword Base less than an hour out. Local air forces are attempting to repel the attackers, but the trajectory remains unaffected. As of now, your Spartan teams have been recalled from existing deployments to deal with this incursion and prevent the loss of critical data.

‘Your teams will be deployed to key locations along the facility. Stingray will be deployed to the local airfield to ensure continued maintenance of air superiority.’ As a visual aid, additional blips cropped up along the holographic depiction regarding Spartan team placement. ‘Noble will be deployed to the facility proper and protect the immediate proximity. Archer will be assigned to move ONI staff and equipment to a safe distance if the Corvette cannot be repelled.’

“Sir, there have to be at least a dozen orbital platforms that could cut that Covenant ship in half,” another Spartan in the room noted. “What’s preventing those from handling this threat?”

‘Due to the attack on the communications outpost in Visegrád, the majority of Covenant movements in this region have gone unnoticed. The orbital satellites are still powering back up again and they won’t be prepped in time to shoot that Corvette down without causing friendly fire. You need to hold off the attack and force it into a position where we can cleanly deal with the threat. I’ve already informed local defences they will be coordinating with multiple Spartan teams. Any other questions?’ The Spartans muttered nervously to each other about the implications of the alien presence, but didn’t manifest any questions for Holland. ‘I want wheels-up ASAP. The Corvette will be there a good hour before your teams arrive. On the approach, you will be coordinating with a local dumb AI named Dot. She’ll provide military intelligence as you go. Dismissed.’

The departure from the briefing was a rueful one, apart from the scornful exchanges about the seemingly humorous nickname for a dumb AI. Rosenda looked back at them with a rueful look. Walking back over to the crate of ammo, she snagged a belt of 7.62 and draped it over her shoulders. “Sorry to hear about Thom. Of all people, I’d thought he’d make it through all this for sure.”

Jun largely avoided eye contact, but did his best to correct the tune of the conversation. “I know. But don’t sweat it. Next time we’ll have better news to share drinks over.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sword Base AirField, Babda Catha Ice Shelf, Eposz

1126 hrs

The Cruiser now dominated the sky above the ONI facility, as did the hundreds of fighters from both the Covenant and the UNSC circling each other like flies on a cow. Various buildings burned around the site and there were too many instances of smouldering wreckage now littering the grounds. It was a testament of foreshadowing, warning the defenders of the spooky black site that their fight would bear no fruit. Rosenda did what she could to mute the thoughts. Her Falcon now did circles around the grounds as she sat on the door gun, firing bursts at the Covenant squads on the grounds below.

“Get some. Get some. Get some,” she muttered to herself, though it was barely audible over the rattle of her gun. Most of her trigger pulls did yield a subsequent view of alien viscera that was still visible, but it barely amounted to enough in the grand scheme of things. The number of aliens that deployed to the ground was surprisingly vast for what could be carried with a Corvette. A dozen wraiths were preventing the launch of more longsword fighters and the ratio of Covenant fighters to UNSC ones was steadily favouring the former.

“I’m bringing us down! Get ready to deploy!” the pilot barked. She almost didn’t hear it. The roar of plasma mortars was steadily getting louder and took out another Falcon flying adjacent to hers. Tucking aside the mounted gun, she plucked her own off a mount in the wall and watched the ground draw closer until it collided with the bottom of the craft, sending a jolt into her through her suit. “Good to go. Have fun out there!”

Each movement caused the ammo on her person and the rounds in all the boxes tacked onto her armour to jingle and ring. Hustling over to an overturned warthog, she got down onto a knee and leaned out to pepper an approaching Covenant squad. The jackals in front attempted to block her shots for the grunts and elites behind them, but were flinched out of their defensive stances with a couple well-placed shots and cut down along with everything behind them. Overhead, more Falcons zoomed by on their way towards Sword Base.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The situation seemed fairly disheartening on the way in. Sara had seen many similarly dire battles over the course of her career, but knew full well that this was barely scratching the surface of the lethality of the conflict. The majority of Beta Company had perished on Pegasi Delta and Sara had internalised herself as just being lucky. Even when a situation appeared to be a dead end, she would slither her way through or she would just happen to be assigned to missions that were a note less deadly than others.

“The situation looks somewhat worse around the West side of the facility,” Carter noted. “Dot, what’s the defensive situation looking like around the airfield?”

The AI chimed in over the team comms, ‘The defensive line between the airfield and Sword Base. Stingray Team is holding the line, but are still outnumbered and have taken a casualty. Other information is pending.’

“I see. Noble will be splitting into two components. Carter Out.” Leaning back into the passenger cabin, he ordered, “Kat, I trust you and the Lieutenant to handle the attack in the Eastern courtyard. They may need extra help with getting defensive systems back online along the perimeter, so they’ll need your technical expertise. Everyone else will be supporting the defence along the airfield. We’ll all reconnoitre back at Sword Base if the Covenant break through. Got it?”

Kat was already preparing her M6G, checking the sights and her ammo reserves. “We’ll get it done. I can’t say anything about the schedule until I see it though.”

“Just get it done as fast as you can.” Throwing in a glance at Sara, he added, “Knowing our latest addition, you might have trouble keeping up.”

“We’ll see about that.” They touched down in the south end of the courtyard beneath a light incline and a bridge overlooking most if not all of the surrounding area. They were positioned behind a few concrete and steel barricades with a pair of army troopers at their side. Similarly just past the barricade, there were a few plasma barriers already in place facing their direction with the opposition just facing them.

Grunts were steadily pouring through the centre with a pair of shield wielding jackals on the segment of bridge to the left and a single elite major sitting atop a ramp to the other end of the bridge on the right. Ideally, her first choice would have been to clean up the riff raff initially and move onto either the jackals or the elite, but the terrain didn’t favour such an approach. They would be forced to push uphill in the open. It would be a more balanced fight if she had the backing of more than a single Spartan and a pair of troopers all with basic small arms.

“Lieutenant, head up that right flank. I’ll cover you. Take that thing out and meet me on the other side of the bridge along the main building.” The Lieutenant didn’t answer back, running along the ramp until she got into a scuffle with the Sangheili. Taking shots at the grunts, Catherine steadily walked up the other ramp, lobbing a grenade at the top to at least throw the jackals off their balance. Peppering the injured one with a couple shots, she found herself on a balcony overlooking the enemy barricades. There were still far too many aliens present and she was internally counting the minutes it would take.

Sara followed behind her, dumping the rest of her magazine before making it into cover beside her. “Lieutenant Commander? I’m not sure we brought enough ammo for a job this big.”

“Throw whatever you can at them!” Eying a fusion coil by an abandoned flatbed truck, tearing through a few grunts. There were still a few Sangheili gradually retreating without the support of their subordinates to the ramp to the courtyard entrance leading outside of the facility. Noting that Sara stood to her full height, the Lieutenant ran right past her. Likely to a point further down where they could somewhat box the elites in, but splitting up now would not be ideal. “Six!”

“I’ve got this! Keep applying pressure!” Sara rushed off without another word.

Kat reached in protest but went right back to shooting. Shoving in another magazine in place of an empty one, she finished off a minor elite and was prepared to start mag-dumping another when an anti-armor round took his head clean off. The last elite ultra turned to look at the source when a shot stripped its own shields and spun it around when one more round pierced the back of its head. It was Sara that had fired the rifle, judging by the way she walked back over with a smoking barrel and loaded a fresh magazine in place of the emptied one. “I wasn’t aware you’re also a sharpshooter.”

“Off and on as the situation dictates it. I’ve tried to remain relatively adept at whatever weapons the UNSC will typically employ.”

“I’m going to have to ask Carter for your profile after this.” The pair continued into the vehicle entry point where a couple of troopers were huddled under a barrage of plasma fire coming from outside the base. There was still an officer with the squad taking charge of the situation, watching over a paramedic tending to the wounded. As Sara immediately went to work providing aid, Kat requested, “Corporal, how are you faring against the Covenant here?”

Turning from the barricade, the corporal shook his head. “It’s bad, ma’am. We’ve got two wraiths out there pounding the hell out of us down towards the South. Pvt. West was on his way to take it out from a hilltop with our only SPNKR when the aliens got him from behind.”

Pursing her lips, Kat immediately made the call about the next play. “Six, since you seem fairly athletic, get down the hill and fetch that rocket launcher and take out those tanks. The rest of us will draw their attention, but you need to get down there as soon as you can. Clear?”

“Consider it done.” Leaving behind her medical kit, the two Spartans headed outside to view the road down below. Beside the smouldering remains of some unfortunate transport warthog were the two aforementioned wraiths releasing another volley. To the right hill was a dead trooper previously mentioned by the corporal. Albeit with the benefit of a downward decline, Sara bolted off ignoring the other Covenant infantry shooting at her while the other troopers followed Kat and took potshots. Putting aside the rifle, she scooped up the launcher and dumped both tubes into the unsuspecting hull of the first Wraith.

Avoiding fire from the machine gunner of the second, the medic managed to draw her SMG and dealt with the Unggoy. Jumping atop the tank, she clenched her fist, punched the top hatch, and peeled it off to expend the rest of her magazine into the driver. While she pulled out the dead driver, Kat caught up as the others finished off the remaining Covenant troops. “What’d you have in mind?”

“Clearly, the troops out here are outgunned and outnumbered. Figured we could turn the tide.”

“And you’ve driven a Wraith before?”

“Plenty of times.”

Thankfully, the lieutenant didn’t get to see her distrustful stare. When the corporal approached her from behind to likely thank them for their aid, she inquired, “what exactly were you doing out here when the Covenant attacked?”

The battered soldier was somewhat hesitant to answer. “Backup, Spartan. There are two substations nearby that need addressing to aid in Sword Base’s defence. A control station for the automated AA guns both around here and the airfield and a communications outpost that would better coordinate a defence. They’re not far along the road. If you could get those working, we’ll lend you the warthog.”

“You’ll need that ‘hog for the subsequent waves of Covenant to come,” Sara countered.

Kat’s stare intensified. “Six, actually confirm you know how to pilot that thing.”

“Commander Lieutenant, please. I ask for your trust this once. Just get in the gunner seat.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The pathetic human resistance had been dealt with swiftly. Out of the entire first wave, Buzo 'Tunomee had been assigned to the rear guard lest the humans somehow retake this side of the base. For the past hour now, he had done little besides aimlessly pace back and forth awaiting orders. Even prodding at the nearby human corpses had failed to provide him with any proper entertainment. Sitting and staring across the pond leading to the road towards the human base, he barely bothered looking at General Dola 'Vukamee on the top of the building to ask, “I tire of waiting. When are we to approach the human stronghold??”

“I already told you, you impatient whelp! We need to prevent them from retaking this sector!” The general heeded him the same courtesy.

The familiar sound of a gravity propulsion drive from where the human stronghold was. Immediately garnering his curiosity, Buzo got back to his feet in time to see a damaged wraith coming over the hill. “What in the Gods’ name is going on? Have they already taken the base??”

The general spotted the tank at the same time. “Looks like they’ve experienced a setback. Get down there and turn them around. They’ve clearly lost their way.”

Picking up his plasma rifle, he started over just as the mortar tank started over the pond. Its gunner was clearly gone and the tank had experienced some minor small arms damage. Whatever the reason for the wraith retreating was not visible. Too late had he realised something was off when it accelerated to maximum velocity right towards him. Any last thoughts of panic were liquidated with bits of blood and skull upon the tank’s hull.

Peering out from the gunner’s seat, Kat started peppering the grunts nearby as they darted for cover. “Slow down, Six! You’ll ram us into the side of the airview base!”

“The brakes are just a bit slow! That’s just how grav-propulsion engines are!” Sara couldn’t hear her own voice over the first few mortar rounds fired at an approaching Spirit dropship. She had spotted an elite general on their arrival and he had reared his ugly head again with a plasma launcher over his shoulder, charging up a volley.

“Six…”

“I see him.” A fourth round was lobbed right at the segment of the balcony, immediately melting the steel structure and the elite. There was no time to verify as the Spirit had begun deploying its chalk of troops. “We’ve got more trouble. I’ll hold them off. Can you find the control for the AA guns, ma’am?”

“Don’t let up.” Kat pulled herself from the gunner’s seat and hopped into the airview security station through the broken window. She had been initially hesitant of Sara’s proposed strategy to use a Wraith tank to close the distance with the enemy encampments, but it proved to be surprisingly effective at briefly fooling enemy forces into holding their fire. Rushing up the stairs, the control terminal for the guns were largely untouched. The plasma damage was visible, but not particularly extensive. Getting down on a knee, she started working when a pair of Wraiths came into view overhead. “Let’s see how you handle 20x102 alien scum.”

The guns spun online and immediately locked onto the two approaching aircraft. The first one was immediately torn in half. The other managed to deploy a pair of Ghosts before it was subsequently destroyed, but Sara handled the vehicles quickly. ‘Spartans, what’s your status over?’ the Corporal immediately demanded.

Kat walked down the steps and hoisted herself over the railing back to the tank. “The anti-air guns are back online. We’re on our way to Farragut Station to get the comms.”

‘You better hurry. Another deployment of Covenant infantry are pounding our position with Ghosts and a pair of Revenants. We lost our warthog and we’re being pressed back into the facility. We’re locking the main gate behind us. If you intend on coming back through, it’ll be an uphill fight.’

By the time the transmission cut off, Sara was peering at her from the depths of the tank co*ckpit. “Should we go back for them?”

Kat shook her head as she climbed into the gunner seat again. “They’ll get help when we get that backup communications array back online. If the situation is that dire, we won’t make it back in time to save them.” The tank adjusted its path for the next road to the other objective. “And temper the speed this time, would you?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Is that the last of them?” Emile had been picking over a dead trooper for extra shells.

“Looks like it.” Jun put his boot to the side of an elite dead on its stomach and kicked it over onto its front to verify it was dead. “Their infantry must be rapidly depleting.”

“Or they’re pulling back in anticipation of a direct attack at Sword Base itself,” Carter countered. “Kat, Lieutenant, what’s your status?”

The signal was disappointingly weak from Kat. ‘The East and South sides are clear of hostiles. Helped the troopers reestablish links with an AA control station and a comms relay. Currently on our way back into the facility, but we’re stalled outside by a group of Covenant attackers. It’ll take me some time to cut through the troopers’ defences too.’

“Just get back inside. The remaining ONI staff are struggling with warding off their share of the attackers. The complex is still swarming with Covenant air vehicles and we need to drive them off if that Corvette is going to withdraw. Looks like the anti-air installations on the main building aren’t responding.”

‘Of course they aren’t. We’ll meet you inside.’ Punctually, a pack of four Phantoms were seen flying towards the dagger-like tower at the foot of the glacier.

“Boss, is there anything intact enough at this point to drive back a Corvette?” Jorge posed, hesitant as to whether just cutting their losses would have been a better move at that point.

“That’s the longswords’ job. Our job is to make it easier for them. Let’s move.”

Jorge just shook his head and checked the ammo on his pack. As of now, there was maybe half a pack left. It was more than enough for dealing with what would be attacking the ONI facility. Hustling roughly towards the middle of the pack, the path between the airfield and the base wasn’t particularly far. Entering the garage and shutting the door behind them, they saw half of the Phantoms deploying their troops to the rooftops of the adjoining building to the main tower. The other two split off with one circling towards the courtyard Kat and Six had been deployed to with the other harassing troopers on the upper level of the tower. “It would have been nice if command gave us a map of the facility during the briefing.”

“Dot? Where are we heading?” Carter asked.

‘Past the airfield staff lockers should be the main elevator. It will take you right to the front lobby. The weight capacity might not be able to encapsulate all members of Noble, so the maintenance corridor to the East might be a preferable alternative. Be advised that the recent deployment of enemy troops is still held up within. Security teams are attempting to clear your path to essential infrastructure for the facility’s anti-air batteries.’

“Tell them to hang in there a bit longer. We’re on our way. Carter out.” Making a pointed gesture, he ordered, “Let’s make for that maintenance tunnel and start climbing.”

Emile noted that the elevator was still working and was in fact going down for someone at the bottom floor. “Lift’s still working, sir. It would take us a couple trips at most.”

“We don’t have time for a couple of trips. Get that door open for us Dot.” The facility lockdown was still in effect, but the door unlocked at their approach. It was a compact room maybe fifteen or twenty metres across and ten metres back. A reinforced catwalk spiralled all the way along the walls to the top of the chamber with various pipes and wires strung across the walls similar to a spider’s web. “Jorge, take point.”

Keeping his machine gun shouldered, Jorge maintained a light jog up the grated flooring until they got to the top floor. A few crates containing UNSC arms were kept at the top and the lack of any sign of aliens was at least briefly pleasing. One more hallway led out into the more recognizable clean and clandestine walls of the ONI facility. Whatever was left of the front receptionist was an arm jutting out along the floor behind the desk. Towards the back behind some decorational glass walls was the security booth, with the reflective one-way view rendered nonfunctional. “Looks clear for now. Aliens made a helluva mess though.” Only a pair of dead security staff were seen and there were additional stockpiles of armaments left where the defenders no doubt tried to hold off the invaders.

Jun immediately faced the other direction and drew his sidearm. “Sir, the elevator.” The lift was steadily coming back up as seen by the indicator just above the doors.

“I see it.” Jorge took a few steps away from the others for a better angle.

‘I recommend holding fire.’

Carter was slow to acknowledge the dumb AI. “The hell do you…?” The doors slid open to reveal Six and Kat waiting inside the elevator car. “Stand down Nobles. Lieutenant, Kat, good to see you made it up here in one piece.”

“Barely,” Six shrugged. “There was a hunter pair deployed to the downstairs garage.”

“And you handled them. Right?”

Kat reassured, “Our recent addition is surprisingly adept for a medic. She dealt with the hunters using leftover armaments after eliminating some enemy armour outside the gates. All that said, I’d like to look further into her capabilities following debriefing.”

A plasma bombardment shook the facility. “No promises. But enough time’s been wasted. Team, let’s get upstairs. Kat will need to work on getting those guns online or that Corvette will reduce us to dust.” Past the security booth, they made it into the ground floor of the ONI facility. Behind a statue, a trio of troopers were taking cover from a team of jackals with a pair of elites behind them.

‘The anti-air defences are nearly ready. Security was attempting to reactivate when the current occupation of Covenant troops entered through a point near the top floor. You will need to enact additional repairs towards the top of the building and engage the automated guns near the Covenant’s point of entry.’

“Then that’s where we’re heading.” Leading the rest of the pack, Jorge took dutiful care to protect the soldiers and ran headlong into the pack, knocking down the shield barrier and cutting through the elites. Looking up, the tower was composed of two halves with bridges connecting either side. Making their way up a ramp to the lowest bridge, it quickly became evident the security was now divided into pockets with teams of Covenant strewn about. Taking some glancing blows to his neck-guard from a pair of jackals, Jun was quick to turn his aim on the aliens.

An elite ultra protected by only grunts managed to hold his own on the second floor. The others managed to deal with the stubby aliens whereas Emile dove right at the elite and tackled it to the floor before repeatedly stabbing it with his kukri. Preparing the trek to the third floor, another shake jolted the entire facility with the explosions much more audible this time. The window facing out of the facility towards the airstrip in the Southwest shattered, revealing the approaching Corvette. ‘Noble Team, structural integrity of Sword Base is at fifty percent and falling. We cannot-’

“We’re working on it, dammit!”

Carter circled around a squad of security staff when a few explosive pelts of plasma evaporated them, sending hunks of melted armour and red flying. Looking further up, there was a Sangheili general at the top balcony with a fuel rod. “This is taking too long!” Carter grumbled and scrambled over to a lightly marred terminal by the far wall. “Kat, get to work. Jun and Emile, cover her. Lieutenant and Jorge will head to the roof and deal with any remaining hostiles outside. Go!”

Even among the Spartan-IIs, Jorge was physically a giant and was still caught off-guard by just how fast Six was on foot. Maybe not as fast as someone like Kelly-087, but impressively fast all the same. Nearing the balcony where the general had been, the alien was nowhere to be seen. Rounding a corner to find the room where the mentioned anti-air controls were, Six was suddenly grabbed by the neck and choke-slammed against the ground by the Sangheili leader. It brought out an energy sword when Jorge brought back his machine gun and slammed it in the side of the head, knocking it off. Six then dusted it off with her M7. “Y’alright?”

“I’m good. Thanks.” Getting back to her feet, Jorge remained on point leading outside. The entire roof had been blown off by presumably the Phantom and the swarming Banshees. Jorge started putting down some heavy fire, going from fighter to fighter. After destroying half, the ‘low ammo’ counter began worryingly flashing on his visor. It would indicate there was at least a quarter of his reserves left, but there was still the Phantom to contend with. Six still had some extra rockets she managed to pilfer from a friendly cache and proceeded to slowly whittle it from the sky.

The skies were much emptier now by the time Kat caught up. Too caught up in their work, no one bothered to acknowledge each others’ presence until she finished reactivating the anti-air defences, pelting the remaining Banshees from the skies. Only after a long, bitter whirl of a plasma storm did the mounted guns roar to life, picking off the remaining Banshees. “That’s it! The guns are working again.”

The Corvette knew that its unsupported offensive could no longer be sustained. It slowly turned one-eighty and flew over a distant lake. Squads of longsword fighters continued to harass the enemy vessel until it was a kilometre and a half out. Dot kept them apprised of the full details. ‘The Covenant Corvette is now at a minimum safe distance from the facility. Longsword fighters have been ordered to withdraw. Standby.’ Breaking off from the enemy vessel, the enemy ship was allowed to fly a bit further when a MAC round from one of the orbital stations sheared it in half.

Looking over the view, Sara had been looking into the distance, watching as it turned into a smouldering heap of scrap. Somewhat exhausted after the day’s work, Jorge lumbered over, giving her a pat on the shoulder. “Quite a view. Sorry if I cast any doubts earlier. You pulled a helluva job up here.”

He had to imagine that sideways nod she gave was accompanied by a sideways grin. “I am to please.” It was a struggle not to get too attached. Over the past four decades, a modicum of fatalism had set into his mind. This was just how humanity was going to die. For years, they collectively hypothesised it would’ve been self-imposed and there was some reassurance that this time it would be externally imposed. The only reason to fight was just to enjoy the scenery a bit longer.

But more importantly, as the war continued, Jorge found himself somewhat grateful that his path had been set. If for nothing else, the people he had met as a direct result made the journey worth it. Everyone aside from the ODSTs of course. Unfortunately, this was the most anyone of them would be getting. The commander slung his rifle over his shoulder and thumbed towards the facility behind him. “Kat, Jorge, Lieutenant, we’re being debriefed by Dr. Halsey today. Checked in with Holland; says we’re all hers.”

Jorge immediately perked up at the name. “Pardon, sir. You said ‘Halsey’?”

“I did. Friend of yours?”

“Something like that.”

“Get downstairs to the conference hall across from the security booth entrance. I’ll be gathering Jun and Emile.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The conference room was empty aside from Catherine Halsey herself towards the back. She was still wearing winter gear with a puffed up white coat. Her blond bob cut had long since turned to silver compared to when he first met her as a child. “Jorge-052. Had I known you were part of this team of… Spartans… I might’ve rolled out the red carpet.”

“Likewise, ma’am,” Jorge returned, undoing his helmet. For all the Spartan-II program entailed, he was grateful for what it let him accomplish. “I didn’t think you were on Reach. It’s a pleasure to see you again.”

“I wish I could say the same about the changes to your armour.”

“These were necessary augmentations to the MJOLNIR platform, doctor. Especially for my specialisations I’ve undertaken since basic.”

“And what of these new squadmates of yours? I would’ve remembered them under my care.”

“They’re still Spartans. Just a different part of the program.”

“So it would seem.” Halsey’s eyes darted back towards the door where the other three members of Noble entered and immediately took note of Carter’s insignia. “Ah. Commander. I take it you’re the source of the ruckus earlier?”

“Pleasure to meet you too, Dr. Halsey.” Carter figured it would be wise to avoid the provocation. “Is there something you wished to discuss specifically? I’m not used to this sort of debriefing.”

“I’m more interested in your previous deployment to Visegrád. One of my coworkers - a Professor Lazlo Sorvad - was previously working with xeno-archeology. I was hoping you could shed some light on his untimely passing.”

Carter beckoned to Sara since she had carried out the autopsy after reinforcements arrived at the communications outpost. “Your colleague died from a Type-1 Energy Sword. Judging by who we found on site, it belonged to a team of zealots.”

A flicker of remorse seemed visible for but a brief moment on the doctor’s face. “Did he leave anything? Was there anything he had hidden in the outpost?”

“We recovered this from his daughter who had hidden herself nearby,” Kat added, handing over the thumb drive. “If there is something so important on this, I’d hope you’re willing to divulge our curiosities.” It was no secret by now that zealot class Sangheili warriors were only ever deployed to situations that were critical to their race’s religion. Even seemingly insignificant Forerunner items were like blood in the water to them.

“Unfortunately, the circ*mstances prevent me from doing so. Already, their presence on Reach has disturbing implications.” Halsey accepted the device carefully. “You sure these were zealots?”

“Their shield strength sure as hell indicated as such,” Emile cut in.

Ignoring the informality, Jorge added, “Their armour aesthetics and arsenal were very much consistent with zealots too. Unfortunately, one got away and we lacked the proper capabilities to hunt it down at the time. No telling what it’s done now.”

Catherine scrutinised the data device in her hand. “So it’s true. Prior to the attack, Sorvad had mentioned a recent finding on the calibre of a ‘latchkey discovery.’ A discovery the Covenant has no intention of asking kindly for. How many zealots were there?”

“Four, ma’am.” Carter’s grip on his own helmet shifted nervously. “That said, I suspect there’s more on Reach looking for that data. I hope you have a safe place to keep it.”

“The time for locking away secrets has passed, Spartans. If we are to turn this tide, the remaining Covenant - especially these remaining zealots - must not return to their space or report to their superiors. No matter the cost.”

“If that’s all, we’re done here. C’mon Noble, let’s go.”

The other Spartans sans Jorge left the room in single file. The Spartan-II hung by the door a few seconds longer. “Something wrong, Jorge?”

Jorge took a long good look at his own helmet. “It’s just… is it as bad from where you’re standing as it is where I am?”

“I’m afraid so. There’s no easy answer to this.”

Chapter 5: In Our Backyard

Chapter Text

stuck wearing PT gear, there were other ways to play into that civilian fantasy. Walking over to the nearby table, he set down a music player and started sifting through the playlists he had saved on the device. Carter opted to play one of Tchaikovsky’s more renowned pieces. “Classical? Really?” Kat scoffed, glaring at him from some piece of improvised shade on the grass.

Smiling, he snagged up one of the lagers he took from the troopers’ cafeteria earlier. Not that his implants would allow him to get drunk, but he liked the taste. “It’s a part of our history, Kat. It’s what we’re fighting to protect.”

“I wouldn’t mind if this whole war was just to destroy our old music archives. It’d save us all trouble if they finished those off and went home.”

Across from them, Jun was at a grill leaving a charred air around the encampment. No one else had volunteered to cook, so it was ultimately down to him. It was a brief, if fleeting reprieve from the notion that Reach could realistically be in the Covenant’s crosshairs. Carter would have gotten an inflatable water pool too if he could procure one. His hands tucked behind his head and he leaned back. “Whatever you feel about my music tastes, I-”

“Booooring.” Emile suddenly materialised by the music box and changed the music to some K-Pop band he did not recognize. “There we go.”

“Emile…” Carter warned.

Emile just turned around and shrugged. “C’mon, boss. There’s nothing wrong with this.”

“You listen to this garbage all the time in your helmet feed when we’re not in an active combat zone, jackass.” Jun shoved the CQC specialist aside and changed the piece again to Megadeth’s ‘Symphony of Destruction’ and began bobbing his head to the beat. “There. That’s more like it.”

“Hardly an improvement.” Six shoved past both and had her turn at the music player and changed it right back to a Mozart piece. “I know it’s not exactly unique, but-”

“f*ckin’ hell! Turn it back!” Emile was about to reach for the player again when he, Six, and Jun got in a prolonged grapple.

Carter was yelling too and was about to get involved when Jorge walked over to the player, fiddled with it lightly and turned it to Rolling Stones’ ‘Sympathy for the Devil.’ Setting the table back upright, he placed the device gingerly on top. “There. Satisfied?”

Everyone steadily got back up, brushed themselves off, and eventually went back to their own business. Carter steadily settled back into his seat. “Glad that’s over before it began.”

He winced as something crawled up his chest. Looking down, he could see Kat’s organic hand travelling up the underside of his shirt. “You’re still adorable when you’re yelling at other people.”

“Hmmm… I know that’s the impression you get.”

“Have you given it any more thought?”

“I… can’t. You know that.”

“I know. There are times when I just want to forget about all of this.”

“Like when?”

“Like after I got off the operating table.” She flopped her mechanical wrist about like a marionette. “I know the Covenant had displayed nothing but a fervorous desire to burn our worlds to ash, but you think they’d ever… occupy us? They’re an empire after all.”

“You’d rather live subjugated?”

“I don’t see any other possible reality where we’d be around long enough to see it.”

Jun’s yelling crowded out their conversation. “Okay! First patties are off the grill! Who’s first?”

“How ‘bout the newest addition to the team?” Jorge proposed. “She’s earned that much.”

Six bounced over with a smile until she saw the burger patty. “I… think you overcooked it… no offence.”

“What?” Jun’s eyes darted back between the medic and the first burger. “It’s perfectly cooked.”

Emile’s eyes immediately perked up at the opportunity. “Can I have it then?”

Ignoring Emile, Jorge stepped up and reaffirmed for Six, “I’m pretty sure she asked for ‘medium-rare’, not for the consistency of charcoal.”

Giving an expression of taking umbrage, Jun’s face twisted into something sour. “Excuse me?? ‘Medium-rare’?! That’s barely edible!”

“Is there something you didn’t burn?” Kat added.

The sniper just looked to the others and waved his hands to either side in confused protest. “What?? You don’t like my cooking?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CSO Long Night of Solace

09 August, 2552

0449 hours

Rho ‘Barutamee paced endlessly onboard the bridge. His lieutenant Kantar ‘Utaralee watched nervously from the corner of the room as he continued to walk laps into the flooring of the deck. The bridge was otherwise quiet aside from his footsteps, the chatter of the machinery around them, and the occasional murmur from an Unggoy. Three zealots finally appeared via the holotable behind him. ‘You called for us supreme commander?’ Field Marshal Sokan ‘Mattin started.

The ship commander barely lifted his jaw to face the projection. “Are you aware that your operation’s secrecy has all but evaporated?”

The leader of the zealot team sent weeks earlier shifted nervously in place. ‘There are multiple demons on this world. Progress - and by extension maintaining that secrecy - has proven difficult.’

“And now they are well aware of our presence.” Turning to face the table fully, Rho leaned onto it and glared. “We knew to some extent the humans held a military presence guarding sacred elements of the Gods here. This is a mission that cannot fail lest we all make heretics of ourselves!”

‘Don’t think I know that any less than you do. So what is it you would have us do in the meantime?’

Looking back to the holographic map of the current invasion force deployment, he answered, “For now, we are hidden. We cannot afford to jeopardise that any more than we already have. Withdraw all external forces and bring them back to the canopy. The cost of your failures will have you personally ensuring those stealth canopies are working. Properly.”

‘As you will, supreme commander.’

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Szurdock Ridge, Ütközet Region, Viery Territory

11 August, 2552

1630 hrs

Carefully toeing along the top of a cliffside, Jun watched the spotlight of a nearby Phantom anticipating it to suddenly angle upwards at him. Down below was a misfortunate platoon of Unggoy being chased in circles by hulking creatures the size of Mammoth transports. Their skin had all the consistency of Earth elephants, they rolled about on their knuckles, and their tusks were almost three metres in length. “sh*t… look at the size of those things.”

Kat immediately got back on the comms to explain, ‘They’re a local species called Gúta. While they aren’t carnivorous, they’ll still hunt down anything that moves.’

“I don’t remember asking, ma’am.”

‘In case you suddenly made the ill-informed decision to go up and kick one of them in the shins.’

Not bothering to answer, he looked over to the medic briefly employed as a sniper. “Keep your distance.”

“Way ahead of you.” Six lugged about a suppressed SRS99 and an M6S behind him. Not that it would have mattered if any of the Covenant out in the wilderness saw her white and red armour. Despite how much she stuck out like a sore thumb on the rocky greys, browns, and greens of the night region, Six remained unseen by the alien combatants. She even proved to be a decent close-quarters fighter when she gutted an elite on a cliffside beneath him earlier. Of course, when he asked Kat about the Lieutenant’s skillset, he was once again stonewalled.

Whatever she was capable of, it was nice to observe her capabilities in the quiet, dark confines of the middle of the night. Many of the civilian settlements and compounds along the Ütközet Region following the attack on the ONI facility and the chain of command interpreted it as the Covenant trying to cover their tracks. Wanting to get the drop on the aliens for once, their job was to sneak into the region, investigate how the Covenant made any network out in the Szurdock Ridge completely disappear.

The past few hours after they were dropped off from the Pelican were occupied by wandering these lonely cliffs finding farm after farm, warehouse after warehouse, and hydropower plants emptied, littered with dead civilians, or occupied by a handful of Covenant. However, the majority of these holdouts at most held a few boxes of Covenant small arms and maybe a mounted plasma cannon. These were a bunch of scattered scouting parties and nothing particularly pointed towards the notion there was any greater Covenant presence aside from how there was a large region that just suddenly disappeared into a black hole.

Gunshots began echoing into the night from non-plasma sources. There were plasma rounds interspersed with the echoes, making it self-evident enough about the potential conflict up ahead. Jun found themselves overlooking another small section of the local hydro power plant. Adjusting his visor’s magnification, he got a closer look from where they stood. “Civilians; local militia by the looks of it. They’re just using M6s. Kat, you seeing this?”

‘I do. Barely. Your signal is getting weaker. You’re not far from the jamming signal. Keep going.’

“And what of the survivors?”

‘Negative. Keep moving. The Covenant cannot know of your presence.’

“What?!” Six snapped in a harsh whisper. “We’re not just going to leave them!”

“Sorry, but the lieutenant commander’s right,” Jun agreed ruefully. The thought of leaving those four civilians to their fates didn’t sit well with him, especially as one narrowly dove out of the way of a live plasma grenade. “Come on. We’re almost th-” Even with a suppressor threaded onto its barrel, Six’s rifle firing still made him jump. “Lieutenant!”

His complaints fell on deaf ears. “There’s an elite ultra eleven o’clock by that crate,” she muttered, firing another two rounds. The immediate consequence was a major having his shields stripped before receiving a new nostril.

Initially hesitant, Jun proceeded to follow suit and quickly executed the other Sangheili Six mentioned. If their whole mission was to remain secret, there could not be a single alien that could report back. Swapping out another magazine, enough of the alien attackers had died for the militia men to move in and clean up. ‘Recon Bravo, what the hell is happening??’

“We… uh… saved the remaining militia.” Looking back, the four survivors disappeared into the hills on the other side of the water plant before the next Covenant patrol could arrive. “Any possible witnesses have been removed. The mission remains uncompromised.”

‘It better remain that way.’

Jun glared at her as he hung up. “You trying to get me in trouble??”

“We couldn’t have just left them down there!”

“I know, but don’t make me cross paths with Kat in the process. Let’s keep moving. I don’t want to find out if anyone heard the noise we made.” Making their way along the top of the plateau following a ravine, the distinct sound of an antigrav thruster slowly echoed behind them. “Enemy aircraft! Get down!”

The two dove down just as a Phantom came into view. Its sweeping spotlights narrowly missed them on its way further ahead towards the end of the dammed river. “It’s coming in to land. Something’s up ahead.”

Exiting a prone position, both scooted down into the ravine to follow the trail ahead. At the cliffside where the river originally poured out, another power facility was lightly littered with a Covenant encampment. The biggest difference this time was a five-metre tall platform with three legs and a pillar up the middle with a pulsating umbrella at the top. “There it is. Kat, are you still reading me?”

This time, the thin veil of static was much more prevalent. ‘...at’s the sou… …objective confirmed.’

“Got it. Sar- Six, still have those packs of C12?”

‘Negati…’ Kat’s voice cut out after that.

“Hello?”

‘Command wants… …ement of surprise. Set charges but-’ The signal finally yielded altogether.

Sara cursed something foul under her breath. “What now?”

“Judging by what that sounded like at the end, we're just to plant the charges and leave it there. To my foggy understanding, if we’re going to be conducting a counter-attack, the Covenant will just have to believe they’re still undetected for now.” Slowly treading over the bridge, there were a number of sleeping grunts along the path that remained oblivious to their presence. Hiking up to the cloaking signal device, Six pulled out a pack on her thigh and put forth a couple sticks of plastic explosives. “Pass three of those to me, would you?”

“I’ll keep watch.” Adjusting the UV filter on her visor, Sara eyed the elites on an overhead railing nearby, anticipating getting spotted while Jun worked away. They continued to pace back and forth, obviously anticipating something much louder. The only thing she heard otherwise was the whistle of the wind. “Jun, how much longer?”

“Almost there… got it.”

“Is that enough?”

“I stuck them in the pylon’s main power supply. Let’s move before a patrol comes by.” The gate up the road away from the bridge was shot open by small arms during some earlier firefight. Continuing through the hole, the path along the hills was wide open with only a few Covenant barricades. The sky was now choked with a few Banshee patrols, flying circles at least a hundred metres in the air. “I think we’re getting close to wherever they’re camping out.”

The road eventually hung along the edge of a cliff leading down to the open plains below. But where there had once been open desert fields was now a jelly fish shaped tower climbing some fifty stories towards the sky surrounded by more Covenant frigates and vessels. Somewhere in the distance, a line of Scarab mechs marched in a line from the underbelly of a carrier. “Oh… f*ck…” Sara had never seen a gathering of Covenant this big before.

“Yup. That’s our invasion fleet. Kat, can you hear me?” The static remained from earlier. “Damn. Start recording with your visor. Command will want to see this.”

“Way ahead of you. What now?”

“Now we make our way back for a pickup. It’s going to be a long day tomorrow.”

Chapter 6: Too Little Too Late

Chapter Text

Inbound to the Szurdock Ridge, Ütközet Region, Viery Territory

12 August, 2552

0800 hrs

Grimacing as he gulped down another mouthful of coffee from his thermos, only then did Carter realise that it was now empty. He hadn’t slept well the prior night while Kat took charge of managing Noble Team in the field and had barely managed to clock in a couple of hours before being ordered to scramble in conjunction with other UNSC Army units. Hours later, they were already in the air with various vehicles underneath stirring up a large dirt cloud that the Covenant just could not miss. Over the past week, it had been gradually more apparent that Covenant sightings were lessening not because they were retreating, but because they were hiding. If it was one advantage they could get now, it was the expectation that they were not about to be found.

In conjunction with other divisions attacking smaller cloaked Covenant groups, the biggest concentration would be handled by multiple Spartan teams. If they were to squish this invasion before it got any worse, it would demand everything they had on hand. ‘Is that the only one you brought?’ Rosenda’s Scottish accent was unmistakable. She was visible from his Falcon in one of the Scorpion manned turrets down below him just behind the lieutenants’ and Kat’s Warthog. ‘Had you asked, I could’ve lugged about a spare for you.’

“I appreciate the sentiment. But thanks. There’s more than enough to keep me awake up here.” Putting his helmet back on, he turned back to face Jun and Emile in the cabin beside him.

It was Emile of course who decided to speak up first. “I’m just saying, sir. I wouldn’t have minded lugging around another for you either.”

“I need you to be on point, not to be my mule.”

Colonel Holland finally decided to join their enlightening discourse. ‘Commander, you are starting to fade from our orbital scanners. Are you still reading?’

“For the most part, sir.” Peering out the side of the VTOL, he could now make out the distinct purple hues of the alien fortifications along the desert landscape. “We’re approaching the Covenant staging area. Engagement imminent.”

‘Good. That site is priority one of the Winter Contingency. I’ve got limited satellite support on standby and cruisers Grafton and Saratoga inbound to provide artillery support and heavier firepower if we have any unexpected surprises.’

“Limited, sir?”

‘Our orbital installations are still damaged by recent Covenant air attacks following their use during Sword Base. They’re holding for now and are undergoing repairs, but will be unable to provide anything but visual intel. I’m confident you and the other command staff currently in the field will be able to use that to its fullest extent. But it won’t be able to see anything until you get those signal jammers offline.’

“Understood, sir. Carter out. Jun, got a fix on that package you promised me?”

“Yes sir. That signal is coming in strong. Doesn’t look like they found it.”

“Hit it.” Looking to the canyon wall in the distance, a small hydro plant barely visible without visor magnification expanded into a smokey fireball. Looking back ahead, the grounds of the invasion camp were still livid with alien life, but were yet to prepare a defence. Alarms blared and the air was immediately filled with plasma mortar fire. At the very least, it would still take a few minutes to scramble fighters.

‘Commander, the ground feed has cleared up and local satellites now have a better picture of the field. Sending your command module the details,’ Dot chimed. The dumb AI was faithful in forwarding to the wrist-mounted module.

“Right. What am I looking at?”

‘With that destroyed pylon, the jamming signal no longer disrupts the orbital view, revealing most details about their defensive capabilities. The first noticeable feature of this invasion force is the eight spires surrounding the area in a five kilometre diameter.’

“This is a lot of sh*t we have to shovel. Where’s the transport ships?”

‘That currently remains unclear. Command will want additional details about the possible means by which the Covenant were inserted when the battle has concluded. It is highly likely these spires have something to do with it.’

What took Carter’s interest was the number of anti-air defences dotting the region. There was no shortage of heavy hitters either with a mix of light, heavy, and oversized vehicles on full display ahead of the main force. “That’s our objective. But one thing at a time. I’ll want some air support for those scarabs or they’ll chew through our Scorpions. Kat?”

Kat was audibly struggling with the wheel as a mortar caused another Warthog to flip in front of her vehicle. ‘What is it?’

“Dot’s spotted some anti-air batteries to our Southwest. Find a road over there and hit them so we can start bringing in the frigates and Longswords. Until then, they’ll get shot out of the sky before they can reach their targets.”

‘Give us twenty minutes to silence them. Heading that vector now.’

“You’ve got ten. Carter out.” The Falcon jolted to one side to narrowly avoid a current of plasma from one of the Scarabs. The army was now in the thick of it with lines breaking like waves on a rocky shore. Slower units were quickly being circled and strafed by their faster counterparts on either side and the kickup of smoke and dust quickly cut down on the visibility of everything below. “Jesus… I hope Kat can pick up the pace.”

“Boss, if the pilot gets us close, I can probably rig one of those to blow and be out in a moment’s notice.” Emile leaned out with his grenade launcher, swapped it to the EMP burst and shot it at the first one, sending it spiralling out of control into a scrap heap on the ground.

Manning one of the mounted turrets, Jun struggled to nail a Banshee that was dashing right by them. “You’d sooner get us all killed, wiseguy.”

“We can try if we have the support,” Carter started. “Otherwise, I’m not overextending and putting us into enemy lines just yet.” He couldn’t help but wince at the sight of another two Scorpions being torn to pieces by the Scarabs ahead. Assuming the pilot could remain on point, they would be turned to hot slag soon enough. “Kat?”

The lieutenant had been the first to chat through the comms. ‘Keep it steady…’

The anti-air gun in question was still partially obscured by a massive hill, blocking the Scorpions’ line-of-sight. Atop a cliffside and across a river, the Scarabs otherwise prevented the UNSC tank line from getting a good view. It was visibly smoking and he could just make out the other two’s rocket ‘hog spinning circles around it narrowly avoiding a couple of nearby ground vehicles. The fruits of their labours filled the cliffside. ‘Got that AA gun, Carter. The skies in this sector are clear.’

“Well done. I’ll start bringing in some air support. Keep moving along that side of the ridge to the next gun. That’s the last thing standing between the nearest spire. There’s a bunch of them across this territory and they are key to the enemy’s hold on Reach. I want to start knocking them out one by one.”

‘With all due respect, lieutenant commander,’ the medic barged in again. ‘If you’re calling out my driving capabilities, is it only fair that I also call you out on your inability to keep a steady foot on the gas and a level hand on the wheel?’

Kat was about to utter a response, but first said, ‘I’ll call you back Carter.’ The line went dead without another word.

Whatever was going down, Emile got a nice long laugh out of it. “Not to spit on Thom - God rest his soul - but I gotta say Sara’s a worthwhile entry to the team, sir.”

“Right. Two-Lima-Four, you are clear to engage and I need these three Scarabs trampled. This is going to be a fire mission danger close.” It was hard to resist, but Carter couldn’t help but shed a light smile.

‘Roger that, sir. This is Two-Lima-Four, heading two-two-four-point-six; stand by for close-range air support, over.’ The skies howled from the faster-than-sound jets of a couple waves of Longsword fighters on their way to drop a payload. The first two disappeared into balls of flame and the third had a leg blown off and was forced into an automatic repair cycle. It continued to remain huddled on the ground for a while longer and blaring its alarms before it finally detonated.

“Solid hit. That’s a good kill. Pilot, put us down on the ground. Jun and Emile, I want you on the ground and helping along the rest of the troopers. They took a pretty severe beating down there and I want extra Spartans providing support until we can get some extra tanks.” Hovering a metre above the ground, the other two disembarked and hastily found a troop transport Warthog to hitchhike onto.

Rosenda’s Scorpion stopped not far from him, giving them a brief moment to yell over the engines of their respective vehicles and the battle around them. “How’s it looking up there?”

“Rough initially, but I think we’ve handled the worst. Air support is on its way and I have most of Noble handling the anti-air to let us keep pushing. There are a number of towers encircling this Covenant battle group that are important to whatever they’re trying to accomplish. Keep directing the armoured divisions to those objectives.”

“Understood, commander.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

Their gunner had died early on in the battle, forcing Kat to stop the car and let Sara take up the missile turret position. Sara admitted her more aggressive driving style was not the most comfortable for everyone else involved. However, in her own defence, Kat seemed to enjoy letting other people drive alongside Carter and Jorge. She would constantly swerve and almost bump into rocks and other stationary objects the Covenant had set up along the road leading to the next anti-air gun.

The winding canyon continued for some time and the Covenant probably figured they would not be moving much in the way of counter offensives along that road judging by the absence of emplacements. When the canyon did widen out into an open hillside, the aliens had much more visibly poured their defences into this one area where the roads were wide. “Careful. They could have more Wraiths out here,” Kat warned.

Sara had shifted back to the passenger’s seat and fired a few bursts at some of the roaming infantry patrolling the area as they drove by. The vehicle lurched from the Warthog running over a pair of jackals. Circling around the hill with the cannon on top, there weren’t any visible paths up. It was then concerning when Kat’s ill premonition proved true. “Ah, hell,” Sara cursed.

“Get back on the gun, Six.”

“I already dumped most of our payload into that first tower and I don’t think we even have enough ammo to destroy that.”

“Then do what you can to cripple it.”

“Cripple it, ma’am?”

“I’ve had a long look at your profile, Lieutenant, and nothing there explains your surprise proficiency with enemy armour. We might still be able to use it to destroy that cannon. Now get back on the gun.” Immediately stepping on the gas, Kat began circling the enemy tank as if it were a wild animal. A mortar shell landed behind their car, as she proceeded to pull her M6G and spray a few rounds at the gunner on top of the enemy vehicle. Circling it faster than it could turn, Sara fired one more volley into the rear propulsion. It didn’t destroy the tank, but it caused it to lurch onto its rear end, indirectly impacting its ability to retaliate.

Hopping off the back of the Warthog, Sara rushed over with a MA37 in hand. Prying off the lid, she emptied the magazine into the driver and ripped its corpse out of the seat. Leaping in, Kat parked their car alongside the tank as Sara began firing upon the anti-air cannon. And defenders remained oblivious to their presence until the plasma started melting well into the side of the gun and alarms were audibly blaring from where they stood. Kat had been spending most of her time gawking at the billowing smoke piles when another Wraith entered her peripheral vision. “I think another round should-”

“Six, we need to go!”

“What??” The sound of another firing mortar caught the medic’s attention. “Oh-!” Bailing out, the two narrowly dove onto the ground when the damaged Wraith and Warthog exploded behind them. “Ugh… looks like the cannon is offline.”

Getting back to her feet, Kat walked over to the tank husk and peered around. Another squad of Covenant was starting to approach along the open field towards their position backed up by the remaining Wraith. The situation turned significantly for the worse when a Phantom flew into view. “Can’t maintain that same optimism about our current chances.”

Picking through a dead alien patrol’s belongings, Sara reappeared with a stolen Plasma Pistol. “I’m going to take that other Wraith. Can you draw their fire for a bit?”

The lieutenant commander shoved her against the hull. “Are you insane?! You wouldn’t make it past that squad, much less get close enough to shut that Wraith down! Even if you got past that, the Phantom would pound you into dust!”

“We don’t have the firepower otherwise! It’s our only shot!” The Pelican overhead interrupted their argument. The dropship dumped its missile payload into the enemy aircraft as soon as it got a line of sight. Another Falcon flew into view behind it, chipping away at the Wraith and eventually disabled it. A squad of troopers rappelled out the back of the Pelican and started closing on the remaining Covenant infantry.

The Falcon landed nearby with Jorge in the passenger’s cabin, manning one of the turrets. Giving a light wave, he greeted, “Hey! Surprised you two got the job done on your own. Figured you’d need a third set of hands.”

“Jorge? I thought you were hanging with the main force.”

“The commander had me also on cleaning duty. Said I was to reconnoitre here when I was done.”

Kat rolled her eyes and thumbed her comms device. “Carter, those anti-air guns are offline.”

‘Great work. I’m overseeing the main force as their landing zones are still heavily defended. For now, I need you along that cliffside and providing any additional intel about movements in that region. Sara, go with Jorge and head over to that spire. It’s less than a klick from your position. However, ONI recon is unable to provide more information and I want a closer look. You just happen to be the closest.’

“Understood. We’ll inform you of everything we find.”

Sara started over to the Falcon when the lieutenant commander called, “Six?” Almost stumbling over a rock, the medic still walked forward while contorting to look back. “A pleasure as always.” Barely a moment was spared to give a thumbs up before getting behind the mounted grenade launcher on the side of the Falcon opposite to Jorge.

The Falcon took off shortly after, leaving her to watch the Pelican, the troopers, and Kat shrink into the distance. Hover over the road back down into the open planes of the valley, the scenery opened back up into the open battle back down towards the South. At the expense of various Scorpions, ‘Hogs, and various other personnel, they had pushed roughly a third into the open field in probably the span of half an hour. Whether they could maintain that momentum remained to be seen.

Aiming the barrel steeply down, the gun lobbed 40mm shells upon more shade turrets in one place than she had seen for the rest of the year. A couple of Wraiths down below were too far away to fight back, resulting in bright blue plasma explosions when their batteries were detonated. Jorge looked up from his own side of the VTOL, straining his neck to get a better look at the damage. “Helluva job, Sara. That’s some nice aim there.” He leaned in with that tone of admiration.

She shrugged and replied, “Like I said: I aim to please.”

‘Heads up, Spartans. We’re coming up on the spire. Intel suggests those are also cloaking canopies, but I can’t imagine what they could even be hiding at this point,’ Following the pilots’ vector, she could see a two-hundred metre tall purple tower with a large bubble encapsulating a diameter twice that distance.

“We see it,” Jorge acknowledged. “Hey, Dot, what can you tell us about that spire?”

The dumb AI was at least punctual. ‘The stealth field provided by the spires is still active within the confines of this shield. Energy signatures also resonate as electromagnetic.’

Sara’s confidence suddenly died down. “Should we be flying into this then? I’d rather we didn’t come crashing down as a result.”

‘Very well. Head in on foot,’ Carter ordered. At the same time, the commander was quick to remind them, ‘Just remember the Grafton is on standby to tear that thing down once that shield is offline. Keep the pace. Carter out.’

The pilot was quick to land just metres from the shield’s edge. ‘Good luck in there, Spartans.’

“‘Preciate it.” Cautiously approaching the energy field, the Spartan-II hoisted himself through, nearly tripping when he landed on the other side. His limbs occasionally spasmed, fighting him on his way to standing back to full height. “My armour took a jolt, alright. Things are still resetting.”

Steeling herself, Sara pressed her lips together in a tight bond, raised a boot, and followed suit. The effect was immediate as the HUD on her helmet visor flickered off completely, and the suit exoskeleton went dead. Falling flat on her front, the visor gradually returned segment by segment as did her full strength. “Yup. We’re really taking the bull by the horns.”

“Let’s keep moving. The tower ain’t that far.” The two crossed a beach into a shallow river to the bank on the other side. A hill prevented them from having a clear view of the tower base and was further lined with a few dozen Unggoy, a few Kig’yar brandishing shields, and some Kig’Yar riflemen leaping from atop the rocks to lay suppressing fire onto them.

“What’s the play, Jorge?”

“Keep ‘em busy along the left flank, Sara. I’ll make my way up the open area on the right. Meet at the top of the hill so we can assess how we tackle that spire. We enter together - no telling what’s waiting at the top.”

“You got it.” Preparing a grenade, Sara scrambled the first group and followed up by dumping a couple of magazines as they scattered in their typical cowardly panic. While out of sight on the other side of the rocks, Jorge’s machine gun rattled like a stamping machine. A few rounds from a Type-25 Carbine glanced off her shields from a jackal marksman presiding atop the hill before its gun arm was shot clean off along with other junks of its skin from Jorge. “How many are there?” she asked just as she caught up.

He grabbed her shoulder and yanked her behind a rock mere moments before the familiar green of a fuel rod whizzed by. “Well they have an awful fuel rod shade turret out by the front. Not seeing many ground vehicles or transport vehicles here otherwise, so it shouldn’t be that hard to just brute-force our way in. There’s at most a dozen grunts, some jackals, and a trio of elites out on patrol.”

“And what’s there to prevent us from just rushing through the bulk of the guards and just make for the gravity lifts going upwards?”

Something was uncomfortably familiar about that proposal that he couldn’t put his finger on. “What d’ya mean?” She pointed nearby at a shed of a deceased owner. Likely when the Covenant invaded, the prospector tried to escape in his flatbed truck, but only got so far as to stick the keys in the ignition when he was riddled with plasma bolts. After impact, the miner had rolled out of the driver’s seat where he was allowed to decay over the last week. As for the truck itself, it was relatively undamaged and was forebodingly the same model and make of the trucks seen back in Visegrád. “You can’t be serious.”

The rocks shook from another barrage of fuel rods. “It’s that, or we’re stuck out here being suppressed. Besides, once we’re inside, what the hell are they going to do?”

The logic clearly resonated with Jorge as a third barrage sent another shower of melted rock flying around them. “Let’s do it.” Being the bigger of the two, he was the first to reach the truck and hoist himself onto the flatbed portion. Sara slid into the driver’s seat, thankful that the seals on her suit didn’t let her smell the sweet rot of the dead man.

The engine roared to life and Sara threw the shift into reverse and turned the car to face the road. Driving down the hill towards the tower, Sara ran over a handy number of aliens, narrowly avoiding the next barrage of fuel rods. Bringing the car to a stop in the garage placed underneath the tower, an elite guarding the elevators rushed at them only for Jorge to gun it down.

The elevators themselves were transparent tubes glowing with the anti-gravitational effect of the Covenant’s technology, and the two Spartans could still see outside the structure. Landinging inside the top chamber of the tower, the two took a moment to observe the small chamber. Opposite to a window to their left was a few doorways leading out to a gundeck composed of a plasma barrier with no railing along the edge. The lapse in their guard nearly cost them when a jackal landed on the opening behind them from the elevator behind them. Sara nailed it in the head before it could direct its shield properly. “I suppose they wouldn’t have forgotten about us that easily.”

“Can you keep watch on the elevators? I can head to the control room over there and shut down the shields.” Jorge pointed through a small window in the wall showing the aforementioned control scheme for the structure.

“Make it fast.” Another pair of grunts exited the lift only for Sara to gun the two down. Jorge hustled down the next turn behind her, leaving her to shoot down another few aliens that arrived through the lift. Chucking aside an emptied magazine and slotting a new one, her focus remained on the elevator until Jorge’s gun stopped firing. His roaring and grunting made her abandon her position to come face-to-face with Jorge flat on his back. It was the tallest Sangheili zealot she had ever seen, clocking in at well over eight feet and a half. It was preparing to stab downward with an energy sword and Jorge’s chaingun had been knocked off to the side.

Sara screamed as she tackled the elite to the ground. It tried raising its blade arm to stab her only to find her blade pining its wrist to the surface behind it. Reaching down to its belt, her hand found a spare plasma grenade, primed it with a brush of her thumb, and shoved it hard into its chest plating. While it struggled to dig it out, she pushed herself up and off seconds before the grenade detonated. Her fellow Spartan was looking at his ruined chaingun with a clear plasma cut made right through the bolt. “f*ckin’ hell. You know you’re awfully dangerous for a field medic, yeah?”

“You okay?”

“I’m not broken.”

“What the hell was a zealot doing up here anyways? What exactly was this important to warrant its interest?”

“Dunno. We’ll have to report this to Carter when we have the time.”

“The tower controls.” Continuing to the holographic panel, her eyes scanned over it a few times before ultimately deciding on a red button situated towards the centre of the dashboard. Looking outside a viewport above the controls, the purple bubble they saw encapsulating the structure evaporated. “Commander, we’ve gotten that spire shield down.”

‘Good. Standby. I’ll have my pilot fly over to give you two a lift. Carter out.’

“Not a moment too soon.” Grabbing a dropped plasma rifle, Jorge took point before stopping dead in his tracks to avoid more plasma fire. In her absence. The two elites had entered the elevator room, along with enough jackals to form a phalanx. More aliens followed in their wake and the two were forced onto the open gun deck.

“Damn! Sorry. I should’ve kept watch on the elevator.” Between apologies, Sara expended the last of her grenades at the alien group, at most killing a few grunts while the elites remained safe behind the phalanx.

“Don’t sweat it. You’d have to be dealing with the tower alone, otherwise. Commander, do you read?”

‘Jorge? Something wrong?’

“We’re pinned down by hostile forces at the top of the tower. Unless we want to test the strength of our jell layers against gravity, our point of exit is cut off.”

‘I’m closing rapidly. ETA ninety seconds. Sit tight.’

Amid her reload, her belt suddenly felt uncomfortably light. Feeling around, her hand did manage to fish out one last magazine. “How much battery does that plasma rifle have?”

Staring at the integral UI, Jorge hummed, “Maybe… forty-five percent?”

Shoving the magazine in, she carefully pressed the barrel of her rifle around the corner and blind fired roughly half the magazine. “Well the commander better get here soon. I’ve really not had the time to stress-test the limitations of this suit since I was assigned to Noble and I’m really curious about just how strong this is against gravity.” To their relief, the familiar whirl of a Falcon was slowly filling the air. Having drawn their attention, the elites appeared in the door frame about to attack only to be thwarted by the Falcon’s chaingun.

As the vehicle turned to better expose its passenger cabin to the ledge of the deck, Carter had been firing his DMR and beckoned to them. “Get onboard Nobles! The Grafton is waiting for us to clear this spire.” The two rushed over and stepped into the cabin, taking seats opposite to Carter. The Falcon turned from the tower and dashed away, giving Sara and Jorge a good view of the approaching frigate. “Noble One to Grafton, we’ve cleared the spire and you are clear to engage. You are clear to fire once we are at minimum safe distance!”

‘Copy that, Noble Leader. We’ve got a MAC round ready and waiting for your exfil.’

Peering behind them at the distance they managed to cover behind the Falcon, she continued to follow the frigate as it aimed at the tower. The hum of its main gun charging was followed by a megaton round flying at the speed of sound, tearing the alien tower in half. Dot proceeded to chime in, ‘Cloaking signal weakening significantly. Alert: new energy signal detected. High-tonnage.’

Seconds after the spire was destroyed, a concentrated beam of purple plasma cut the Grafton in half, dropping her jaw in shock. “What the f*ck…!”

“No! This isn’t happening!” Jorge looked up towards the source.

Carter was immediately losing his normally calm demeanour. “sh*t! Grafton is down! Repeat, Grafton is down! All remaining units withdraw! Carter out!”

Kat’s voice over the comm had long since abandoned any level tone as well. ‘Carter! There was a damn supercarrier-!’

“I know! We’re coming to you. Get ready for a hasty pickup!”

Looking with dread above the frigate’s smouldering hull, the only thing that Sara could now see in the sky above the region was a Covenant supercarrier, now eclipsing everything else in the region.

Chapter 7: When a Plan Falls Apart

Chapter Text

Szurdock Ridge, Ütközet Region, Viery Territory

13 August, 2552

2000 hrs

With a trooper hoisted across her back, Sara steadily made it back into the temporary triage station while another Scarab stomped around behind her. There were at least a dozen other souls she was trying to treat simultaneously and the medical supplies she had salvaged from the nearby BXR Mining Facility weren’t enough to cover it all. Slinging the injured soldier over her shoulder onto the rocky floor, her hands procured a morphine vial and stuck it into the soldier’s neck. “This will ease the pain. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”

A little gauze here, a little disinfectant here, none of these soldiers would make it if they didn’t get a medivac soon. Following the reveal of the supercarrier above the region, more Covenant forces than any of them were prepared to face poured out of its seemingly infinite reserves, mopping up a good portion of the UNSC ground troops at the battle in the span of an hour. The Saratoga was immediately shot down right afterwards as were any UNSC vessels that attempted to challenge it. Following the initial assault, it flew back into lower orbit to remain out of effective range of any remaining ground artillery. Now they were awaiting word that help would be coming.

Jorge walked by with a new chaingun he had salvaged. Emile had been sitting in a corner of the cave and Jun yanked off his helmet, immediately barking something mad about the current state of things. It wasn’t exactly clear what it might have been about. Kat wandered over to the mouth of the cave where Carter was. The two Noble Leaders were much more audible from where she was working.

“What’s the earliest we can expect help, Carter?” Kat asked. She tugged her helmet off as Carter had his own just lying on the ground beside his boots.

Carter’s tone was nothing short of defeatist. “Right now, over half of the remaining UNSC fleet is en route to Reach. First battle cluster will arrive in forty-eight hours. Until then, we’re to hunker down and keep them occupied for as long as we can.”

“Forty-eight hours?! That thing is crushing us and we’re waiting for backup?? Those battle groups will be arriving to back up a graveyard!”

Cutting her off, he described the grim nature of the situation beyond just the supercarrier itself. “All the nukes we had were either not even in this system or went down with the ships that carried them. The fat lady has yet to sing, but we’re stuck up sh*t creek waiting for someone to give us a paddle.”

“So that’s it then?” Her inquisitive expression caught his attention.

“I know that look, Kat.”

“You haven’t even heard me out yet.”

“No. I already told you we just gotta minimise casualty burn for now.” To emphasise his point, he jerked a hand at Sara.

“Aren’t you the least bit curious?”

His sigh was long and dragged like an upset child. “If it means killing some time, sure.”

“If you recall, there was an incident a few years back with a colony ship outbound Cygnus. All seven hundred of her crew perished.”

“You mean assumed perished. For all we know, they were instead transported to some Covie world and died when the aliens found them. But refocusing on this story, something about a slipspace drive malfunction, right?”

“Actually, the drive worked just fine. It’s just that it was improperly mounted during its last maintenance run.”

“And how would this play into our current predicament exactly?”

“Just as a hypothetical, let’s say a slipspace drive was sent up to a certain supercarrier currently hovering over the planet.”

“That is a rather creative story, you came up with that yourself? Ever considered going pro?”

“Maybe…” Just then did Kat’s gaze flickered over to Sara, noticing her prolonged stare again. “It’s the arm, isn’t it? You don’t need to worry about it, lieutenant.”

Peering down at a now empty medkit, Sara shrugged. “I was going to ask about the prospect of a medivac once you were done, but one thing led to another and what you had to say just got too interesting.”

“See? She agrees.”

The conversation had caught all of Noble’s attention. Jorge, Emile, and Jun paced over with helmets in hand. “Sirs, we figured we wanted in on whatever discussion was going on over here,” the former started.

Kat leaned up against the mouth of the cave opposite to Carter. “In lieu of our nukes, I propose the idea of an improperly mounted slipspace drive to destroy the supercarrier currently in geosynchronous orbit above us. Ideally, we’ll be carrying the device. We smuggle it close with another Covenant vessel lest they get suspicious and set off the device and watch half the ship disappear.”

She waited for a moment, expecting something like an applause or at least some agreeing nods. Emile was the first to say, “Am I the only one who didn’t catch all that?”

“Sir, is this even sanctioned?” Jorge added.

Ignoring both questions, Carter returned, “So what you’re telling me is that we’ll need the most expensive piece of hardware ever made by man, a ship to get it into orbit, and a Covenant vessel to smuggle it in close?”

Kat tucked her hands behind her back, sheepishly looking at another Covenant ship that flew by in the distance. “Well… as a soldier on the ground, I wouldn’t know much about that. That being said, I’ve heard rumours about a launch site for the experimental Sabre Program that the past three administrations have dismissed as Insurgency propaganda. And among her wide variety of talents, it just so happens that our most recent addition is also trained in the full use of said fighters,” she fully explained before pointing to Sara.

“I at most got a couple hundred hours of training in, but I don’t think it should be that hard to pull off,” the medic agreed.

Emile just gave Kat a good once-over. “You sure you’re not ONI? You look like you could be ONI.”

At the very least, Carter now appeared hesitant rather than overtly defiant. “So what you’re telling me is that we need not only the most expensive piece of hardware ever manufactured by man and permission to use experimental fighters to force our way into a Covenant ship, take it over, use it to deliver said expensive hardware, and do this all without a hitch?”

“You’re the one asking.” Her hand stuck out her datapad. “I informed Colonel Holland that you had a plan.”

Under any other circ*mstances, her cheeky smile would’ve brought more pleasant feelings to Carter. Snatching it out of her grasp, he prepared to make the call. “Just as a last warning, there’s no way he’ll accept this.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Inbound to the Sabre Program Research & Launch Range, Farkas Lake, Eposz

14 August, 2552

1248 hrs

“I can’t believe Holland gave the greenlight for this operation,” Jorge sighed. Operation UPPERCUT had been initiated in less than twelve hours after the initial proposal.

“I’m having a harder time believing he got all the necessary components for it,” Carter agreed.

Emile hastily glanced at the Spartans around him. “Okay, so it’s fine when he says it but not me?”

“Because you said it a dozen times already!” the others groaned in unison. Sara looked back out of the cabin to the shore line beneath them. The jagged edges of the beach otherwise led to a much more timid part of the continent. The Covenant had already managed to advance quite far beyond the Viery Territory and weren’t slowing down. Overhead, Morsam-pattern Seraphs strafed through the skies, attempting to pick at the range’s defensive emplacements.

Carter checked the magazine on his rifle one more time. “Okay, let’s not waste any time. Holland expects us to get those fighters in the air.” The Falcons landed behind some large rocks, providing sufficient cover from the orbital fire and Covenant drop pods. The troopers at the facility itself were managing to hold the line, but the gradually increasing enemy presence was ramping up. The team made haste charging through the squads of grunts, jackals and handful of elites while their backs were still turned.

The situation just inside the front doors was not much better. A good portion of the front hallway had been shot open by a Wraith that had been set up on a dock below by the lakeside. A pair of troopers were firing back with a rocket launcher. As much as Sara was tempted to stay and destroy it, she was pushed to keep moving. A couple of incursions had made it surprisingly far into the launch facility, but the staff had managed to kill the few elites after stacking up the bodies of their own security staff.

Approaching a holotable, there were still a few staff rushing about. One of the mechanics rushed up to the commander and provided a small salute. “Spartan, thank God you’re here. We’ve been running in circles since we got word from Colonel Holland several hours earlier. When the Covenant attacked, we continued preparing the Sabre fighters for launch.”

“And they’re good to go?” Carter requested.

“Yessir. We’ve got pilots for three of them ready to go. Each are prepped for orbital deployment and have the coordinates to rendezvous with the Savannah. I understand you’ll be having one of your own on the fourth?”

“That’s right. Lieutenant, take Jorge out to the landing pad and get prepped. We’ll fly our own way up and join you for the deployment of that bomb.”

The two Spartans hurried along the winding corridors. Plenty of troopers still occasionally crossed their paths in a rush to plug other breaches along the facility. Overhead, more alarms blared and the intercom barked reports of more attackers breaking in from all angles. Jorge opted to eventually break the silence and asked, “So at what point did you learn to become a pilot?”

“A few years back along with a handful of other Spartan-IIIs, I got handpicked to undergo additional training. Some that were mandatory and others that were of our personal selection,” Sara explained. “I chose to become a field medic and got the additional perks of learning to utilise a more rounded component of the UNSC arsenal.”

Jorge nodded with what looked to be jealousy. “Sounds fun. What about becoming a pilot?”

“You know how it is. UNSC always seems to be in a shortage of pilots. Along with more common vehicles like a Pelican or Falcon, I got to fly more experimental craft and captured enemy equipment - including some ground vehicles.”

“Like a Wraith?”

“Like a Wraith.” The doors at the end of the hall slid open to reveal the observation deck to a launching chamber. Previously, her experience with the FSS-1000 Anti-ship Spaceplane was exclusively in-atmosphere. This time, the ship was now equipped with additional thrusters for the ride into orbit on its rear and was pointed skyward like one of the early spacecraft from the 20th and 21st Centuries. It received the same shielding as the MKV. suits got and likely provided the proof of concept needed to develop the newer permutations of armour.

“It’s… smaller than I thought.”

“Their co*ckpits are designed to compensate for Spartan sizes and weight. We’re good to go.”

He slung his chaingun over his shoulder. “I’ll take your word for it. Does it got any onboard storage?”

“Sorry. You’ll just need to get a new chaingun on the Savannah.” Operation UPPERCUT was a three-phase mission and would be fairly basic compared to other missions she had partaken in. After procuring a Sabre fighter, they would fly into orbit to meet up with a UNSC frigate in drydock to procure a leftover slipspace drive. Watching enemy patrol routes, ONI immediately found a Covenant Corvette on a return path to the Covenant supercarrier to refuel. With the aid of the Savannah, they would cripple the vessel and board it. Bringing onboard the improvised bomb, they would clean out the remaining crew and set the Corvette limping to the supercarrier to detonate, saving the planet hopefully before the Covenant forces on Reach called for reinforcements.

Tucking her rifle into a cubby beside the pilot’s seat, Jorge managed to heave into the copilot’s seat behind her, leaving his gun behind. “Commander, you still there?”

‘Go ahead, Jorge.’

“We’re boarding. Bit of a snug ride, but we’re ready to go.”

‘Glad to hear it. We’re currently working on our own exfil from the facility. We’ll meet you onboard the Savannah. Good luck.’

“Copy that. Sara?”

“We’re good to fly.” Pressing a key on the control scheme, the co*ckpit hatch locked over the cabin. “This is Noble Six, initiating launch in t-minus forty-five seconds.” The ship’s engine shook them through their suits of armour. The sheer energy strengthened, preparing to enter full throttle. “Launching in t-minus five… four… three… two… one…” G-force shoved her head into the back of her seat. Looking to either side of her, the battlefield quickly disappeared into the distance behind her. Around her, at least one of the other Sabre fighters was visible from her seat.

Her gaze otherwise remained on Reach’s sky. The reflected hues of blue gradually faded to black. Sara’s hands danced on the control scheme adjusting for their orbital exit. “Readouts say that our first engine burn is nominal. Segment separation commencing in three… two… one…” The additional thrusters she saw on the outside of the ship audibly shed off. “Stage two initiating. We are in orbit.”

Jorge craned his neck around the back of her seat as much as the cabin would let him. “Nicely done. You really are a pilot.”

“Just wait till you see me in combat.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The drydock station was already swarmed by light Covenant attack craft. The flak cannons mounted onto Anchor-9 peppered the space surrounding the station. Not that Jorge could really do much from the copilot’s seat except highlight targets for Sara to handle. As expected, Sara’s skills with a wheel shook him about no differently than a kid would shake a new, poor pet fish’s bag. Plasma would pelt the Sabre, barely being repelled by the shielding installed into the ship’s defences.

Sara handled the vehicle like she would any other vehicle. Sharp turns, aggressively pursuing hostile aircraft, and threatening to narrowly impact something were all part of the experience. The main difference is how she would occasionally kill all speed behind either a floating hunk of debris or one of the dry docks to give the onboard shielding a chance to recharge like they were still fighting on the ground. The moment the familiar flash of yellow dissipated around them, she immediately threw them back into full throttle.

The Covenant had brought gunboat Phantoms to try and destroy the station with, proving to be the most taxing on the station’s guns. Dumping the last of her missile reserves into each, the gunboats proved to be the backbone of the offensive, forcing the remaining alien craft to retreat. One after another, each of the blips on their radar disappeared from range. Jorge tapped the monitor in relief. “That’s all of ‘em.”

‘Anchor-9 to all remaining UNSC callsigns. Targets are destroyed and the enemy has withdrawn. Sabre fighters are clear to dock and rearm.’ Sara was at least much easier on the wheel with the impending danger gone. Facing towards the station, the drydock slowly came into view with arms prepared to latch on. To their left was the rear of the UNSC Savannah and a Pelican similarly latched onto one of the drydocks.

It was hard to see what Sara did once they were hooked up to the station, but it became evident once the sound disappeared from the cabin. ‘There. This is where you get off Jorge. You alright back there?’

“Yeah. By the way, next time you’re offered to take the wheel, driving just isn’t for you.”

She shrugged reluctantly. ‘I know I’m a bit sloppy, but…’

“Wings were always your calling though.”

For a few seconds after, she didn’t answer. ‘I… thanks, Jorge.’ Pressing one more key, the cabin slid open, letting Jorge climb out of the fighter.

Once he was out, he pushed off with his legs towards the waiting Pelican. Off its rear was the Savannah’s slipspace drive already removed. “Colonel Holland, I’m on my way over to the slipspace device. Hopefully, it’s not too much of a price for this operation?”

‘The Savannah is giving up her FTL capabilities for this, so she’ll be providing covering fire to help take the Corvette for as long as you need to.’

“We’ll make it work.” Glancing down at Reach’s surface, he could see the dull glows of plasma bombardment kilometres away and helpless to do anything about it. From the topography, he could tell what he was looking at. “My aching heart…” he muttered in his native tongue.

‘Say again, Noble Five?’

“Sir, could you do me a favour and raise Sword Base?”

‘Negative. They’re currently being attacked by additional heavy Covenant attack groups still in orbit.’

“Is there time for search and rescue following Operation: UPPERCUT?”

‘There’s nothing we can do for Halsey or any of the remaining staff at ONI. All we can do is make their sacrifices count.’

“I know.” It did not settle easily on Jorge’s mind all the same. The memory of thwarting the Covenant attack barely a month earlier still remained vividly active in his mind’s eye and his morale proactively sank knowing that - like Fumirole before it - was just another delay of the inevitable. Struggling to blink the tears out, his hand reached out for one of the handles on the Pelican and pulled himself into the passenger’s compartment. “Commander, where are you?”

Calling the rest of Noble Team, the first thing either of them heard was continuous Plasma fire. ‘We’re here. Unfortunately, we’ve been grounded at the launch site and are contending with making our way out of here. Is UPPERCUT still on schedule?’

“Affirmative. We’re just waiting on you now, sir.” The Pelican unhooked itself from the station and flew towards the frigate’s hangar area.

‘Don’t. I haven’t heard anything about a spare Pelican to pick us up and the troops here aren’t letting up. You need to get that bomb deployed while there’s still an opportunity. Carter out.’

Looking out the rear of the Pelican, he could see Sara’s fighter detaching from the station too. ‘I guess this is it then,’ the medic reluctantly acknowledged. ‘We’ll get the job done, Colonel.’

‘Glad to hear it, Spartans. There’s a lot riding on your success and failure. Best of luck.’

Chapter 8: Last Call to Nowhere

Chapter Text

Covenant-occupied space, Reach Orbit over Viery Territory

14 August, 2552

1602 hrs

‘We’re currently jamming the Corvette’s comms. Hit it hard while it can’t call for help!’

‘Agreed. Clear a path to that Corvette, Sabres! Damage its engines, but don’t leave it dead in the water. We still need it to take down that supercarrier!’

‘Watch your stabiliser, Echo 2!’

‘Take out those f*cking point-defense cannons!’

‘Nice dogfighting, Spartan!’

‘Enemy shields are down. That should make getting in a bit easier.’

“All callsigns, heads up. I’ve just spotted a bunch of Seraphs blink back onto my radar. Must’ve been a group on patrol.” Sara eyed a screen on the dashboard and began yanking hard on the controls to turn her ship around.

‘Don’t let them escape! They could bug out and squawk to that supercarrier about our plans,’ Holland ordered.

Aligning her craft with the first Seraph, Sara pelted its barriers with the machine gun and followed up with a few more missiles to finish it off. Another pair were harassing the Savannah while the rest of the patrol attempted to flee. The other Sabres were handling the remaining enemy fighter craft, but the Savannah was starting to withstand heavy damage. Turning her guns on one, she managed to cripple it and send it spiralling out of control for one of the Savannah’s guns to finish off.

The other attempted to pursue her and managed to chip away at her Sabre’s shields a fair bit before she managed to deftly circle around behind it and began peppering its flank. When its shields popped, some of her rounds caught one of the thrusters, making the craft spin completely out of control. Another set of rounds punctured its plasma reserves, causing a detonation close enough to make Sara flinch at the flash. ‘Thanks for the save, Spartan. I don’t know if we can withstand another barrage like that.’

“Understood. I’ll start trying to land on the Corvette and see if we can expedite hijacking it.” There had been a few operations requiring hijacking a Covenant craft she had partaken in the past. Typically, it was no more or less claustrophobic than UNSC vessels unless it was the hangar area. Tight purple corridors, more than enough grunts to fill said corridor a few times over, and little in the way of practical cover. The ships’ architecture was designed to favour the shielding of higher ranking units such as elites typically sported.

The top of the Corvette was unprotected as per usual with a single barrier to maintain the internal atmosphere. Landing atop the ship, Sara immediately threw the co*ckpit open and hopped out with her rifle at the ready. Inside was a communications centre with the Sangheili crew still trying to diagnose why their distress calls weren’t being received. As quickly as the reduced gravity would let her, she slowly pounced onto the back of one and hooked her knife right into its eye.

The other aliens turned to her the moment the dead elite’s screams echoed through the room. Snatching the plasma rifle on its belt, she turned it on the nearest two aliens until their shields popped. The gun overheated, forcing her to toss it aside and return to her MA37. Down below, two more elites remained attempting to pepper her with more plasma. Sticking to the higher ground, her main strategy was to continue whittling down their defences until she could safely push in. Prepping a grenade, she flung onto the floor right by where they were hiding, killing one and tearing the other in half. The Spartan back on the Savannah decided to give her a ring. ‘Tell me you’re still alive down there.’

“Right here, Jorge. Just made it aboard. I’ve killed their communications crew and I’m steadily making it towards the hangar to let you in.” Making her way through the doors on the base level, they slid open to reveal the main battery. The walls had plasma coils piled high with machines whirling to continue feeding the munitions into the guns firing outside. “Jesus…”

‘What’s wrong?’

“I’ve got the unfortunate disposition of having to make my way through the Corvette’s main magazine. Which would be great if we needed to tear this ship in half.”

‘Is there a way around?’

“I don’t think I have that sort of time. I’ll let you know when I get to the hangar.”

‘Be careful.’

“Trying.” Swapping her rifle to semi-auto, she leaned out of cover long enough to get a few shots off. The enemy squad was hiding just outside of the battery room, keeping their own distance with the volatile contents. A few plasma rounds did return in retaliation, but they were deliberate and cautious. At least the Covenant weren’t in a rush to die just yet either.

Confident enough that she could push forward relatively safely, she booked it for the next piece of cover. One of the grunts got a bit overzealous and was summarily throttled by his commander. She was now only a handful of metres from the door, and while the enemy squad was distracted, she swapped her rifle back to full-auto, chucked a grenade behind them, and charged right at the elite. The grenade softened the elite shields enough for her rounds to pierce with enough velocity to kill the elite outright.

A little ways further down the corridor, she entered the hangar. It was circular in shape with a couple walls around the edges of the centre. The hangar doors were still sealed shut and would need to be reopened. More plasma canisters Towards the ceiling, more Seraphs dangled, awaiting deployment. Hopefully, none more would see proper combat. There were plenty of maintenance crew still on station. Though they weren’t initially armed, they made their way towards some weapons caches as soon as her presence was made known.

Running up a catwalk to the right of the door, she made her way up to a bridge running above the middle of the area. Finding a console at the centre, she started mashing a few keys until the doors unlocked and slowly slid open. The barrier kept the atmosphere inside the chamber and gave her a good view of the Savannah still circling the Corvette outside. “Jorge, I got the hangar open. Better hurry.”

‘Glad to hear it. We just launched. Expect us in less than a minute.’

More of the Covenant crew now had arms and were steadily making their way up to the catwalk from the other side of the room. Trying to remain mindful of her remaining ammo, the provided high ground did provide decent cover. There were still too many grunts approaching, so all she had to do was disencourage them for long enough until the Pelican arrived. Before too long, the Pelican arrived, chaingun rattling.

Walking down the side of the hangar now perforated with freshly made bullet holes, Sara returned to the ground level where a dozen marines and the Spartan-II were setting up defences, barricades, and weapon stashes. “Nice job letting us in.”

She at least appreciated Jorge’s thanks. “There’s still the bridge though. Gotta make sure we’re still on course and that the crew haven’t tried scuttling the ship. Think you can handle protecting the bomb for a bit? After I’ve resupplied, I’ll take half the marines here, head up to the front and clear it out.”

“You got it, Sara. Just make sure you keep it short, yeah?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

‘Noble Six, this is Savannah actual. What’s the status of your infiltration? We’re suffering from heavy structural damage and need to disengage!’

Flanked by six other marines, Sara carefully advanced down the hallway leading away from the hangar to the vessel’s bridge. “We’re onboard and on our way to direct this vessel to that supercarrier.” At the end of the hallway, the room opened up into a gunnery position control room. The defence guns were largely automated, but there was a single spec ops elite in strangely golden colouring manning the positions. The window along the wall showed a plasma torpedo already launched towards the crippled frigate.

‘Break off! Break off! We’ve got a hull breach sector t-’ No sooner after they opened fire on the gunner did the frigate get torn to pieces. While his shields still held, the golden elite bolted through the door on the far corner of the room.

All seven of the UNSC staff members did not bother to pursue, instead opting to pause and stare. Internally, Sara was hoping that one or two of the escape pods might have launched. ‘Damn…’ The colonel’s voice rang hollow at the loss of the frigate. ‘You’re in there with no backup, Spartans. Get the mission done and get the hell out of there.’

Sara found herself cursing under her breath. “Let’s go. See if we can’t nab that gunner on our way to the bridge.” They burst through the door only to find an escape pod bay. At the far end, one of the pods already sealed its rear hatch. Just inside was the golden-armoured gunner, vanishing sharply as the pod launched back into Reach’s atmosphere. She was more confused than angered. Sangheili were always confrontational, whereas this was bordering on the behaviour of an Unggoy.

The bridge itself was fairly dense with some heavy hitters. At the far end closest to the windows was a general elite barking orders furiously. Pacing around was a number of jackal crew, but nothing as comparable to the sheer number of grunt majors manning the various consoles. There was little in the way of cover aside from some weapon boxes scattered around the room. “That’s a lot of crew left, Spartan,” one of the marines nervously muttered.

Their hesitation was understandable, but she knew what had to be done. “We need to take this bridge. I’ll take on the jackals. You six will quickly mop up the remaining grunts. Once those are done, target that general and keep your heads on a swivel. No telling what other surprises are in store.” Loading a fresh mag into her rifle, Sara charged at the first grunt within reaching range and crushed its head with the butt of her rifle. Scooping a plasma grenade off its body, she primed it and hurled it at one of the elites and continued to circle towards the other end of the room while narrowly avoiding incoming fire.

The grunts struggled to keep her boxed in with the other soldiers behind her. Keeping her mind focused, Sara hastily closed the distance and lunged at the first Jackal as it ignited its shield, plunging a knife into its eye and thrusting the shield aside. Hoisting the body at the next, her aim grazed its gun hand from behind the shield, throwing its stance off enough to gun it down. Cutting through one after another, the general snapped around and prepared a fuel rod that had probably been left by a particularly forgetful grunt.

Snatching up one of the dropped plasma pistols, her finger squeezed the trigger and prepared an overcharged bolt. Ducking underneath the first plasma rocket, the weapon fired and immediately overloaded the general’s shields. Leaping forward, she tackled it to the ground and expended the last of her MA37 magazine into its helmet at point-blank range. The triumph wasn’t to last.

The screams of her fellow marines caught her attention. One got run through his midsection with an energy sword from an unseen attacker with another dropped to his knees moments before another energy sword decapitated him cleanly. Two of the other marines attempted to retaliate against what was definitely a pair of spec ops elites when a third decloaked from nowhere and cut down the two. The remaining two were then executed by a fourth, one having his neck crushed underneath the elite’s boot.

Sara was alone and up against opponents that would have weakened shields due to their cloaking modules, but no less deadly with their plasma blades. Looking back to the dead general’s belt was the familiar hilt of an energy sword. Snagging it up, she immediately flicked it on and took up a stance against the four elites approaching her. She had at most basic swordplay under her belt, but she wondered if it would be enough to save her.

The first charged with a hungered growl and a downward strike. Immediately blocking the strike, Sara retaliated with a stab through its gut. The next ran up to retaliate, so she ducked and put a slash through its gut, dropping it in a second. The third and fourth challenged her at the same time, not wanting to be immediately eviscerated like the first two. Her heart pounded away in her chest as she struggled to deflect both blades mere milliseconds before it was too late.

One of the elites finally overreached and lunged right past her when she deflected the blade. Grabbing its wrist, Sara pulled it right between herself and the last one as the elite stabbed its own companion. Hoisting aside the dead elite, taking the locked blade with it, she brought up her blade right through the elite’s mouthpiece and out the back of its head. Drawing it back out, the medic took a few seconds longer to admire it in her hands before switching it off and placing it on the magnetic holster on her hip. She’d have to remember to gather the additional plasma batteries from the dead before she left.

Walking back to the control console, she immediately checked and adjusted the course of the vessel to ensure its trajectory to the supercarrier. Only then did it become apparent just how quiet the room was. Besides the dull chirping of the consoles was the angered hiss of plasma-kissed flesh. Jorge was audibly heaving when he called. ‘Sara, just got a lurch back here. That you?’

“We’re on track. Cleared out the bridge. One of the elites did jump ship in an escape pod. Got that bomb unhitched from the Pelican?”

‘Too suppressed to do so. Bring yourself and the remaining marines back here and provide some cover fire, yeah?’

Sara looked back at the marines she couldn’t save. Even with their enclosed helmets, she could see a set of eyes already glazed over. “They’re all dead. Sword elites got them.”

He took a few moments to answer. ‘Come back all the same. I could really use another Spartan right now.’

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Even as she hurried down the hallway, she could hear plasma fire gradually getting louder. There was just enough of an incline to the hallway and enough bends to prevent her from getting a good view of what was happening just inside the hangar. One last turn later and she finally came into view of the Pelican and Jorge only for the doors to shut on her. Running over, the automatic door mechanisms didn’t open for her, prompting her to slam her fists on the bulkhead. No doubt the remaining alien crew had attempted to keep the Pelican defenders locked in so they were easier to kill, unaware she was locked outside of the cage.

Even through the porthole, she could tell the situation was dire. Three of the remaining marines had already perished leaving the other three to defend against waves of grunts, jackals, and what might’ve been the remains of a Huragok. There were enough dead aliens to form some neat trenches for the remaining survivors to huddle behind. Eventually, a squad of elite ultras had the idea of bombarding them with heavy plasma weaponry, scattering alien and human body parts alike.

Jorge was alone in there with nothing but his chaingun. The first elite clearly had nothing else going through his head and gladly allowed Jorge to put some bullets through it as soon as his shields gave way. The next continued trying to kill Jorge with a plasma launcher and had not noticed he was standing next to some plasma coils. The stray rounds detonated the fuel canisters, evaporating two of the elites and throwing the last ultra around. He drew his energy sword and charged right at Jorge only for Jorge to throw his chaingun at the elite. Stumbling, the elite could do little to defend himself from Jorge.

Pinning the alien to the ground, he repeatedly slammed clenched fist after clenched fist into its face, just out of view. The Spartan-II stood up with purple down his front and ran back over to the Pelican. The exchange of plasma fire tore its co*ckpit right open and it sure as hell wasn’t about to fly. In a greater panic, Jorge ran over to the slipspace device still mounted on the back. ‘f*ck f*ck f*ck… Sara??’ Panic now had total control over his voice.

“I’m over here at the doors to the bridge! I can’t get them open!” While Jorge continued fighting alone, Sara had been struggling to find anything to pry the path clear.

The gunner rushed over and peered inside. “sh*t’s f*cked. Our ride’s dead.”

“There’s still the escape pods back towards the bridge.”

“That’s not all. Timer took a stray round too. There’s no way we’re detonating that remotely.”

The AI Dot chimed in to remind them, ‘Noble Team, be advised. You are currently five hundred thousand metres from the supercarrier. At your current velocity, you will arrive in three minutes. I advise that you expedite your current mission and prepare the slipspace drive for detonation.’

Jorge’s posture went completely slack. “So… that’s how it’s going to be.”

Sara’s eyes widened from the implication. “Hold on, I can double back to the bridge and kill our velocity to buy us time!”

“By that time, they’ll figure something’s up and either board us or shoot us out of orbit.” Clenching his fist, Jorge started punching a hole through the viewport and shattered it. It was far too small for him to climb through but enough for him to at most reach a hand through. “You didn’t know him, but before you were brought onboard, we had Thom.”

She quietly nodded. “That other Spartan Carter knew - Rosenda - told me about him.”

“He was a good lad. Maybe not as flexible as you, but every bit the team player. Mission was to blow up a carrier hovering over one of our colonies. Had to deliver the nuke to the grav lift by hand.” Jorge undid his helmet and deposited it on the floor by his feet. “Kat got shot by a Banshee and he had a jetpack. Carried it the rest of the way with his jetpack. I thought he would’ve had enough fuel to fly out in time, but we never found a body in the aftermath.”

“Th-there has to be something we can do.”

“I wish there was. Thom probably could’ve gotten out. But now I understand what it was he probably thought when that bomb went off. I’ve had a good long while to think about my place in all this. Destiny, fate, whatever the hell you wanna call it, we’ve all got one. We’re in the moment of the universe, but our path is ultimately set. Thom knew his was to save the rest of us Nobles.”

‘Two minutes.’

“Jorge…”

“I’m tired, Sara. I’ve seen more of the IIs die than I’m comfortable sleeping with, but they - and Thom - all went out acknowledging their destiny was to buy the rest of us more time. Whether we as humans are destined to win this war or not, my path was always set to destroy that supercarrier.” Reaching around his neck, he undid his dog tags and reached through the viewport to hand them to her. “I’m tired of being on the defensive for twenty odd years. Just this once, I want to be the attacker and I want it to be known. Maybe this will be the turning point, maybe this won’t. But I don’t want to know anymore.”

His hand let loose and she caught the chain on its way to the floor. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m not. They’ll need you down there, Sara. If it’s anyone who can set things right, it’s you. Now get to that escape pod.” Jorge turned around on the last few steps he would take.

There was no talking him out of it. She turned around and ran all the way back to the escape pods. There would have been enough for both of them, but she leaped into one alone and thumbed the control console. After a small countdown, her pod shot right out of the Corvette back into Reach’s atmosphere. Looking back through the viewport, the smaller Covenant vessel was dwarfed by the supercarrier above them.

As she got further and further, even the Corvette disappeared through distance. It was barely a spec when a large blue ball expanded rapidly outward from the point of origin. The slipspace orb disappeared as rapidly as it generated, leaving two halves of the supercarrier to drift lifelessly behind her. A sense of numbness washed over her as Sara collapsed in the seat behind her.

Thumbing the commpiece on her armour she reported, “Colonel Holland, Operation UPPERCUT is a success. The enemy dreadnought has been destroyed.” She waited a minute for an answer, but heard nothing but static. “Colonel Holland? We’ve destroyed the supercarrier.” Sara waited a bit longer again, only to hear nothing. Maybe the remaining Covenant destroyed a comms relay just moments before they took down the supercarrier.

Switching channels, Sara stopped on the first one that had a conversation going. ‘...re picking up anomalies too.’

‘You reading this?’

Dot blurted, ‘Slipspace rupture detected.’ A few seconds later, it blurted, ‘Slipspace rupture detected,’ again.

The conversation immediately picked right back up. ‘Covenant signatures! We’ve got hostiles!’

‘Does anyone have a visual?!’

‘They’re everywhere!’

‘It must be the whole damn Covenant fleet!’

‘Plasma torpedoes! We’ve got pla- AAAAAAUGH-!’ The signal went dead and Sara was left to wade in utter silence on her return trip back to the doomed planet below.

Chapter 9: The Hero We Needed

Chapter Text

dead. Gone with a section of the ship that was removed. I’m effectively the highest ranking. The majority of deployed forces are still intact, but we lost a good portion of the original deployment with the Long Night of Solace’s destruction. The humans will begin to overrun us if we don’t receive reinforcements soon.”

‘Then you’re lucky I considered the possibility of needing extra reinforcements with my invasion group. All the same, that vessel was key to making this attack a swift one. Without the Long Night of Solace keeping orbit on lockdown and with inbound Human vessels allowed free reign, there’s no telling how this will negatively impact the invasion. I’ve notified the High Council of your inability to remain a firm foothold.’

“My duties were the examination and protection of the Gods’ desecrated relics, supreme commander! Not the overall maintenance of this operation!”

‘They were your duties when your presence became known to the humans. Moreso when the demons got involved. You’ve got one last chance to recover what is lost to us. The Council knows the relics on this filth-ridden planet are key to our religion and could bear knowledge on the locations of the Holy Rings. This will be your last warning.’ The light went dark as Thel cut the line from his end.

The commander snarled, waving a hand at his subordinates to gather the telecommunications projector on his way to the cave entrance. Boto ‘Bangam had been just outside waiting for the others. Naturally, his golden armour remained without a scratch from combat. “Any word from the Supreme Commander Vadam?”

Utter hatred swelled in his hearts. Sokan only made a detailed report of the impending human attack on the supercarrier after the Humans deployed what looked to be a premature slipspace detonation. His hand wrapped around the plasma sword on his hip and ignited it, placing its edge right beside the gap between Boto’s helmet and his shoulder pad. “None. But since it’s your failure that put us here, your fate is tied to ours. You’ll be working with us until I see no reason to keep you.”

Even through his opaque blue visor, the commander could see the flash of fear in Boto’s eyes. No telling how this miserable slime managed to weasel his way into such a favourable position in the first place. “Take my head and two will roll.”

Grinning to either side of his mandibles, Sokan snarled, “With where you’re going, it’s not my blade you’ll have to worry about.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

New Alexandria, Eposz

23 August, 2552

1534 hrs

Sara otherwise made it safely back to Reach without a bruise, even with the Covenant’s worryingly complex controls for their escape pods. The main issue proved to be the now prevalent lack of telecommunications. She had been lucky to land within the region the Covenant had set up their invasion force. The downside was the lack of human life within the immediate vicinity. Worse, it seemed that any comms satellites in orbit above her had been taken down by the approaching Covenant force, leaving her all but cut off from help.

Making her way from settlement to settlement, it was a long walk back to civilization while more Covenant aircraft than had been seen earlier passed her by. Once or twice, Sara had considered trying to wave one down and board it when the aliens came to kill her. She hadn’t brought anything for a long trek with her and she had to make do with now weeks old refrigerated food that had been left in abandoned houses and mining facilities alike. Even a stolen Banshee could’ve helped get her closer to anywhere there were still people left.

On the ninth day following Operation: UPPERCUT, Sara came to a hill overlooking a now ruined New Alexandria. It was a tall, sprawling city of pristine towers and enormous ports for interstellar shipping. Out to sea, there was a space elevator, probably soon to be forever silenced as the Covenant struck down any vessel that attempted to flee. The three Corvettes that hung in the sky truly sold the notion of the hollowness to Jorge’s life. But she wasn’t about to let his dwindling memory be stepped upon.

Sara pressed on. Even as she had to waddle through streets with executed civilians left to rot by the alien attackers, she made her way past an open pavilion when her comms device finally managed to tap back into local comm channels. The situation was dire and any remaining local militia were struggling to ward off the Corvettes overhead if it meant giving the fleeing civilian ships a chance. The echoes of anti-air batteries made it clear the Corvettes weren’t quitting with such an amount of firepower laid onto them.

On the other side of a maintenance facility was a shopping area and food court with small pockets of troopers forming a thin line against a squad or two of brutes. As per usual, none of the brutes sported any armour unlike most of the Covenant infantry aside from gauntlets, knee pads, and a thin helmet, leaving their harry barren bodies exposed. Even with their protection, some of the civilians had already fallen behind and Sara barely arrived in time to see one unfortunate old man have his head ripped clean from his shoulders. It had been a while since she last faced off against the savage beasts and it brought only ire to see them deployed now that the supercarrier was destroyed.

Another woman and child were narrowly ducking incoming fire only to trip and fall. What was assumedly the mother was a metre from the Jiralhanae’s fingers when Sara put three rounds into its helmet to knock it off before placing a final round through its skull. Hurriedly helping the family back to their feet, she charged straight towards the surviving Army troopers.

The troopers turned to look where the bullets came from the same way the destitute and poor would upon a messiah. The looks of panic and worry slowly started to slide off as she rushed over to join the fight. Sara continued to empty what was left of her magazine into two more brutes before mashing the stock into a third’s jaw. Putting the rifle aside, her hand unsheathed her combat knife and jabbed it into its eye. “What’s the situation here, soldier?”

Their awe was still apparent in the way the squad leader spoke. “Ma’am, you’re a sight for sore eyes! All remaining deployments to the city are working to get everyone to the port and start getting people the hell off-world. For the past week, we’ve managed to evacuate the bulk of the remaining population within the city boundaries, but losses are starting to pile up and there’s still a good few thousand left on their way to the port. There’s a nearby corporate compound called Traxus Tower we’re trying to reach. It’s the nearest helipad that the Pelicans can safely land on.”

Sara grimaced as she looked to the skies. The Corvettes continued to pelt the surrounding skyscrapers. “What about those Corvettes? Even if any evacuation craft gets airborne, they won’t get far. Where’s the fleet? We’ve got to have enough firepower left to deal with just three Corvettes.”

“The fleet is still protecting the space elevator so we can get people out of the system. They’re preoccupied enough as is. We’ll just have to figure that out when we get there.”

She narrowly ducked a spew of red-hot metal rods, shot into the concrete wall next to her. A brute and a squad of skirmishers charged into the open through the exit from the food court. Returning fire, Sara pressed, “Fine. How do we get to Traxus Tower for now?”

“We’ve got to head down a level to the shipping yards and cross to the other side. That’ll put us right at the base of Traxus Tower. From there, we just keep climbing until we clear the area of hostile anti-air. Covenant forces have set up Shade Turrets over there.” The trooper handed over a datapad with a map layout of the area. Traxus Tower was just over half a klick to the northwest and a good portion of it would probably entail riding the shipping trams over to said tower.

The main trouble remained to be the climb. On the way in, she spotted no shortage of Covenant dropships. Already, more Spirit dropships and a Phantom moved to deploy more defences around what looked to be their only elevator down to the shipping yards. “Okay, stick behind me. I’ll draw off the bulk of enemy fire, but continue to drive into enemy lines. Do your best to clean up behind me, but keep the civilians in mind. We’ll get them all out of here in one piece.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the docks’ edge, a team of ODSTs continued to plink away at dive bombing Banshees, harassing them until they disengaged. The elevator down to the docks took a few more trips to steadily move civilians from the pavilion down to their level, so Sara passed time helping to triage the survivors until everyone arrived. With what little medical supplies they had on hand, this would at least be enough to see more of these people get better help off-world.

As she was applying gauze to one of the injured men, an ODST walked over to her, removing his own helmet. He appeared to be of Taiwanese heritage and had his hair almost shaved completely off. “Of all the things I’d expect a Spartan to do, applying a tourniquet wasn’t one of them.”

Sara did her best to finish up before standing to face the trooper. “I got chosen early on to undergo heavy specialised training.”

“So I see.” The trooper then saluted, “I’m Corporal Lee of the 88th Bullfrog Division. Figured if you’re going to be helping us get people out of here that ignoring any animosities for now would be in our interest.”

“Just how complex could getting across the shipping yards be?”

“There’s promise at the least. Though I’m not sure who the hell designs a shipping yard with monorails over a giant chasm,” Lee shrugged, pointing a thumb at the aforementioned giant pit. “I’ve been in radio contact with another attachment of the Army that’s situated closer towards the maintenance levels of Traxis Tower. Currently, they’re fixed between two clusters of Covenant troops above and below.”

“Is there a possibility they could help?”

“They’re being sandwiched as is. I’d like you to come along with us as we push to the other side of this yard on the first tram. It’ll take a good amount of effort to establish a perimeter over there, but once we dust off those brutes, we can start safely ferrying people over here and begin the climb. The troopers you brought will protect the flank here while my guys keep an eye on the other terminal lest those Banshees come back to make another pass. You in the meantime will continue on and link up with that trooper division overhead. Once everyone is over there, we’ll catch up with you. Sounds good?”

“I’ll do it, but I won’t be here to help ward off any brutes. Those bastards are particularly bloodthirsty today. Will you be fine alone?”

“What matters is they’re mostly focussed on the team above. I hate to say it, but their attention will mostly be on that group and you. Think you can hold that attention?”

“Let’s not waste anymore time.” The cranes were capable of holding several tons, so the journey over wasn’t threatened by her suit’s weight. More worrisome was the excess of Covenant forces waiting for them by the docks. Along with the usual teams of grunts and jackals were more brutes. There were no elites to back them up this time, so the primary concern was just how quickly the hairy aliens would rush them.

Lee’s ODSTs were quick on their feet, mopping up the first clusters of grunts and jackals with some well-placed grenades, leaving the brutes. They were fairly numerous and there wasn’t much in the proper way of cover aside from a shipping container and several crates. Once again, Sara was left to take point alone while the ODSTs clung to the rear, carefully picking the enemy off.

Suddenly, a brute major adorned in brass armour jumped down from one of the platforms above brandishing a long staff ending in a club with gravity repulsors at its tip. Threatened with the prospect of something they could not afford to allow close in, Sara drew the energy sword she gained from the Corvette over a week earlier. Fully charged and ignited, she ran straight at the brute. The alien major already had its sights on her and reared the metal club back to bring it down either on her head or the ground near her. Not giving it too much thought, she lunged straight at it and plunged the blade clean through its unshielded chest before it even had the chance to start bringing the hammer down.

It slumped lifelessly to the platform floor just as the corporal knocked the last brute down and finished it off with a few well-placed shots to the head. As Lee loaded another magazine into his rifle, he nodded to her, “Looks like this area’s secure. Keep pushing up to the plaza overhead, Spartan. We’ll be in radio contact.” Sara spent one last look behind her at the foot of the steps to see the ODSTs sending the tram back to the other side of the shipping yard.

The trek up was occasionally interrupted by straggler aliens, but was mostly interspersed with more stairwells, including a parking lot and some sort of archive before she eventually reached the plaza. Hiding beneath an overhang, a group of troopers protected at least a dozen huddled civilians still in business attire. They had crates of weapons open for her to syphon off additional magazines from before continuing to engage the other aliens on the plaza. One fired a rocket launcher at a Phantom’s engine, causing it to detonate midair and rain debris everywhere. The troopers would at most pay her a salute before falling in behind her.

The aliens were steadily falling back. A couple of jackals with focus rifles plinked at her from the next building along the plaza, forcing them to take cover behind some plasma barriers the attackers had left behind. The other troopers and survivors would’ve been vulnerable, leaving her to charge alone and let her shields completely tank the damage. The focus rifles they were sporting were otherwise fairly harmless against shields.

The trickle of alien forces was still consistent with dozens of grunts just holding the line further up the concurrent levels of the plaza. The remaining brutes were all high ranking and had held all their heavier weapons in reserve, with a few hogging some fuel rod launchers. Rummaging through the dead grunts she killed, she began gathering as many plasma grenades as she could find. With as much fluorescent blue as there now was coating the steps, the steps quickly turned into a blood waterfall.

Tossing aside her next emptied magazine, the piles were now starting to become a walking hazard getting to the top level of the tower. From where she was on the plaza, she could see the aforementioned executive helipad that the troopers had mentioned earlier. She could see the shade turrets set up on its exterior still harassing some of the UNSC aircraft attempting to land. The dozen or so brutes defending the top of the tower were also visible.

With fewer grunts and jackals, the troopers followed her more closely, providing heavier fire needed to cut faster into the brutes. A few more took cover on the balcony above their destination tower, keeping the troopers outside preoccupied while Sara entered the tower itself to continue to the landing pad. A brute chieftain awaited her with a fuel rod launcher, narrowly missing her and taking a large chunk out of the door frame, sporting actual armour unlike the lower ranks of brutes. Retaliating with two of her plasma grenades, the chieftain managed to shrug off the two explosions and fired off another salvo.

While it was stuck reloading, she hurried up to a staircase leading to another level over the chieftain. Attempting another stick, it rolled out of the way of her last couple plasma grenades. Hoisting her normal frag grenades, she managed to break its shields. One more fuel rod exploded close enough to her to break her own from the sheer amount of radiation. The brute continued to keep her pinned down until the other troopers started pouring in from the other doorways. Through a sheer wall of lead and more barrels than it could stuff, it was brought down to its knees and flattened on the ground in a pool of its orange blood.

Carefully advancing outside, Sara quickly shot the two grunts manning the turrets. The air was a lot quieter with the sound of plasma gone. The ODST caught up with the other troops, including the civilians they were protecting. Lee was back at the front, radioing the VTOLs overhead on his way over to her. He was about to turn and thank her when another stream of senseless buzzing entered his comm device. His shoulders sagged with defeat before eventually depolarizing the visor on his helmet. “You save a lot of lives back there, Spartan. Had my men and I tried charging up here alone, half of us would have made it up here in one piece. No telling how many civies would have died along the way.”

Sara spared one more glance towards the sky. “I’m just glad we got up here. Now what about those Corvettes?”

“The fleet’s still holding position by the space elevator to give evacuees a chance off world to begin with. There are some SAM batteries down by the space port, but the divisions down there are struggling to hold them long enough to get a proper fix. They’ll need another Spartan over there for this job.”

One of the Falcons landed on the pad with its passenger cabin towards her, but she didn’t board just yet. “Another Spartan? Who else is down there?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1752 hrs

‘Negative! I can’t hold her! We’re going down!’ Rosenda watched helplessly as one of the thrusters of the civilian ship exploded from a plasma shell. The last of the civilian ships were filling up, but the Covenant ground forces were steadily making their way through the barricaded terminal and the passengers of wounded and civilians aboard were panicking. Launching prematurely before the Corvettes were properly dealt with, they were immediately swatted from the sky before it even made it more than half a kilometre from the tarmac.

The other marines she had been watching over couldn’t help but pause the fighting to watch. Unfortunately, with the majority of remaining air assets still preoccupied with evacuating civilians and fighting enemy air combatants, there weren't enough leftover assets to try and launch a search-and-rescue operation, much less in time before everyone aboard drowned in the river below. “Look out! Ghost on approach!” Sergeant Major Duvall barked between magazines.

The entire situation was FUBAR. With an extra deployment of a Wraith and a battalion of Covenant troops led by two War Chieftains, Rosenda and what was left of the UNSC contingent had been repelled from the SAM sites they had set up before the missiles could be completely set up. The absence of her team was sorely felt as were the lack of ammo boxes she had already expended that day. As soon as their backs were to the edge of the beach, a couple of Falcons flew overhead, providing some greatly needed cover fire against the approaching enemy infantry.

One Falcon landed, followed by the familiar armour of white and red. “Sara? Is that you?”

The medic nodded, carefully treading through the sandy muck to Rosenda. “I heard you had a solution to our Corvette problem.”

“Almost,” Duvall answered. “They’re set up and the Covenant doesn’t seem to be aware that they can still be used against those Corvettes. Unfortunately, there’s nothing short of a small army between us, the batteries, and the improvised control centre. We need to take it all back.”

“What’s the enemy’s strength and do we have the heavy weapons to deal with them?”

Rosenda was reloading her machine gun and tossing aside a freshly emptied box. “A Wraith to say the very least. There’s also a pair of War Chieftains who are no doubt making themselves a home at that observation post. It’s at least a two-Spartan job. What say you and I retake that hill?”

“Do I even have a choice? Where’s the rest of your Spartan team?”

“Scattered and… MIA.” Rosenda hesitated to use ‘dead’ when the protocol for dead Spartans was to maintain morale regardless of the truth. “What about Noble?”

“Scattered. And MIA. Jorge has… yet to return after we destroyed the supercarrier in orbit.”

Doing her best to suppress a gasp, she just glanced back at the nearest anti-air battery. “Then we’re it. Let’s go.”

“You head to that first gun. I’ll deal with the Wraith.”

“Alone?”

“I’ll worry about that Wraith. You worry about those missile pods.” Sara hastily made her way to an overturned Mongoose and flipped it upright, but not before snatching up a dead grunt’s plasma pistol. Rosenda was left to wade through the shallows of the beach on foot towards the first gun, residing atop a structure similar to a plateau. From the plateau connected a bridge to a point higher on the hillside where the other missile pod resided.

Climbing the plateau, Rosenda found herself otherwise unopposed aside from a few grunts. By the missile pod was an ammo crate and a pile of various other guns abandoned from earlier. Running over, her hand thrusted hard against the activation button. The machine whirled to life and fully extended its pod in anticipation of firing. “Sergeant major, that first pod is good to go.”

‘Good job, Spartan. Where’s your partner?’ Taking a look around, Sara was nowhere to be found.

A trio of brutes began approaching her, leaving her to hastily mop up before returning to the crate to gather ammo. “I don’t know. She said she would be dealing with that enemy armour.” Running up to the bridge, she began her trek over the bridge when she glanced down to see the Wraith that had previously torn up most of their Warthogs. What caught her off-guard was how it was no longer on the offensive. The machine gunner was dead and Sara was grabbing onto the pilot’s hatch with a death grip, ripping it clean off. “She’s… dealing with the armour.”

‘Has it been dealt with?’

Sara proceeded to stab the pilot and drag it out of the driver’s seat. “You could say that.” Continuing back down the bridge to the other pod, there were more brutes holding a defensive position. One of the brutes had a gravity hammer and charged right for her as she dumped the last of her current ammo belt into it. Even as its liquidated intestinal tract spilled out onto the bridge, it tried crawling to her before she stomped its skull in.

Reaching the end of the bridge, her confidence evaporated the moment another Wraith appeared, recently deployed from a Phantom. She still had no heavy weapons to speak of and her M37 would not be able to pierce enough of the plating to stop it. But it did not get a chance to fire before another ball of plasma tore it in half. Shortly after, Sara rolled into view with her own freshly acquired tank from the brute she killed earlier. Waiving a gauntleted hand from inside the pilot’s seat, “Sorry! That usually doesn’t take me as long.”

The gunner just gawked. “Where the hell did you learn how to drive a Wraith??”

“You do it enough, you learn quickly. Did you get that missile site on?”

She turned around to face the other anti-air launcher and hit the power switch. “There. Duvall, all those pods are online.”

‘Hurry, Spartans! Get to the control scheme! They’re in the overlooking lobby of the beach.’

As the medic continued to the complex overlooking the shores and the other half of the city across the river with Rosenda hitching a ride on the Wraith’s hull, one of the civilian ships tapped into the local line. ‘Sergeant major, I’ve got Covenant banging on my door and a ship full of families and wounded. I need to get airborne now!’

‘Steady. The Spartans will have your window open soon. Spartans, get up there!’

Rosenda peered nervously into the driver’s cabin. More troopers were steadily being dropped off via arriving Falcons, but the Covenant were doing the same, deploying more Spirit dropships to the site. No doubt they realised the value of the anti-air batteries and sought to deny its use before it was too late. “There’s still the War Chieftains, y’know. I don’t think we can get in close enough with the Wraith to make it effective.”

The other Spartan climbed out to observe the staircase leading inside. Then she steadily climbed out towards the Wraiths’ main gun and stooped over the gunner’s seat. Ripping off the turret from its mount ring, she acknowledged, “We’ll just have to give it our best go.” The two rushed past most of the aliens while the remaining UNSC troopers handled them. From the room with the gun controls, the two War Chieftains presided over their minions from relative safety.

Using the salvaged plasma turret, one Spartan whittled down the first’s shields where the other emptied half a box of lead into its facial plating, cutting through the helmet and the ape-like creature’s thick skull. The other proceeded to brandish a gravity hammer and charged at them. The two parted fast enough, but were still caught in the repulsor’s effective radius, knocking them both back. It targeted Rosenda first and brought the hammer up to deliver the killing blow. The strike never came when Sara’s plasma blade stuck clean through its back out its chest.

It keeled forward dead for Sara to slowly draw the hilt from its back and place it right back on her hip holster. ‘Oh God! They’ve breached the landing pad!’ Ignoring how Rosenda had yet to climb back to her feet, Sara bolted right over to the station where a dead trooper lay, no doubt trying to turn the missile pods on before perishing. Thumbing the console, the devices began to flicker and the guns outside whirled in cooperation facing their designated targets in the sky.

“Civilian transports, the missile batteries are online! Take off! Take off!” Across the river, they could see dozens of grunts marching onto an empty tarmac, firing at the fleeing ships. The boxes of missiles down the beach fired off their volleys at the Corvettes above, successfully breaching their hulls and sending them spiralling into the ocean.

“Bloody hell… quite the display…” Rosenda strolled outside to watch the ships depart for the space elevator in the distance.

“And a job well done.”

Sara’s comm piece buzzed to life in her ear. It was to her surprise that Kat was in comms’ reach. ‘-Noble Six can you read me? Are you there??’

“I’m right here, Lieutenant Commander. I’m down at the New Alexandria spaceport, helping to evacuate the civilian transports. The last of them are away.”

‘That’s a relief. Still, I haven’t heard anything from Jorge. With the limited assets I still have, I haven’t been able to locate his armour even.’

A lump formed in the back of Sara’s throat like a tumour. “Jorge had to stay behind. The timer on the bomb was damaged and he was stuck with it. He chose to manually detonate it.”

The line remained quiet while Kat dealt with the news. ‘I see. I’ll send a Pelican your way to bring you to us. We’re currently down at ONI HQ and there’s still a lot to do while we continue to withdraw from this city.’

“Thanks.”

Rosenda undid the seals on her helmet, letting her red locks flow freely. “Y’know, for a field medic, you sure know how to give them aliens a harsh time.”

The Spartan medic nodded with similar appreciation. “I wish Jorge could’ve come back to Reach too.” After a brief bit of consideration, she added, “There’s room back on Noble if you want.”

She had to decline. “Sorry. I need to check in with Duvall. My squad got separated after one of those Corvettes shot a skyscraper. See you around, hopefully.” Sliding the helmet back on, the gunner walked back down the steps to the surviving troopers below as they finished off the remaining aliens.

Chapter 10: “I Know We’re Losing”

Chapter Text

New Alexandria, Eposz

23 August, 2552

1857 hrs

The late afternoon gradually gave way to night, but it made little difference in the hideous stacks of smoke that dotted the night sky. With what was visibly left of the civilian population away off-world presumably back to Sol, New Alexandria was now a ghost town. A few remaining skirmishes between Banshees and Phantoms against Falcons and Pelicans still occurred in the distance, but it was largely dwarfed by the Covenant Cruisers steadily glassing the city from the outskirts inward. Sara watched through the open back hatch of the Pelican she was on.

She had been picked up almost half an hour after the last transport left and was immediately carted off deeper into the city. There was no one besides her in the passenger’s cabin, leaving her alone to wallow in her thoughts on everything that had just transpired within the past few weeks. It was more obvious now the invasion was a dilemma rather than a problem, but it was a reality no one was willing to face. With the Covenant on Reach, no doubt they had relayed back to their own command structure the human presence on Reach or had done so earlier when in brief collaboration with the Insurrectionists back in Visegrád long before she even linked up with Noble. Regardless of how many they put down, the question was a matter of ‘when’ rather than ‘if.’

Carter had been waiting for her on a rooftop of one of the skyscrapers with a Falcon by his side. The Falcon’s pilot was leaning against the vehicle clutching his side and there were two troopers manning the guns on either side of the Falcon. The Pelican hovered over the helipad as she disembarked. She barely got off a light salute before he started talking. “Good job down at the port, Six. I wish we could call it a day and debrief you, but there are still a few divisions stuck in the city confines we’re trying to evaluate.”

“Just how many divisions are still stuck here, sir?”

“Too many. Everyone’s scrambling for last minute objectives. I’ve been trying to coordinate an evacuation at ONI HQ, but the Covenant have set up jammers around this sector and I can’t reach Colonel Holland to get the number of birds we need to get everyone out.”

“Understood. What do you need me to do?”

“I shouldn’t be surprised at this point, but I suspect you can fly a Falcon. The pilot took a hit on the way over here.” Carter pointed at the vehicle that likely had carried him to the rooftop to meet her. The pilot looked up from his pain and gave his best impression of a salute.

“I’ve got maybe a hundred hours in.”

“Good enough. Emile and Jun are already on the move picking off other jammers throughout the city. I’m trying to get things sorted back at ONI for the evacuation with Kat and I need you to help with the others that Emile and Jun have yet to reach.”

Sara nodded along. “Understood. I’ll get the job done.” Before she walked over to the Falcon, she added, “And… I’m sorry I came back alone.”

“You’ll make Jorge proud. I know it.” The other pilot and Carter lumbered off to the Pelican and departed afterwards, leaving her with the Falcon. Climbing into the pilot’s seat, she could still see bits of the pilot’s blood and melted glass scattered throughout the cabin with a single clean hole where the round punctured. The control scheme was still intact and the engines restarted without a hitch otherwise.

Her commpiece slowly fizzled into focus to the sound of Kat’s voice. ‘Six, is my signal clear?’

“Yup. Just got onto the Falcon the commander left for me. What’s the word, ma’am?”

The signal was still weak from the nearby jammers. ‘Carter told me he made contact with you. Your first objective is the jammer down at the hospital. There’s a team of troopers there and they’re pinned down too. Do your best to kill both birds.’

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1907 hrs

The hospital was surprisingly immaculate. Entering from the helipad, between the sleeping grunts and idle jackals, there was no blood or corpses left behind. There were some abandoned arms, ammo, and signs of a rushed evacuation, but the aliens didn’t have the chance to dole any proper damage. There was not even a brute left to oversee this unit and they had at most an engineer nearby for defensive measures.

Exiting the helipad lobby, she entered a long, lounge area with gunshots and brute snarls echoing from the other side of the room. The troopers mentioned earlier were stuck on the other side down to using sidearms against the overwhelming waves of Jiralhanae. Sara hadn’t caught their attention yet and immediately dove onto the back of the first brute, snatching a spike grenade from its belt. Sticking it into the shoulder of another unsuspecting brute, she grabbed its leg and hurled it at another group, shredding the pack in half.

Finishing off the first brute with a few shots to the back of the head, Sara ducked under a light spray of spiker bolts, continuing to charge at the remaining pack members. Elbowing the nearest one, she hoisted it into the air and continued to carry it as a living shield. Charging at the next brute, she could feel the impacts from spikes pelting the body until she hoisted the body off at the next one. One of the other members of the pack swung at her in retaliation, missing and finding a knife lodged in its throat. Snatching up the dropped spiker from the brute, she dumped the last of its magazine into the last brute and finished off the remaining brute still pinned by the shield she had used earlier.

The troopers had managed to finish off the remaining brutes while she drew the attention of the bulk of the pack. “Sir! Didn’t think we warranted a rescue. Especially from a Spartan.”

Sara reloaded her rifle and walked over. “Anyone here hurt?”

“A few nicks and bruises. Where’s the evac?”

“Down at ONI HQ. How’d you end up here?”

“Saw those brutes lug that machine in here,” he explained with a pointed thumb at a purple, pulsating device at the end of the hallway. “Figured it was important and tried to jump them. Didn’t realise this pack of brutes was as big as it was.”

Walking over to another brute corpse, she picked another grenade off it and made her way over to it, ignoring the bright flashing it caused on her visor. “It is. We need these jammers offline if we’re getting out of this city. I’ll leave a ping with your current IFF tag for a Pelican to pick you guys up. But for now, stand well back.” Pulling the trigger cord in the handle of the grenade, she dropped it right into the top opening of the device and ran some distance before the device tore itself in half.

‘Six, I just saw the jammer at the hospital go down. Was that you?’ Hearing Kat almost made her jump.

“Affirmative. Also rescued that trooper squad you mentioned. They’ll need a lift out of here and there’s too many of them for me to give them a lift. Figured you could highlight this for the evac birds.”

‘Way ahead of you. There. I don’t know when its exact ETA will be, but they will have a ride out.’

“Thank you, ma’am.”

‘At any rate, time you got moving. Turns out we missed a single civilian evac within this region. A Pelican is trying to land, but shade turrets established around the landing zone are giving it hell.’

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1928 hrs

Straining her head against the glass, she had to confirm the Pelican was successfully evacuating the rooftop civilians. As pleasing as the sight had been, Kat was already barking orders again, redirecting her to some penthouse with another jammer where another squad had fallen trying to destroy it. Down at the street level, there were already signs of a more advanced defence established with a pair of shade turrets that the gunners on her Falcon swiftly dealt with. Behind them, a bunch of grunts with fuel rods and jackal marksmen were further up the complex steps leading into the high rise. After cutting those down, a pair of brute majors started shooting at her from the elevators leading up. Only after clearing the entire plaza did she get into the elevator up to the luxury penthouse at the top.

Immediately, the area was suspicious. Carefully and quietly slinking around, the penthouse was wide, tall, open, and lavishly decorated with bamboo curtains and polished wood panels. Aesthetically, it leaned heavily into older Japanese architectural designs. What kept her attention was the abundance of abandoned arms left by the previous occupants. There were more than enough trooper bodies left behind and the plasma scarring to match, but no sign of the perpetrators.

Along with a spare frag grenade, she found the jammer in question just dropped right inside a walking closet. Dropping it inside, Sara made her way back to the elevators when the air started buzzing something horribly familiar. From the vents, drones burst into the giant room, no doubt taking a nap after they slaughtered the troopers. Hecticly sprinting into the elevator, her hand slammed against the down button, accidentally caving it into the housing. The doors did thankfully close, but no one was going to be using that car once she was done with it.

Down at the plaza, another call from Kat arrived in short order. ‘Good job on that jammer, Lieutenant. Anything to note?’

“Yeah: let the Covenant glass this particular tower. It’s crawling with Yanme’e. What’s next?”

‘Duly noted. Got a distress call from an ODST team to the southwest of your position. They’ll need the skies clear. Can you do that?’

“Is there anything else I need to cover someone else’s asses to do?”

‘Outside of an immediate emergency, that won’t be necessary.’

Walking down the steps, Sara paused by the dead grunts and jackals from earlier. Even if she found a good place to take cover against all the buggers from earlier, she would not have had enough ammo to kill them all. Lacking the willingness to get caught with insufficient arms for the job, she gathered the drop fuel rod and any remaining ammo she could carry. Back in the Falcon, Sara made her way over to the specified direction. Patching into the local comms, the situation was rapidly degrading.

‘Mickey, take down that f*cking Banshee before it gets in another strafing run!’ The soldier’s voice sounded fairly smooth and more appropriate on a cop than a shock trooper. Coming into visual range, there was a team of four ODSTs stuck on a rooftop with brutes encroaching on their position and aircraft preventing them from escaping in a still-intact Falcon. Sara went to work ridding the ODSTs of their airborne threats and entered a holding pattern to suppress the remaining brutes. ‘Sheesh! Sergeant Buck of Alpha Nine here. Helluva job clearing them out.’

“Spartan-B312 here of Noble Team. But that’s not about to be a problem, is it?”

‘If you think you’re the worst girl I’ve met, I'll introduce you to this one freak I bumped into on leave. Dutch, Romeo, grab the side guns. Mickey, on the wheel. We’re Oscar Mike. We know the way from here, Spartan.’

“Copy that. Lieutenant Commander, that team of ODSTs are on their way home.”

It took Kat a while to answer. ‘Sorry about the delay. Had to discuss something with Carter. Emile and Jun have wrapped up with their objectives and there’s one left for you to deal with. And it’s going to be a headache and a half.’

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1942 hrs

The last jammer was stuck at the back of a club at a telecommunications company tower. Like with the penthouse, there were a few anti-air turrets situated on the helipads outside waiting for her. Clearing the Covenant infantry and landing, she brought the fuel rod launchers she had stashed in the back of the Falcon and charged in. The trooper squad deployed to destroy the jammer had encountered two pairs of the dreaded Mgalekgolo units. The troopers had a rocket launcher, but the trooper bearing the weapon had perished in an otherwise inaccessible location.

Standing on a balcony overlooking the centre of the club, Sara steadily pelted the first hunter pair at the ground level of the dance floor. While each did require a full magazine to kill, it was satisfying to leave a melted smear of worms and charred armour. Struggling to handle the third, the troopers reached the rocket launcher and killed the fourth. Spending the last rod on destroying the jammer, Sara tossed the weapon aside haphazardly. “Lieutenant Commander, please tell me that there's nothing else besides that last jammer I need to deal with.”

Kat reacted quickly with, ‘Negative. Is that trooper squad still alive?’

“Does a dead grunt stink?”

‘Please just stick to a “yes” or “no” answer. I’ve already got enough of a headache withstanding Emile’s jokes.’

“Just send them a ticket out of here. I’m coming back to ONI HQ. Do you have a link with the colonel yet?”

‘Working on it. Following the battle earlier, the comms equipment up here took some fragments from a crashing Banshee.’

Sara was now outside of the club making her way back to the Falcon. “Let me guess: the only replacement parts are halfway across-” A pair of Banshees strafed the Falcon, killing one of the trooper gunners still waiting aboard. The other raced to an appropriate gun and started returning fire only to die to the second Banshee. After enough plasma fire, the vehicle was starting to smoke. “sh*t!”

‘What’s wrong?!’

“Think I’ve caught the attention of a few enemy pilots. Does ONI have AA defences?”

‘Limited.’

Sara slung herself into the pilot’s seat and closed the canopy as fast as she could. “It’ll just have to do. I’m coming home and I apologise in advance if the heat I bring is too much.” A few dials on the dashboard were well into the red. Taking off, the radar screen showed the Banshees on their way to circling around for another run. Much of the nose gun ammo had already been spent and she wasn’t confident there was enough to take both down.

Swerving back and forth increasingly proved difficult as the controls started to lose responsiveness. Glancing behind her, the engines were definitely smoking. It was going to be close. At half a kilometre and closing, the ONI tower was well within view. Swerving was made more difficult by how she had now way to see where the incoming fire would be coming from. Getting closer to the tower, small hatches opened on the side of the tower to reveal automated turrets. Banking to the side, incoming fire tore through the pair of Banshees in half.

‘You still afloat out there?’

“Skies are clear. My bird’s seen better days, though.”

More shutters along the tower opened, revealing landing pads for Pelicans to launch from. ‘Good. I’m giving the greenlight for these remaining troopers to start evacuating. I’m extending a landing pad for you close to the top of the tower.’ One more shutter slid open to reveal one more plank just wide enough to let her land. ‘Welcome home, Sara.’

~~~~~~~~~~~

2015 hrs

“Sara! You magnificent sonuva bitch!” As per usual, Emile went rushing over to the elevator to greet the team’s medic. Even Jun looked up from his binoculars beyond the doom and gloom of the ashen rain from the ruins of New Alexandria outside. For what Sara was worth, she had earned her salt. “You had all of us worried sick after the supercarrier got cut in half and you didn’t report in after the Covenant fleet slipspaced in.”

“Thanks for worrying.” Sara took off her helmet to reveal a smile underneath, only for the smirk to dry up as she pulled out Jorge’s dog tags. “I just wish that Jorge could’ve made it out.”’

Even through the loss of Thom and other members, Emile remained an otherwise stalwart member of the team. Jorge finally proved the exception. “Yeah… I miss the big man already. I’d propose a toast, but I didn’t bring a canteen.”

“Jorge gave his life thinking he just saved the planet,” Carter cut in, not looking away from the rain-stained window. “We should all consider him the luckiest of all of us.”

Kat glanced back at the damaged telecommunications device and just continued to burn away with a soldering iron. She tried to ignore Sara’s play-for-play description of Operation: UPPERCUT, but the way Jorge accepted his fate cut especially deep. It was a clear sign of the reality of the situation. For as pyrrhic as destroying a supercarrier was, none of that mattered because the Covenant had found Reach. Sooner or later, they would be forced to withdraw leaving Earth the only major remaining human planet left.

How they could now win with barely five billion people remaining was a pure dilemma. Carter made his way over to her, making her remove the earpiece she was wearing. “What is it?”

“I need that signal to Holland.”

“I’m trying. But I’m starting to wish I took up Sara’s offer to find replacement components.” She sighed, getting a nice whiff of burning metal. “Tell me, Carter: why the hell do we even have Spartans on defensive deployments?” Unintentionally, while everyone was still away earlier, she had tapped into senior-level communications for Spartan teams being used to defend civilian evacuations in other cities. They at least had the room to themselves to bicker while she continued providing coordination for the other Noble members.

Of course, Carter would resume his default behaviour of just burying his head in the sand. “We’re not having this conversation again.”

“Is this it? RED FLAG was supposed to have been launched by now and we’re being deployed on missions that the Army should be taking up??”

“What the hell do you want me to say, Kat?! Do you want me to admit that we’re losing?!”

“I know we’re losing! I want to know if we’ve lost!” The room fell silent. Whatever Jun, Emile, and Sara had been regaling to each other stopped as the three turned to them. A sick feeling found its roots in the base of Kat’s stomach. Somewhere out there, some family couple was having this same argument either on their way off-world or while they were still stuck in their homes awaiting death to come knocking as their evacuation was struck from the skies before them.

From the earpiece, another voice began to fizzle in and out. ‘-epeat, Sierra Two-Five-Nine: this is a priority one call. I am overriding all security protocols for this message. If you are receiving this frequency?’

“You got it?” he asked optimistically.

Kat was dumbstruck. “I didn’t. That’s an open channel.” They had managed to remain hidden from Covenant patrols thus far, even after narrowly saving Sara. Accepting the call would have ramifications of triangulation.

“Is there any possibility you can obscure our signal?”

“Not any more.”

“How long do I have?”

“A minute at most. Make it fast.” She offered the earpiece.

“Got it. Sir…?” Watching him walk off, she only noticed Jun’s attention affixing on something in the distance, drawing in Emile and Sara in turn.

They took a few exchanges of Jun’s binoculars. “Sirs, the Covenant aircraft are starting to withdraw from the area. They’re in a hurry too,” the sniper reported.

The datapad on her wrist lit up, flashing a distinct orange warning. “Woah! Radiation spike! Forty million roentgens and climbing!”

Carter strolled back with the earpiece handed back to her. “I got our orders, but I’ve lost the signal. Can you regain it?”

“I can’t! Radiation’s being scrambled nearby! Ninety million rentgens and climbing!”

His face went pale, turning to glance at the window he asked, “Source?”

“Airborne… and it’s close.”

“How close??” Carter’s panic was palpable.

If she did answer, she didn’t hear it over the massive explosion near the tower. A red beam from a Covenant Cruiser began bombarding the area. Scrambling for her helmet, it felt like her face got a nice searing before her suit locked up again. The shields were briefly fried and the indicator on her HUD flicked red as it struggled to recharge them. Sara appeared out of the blue and scooped up her arm and picked her back up.

Everyone made a run for the elevators back down out of the tower. “Where the hell can we go?!” Emile yelled.

“There should be a bunker in the basem*nt of the facility! We can hold out there until the bombardment finishes!” Emile, Carter, and Jun already filled up one of the elevators, leaving Sara and herself to take up the elevator right next to it. “f*ck… didn’t realize they’d start glassing this far into the city now. Carter, what did the colonel tell you before you lost contact?”

‘We’re being redeployed… to SWORD Base.’

~~~~~~~~~~~

2022 hrs

Following the extensive bickering between the remaining zealots originally deployed, Ceto 'Gadumai needed to clear his head. Amid the bombarding of this human city, he took to a bit of hunting while cleansing operations were underway. Stealing a Type-50 Sniper Rifle, a scant amount of plasma batteries, and a Phantom, he flew himself around shooting at humans at random. Soldier or not, he killed plenty as the bombardments continued.

However, as the bombardments began further into the city, he was narrowly caught in the blast. His barriers were fried and he would have a stern talk with whoever captained the cruiser overhead. But now that the cleansing was almost done, he would need to start searching lower as the humans fled from the top of the towers. The bombardment had started to tear many of these towers open at their bases, gradually eating at their dwindling structure integrity.

The dropship slowed significantly as Ceto’s eyes cautiously scanned the landscape for movement. The rumble of plasma nearby was deafening and he had to rely solely on his vision to find anything. Amid the cracks in one of the bases of the buildings, he noticed a snippet of movement: Demons. His rifle was not at the ready, but they did not seem to notice his presence.

Such a prize would put him well over Supreme Commander ‘Mattin and this was not an opportunity he would miss. Glancing down the scope, he steadied his aim and breathing, awaiting for one of the Demons to return. Another pair rushed past the opening and he squeezed the trigger, dropping one immediately. Adjusting his aim for the other, he squeezed again only to find no similar consequence followed.

Panic rattled in his two hearts when he looked at the rifle’s battery pack from the side to realise it was empty. Reaching for his belt, it only settled in then just how negligent he was about his ammo reserves. Before he could stand and gesture to the pilot to fly off, a piercing pain drilled through his eye. The world went cold around him and gravity overtook his strength. The Phantom doors slowly shut as everything faded to white.

~~~~~~~~~~

Carter watched helplessly as she collapsed lifelessly. The distinct trace from a plasma sniper pierced the back of her helmet and out her visor while her shields were still down from the glassing. Jun was quick to retaliate and fire a single shot in return, killing the Sangheili zealot in the Phantom overhead. The others provided cover fire while he went for the body, steadily dragging Kat into the ONI bunker.

It was too late. Her foot already was twitching from rigour mortis setting in. “Hurry! Get inside!” The Phantom had flown off, leaving them to just continue back into the bunker. Sara shut the door behind them, leaving them in near darkness as the ground overhead continued to rumble. Putting an arm under her back and under her legs, he carried her remains - and his regrets - down into the reinforced concrete, anticipating the long wait for help to arrive.

Down in the bunker were some remaining ONI staff members. They had already been tending to their own problems when they stopped to watch Carter hoist Kat to an opening at the far side of the bunker. Undoing the lock on her helmet, he slid it off to get a long, horrid look at her frozen face. The hole was instantly cauterised, but left a slim trickle of blood down the front. He reached down and shut her eyes before sliding the helmet back on. “I’m sorry, sir.”

“Just tend to whatever the hell these spooks need, Lieutenant.” After Sara left, he propped himself up against the wall and got to what would be endless hours of clicking his comms device until he got an answer.

Chapter 11: The Words, Please

Chapter Text

Babda Catha Ice Shelf, Eposz

29 August, 2552

2103 hrs

As they proceeded to the expanded lakeside and the edge of the new treeline, the old ONI bit of propaganda continued to echo in the back of his mind: ‘Spartans never die.’ Supposedly, as a means of preventing morale from dipping any more than it had for the past three decades. Those who did were silently processed for parts with their suit and augments going to other Spartans assuming their bodies could be recovered to begin with. Between the four remaining members of Noble, they carried Kat’s body with the armour still on and some materials designed to make an improvised raft out of.

“Just think of it this way boss,” Emile said, “She’s the luckiest Spartan ever. No one’s gotten a send-off this fancy before.”

“Stow it,” Carter snarled back.

“I ain’t jokin’. In fact, I’m surprised Holland even gave you the go-ahead.” Normally it would have been the dead of night by now. But the region burning under the Covenant’s continued glassing operations gave the lower atmosphere a persistent orange glow not too different from the Autumn evening. Helping to put Kat down, the CQC specialist walked further down the shoreline with his shotgun in hand, carefully inspecting for unwanted guests. They were roughly ten kilometres north of the FOB at a point that had once been a lovely hillside leading into a shallow lake. The melting ice shelf had already changed that. “We’re clear.”

“Good. Keep guard. Jun, Six, get to putting that raft together.” Normally, it was a raft designed for stranded troopers or marines to use basic components they could gather. It wasn’t designed to withstand Spartan weight, but it wouldn’t need to for terribly long. With the way that orange and pink reflected off the lake surface, it would have been a lovely view and no doubt she would have loved to share this sight.

Kneeling by her corpse, the armour had remained on for over a week. ONI didn’t have any refrigeration down in the bunker and they could barely keep it cold since. It would be the twist of the knife to have to tear the armour off and handle the sweet smell of rot on top of that. He silently reached a hand down to brush a thumb down the middle past the hole in the visor. It was hard to shake how synonymous that blue armour and prosthetic arm had become with her smart, fiery, and absurdly smart personality. With their bickering back at ONI HQ, it hurt knowing that was his last time to see her smile.

Jun walked over with Six. “Sir, it’s done.”

It took him a while to nod in approval. “Right. Bring it here. I’ll put her on top.” The three struggled to put Kat’s body onto the raft. They had the benefit of extra materials to work with, but even the raft somewhat warped under her weight. From the depths of their sorrow, the funeral party delivered her from the grassy, drowning hillside onto the waters and gave her a solid push, removing the physical burden of her weight from them forever. Turning the key on her armour, Carter said his goodbyes.

Thank ONI for designing such contingencies. The reactor on her armour overloaded a minute later, engulfing her in a brief ball of energy, leaving behind nothing but ash, water vapour, and burnt air. Suppose that was it then. That was all that awaited them. “C’mon Nobles, let’s get back to that FOB. We’ve got a schedule to keep.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sword Base AirField, Babda Catha Ice Shelf, Eposz

2626 hrs

The Covenant seemed right at home back at the ONI facility. Since the UNSC had been forced out over a week ago, they had set up shop with AA towers and emplacements all along the hills along its perimeter. Instead of glassing the site, they had made the unfortunate decision that SWORD Base was a tactical opportunity. While remaining security teams on-site had begun purging data, no one had managed to escape to confirm the job was done.

From the air, Carter got the bird’s eye view of Six gunning down the two AA towers where the automated defence cannons for the airfield had been with an abandoned Scorpion Tank she found. She would have made a great addition to the team much sooner, even if it meant shuffling the team around to make room or making an exception to have a bigger Noble Team. He proceeded to command their Falcon to the objective.

The battle over the airfield was a dogfight between Banshees and an equal number of Falcons. The playing field had evened out in the UNSC’s favour with the anti-air guns down, but there was still plenty of plasma filling the air. The dagger-like building that was SWORD Base had been sheared cleanly in half. Further in, the installations were much thinner with more infantry present. “There’s not much left to torch, sir. Sure these were good orders?” Emile asked.

“Emile…” Carter threatened.

“He’s got a point commander,” Jun interjected. “With what’s left of SWORD, they could have sent in some Longswords to clean it out. Sure, they would need us to clear the defences, but sending us in is superfluous.”

“And for all we know, these coordinates could be an important server the local security forces didn’t have an opportunity to wipe. Six, what’s your ETA to the base?”

The mechanical grumble of the Scorpion’s engine and gun largely drowned out her voice. ‘Me and the ODSTs are still pushing. If my recollection of the local terrain is solid, I’m still a few minutes from the door. This thing isn’t exactly the fastest and the Shade turrets are laying it on heavily.’

“Keep moving. I want all of us together for the main push.” The Falcon touched down in the eastern courtyard shortly after to be greeted by various Covenant infantry. There were thankfully no brutes, but Jorge’s absence became clear once again. Same with Kat’s, knowing there wasn’t someone at the ready to work around a locked door the moment they bumped into one.

Emile immediately broke off and charged up a ramp past a plasma shield and began eliminating the smaller infantry one by one. Coordinating with Jun, Carter focussed on the Elite officers by having the sniper strip the shields while he finished each one off. Even with just the three of them, the alien horde had been hastily dealt with by the time Six’s Scorpion rolled in through the entrance ramp. The ODSTs ran over to the Falcon to board it, leaving Six with the three of them. “Did I miss anything sir?”

“No. Good job with the guns outside. Let’s get in there and start cleaning house.” The garage had a single plasma cannon emplacement and three grunts waiting for them. Six guided them to the elevator she had taken months prior only to find it no longer worked.

“sh*t. So much for wishful thinking,” Six cursed.

“Doesn’t matter. There’s still the maintenance shaft.” Another set of doors along the back of the garage led back into the maintenance corridor DOT had shown them during the same mission. No doubt it was the same path the aliens had taken too with the number of jackals and jackal marksmen that now awaited on each catwalk. Once again, Emile and Six took point, practically charging through each energy phalanx. There were more ammo crates along the way too that the Kig’Yar had no doubt dragged out, intending to plunder.

The front lobby was utter hell. The security booth was still ablaze with a body thrown through the glass and there were plenty of ONI staff that didn’t make it out in time still left where they lay to rot. As consolation, there was no shortage of Covenant bodies as well. Before continuing, Carter glanced over his shoulder at the elevator leading from the garage. He could still remember as clear as day when Six and Kat regrouped with them through those doors and some part at the back of his mind hoped for a miracle. “Sir?” Six noticed he had been just standing and staring.

“Sorry.” It was hasty and he didn’t bother explaining. “Let’s keep moving.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sara was ready for the number of spec ops Sangheili that awaited in the main hall. They had set up very little in the way of additional installations inside and relied purely on their cloaking modules for protection. She wasn’t ready to see the ranger in the golden plating again among them. He was all the way back once again, and while he was visibly armed, he was more interested in where the nearest exit to the area might have been. The memory of Jorge’s sacrifice remained persistent in her mind.

The others seemed to have the other spec ops elites tied down fairly thoroughly and she was not about to let the one in the golden armour escape. Pulling the energy sword from her belt and igniting it, she rushed past the spec ops elites straight for the ranger. The ranger both realised his impending peril and likely recognized her. Pressing himself into a corner, he raised his plasma rifle and started firing with a bellowing scream of panic she had never heard before. The two plasma blades were plunged deep into its chest, causing it to writhe as the last of its breath left its mandibles. “That one’s for Jorge, you bastard.”

The room was emptied of Covenant life before even a minute passed after their entrance. Emile walked over to a crawling elite and put a shell of buckshot through the back of its head. “Area secure, sir. Where to next?”

Carter had the tactical readout on his wrist out. “This way. Up the steps.” It wasn’t particularly encouraging as they continued. Prior to the start of the mission, Colonel Holland had given him a set of coordinates with some allusions to directions from ONI itself. The orders were fairly vague otherwise. “Right… here. Through these doors.”

After forcing their way in, Sara was confused to see them inside of a conference room. Immediately, her eyes started scanning for something small. Perhaps someone left a datapad with something critical to fleet placement on it. It was readily apparent there was nothing important in the room aside from countless dead security staff and an emptied machine gun on a tripod. “Looks like these poor guys got cornered.”

“Or they were committed to the position,” Carter attempted to clarify.

Emile peered into what looked to be an empty closet with a lone trooper propped against the far wall. “Sara’s right - I’m going with ‘cornered.’ There’s nothing here. Man… I really wish Kat was ONI.”

“This room doesn’t exactly appear to be home to any architecturally crucial components either,” Jun agreed.

“Piece of…” Carter pulled open his comms device again. “Dot, you there?”

‘Affirmative, Noble One.’ It was good to see at least the dumb AI was still online.

“Check our given vector again. I think we received faulty orders.”

‘Vector confirmed. You are right where-’ The AI stopped sharply. ‘Apologies, commander. Vector updated. Sending updated objective markers. Please confirm?’

Sara’s eyes widened when she saw the new highlight on her HUD’s compass. “What the hell…??”

“So I’m not the only one being directed one and six tenths of a kilometre to the east?” Emile clarified.

Jun stepped over to Carter to look at the tactical read. “Sir, it’s clear these coordinates are junk. Let’s just start setting up charges and get out before enemy reinforcements arrive.”

The commander nodded. “Agreed. Let’s-” A creaking in the closet got everyone’s attention. The slumped trooper fell forward as a panel in the wall pushed forward and slid to the side. It led to a set of stairs downward into a dimly lit hallway. “Dot?”

‘This is the revised path.’

“Mind asking Holland where this goes?”

‘This was not from Holland. This was from an AI with higher clearance than my own.’

“I won’t even bother asking then.” All four stepped through before the door automatically closed behind them. The path led to a small tram. Judging by how clean it was, this had to have been fairly recently used too.

Sara stepped in first to thoroughly inspect it before beckoning to the others. The doors shut the moment they fully boarded and began driving down the long hallway of stone before them. At the front of the car, a monitor turned on to reveal the elderly doctor they met during their previous visit to SWORD Base. Her bob haircut had slightly grown out and her parka was now somewhat dirtied. ‘Ah, you made it, Noble. I was worried the Covenant outside proved too taxing.’

“Dr. Halsey…” The commander tilted his head in suspicion. “The reports said…”

‘Yes, I’m aware. As the old adage goes, my death was greatly exaggerated. An attribute I wish I could give to Noble Two or… Jorge.’ Halsey swallowed a lump the size of a golf ball at the mention of Jorge.

“And it didn’t dawn on you to send out a distress call sooner?”

‘I would if it didn’t mean drawing my attention to what was discovered down here. But if it brings you or your team any modicum of closure, that module your team brought from Visegrád has proved to be the one proverbial missing piece of the puzzle. I apologise about the pretence of your mission, but had the Covenant intercepted the communications, they would’ve gotten farther than just the main hallway of SWORD. There will still be a torch and burn though.’

“And what exactly would they have found? Now that you’re here, can you please start divulging why my team is down here while we have a head start?” Carter’s tone clearly implied he was developing a distaste for all the secrecy. To answer his pestering questions, the railcar entered an opening revealing a massive ice cavern. At the far end was a massive ring-like structure clearly borrowing nothing from either Human or Covenant designs. “Wh-what is that?”

‘Decades of research in the making. A parting gift from another ancient species long before we came to Reach.’

Everyone on the train gawked at the view in silence. Even after fighting the same alien race for all the years of their lives, the universe still bore surprises. “I’m going to have to take this up with Holland.”

‘Holland doesn’t even know you’re here right now. As far as he can tell, this is all on ONI’s plate. This structure has bore data that has otherwise appeared as little more than aimless gibberish until now thanks to your aforementioned retrieval of the data cipher my coworker held.’ The tram came to a stop before shifting to a vertical downward movement like an elevator. ‘Since I got stranded down here following the bombardment on the base above, I’ve worked on decrypting this data to be transported off-world. ONI has already established all the contingencies needed to ensure this doesn't fall into enemy hands.’

Along the ceiling of the cavern, a plasma detonation sent ice chunks as large as a frigate careening towards the ground. Even Emile sounded spooked. “Was… was that us?”

Adrenaline started churning through Carter’s head, already anticipating what Covenant forces would be forcing their way through the roof. “Okay. Dr. Halsey, have that data ready to move. We’re coming to you.”

‘It’s still decrypting, Noble One. This will take a few more minutes at most.’

“No, I mean the Covenant are closing in fast! They’re blowing out the ceiling as we speak!”

‘And I need you to ensure they don’t. If this data is captured or destroyed, humanity as a whole will be destroyed with it. This is what this war has amounted to. If you want to believe Thom, Jorge, or Kat or any other member of Noble died for something, know that they died for this. That they died for tomorrow to happen.’ The car finally reached the cavern floor before unlatching its doors and letting them out.

~~~~~~~~~~~

ONI had worked long and hard on the labs at the bottom of the cavern. Along with the labs themselves were shipping tram tracks and a power station to provide the research team with whatever they needed. Even the lab itself more closely resembled a bunker. It was an entire operation that had been unfolding for God-knew how long. Outside the labs were arms, boxes of heavy weapons, and Mongeese at the ready for whatever security team was simply no longer present. In the distance, the first Phantoms entered the cavern airspace.

“Sir, enemy air inbound.” Sara took a manual count of her remaining magazines.

Carter started running through the numbers in his head. Nearby, he took note of some stationary auto turrets along the main roads to the main lab. “Okay, we need to make the most of what we got down here. Emile, head over to those weapons and start taking account of what we have available. Six, Jun, and I will take a Mongoose each and start reactivating those turrets along the main roads.” He slung a leg over the seat of a Mongoose and turned the engine one. “Six, you see a Wraith appear, I want you to kill the occupants and commandeer it as carefully as you can. Whatever Halsey is doing in there, we need to hold the line.”

Taking off down the road, Carter stopped at the first gun. Down the front was a control panel with only a few options provided. Immediately turning it on, the gun stuck out of the pod and whirled to life. Driving back, Jun and Six had already finished their jobs and took up positions outside the lab. The first waves of grunts steadily approached the base, firing their weapons along the way. They were followed up by Jackals, but didn’t fare any better.

Before too long, a Wraith was set up by the same Phantom that dropped off the first Covenant squad. Emile dropped a case off right beside Carter’s section of cover. “If Sara can’t nail that Wraith - and I’m not saying she won’t - ONI did pack a Nonlinear Rifle down here just in case.”

“Six will get it. Just give her time,” Carter hissed. The next wave was followed up by brutes similarly charging out in the open. They closed ranks much faster than their smaller counterparts and encroached quickly on their shelter outside of the lab. With the brutes to draw fire, the turrets had a harder time thinning the crowds for them. Just as they mopped up the last of the first group, the Wraith just by the power generator opposite to where the lab was had ceased firing. “She got it. Doctor?”

‘Almost there. Just a little longer.’

At least he got to save breath on talking. The next wave arrived with more elites in tow. Having Six piloting some armour proved to be a tactical boon as she helped clear out the next wave. She even managed to destroy some of the Banshees that harassed them. With the elites overwhelming the automatic turrets, it was now down to them alone to hold the line.

‘The end goal is in sight. Just need one more minute.’ Now the Covenant really poured it on. Two Wraiths were immediately deployed with the start of the last wave. Their presence had also caught the attention of the Covenant command structure as an elite general had deployed to the field along with ultras, a set of Ghosts, and a single engineer for support. Six had to immediately address the Wraiths before the mortars helped completely flatten them.

Emile immediately got the idea of using the Nonlinear Rifle on the teams of elites, hoping to at least fry their shields. The bunch were particularly well trained and the general was quickly closing in with a sword drawn. It launched right at Carter when a beam of red cut it in half, leaving nothing but a pair of arms, the hips and legs, and a head to roll towards him with the remaining momentum. “You’re welcome, sir.”

He couldn’t be bothered to scold him any more. The Wraith returned to the front of the lab after firing one last shot to kill the remaining attackers. Jumping out of the pilot hatch, the Lieutenant hustled over. “I think that might be the last of them, sir.”

The doctor had obviously been listening in. ‘Good timing. The package is ready, Commander. I’m opening the doors for you now.’ The magnetic doors to the lab unlatched and automatically slid open.

Exhaustion was threatening to overtake Carter any second now. “Alright, Noble Team. Let’s get in there and find out what this is all about.” The path to Halsey was shorter than anticipated. What none of them could have predicted was how it was a pod overlooking a massive chamber. Wires from underneath the room fed into a massive ball of energy at the chamber’s centre. “So… how did ONI manage to hide all of this?”

The doctor continued to work away at a number of terminals in a surprisingly scattered laboratory. In the corner, there were a number of emptied MREs piled from the number of days she had been stuck in there. “It is a birthright from an ancient civilization.” With a loose hand, she gestured to a holographic projection of a humanoid sitting in an orb. “This AI is its custodian and she has chosen you as her custodian.”

Emile audibly stuttered. “Hang on a minute… ‘chosen’? By an AI??”

“Yes. And her words hold just as much weight as my own. She’s the first - and thus far only - human smart AI to be derived from a living brain: mine.” The AI turned over its shoulder to look to reveal a much younger rendition of the doctor’s face. “With her is now the decrypted knowledge held within these walls.”

“So what now?” Carter inquired.

“There’s a Halcyon-class cruiser drawn from the battle overhead to the Asźod UNSC ship-breaking yards ready to move it off-world. As for getting there, that’s where you and your team will come in.” Halsey strolled over to the terminal underneath the AI’s projector and started madly typing away. “Like you, I wish there was more we could do at this point. But against an enemy with greater numbers and technology far beyond our own, Reach was lost long before the Covenant fleet arrived following the supercarrier’s destruction. And Reach will not be the end unless we bring this AI’s knowledge to hands that can make use of it.”

Jun shifted his stance nervously. “In other words, a milk run.”

“Maybe so, but she has determined your hands to be the most capable.” Hitting one last key, the doctor pulled out a cylindrical core from the terminal with a transparent midsection and a large chip at its core, causing the AI’s image to dissipate as a result. Strolling over to Six, she held it out. “Specifically, hers.”

The lieutenant recoiled from the gesture, immediately looking to Carter for an answer. But for once after this disastrous month, he found himself eased. There had been a mounting sense of futility building since Jorge’s passing and was further emphasised with Kat’s. But the promise of a possible victory against the Covenant brought some sense of closure. The temptation to pry at what this knowledge entailed rooted itself deep. “Go ahead, Six.”

Reaching for the canister, the medic pulled on it only to find Halsey still holding on. “Do you have it, Spartan?”

“Yes, doctor.”

“Then say the words, please.”

“I have it.”

The doctor released her grip and turned her work station one last time. Putting her hand on a print scanner, the other pulled hard on a lever. Red alarms lit up the room and the PA system screamed, ‘WARNING: code black contingency is now in effect. All remaining personnel now have T-minus twenty minutes to vacate the premises.’

“There. That will be more than enough time to walk out.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

30 August, 2552

0016 hrs

All five walked out one of the nearest helipads. Sara had the core for the AI tacked onto a magnetic clamp on her lower back otherwise reserved for external armour augmentation modules. For the first time in a while, Carter strolled out with his shoulders rolled back. Even if it was midnight, the glow of the nearby glassed mountainsides persisted. Conveniently, a pair of Pelicans had been left behind by the ONI security staff during evacuation. Dr. Halsey already seemed to have plans in mind as to where to go when she broke off towards the opposite Pelican. “I wish you the best of luck, Spartans. Humanity needs you now more than ever.”

“And where do you think you’re going?” Carter demanded.

“CASTLE Base, unfortunately. With the fall of Reach comes the possibility of captured technology and how that could significantly turn the tide against us in the face of this new revelation.”

“Either way, I can’t have you fall into enemy hands. Jun, go with her.”

“I can handle myself, Commander.”

“That’s final. Get to it.”

The sniper’s head drooped reluctantly. Holstering his rifle on his back, he opted to briefly walk over towards Emile and Sara one more time. “I’m sorry it should all boil down to this. If this is the last time I see either of you, I just want you to know it’s been an honour.” Jun shook their hands respectively.

Emile still got one last laugh. “Don’t cry. It hurts your aesthetic.”

Sara, Carter, and Emile boarded the last Pelican while Jun flew off with Dr. Halsey in the passenger compartment. Carter took a seat in the pilot’s cabin. “Dot, need your input.”

‘Affirmative, Noble One,’ the dumb AI chirped.

“Assuming you were listening in, I need a heading on that ship-breaking yard within this region. What’s the forecast on the way there?”

‘The UNSC Pillar of Autumn’s landing hasn’t gone entirely unnoticed. It is currently the only remaining off-planet option within this region. Many convoys en route have been destroyed by multiple air patrols and an armada of Covenant Cruisers has been sighted inbound. It will still await your arrival before departure.’

“It’s never easy. Does this bird have enough fuel to get there?” The dropship roared to life and lifted up from the helipad. Emile and Sara watched ruefully out the back as the ice cap disappeared behind them. The former pointed towards the ice lake with SWORD Base presiding just at the edge of it. Tongues of fire and energy forced their way through the cracks before collapsing completely, drawing the ONI facility into the sinkhole with it.

Chapter 12: End of the Line

Chapter Text

Sinkhole edge where Sword Base AirField, Babda Catha Ice Shelf, Eposz

0529 hrs

The one caveat was Boto ‘Bangam was nowhere to be seen and had likely perished by the demons’ hands judging by their last comm dialogue prior to the pure radio silence. Not that Supreme Commander ‘Vadam needed to know that. What he did need to know was the gravity of the situation. Sokan wouldn’t make it in time in-person and his remaining zealot team was already en route. ‘I’m already on my way to that region.’

The wind around him continued to gain speed from the roaring flames along the mountain ridge. “Then you had better make haste. I know not what the demons who have slaughtered most of my team bear specifically. All I know is that it directly correlates to what could very well be the beginning of the Great Journey. Worse, they have indeed destroyed the Great Archive.”

‘Don't think you get to dictate to me how I will conduct my mission. Especially if it’s to compensate for your shortcomings.’

“My failures?!”

‘You could easily have discovered the necessary decryption and maintained discretion long enough for the Fleet of Particular Justice to arrive! Everything from the destruction of the Long Night of Solace to the prolonged destruction of Human installations across this planet could have been avoided if your team could handle a meagre number of demons.’

“Enough! My team was searching elsewhere for the Archive and will be closer to intercept. Will you be able to arrive in time?”

‘The majority of the heretics’ fleets have either been destroyed or fled, but there’s considerable terrain to cover. Your remaining zealots had better be able to hold the line.’ The holoprojector went dead. Grumbling Sokan gave the sinkhole one more look before turning away back to his parked Banshee.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Asźod, Eposz

30 August, 2552

1652 hrs

They made it surprisingly far before getting attacked by the first air patrols. Without an escort, they had to deal with them on the run. Emile still had an M319 grenade launcher to disable the encroaching Banshees with EMP air bursts, but each downed Banshee was replaced with another. Even after watching another disabled Banshee crash into another, he had already expended most of the shells on his belt.

Concerningly, the right-side engine was burning, creating a nice smoke trail for more enemy craft to follow. Stumbling to the front of the craft, Sara entered just in time to see Carter dropping his helmet to the floor. His gauntleted hand’s shields flickered and she was barely able to prepare for the sight that awaited her. The chestpiece didn’t show the full extent of the damage, but there were enough holes and blood on the windscreen to guess. “Sir?!”

Carter let out a long, hard cough, letting some blood trickle down his jaw. “f*ck… not as bad as it looks… *hurk* Lieutenant.”

“Emile can take the wheel. I need to have a proper look at it.”

“Never mind me, Six. The bird’s took too much damage and you’re still a ways out from the ship-breaking yards. All that matters now is that you and Emile get that package to the Autumn and get the hell off-world.”

Emile slid off his helmet and appeared behind Sara. “Sir?”

“It’s a ground game now, you two. Do what it takes to reach the Autumn. Don’t look back.”

Remorse showed deep on Emile. He saluted, “It’s been an honour, sir.”

Either through adrenaline or blood loss, Carter smiled. “Likewise. I’ll bring us as close as I can to ground for you two to jump. Meantime, it’s my job now to distract those enemy birds.” The two turned towards the back hatch when he barked one more time, “And Sara?”

It felt strange hearing her name in his voice. “Commander?”

“That AI chose you. I know… *ngh* I know you’ll prove it right.”

Sara didn’t follow up after that. Following Emile to the back of the carriage, the Commander brought them low to the ground enough for their shields to take the entire blow of the landing. The two eventually stopped tumbling in time to watch the Falcon fly off with a pair of Banshees in tow. Emile was the first to get back to his feet and use his comms device. “Sir? How are you holding?”

Carter started with another pained growl. ‘Just keep a low profile and find your way on foot. Can’t miss the Autumn from here.’

Emile helped Sara back to her feet. The two made their way around a cliff to see the dirt road below them leading to a drydock just a few kilometres away. Beyond that, hopelessly outmatched UNSC forces tangled with Covenant heavy vehicles like Scarabs. But the Pillar of Autumn herself seemed to glow from where they stood. “sh*t… there she is…”

“Got a few bad guys we still need to clear before we get there.” Along the dirt road, there were at least two Covenant squads who were now briefly distracted by Carter’s burning Pelican.

“Hm. There goes my idea. I’d say we’d race each other on foot to the Autumn, but that seems like more effort than it’s worth.”

“I’ve got a more exciting idea anyways.” Sara pointed towards a small supply shed with some remaining UNSC armaments. One lone Mongoose was parked just outside. “Hopefully, it’s still got fuel.”

“Y’know, for all the times everyone else has been talking sh*t about your driving skills, I never got to see ‘em for myself.” The somewhat scornful look he received made him wince. “Not that many of us were drivers to begin with.”

Sara noticed a Sangheili standing guard relatively close to the foot of the cliff they stood on. Taking note of the horizontal momentum she would have needed, she took a few steps back. “Race you to the Mongoose, though.” With her feet held out straight, she plummeted straight towards the oblivious elite and landed upon its shoulders. The legs folded the most easily, but the elite’s body just collapsed like an accordion. The spine contorted back and forth, snapping at multiple intervals and ripping through its torso plating completely. In conjunction with her suit, the impact completely absorbed her fall.

By comparison, Emile stuck to the winding path leading down from the cliff, managing to eventually catch up. “Crazy bitch, Sara.” The first squad immediately scattered to be picked off as they crossed a small bridge. The second started to close in from underneath the bridge, but were otherwise inconsequential. Reaching the shed with the aliens close behind, Sara immediately got into the driver’s seat and turned the vehicle on. Emile got on the passenger’s seat at the back of the vehicle. “Let’s not overstay our welcome. Hit it.”

The ATV took off down the road past more abandoned civilian vehicles. The number of Covenant troops present after the two squads was noticeably lighter. Reaching to her comms device, she flicked it on. “Dot, can you provide a map layout of our current path? I need to know if this will take us right to that drydock.” Nothing but static answered. “Dot? Dot!”

Emile rolled his shoulders and glanced at the unfavourable battle down in the valley. “They’ve probably taken her down by now. But judging by the scenery to the north, I’d wager the Covenant’s attention is more on those poor bastards down there.” The road led into an open hillside and snaked down the centre. Before they could reach the first turn, a Scarab landed right in their path and unfurled itself to its full height. “And this is why I’m not allowed to gamble.”

“Just hold onto the seat!” Stomping her foot hard on the gas, the Mongoose kicked up a small dust cloud tearing right through the Scarab’s legs. Making it down to the second turn, a second Scarab landed much further down. “Goddammit! We don’t have the time for two of these!”

“Keep driving! Stop breaking!”

“Hang on!” Instead of pausing for the third turn, Sara shot down at the fastest she could go and jumped right off the next hill towards the end of the opening. The landing did give them a shake, but they neither flipped nor stopped. Continuing down the next cliffside road, a Phantom strafed them until they reached another divider in the terrain giving them visual cover. The road ended with a small roadblock and a bombed out concrete block.

Sara stopped the vehicle just long enough to peer inside and find ammo. Emile on the other hand looked ahead past the roadblock at the road. The door at the end of the road was sealed tight with multiple squads of grunts, brutes, and a few jackals in their way. Along with an anti-grav tower, they had a Wraith in place. “So… what’s the skinny?” Sara asked.

“Nothing good. Road’s blocked and we have neither the time nor the armaments to clean this all up.” Internally, Emile was wishing they had taken their time with the first patrol to see if the shed had heavier arms. “Those are some pretty sh*t odds.”

“Yeah.” Sara lifted up one of the road blocks and hoisted it aside. “For them.”

Emile adjusted the magnification on his visor to scout ahead. “I see an off-road path to the left back there by the Wraith. Think that could go somewhere?”

“I don’t think we have a choice. Get back on.”

He didn’t bother protesting. Sara shot off running over some grunts, one of the jackals, and two of the brutes. They narrowly avoided the plasma mortar, they were lightly grazed by the mounted machine gun just as they reached the passage. “Jesus! You sure know how to tear up the road!”

Sara kept her focus forward. “Did you get hit back there?”

“Negative… but…” Looking down, there were some fresh singe marks sinking into the Mongoose from the machine gun. “Looks like the Mongoose might’ve taken more than it can afford.”

The steering noticeably began to suffer, wiggling in her grip. The rear axle finally gave out completely and the entire vehicle flipped over itself. Reaching the end of the side path, they rolled down a long hill to another set of cliff sides. Sara rolled back to her feet, feeling her back to make sure the AI module was still with her. “Sorry about that. You okay?”

Emile was just chuckling. “Sara… that was some of the best driving I’ve ever seen. We’d be dead ten times over if-” A distinct metal roar cut him off. Both looked at the source of the noise. “Mother f*cker…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Carter still watched their progress from the air. It wasn’t what he had in mind when he demanded they maintain some degree of subtlety, but they made it surprisingly far by just driving. The Covenant started deploying Scarabs to the area and one just happened to land on the pathway through the rocks that could lead them right to the ship-breaking yards. He tried opening a comm channel to the two Spartans and struggled for a few seconds through the pain and blood loss. “Nobles… how you doin’ down there?”

‘Got a Scarab, sir,’ Sara answered. ‘We’re short on heavy munitions to try and take this down.’

‘Not like we can turn back and go against that brute battalion either,’ Emile added. ‘C’mon. We get under it, we might be able to sneak into the back hatch.’

“Negative, Nobles *auhh* that path is too thin to manoeuvre… You’re gonna need some help.”

‘Sir, that Pelican doesn’t have the firepower to take on a Wraith,’ Sara protested.

Carter took a deep breath to speak when sharp pain shot through his midsection. Reaching down and clutching his stomach, he brought his hand to find it covered in red and pink goop. No doubt that was his leftover intestinal tract and it was a long way to a med centre that might even have the facilities to provide him a spare. He was at his cord’s end.

It was that notion that had him thinking back to Jorge’s relentless fatalism. While it was always loaded with the notion that there was no conclusion besides extinction, for once there was promise. And if this was to be his deathbed, there was now a new-found purpose behind laying down for the sake of guaranteeing that tomorrow. It all still hinged on getting Sara and that AI off of Reach. Diving down towards the Scarab, he performed a strafing run to draw its attention. “I’ve got the mass.”

Neither other member of Noble Team spoke for a moment. Emile broke the silence with, ‘I’m sorry, boss. Hit ‘em hard.’

As he circled around to get a bit more momentum from centrifugal force, Carter struggled to dig something out of his dropped helmet. Now slightly coated in his blood, he managed to find his photo of himself and Kat. It was taken a few years prior to the current nightmare during shore leave. She was laughing her ass off after some attempt at humour that he was struggling to remember while he let a grin crack across his cheek. Hopefully, she’d been waiting at the gates of Valhalla for him.

“Don’t be. If anything, I should be sorry for leaving you two alone. Carter out.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

1712 hrs

While it was not unexpected, Carter’s sacrifice still left them both numb. Neither Sara nor Emile exchanged a word as they continued through the crevasse past the flaming wrecked Scarab. The path was surprisingly clear afterwards, though they could still hear and see motion tracker pings of enemy patrols sweeping the area. The cave eventually opened into a large opening at the front of the facility. Further down the hill, marines clad in a more earthy-brown colour were on the ground engaging a large Covenant patrol.

In the distance, the Halcyon-class was incredibly imposing on what remained of the horizon. ‘Noble Team, do you copy?’ a gravelly voice requested over their comms channel.

Sara took the opportunity to answer. “This is Lieutenant B-312. Who is this?”

‘This is Captain Keyes of the Pillar of Autumn. I’ve been tracking your position - and the encroaching Covenant fleet. I’ve already initiated our launch sequence to make sure we stay on schedule. The sequence cannot be cancelled, so don’t be late.’

Emile gave her a nod and joined in the comms. “We’ve still got the package, sir. Where do we go?”

‘Dry dock, Platform D. I’ll be coming down to accept the package from you. My marines are currently on the ground trying to secure this area for you and ease your path forward. Help them if you can, but keep making your way to me. Everyone’s prepared to give you as much time as they can. Out.’ Without other thoughts, the two continued forward.

The marines were still neck-deep in Covenant with ultras and a general leading the charge on the outer perimeter. Sara ran out with her sword at the ready. One of the ultras was sporting a concussion rifle and shot a salvo of grenades at her as she closed the distance. While it was reloading, she got in close and swiped twice to cut down its shields and put a gash right through its chest. At the same time, the elite general was finishing skewering one of the marines on its own sword before turning to her.

Their blades clashed and locked leaving sparks of plasma. Its moves were elegant but exaggerated. She had not put in nearly enough practice with the blade, but was still able to keep up. The general continued to make large sweeping motions each time it swung while Sara internally counted the seconds that passed with each swing. Eventually, she got in a glancing blow to break its shields, swept a kick to knock its legs from underneath it, and plunged the killing blow right into its breast.

Emile had been providing heavy covering fire for the marines. Expending the last of his grenades, he would fire off EMP bursts to break enemy shields while the marines mopped up the exposed enemies. He was finally forced to ditch his grenade launcher and switch back to his shotgun. Closer to the actual buildings, there were a few Ghosts on the ground between the lines of grunts. Once again, Sara and Emile took point and drew fire while the marines moved up the rear with their remaining anti-vehicle weapons.

Just in the front entrance, there were a trio of elites just inside holding a defensive line. With the backing of Keyes’ marines they had some forward momentum going forward through a matter of sheer volume. Concentrated fire cut through their shields, the remaining grunts proceeded to flee. Inside the rec room, a few more marines were fighting against more jackals and elites in a connecting warehouse. Confident in the marine’s ability to push through, the two Spartans continued past and left the marines to deal with the leftovers.

Emile paused to look at a map of the docks plastered on a poster. “Looks like Platform D should be… this way.”

“We’re not that far either. We’ll be there in five minutes if the path is clear.” Continuing along the catwalks, they came to a bend leading to a freight dock with two hunters occupying the path forward. Sara cursed, “And of course those f*cking things are in the way.”

“Maybe we should double back and get those marines. See if we can focus that thing down,” Emile proposed.

“I’ve got a better idea.” The medic pointed to a shipping container still attached to a magnetic crane hanging over the dock. “Get the controls. I’ll draw their fire.”

“Y’know, I was calling you crazier earlier, but I was joking. You didn’t need to prove me right.”

“Just get the controls.” Sara bolted out from cover and shot several rounds into the back of one of the hunters. The pair immediately took an interest in her and started to pursue. Baiting them underneath the shipping container, she began running circles around them and narrowly avoiding their shield swings. Oblivious to the real danger, they continued to shoot fuel rods at her until she had to dive out from underneath the shipping container. The impact bent the container out of shape and left a visceral spray of orange from underneath the container. Emile rushed over to help her back up. “There. Good job keeping that timing.”

“Just don’t come up with anything weirder.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

Ashen rain had begun to fall over Asźod. Winding through more of the facility, more of the marines were already situated on the landing platform. They remained mostly in cover and continued preparing extensive defences in anticipation of threats to come. The squad leader gave them a salute as they exited the building. “Glad to see you, lieutenant. Captain?”

‘I know, sergeant. I’m coming down in a second. Clear the landing pad and get someone aboard that MAC gun. You’ve got aircraft approaching from multiple vectors.’

Sara noted the mention of a MAC gun and looked up at where a loading crane once would have been for the dock. “How did you get a MAC gun up there?”

‘Airlifted it in for my men to use. Jerry rigged it in a hurry. Could one of you Spartans man that gun?’

“You’ve got your cover, captain,” Emile volunteered. “Satisfaction guaranteed.”

‘Thank you. Be advised; you’ve got multiple hostile transports already en route and closing fast. I’m still coordinating the withdrawal of my remaining marines in the field.’

Emile made his way to the doorway otherwise leading to the MAC gun. “Alright, Sara. This is it. Just make sure that AI stays in one piece.”

The first Phantoms slowly flew into range and began deploying their troops before Emile could reach the gun. Brutes were being deployed in bulk this time with the first squad being composed almost entirely of the bulky aliens. Rolling a grenade at their feet resulted in the group being immediately dismembered or severely injured. As she mopped up the survivors, the MAC gun audibly whirled up and eviscerated the next dropship before it could deploy.

The next wave attempted to land beyond the MAC’s limited field of view. The MAC gun did take another two Phantoms down, but the remaining dropships deployed another heavy squad of brutes, including a chieftain with a hammer. The marines were starting to struggle against the improved armour on the higher ranks of brute. Running one down and knocking it over, Sara snagged the charging pin from the bottom of one of the spike grenades on the brute’s belt and hoisted it at the rest of the group.

One of the brutes dropped his fuel rod amid the chaos and Sara spared no opportunities. Picking it up, she dumped the rest of its clip into the other brutes. She had the chieftain’s attention and it made a wide swing at her. The fuel rod launcher was empty and she hoisted the gun at the beast to try and pop its shields. Dumping more of her MA37 magazine into it, the chieftain raised its hammer one more time.

Sara dove towards its side as it committed to the swing, giving her a good angle on its back. She thrust her shin into the back of its knee, forcing it harshly onto its hands. Drawing her combat knife, she plunged the tip into the middle of its back, severing its spine and forcing it to write on its way to landing flat on its back. Paralyzed and without capacity to fight back, she dumped the last of the magazine into its face.

Another chieftain flanked by brute minors had landed on top of a supply building and fired a salvo at her with a firebomb launcher. Narrowly avoiding the plasma explosions, Sara dove for the dropped hammer, hoisted it up like a spear, and chucked it at the chieftain, killing the whole group. The Phantoms had seemingly stopped arriving for the time being. “Clear down here. How’s it up there?”

‘Skies appear to be clear for now,’ Emile replied. ‘Captain, the pad is yours.’

‘Understood. Good work, Spartans. I’ve collected the last of my deployed marines and I’m heading down there now. Meet you at the landing pad.’

‘Copy that, sir. Get going, Sara.’

Confused, Sara had to clarify, “Emile?”

It was the least upbeat he had been around her. ‘Dunno about you, but after my parents died, my older brother took care of us for a while. When the Covenant came, he’s how I eventually wound up in the Spartan Program. I’d be a sh*tty brother if I didn’t return the favour. Besides, someone’s gotta man the gun.’

“I’ll never forget this.”

‘I wouldn’t mind if you did. Anyways, enough tears and violins. Your ride is here.’

A pair of Pelicans arrived, one with the captain and the other to retrieve the surviving troopers on the ground. Captain Keyes had a standard, grey crew cut, a shaven face, and officer’s fatigues. He walked with a strut implying years of experience. “Lieutenant B-312, glad to see you. Ca- Dr. Halsey assured me you could get the job done.”

Sara undid the magnetic latch on her lower back and handed off the AI’s canister. It still perplexed her what possible knowledge could’ve been gleaned from the archeological digs on Reach that could have resulted in a UNSC victory. “It was a team effort, sir.”

“Noble will be remembered. I just hope it was all worth it.” Turning back to the Pelican, his gaze caught a motion in the clouds to the northwest. The clouds parted to give way to the first of presumably many Covenant capital ships. Tapping the comms device in his ear, he started barking orders. “Cruiser inbound! Adjust the heading of our departure! Noble Four, do you still have that MAC gun?”

The MAC gun began adjusting its aim in anticipation. ‘Aye, sir. You’ve got your window.’

“Bridge, get ready for my arrival. I have a Spartan and the package in tow. I repeat-” On her way to the other landed Pelican, the vehicle suddenly blew up and threw Sara on her back. Her shields were stripped and her HUD was flickering various damage indicators and the explosion put char marks across her white plating. Feeling the side of her helmet, one of the modules had been torn completely off.

Looking to the sky at the perpetrators, she immediately recognized the maroon and white paint job. “Emile! You’ve got zealots heading your way!”

‘f*ck!’ Climbing off the MAC gun, he was narrowly being pursued back into the building out of sight while five zealots dove in after him from their dropship. From the distance, she could hear more shotgun blasts and plasma firing. Emile continued to scream over the comms, ‘Yeah! You want some?! You want some?! You wa- AAGH! AAH! Aah…’

Her heart thumped away in her throat. Time seemed to slow down as she climbed back to her feet. The captain’s Pelican continued to hover over the edge of the deck waiting for her. “We’re out of time lieutenant! We need to go!”

Sara looked to the distance at the approaching cruiser. Even if they got back in one piece, there was no guarantee that the Autumn would be able to take off in time before it started glassing the area. Some things were just never meant to be. Picking her rifle back up, she checked the ammo indicator only to find it empty and her belt absent of spare magazines. Pulling the sword from her belt, she ignited it once again. “Sorry, sir. Someone’s got to keep the skies clear. Good luck.”

She didn’t face him long enough to see his grimace. “Best of luck to you, Spartan,” he returned before jerking his head to indicate the pilot to leave.

Alone on the platform, she made her way back to the doorway leading to the MAC cannon. Without the current stakes, there was no time available to check for spare ammunition. Inside was a tool shop and some stairs and platforms leading up to the cannon itself. Three of the zealots still surrounded Emile’s body with the other two nowhere to be seen.

The zealots noticed and started firing at her while she closed the distance as fast as she could going from cover to cover. Rushing up the catwalk, the closest one sported a fuel rod. Ducking under its volatile projectiles, she plunged the blade deep into its chest enough to get the tips to jut out its back. Continuing her charge, the body served as a meath shield until she rammed the exposed blade tips into the next zealot. Pulling the blade out, she spun around and gave the last one an upper cut through its chest and face, nearly splitting its head in half down the middle.

Running up the steps, she found the two zealots that Emile managed to kill prior to his demise. ‘Spartan, if you’re still there, that Cruiser is charging its main gun! It’s now or never!’

Sara rushed up the step to the mounted MAC gun and clambered into the gunner’s seat. The underbelly of the alien craft glowed red with energy. Aiming the cannon at the red blip, she charged and fired the weapon. The subsequent explosion disabled the weapon. “Captain, if you’re still receiving, now would be a good time to leave!” The supplementary thrusters on the craft ignited to give it enough upward thrust to break free of Reach’s gravitational pull. Turning sharply towards the east and upwards, it made its way for orbit and presumably to safer systems.

Climbing back out of the gun, it hadn’t occurred to her how much exhaustion had taken its toll. Waddling back to Emile’s remains, she took a long good look. There were multiple slashes from energy swords criss-crossing his chest plating and his dropped shotgun was empty. Reaching inside his armour, her fingers snagged his dog tags and ripped them free from his body before activating the self-destruct on his body. None of these Covenant bastards deserved so much as a finger from him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

1747 hrs

Jacob Keyes was greeted by the friendly artificial gravity of the ship with the AI core still tucked under his arm. Immediately, he made a beeline for the bridge intending on giving his vessel every benefit it could afford against the pursuing Covenant fleet. It felt strange knowing who the smart AI was based on. Ensign Lovell approached him with a datapad in hand. “Captain, do we have a heading to take up?”

The captain didn’t spare a glance. “I’ve got an AI who will be helping you with that. Are the remaining staff all onboard?”

“Yes sir. All souls not confirmed KIA are accounted for.”

“Good. I want everyone in stasis within the hour and this vessel putting as much space between us and Reach as physically possible.”

“Erm… yes sir.”

Jacob did take note of the navigator’s hesitation. “Something wrong, ensign?”

“It’s just a personal thought, sir. I figured maybe liftoff would not have gone nearly as sour if we hadn’t put the Master Chief into cryo already.”

Pursing his lips, the captain explained, “Even if we hadn’t gotten the memo at the eleventh hour, it would have been a necessary move. Had the Master Chief been active, he would have been more insistent that we remain and do more than just collecting this package.”

“He could have provided the extraction effort some much needed firepower and bought us more time to depart.”

“Believe me, ensign. I’ve known this Spartan for much longer than you have. You’d know if you were there when he dragged one of his teammates in earlier and was almost jumping out of his armour for aid. Dismissed.”

Chapter 13: No Regrets

Chapter Text

Csongrád, Highland Mountains, Viery Territory, Eposz

30 August, 2552

1128 hrs

It was chaotic getting to the mouth of CASTLE Base to drop the doctor off. Getting back out was the hard part. The UNSC was still trying to prevent capture of any assets before completely withdrawing and there was no shortage of Covenant racing to see what they could get their hands on. The ODSTs by one of the nearby airfields paid the heaviest price destroying some servers while being surrounded by Wraiths. Getting to a safe altitude, Jun flicked on the comms feed. Not that it would have done him much good at this point. “Colonel Holland? Dr. Halsey is safely at CASTLE Base. I repeat, Dr. Halsey is at CASTLE. Are you picking this up?”

Holland was barely in reach. He did answer, but through a broken and fragmenting signal. ‘Good work, Noble Three. Any problems?’

“None of note.” Jun took a moment to think back. “And is the doctor even aware of the Spartan-III Program?”

‘That was on a need-to-know basis. Even for her. Anyways, I’ve got one more mission for you. Pull it off and you’ll be one of the lucky few to get off this rock.’

It was uncomfortable letting that sink in. “What do you need?”

‘Your old teammate Spartan A-344 currently has a UNSC Security Council in her stead and is moving him off-planet.’

“Rosenda? What’s the trouble on her end?”

‘She’s alone and she’ll need an extra set of hands to move the councilman. Uploading coordinates to you. As for her, she will know where to go from there.’

“Understood, sir. Currently en route.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Platform D, Asźod Ship-breaking Yards, Eposz

1849 hrs

Sokan carefully stepped over the butchered remains of his team alongside a suspiciously large, charred hole in the catwalk. There was only evidence of one demon to this slaughter and yet it had killed three if not all of his remaining hand-picked warriors. Worse yet, the enemy vessel was gone with whatever prize intelligence had indicated they were carrying. Blood was now on his mind.

His holoprojector buzzed for his attention. Placing it on the ground before him, the supreme commander’s visage appeared before him. “Commander ‘Vadam…”

‘I’m well aware of the heretics’ escape already and am currently in pursuit with all my ships. Don’t waste your breath informing me.’

“Then you know I need more warriors at my disposal.” At least before he departed this wretched world, he would make whoever put his warriors to shame know fear.

But Thel seemed to draw humour from his circ*mstance. ‘I don’t think so. You have no room to be making demands from me anymore.’

Sokan’s eyes widened and his talons clenched. “Have you forgotten who you are speaking to??”

‘I’m talking to a dead man. Following your inability to find the Gods’ temple below the planet surface, I forwarded your failures to the Prophets. The Prophet of Truth has granted me the right to determine your punishment as I deem fit. I would personally drag you back to High Charity personally to see you crowned an Arbiter, but I’m unfortunately too busy cleaning up the culmination of your failures…’

“...be careful what you wish for…”

‘...and following your last communication, I have recently heard word of Boto ‘Bangam’s passing. While that runt fully deserved to be hunted like vermin, the plasma wounds my forces discovered on his body had managed to get quite the rise out of the High Council.’

“I am a zealot! I have the Prophets’ blessing!”

‘And now your life is forfeit. You are far from the highest priority left on the heretic world, but I’ve told my remaining deployments that if they see you, you are to be shot on sight. So you can either die doing your job or you can die with the humans. Though it would be amusing to hear of your defection.’

Stomping on the projector, it crumbled into a pile of crumpled metal and glass underneath his boot. The action brought no comfort. Instead, paranoia rapidly set in. A dust storm from the crumbling atmosphere began to audibly pelt the side of the building all around him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

2113 hrs

Rosenda looked out the starboard viewport at the glassed remains of Reach. The planet was now little more than a ball of coal with etches of fire spiderwebbing her poor surface. Any hope she had that any fellow Spartans from either her program or the others made it off significantly dwindled. To her right, Jun walked up to the window beside her. “At least Ackerson seemed happy for the first time.”

“Aye. I just wish I could’ve seen more smiles up here with us.”

“Believe me, I don’t take any comfort leaving Emile, the Commander, or Sara behind. If anything, the next time I can, I’ll be looking up the Pillar of Autumn to see if they made it.”

“Wish my team could have been that lucky.”

“That bad?”

“One got crushed during the initial attack on their stealth canopy. Then they just kept gettin’ dropped following New Alexandria. I’d imagine that’s how it went for most Spartan teams.”

Jun had another squirm in his face like he had just eaten a lemon. “I wish I could say it was worth it but… well… that’s unfortunately classified. Anyways, I’ll be prepping for cryo. Don’t spend too much longer out here.”

She spent just a little longer staring at the damage done before finally turning away to begin the long walk to the cryosleep bays.

~~~~~~~~~

Just over 1Km from the Asźod Ship-breaking Yards, Eposz

2000 hrs

There was barely a moment to get rest. Sara continued to wander aimlessly looking for any form of transport she could take. Dust storms gradually worsened over the past hour or so and visibility dropped to barely more than thirty metres in any direction. Dr. Halsey’s mention of CASTLE Base still hung on her mind. If she could reach it, she might be able to regroup and hold out for a bit. Unfortunately, there was not a vehicle in sight. Those that she did find were damaged beyond repair or lacked the fuel to get as far as she needed.

Checking in the tenth truck in the past half hour, she peered inside at the fuel gage to find it nearly full with the keys still in the ignition. And it was without a scratch too. Her heart leapt in excitement. She got the wheel and and immediately found disappointment when the key turned and the engine just would not start. In irritation, she flopped back in the driver’s seat. Sara just sat there and listened to the deafening winds outside when she heard the familiar swipes of an energy sword out in the distance.

Slogging back out of the truck, she began wishing she had at least spent some time salvaging for weapons to complement her energy sword. Keeping the hilt out, it remained unignited as to not immediately draw attention to her. Whoever she would be saving would be for naught if she perished in turn. But what seemed peculiar was the other sounds surrounding the sword slashes were bursts of plasma and inhuman sounds exclusively. There was not a single burst of gunpowder or word of English to be heard.

Atop a hill, she got a bird’s eye view of a single Sangheili zealot field marshal standing atop a pile of its own dead, disabling his own blade in the fight’s conclusion. Dismembered jackals, grunts, and other Sangheili were scattered across the dusty field around it in a very apparent case of infighting with the field marshal. The zealot itself wasn’t doing so well either having been visibly injured in the skirmish with his shields seemingly no longer working.

Inspecting its work, the zealot finally noticed her observing the fight and began trekking over when he felt a noticeable limp. Anger burned in its eyes and it continued to stumble up the hill towards her. Sara otherwise waited at the top, backing up to give it some room on the flattened top. It finally came to a stop a few metres in front of her. Neither bothered exchanging any insults or threats. She didn’t recognize this zealot specifically, but something about it felt familiar.

It ignited its blade and entered a pose in challenge. In turn, she ignited her own and prepared to lunge. The zealot let out one last injured bellowing cry before jumping right at her. Like jousting knights, they passed right through her. She struck high while it struck low. The results were immediate when the zealot fell forward against the ground with its shoulders forever freed from the lifely burden they carried.

Turning around some sense of relief started setting in when the pain set in. The adrenaline was visibly wearing off. Crumbling onto her rear, she dropped the blade and put her hand upon the searing gash that now cut through her midsection. With the other hand, she undid the seal on her helmet and put it to her side. The pain would not subside and a tear managed to worm down her cheek.

Sara looked to the orange tinted skies as she laid herself back, faces and names flashing before her eyes. She thought of Noble Team in their entirety, smiling back at her. Though their faces were more faded in time than the others were, she could distantly see her parents, side by side. Pain continued to rack her body, but it slowly began to subside in the cold depths. Finally, the skies turned ever brighter as the twisted wickedness of this galaxy left her forever.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Outskirts of Terraforming Outpost 517, Eposz, Reach

7 July, 2590

1146 hrs

It had been years before humanity could amass the staff or resources to come back to Reach and begin terraforming its environment again. The Covenant had been thorough in burning it to a crisp and it continued to be a scar in the memory of the UNSC, even in the various minor and major skirmishes that followed the Human/Covenant War. But in time, those scars had finally begun to subside. Humanity had awoken from that wretched fever dream and were ready to walk back into the day.

There would still be centuries before Reach could become the bustling metropolis it had once been, but for now it was a lush green world once more with only a small fraction of humanity scattered across the open plains. Among the other children playing in the open fields, Sally continued to run in circles practically oblivious to all that had happened in those fields almost half a century prior. She would not know the horrors that were the Covenant Empire, the Flood, or the Ur Didact’s Promethean troopers. Not that she would have needed to know about anything her forebears had suffered just to prevent the destruction of the galaxy.

Somewhere in the distance, one of the parents began calling in the children for lunch. “Hey Sally! Get the ball! We’ll meet you inside!” Jacob yelled as he bolted off with the other neighbourhood boys. Insufferable as per usual. Of course the ball had been knocked into the outer fields again and she was being made to go fetch it. The other children had already vanished off to the prefab, leaving her to get it. Just as she reached the edge of the hill where the ball rolled down, her foot struck a rock, making her tumble head over heel on the way down.

Sally landed just short of the ball and in a light haze. Spending a few seconds laying there, she didn’t start rolling back to her feet until after the dizziness subsided. She didn’t suffer any injuries aside from some light scrapes, but her mother would throw a nasty fit the moment she saw the dirt all down her front. Continuing forward to gather the ball, she made her way back up internally wondering what her foot struck that caused her fall. What garnered her curiosity was the reflection of red from something in the tall grass. At the hill’s top, she put the ball aside and began uprooting the grass and dirt around the little reflection.

After continuing her archeological dig, she finally pried loose the surprisingly heavy hunk of metal from the ground. It was a helmet of some sort. The white paint had long since been UV aged and mostly chipped away. The metal framework had significantly warped and the red she saw was the chipped remaining edges of the visor. Peering underneath, there was fortunately no skull still left inside the device. The padding on the inside was also gone, so it probably would not be safe to wear. Tilting it, a module dangling off the side of the helmet finally came free and fell into the grass.

Picking the module back up, she kicked the ball to the side and started making her way back to the house. The piece of history tucked under her arm was a lot more interesting than any stinking ball. The other children would be rather jealous once they discovered what they had unwittingly sent her out to discover.