Chapter 10

"In an unprecedented change in the war, the Covenant has extended a peace treaty with the UNSC, sources from UEG parliament house in Geneva tell us. This massive change comes only a few days after rumors were leaked from the former UNSC headquarters in New York about a joint Human-Sangheili alliance. Officials from the UNSC have refused to comment on the topic, but requests that everyone remain sheltered and vigilant until the all clear has been sound. We will update the story as more details come out. I am Katy Mitchell, BBC News, reporting from New Mombasa."

March 3rd, 2553 16:33:13

A barren hill, Kenya, East Africa, Earth

Cmdr. Aleksander Nevsky

An old woman was guiding a slightly taller man through the crowd, carrying a large, boxed shape item wrapped in brown paper. Their destination: a memorial service taking place on top of a hill, separated from the crowd. For the woman, she had no ties for this service. The only gain she could've wished for was to beat another one of those aliens to death for burning her farm down. She killed three when they first came by.

Instead, she was here to support her grandson, who she believed fought bravely for the family and brought military pride back into the family. Unfortunately, it took a toll on him, and that was why she was leading him through the crowd. He couldn't see for himself.

"What did you say this was for Aleks?" She asked, her thick Slavic accent coming though.

"A memorial service for the fallen." He responded.

She nodded, remembering that he told her that when he came back home after news of the war ending reached her.

"If only your parents could see you now…" She said, unsuccessfully trying to brighten the mood.

"Yeah…" Aleks said, bringing back the memory of the discovery of their deaths. Both to the war. Similar fates to billions of soldiers in the UNSC.

As they got closer to the gates, where Military Police were busy either checking invitations or holding people back, they started to hear the chanting of some protest groups that were there to protest the inclusion of a Sangheili delegation to the service.

Aleks and his grandmother were almost to the checkpoint when three men, tall in stature with angry facials stepped in front of them, blocking their way.

"Wee kan't let you through," the supposed leader of this group said to them, his Irish accent hanging in the air.

"You have to. We have an invitation." The old woman said to them, her tone defiant and her stance strong.

"Weell I'm sorrie, but wee kan't have that," the man stated, his posy chuckling after him, "don't want anybody supporting those alien bastards that killed our soldiers and destroyed our homes."

"I'm here to mourn the dead," Aleks said, looking in the direction the sound came from, "there's nothing political about that." He didn't need his eyes to know that he drew the attention of the protester.

"Ayyyyy… So, the eyeless muppet finally speaks. What did you do in the war? Cower behind your mum, eating your Wheaties, polishing your great granddaddy's sports medals?" The man said, poking Aleks in the chest, mocking the fair few medals Aleks had on his dress white uniform.

"I fought." Aleks said curtly, wishing to himself that this conversation would just be over.

"I see, so that's how you lost your eyes. Speaking of which, how many fingers am I holding up?" The man said, holding up the arbitrary two fingers in front of the bandage on top of Aleks' eyes. "I'll give you a hint. It's the number of something I have that you don't."

Aleks simply replied "I believe I can say the same thing about you, but obviously you are lacking something different. Unfortunately, you continue to prove that hypothesis."

The man, getting the hint, grabbed Aleks by the collar and held him up to his face.

"So yee think you're funny, now are ya mate?" The man said, only an inch separating their two faces.

Aleks responded, "I'm thinking that this confrontation is a complete waste of time, and that no matter how this conversation goes, I will be arriving at my destination."

His grandmother spoke up, waving the package in her hand, "You better put my grandson down young man."

"Or else what? You'll send the boogeyman after me?", he said, ending the statement with a boisterous laugh.

It was short-lived.

He felt a huge amount of pain erupt from his groin region. He looked down to see that the grandmother swung the package underneath him with a deceiving amount of strength.

He fell onto his knees, releasing Aleks onto the ground.

Aleks fixed his ruffled uniform and spoke to the other two men, "I recommend you don't follow him in his footsteps."

The two men just watched the two in awe as they walked between the giants to their destination.

"I could've taken them on." Aleks said casually to his grandma after separating themselves from the posy.

"You would've killed them Aleks." She responded, completely aware of his capabilities as a soldier.

The two approached the checkpoint not wasting any time as to be caught up in the politics of the surrounding crowd. They were corralled to a guard, who requested the invitation sent to them. Aleks' grandmother pulled out the invitation that they received weeks earlier.

Aleks' remembered the day they received the invitation. He was sitting in the living room of the family house in Ohio, not very far away from where he fought months earlier.

The letter itself was unique. Unlike most of the mail sent in the twenty-sixth century, this invitation was sent on paper. The entire message was typed in premade calligraphic writing, which is now cryptic to a lot of the population. At the bottom, a flurry of handmade spiral lines wrote out the sender's name: Fleet Admiral Lord Terrance Hood.

He remembered the text to speech machine that read it for him.

"Dear Commander Aleksander Nevsky,

"I cordially invite you and one other guest to attend a memorial service on the third of March, two thousand five hundred fifty-three. I understand that you must've gone a lot throughout the duration the war with the Covenant empire and believe a memorial service for those lost might bring out emotions that are deemed unfit for a member of the armed services like you. I understand if you cannot attend for these reasons. Regardless, please respond with your attendance for this ceremony to the attached address."

The second paragraph listed details about location of the ceremony, who and where to contact, the process of including a second member to attend, and added the fact that the travel will be paid for by the UNSC.

At the bottom of the paper, a flurry of lines was scribbled. It seemed that Lord Hood wrote a personal message to Aleks:

"Thank you to you and your team for the retreating defence of Cleveland. Because of the actions of you and your team, you saved the lives of thousands captured in the city. I am sorry for the loss of your team and I send you my condolences. I will petition the new government to establish a landmark in your team's name. Furthermore, I highly request your presence at this event, since I believe it is the best way for you to cope with your loss."

By this point, Aleks had tears rolling down his cheeks. It has only been a few months, but he still missed his team more than ever. He ran over the events that transpired that one day in November 2552. How he could've saved Nigel, Deven, Uduak, and…

Emilie. He couldn't get the picture of her out of his mind. Her soft features and her deep-blue eyes protruded from the fog that made up his mind. The kiss they had before jumping from Reach as it fell to the Covenant.

The grief caught up to him. He started to cry, thankfully in the safety of the family's house.

His grandmother decided to leave him be. She wasn't too adept at handling situations of high tension. She was unfortunate enough to never of had a traumatic experience that she could rely on for guidance. She had experience a lot during her long life, but not she doesn't have a lot of good experiences.

It all started after her combat with the insurrectionists. After a very successful campaign against the insurrectionists, she came home to a husband that showed her no loyalty. It wasn't long till she found out and threw him out, nearly killing him during so. She took her maiden name after that: Nevsky. A family tied to the military, with tales of warriors who fought off entire armies, to generals who turn the tides of war. Some stories are recent, while some date all the way back to the medieval times.

However, she was left to raise the two children by herself. Thankfully, she received help from a lifelong friend, whom she fought with during the insurrection. A few decades later, he was deployed to another planet.

Harvest, if she remembered correctly.

It wasn't long after that the war with the Covenant broke out. Both her son and daughter joined the armed forces, like her and her ancestors before them. Both volunteered to the ODST units, with her son becoming an adept leader of a platoon. They were on leave when they had their only son, who she now is with.

She kept watch over him until her children came back a year or so later, returning more depressed each time. Humanity was losing the war, and there wasn't much they can do about it. She would try to cheer them up, telling tales of past Nevskys who snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, who conquered lands of far superior enemies, with some avail.

One day, tragedy struck the couple.

The five-year-old Aleksander died. It was so sudden that doctors couldn't weren't able to draw a conclusion, and so untimely that the couple had to immediately redeploy after the funeral.

The next few years could only be described as bitter. She received news that her son and daughter fought with less and less vigor. Every time they came home, they rarely talked to her, instead choosing to spend time with their own selves.

Then, she received a knock on the door. It was a representative from the marine corps and a chaplain.

She fell to her knees and began weeping, not needing to hear the words from the representative to know what fate befell her two children.

The next day, she received another knock. This time it was a dapper man in a naval uniform with a group of four others. His face was like that of her son, but paler and less grim.

He said, removing his cap from a top his head, "This may sound weird, but I am your grandson, Aleksander Nevsky."

She fell to her knees again and began weeping. Her children never got to know that their child was still alive.

She is thankful that their child somehow survived whatever ordeal he went through. He still doesn't want to talk about it, and every time she brings up his team, he breaks down. As much as she understands the loss, she believes it has lasted far too long for it to be healthy, but he doesn't see anyone for it, out of fear for breaking down.

She is hoping that this ceremony will grant him respite.

As she finished her train of thought, they made it to the top of the hill. Located there is a wing of a pelican with some pictures attached to it, and names scratched into the metal. A raised platform stood in front of the wing, overlooking a small opening. Laid out in neat rows and columns are chairs for the small crowd that was there.

Currently, the small crowd was busy conversing with themselves. Some were attaching some more names and pictures onto the wing. Aleks and his grandmother did not partake in these activities.

It was long before Lord Hood came up the slope, with a group of elites in tow, drawing many eyes from the gathered crowd.

Everyone took a seat with an exception to Lord Hood, who took his position in front of the wing, a rifle party, and the famous, and infamous, Arbiter Thel 'Vadam and his guard.

Lord Hood took a moment to gather his thoughts, removed his hat, then started his speech.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to thank you all for coming out today.

"When humanity entered this war, it did not know the hardships it will endure… The lands that will be destroyed… The life that will be loss… It did not take long for it to learn. Quick we were to fall onto our back foot as we began to lose.

"Harvest. Arcadia. New Constantinople.

"Reach.

"Unequivocally, Earth was destined to fall onto this list.

"That was, until we cracked the foundations of the enemy. Forged an alliance where one would've thought there wasn't.

"Through the actions of her troops, humanity began fighting back. And thankfully, we stand here today.

"But that is not why we are here…

"For us, the storm has passed... the war is over. But let us never forget those who journeyed into the howling dark and did not return. For their decision required courage beyond measure; sacrifice, and unshakable conviction that their fight... our fight, was elsewhere. As we start to rebuild, this hillside will remain barren, a memorial to heroes fallen. They ennobled all of us, and they shall not be forgotten."

With the conclusion of the speech, the rifle party was called into attention, and performed the infamous three-gun salute in memorial of the fallen.

Signaling the end of the official ceremony, many were quick to leave the memorial. Either to avoid any politics that could've started up, or to begin to put the worst war in human history behind them.

The Arbiter walked up to the memorial and began a quick conversation with the Fleet Admiral.

Aleks sat in his seat, taking in the words said by Lord Hood. How they applied to him.

For him, he only experienced loss throughout his entire lifetime, granted that his entire lifetime was the war with the Covenant. It started when his team was first deployed to a small planet in the middle of nowhere, tasked with working with local militia and a provisional division with defending it. Unfortunately, led by a madman, who used the planets primary resources, atomic weapons, to poor use. The battle was a horrific loss with Aleks' team having to evacuate from the planet using a prowler provided by ONI.

Each subsequent battle followed a similar pattern. His team was deployed to help evacuate a planet and hold off the Covenant. Things would be looking up, with the team hoping that this battle was a victory. Then a decisive battle would determine that humanity lost the battle.

Despite only being deployed for seven years, Aleks and his former team had enough experience to rival some of the veteran marines they fought with. Rarely did they see any time off from the battlefield.

Now, it was quite the contrary. Aleks had spent more time off the past three months than he did his entire life up until the end of the war. He was throwing around the idea that he would have nothing to do for the rest of his life, even though a part of him knew he would be redeployed somewhere else from some crazy reason.

It was then some random stranger came up to him, handed him an envelope, and left.

All the stranger said to him was "I expect to see you."

Aleks tucked the letter into his dress jacket pocket. He needed no discourse to understand when a member of ONI delivers a message.

It was at this point his grandmother came back from the memorial, where she placed a picture of her son and daughter onto the wing, and payed them homage. She never saw the interaction that had just transpired between Aleks and the stranger from ONI.

She lifted him up from his chair and guided him to in front of the memorial. She took the brown package she was carrying for the better part of an hour and presented it to him.

"Unfortunately, the military's delivery of this has been rather…" she searched for the word, "poor."

Regardless of the circumstance, she continued, "For thousands of generations, the Nevskys have fought bravely and lead passionately, their armies, nations, peoples, and our family to greatness. This sword was forged using the metal from Ulrich von Jungingen's own sword, given to Zbigniew Oleśnicki Nevsky after the battle of Grunwald as a sign of thanks from the grand Duke Vytautas for saving his life during the battle. Since then, the sword has been passed down, seeing thousands upon thousands of battles, and being the cause of deaths for millions.

"Since your father died before doing the honor, I pass this symbol of the family down to you. You, by tradition, can make add one addition to the sword before you pass it on."

Aleks removed the paper wrapping to reveal a box. The box was a little over five feet in length, a foot in width, and three inches in depth. It was made of maple, polished till it gleamed. Attached was a handle made from real, toughened leather, and two locks made with brass, with a flourish reminiscent of the 17th century enlightenment.

Aleks opened the case. Inside was the sword that his grandma talked about, except it was in pieces. To one side laid a hilt, five inches in length, garnished with an ornate yet practical hilt, and alternating gold and silver colored braid on the handle. Beneath it was a book labelled "The Art of the Sword and the Many European Techniques." Surrounding this, laying in perfect rows were four blades, each with their own shining steel and brass sheath. Their straight design with a slight bend in the end indicated were all Koncerz style blades, Aleks noted to himself. Each one had its own label indicating the length of the sword: with the longest blade making the sword five feet in length to four feet seven inches in length, to the shortest being three feet six inches to three feet one inch. All these items had their own indentation into a firm, red velvet lining along the inside of the case.

Aleks closed the case, thanking his grandmother for the honor of carrying the family tradition. His grandmother, feeling that this day was complete, urged for them both to go home.

Aleks refused, he had one more thing he had to do.

He walked up to the memorial on that barren hillside, and took a knee, looking at all the pictures attached to the pelican wing. All the lost teammates during the war.

"It's been an honor, you guys." Aleks said, attaching a picture of Omega team to the wing. In the picture, the team looked completely cheerful, having just completed training and been given their first assignment. Unfortunately, Aleks wasn't in the picture since he volunteered to take it.

He continued to stay there, one knee on the ground, lost in thought of the memories he had. He lowered his head as tears began to come down his face.

It was until he felt a hand touch his shoulder.

"Time to go Aleks." His grandma said, guiding him off the platform.

As they walked down the hill, Aleks believe he should've been in solace. At peace with himself.

But he wasn't. Something in him kept him fixated on the picture, and furthermore, on his deceased team.