Capella

Jungle

6:40 AM (Planetary Local Time)

Korra and her team, Fireteam Osiris, were dropped into their previous location…where the NCA facility used to be located. Korra felt as if her entire body had been vaporized and then willed back to existence, a shock ran down from the base of her head down her spine…sending pulses throughout her augmented body. She stood up, seeing grass between her armored fingers, "We did it…!" Korra began to celebrate.

"So much for a clean op." Buck said as he stood over the immense crater that was near them. "Nothing remains of this place, that's for sure. Must've alerted the whole damn planet after it went boom."

"There aren't any rescue teams around though." Tanaka said.

"We better contact Control and order an extraction." Korra stated, "Vale, does your helmet's radio still work?"

"Yeah." Vale replied.

"Get in contact with Thorne, time to get back home." Korra ordered. Vale turned on her helmet's long distance radio and sent out a signal to Osiris Actual.

Buck walked next to Korra and took off his helmet, his grizzled look spoke volumes of what this veteran had witnessed over two decades of fighting an interstellar war. He breathed in the fresh early morning air and smirked, "Not bad, kid. Not bad at all." He complemented Korra, the elder Spartan wrapped his arm around Korra's head in a brotherly way.

"It was tough, but we got out safely and saved the galaxy!" Korra smiled, "Imma sleep for a whole week once we get back to the Ultimus."

"Um…guys, we may have a problem." Vale said taking the team out of their cheerful victory.

"What is it?" Korra asked.

"Follow me." Vale responded. The team followed her through the dense forest, Locus lagged behind assessing the situation at hand. He was working with UNSC special operatives; they could turn on him at any moment now that they had completed their objective. And Felix was still nowhere to be seen. Once Locus lays an eye on him he will strangle the bastard.

Arriving to a clearing, the very sight that Korra feared deep within her mind appeared before their very eyes. In the horizon, towards where the city of New Kiev was, a gigantic cloud of green mist surrounded it. Several ships could be seen flying above the city, support vessels trying to escape the planet but they were being shot down. A bit beyond the city, closer to their position, were the sounds of battle…as the trees and animals were being brought down by chilling shrieks.

"You've got to be kidding me." Buck said.

"No…no way! We destroyed the base! They couldn't have gotten out!" Korra yelled.

Locus walked from behind them. "Several of them must've escaped before the base self-destructed and assaulted New Kiev and the surrounding areas."

"We were gone for several hours…" Tanaka added

Korra was in complete dismay, this is exactly what she didn't want to happen. This is what she had been fighting to prevent. "Buck, give me your helmet."

"Here."

Korra put on Buck's helmet and turned on the radio, "Thorne! Thorne, can you hear me?!" Korra yelled.

"I got you, Korra! Everything's gone to hell here! We have to get out of here now!" Throne responded.

"What's going on? Give me a planetary sitrep!" She ordered.

"They're everywhere! In just a couple of hours they have spread all over! Spores all over populated areas!" Thorne informed her.

"Call the UNSC Ultimus, it's still close to the system. When you're done meet us with the pelican at New Kiev. We'll have an LZ in thirty minutes, stand by." Korra went into military mode.

"Understood." Thorne acknowledged. Korra took off the helmet and gave it back to Buck.

"What's the plan?" Tanaka asked.

Korra sighed, "We're going into the city, find an LZ for Thorne's pelican to pick us up for extraction. Let's go." She answered.

As they moved forward towards the infested city, Korra began to dwell into her thoughts. She felt the weight of responsibility fall on her, the fact that this could be her fault began to eat her from within. An entire world was dying because of her, and all she could do now…was escape. She couldn't evac survivors, because of not only of the possibility of them being infected by the Flood, but because no one can know that they were here. On this rebel world…with innocents dying because of this operation. Because of her being fast enough to stop Lockhart…in the eyes of these people, if they knew that she was the one responsible for this they would see her as an icon…of sin.


UNSC Ultimus

The UNSC Ultimus, one of ONI's many elite prowlers, orbited near the Alpha Aurigae star system. The commander of the vessel, Captain Adam Santana, sat on his captain's chair in the bridge. Around him several naval personnel were catching signals of terror coming from Capella. They were trying to figure out what was going on, until one of them got to them. It was from Fireteam Osiris's Control. Osiris Actual. Spartan Gabriel Thorne.

"Sir, we have a hail from Spartan Throne." One of the communications officers informed the captain.

"Connect it through." Captain Santana said. There was no video feed, just audio. The sounds of screams and explosions and fighting could be heard in the background. "Spartan Thorne, what is going on?" The Spaniard accent of the captain was thick and signaled Thorne to quickly respond to the officer.

"Sir, the rebels…the rebels have released the parasite…the Flood all across the planet! Communications were down in the first hours of the pandemic but I was able to contact the team after the blackout! We need extraction! I repeat we need to get out of here!" Throne informed.

Santana grunted in not only frustration in a possible mission failure but in the fact that the rebels were evil enough to release a weapon of mass destruction on their own people. "Those bastards…" He said. "Don't worry, Spartan. We are on our way."

Communications ceased.

"Nav, take us to Capella." Capt. Santana ordered.

"But sir, the parasite could…" The navigation officer showed apprehension in knowing that they would be near an infected planet.

"Now, officer!"

"Aye aye sir!"


Planet Capella

New Kiev

7:10 AM

The team reached the city, they cruised between streets avoiding the chaos of law enforcement and military back up of New Kiev getting annihilated by the deformed and infected populace of the city. Korra didn't have a helmet, so she was exposed to the disgusting air of the city. Fires and panic engulfed the city with black smoke engulfing open areas. Combat forms jumped out of windows into the streets, screaming violently, into the remaining rebel force that fruitlessly tried to solve the situation.

Osiris tried to avoid contact with both the rebels and the Flood as much as they could and find a viable LZ to be picked up by Thorne. As they maneuvered through an alleyway to bypass a city block, the team was spotted by a lone human combat form standing above them on one of the building's rooftops. It shrieked loudly alerting more nearby combat forms.

The monsters dropped down behind the team and in front of them, blocking any escape routes. With little to no ammo left for their weapons, and being outnumbered, the Spartans decided that it would be better to execute maneuver beta alpha as Korra called it…to run away fast. Tanaka rammed an exit door from one of the buildings giving her team a chance to make a run for it. Running through the building, Osiris ran up the apartment building through several floors before making their way to the rooftop. There were several combat forms waiting for them there, but this time they simply bodied the infected before they could react, jumping into the other building's rooftop.

Landing with a loud sound and cracking the concrete floor of the roof, the team kept running and jumping over the row of buildings towards what they believed to be a city square. Smoke blurred Korra's vision but she kept pace by watching her teammates' backs. Running away was not in her nature, but she knew that even Spartan supersoldiers were not a physical match for the infected Flood combat forms and their numbers. Korra heard the sounds of a Hornet's engines flying ahead. An AV-14 Attack VTOL aka the Hornet was flying above the chaotic city square firings its nose-mounted autocannon at the incoming combat forms trying to bring it down. There were two soldiers on the aircraft's sides armed with SAWs firing at the crowd of infected below. The Hornet was ignoring the Spartans as it was being jumped by Flood.

With the group of Flood still on their trail, the team decided to advance into the square anyway. More Hornets appeared aiding the lone one, three more, and began firing their autocannons and their twin rocket launchers as well. That is until one spotted the UNSC supersoldiers, having been trained to recognize UNSC personnel as hostiles that should be taken down, the one Hornet focused its autocannon at the team. The bullets of the aircraft ripped through the concrete building with ease making the rooftop collapse downward with the Spartans along with it.

Korra pushed a piece of concrete off her, she was covered in dust but was fine aside from that. The others rose up from underneath the debris intact as well. "We have a two-way fight on our hands." Vale said, "Should we take down those Hornets?"

"No, they're taking the Flood's attention off us." Korra said, "For now anyways."

Locus was growing frustrated by what was happening, he knew he couldn't go with them back to their ship. So he began to formulate a plan, a way to give them the slip without them noticing. The team walked out into the hallway of the floor they've fallen into. It seemed to be an office building, papers and files riddled the floors with blood and organic matter sprayed on every cubicle and office equipment.

There were some dead soldiers on the office boss's office room. They had barricaded themselves inside but their hasty barricade had been taken apart by the Flood and so were the occupants. Korra walked inside and picked up one of the dead soldier's weapons. A retired weapon that was used in the Human-Covenant War long ago, the M45 Tactical Shotgun. The others grabbed some assault rifles and battle rifles. "We have enough ammo to make a run outside." Locus stated.

"So what's our LZ?" Buck asked.

"The only viable way to get out is to clear the square. The fighting should've taken a toll on both sides outside, or at least the Hornets." Korra said, "Once we get outside, call Thorne and tell him to haul ass here."

"Understood." Vale responded.


Meanwhile, in a nearby town beyond New Kiev, Throne was taking cover behind the corner of a building. He had taking shelter in one of the town's church's tower to communicate with Osiris and have some sort of visibility of the city and the NCA base. He had left the pelican they had arrived in somewhere between the city and the town. It was locked down, so it couldn't be hijacked.

Several hours ago a full scale infestation had begun all over Capella, its reach spreading quickly enough since the infectors, the Flood, were pure forms and already severely infected combat forms releasing spores into the air. The planet's defense force was taken by complete surprise and as they lost units the Flood gained more.

Thorne had to get out of the town and back into the pelican before Korra and the other's signal him for evac. He was armed with only an SMG and a magnum pistol. He rolled out of cover into the main street of the town, people ran out of their houses as they were being chased down by combat forms. Thorne fired his SMG at the incoming monsters, filling them with bullets at a quick pace. He kept pushed through several of them before reaching the military blockage that the rebels had made to keep the infection out but it had colossally failed. The blockade was mostly APCs and Warthogs blocking the town's entrance.

The drivers and soldiers there had been killed, nothing there remaining but body parts and Flood growths inside some of the vehicles. Thorne jumped inside one of the more salvageable warthogs and turned it on. The engine came to live and roared. "Nice!" Thorne cheered. He backed the vehicle and then put in drive rolling down the road into the forest. The road led towards the city, but he would take a detour into where he had left the pelican. Luckily the warthog was made for off road driving.

As he drove through the forest he ran over several infection forms and infected animals on his way to the pelican. He stopped the warthog and jumped out, there it was. A G79H-TC Pelican, equipped with 90mm gun turrets, a 70mm autocannon, a nose mounted heavy Spartan Laser cannon, and an additional heavy turret for the cargo passengers to use. It was fully decked out. Thorne smirked at the thought of piloting this bad boy once again. He opened the pelican's cargo entrance and hopped inside the pilot seat. He turned on the pelican's engines and prepared for lift off. "Osiris Two, this is Osiris Actual. Can you copy?" Thorne spoke through the radio.

Static… "This is Osiris Actual, Osiris Two can you copy, over?" He tried again.

Static…he was going to try one more time but was stopped by Buck. "I can hear you kid, we're in the middle of a fucking warzone! How's that pick up going?!"

Thorne smiled, they were fine after all. Well…alive anyway. "I'm on my way now! Prepare! ETA 4 minutes!"


Back on New Kiev, things had gone to hell. The rebel hornets had been reduced to two after a long battle, but they were barely hanging on fighting against the might of the Flood. Korra was taking cover underneath a collapsed wall, reloading her shotgun. If she had earthbending she could bring down the entire block down but she wasn't strong enough…she cocked the shotgun with frustration. The Flood had become more coordinated than before meaning that there had to be a Proto-Gravemind somewhere. But there wasn't time for this, the team and her had to survive long enough for Thorne to get them.

Korra came out of cover and fired her shotgun, taking down four combat forms down. But a carrier form snuck up behind her and exploded, cracking her energy shields. She fired at the incoming infection forms which tried to pierce her armor. They popped as she fired at them. Buck and the others were also being surrounded by the sheer amount of enemy forces, one of the last remaining Hornets was brought down by a rocket launching wielding combat form. It crashed down with great force, taking some of the Flood with it in the explosion.

Korra fell back towards the others, "Where is Thorne and that pick up?!" Korra asked.

"He should be here any second now!" Buck responded firing his assault rifle at incoming infection forms.

"Guys, more incoming!" Tanaka pointed out as loud crashing noises could be heard from the south street. Boom! Boom! BOOM! An immense titanic Flood pure form came walking up the street towards them, stomping on smaller combat forms as it did. It was the Flood Juggernaut, a form considered to be rare when it came to the Flood Pure Forms.

"Holy shit!" Buck yelled. The Flood Juggernaut used its long arms to hit the Hornet off the air and crashed into a nearby building.

It began to walk towards them, with several combat forms on tow… Osiris stood frozen as death staggered towards them. Korra swallowed a big gulp of saliva as her eyes blue eyes were wide open.

Then a shot from a high powered Spartan Laser cannon ionized the wind and sliced through the Juggernaut's disgusting body, bringing the titan down in a single hit. Osiris turned to see the pelican hovering above them, with Thorne piloting it. "Everyone get in!" He called out while opening the pelican's entrance. The Flood forms began to run towards the pelican in a frenzy.

Korra, Vale, Buck and Tanaka quickly jumped aboard the pelican. Throne closed the hatch and fired the pelican's autocannons at the incoming Flood killing them and then flew the dropship away from the battleground and into the sky.

Buck wasted no time in sitting down and catch his breath. "That…that was something." He said.

"Wait, where's Locus?" Vale asked.

"The son of a bitch…" Korra said seeing that he had stayed behind, they hadn't notice in the heat of the battle.

"Korra, I've made contact with the Ultimus. They're here." Thorne said, Korra walked towards the cockpit of the pelican. It had room for two in it.

"Take us to it."


Meanwhile somewhere in the ruins of New Kiev, Locus stood alone in darkness. He looked at his datapad on his wrist. He activated his beacon.

"Look at you, Locus. You look worse for wear." The voice of Felix came out of the datapad.

"You left me behind." Locus responded.

"Relax. I was able to recover all of Lockhart's data before the place exploded." Felix boasted, "And besides, I never left the planet."

"Where are you now?" Locus asked.

"Close by. Wait some minutes will ya? Piloting this friggin thing is like piloting a brick." Felix stated, "How about this time we split the reward once we get back to the boss?"

"Fine."