Incursion

It was some hours later that one of the patrols returned with a blue-armoured Elite, or Sangheili as they apparently called themselves. Colonel Carson had seen his fair share of these aliens, tall and almost regal in stature, yet by far one of the most ruthless and brutal of the Covenant races.

Carson was outside when the patrol returned, and he was able to see their return firsthand as they dragged the bloodied creature behind them.

The sun was up high, unrelenting as it was, and the afternoon wore on like most. The Covenant positions at the old mining town had not changed much, save for the increased amount of guards they had put in place around the perimeter. Carson could look down onto the plateau and the old town from this particular vantage position on the edge of the camp. Behind him, colonial soldiers milled about on their assigned tasks, and occasionally a Pelican would take off or land, depositing personnel or equipment. Carson had a set of binoculars with him, and he had been watching the walls of the mining town for the last fifteen minutes or so. Sheltered amongst the rocks as he was, he was in an unlikely position to be targeted by a sniper, and even the sharpest-eyed Kig-Yar marksman would have trouble spotting him out, or even getting a shot on him. It was only slightly cooler in the shade, and he had found himself very interested in the movements of the Covenant soldiers. They had secured the town and formed a perimeter, yet aside from that they had done little else.

They were after whatever was buried underneath that town. This much was obvious, to him at least, being one of the few people who had been aware of the Forerunner technology that had been found underneath the old town. Carson lowered the binoculars, aware that a commotion was coming from somewhere further back. He turned around and made his way up the rocks and onto the camp's perimeter, where he sighted a trio of soldiers who had come back with a large, bulky shaped figure behind them. They had tied the Elite's hands behind its back and were dragging it along on a sturdy rope. As Carson had suggested, it was a Minor, wearing the blue armour that denoted the lowest rank, akin to either a Private or Corporal within the human military. The creature lacked a helmet, and its face was noticeably bruised. The soldiers had taken liberties in giving their captive the harsh treatment one would expect a bunch of rowdy soldiers to give one of their alien foes. As Carson stepped into view, the soldiers quickly straightened up, each of them offering him a salute as Staff Sergeant Baird emerged from a nearby tent.

"Excellent work, boys," Baird said, as he saw the alien. "Just what we needed."

Carson approached the trio of soldiers. The Elite was on its knees now, and seemed to be doing its best to remain dignified. However, the fear was clear in its amber-coloured eyes, and even to Carson it looked young. Its armour even beared the Covenant symbol, which surprised Carson (not that he showed it), as the Covenant itself had fractured into so many smaller, feuding factions that there were now a multitude of new symbols and crests to become familiar with.

"This one was out alone, watching the furthest point of the town," one of the three soldiers said. He sounded almost proud of himself. "We hit him with a bunch of stun rounds, and a few prods." He pulled the metal rod he had been wearing at his waist, and a flick of the wrist extended the stun prod to its full length. The tip crackled with electricity. Carson put out a hand, and the soldier obediently handed it over. The Colonel had expressly ordered several of these for the purpose of aiding in the capture of alien soldiers in possibility that aliens enemies might come to Thrace, and his decision had been a rewarding one.

By now, a small crowd had formed around the group, as just about every soldier and technician in the camp had set their attention on the exchange between Carson and the prisoner.

"You're dismissed," Carson told the soldier, and his two cohorts. They both walked off, and Carson took the rope in one hand before he handed it off to the Staff Sergeant. With this done, the pair began to head for a tent at the far end of the camp, with the Elite reluctantly following after them. He seemed resigned to his fate, or at the very least was playing along. It did not matter if he was planning anything, as Carson did not intend to give him the opportunity to pull any stunts.

The tent at the far end was a small one, with rubber flooring. The Staff Sergeant brought the Elite inside, and Carson gave the alien an encouraging zap on the lower back in order to coax him into the tent itself. This caused the alien to emit a pained yelp, and it stumbled onto the floor of the searing hot tent. There was no climate control in this one, and as such it had heated up considerably during the course of the day.

Staff Sergeant Baird tied the end of the rope around a post in one corner that had been hammered into the ground through a gap in the rubber flooring. Satisfied that the prisoner was secure, Baird nodded to the Colonel, who held the stun prod close to the alien's neck as he looked down at the burly creature. Years ago, something like this would have been seen as an imposing opponent, yet now, with the alien on its knees, it looked decidedly vulnerable. Carson had killed his fair share of aliens in the past, and he got a special sense of satisfaction seeing one of them on its knees.

Humanity had always been the superior species, he had never doubted that, and these Sangheili were barbaric in comparison. Their society was still very feudal, from what he had read, and in the end the only way they had been able to win any battles during the war was through superior technology. That was what it had come down to, with battles being fought in space where the human vessels had always been outmatched. As soon as the fighting went down to the ground, the tables often turned. No matter how large and imposing this Sangheili may have been, it was still no match for human resilience.

"I'm going to cut right to the chase," Carson said. The alien did not look at him, rather it kept its gaze on the floor. This seemed rude, and Carson made this clear when he put the business end of the stun stick against one side of its neck. A crackle sounded out, and the alien lurched to one side, emitting another pained yelp as the brief but strong current shot through its body. "Look at me when I'm talking to you."

The Elite Minor slowly rose back onto its knees. This time it did look up at Carson, its amber eyes cold as they regarded the human.

"It takes a special kind of soldier to keep on following the Covenant, after everything that's happened," Carson remarked. He kept the stun prod held in one hand, end pointed to the floor, as he spoke. "Tell me, do you really believe in the Covenant? Last time I checked, it was a defunct religion. Proven false, I believe. Probably the first religion in a long time to be proven to be a lie. That's really quite something."

The Elite said nothing. Carson bent his knees, putting his head level with that of the alien.

"Not feeling talkative? That doesn't surprise me. You Sangheili are all 'honour this, honour that'. Getting captured must be really humiliating." He tilted his head slightly, and put the end of the prod close to the Elite's neck. It flinched, ever so slightly, and Carson nodded his head slowly. At least some kind of progress had been made, even if it was not immediately apparent. "Let's look at it this way: you're alive, and my soldiers could very well have killed you."

The Elite remained silent. It had likely been taught how to act in this kind of situation, to some extent. Either that, or knowing the Sangheili, he had been taught to die before getting captured. With that in mind, it seemed likely that this young Minor might very well be at a loss, which might explain his seemingly resigned attitude.

"Let's start with something simple," Carson said. "I am Colonel William Carson, and you're on a planet known to us humans as 'Thrace'. The people here are under my governance, and you and your Covenant friends have pretty much invaded a sovereign world. We are well within our rights to kill every last one of you morons, truce or not, and I intend on doing just that very soon. The one thing I would like to do before I make the order for an attack, is to find out why you came here, of all places. That's where you come in." Carson narrowed his eyes slightly, as he looked into the Elite's face. "I need you to tell me why you've come here. Why has the Covenant chosen Thrace? What do you expect to find in the abandoned town?"

Both questions he was very interested in finding answers for. As expected, the Elite did not reply. Instead, it said nothing, and Carson glanced up at Staff Sergeant Baird. The pair exchanged looks, and Carson was about to continue speaking to the Elite when footsteps sounded out from behind him.

Carson stood up and turned around, watching as a technician from the operations tent walked inside.

"What is it?" He asked the young man.

"We've just got word from one of our satellite monitoring stations," the technician replied. "A Covenant cruiser was just sighted emerging from behind Rumeli." Thrace had three moons, all of them crater-marked and lifeless. Rumeli was the largest of the three, and upon hearing the news Carson could understand why the Covenant would choose that particular celestial body to hide a cruiser. He also knew that a cruiser was capable of holding hundreds of Covenant soldiers, and more than a few tanks and Banshees. A sizeable force, more so than the token presence that had so far made itself known in the old mining town.

"It's heading?" Carson asked. He handed the stun prod to the Staff Sergeant. It looked like this interrogation would have to wait a while.

"It's going for one of the other moons, but it's so far released further Phantoms that are on their way towards the planet." The technician sounded understandably worried. Carson, on the other hand, took the news in stride. He had been expecting something like this to happen. After all, the small Covenant force here already had to have come from somewhere, and there were a lot of blind spots in Thrace's satellite surveillance that it was not surprising their landing had gone undetected. He had been meaning to improve the planet's satellite coverage, and as it stood they were still stuck with the satellites the UNSC had put in place while the planet had been under their control. The Covenant cruiser was a lot bigger, and a whole lot easier to detect.

"Your friends are on their way, by the sound of it." He directed this to the Elite, who again said nothing. "Staff Sergeant, see what you can get out of the big guy here. I've got to go and make sure we're actually prepared for an attack on this scale."

The Staff Sergeant nodded in acknowledgement of these instructions. With that done, Carson turned and strode out of the tent, the technician following after him. As he so often was, he remained calm and collected. It was a trait he had had from the beginning, one that had only been strengthened by decades of near constant war. Carson was not a man to be fazed easily, not even by a Covenant cruiser and the hundreds of alien soldiers it most likely carried. There were tens of thousands of heavily armed people on Thrace ready to defend their homes, so if the Covenant insisted on fighting a ground war, they would most certainly get one.

"What do you plan to do with him?"

Leah stood in the Commander's office, as small as it was, arms crossed and her mood suitably dour. Boone was seated behind her desk, tapping away at a computer terminal. The room itself was mostly grey and bare, lit with a dry white light, and it came with an adjoining room through a door on Leah's right that lead into the Commander's living quarters. Most of the other personnel on the ship had to live four to a room, but naturally the person in charge got one to herself. Living space was at a premium on a ship like this.

"To who?" Boone looked up from whatever she had been typing out. It had been about half an hour since their talk with the Forerunner, who was still locked up inside the quarantined medical room. Leah had been unable to stop thinking about him, if only because of what had been said during the conversation. Boone had made it clear what she wanted from the ancient alien, and it had been enough to make Leah regret even bringing him on board. Still, she had not had much choice in the matter, and it was either bring the Forerunner into ONI custody, or leave him for Carson's people. Or, at worst, leave him to the Covenant, and that was one scenario that was completely unacceptable.

"The Forerunner?" Boone added, answering her own question. "Like we told him, we'll keep him in our custody until he starts telling us what we want to know. He'll cough up the answers eventually, if he knows what's good for him."

"Shouldn't we take him back to Earth?"

"I've already requested help from ONI command about that," Boone said. She seemed oblivious to Leah's concerns, or at the very least did not care much for them. "It'll take time for more of our people to come out here, and we can't just leave Thrace. Not when Operation Distant Thunder is still far from completion." She cocked her brow, meeting the Spartan's gaze. "Which is where you come in."

"Commander?" Leah had a feeling where this was going, and she found herself disliking it more than ever before. She knew she should have been better than this. She was a Spartan, made to follow orders and to fight without question. Yet working with ONI, and seeing innocents killed had struck a chord in her that she had not even known existed.

"You're going back down to Thrace by the end of the day," Boone said, somewhat bluntly. "There's still the matter of Colonel Carson. Not only that, but the Covenant incursion may give us some opportunity to accelerate things to a conclusion. Carson's been a thorn in the side of the UNSC for years, and we need to take him down sooner, rather than later."

Leah swallowed. Of course, with Commander Boone, it was always business.

"You mentioned winning over the people here," Boone continued. "An admirable notion, but not something that's even remotely practical in the current circumstances. These independents need to be brought in line, and that means taking down Carson and every one of his friends. Which is why you were brought here in the first place, Senior Chief. It's what you were made to do."

Leah did not reply. Her mouth suddenly felt dry, yet she remained straight-faced despite her growing unease.

"The Spartan program was intended to put an end to the Insurrection," Boone said. "I think you've come full circle, being assigned to this operation. You're doing what you were originally meant to do."

"The collateral damage…" Leah was going to continue, but the Commander interrupted her.

"Innocent people die all the time. The only way we're going to take down these independents is if we make the hard choices and take the hard actions. Collateral damage is regrettable, but if the mission is successful then it's an acceptable loss. Operative Rickard told me you might have been developing a soft spot for these colonial rubes. I certainly hope that isn't the case, Spartan. We can't have a soldier of your calibre compromised in any way whatsoever."

Leah thought it best she keep her opinions to herself when the Commander was present. The woman was a hardliner, and like so many of those in ONI who had some degree of power, she likely adhered to the classic 'the ends justifies the means' method of operation. Leah did not agree, yet at this point she was no longer in any mood to argue.

"Is that all, Senior Chief?" Commander Boone eyed the Spartan carefully. Leah simply nodded her head. Of course it was all, she was likely to get reprimanded if she kept questioning what ONI was doing out here. It was not as if she was blameless herself, as she had been in the restaurant last night and she had been amongst the chaos that had erupted. Civilians had died, none by her hand, but her presence there had certainly complicated a dangerous situation.

A buzzing noise from the Commander's terminal cut through the awkward pause that had befallen the pair. Boone tapped a key, opening the incoming video link from the bridge. The face of one of the technicians there appeared on her monitor.

"What is it?" Boone asked.

"Ma'am, there's a Covenant cruiser on approach. It emerged from behind Thrace's largest moon, which was a blind spot on our scanners…"

"A Covenant cruiser?" She glanced over at Leah. This should not have been surprising, given the Covenant presence on the ground. Nonetheless, it was a cause for concern, and Leah could see the grimness etched on Boone's face. They were thinking along the same lines, about what the ship's arrival meant, and it was certainly nothing good. "Make sure the stealth systems are engaged…"

"That's the problem, Commander. It must have detected us somehow, because it's on its way towards us."

Again, Boone looked up at the Spartan. Leah could see the wheels of decision turning in the Commander's mind. If they moved, they would give their position away. The cruiser may have only detected a vapour trail and may have no definite proof of the presence of the frigate. However, if they stayed they would also be discovered. The whole situation went bad either way, and a small frigate was no match for a Covenant cruiser.

"Start spooling up the slipspace drive," Boone said. She spoke with heavy reluctance, as it was apparent that she had intended to stay and complete Operation Distant Thunder. Departing now would leave unfinished business. Boone was not the type of woman to leave anything unfinished.

"That'll take a few minutes," Leah said. "We probably don't have that long."

Boone kept her eyes on the video link from the bridge.

"I'll be up there right away," she said. "Sound the general alert, spread the news. I want everyone on this ship preparing for the worst." She tapped a key and the video link cut off, leaving the pair in silence for a moment as Boone rose to her feet. She had her usually serious look on her face, more so now that they were in genuine trouble.

"That cruiser could blow us out of the sky," Leah said.

"I'm well aware of that, Spartan." Boone strode out of the room as the general alert siren wailed, and red lights throughout the narrow corridor outside began to flash. Leah followed after her as they entered a long, slightly wider corridor that went down the length of the frigate on this particular deck. The bridge was only a short distance away, and Leah followed Boone into the frantically busy confines as bridge personnel moved about and tapped away at their respective terminals as they began to prepare the ship for a slipspace jump. The technician from the video link was there, and he turned to the Commander as she walked inside.

"Commander, we'll need some coordinates." The technician stood by a computer terminal near the main view-screen, specifically the one that controlled the slipspace drive. Boone had apparently already made up her mind regarding the coordinates.

"Get us out of the frontier and to the nearest UNSC friendly colony," she replied. It would be a simple matter of going through the databases and pulling up the appropriate coordinates. The technician went about that now, as Boone walked over to a panel by the central display and put a small microphone to her mouth. As she spoke, her voice was transmitted into every room upon the frigate.

"This is Commander Boone," she announced. "We have detected a Covenant cruiser on an intercept course." Her eyes went to the view-screen, which showed the progress of the cruiser as it zeroed in on their position. "We are preparing for an emergency slipspace jump, but there is a good chance we will be fired upon before we can prep the engines fully. I want all personnel to move to their evacuation rally points and prepare to abandon ship." She ended the announcement then, placing the microphone back into its housing. Her eyes went over to Leah, who stood nearby, watching the view-screen. The Covenant cruiser would be in firing range shortly, and Boone was gambling on getting away before then. Leah knew that this would not be the case, and it was apparent that the Commander knew things would not be going their way.

"I want this ship turned around," she said. "Load a MAC round and prepare to fire. Maybe we can give the Covenant a parting gift before we leave?"

They were not going to leave. The view-screen made this clear. Boone intended to stand and fight, likely while everyone else abandoned ship. The other bridge personnel probably realised this too, but to their credit they remained focused on their jobs and followed her orders without question.

One of the bridge crew called out at that moment, their voice strained with worry.

"Commander, the cruiser's just launched plasma torpedoes our way."

On the view-screen, a pair of red blips had appeared, speeding across the empty void between the Covenant cruiser and the frigate. Plasma torpedoes were fairly basic Covenant ship-to-ship weapons, capable of burning through conventional human ship hulls. A military frigate might be able to withstand a few hits, but Leah knew from experience that a ship this size and this lightly armed was unlikely to last long in a one-on-one engagement and even plasma torpedoes, as ordinary as they were compared to other Covenant weapons, would be more than enough to blow this ship out of the sky.

"Evasive manoeuvres," Boone ordered. "Get them off us."

There was only the slightest sensation of movement as the ship's thrusters kicked in and started taking the frigate around the curve of the small moon. The plasma torpedoes tracked them, and closed in on them at a staggering speed. Leah watched the view-screen with keen interest, as did many others in the room, as those manning the ship's helm put the frigate into a dive that skirted it across the moon's light gravitational pull. One of the torpedoes scraped the rear of the ship, likely searing some part of the rear-end before continuing on its way by them where it would become lost in the void, before finally dissipating in the vacuum. The second torpedo was at a slightly lower angle and struck the rear of the ship with enough force to cause the entire vessel to shake. Leah remained steady, and Boone put her hands on the terminal in front of her to keep herself from falling over.

"Damage?" Boone asked. Leah's eyes remained fixed on the view-screen as the Covenant cruiser pursued them.

"Engine two is down," one of the technicians said. "That shot took out our slipspace drive. They knew right where to hit us, ma'am."

Leah watched Boone then, and she saw the Commander mouth the word 'shit'. She at least did not speak it out loud, and instead retained a straight face as she considered their next move. On the view-screen, the Covenant cruiser had deposited about three much smaller blips that sped after the frigate. They were not torpedoes, as such a thing would have been detected right away. No, they were something else.

"Boarding craft, Commander." The technician looked at his readouts as the ship's sensors delivered their data. "Three of them, closing fast."

"Maybe they're after the Forerunner?" Leah suggested.

"How could they know he's on board?" Boone was unconvinced.

"Maybe they just think we have him? They certainly think we have something." Leah was simply speculating now. Nonetheless, the Commander seemed to take it seriously, judging from the look she gave her. Leah could not even be sure if the Covenant knew the living Forerunner even existed. They had probably gone into that dig site looking for relics, and they may very well have thought that the humans had stolen them. In a way, that was true: the Forerunner was certainly a 'relic' from a long-gone era.

"If that's the case, then I want you to make sure our Forerunner guest doesn't fall into the hands of whatever aliens get on board." Boone was going to stay on the bridge, as any captain should during a battle. Whether or not she would go down with the ship if it came to that remained to be seen.

"As for the boarding craft, get our rail guns working. I want them taken out." She returned her attention to the bridge at large, leaving the Spartan with her instructions. She intended on fulfilling them, as any good Spartan would, and she turned and left the bridge at that moment.