SUMMARY
A butterfly flaps its wings in China, and a hurricane hits New Mexico. Small changes in the past, can produce massive divergences in the present. Planet Reach, for now, is spared. Humanity strikes back. The Covenant are going to rue the day they started this Great War, 27 years ago. It's time for change, it's time for Red Flag.
DISCLAIMER
→ This author does not own the Halo franchisee. It is the property of 343 Industries.
→ This story is meant purely as a work of art. Any resemblance to a person, alive or dead, is purely coincidental and unintentional.
→ This author makes no profit from the publishing of this story on this site.
→ Yes, this has been inspired by Havoc-Legionnaire's Halo: The Art of War; but while the beginning is similar - Operation Red Flag is canon after all; it just wasn't carried out - the end is not. I have plans, oh so many, many plans. *Cackles*
→ No, there is no Spearhead SPARTAN III team in this story. This is going to be a bit more realistic, although a bit less funny. Spearhead team, while they take away the realism, they do make me laugh.
→ Havoc-Legionnaire made one prominent mistake in Halo: The Art of War and that was the presence of SPARTAN IVs. This is because the first class of SPARTAN IVs (145 SPARTANs) went active on January 7th, 2553, while Art of War took place in 2552.
"There is an ancient saying: 'The beginning of wisdom is ignorance.' So where do we begin to create the ultimate warrior?
With innocence."
— Doctor Catherine Halsey, before kick-starting the Orion Project, Generation II; renamed the SPARTAN II Project —
CHAPTER I: Operation Red Flag
0700 Hours; 27th August, 2552 - UNSCDF Military Calendar; CASTLE Base; Highly Secure Briefing Room/Amphitheatre; Planet Reach; Epsilon Eridani Star System...
This was only the third time John had set foot in this highly secure briefing room cum amphitheatre, ensconced within a bunker buried deep within the crust of the planet Reach; Humanity's military fortress, orbiting Epsilon Eridani; the last star before Sol itself. Buried beneath 300 metres of steel and concrete, this room, part of the Reach FLEETCOM Military Complex in the Highland Mountains, was capable of surviving an 80 megaton nuclear blast.
The first time he had been here, had been just after he had been kidnapped by ONI agents as a child, and the second time was just before he was sent into battle for the first time against an Insurrectionist cell within the asteroid belt of the Eridanus system. He had been awarded the Purple Heart for that, after being shot in the side.
Within the room, were a dozen other people like him; people he had not spoken to for decades of constant battle. Fred, Linda, Kelly, James...all the chairs in the briefing room were full bar seven. Three men and one woman who would have occupied those chairs were listed 'Missing In Action' by the Office of Naval Intelligence, but John knew better.
They were dead; killed by the Covenant, the unstoppable religious conglomeration of eight alien races that had, but one goal: the extermination of Humanity. On February 11th, 2525 Humans made First Contact. Unfortunately, this Contact began the most devastating war yet, and was heralded by thirteen words; 'Your destruction is the will of the Gods...and we are their instrument.'
The juggernaut that was this Covenant swept across human worlds like a plague, sweeping aside the human 'heretics' with superior firepower and technology. It was a plague yet to be stopped.
Since the Harvest Campaigns; the five year war for control of the world over which Contact was made - Harvest - John had engaged Covenant ground forces in battle. He hadn't set foot here in twenty seven years. It made him nostalgic for better times.
He snapped to attention along with the rest of his brethren - SPARTAN II supersoldiers - as their 'creator' Doctor Catherine Halsey walked into the room accompanied by a Colonel from ONI of East Asian descent.
Halsey walked up to the podium. She did not smile. Nowadays, there was precious little to smile about.
"At ease."
She took a breath as the lights dimmed slightly. "Assembled here tonight are all surviving SPARTANs save three, who are otherwise engaged on fields of combat too distant to be easily recalled. In the last decade of combat there have only been three KIAs and one SPARTAN too wounded to continue active duty. You are to be commended for having the best operational record of any unit in the fleet."
Now she smiled. "It is very good to see you all again. Let us begin. I have with me here Colonel George Yang, the Director of ONI Section III. He will be briefing you all for a future mission code-named Operation Red Flag. To put it simply; it is our first proper counterattack in this war. Colonel, if you please."
She stepped back, and Colonel Yang stepped forward. "I know you all are likely wondering why R&D is getting involved, so I'll tell you why. This entire mission, will be carried out with new, cutting-edge and experimental technology that ONI Section III has been working on, non-stop, for the past three decades."
John frowned. He wasn't very happy about the experimental part. If his fancy new death-ray gun suddenly broke down in the middle of killing Elites, well, Yang would find his yang getting yanked. Hard.
The lights dimmed even further, and a holo-projector booted up, illuminating the room. In front of them, in the form of a hologram, floated an unfamiliar, ugly looking alien, with an emphasis on the ugly. Its skin was wrinkled, and it looked frail, its bones atrophied. The slightest force, even that of gravity, would probably cause them to snap. It wore robes and ornaments that looked suspiciously Covenant in design.
"This, is a San'Shyuum. We've nicknamed it - 'Prophet'. They're the ruling caste of the entire Covenant. They are the ones who've started this war, ladies and gentlemen, and they are the only ones who can end it. The rest of the Covenant species consider them to be holy; to be the instruments of the Gods."
Muttering filled the room, although it quickly died away. No one had missed the reference to the First Contact message.
Yang nodded grimly. "I see you've made the connection. There are three Prophets that rise above the rest, forming the Covenant Hegemony's High Council; the Prophets of Regret, Truth, and Mercy. We're calling them the High Prophets. Operation Red Flag is a plan with a simple end goal; capture one of these three Prophets, alive."
John hesitated before raising his hand.
"Alive sir? Wouldn't it be more advantageous to simply eliminate their leadership?"
"Yes Master Chief, alive. While the thought of eliminating their leadership is highly tempting, it would, in the end, cause the Covenant's armies to fight even harder for 'rightful vengeance' and you know as well as I, we do not have the means yet to win this war by military might. Hence, we plan on capturing one of these San'Shyuum in the hopes of negotiating an end to this war. Broker a truce. Contrary to Section II's claims, Humanity is on the ropes, and about to go down for the count. A majority of the Outer Colonies are gone, the Middle Colonies are in flames and a few Inner Colonies have already been struck. Operation Red Flag aims to change that. There are more things than just winning or losing Master Chief. This our last chance to end this war on our terms. Afterwards, we rebuild, recover, then strike back. Already, many game-changing technologies are in the pipeline. We merely need time. Time that we are buying with Operation Red Flag. Remember that."
John nodded, suitably chastised. He remembered something Dr. Halsey had told him before his first war game back at CASTLE base. If you can't win the game, then simply pull out of the game.
Fred-104 raised his hand this time. "Is that our only objective, sir? Capturing a Prophet?"
Yang inclined his head. "That was very astute of you Sierra-104. The answer is no. It is not. They shall be elucidated to you later."
"Now, Operation Red Flag is a four phased Op that has been years in the making.
PHASE ONE is the disabling of a Class V Covenant vessel; that is, a CAS-class Assault Carrier, or a CSO-class Supercarrier by a specially modified UNSC Naval Vessel.
PHASE TWO is the boarding of the disabled vessel by SPARTAN forces accompanied by Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, who will neutralize all onboard defences, take command of the ship, crack the navigation database and decipher the location of the Covenant Homeworld.
In PHASE THREE, you will travel to the Covenant Homeworld and infiltrate it.
In PHASE FOUR, you will complete your given objectives, namely the capture of a High Prophet, and then exfiltrate safely back to UNSC controlled space.
I know it is a lot to ask of you, and none of you may survive this. That is why, Operation Red Flag has been declared a volunteer-only mission by High Command. Those that wish to volunteer, please stand up."
With a scraping of chairs, every single person in the room stood up.
Halsey beamed. "Excellent. Due to the sensitive nature of this operation, HIGHCOMM has deemed it necessary to utilise all available SPARTAN forces. I would like to introduce you all to SPARTAN B-312 of SPARTAN III Beta Company, who shall be commanding all SPARTAN III forces."
Halsey raised her hand to stall any questions. "The SPARTAN III project was initiated by Colonel James Ackerson. All other details shall be provided by B-312. Moving on, he is the only SPARTAN other than SPARTAN-117 to possess a 'hyper-lethal' rating."
John raised an eyebrow in sudden interest at that news.
Halsey started to speak further, but was interrupted by Colonel Yang. "As much as you all may wish to 'catch up', so to speak, time is wasting."
Halsey shot Yang a look that let everyone know how unhappy she was with him, but stepped away.
The colonel stepped up to the podium again. "Before we finish today I have one other small bit of business. Please come to attention. From Fleet Admiral Hood, in recognition of Master Chief Petty Officer Sierra-117's outstanding work -" John's eyes widened in shock, "- in the defence of Earth and her colonies, I hereby authorise his immediate promotion to the rank of Commander Master Chief Petty Officer. Commander, step forward."
John hesitated almost disbelievingly, before stepping forward, walking down the aisle as the rest of the SPARTAN IIs clapped. Even the ever stoic Linda was smiling and clapping. He couldn't remember the last time she smiled.
As Doctor Halsey pinned the oak leaf clasps onto his tunic, he remembered what she had said the first time he had set foot in this room. You have been called upon to serve. You will be trained - and you will become the best we can make of you. You will be the protectors of Earth and all her colonies.
The training was brutal, and he wouldn't wish it upon anyone else. He remembered snippets of his life before he was kidnapped, and while he missed his parents and Parissa, he recognized the necessity of the SPARTANs, and wouldn't have it any other way.
One Week Earlier…
Covenant Home Station; 'The Holy City' - High Charity; The 'Far Tower'; Sanctum of the Hierarchs; Ninth Age of Reclamation…
The war was progressing well, albeit slowly. The rightful warriors of the Holy Covenant advanced upon the worlds infested by the heretical human parasites, cleansing them with righteous fury even as he observed the duel between the Jiralhanae Chieftain Tartarus, and the Sangheili Arbiter Thel 'Vadamee, organized for his amusement. To him, however, it was a mere distraction, a way to pass the time while he waited for the results of his little experiment.
During the battle for the planet the humans called Sigma Octanus IV, he had had deployed a highly experimental probe. This probe, no bigger than a Jiralhanae's head, would latch onto a human ship, and record its journey through slipstream space before recording the image of the stars around the planet for reference to star maps left behind by the Gods.
After it had what it needed, the probe would detach itself from the ship before entering slipstream space. If everything went forth as it should, the probe would return to High Charity. The probe was due back today. Hopefully, the location of a major human world - perhaps even their origin world! - would be revealed. It would greatly accelerate the extermination of the heretic pestilence.
As the Arbiter brought his plasma sword straight down on Tartarus' head, only to be blocked by the Chieftain's gravity hammer, the alert came. He quickly swiped through holograms until he came upon the message.
"The data is incomplete. The star field around the planet is unidentifiable. All that is possible to retrieve further data has been attempted. Simulations have shown this delay to be acceptable to the war effort. This project was not a total failure. A major flaw has been revealed in the probe's design. Once it has been corrected, a process the Huragok inform me requires the probe to be redesigned, we shall be able to try again in approximately one and a half solar cycles of Janjur Qu'om."
That was a pity. Nevertheless, one and a half cycles of Janjur Qu'om around its sun was not a long time in the grand scheme of the Forerunners. The humans would not last another decade even without the probe's data.
He dismissed the message, his mood more cheerful than before, despite the failure of the probe.
Soon, the humans shall be no more, and this faithful Covenant with me at its helm, shall be set upon the Great Journey; following in the footsteps of the Gods.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
→ As you can see, I've fallen into a Halo – Mass Effect – Babylon 5 craze triangle.
→ No, I don't know when I'll get out of it.
→ Yes, I still plan on continuing The Lord and his Lady.
→ No, I don't know when the next update for The Lord and his Lady will be posted.
→ Obviously, when I feel like writing it.
→ Right now, I feel like writing Operation Red Flag.
→ Deal with it.
→ Boohoohoo.
→ I don't give a damn how sad you are.
→ OK, I do.
→ But seriously, don't pester me.
→ Please.
→ I'm begging you.
→ Chapters will increase in length as the story progresses.
→ Chapter 2 of Operation Red Flag should be up soon.
→ C u l8r.
Signing off for now,
~ Apex113
DATE COMPLETED: 02/04/2015
DATE REVISED: 03/04/2015
TIME COMPLETED: 13:43:51
TIME REVISED: 13:31:22
WORD COUNT: 2531 words