In Infinitum

Chapter eleven: Battle of Amaterasu

Amaterasu Colony, 2450 hours.

Travers blinked when one of the large, floating tank things had exploded in a rather impressive display of blue and purple fire, he saw several of those same green projectiles strike them, like the ones the little aliens fired, except obviously bigger and slower since they took out one of those tanks in a single shot.

"We've got some backup!" The Sergeant shouted. "Lets hit em hard!"

As if seeing the two heavy vehicles explode had solved all their troubles, the remaining seven officers on the upper line in charge of defense renewed their efforts to drive off the enemy who stayed beside the burning wreckage to finish the fight.

Traver took his time for a single shot, and fired, scoring one of the bird-like creatures in the knee, bringing it to a pained crouch before he fired at its newly exposed torso with a quick double tap of his trigger. The first shot impacted and appeared to only daze the thing, then the second hit and knocked onto its back where it lay unmoving.

One of the smaller aliens saw him and raised its own weapon to return fire, then the tell tale fire of an Avenger Assault rifle rang out and the alien dropped onto its stomach, its back riddled with entry wounds from the hail of rounds.

The other aliens quickly turned, raised their weapons and foolishly presented their backs to the officers, there were three however that didn't and it didn't take Travers much to figure out they were the commanding units in this group. Tall, seven or eight foot, quad jaw mouths and from what he had seen up close from the one that got Jiles, muscled and fast.

They also had shields that took a fair amount of beating, far beyond the scope of Kinetic barriers that any personal in any known military had, even then, these weren't any species either. Unless… that's what Volus looked like under their suits? He thought about the little stubby aliens.

The shielded aliens barked and growled some orders to the other aliens, and soon they turned to the direction and began to move into the city, two of the shielded aliens roared at the sight of something before they both drew identical swords of energy, each glowed with a soft blue hue.

Travers wondered what pissed them off, they seemed much more aggressive now then when their attack started, but before he could dive too deeply into his thoughts he heard the rattle of Avenger fire before one of the sword wielding aliens turned invisible and then he lost track of it, but that wasn't as amazing as the next sight, around the corner came two figures, each wearing the standard issue Alliance Onyx armor.

"The Alliance!"

Travers barely heard his fellow officer cheer, he was two focused on the two marines who were charging the enemy line with their rifles firing in short controlled bursts.

The stubby aliens who lagged behind the retreat order turned, shouted and fired their weapons at the approaching marines, Travers astonishment only increased when the two began to dodge and weave with unnatural quickness and finesse that he had seen only in Asari Commando vids.

The shorter of the two rolled to avoid a larger green bolt, if he had to guess the aliens could charge their weapons to form more powerful shots, and the marine knew that too from the quick dodge, rolling to their feet he watched as stubby alien was pelted with fire, barely hitting the ground before the marine was on the move again.

"Holy shit…" Travers tore his eyes away from the shorter one to watch the other fight with one of the shielded, sword wielding aliens in hand to hand combat, which was… intense. "Who… are these guys?"

"Must be those N7..." another murmured.

Travers could only nod.


Tom grunted and ducked low to avoid the swing of the deadly plasma blade, then bringing his fist up he buried it into the elite's stomach, the shields sparked and collapsed under the powerful blow and the elite sputtered with a cough of blood and saliva. Seizing the moment Tom with his free hand gripped the handle of his combat knife and with a small shink! The knife whipped up and into the Elite's skull.

It twitched then fell, taking Tom's knife with it. Letting the body fall Tom glanced around, "Lucy, on your toes, there's another out here…" he said into the com.

Lucy replied with a nod as she snapped a dying Grunt's neck, there was just the briefest of shifting in the air around her and she ducked lower, avoiding the Elite's attack, spinning around and up she rammed her rifle butt on the side of the Elite's head, snapping it to the side and staggering it.

She didn't buy the white armored Ultra elite enough time to fix it's stance before she was on it again, spinning she brought her foot up in a roundhouse kick to its mid section, knocking the Elite back a few steps before she turned to face it, bringing up her Avenger in one smooth motion she fired and watched as the Elite danced with the impact of the rounds through its armor, her kick to its stomach and hit to the head having downed its shields and left it exposed to her rounds.

It fell to the ground in a crumbled, bloody mess and she gave the all clear.

"This is SPARTAN-B292, civilian area secure for the moment," Tom said into the com, glancing around the surrounding area. "Lucy, form up on me."

The mute Spartan nodded and moved to Tom's side. The pair made their way towards the front entrance of the dome structure where they had seen the civilians hold their position.

The door slowly opened and there stood several black armored police forces, their pistols at their sides and grateful smiles on their faces, slowly, the sergeant that Tom could see moved forward and saluted.

"That was some… impressive stuff there, marine, thanks for the save." The sarge smiled.

"Just doing our job, Sergeant, do you have wounded?" Tom asked briskly, getting to the point with a quick salute.

The sergeant paused, then nodded slowly. "Yeah, we do… plenty of them and not enough medical staff," he shifted on his feet, rubbing the back of his neck. "May I ask when evacuation is coming?"

Tom cocked his head. "Evacuation? Sergeant, there is no evacuation…" he said simply, cracking his neck. "We're here to kill everyone of these things and take back this colony."

The sergeant paled slightly.

Travers however only thought one thing.

How fucked am I?


"Jorge… is that really you?" Linda said, standing and for once, at a total loss of what to say.

The larger Spartan nodded, his dented and scarred armor glinted slightly as the man hefted up his machinegun slightly. "It is, but we can catch up later, right now, there's Covenant to kill."

Linda wanted to say more, but nodded. "Agreed."

They needed to kill the Covenant first and then she could question her old friend. She turned, grabbed her rifle from the floor and checked it over quickly before turning to Jorge. "Your still a higher rank, sir."

"I'll take point then, cover my six with your magic."

And then, as if no time had passed between the two, they were a team again.

Linda smiled in her helmet, laying belly flat on the roof and looking through the scope of her rifle. "Blue one, this is Blue two, I've retrieved Red Five." she said into the com, knowing Red Five was Jorge's old title.

"Confirm?" Fred replied back, clearly disbelieving as he strolled into view of the dome, following Tom inside.

"Red Five here, squad leader, been awhile, eh? Gotta admit, never thought I'd see you lot again…" Jorge said into the com, moving down the building's stairs with surprising speed. "I might need a briefing on the mission details though."

Fred almost smiled. "Understood, current situation; transport is down and interplanetary communications are jammed, we have to reconnect with command and call in WINTER CONTINGENCY while ensuring the civilian casualties remain minimal, understood?"

"Understood, Blue One, over and out." Jorge closed the com, walked out into the street and towards Fred's position.


SSV-Normandy V2, 0100 hours.

Kelly and Mark sat inside the briefing room going over the mission debriefing with Shepard and the other members of the ground team. It was a task that most of them looked new to, reporting their moves to Shepard and recalling small details that Shepard deemed critical.

But not to Kelly or Mark, they relished the debriefings because it meant they had completed a mission, that they had won. "I am very impressed with your performance," Shepard said finally, the data on the mission going over his datapad. "No resulting injuries, success rate at one hundred and from the images and reports I've gotten, maximum fear factor."

Kelly felt her lips twitch behind her visor.

"I'll forward these to Dr. Halsey and she can see them, since she asked me to keep her updated on your doings," Shepard added, putting the pad down and saluting. "You two are dismissed, I'll call when we have new orders."

Mark and Kelly snapped off simultaneous salutes before turning and marching out of the comms room.

They entered the main CIC area and Kelly was about to enter the elevator with Mark.

"Kelly!"

The Spartans paused and turned, though Kelly much more sharply then Mark because it was her name that was called. Or so she thought, but when she turned Kelly saw it was Tali had called miss Yeoman.

A small sprinkle of annoyance sparked in Kelly. "Right… the other Kelly." she said dryly.

There was a soft sound of amusement from Mark beside her, making the Spartan-II turn to him and gently nudge him with her MJOLNIR armored wrist. He stumbled slightly, then corrected himself and stayed silent.

The Quarian moved over to the human counsellor and said. "Have you seen Shepard? I've been looking for him."

Chambers nodded, gesturing to the elevator. "He went up to the captain's deck, Tali." she smiled. "Go get em," she teased when the Quarian walked towards it.

She grinned when said Quarian moved quicker.

Tali stepped inside the elevator and momentarily got lost in her thoughts about the Commander.

"Main barracks, please."

She jumped, turned and realised she had occupated the same elevator as the "Spartans" in which she had heard about from Miranda and Grunt. The way they told it these were some very dangerous individuals, like "Shepard on a good killing spree" deadly as Grunt had so creatively put it.

She gulped. "W-Wha?" she cursed her stammer.

"Barracks," the shorter one said, Mark, was it? "The button?"

"Oh, Keela…" Tali tapped her visor in a face palm gesture before pressing the Barracks button and cursing herself for being so tense around the two, they were allies.

"Thank you." But, she was still tense with how quiet they were in the presence of others and that was just creepy to her, Thane was mysteriously quiet. These Spartans were… deathly quiet, as if planning their next foes demise.

Somehow, Tali was sure it was just that.

"We're at the Captain's deck," Mark said suddenly, causing the Quarian to jump again for the second time that day.

"Oh!" Tali said, then moved out of the elevator quickly, the doors closed and the pair were alone again.

"What an odd girl," Kelly said simply, crossing her arms.

Mark shrugged.

"Ever the stimulating conversationist…"

Mark smiled under his helmet, then blinked when his coms came online. "Spartan-G254 and Spartan-087, report to the communications room once again, you have a transmission from Dr. Catherine Halsey. Double time."

"Never a dull moment, huh?" Kelly muttered, pressing the CIC button. Mark shrugged again and the elevator descended back down to the CIC level.

By the time they reached the coms room, there was an image of "The Chief" Mendez on the screen and Dr. Halsey, the ladder sitting behind a desk with various datapads scattered on it while Mendez stood.

Kelly and Mark snapped off salutes and stood at attention.

Mendez nodded. "At ease, Spartans." he returned the salute and the three dropped their salutes. "You might be curious as to why we've contacted you early, with only a week aboard the Normandy, its because we have need of your talents in a…" Mendez paused, as if searching for the right word.

"A special training session," Halsey said from her spot, giving the Spartans a brief smile. "I have already gone over the details with Admiral Hackett and Commander Shepard, they have approved it."

Mendez nodded. "Yes, thank you, doctor." he then refocused his attention on the Spartans. "We also need to test out the SPI Mark III armor variant, with only one produced, we want you," he focused on Mark. "Spartan-G254, to test it."

If Mark weren't wearing his SPI helmet they would have seen the excited smile that graced his face. "It would be an honor, sir." his voice remained neutral.

"Good, see you in four hours." Mendez saluted and Halsey smiled again before the screen went out and the connection was terminated.


Amaterasu Colony, Blue team. 0130 hours.

"Blue one," Tom whispered into the com as he crouched beneath the destroyed hull of a large carrier vehicle that shrouded the Spartan-III in shadows as his Avenger trained on the pair of Grunts waddling around a drink dispenser. "Blue three and four here, we've encountered the enemy, neutralizing."

There was the crack of two Avenger shots and the Grunts dropped in almost perfect unison, a neck and heart shot. Lucy was good.

"Neutralized," Tom added. "Moving forward to target location."

"Understood, Blue three, continue as needed. Blue one, out."

Tom moved from the wreck, stood and watched as Lucy jumped down from the second story of another building to join him. He gave her a nod, which she returned and they proceeded down the street, their bodies shrouded in the shadows cast by the buildings in the setting sun. Avengers raised and ready to fire they scanned the area.

Tom reviewed the mission again, Fred was to lead the remaining police forces, Linda and Jorge on a direct firefight route to draw the enemies attention so that he and Lucy may sneak into the enemy encampment and plant several high explosives along the perimeter to cause a greater distraction for the final push.

And to clear the way to the communications tower for Tom and Lucy, their real objective.

Lucy tapped his shoulder and when he looked to her, she pointed to a window on the building to their right, on the third floor was a silhouette. It moved as if it knew they had seen it and they quickly moved into the building after it.

If it was a scout and it revealed their position, they would be overwhelmed in moments so close to their main force.


Four Grunts waddled into Fred's view and he raised his Avenger to take aim, but not shots. He saved that for Linda, who still had not positioned herself for the assault, but that was alright. He and the offensive force had the element of surprise on their side coupled with the added firepower of a heavy machinegun being wielded by Jorge-052.

Jorge's appearance was both a shock and surprised to Fred, but there would be time for questions and greetings later, right now there was a mission at hand and they needed to focus.

Linda's light winked green three times. She was set and ready to down the enemy guards ahead and the guards on towers down another block.

Fred zoomed in on the area, there were Covenant barriers put up and larger barriers made of tipped over vehicles. Mounted plasma cannons were mounted strategically around the area, but their attendants were less then attentive, lazy and sloppy at best.

But, it was the seven plus elites that patrolled and stood at guard across the front of the camp that made Fred nervous, unlike Grunts or Jackals, these seven foot tall warriors could go toe to toe with Spartans on equal ground and win. But what really irked Fred was the sniper seated at the very end of the block on a well concealed position where their rifles couldn't reach reliably to down it.

And after all that, they still had to get to the center of the camp and destroy those Anti-Air plasma cannons.

Linda would make that her first shot, then the elites which would provide the opening for their charge and would allow Tom and Lucy their window to execute phase two of the battle plan.

"Linda, fire when ready," Fred whispered into the com, then switched the coms to open. "Teams, be ready to engage hostiles on my mark."

There was the crack of a rifle and the sniper on the building dropped.

"Mark!"

Fred sprang from his cover, Avenger raised and roaring out three round bursts into the nearby Grunts, downing them with cries of pain and surprise as the Spartan rushed forward. Beside him Jorge let loose with the heavy machinegun, tearing the enemy down and leaving them seeking cover from the barrage.

The elites quickly tried to organize a counter response when one of the blue armored minors shield's sparked and faded when Linda pierced its skull, it crumbled and before the body could hit the ground another joined it in death. A tribute to Linda's skill and speed.

The police forces behind him opened fire, scoring the area with a sea of rounds, the Grunts sloppily returned fire, others just hid and otherwise attempted to run. Movement caught Fred's eye and he looked to the side in time to see a ghostly white armored elite with an energy sword lunging at him.

The plasma blade fell and then Linda's round slammed into the side of it's armored head, snapping its neck to the side and letting the blade fall from it's grasp. Fred caught it and stored it onto his thigh for later use against the enemy, which was now as a second jumped from the floor above him, bringing the blade up he parried the strike by the second white armored Ultra.

The elite and Fred stared the other down for a moment, then they broke apart and the Elite brought it's foot up and delivered a powerful kick to his stomach, sending him back. Taking the initiative the elite sprang forward with the blade for a thrust.

Fred twisted his body mid fall, feeling the blade shatter his shield, melt his armor on his left side rip area and blister his skin with immense heat. He slashed up with his own blade, the elite roared as it lost a portion of his helmet and two mandibles as it stepped back, the rest of its helmet falling with it.

Fred corrected himself and stood at the ready again, the elite growled, then leapt to the side and avoided a round from Linda, this elite was clearly an a tier of its own as Fred raised his Avenger and fired, trailing after the Elite's long strides as it moved for cover.

He contemplated giving chase, but several plasma bolts from two Grunts made him dive behind a wrecked speeder to allow his shields to charge again, the burning in his side was also a reason that he didn't want to chase that particular elite. He paused when another person joined him behind the speeder.

"Damnit, sir? What are we supposed to do? We're pinned down here!" the officer said, adjusting his helmet.

Fred had to agree. Tom and Lucy hadn't set off the explosives and even then they hadn't reported in yet. He checked his mission timer and saw it was about time for Tom and Lucy to be nearing the encampment to set up the explosives.

A rocket streaked from the fourth story of a building window, struck a plasma cannon and destroyed it, killing the Grunt with it. Fred followed, and saw a civilian holding a rocket launcher, wounded by the gash on his forehead, but clearly in a fighting mood.

Soon, more joined him from the surrounding buildings.

A small militia? Fred thought, then nodded. "We have reinforcements, all teams, press forward." he ordered into the com, taking the Covenant's surprise to his advantage and sounding the charge. Avengers, Predators and rockets fired at the Covenant position, even the elites were forced to take cover from the explosive projectiles.

When one stepped out to fire on Jorge, Linda took his shields, and his arm, out. Roaring in defiance the elite fell back, blood gathering on the ground as it fired its plasma rifle while laying back. Fred finished it as he ran by.

The encampment lit up with several small explosives inside it and the plasma turret fire briefly paused.

"Take them!" Fred barked into the com.

The turrets were quickly taken care of.

Fred observed the camp, smoke billowed from the area around the anti air guns and the militia began to leave their respective hiding places, each looking as battle tested as the last.

They stopped in front of Fred, apparently recognizing him as the leader. Jorge stepped up beside him.

"Thanks for the help, we were thinking that we were on our own out here since we got cut off from the main police forces," the leader of the Militia said, giving a grin. "I'm Kurt, these are Josh, York, Valerie and Connor…" he gestured to his militiamen.

"Lieutenant Commander, Spartan-105," Fred introduced himself on instinct. "Alliance, special operations." He ignored the slightly feeling of loss when he realised this man shared one of his fellow Spartan's names.

"I can tell, that armor your wearing certainly looks special…" Kurt said, looking Fred over.

"Blue one, this is Blue three, we're at the coms tower now," Tom's voice crackled over the com. "Give us a few minutes to get interplanetary communications up."

"Understood, Blue three, we'll-" Fred stopped when the ground rumbled and then sound of a mechanized joint reached his ears, turning he was faced with a single Scarab making its way over the building tops towards them. "Double time, Blue three, we have company." Fred cut the com and shouted. "All teams! Fall back!"

He turned, then sprinted down the other way, they couldn't take down a scarab with a battalion of tanks, let alone small ground teams.

The scarab charged its main gun.

Fred opened the com. "Into the side alleys!" he broke off from the street and went down an alley, two other following him as the Scarab fired its main cannon, burning a path of glass down the street.

He just barely caught an officer and militiaman being vaporized as the beam passed them, heat washing over him and biting at his skin, looking up he caught several pieces of debris coming down on him from the weakened building top before his vision went black.


End of chapter 11

I am terribly sorry for the lack of updating, but after rereading Ghosts of Onyx for the ninth time, I felt inspired and so, here it is. Forgive me?