Brett Fowler's residential neighborhood
New Alexandria, Reach
November 29, 2557
Victoria was awakened by the sound of an engine rev that pierced the silence of the night.
The sound was all too familiar.
Brett Fowler's Capri Dragon Model 2558 certainly was an eye catcher. Costing nearly sixty seven thousand credits, it was a bit out of place when compared to the suburban apartment that he had in southwestern New Alexandria.
Out of Eon, he lived the closest to Firebase Noble and when he had time off, he would occasionally swing by his apartment for various things. Modifying his Dragon was one of his favorite hobbies. It sat in the small garage that was in front of his residence, surrounded by tools.
Fowler's next door neighbor had tolerated the rumble of his prided sports car when it arrived occasionally late at night from base or wherever he went. However this time being at four in the morning, it was beginning to be an annoyance.
Victoria slinked out of bed, careful not to awaken her husband sleeping beside her. How old Leonard managed to continue to saw logs and shut out the engine roar was something else.
A single blind was opened and she squinted against the glowing streetlights to her right, where Brett Fowler's residence was.
His Dragon's stoplights glowed bright red and the garage door was reflecting headlights as well. What caught her eye was that there was nobody inside.
Fowler's house had no lights on inside, but the windows of both the apartment and car were tinted so that it was very difficult to see inside.
A split second later, the Dragon exploded in an enormous ball of orange fire. The blast consumed the front part of Fowler's apartment, leaving a blaze raging out of control behind. In the distance, Victoria could hear the repeated blaring horn of another car's alarm. Apparently the car though it was being robbed too.
Small embers died out when impacting the asphalt and the fire grew within a few minutes before a team of firefighters had telegraphed their presence by their iconic siren, showing up at the house minutes later. They reeled out a hose and began spraying a powerful jet of water aimed directly at the center of the blaze.
A sound distracted Victoria from spectating the battle. Leonard snorted and sat up in the bed. "What the hell is going on?"
So that's what could wake the heavy sleeper up…
Lumbar Mountain Range
"So where did you hear about Marcus?" Gabrielle asked. The two photographer and media correspondents were inside a transport warthog in a convoy that was en route to the enormous medical base in the Lumbar Mountain Range. The UNSC commander stationed there had received orders that they were planning an operation to retake New Addie; however the Covenant carrier was en route to their location with an army of hostiles. If they wanted to assault the metro area, they would have to do it fast. It was dubbed OPERATION: FINAL DRIVE as part of Admiral Brady's plan to end the Covenant occupation.
The medical base in Lumbar was a fallback area for any civilians when extraction via air would be too hot. All they could do from then was wait until it was safe enough.
"We played gravball together." Ivey made up, "He was the top striker for the highschool and I was the playmaker."
While the two had never actually played together or even went to the same school, it was true from reading Austal's entire dossier that he had played gravball in his highschool years. He was definitely good, being one of the best strikers to the win-starved Henderson South High School Sidewinders. Within his four year attendance, along with a handful of other star players, they had made the highschool league's playoffs in the latter two years of his career. The highlight was the championship victory over their bitter rival in Reno.
Had he stuck in school onto college and played for a team, he had a good potential to even go on to the professional leagues and make enormous amounts of money.
"We scored more points than the number of plays the other side made." He explained, "Had he been continuing with his education. I have no doubt that he would be a professional."
Before she could reply, an whizzing sound pierced the air.
"WRAITH!"
Both Gabrielle and Ivey just got a front seat to watch the vehicle in the lead explode into orange flame. A stream of plasma shots came out of the darkness, peppering the ground around them.
Already adrenaline began to pour into their veins. Only difference being that Ivey was used to it and Gabrielle had never seen a real war before.
The radio was filled with voices of panicked Marines as they tried to get around the situation. The transport hogs with most soldiers halted and backed up. The marine driver in their vehicle slammed into reverse just in time to avoid one in front doing the same.
The wraith moved sideways before its chassis launcher contracted again, spitting out another glowing blue blob that arced overhead.
With blinding speed, it slammed straight into the warthog straight in front of them. The blast instantly destroyed it and sent their own warthog tumbling back. Metal screeched and the screams of everyone inside was a chorus of chaos occurring. Ivey felt them rolling and a series of crashing sounds never seemed to end.
The LRV had finally halted its tumble right at the center of a cliff underneath their main road, landing on its side with the wheels still spinning quickly.
Ivey wiggled out of his seat and looked over. Gabrielle Addison was next to him, her arms limply hanging in front. Other than the two of them, there was only one other Marine that survived the crash.
"Good." He murmured, "I need my bargaining chip alive."
The high-pitched rumble sounded overhead, causing Ivey to look over. The wraith had moved overhead and was in position to decimate the downed warthog.
Gustafson's right hand man drew his sidearm, looking through the integral scope right at the single grunt manning the secondary plasma cannon at the front of the tank. If they were going down, he wasn't about to do so without a fight.
However he wasn't well equipped. A sitting duck right in a wraith's sights armed with just a pistol.
Another sound introduced itself as another warthog appeared out of the blue and suddenly veered to the wraith's left. It halted and screamed around to the back right side after making its debut.
The slow tank was no match for the faster vehicle. The gunner shredded the grunt manning the secondary turret to pieces before the driver sped up in a semi-circle to try an flank the wraith.
The brute driver must've had enough as he halted his rotation. Ignoring the barrage of bullets that splintered on the frontal armor, he triggered the repulsor boosters, causing the wraith to accelerate forward to a surprising speed.
Normally, a charging wraith would be able to instantly flatten any opposing scout vehicle like the ghost or warthog. This time, the driver must've anticipated the move because he shifted the gear into reverse, near instantaneously causing the warthog to switch directions. The wraith lurched forward, passing harmlessly by.
At the same time, the gunner shifted his aim, putting hundreds of rounds straight into the rear engine, a well-known vulnerable spot on the tank. The attack was sufficient, causing the wraith to fall down. A blue flame exploded out of its mortar cannon and completely destroyed t he tank. The hatch was jammed shut and being heated by the fire nearby, the driver would be trapped and be baked to death if he survived.
The warthog pulled over to the cliff and a figure jumped out. Night was beginning to fall and the armed soldier shone a light down towards them. They had probably come across that wraith looking over the cliff, searching for something. If the Covenant wanted it, then it was probable that the UNSC get it first.
Ivey waved his hands in a universal help gesture and the man must've seen it because he set a battle rifle in one hand and cupped his mouth with the other.
"Sir! Are you alright?"
"Yes!" Ivey shouted back, "I've got two wounded here!"
"Okay, stay put. We'll come to you!" The man held up three fingers to an unseen individual and began to cautiously journey down.
It all went smooth for him until Ivey saw his uniform.
The man was average height, clad in typical military BDU outfit and several utility pouches on his pants.
The Colonial Natural Resources Department.
"Damn it." He swore under his breath. If he didn't react fast enough, his cover would be blown.
Drawing his sidearm just as the man had finished his descent, he made his decision in an instant.
"Sir!" The CNRD operative said, "Put the gun down and-"
Ivey put two bullets in his chest and broke straight into a run. He aimed straight towards the outcropping of rocks. The gunshots would be heard and his stance of fleeing would automatically make him a target, for both other humans and Covenant.
Breathing became heavy, even as bullets whizzed around his heels, impacting the ground and kicking up tiny plumes of snow. He dashed in a random vector, hoping to minimize his chances of being shot. The rattling continued until he found a good sized rock to vault over and hide behind.
The firing stopped, which likely meant that the hostiles were retrieving Gabrielle and the Marine survivor.
Of course he contemplated going back and remain in control of his target, but he only had a single pistol with five shots left. Those CNRD teams had automatic battle rifles and an M41 machine gun on their warthog. Plus they were on high alert. He didn't stand a chance.
He had earlier established a rendezvous point with his men down inside the forest areas where he was currently at the outskirts of. His original plan was to snatch her and make the regrouping in order to await further instructions. They would make a hostage exchange with Eon as their final operation.
The only hitch was that Eon would be the one to go after whatever the representative of Gustafson's employer wanted. If they didn't retrieve it, then that would be another story.
However, Gustafson's employer had said that Covenant forces around the area were very dense. Enough that most Marines wouldn't be able to easily walk through. Spartans? No problem at all. Especially Eon, the best of the best.
There would be time for the Spartans. All he had to do was concentrate on the task at hand. The mission wasn't over just yet.
The CNRD team had finished hauling Gabrielle and the other Marine out of the warthog and had tossed a flare in a clearing while awaiting medevac by the UNSC air assets. Such aircraft were few in number, only flying whenever safe, as Covenant had set up numerous heavy anti-air emplacements along with an entire air force of banshees and phantoms patrolling the skies over the mountainside and the nearby city of New Addie. A Covenant frigate hovered over the main area of the city centre.
The CNRD operative knelt by his downed partner and removed the clothing around his neck, pressing a finger right to the carotid artery.
Looking over at the third operative, he shook his head, "Choi's gone."
"Damn it." The team leader twisted around, frustration evident. "What about the shooter?"
"I missed him. But I did get a positive ID." He sent a footage over to the leader's helmet captured by his helmet recorder. "It's Ivey."
Ivey as well as Gustafson's entire mercenary gang were on a watch list done by the CNRD, having conducted two prior terror incidents that involved the agency's interests. ONI offered its full cooperation, but their efforts were severely limited now that there were several independent colonies established in the wake of the war against the Covenant Empire and that was where Gustafson had done much of his work. Either he was untouchable or worked off the grid.
With him captured, his remnants were currently on the run, being hunted across the colonial network. Some; a splinter sect led by Ivey was believed to be continuing to carry out his mission. There were many who believed that the ending hostage crisis of Vancouver was never truly the conclusion on his nefarious activities.
Then there was the employer. Very shadowy and any tries to get any intelligence were met with failure much to the agency's frustration.
"Team Diamond. What is your status?"
"We're operational sir." The leader replied, "We lost Choi."
"Damn it."
"There is some good news. We have a positive ID on Ivey, so we're very close."
"Don't let that deviate you from your task, we need that intel, but if you have a shot on Ivey or any of Gustafson's associates, don't hesitate to put a bullet in their eye."
So the Spartans aren't the only ones after Gustafson & co.
Go Niners!
Thanks for reading and reviewing. You give my writing purpose.