The sun flooded her eyes and Maddie gasped, rolling out of bed and landing with a thump on the soft ground below her bed. There was a groan from beside her and she looked about, her eyes darting around the tent like fireflies. She smiled as Jack hauled himself to his feet.
"What's going on?" he said, his pistol gripped firmly but cautiously in his hand.
"It happened again!" Maddie almost squealed as she stood up and pulled her armour on, scrambling about like a crazed monkey, hunched over in a sort of crouch as she grasped at the pieces of her armour.
"What happened again?" came a very sceptical voice from the corner. Katya was glaring at her, trying to work out if Maddie had slipped up or if she had gone insane.
Jack, who looked as though he would rather be in the middle of a volcano than between Maddie and Katya, shook his head and holstered his gun. "Hell, if I know."
Maddie shook her head, "nothing you need to worry about." she said, her mood unaffected by Katya's prying. "Either of you." she added in an attempt to throw Katya off the scent.
It didn't work. Katya looked at her as though she were stupid and Jack appeared to hold his breath, praying that he had time to duck if bullets began to fly. Maddie backed down first, buoyed by her dream and scooped up her helmet.
"I'm going for a walk. I'll be back in five." Maddie said, she had better things to do than engage in a game of peacock with Katya.
Neither of them said anything as she swept from the tent. She ordered Walsingham to contact Drake as she made her way towards the outskirts of the camp. Walsingham seemed happy to think that their mission was getting interesting at last but Maddie silenced him and told him to focus. Time was now of the essence.
"Ah!" Drake said as he picked up her communication, "I was going to get in touch with you, actually."
Maddie frowned, "really? Why, did you find something in that artefact?"
"No, it's not that, it's about these data pads you've picked up." he said, his voice echoed with surprise. "Last night, I had some operatives run an operation in Solar Fields to get us patched into the covenant battlenet. We were going over the full reports when the net exploded with activity."
"Maybe they were freaked by the Seventh and Fourth breathing down their necks?" Maddie said, shrugging. She hoped he would spill it quickly so she could tell him about the dream.
"Maddie, the heresy mentioned in the geology report, it woke up."
Maddie blinked. Even though she was alone, even though she had her helmet muted, she glanced around. "What do you mean, it 'woke up', Sir?" she asked, her eyes widening.
"Something happened last night, whatever the covenant is here for, whatever that heresy is…" he seemed to trail off, "the translation software I'm running is cutting edge, lass. My A.I. Hermes tells me that the covenant believes they have found something that must be purged. More mentions of the ancient enemy, a load of religious scripture, that sort of thing."
Maddie swallowed, she knew it couldn't have been a coincidence that she was visited by forerunners and all of a sudden, ancient relics were activating across the continent. "You're sure that the intel from the battlenet is referring to the reports we recovered?"
"I can't see what else it might be." He replied, his tone falling slightly, "the covenant don't usually get spooked by ancient artifacts, you know that."
"Maybe we've stumbled upon a forerunner burial site, that artifact could be a coffin or a stasis pod" she chuckled, trying to set him at ease a little.
"No, that doesn't make any sense. Although worth running by Roberts, I suppose." He muttered to himself, "the covenant wouldn't attack a burial site, that would be the most holy of holy sites."
"Sir, I was joking." Maddie replied with a sigh, "but it's okay because I have a better way to cheer you up."
"Go on." Drake replied, encouragingly.
"I-I think it was me."
That did make him laugh, "Maddie I-"
"No, Drake. Last night," she grinned, "I had another dream!"
There was a silence for a moment. "Like a dream dream?"
"Yeah, I saw Bornstellar for the last time, he said that I had arrived at the location of the gift and left me with another forerunner."
"Another one?" Drake asked, deep in thought, "wait, hang on, this happened last night?"
Maddie's heart raced, "yes! Your intel and my dream…" she trailed off, "Drake, it can't be a coincidence."
"It could but dear god I hope it isn't!" He roared, excitedly, "so, we can finally confirm that Meridian does house something of value from the forerunners."
"Seems like it, sir." Maddie replied with an ear-to-ear grin.
"I'm assuming you didn't get any clues about its location." Drake asked, his seriousness returning as quickly as it had disappeared.
"It's underground, I think. There was a rocky tunnel leading to some kind of room." Maddie added all the extra details she could, trying to help Drake narrow down the location of the place in her vision.
"The Nazari's are still our best option, then." He said after a long moment's silence, "supposedly they have a top-secret R&D Bunker out here."
"It's possible," Maddie agreed. The Nazari's were nothing if not tenacious and well equipped.
"It's this other figure that keeps sticking with me, what do you know about him, was he of equal rank to Bornstellar? Did Bornstellar respect this new guy?
"Bornstellar doesn't exactly emote, remember? He told me to trust him." Maddie couldn't get it all out fast enough, her heart thumped in her chest.
"So, did they interact?" Drake asked with more than a hint of expectation in his voice.
"Not really, the new one didn't seem like Bornstellar at all. He was far more expressive and erratic."
"And Bornstellar told you to trust this new forerunner?"
"Yes, but he's not new, not exactly, I think he may have been the second voice in my head. In my last dream back on Skopje, another being was observing me." Maddie said, biting her lip, "check my file for the details, all the testimonies should be there."
Drake could be heard typing away at his keyboard and she stood patiently as he completed his search of her data. Maddie knew it could take a moment, even with the Enigma's top of the line archivist tools and its access to her files. She had been subjected to a thousand interrogation sessions over the years, some amicable, some terse, and all of them uncomfortable. It seemed as though the memories triggered by the ancient aliens were designed to understand her character. Each time they watched her in her sleep, they did so through her greatest mistakes and saddest memories. If there was one thing she feared about the forerunners, it was their effect on the mind.
"Oh yeah, I see, you think this other forerunner has been watching you?"
"Yeah, he seems to have a complicated relationship with Bornstellar. I got the impression he was a kind of rebel. He said he was Bornstellar's guilt." Maddie replied, absent-mindedly picking at the dirt on her armour.
"He doesn't sound particularly stable." Drake noted.
"He sounded emotional to me. The impression I got was that this new guy had serious gripes with whatever had happened when he was alive."
There was a long silence and Maddie tried to think about what comes next.
"Sir, does this mean we can start flexing our muscle a little bit?" She asked, "I think it's time we ignored HIGHCOM and start searching for this properly."
"It's not much to go on but yeah, I think I can push the battalion in our direction" he said, audibly relieved, "Meridian is doomed, we're only really here for this, so the sooner we find what the covenant are looking for the sooner we can stop kidding ourselves that we can mete out some kind of victory and we can all go defend the next doomed chunk of rock."
"Maybe this is where things finally change, Sir." Maddie replied, hopefully.
Drake chuckled, "now that takes me back to when I was your age. Do yourself a favour, lass and snuff that out. Any hope that things will get better is a waste of time that will just get in the way of the mission. Besides, when your expectations are rock bottom, there is only one way for things to go."
"I'll keep that in mind, Sir." she replied, "I'll talk to Katya and get her onside, you should probably expect a call from Seer in about ten minutes."
Drake laughed, "Knowing the ODST, it'll be five. I'll pass on your report to Roberts and see where it leads us. For now, focus on getting us to the centre of town."
Maddie agreed and hung up before spending a while compiling all that she could remember into a report for Walsingham to send to Drake. Meridian seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, the breeze flowing over the camp as she made her way back to her tent where Katya and Jack were eating breakfast. She grabbed her own from the line at the mess tent and stepped out of the steadily growing breeze into the tent, where the air grew frosty between the two female Lieutenants.
"Lt. Volkovskaya and I need a word, if you wouldn't mind, Jack." Maddie said, speaking calmly and with all the authority she could muster.
Jack rose to his feet, food in hand and took his leave, stepping out of the tent with only a cursory glance behind him. It seemed that he had learned not to get in the face of his superior officers after all these years. Perhaps he had simply grown tired of all the politics, or maybe he was just finally numb to losing troops. In any case, Maddie was thankful that he had managed to keep a level head about it because more than a few men had lost it in the years since she had escaped Skopje. Her thoughts turned to her father and she fought to keep them at bay as she prepared to get Katya onside for the coming push into Solar Fields. Katya looked at her beneath an arched brow and chewed on her food as though it were Maddie's own flesh. Swallowing and forcing the memories of her father's passing from her mind, Maddie took a seat on the bed opposite Katya and leaned forward.
"Something's happened, Drake is moving the mission forward." she stated, watching Katya for a reaction.
Cautiously, the young woman swallowed her food and set it aside for a moment. "What happened?" she asked, glaring at Maddie as she tried to make her squirm.
"Drake won't tell me but it turns out those pads we collected, and the artefact Jack discovered have created actionable intel." she replied, firmly.
"Ah," Katya said, her eyes flashing, "you want me to play nice with you."
"Yes, I do." Maddie waited for Katya to say something, anything, in fact, that might give her a clue as to what she was thinking.
The woman seemed to sense that however, instead choosing to nod and return to her food. Maddie watched her, a little astounded for a moment.
"What did you expect, for me to throw my toys out the pram? To tell you no?" she shook her head.
Maddie drummed her foot, "A little." she admitted.
Katya laughed, "maybe you don't know me as well as you thought you did, whore."
That put Maddie at ease, strangely enough. She was more terrified of Katya being amicable than of anything else.
"They trained us to be professionals" she added, pointedly, "I won't let my personal hatred get in the way of the mission. It's you who is the liability here."
Maddie snorted, "you think I'm the liability?" How could she be? She wasn't the brooding, hate filled killer hell-bent on revenge. She had more experience than Katya too, so it was inconceivable that she was the problem.
"You're a reckless liar with too much confidence and no regard for the men below you. Yes, you are a liability."
Maddie frothed a little as tensions threatened to boil over into fisticuffs but as much as she wanted to lay Katya out again, the mission must come first, she breathed deeply.
"You won't provoke me, Katya, you'll need to do better than that if you want me dead and buried."
Katya frowned, "I don't want you dead. I want you humiliated. Just like you humiliated me."
Maddie paused. For the first time, she could see a hint of the pain she'd caused in Katya's face. Her eyes bulged, not with anger but with a deep cold sadness that looked like it burned tears out of existence, stopping them from running down her rosy cheeks. The wind howled from beyond the tent, battering Katya and Maddie as their shoulders fell in a sort of resignation. Faced with the consequences of her callousness, Maddie struggled to justify what she had done. Did being a runner up in the race for valedictorian really matter? Katya's presence on the mission was all Parangosky's doing, obviously. What Maddie didn't know was what to do next. Did the Admiral want her to repair the bridge she'd burned? Did she want her to face the consequences of her actions? Or was it all just a test, a cruel and meaningless exercise of coping with oppositional staff under pressure.
She swallowed a lump that had formed in her throat. It likely wasn't the latter. Cruelty without cause wasn't the Admiral's style, to her, everything needed to have a justification.
"It wasn't personal, you know," she said, weakly.
Katya looked enraged, "Is that supposed to make me feel better?" she seethed, "God, I thought I'd been outplayed by the most ruthless person I'd ever met but you're just playing spy, aren't you?" she stood up, growling in Maddie's face like a ravenous animal.
Maddie scowled and rose quickly to meet her, "You know nothing about me, or what motivates me, so step off before I run through you. Again."
"Try it, Harper. Go on. Give me an excuse." She sneered, stepping forward.
Maddie knew this was getting out of hand somewhere in the back of her mind but the red mist had descended and she felt vindicated. Katya was rash, impulsive, and naive. She'd needed to learn on Luna that being an ONI operative meant screwing people over. It meant making sacrifices to complete a mission.
"Throw the first punch then, Katya. I'm ready." She said, placing her feet ready for an attack.
Katya saw this and screwed up her nose. "I'll save it for when your reputation no longer matters to the mission at hand. I will play nice, snake, but don't take me for an idiot. I know there's more going on than you're telling me and I will find out what it is."
Maddie didn't reply, she only glared.
Of course, she backed down. She can never follow through, never make that final bitter choice between what's right and what's necessary.
The two of them remained locked in that moment of confrontation for a moment, both gauging the other, waiting to see who would walk away first. Luckily, the flap of the tent was pulled aside and Jack poked his head around the corner.
"Oh, you're both still alive then?" He said, smiling awkwardly.
When neither of them replied or acknowledged him, he coughed loudly, "well uh, Private Duggan said that Major Seer needs to speak with you. It's urgent."
"Lead the way, Lieutenant." Katya said, motioning to the exit with her hand.
Maddie obeyed, begrudgingly. With Jack watching them and Duggan stood somewhere nearby, the little spat had to be set aside for the good of their image. The politics played even at this level of command was important to ONI.
The camp was much busier now with men hurriedly preparing to move out or stock up. Pelicans swooped into view, circling near the area set aside as a landing pad, where supplies were shifted in their droves to equip the fresh, if a little battered, ODST Battalion.
The wind picked up, smacking the two of them as they approached Seer's tent. Maddie could hear the shouting from inside and so could Katya, as she glanced at her and nodded. They waited for a nervous staffer to pluck up the courage to interrupt the shouting match and formally invite them inside.
Seer stood hunched over the table, and looked up at the pair as they entered from beneath his brow. His eyes tracked the reaction from the other Captain's dotted around the tent. Most stood beside Denning, who was red-faced and scowling. Two of them looked as though they weren't paid enough to care but it was the four others, including Denning, that seemed in control of the conversation.
At that point, judging by the look on Seer's dishevelled face, Maddie wasn't sure if he was as enthusiastic about her presence as he had been in his office back on the ship.
"We've been reassigned." Seer said, simply.
"Good." Maddie replied, firmly, her icy blue eyes skewering the dissenting Captain's with a fervent glare. "Yesterday, a Lieutenant under the command of Captain Denning discovered intelligence that is critical to an ongoing ONI investigation. As per the authority of the Office of Naval Intelligence, the 42nd ODST Infantry Battalion has been requisitioned by Captain Drake of the UNSC Enigma and will be redeployed to aid our mission."
"Lieutenant Harper, we were to play a support role in the push to the city. It meant well needed rest for the men, the orders I have put us taking the financial district, an area of the city vital to the covenant defence." Seer replied, plainly stating that this wasn't going to make the pair of them popular.
Katya stepped in for a show of unity, to her credit and stood by Maddie as she ad-libbed an excuse. "I understand that this is short notice and that the men were anxious for a little time off but I was prevented from acting sooner by one of the men in this tent. Had I been able to act sooner, this wouldn't seem like such a rash decision."
Maddie smiled; Katya was good at this.
Very good.
"Which is why we deemed it necessary to step in, we can't afford to lose out to the covenant for the sake of playing by HIGHCOMs usual rules." Maddie added, cementing their makeshift alliance with a firm glance at her compatriot. In truth, it saddened Maddie a little, and another tinge of regret wormed through her brain. The pair of them were working well together and they hated each other.
Imagine the things we could do if we were friends.
Seer smirked a little at the pair of them and glanced at Denning. "So, it's like I told you, Captain, we've been overruled." He said, pointing to the ONI pair in front of him.
"Sir, the menhave just fought for sixteen hours with six hours rest. We're not going to be combat effective." Denning said, clearly grasping at straws.
"Captain, Marines wouldn't bitch about turnover like this. I've seen them fight and I've seen how well Major Seer and the rest of you have trained them. They are more than capable of switching to a more offensive role for a few days." Maddie replied, shooting him down. It appeared to Maddie that Denning believed he had more control over his situation than he really did. Well-connected or not, there were maybe two Admiral's in the entire UNSC with the power to overrule ONIs directives.
And even they would be hesitant.
She smiled, the power that came with her position was intoxicating and with their cards now out in the open, Maddie and Katya were ready to finally flex their muscles a little bit.
"Lt. Volkovskaya will liaise with Major Seer and keep the battalion where it needs to be. As for me, I will be requisitioning Fox Company for mission specific tasking." She added, staring at Denning who looked angry enough to pop a blood vessel.
"That's my command." He seethed, baring his teeth.
"And I'll take good care of it." She replied, dismissively, "now, is there anything else?"
No one spoke.
"Good." She said firmly, nodding to Katya.
Begrudgingly the rest of the Captain's left the tent and Maddie had Walsingham occupy himself with reorganising the unit. With Denning in charge of third platoon, Maddie was free to reinforce first platoon with Sergeant Grayson though the roster made her keenly aware of how depleted the company actually was. Only one Platoon was fully operational, thanks to James' antics the previous morning and one had been reduced to a handful of men.
A gust of wind rushed into the tent and Maddie shivered, it was cold and quickly becoming ominous in the deep recesses of the sky. What had originally appeared to be a nice day was quickly becoming a violent and brooding dance of gusty winds and looming clouds. Still, she found her mood unaffected as she polarised her visor and exited the tent, leaving Katya and Seer to redeploy the battalion.
}{=}{
Meridian had been settled by French diaspora. Or at least, by people who had a great love for the nation. As the convoy entered the bombed-out ruins of the city, Maddie watched with amusement as they passed chateau's in the suburbs and glassy, angular buildings reminiscent of 21st century France nearer the centre where the fighting was heaviest. They were strikingly beautiful and served as an admirable attempt to imitate the designs of its Earthen counterpart. Maddie simply wished it weren't so obvious that it had been a war zone only hours previously.
Bodies of marines lined the streets with hundreds of Covenant mixed in for good measure. It was a good sign; the Marines were punching through the covenant lines already and it would only be a matter of time until she reached Chalybs HQ. As they passed under a large stone copy of the Arc de Triomphe, Maddie shook her head.
Sometimes I feel like we've stalled. The colonies are filled with soulless imitations like this and it reeks of cultural stagnation. Maybe God really is punishing us, forcing us to understand the things that got us to the stars in the first place.
The ODST sat next to her in the driver's seat of the hog glanced at her but thought better of asking what was wrong. Fox Company led the way now and all of them were under her direction. Katya had been given the location of the unit that the 42nd would be assisting. An element of the 7th armoured were stuck in intense fighting just south of the financial district in a tricky section of the line. Specifically, the stock exchange out of Solar fields. It meant little room for tanks to manoeuvre, few sightlines for air support, and strategic importance for the covenant and the UNSC. Maddie relished the opportunity to take it, one of the last strongholds left in covenant hands.
And it's right in the middle of the financial district, right next door to the CDS HQ.
The troopers were quiet, most didn't really care that things had changed because on deployment, they changed all the time. The ODST could hardly call themselves the best if they were as fickle as Denning had suggested. Maddie figured that the silence wasn't much to worry about, they didn't trust her or Katya like they trusted their actual commanders but they feared ONI enough to fall in line for a while.
They reached a large car park outside a flattened station and pulled up as the rear guard of the Seventh waved her over. The driver pulled neatly to a stop and Maddie hopped out and strode towards a Colonel waiting on what remained of the tarmac. The sounds of battle were close now and they were as loud as they had been on the fields of Skopje. Maddie had never forgotten what a real battle sounded like; it was the sort of thing that never left a person. It was sensory overload, the smell of blood, smoke, and death. The sight of bright lights, flying mud, gunshots, and gore. The feel of the weapon in your hands, the rush of adrenaline straight to head, and the sound of a thousand voices screaming their ballad of struggle and strife. It was an intoxicating mix.
The front was edging closer to the enemy lines, and the general offensive had stalled for the moment, giving Maddie and the 42nd time to prepare their strike on the train station.
"Agent Harper!" He beamed, "Colonel Nix, 7th Armoured. Pleased to have you join us."
Maddie raised a brow, "What's the situation, Sir?"
"We're pushing along the line to the financial district but we've hit a snag. Covies have our armour pinned on the main road and we can't push through until we dislodge them from the stock exchange. The whole building..."
His voice was drowned out by the whine of an approaching banshee squadron. They snaked overhead in a wide and graceful arc, climbing high into the sky. Men and women shouted, though most of it was inaudible as the screams of alien engines grew louder. Maddie threw herself to the ground with the Colonel. She looked up as detonations erupted around her and the Battalion opened fire. Hundreds of guns peppered the sky, forcing the fliers to break formation.
A warthog nearby exploded as a green bolt of light slammed into its engine, sending the vehicle flying into the air. Two of the enemy craft were wiped out as they strayed too close to the convoy, their unshielded planes made easy prey for the chain guns, which tore through them like salt through snow.
"Get out of the open!" Called a voice from the chaos. Maddie watched as Katya and Major Seer hopped out from their jeep and darted over to her position. They hauled the Colonel to his feet and began to move towards the wall of the stadium.
With their numbers thinned, the Banshee's had a harder time maintaining their attack, instead focusing their effort on the front of the convoy, which was quickly becoming a sea of torched vehicles and screaming troopers.
"Volkovskaya, get Drake on the line, we need priority tasking. I need Al-Shiran to clear the skies NOW." Maddie yelled. Katya nodded and took a knee, yelling into her commlink as Maddie glanced around.
Colonel Nix scurried over to her as the bombs fell around them. "The whole building is a fortress, Ma'am, the plan was to level it but air superiority doesn't seem to mean jack here!"
Dust and debris flew up around them as they ducked a wave of airborne artillery.
"Resistance like this doesn't make any sense, Ma'am, the city is lost. They will withdraw if we just hold the line and let the front encircle them." He shouted.
Maddie scowled and grabbed him by the collar, pulling him close. "Because they are here for the same thing I am. Waiting isn't an option, Sir."
The Colonel frowned and shook his head. "Damn it!"
Maddie watched the skies as the covenant shelled them with everything they could manage. It was apparent however, that the Banshee squadron couldn't keep this up.
"Order a general assault. I need the financial district in our hands now!" She added, letting him go.
He grimaced, his eyes darting about. Overhead, the skies roared as UNSC air support thundered into the area with a calamitous boom of explosions.
"All units, CAS is on station, we will direct fire from Able's location. All troops, move in. We take the exchange now!"
The convoy, like the well-oiled military machine that it was, rolled away and into the fray. There would be casualties, Maddie reasoned, but they needed to get to the centre of the city before the Covenant gave up the position willingly.
Dark clouds gathered and Maddie steeled herself for a fight, pulling herself together and jogging through artillery shelling to Fox Company as they moved out.
Strangely serene and with fire in her eyes, she led the 42nd through the smoke that lingered before them and out into the fanged jaws of death.
}{=}{
Offensive frontline combat had a sort of mysticism about it to Maddie. She realised this as she crouched low behind a pile of rubble, waiting for the attack to start. The enemy didn't realise a battalion of elite forces were lurking in waiting and battle raged around them like a raging tempest. It was there, in the eye of that storm that Maddie found herself at peace with her thoughts and acutely aware of how close she'd been to this kind of fighting but how she had never truly partaken in it.
She had seen Orestis burned and broken but only as she fled through the aftermath of the fighting, she had fought in the defence of a castle in the valley near her home as well but not only was that defensive, she also wasn't doing anything other than scouring the field for her brother. She had fought plenty of offensive engagements but all behind enemy lines.
To be here, in the thick of it where the rubble grew with each moment and where no bodies had fallen yet was a strange moment for her.
I don't like it.
There was no control here, she didn't live or die according to her skill with a rifle or even a blade like the one mounted to the forearm of her armour. It was a roll of the dice. She supposed that was why she wasn't a good fit for frontline soldiering. Maddie knew her strengths and they didn't lie with mass cooperation and charging a battalion into combat.
Still, that was what her job demanded of her and for the sake of her goals, she would force herself to be good at it and leave as little to chance and God as she possibly could; consequences be damned.
She gripped her pistol tightly, holding it close as though that might offer more protection. Glancing up she could see the CDS HQ towering higher into the silvery sky than any of its fellows. It was a monument to humanity, standing tall and defiant, a marvel of engineering with its glassy curves and modern design and yet housing a great capacity for evil. Maddie didn't know what a shady company like Chalybs Defence Solutions might hide in their global headquarters but she knew it housed something ancient at the very least.
Casting her eyes downwards she glimpsed the battlefield. It was a sprawling intersection with the stock exchange on her right and the CDS building in front of her. There were once trimmed and friendly looking gardens at the front of these buildings but now twisted metal and rocky blocks of concrete sat invitingly for her Company to hide behind.
Maddie had a bad feeling, a keen sense of dread that loomed over her much like the clouds above her head. It was a large area in peacetime, but she was leading a company up to the building and in a warzone, everything felt closer and tighter, like a hand placed on your throat.
Just ahead of her, the men of the 7th armoured were dug in and under intense fire. They couldn't push forward without support and had become bogged down in grim close quarters fighting since they entered the city several hours ago. Now, they were about to see the full might of the UNSC brought to bear as Drake coordinated strikes with the UNSC Invictus high up in the skies above them. It was rare for the UNSC to have such dominance in these late days of the war, everything was running out from ships to men and fuel. There was only so much close air support on Meridian because of a massive air force base on the planet and still she was relying on fire missions from broadswords pulled from orbital engagements.
30 seconds…
It was just another sign as to how badly things were going. There was a pervasive sense of desperation among the men, with fewer losses as a virtue of a sheer lack of soldiers in some sectors being the only silver lining. Of course, all that really meant was that planets were getting glassed unopposed. Maddie gritted her teeth and resolved herself to fight. It would take a miracle if they wanted to win the war conventionally. She thought God himself might struggle to help them with that particular task.
She shook her head.
If we win this war… it will because of something else. Something like a gift from our enemies Gods.
With that realisation, she found that she was ready to begin. The thought galvanised her more than the anticipation of what was to come. She might have been nervous but her curiosity and desire took precedence and all of a sudden, the violent world around her seemed like a sideshow to her mission again. Maddie was pleased at how easily she had slipped into that mindset. Her training, it seemed, had paid off.
The sound of the broadswords began as a low hum between the barks, warbles, groans and growls of small arms fire. Maddie noticed it first with the help of Walsingham, who saluted her as she looked to her right. Duggan was a picture of stoicism for a change, he glanced at her and nodded. The rest of the men looked just as grim, the challenge was spattered across their faces and each of them was ready to meet it.
Then, all of a sudden, the sky had exploded in a waterfall of steamy streaks. Rockets raced briefly through her vision and set the world on fire. The sky burned brightly, orange flashed, smoke vomited black poisoned clouds into the sky and the Major, whose voice yelled over the comms, stood up and roared.
"Let's go get the bastards!"
A roar erupted. It was a vile and shrill song of death but Maddie added her voice to it. It was time to put the fear of their God into the covenant for a change. With lightning reflexes Maddie followed first, her legs springing her into action as the confused covenant squawked and gurgled at each other. She ran hard, pounding across ditches, exposed piping, torn up grassy patches and up towards the enemy positions around the CDS building.
"Move forward! Don't stop, keep moving!" she cried, aiming her pistol and slotting a grunt that panicked and ignited a grenade.
Duggan surged beside her, SMG in hand and charged down a Jackal that strayed from its lines. It brought the shield up and deflected the bullets. Maddie snapped out the blade on her wrist and sliced through the back of its neck while it was distracted. Through the gates of hell, the helljumpers burst, like a wave born of the lake of fire, they threw themselves at the enemy. Maddie led the way, as the rest of the company fired and moved with pinpoint precision, she moved first platoon as far forward as possible. Thrust into the enemy like a finely sharpened blade, Fox Company ravaged the covenant like locusts and by the time the covenant recovered from the air strike, the men and women of Fox Company were upon them like ravenous wolves.
Duggan watched Maddie navigate the battlefield with the grace of a snake, her movement fluid and natural. She was more aware of Duggan than she was of her own body as she gave into her training and spilled across the battlefield. She didn't care how many men this push would cost them as she fell upon the enemy lines. The only thoughts in her head were those of survival and victory. She saw Katya move towards an Elite; its sword bared. Dropping to one knee, Maddie dropped its shields, letting the wolf dodge its swing and jam the barrel of a shotgun in its mouth.
Finally, she reached the steps at the far end of the plaza at the base of the CDS building. Fox Company began to line up around her, with Katya and the Major ready to give fire support the rest of the battalion as they stormed the stock exchange, leaving Maddie and Denning to clear out the CDS building.
"Major, are you ready?" Maddie asked as she reloaded.
Katya replied earnestly, "Take the building, they'll tear us to shreds if we don't take them out!"
"Okay, let's go." Maddie shot back, "Company, covering fire!"
Maddie watched Grayson rush up the steps and followed with Katya and Duggan. A man in front of her fell but they all ignored it, a medic behind her pulled him from the steps and let the rest of the men follow. As she rose from the steps, she saw a large hulking Elite leaving the building with a sword in its hand.
Time seemed to slow as she began to connect the dots. He wore armour that was unfamiliar, his skin was like any other elite that she had met and yet something seemed very familiar about it. His golden hate-filled eyes met hers and his jaws flexed.
His jaws!
Unmistakable now that she had noticed, this Elite was missing a mandible.
"Erun" she growled.
It frowned as she spoke, as though he had recognised something about her too. His eyes jumped about her, looking her over as she reacted, igniting the wrist blade and charging him down. Finally, they settled on the axe fixed to her chest and he balked, roaring into the air and ordering the covenant around him, all of which carrying boxes towards a waiting transport further down the road.
Erun ignited his blade, a thick blood-red blade extended from the hilt and spilled its colour over the walls and floors.
"You." he roared, leaping into action.
Ignoring Erun and dodging his attack, Maddie fired several shots at the Grunts and Jackals with the boxes, killing two of them with accurate shots to the head.
Erun realised his mistake and launched a kick at her back as she went for a third kill. Maddie flew through the air and landed with a crunch into some rubble.
He was on her in a flash and she struggled to parry the slashing blow with her tiny blade. The Elite was surprised to see her wield it and the young woman took his hesitation without mercy, landing a strong kick at his wrist, swatting the sword from his hand as it clanged away behind him.
She scrambled to her feet, aiming the gun again at another fleeing grunt and shot him in the back of the head. It fell, throwing the box to the ground as the rest scurried away. She tried to signal for someone to help but she could only scream as a sharp searing pain burned her back like ice. Her shoulder spasmed and she turned just in time to dodge Erun's follow up strike.
Stepping backwards she fell through the empty space where a glass door used to be as Erun pressed his attack, forcing her away from the boxes of intel.
Maddie realised as she back peddled that she couldn't ignore Erun, she needed to face him.
Or I will just die trying to kill a few grunts.
Rolling away, she leaped to her feet, clipping the pistol to her belt as Erun paused to gloat.
"The silver-tongued nishum returns to haunt my steps and muddy my path." He spat awkwardly.
Maddie grinned, "struggling to talk properly?"
The elite seethed with rage. "You cost me everything, little worm. My honour, my rank, my land and titles! All of it gone."
"And all because of a child with no combat training. I think your betters were right to demote you." Maddie shot back, panting hard. Covenant surrounded them bit few paid much attention, as always, their honour dictated she be left to Erun.
They have more important things to worry about, anyway.
Judging from the ODST she saw pouring into the courtyard outside, she reckoned that time was quickly becoming her friend.
They clashed again, Erun's strikes were quick and precise but Maddie was ready. He didn't seem quite as scary now, even as his arm swung in a wide and powerful arc towards her head. Maddie ducked it, her lithe form avoided the attack with all the grace of a dancer as Erun spun away and brought back his guard.
"You have grown, Child." He cooed, "you aren't the lucky whelp who bested me on Skopje anymore, are you?"
Maddie shook her head, "No. Imagine what I can do to you now."
The Elite growled and charged. Maddie reeled as she attempted to get her bearings. She needed to stop Erun's troops from getting away and some kind of commotion was going on outside, there was worried shouting in her ear but Maddie could only do her best to avoid Erun and his blood red blade.
On one swing, Erun got tired and Maddie seized her chance. She grappled his wrist and pushed it away, then thrusting, she jammed the small energy blade through the exposed underbelly of his combat harness.
The pair of them staggered back, Maddie was tired but so was Erun.
I'm holding my own...
"Indeed, the shame is mine to bear. I will never reclaim my families honour, never rid them of the taint of the ascetics; I can't begin to make things right but I can take my revenge." He said, tensing.
He was unbalanced and enraged, had Maddie been a SPARTAN, she might have felt like he was easy prey.
Only Erun was a biological tank, a foot taller and then some, each muscle on his arms and legs looked as thick as her thighs.
He came in for another attack but Maddie dodged it easily and stayed close, nullifying his reach advantage by staying on the offensive and sticking close to his chest. She jabbed hard. Poking and prodding at his centre as she kept him reeling, pushing him back towards the front of the building as best she could, desperately trying to get back outside where she could try and snatch whatever might be in those boxes.
Shouting rang in her helmet but Maddie didn't hear it, she was laser focused on Erun as he spun out of her way and kicked her through the glass panelling and back onto the plaza outside. Maddie felt her body crunch through the glass, the gash on her back screamed with pain as it tore her armour apart around her back.
Out of breath and reeling from the shock, the young woman crawled away from the Elite, who grinned a triumphant three-pronged smile at her as he stalked towards her.
Voices shouted in the back of her helmet again, more alarmed now. Maddie looked about desperately.
They're pulling back?
Her mouth dried and she looked up. Erun stood triumphantly over her.
"The nishum ran away." He slurred, "back to the filth and bile they came from."
She reached for her pistol, which had flown from her reach when he cast her through a window.
She heard a loud crunch as a giant hoof appeared out of nowhere. It seemed to consume her flesh, engulfing her lithe arm like the sea swallowing a sinking ship.
Then she screamed. Pain shot through her arm like a bullet fired from a gun. It rifled through her body, up her limbs and through her shoulder where it burst in an explosion of pain that saw stars dance across her vision.
He lifted his foot and Maddie gasped. Grimacing in pain as she crawled away, turning just in time to see Erun being shouted at by an Elite, who pointed to the sky.
Pain stung like a fresh burn across her arm and shoulder. She tried to pull herself to her feet, glaring up at Erun through her visor, she saw him retreat. He sprinted away with the rest of his troops as they scattered and fled. UNSC soldiers took pot-shots at them from the stock exchange across the street but Maddie didn't notice, she was heaving, trying not to let the pain throw up the contents of her stomach as she writhed onto her back.
Pushing herself slowly against the shattered remains of a planter, Maddie gasped as she looked about.
The boxes were gone.
The transport was gone.
All the intel…
They took it all…
With a sigh of deep resignation, Maddie looked to the sky. The dark clouds grumbled at her, mocking her attempt to stop Erun from taking the boxes.
She tried to make excuses, reasoned that they might not have been important, that they weren't here for the same thing. Only she knew the moment she thought it, that it wasn't the truth. Her encounter with Erun had been brief, unexpected, and violent.
More shouting echoed in her ears.
I've failed.
The trail led here, and thanks to her, it had run cold. Now only Katya could find the source of the signal.
She looked at her arm and figured that she might be out of the fight for a while. It looked disgusting and felt worse.
Maddie rested her head against the planter and tried to breathe normally. In the sky, the familiar shape of a corvette class covenant ship loomed out of the darkened clouds. She shook her head. The voices in her head, her men's retreat…
They were running from it.
Erun had run as well, which meant its target was clear. The CDS HQ loomed above her in defiance, ready to accept its fate. Maddie could see UNSC fighters engaging the Corvette, not that she had any hope. At its current speed, it would be in firing range within moments.
She tried to stand, forcing her feet and legs to haul her body upright. It felt painfully slow.
"Woah, woah, easy there, Ma'am." Said a trooper as he pushed himself under her arm.
"Duggan? What are you doing here, that corvette is going to-"
"Fire any second, yeah, we noticed. Lt. Volkovskaya ordered me to help her find you and Major Seer." The private replied, grimly.
They hobbled towards the steps, passing a legion of dead or wounded combatants both alien and human.
"Oh, she uh, she does care" Maddie joked, groaning at her arm as it dangled limply, too painful to move.
"Man, that Elite looked like hell had come to visit when you spotted him, Ma'am. You sure you weren't raised by them?" Duggan joked as he helped her down the steps.
"What did I tell you about prying, Private?" Maddie snapped.
"Sorry Ma'am, but I've never been one for keeping my mouth shut. Momma says It's why I get into so much trouble."
"Arrghh!" Maddie grunted, pushing Duggan away and slipping to the floor. Her arm pulsed like a strobe light, burning with pain.
"We can't stay here, we gotta go," he urged, trying to drag her back to their lines, "we gotta move Lieutenant."
"Alright, okay let's go" she wheezed, cursing the pain with violent slurs in her head.
Where the hell is Katya? She was looking for Seer but Seer was on the plaza…
"Shit!" Duggan exclaimed, bundling Maddie over.
She crunched into tarmac and screamed.
The world glowed white as thunder struck around them like a MAC cannon.
Oh god… the Corvette, it's in range!
Duggan was on top of her, shielding her from the first wave of debris as a terrible groan could be heard from inside the building. The earth cracked and she felt the pair of them jerk downwards violently.
"The road is giving way, we need to move!" he shouted, trying desperately to pull her away.
"If we go out in the open, we'll be crushed" she groaned, her whole body grimaced and raged against moving.
"Shi-"
A crack seemed to split the earth in half.
Then, Maddie fell with Duggan into the dark chasm below.
Happy New Year!
Apologies for the late upload but between a lot of whisky and the fact I'm trying to keep chapters to a minimum, this one fell by the wayside.
Enjoy!