Chapter 4: Righteous Justice
50 Meters Outside of Schnee Mine A21
"Quickly, brothers, gather to me before we launch the assault on that mine there." Major Lykan 'Remanee's voice whispered into the Elites' ears as their HUD updated with a waypoint on the Major's location. They swiftly made their way over, crouching low beside the Major who was surveying the mine once more.
"What is the situation, Major?" A minor asked as the rest of the Elites looked to the Major for orders.
"Guarded, but not heavily so. Five guard towers, one at each intersection of the perimeter fence. At least two guards manning it. Several more of those metal husks masquerading as combat droids patrolling alongside human guards. Armory near the entrance to the mine and a command building in the center. The other buildings may be residences. No matter, Remember what the human said, end anyone who stands against us. For Sanghelios, brothers."
"For Sanghelios." The response was quick and faded away as the winds began to howl once more as the crunching of snow faded into the background.
Guard Tower B, Schnee Mine A21, 7:55 PM
"Damn storm's picking up again. Coby? How's it looking inside the mine?" A guard, dressed in the latest Atlesian armor with the Schnee logo on the back, rubbed his gloved hands together as he looked at his partner. He turned only hearing the sound of something igniting before darkness overtook him.
"Animals are still working the mine but with the storm picking up, I'm barely able to see out here. Nick, how's it looking out there? Nick?" Coby turned around to a horrifying sight. Nick, a fresh recruit that got transferred here after being hired, was suspended in the air by a blade of light. That wasn't what scared him, however. It was the being that held him in the air. Nick looked at Coby, gurgling as blood began to seep from his mouth before the being gripped Nick by the neck and tugged. The sword sliced cleanly through him causing his organs to show themselves as the being dropped the remains of the guard onto the floor of the tower. Coby, in shock, barely registered that the being was advancing on him when the sword had glanced off his aura shield which depleted quickly. He finally snapped out of it and tried to run when he felt a burning heat in his chest and above his stomach. He looked down, seeing the same blade of light that had taken Nick's life. His head turned towards the being, the alien whose eyes seemed void of remorse. They even seemed proud. The split-jawed being was proud of killing them and Coby's eyes swept to Tower C, only a few meters away from them and saw a pair of beings ripping apart the guards there. He chuckled, swinging weakly at the being behind him as he tried to put up some semblance of resistance. Soon, darkness overtook him and he knew no more.
Guard Tower C, Schnee Mine A21, 8:00 PM
Major Remanee tossed the human into the interior of the tower without a second glance back before looking around the immediate area. The other towers were cleared or in the process of being cleared. His eyes looked to the ground where the patrols were being mopped up, the storm silencing their actions.
"Ma-or, Pla-on in pos-ion. Ready on yo-r ma-k," A jumbled voice communicated through to Remanee who snorted before looking at the Sangheili that infiltrated with him.
"The humans are in position, gather our brothers and set that armory ablaze," He pointed to the armory building.
"And you, Major?" The minor asked, wondering what the Major was going to do.
"Cut the head off the snake," The Major gestured to the two story building that they had assumed was the command building. "Quickly, we're wasting time and I'd rather not risk alerting whoever these humans are to our activities." The minor darted off after reactivating his cloaking and the Major did the same.
25 Meters Outside of Schnee Mine A21, 8:25 PM
"Where the hell are those Elites, I'm freezing my ass off here," A private complained near Holliday who snorted as he watched the mine through a pair of infrared binoculars.
"Can it, Private. They're kicking a hell of a lot of ass and a single alarm hasn't been tripped. Maybe they'll signal after they finish killing everyone. Stea-" Holliday retorted before a loud explosion drew their attention to the base. A building near the center, right next to a two story building that had snowflake logos and what looked to be communications equipment, had gone up in flames. "That's the signal. Move it, Marines! GO!" Holliday ordered through the comms as he hammered the Sun Devil's turret armor with his hand as it lurched forward. He looked to his left and right, watching as the other Scorpions began to their assault with Marines coming up the rear. The Scorpions took aim at the towers, not knowing they were already cleared, and fired which caused an explosion that tore apart the top of the towers.
"Jesus, Sarge. Remind me to never piss off the Elites." Holliday hopped down from the Sun Devil which began to enter the compound and took up a defensive position at the front gate. He looked to his right where Corporal Wilkins was inspecting a dead patrol. The droids were thoroughly destroyed, the metal melted and the internal circuitry completely fried. The work of energy swords. However, the damage to human targets was similar. The wounds were carturized but that meant nothing when the human wasn't even in one piece. The Elites were brutal, but they were efficient.
"Wilkins, come with me. Let's see if the command building is still up. Roediger, take Alpha squad together and check the remaining buildings for workers. Give them medical attention if they need it. Otherwise, escort them to the center where the Pelicans have room to land. Stephens! Get Bravo and sweep the mines. Remember, ID your targets. Perez, keep me updated on Delta and Epsilon especially if they've returned."
"Will do, boss. However, storm's been messing with comms. I'll send a runner if something's changed," Perez answered, his head sticking out of the driver's seat of the tank.
"Wilkins, come on." Holliday began to lightly jog with Wilkins right on his heels. He stopped and held ups his hand to stop Wilkins. He brought his MA5D up and Wilkins followed suit with his own. He slowly walked up to the front doors that were slightly ajar and listened to the screams of horror and the telltale sound of an energy sword swinging through the air. He gestured to Wilkins to stack up on the door and pulled out a flashbang. Wilkins, seemingly got the message, put a hand against the door. Holliday began to mouth the numbers and pulled the pin when he got to three. Wilkins pushed the door as hard as he could and returned to cover as Holliday tossed it in. They waited until the flashbang went off then breached. However, they were met with a sight of carnage. Bodies were thrown up against walls or laid scattered in pieces on the hallway floor. They checked each room, finding a similar scene in each one before deciding to let the Sangheili deal with the remainder of the forces on the upper floor. They made their way back to the entrance before the scream of a person and glass breaking sounded above and in front of them. They stopped, watching as a body impacted with the ground, injured but alive. He struggled but they could tell his arms weren't functioning properly. One leg was twisted at an odd angle but otherwise, he seemed uninjured. The two Marines approached the struggling man before they spun around when a thud sounded behind the,
"At ease, humans. It is just me. That there is the commander of this compound. I secured him alive for your...tender mercies." The Major explained as Wilkins and Holliday nodded at each other. "Now, I shall go and gather my brothers for extraction. Our mission is done here." With that, the Major walked past them towards the entrance of the complex.
"Shall I do the honors, or you sir?" Wilkins asked, gesturing to the struggling commander. Holliday answered by slamming the butt of his rifle onto the commander's head. Or tried to at least. The blow was momentarily glanced off which irritated Holliday who repeated the action which connected this time. "Secure him, I'm going to see how the rest of the platoon is doing. After he is secured, rig the place to blow." Wilkins looked down at the injured man and sighed knowing that secure him meant dragging him to the extraction point in the center and making sure he didn't escape. As Wilkins went to work, Holliday made his way back to the Sun Devil and Perez.
"Sarge, Epsilon and Delta arrived a few minutes ago. Extracted the droids and destroyed the pods. However, Corporal Solomon told me to get you to go to the extract point. Said that he had something to show you." Perez informed him, puffing out some smoke from the cigarette in his between his fingers.
"All right, I'll head over there and snuff that smoke. That stuff'll kill you faster than the Covenant could."
"Didn't think you heard boss, war's over. Covenant remnants are up but nothing we can't handle. And besides, it's freezing cold and this smoke is bringing me some warmth."
"That could be hypothermia. Ah, I can't waste time arguing with you. Just make sure that smoke is out before I get back, understood?"
"Crystal, sir!" Perez answered back and Holliday rolled his eyes before making his way to the center of the compound. There he saw a bunch of workers, who looked underfed and some were close to death. Medics were treating the wounded and he watched as the Marines had some prisoners sectioned off from the rest. Before he could get to the civilians, a hand stopped him. He followed the arm and saw that it belonged to Corporal Solomon.
"Corporal, Perez said you wanted to see me?" Holliday asked.
"Yeah, sarge. Just a word of warning. The civvies aren't exactly normal...So don't freak when you see them. All right?" Solomon's voice had a bit of warning in it.
"Understood, corporal. But, why the warning exactly? They're human, aren't they?" Holliday asked, unsure of why he was being warned to not freak out.
"Not exactly...You'll see." Solomon said before he gestured for Holliday to check it out himself. Holliday, thoroughly confused, made his way to the civilians and kneeled next to a lone child who looked around scared and flinched away from him. Holliday gave the child and soft smile in an attempt to placate the child.
"Hey there. You look scared, want me to help you find your parents?" Holliday held out a hand which the child looked at with distrust and fear. "Come on, I won't bite." He looked the child over, gritting his teeth at the state of the attire they wore. It looked like a bunch of sacks were repurposed as clothing. The child wore a makeshift beanie, which was also made out of a straw material used for sacks. After his looking over of the child, he watched as the kid hesitantly took his hand. He stood up, gripping the child's hand tightly as he led him around. All the workers were wearing similar attire from what he saw. His search for the kid's parents finally turned up results as a couple rushed forward after seeing the kid who jumped into their arms.
"Oh, Mari, thank goodness. Your father and I thought you were dead! Where did you go?" The mother asked, scolding the child.
"Mama, Papa, they took the kids to a different part of the mine earlier. Told us to crawl through a small space and mine. The nice people saved us from there and this nice person held me find you!" The child's feminine voice responded. She looked back to the man who helped her find her parents. "Thank you, sir!" She dropped into a small bow, which caused her beanie to fall off as it had been displaced earlier from her jumping into her parents' arms. What was sitting on her head surprised Holliday. A pair of fox ears twitched on the top of her head and he was shocked before replying with the usual 'you're welcome'. He looked around, noticing that some of the other civilians also had animal features as some sported tails or ears that weren't human in origin. Yet, they looked like normal humans. He shook his head, slapping his cheeks. Even if they had some extra appendages, they were still human. He made his rounds, checking in with every group to make sure they were doing well enough before he heard the telltale sounds of Pelicans and Albatrosses. He looked up, seeing the thrusters of the Albatrosses as the Pelicans circled around to provide security.
"Clear the way, Albatrosses landing! Marines, get the civvies up and ready for transport! Wilkins, are we done with the demo work?" Holliday hollered out as the Marines carried out his orders as they got the civilians or the prisoners up. The first Albatross landed and opened up the cargo bay where Captain Westfield, in a winter uniform, stepped out and looked around. The Marines immediately saluted her.
"Sergeant Holliday, are they ready for extraction?" She directed the question towards him with a quirked eyebrow.
"Yes, ma'am! Platoon's ready to warm themselves up on the Eternity!"
"Very well, Staff Sergeant Holliday. Get them loaded up while I make sure the Pelicans don't leave our armor behind." Westfield stated, her azure eyes piercing into Holliday's who just realized he had just been promoted. 'I mean, it's pretty hard to get a promotion review by the committee if they're stranded this far away from it' He thought before barking out orders again.
"You heard the Captain, get them on the Albatrosses, quick! And Wilkins! Did you get those charges planted?!" An affirmative was heard in the crowd as the Marines followed his orders, shepherding the workers onto the first albatross. Once it was a max capacity, it took off and headed for the Eternity while another took its place. It took four Albatrosses at max capacity to extract the workforce and another to extract the prisoners with Marine escort. "All right! Civvies and prisoners were extracted! Let's shake a leg to the front entrance where our extract is waiting!" He lightly jogged, hearing the marines following his lead. They arrived to landed Pelicans as the crew tried to secure the Scorpions to the Pelicans.
"Yo, boss! Over here!" Perez's voice drew Holliday to a Pelican holding his Sun Devil, "Damn, almost thought we'd have to leave you behind. Such a shame, am I right?"
"Eh, shut it Perez. Scooch over." Holliday snipped, tired from the events of the day. Wilkins hopped in as well right afterwards.
"Everyone's loaded, Sarge. Ready to level the place?" Wilkins asked, holding a detonator out to took it. "Hey, pilot! Don't shut the door right away, I wanna see the fireworks first."
"Understood, you got five minutes." The pilot responded as Holliday heard the other Pelicans getting ready to dust off. Soon, he heard the other ones take off as the one he was riding in gave a lurch and began to gain altitude. He counted down and watched the mine below when he pressed the detonator switch. At first, nothing went off then it was a cascade of explosions starting from the outside fences and mine to the center of the compound. Holliday whistled and high fived Wilkins who laughed. The two of them talked about what they had just witnessed as the Pelican's door closed as it prepared to leave the atmosphere behind.
Schnee Manor, Atlas
Jacques Schnee was not happy. He was furious. He had just received word that one of the mines on Solitas had been raided and levelled. 'Those damn animals managed to escape my grasp. Bah, what kind of incompetent help do I hire that they can't even take care of a few mangy mutts playing terrorist. And the destruction of that mine was so thorough that I can't possibly hope to reopen it in the future. Damn it, I'm going to have to raise security at the rest of the mines on Solitas and maybe a few of the bigger ones on Anima. I wonder if James could allow me to use some of his bigger mechs to guard my mines.' These thoughts swirled in Jacques's head as he pondered how to secure his empire. The faunus were expendable work but the White Fang were beginning to become an unbearable thorn in his side. While shipment raids were costly, Jacques could recover from those. Hell, even the fact that they murdered Schnees didn't bother him as much. It eliminated his competition and as long as they didn't touch his heirs, he could care less. No, it was something like they had pulled today that he couldn't recover from fully. The lost of an entire mine was too costly. Had he been able to reopen it, maybe Jacques wouldn't have been so angry. But those mutts blew up the caves in the process of levelling the rest of the facility. Jacques pondered his next move, not knowing that it wasn't the White Fang who had orchestrated such an assault.
UNSC Eternity, Lunar Orbit
The Pelicans landed in one of the hangar bays and offloaded their cargo as the crew and passengers disembarked. They made their way to their quarters to rest and relax as the day had been long. The Albatrosses landed in another bay and offloaded their cargo. Captain Westfield, having made her way over quickly, was there to greet them with the head doctor of the Eternity.
"Welcome aboard the UNSC Eternity, please follow Doctor Nachinda here to the medical bay where you'll be treated for your injuries. Marines, take the prisoners to the brig." Captain Westfield ordered, beginning to notice the animal features of some of the civilians. "Doctor Nachinda, a word?" She pulled the doctor ahead of the group to talk to her.
"Yes, captain?"
"I want you to discover exactly what they are, I'm sure you noticed that they have some extra...appendages on them." Westfield asked, wondering what exactly she was getting into.
"Of course, I shall update Aimee with the results as soon as I can," The doctor replied before going back to the group and leading them towards the medical bay. Cassandra sighed and rubbed her eyes. First, they arrived at some random planet in god knows where. The UNSC aren't in contacting range. To top it off, people here have animal features! 'Oh, what the hell did I agree to.' She sighed again as she made her way to the bridge to get an operation debrief.
