Spartan ships floated through the void. Naomi counted fifty of them. She had never seen that many ships in one place, not since the Human-Covenant War, and even then it was only at dock. The only time she saw fifty ships ready to do battle was when Reach fell. That was a bad day.
She looked around the bridge. Most of the personnel were civilian, but there were a few Spartans there, sitting in their armor, carrying out their duties, and there wasn't any pesky staring at them. It was all business as usual for the new Spartans and civilians. She hoped it was like that outside of combat, but from what Mary was telling them, it wasn't the case.
"This is really, really strange," she mumbled.
"We have to be the only four who think that way," Kelly said. Floating ahead of them was fifty Covenant ships. No, that was wrong, it was fifty Sangheili ships. They were different from the Covenant now. How was that for a strange thought?
"True," Naomi said. "Takes me back to my Kilo-Five days."
"Maybe you shouldn't say that out loud," Kelly said.
"It's a good idea." Might not be in their best diplomatic interest to admit that she had a hand in splitting the Covenant and splintering the Sangheili race.
"Generals, you know that we're allied with the Sangheili," Mary said meekly, "so take care not to make them angry. I know that old habits die hard, but the last thing we need is a diplomatic incident."
Naomi wished Mary could sound more sure of herself. She was a Spartan, dammit. She and Kelly turned away from the port window, back to their ship. They stood on the bridge with Fred, Linda, Mary, Madani and Tyler, surrounding a holographic table.
"We didn't train to be diplomats, so we'll just keep our mouths shut for right now," Fred said.
"A good idea, if you'll forgive me," Madani said.
"No offense was taken," Fred said. "Did they give you diplomat training?"
"Only after I was voted into my office," Madani said.
"You should have seen him before," Tyler said. "Spoke his mind whenever it suited him. He must've cleaned half the toilets on Sparta by graduation."
"If I may, how were you voted into office?" Kelly asked. "We left it as an appointed position. How did it change?"
"Fifteen years after you were put on ice," Tracy said, winking into existence, "the civilians started accusing us of building dynasties, falling prey to nepotism."
"Was it true?" Linda asked.
"There were a few cases of nepotism," Madani admitted. "Enough to make it troubling. So we knew we had to create a new system. Mars? Could you fill the Generals in?"
"Certainly," the AI said, joining the holographic book shelf. Mars at least chose a human-style avatar.
"Shaky on your history?" Kelly asked.
"Only my political history," Madani said. "Besides, Mars can explain our government better than I can."
"You don't know the system?"
"Not intricately."
"It was one of the ideas that came from the system re-design," Mars said. "The General of the Armies Office is a five-year position. And they vote on the man or woman who hates the post the most."
"I'm not sure I follow," Fred said.
"We put the person who hates the job in charge because they're more likely to do the job right," Madani said. "You were one of the greatest Generals we had, and you hated your job. Therefore, you did you best. Are we wrong?"
"They sure know you." A grin leaked out of Linda.
"So you rely on stewardship and civic duty to fill the role?" Fred groaned.
"M-more or less," Mary said.
"In the Spartan's experience, those who actively search for power generally cannot be trusted with it," Tracy added. "It is a popular saying that competency is its own punishment. And they all strive to be competent."
"We're kind of masochistic like that," Naomi said.
"That's one way of putting it," Kelly said.
"The number of times I've heard Madani complaining," Tyler sighed.
"Sir, the Shangheili delegates are arriving," Mars said.
"Show them in," Madani said.
"Don't worry, we'll play nice," Fred said. Naomi knew an order when she heard one, but that was okay. She could shut her mouth.
The doors to the bridge opened up and ten Eli–Sangheili walked in. They were just as big as Naomi remembered, but strangely enough, they weren't dressed in armor. Every one wore cloth suits, not even dress uniforms, a close-fitting inner business suit and a more flowing, ornamental robe on the outside. What was going on? Naomi rarely saw a Sangheili out of armor, even when she worked for Kilo-Five. They seemed strange, even more alien out of armor. Their backwards bending knees were hidden in cloth, and their arms were fully covered. Hell, they were completely covered in clothes. Net even their armor fully covered them, unless they were wearing armor rated for void activity.
"Thie, how has fortune found you?" Madani said, walking over to great the lead Sangheili.
"Aside from our current predicament, it has been most tame," the Sangheili Thie said. "What of your Spartan empire, Madani?"
"Steady as always. May I introduce you to our fabled founding Generals, Fredrick, Kelly, Linda and Naomi." Mary took two giant steps back as Madani turned to introduce them all. Naomi, meanwhile, felt her skin pull taunt and she did her best to not make a reach for her pistol. Old habits and all. "Generals, may I introduce you to Thie 'Mankkee, the elected leader of the Sangheili race."
"You are the wise leaders I have heard much about," Thie said. "It is an honor to meet you."
"The honor is ours," Fred said, nodding. Naomi could hear him working to keep his voice flat.
"You have been filled in on our situation, correct?" Thie asked.
"We have. The Covenant Nations are moving against both us humans and your people."
"Correct. Our fanatical cousins seek to exterminate us. They call us traitors and heretics, and they have the numbers to finish us all. I can only hope our combined military might is enough to end this threat once and for all. Is something the matter? You seemed perplexed."
The hinge-he-Sangheili was good at reading them, Naomi had to give him that. She'll let Fred do the talking; she was under orders to keep her mouth shut.
"My apologies, we're not used to seeing your species out of armor," Fred said.
"They've been frozen since the collapse of the Covenant," Madani said, coming to their verbal rescue. "They're far more used to seeing the old Sangheili."
"That's understandable," Thie said. "Your Spartans weren't the only one to undergo major changes. It was not easy to change our ways, but we have always overcome hardships, as we will now."
"That's good to hear," Fred said. "Please, don't waste time on us. You have a war to plan."
"We do," Thie said. "Madani, we've just got word from our spies. We know where the Covenant Nation is going to attack first."
"Did your spies make it back alive?" Madani asked.
"Only one. But their sacrifices will be honored. It should not surprise you to know that they are targeting Earth and Shanghelios."
"Just as expected," Madani said.
"If it were only those two planets," Thie said. "They also plan to re-take the Ark."
The atmosphere seemed to grow tense on the bridge. Naomi remembered hearing about the Ark, but it was such a long time ago. She would have surely forgot about it.
"They mean to fire the Halo arrays?" Madani said. "They want to wipe out all life in the galaxy?"
"Remember, they do not believe the Halo arrays will destroy life, they believe that it will make them gods," Thie said.
"Are they hitting all three at once?" Madani asked.
"As close to a simultaneous attack as possible. All three targets are very far apart, and coordinating an assault over such distance will be extremely hard. We believe that they will move against Earth and Shanghelios first, if only because the Ark is so far away."
"They can make assaults on all three targets? Sure are using their numbers to their advantage."
"They hopelessly outnumber us. It only makes sense to use every edge they can."
"This will require some finessing. Thank you for the intel. Any idea how much time we have until they attack?"
"Two days at the most."
"Not a lot of time to get into position. Did you alert the UNSC?"
"They were the first to know. The message should be getting to them any time now."
"Damn." Madani flipped through the holographic table. Naomi recognized star charts, namely where Earth was. He highlighted Earth, Shanghelios and the Ark. The three points formed a very obtuse triangle. "We're a special forces army; that means we don't have the numbers for major engagements. This will be hard to pull off, but we'll split our army into thirds. Each third will be protecting a planet and the instillation. Does that sound good?"
"As good as we can do with this short period of time," Thie said.
Naomi frowned. This seemed too clean. Orders be damned, she had a good idea.
"Excuse me, sir," she said. All eyes shifted to her. Mary seemed particularly stressed; probably wondering what gaffe she would let slip. "You said your spies died getting us this info?"
"They did," Thie said. "I must ask; why bring it up?"
"Because they may be plants," she said. "I worked with ONI for a good long while. It was a hundred some-odd years ago, sure, but I learned a few things. Just because intel is given to you doesn't mean it's good. What kind of odds were they looking at for getting that intel out?"
"It was a suicide mission."
"Then they shouldn't have gotten out alive. I still don't like that."
"What are you thinking?" Fred asked.
"They fed us intel, and they expect us to buy it just because people died getting it to us."
"What would they gain from that?" Madani asked. "They let us know where they plan to attack."
"Because it doesn't make sense to go for all three, even if they outnumber us," Naomi said. "They think that firing the Halo arrays will make them gods. Why bother with Earth and Shanghelios when you can be gods? That just don't sound right."
"You think they plan to draw us away from the Ark by attacking our home planets," Kelly said.
"That's exactly it. We'll have to defend them, sure, but we'll lose the Ark. And if we lose the Ark, well, we might as well drop our trousers bend over for them just to speed things up. Besides, they're ignoring multiple Inner Colonies and going right for the jugular."
"Equal parts colorful and coldly calculating, but her reasoning is sound," Mars said, appearing on the holographic table. "The Ark is a much more valuable target that both Earth and Shanghelios combined."
"You expect us to give up our home world without a fight? You are sorely mistaken," Thie said. Naomi nearly pulled her sidearm on him; the Eli—Shangeili reared up to his full height, and he was pissed. He might have been a civilian, but he still outweighed most humans by a hundred pounds. He wasn't the only one either. The other Shanieili (his guards? Advisors? None wore armor or a sidearm) bristled as well. And that was good. Peace time didn't dull their edge, and right now they needed that.
"Thie, easy," Madani said, standing between Thie and Naomi. "We're not telling you to abandon your world."
"Didn't expect you too, either," Naomi said through gritted teeth. Her heart was pounding, ready for action. "We're not going to give up Earth, either."
"Your accusations are more speculation," Thie said. "We will take no action to back them up."
"We need to consider the possibility that General Naomi is right," Tracy said. "We lose Earth or Shangheilos, life goes on. But if we lose the Ark, we lose everything."
"We will back no plan that leaves our home planet undefended," Thie roared.
"We won't propose it," Madani said. "How about a compromise? You maintain command of your armies and defend how you see fit. Meanwhile, we'll divide our army into fourths; one fourth for Earth, Shangheilos and the Ark, the last fourth will be at a point between the three objectives. Once we know where a bulk of the Covenant Nation armies are, the fourth will move in to provide support."
"How will that help?"
"All objectives will be secured," Fred said. "And it will take the guesswork out of predicting where a larger portion of the army will be attacking. It's the best thing we can go for."
"And the time it takes to travel to each planet?"
"We can have troops in position within a week," Mars said. "Assuming that they can get to the exact middle of all three objectives by the time the fighting starts."
"Stop referring them to objectives," Thie yelled. "They are planets, with lives to be saved!"
"How would each fourth fight against the army?" Kelly asked. "We'll be spreading ourselves too thin."
"We'll set each fourth up to go in heavy," Madani said. "Tanks, heavy weapons and sniper teams, EVA teams for boarding parties, the works. Make them play defense, delay the Covenant Nations until reinforcements arrive, have OMAC platoons do all our counter-offensive actions."
"And you'll throw your men away like so much tissue paper?" Thie sputtered.
"Spartans don't get thrown away like tissue paper," Madani said. "If it's our day to die, we'll make them fight for that kill. We're raised to fight in the worst spots, and we'll get out of them in one piece."
"This plan is a lost cause. You'll all throw your lives away for nothing, and we'll all fall with you."
"I'm a sucker for lost causes," Kelly grinned.
"They have a certain ring to them," Linda agreed.
"This plan offers minimal chance for success," Mars said. "There are too many unknowns to fully calculate."
"It aint't Spartan if it ain't hard." Damn near the whole bridge crew said it as one, even some of the civilians did. Naomi couldn't help but chuckle as the Shangeili jumped. Even Mary grinned.
"I would tell you that you're all mad, but I know you've heard that from everyone who ever talked to you," Thie said.
"Yes, sir," Madani said, smiling. "I believe you even called me that a few times."
"I'm sure I have," Thie said. "So that is your plan? Split your army into fourths?"
"It's the best plan we can come up with at the time."
"We won't endorse your plan. We can't endorse your plan, we have too much to lose."
"We understand," Madani said. "We'll do what we do best. And thank you for the intel. It was a great help."
"I believe the human saying is 'Godpseed.'" Thie bowed and left the bridge. Naomi finally relaxed.
"Good find," Fred said.
"Hey, I could be wrong," Naomi said. "This Covenant Nation could be going for all three at once and I just royally screwed everyone over."
"We're all ready for the absolute worst," Madani said. "Between guessing where the armies will pop up and getting hopelessly overrun, this offers the best of both worlds, so we're going to go for it."
"I will tell the fleet," Mars said. "We only have two days to get everyone in position."
"We'll be cutting it close," Naomi said, looking at Linda and Kelly, waiting for them to finish the line.
"'Cutting it close' is in our job description," they chorused, along with every Spartan on the bridge. Naomi smiled. Goddamn, did it feel good to be back. Like she was with family.
Cameron's data pad chirped. Everyone's data pad chirped, and the firing range held enough Spartans to make the sound nearly deafening. It had to be their assignments.
"This must be it," Anna said, putting the brand new designated marksman rifle down. The strange thing shot hardened light, made the Covenant plasma guns seem quaint. But quaint was what Cameron knew, it was what the ants knew, and the ants compelled her to stick with good old fashioned gunpowder. She had a regular DMR, only marginally updated for the new times.
"It must be," she agreed. She gingerly set the DMR down and pulled out her data pad, the ants skittering and skirmishing across her skin. She had moisturized it so much she practically bled lotion, but that didn't stop the ants.
Cameron-016,
Your platoon, 01-A60, is to be deployed to Earth upon the Argos. Wheels up at 1350, we're hitting the ground running.
"Earth, huh?" Cameron sighed. She didn't want to go anywhere, or do anything. It seemed easier to crawl back in her cryotube, even with the ants running on her skin.
"Wonder how many platoons of frozen Spartans they're sending out there," Anna said.
"I like 'the Old, Bold Riders' name. It has a ring to it."
"You just like ditching your old name."
"Wouldn't you?" The ants crawled. Cameron realized she was rubbing Bridget's dog tags again. She missed her first friend, her first partner. Attrition Queen. How could she have ever been proud of it? She was just messing things up, but never knew it.
"Please, my nickname is all over my face," Anna said, pointing to her scars. "Don't need a name when you have a visual reminder."
"We've been over this, you can get plastic surgery."
"We have been over this. It reminds me of my shortcomings, to keep an eye open."
Anna glared at her, and Cameron realized she was glaring back.
"I'm sorry," she said, "I didn't mean anything."
"It's okay. Trauma has a way of popping up," Anna said. Cameron could only nod.
"Well, police these weapons," Cameron said. "I don't want to be stuck in line signing them in. We got a ship to catch."
The sniper rifle was laid out in front of Linda, fully disassembled and with extra modular parts. The stock, receiver, barrel, tripod, muzzle break and scope were all sitting on a very fine terrycloth blanket. The blanket was new; she could tell by the pristine whiteness of it. Of course, the oil from the gun parts were quickly staining it, but Linda didn't care. A little grease gave it character.
"Funny how we're going to the Shangheili home world," Naomi said. Linda was so engrossed in her rifle, she nearly forgot that she was in a crowded locker room. She blamed her Zen meditations.
"Why?" She asked. "Were you holding out for Earth?"
"Kind of was," Naomi admitted. "It's just that we spent so much time fighting them, and now we're helping them. Everything comes full circle."
"Better get used to it," Kelly said.
"I'll get used to it faster than I'm getting used to these new 'hard light' weapons."
"Gunpowder's good for me, thanks," Linda said. She grabbed the heavy duty stock and weighted it, passed it from hand to hand. It was nice and heavy; it would absorb plenty of recoil. She picket it over the lightweight stock.
"They look pretty," Kelly said. "All nice, sharp human angles and edges, nothing like the smooth rounds of a Covvie rifle."
"What's funny is that smooth, round corners are supposed to represent women," Fred said. "And you're complaining about it."
"Never really liked pink," Kelly grinned. Linda and everyone snorted. She picked up the receiver and looked at it, compared it to the other option she had. One was overbored and heavier, the other was the stock receiver and lighter. If she went with an overbored receiver, she could chamber bigger, heavier rounds, use them to punch through solid steel and concrete, but the rounds would take up more space in a magazine, weigh her down. She could carry more rounds if they were lighter. But if she still had ammo left, that meant she didn't do her job right. Linda attached the heavier overbored receiver.
"Don't worry, the hinge-Shangheili were real big on royal purple when I was there," Naomi said.
"And how long ago was that?"
"Point."
"What is everyone taking?" Fred asked. "Gunpowder?"
"I'm trying out the new hard light assault rifle," Kelly said. "Seems to be lighter, keep me moving better."
"That suits you," Linda said. Because she chose an overbored receiver, she had to go with the overbored barrel. The gun was getting a little heavy, but the rounds she would be shooting were twice as heavy as the standard rounds. She even had the option to shoot depleted uranium rounds, which she was itching to try out. She slapped on a big tripod to help steady herself.
"I say stick with what we know," Fred said. "If that fancy thing breaks in the field, it'll be a fancy paperweight."
"Says here its rugged and seen four deployments," Kelly said, holding up the owner's manual.
"And now you're trusting a pamphlet?" Naomi grinned.
"Alright, you got me, it just looks fancy," Kelly sighed.
"We have to keep you honest," Linda said. She looked at the scopes. The standard one offered her high powered zoom and night vision, which is what she was used to. But the other one offered her something called 'Promethean vision,' and it offered her not only a kind of night vision, but limited x-ray potential as well. It was a battery drain, taking one shield to barely power and two to fully power, but if she had to worry about her shields, the enemy was too close and she wasn't doing her job. She took the Promethean vision scope, clicking it on place.
"And our old friends got their FOF tags in place?" Fred asked.
"Thie said they'll show up as friendly on our suits," Naomi said.
"Good. Last thing we want is some friendly fire."
"'Only you could prevent friendly fire,'" Naomi said, actually laughing. "Oh man, remember when Mendez taught us that one?"
"Poor Yellow team," Kelly grinned. "Those paintballs had to hurt. Point blank."
Linda laughed herself. The thought took her back to Reach. Of course, they really didn't try to prevent friendly fire; Yellow team stole their lunch the day before. It was more revenge. She held the muzzle breaks in her hand. One offered better recoil dampening, but couldn't eliminate the vapor trail. One did, but offered next to no breaking and sound dampening. The third blocked a vapor trail and suppressed the sound to a degree, but was terrible at recoil reduction. Linda figured that with her heavier rifle, she could skimp on the break. Besides, she had to keep her location a secret. She picked the third option.
Everything slid together with a click and a spin. She had her rifle, and they were going to a place where she could work her magic all day long.
"The Ark? You mean the Ark of the Covenant?" Ted chuckled.
I'm surprised you made that connection, Demeter said.
I'm full of surprises, Ted thought.
You are.
"No, just 'the Ark,'" Roma said, closing her locker door. "Be glad that I'm stuck babysitting you. We don't need another fight."
"You're not babysitting me, you're getting me up to speed, remember?" Ted smiled. Roma ignored him. "You taking plenty of medication? I don't want to miss your placated voice."
"I have dosages set up," Roma said. "I won't be missing any."
"Drat. You'll miss the fun," Ted sighed. "What about cute girl? She coming with us?"
"Given how you provoked a fight, Marcel decided to grant her request to fight on Earth," Roma said.
"She'll miss all the fun."