The entire ship lurched and rumbled as shockwaves of pressure ripped through the halls and the bulkheads. A few staff ran for their posts but most were already at their stations on the small Prowler, where there were fewer guns to man and fewer staff to begin with. Maddie hobbled onto the bridge to a scene of chaos. From the window, she could see the seventh fleet scrambling for position as a Corvette loomed in the distance.
"Yggdrasil, cover the Ides and Enigma. We can't afford to lose them!" The Admiral's voice rang out loud and true.
"Aye, ma'am!" Commander Rok obeyed the order without question and slowly, the Yggdrasil began to cover the Ides of March.
"Spooling MAC guns!" Sterling growled, "We need more time, does anyone have a shot?"
"I do, George. I'm repositioning." Thorn replied. "MAC is primed on the Season of Light."
Maddie stood beside Drake as the Enigma began to break away from the fighting.
"Ensign Lovett, engage stealth drive, we need to be gone."
The ensign nodded and Maddie watched as the pilot began to move away, swinging the ship away from the Ides of March as she peeled away in the opposite direction.
"That Corvette is about to fire!" Maddie exclaimed, standing next to Drake as he rattled off commands, her hands wrapped tightly around the railing in front of her on the deck.
Drake nodded, "Rok, where are you?"
The Covenant Corvette glowed as Commander Rok and the Yggdrasil steamed across the Enigma and Ides of March just as the pulse cannon ripped a burning purple stream through space.
"Give them hell, Seventh-"
Rok was cut off as the Yggdrasil was melted from bridge to stern off its starboard side. Maddie gasped and Drake winced as the explosion tore through its decks and popped titanium plating like corn. The raw power of it was disconcerting to Maddie.
"Sir, we need to get out of here" she said, her voice wavering slightly, "Prowlers don't last in a slugging match of this size."
"We're heading to the surface, anyways, Katya is in trouble." his brow furrowed as he glanced at the tactical map on the holotable. Maddie watched as the hologram of Commander Thorn's Destroyer, the UNSC Season of Light, fired three MAC rounds right into the gut of the Corvette, tearing through its shields and ripping great big chunks of the ship's superstructure.
"Mossem, fire the Talavera's Archer missiles, now!" Reitker commanded. Moments later, streaks arched through Space from Mossem's Frigate.
"Sir! Another slipspace rupture, just behind the Corvette..." a panicked Lieutenant said, gawking at her comms station, "It's big!"
Maddie moved to the window as the sky grew purple, hiding the streaks of missiles as they headed for the Corvette. Out from slipspace emerged one of the biggest ships that Maddie had laid eyes on.
A battle cruiser!
"Ma'am, this is Thorn, we're out of position, if they fire-"
"I can see that. Mossem, Grissom, cover him so he can wall off our heavy hitters, we can't-"
"I can cover ma'am" Sterling said coolly, "I can keep the Season of Light safe"
Maddie rushed to the comms console and helped the officer send an SOS to her grandfather's fleet as Admiral Reitker rebuked the young Commander.
"No. Hold fast. We can't sacrifice a Destroyer.""
As they descended towards the planet, Maddie grew focused on the holotable, "but Ma'am, that battle cruiser is ready to fire." she cursed every God she knew of, including her own; there was nothing to be done though. Maddie felt utterly helpless as she watched the holotable.
"Mossem, open fire on the cruiser!"
It was too late. The ship fired its laser turrets into the out of position UNSC cruiser. Explosions could be seen as pixels on the holotable but even on the bridge of the Enigma, Maddie could hear their dull thudding through Space. She could hear Sterling and Mallar yelling in desperation and terror and her throat dried up. Thorn's frigate vanished and white light consumed the windows, bathing Maddie and Drake's sullen faces in a bright glow. The aft section of the UNSC Season of Light exploded as the ship was cleaved in two, exploding into silver mist as the Corvette took another salvo of Archer missiles across its belly and back.
"Corvette is still operational." Mallarexclaimed, astounded.
"Mossem, cover our retreat."
"Already on it, Ma'am. It's been a pleasure."
Maddie hung her head low as the Talavera swung hard to port, it's MAC gun ready to fire. The Paris Class Frigate fired. Its projectile rattled down the barrel like superstructure of the frigate with a whump and blasted a hole through the globular nose cone of the Battle Cruiser, just where their bridge was.
At point blank range, there would be little chance of escape for the Covenant bridge crew in their now disabled ships but Mossem pressed the attack. With the shields down, Maddie watched as flaming balls of white light engulfed the vessel. Her mouth dropped open in shock as the Talavera refused to waver from its course, firing massive waves of missiles at both ships before skewering the battle cruiser, driving itself into the nose of the hulking great big ship and smashing it into pieces. The hologram updated the fleet roster and checked off three names. Thorn, Sterling's friend since the first days of the academy, Mossem, and Rok.
"Thirty thousand men dead in what, five minutes?" She asked Drake, quietly.
Drake remained cold.
"Assemble the extraction team and have them report to Al-Shiran's Pelican. We need to evac Katya or all of this will be for nothing."
"I'll make sure we get them out of there, Sir."
"No. Come back here when you're done."
"Sir, I'm more than capable of manning a mounted gun."
"And I gave you an order. Now get going."
Maddie scowled and saluted him half-heartedly, turning briefly to look at him before storming down through the prowler as it warmed, it's hull kissed by the burning passion of Meridians atmosphere. Al-Shiran stood on the deck in his flight suit and Maddie waved over a squad of troopers wearing the black fatigues of ONI special forces.
"We're going down to the surface to cover Lt. Volkovskaya's escape. Link to my data pad for mission details, terrain is open woodlands, so bring DMRs and launchers, I'll have the chain gun for cover"
They nodded firmly and Maddie tried her best to hide her wounds. They didn't know she was disobeying orders but that didn't matter. Maddie needed to prove that she wasn't going to take this lying down. She was going to call ONIs bluff and she was going to prove that she could put her rivalry with Katya behind her. It might have been an ulterior motive for helping the famous "Wolf" but Maddie knew that Katya genuinely needed her help. There was little reason, she realised, as the troopers returned with their gear and weapons, for Katya to stick her neck out for Maddie, but perhaps she might if she knew that Maddie had done the same for her? It was a long shot and a hail Mary but Jade had been right. She would give them hell. She would bend like a spring and snap back; she wouldn't be cowed before ONI like some puppet. She would be free and she would damn the consequences.
I told you, Margaret, that my family was off limits. Now, my sister is the only card you had to play. You can't take my Grandfather and you can't take my brothers. Maggie is either dead or useful to you and I know that you don't waste resources.
As they rose into the air and slipped out the hangar and into space, Maddie's resolve hardened and she felt reinvigorated. Drake yelled into her earpiece something fierce but Maddie wasn't listening. The mission was too time sensitive for her to be sent back.
"Captain, what are we looking at?" She said coolly into the microphone.
There was a long and tense pause but none of the troopers caught it from the way Maddie reacted.
"Viper one, your task is to hold this clearing here, in the play area of a tourist centre, there is a funnel, which will act as a killing zone but there's little room to manoeuvre so you'll be exposed to phantoms or banshee's if they appear. Enigma will follow and mop up air support as you bring Wolf One-One on board. Your pilot will rendezvous with us as we exit the atmosphere. Understood?"
Maddie smiled at that. Of course, she understood.
"Crystal, Sir. Don't worry, I always get it done. Viper One, out."
I need you to know, Drake. That I will not be bound, now or forever.
Nicola.
Maggie.
And all the millions of others who had their choices taken from them. I act for them. For their freedom. The cycle of death and destruction must end, and the forerunners will grant it.
The pelican swooped low over the fields and Al-Shiran lowered the ramp, bathing the rear of the Pelican in a low red glow. Maddie walked as confidently as she could to the mini gun and spooled it up, taking it by the trigger and feeling the weight in her grip. The troopers lined up beside her, ready to exfil as the skilled pilot danced metres from the ground.
"What's Wolf's ETA?"
"Thirty seconds, a real snatch and grab." Al-Shiran was grinning, Maddie could tell, "should see them now, Ma'am."
The craft circled the little crater and Maddie gawked at the sight of Braeburn, Duggan, Baker and Grayson carrying a wounded Katya towards the landing site. Maddie spied Elite's entering the thin and narrow gap and pushed her fingers on to the trigger.
"Go, go, go!" She yelled, and the troopers filed out, taking a defensive position around the rear of the Pelican as Maddie fought her wounds to keep the turret firing accurately as Grayson and Baker reached the bottom of the ramp.
"Good to see you, Lieutenant," Baker said, cheerfully as he took his seat.
"It's some spec ops team" added Grayson, panting, "we knew they were tracking us but they ambushed us when everything started glowing"
Maddie nodded, her eyes narrowing as a familiar pair of figures entered her sights.
Ketarus and Erun.
She tried peppering them with bullets but Duggan, Braeburn, and Katya were at the bottom of the ramp.
"Phantoms, inbound!" Al-Shiran called from behind her.
"Stay calm, Enigma will handle it. Come on, let's move!" She shouted to Katya and stopped firing so she and her evac team could exfil onto the waiting craft.
Lights of plasma spattered all over the place as she handed off the mini gun to Duggan and the last of her men pulled back inside. One took a glancing blow to the cheek from a plasma bolt and Maddie reached down to him and pulled the trooper inside.
"Get us out of here!" She said, hobbling through the craft. Katya gasped in pain as the craft shifted and rumbled as plasma fire racked the hull. Their eyes met, and Maddie nodded, seeing the surprise in her eyes.
The cockpit was a mess, plasma fire turned it into a light show as they moved off and over the small complex. Far below, Maddie watched Erun and Ketarus pointed viciously up at her as Grunts with fuel road cannons tried to shoot at the rapidly accepting craft. Al-Shiran ducked and wove through cannon fire as the Phantoms gave chase, firing their comparatively small plasma turrets at the much nimbler Pelican.
"Viper One, this is Enigma move to point oh-six-Charlie. We've got you covered." Drake's voice was icy and cold but that didn't deter Maddie, who had firmly made her decision.
Several shots rang out and the familiar blue and purple ball of plasmic fire glowed in the dying light of the evening sky.
"That's one." Al-Shiran said, glancing at the scanner.
Two more.
Another shot.
The blast was closer this time and Maddie felt the Pelican buck and shudder from her seat. It made her wounds spark with pain but she gritted her teeth and pushed through it, she'd suffered far worse in the past and knew that she was strong enough to stop it. The third shot seemed to explode over their heads and rocked the Pelican violently, even warming the walls of the fuselage as Al-Shiran smiled gleefully.
"Good guns, Enigma, good guns. Thanks for the assist."
"No problem, Viper-One," Drake replied as the Enigma swooped overhead and cleared the Pelican for landing, "Quick pick up, we need to get back to the fleet." Maddie looked up and saw a covenant fleet engaging her grandfather's massive Meridian defensive flotilla, as well as the wreckage of the seventh fleet. She hoped dearly that only the Talavera, Yggdrasil, and the Season of Light had been lost. She ran her hands along her arms, as if to hug herself. Maddie swallowed nervously and didn't hold out for hope.
}{=}{
"You wanted 'unorthodox' when you found me on Skopje, Captain." Maddie hissed as they made their way to the bridge of Admiral Reitker's Epoch-Class Carrier, the UNSC Invictus. It was much grander than the Ides of March or the Enigma and Maddie appreciated the grandiosity of its larger sweeping hallways and deployable pre-fabricable bases that it kept in its hull.
"I wanted your talent, Girl." he replied, "I didn't want you to start picking fights with the most terrifying woman in the galaxy."
"Parangosky put my sister in harm's way. I told her not to fuck around with my family and she crossed the line."
"You've been fine with a lot worse, you know that, right?" his voice was a hushed yell but Maddie wasn't interested, the frustration in his voice only made her feel as though she had won. "You didn't mind when ONI let you sign your sister's life away, or when I sacrificed a fleet to save our sorry arses."
"It might be a selfish place to put it, Felix, but what matters is that there is a line, not where it's drawn. You might be at Parangosky's beck and call like some brow beaten housewife, but I don't plan on letting that old bint get away with blackmailing me."
"You really are something else, you know that, Harper?" he sighed as we stopped short of the bridge.
"So, I keep hearing." she replied, casting a searching look into his eyes, "but that kind of talk only put me in this position in the first place. I'm done with it."
She turned on her heel and walked into the command centre of the UNSC Invictus leaving Drake to suppress a smile far behind her. It was spacious but fraught with a kinetic energy as Maddie stood, observing the bridge crew. People hurried to and fro, with lots of panicked shouting and lists of orders ringing about the place. Drake noticed it as well and placed a hand on his forehead. The faces of the men had said all that had needed to be said about that engagement. Half the fleet, all but one of their frigates and a destroyer had been lost in the space of about ten minutes. The status list on the holotable showed two red frigates and a destroyer but thankfully, no other losses save for a few broadswords launched by the Invictus. All said and done, two frigates and a destroyer for a CCS-Battlecruiser was a good haul for the UNSC. Drake moved towards a door guarded by a sailor and saluted him, clearing both he and Maddie for entry into what was a conference room. The remaining commanders or the seventh fleet sat along the table, with Lord Grissom opposite Kiko Mallar and George Sterling, and Rear Admiral Reitker sat at the head. Katya was at the far end, close to the door where she and Drake stood. Away from them in the chair, a set of crutches rested rigidly to her left against the cool metal that lined the oak table. A Bedouin tribesman, the Invictus' artificial intelligence glowered at Maddie and Drake as they entered. Maddie noted the silence that hung in the air, oppressive like a thick fog. Mallar's eyes were glossy and Sterling's fists were curled up into white knuckled springs, ready to ping out of place.
"Now that we are all present." Reitker said, "I think it is time that we finally learned what we are doing here."
Maddie took her seat next to Katya but along the same side as Sterling, hoping to show a little solidarity with her friend, if she could.
"Yes. We've lost two thirds of our support ships and a destroyer without so much as a word as to why." Lord Grissom noted, casting a serious eye towards the ONI personnel sat at the far end of the table.
"As is your job, Commander." Drake said, nonchalantly, "but thank you all for your patience, I understand that this hasn't been an easy deployment."
Drake plugged Walsingham's chip into the control unit for the holotable and he sprang into life.
"Admiral, have you cleared this d.A.I for use aboard our ship? The tribesman's avatar noted, casting a searching glance up at the Admiral.
She nodded and the little man relented, letting Drake continue as a large map of Meridian's wide plains flicked into view.
"My team, and elements of the 42nd ODST infantry have been conducting a secret mission to locate something of religious significance to our split-jawed friends. So far, you have been acting under the impression that we are to secure the continent and strip mine it for resources until the covenant inevitably rallies a fleet large enough to force us out. This is still the plan."
"Forgive me, Captain" Grissom asked, "but I find that hard to believe."
"Well, let's just say that our objectives line up, for once." He smiled at him with slick teeth and Maddie was reminded of that suave agent she'd met back on Skopje. "HIGHCOM wants this continent secured and there's one final stronghold for the enemy to defend."
He zoomed into a large plateau about 40 miles from the base of Mount Sundial.
"We need to secure a lab on this Plateau, right about here." He said pointing to a section of the ridge that ran around the edge of the plateau. "We will launch the largest cavalry charge in human history with every vehicle left in the fleet and on the planet and decimate the enemy, the infantry behind us will mop us as we push on which means we can smash through their lines and proceed to the mountain."
"That's insane!" Mallar protested, "the casualties-"
"Will be enormous regardless," Katya said, "the whole theatre, barring the enemy position, is flat grassland"
"We will coordinate this attack with Admiral Harper, which will give us total air superiority and allow the Invictus to deploy Colonial Start-up Units, and create mobile fuel depots for our vehicles." Maddie added, speaking proudly of her contribution to the plan.
"An inspired plan, to be sure" the Admiral noted, crossing her arms, "I take it your unit will need fire support?"
"Enigma can handle most of the heavy lifting but the Northwest Passage would provide our forces with extra cover, if deployed in the atmosphere." Drake said, a thin smile on his lips. "ONI is also sending us some additional support but it will likely take too long to get here. Admiral Harper will begin a series of engagements that will hopefully give us the room we need to manoeuvre in three weeks' time. Until then the ground forces must hold against covenant counter attacks or it's all meaningless."
Maddie smiled, none of them knew how we had finally worked out the Nazari's location and they definitely didn't know that was who ONI was looking for either. In the end, Katya's mission and the data they retrieved had been such a moment of catharsis for Maddie that she forgot about her wounds until she relaxed in the chair and felt a dull throb in her arm and leg. The communications pulled from Elysium had been the first clue. Walsingham had said that the scale of project Icarus was that of a large mining operation, and the artefacts that Katya had discovered seemed to point to this conclusion as well. All of them were buried and all of them seemed to function as a unit, as per Jade's own discoveries. The terraforming system was confirmed to work as part of a network, and the local control centre pointed to a location consistent with data recovered from Elysium.
Of course, it was me who finally put two and two together.
When Maddie had touched the artefact, the system ignited, showing the symbol of the didact and confirming that they were on the right path. It was the geology report, however, which confirmed the final clue. The report stipulated that the entire continent had been artificially created, which meant that Mount Sundial and the large plateau nearby were necessarily important to the journey that Bornstellar had set in motion for her.
Something tells me that the Nazari's won't have the full picture, though. Mt. Sundial is the perfect place for an egotistical ancient deity to place his tomb.
She sighed, the others had begun to discuss the finer details of the plan, save for Commander Sterling who was staring at Maddie with curious blue eyes. They seemed to beat away the darkness of space and the artificial lights of the conference room to reach her as well, striking through even the blue hue of the holotable to reach her. Maddie shivered a little, wondering whether he wanted to strangle her, or kiss her. Perhaps she was overthinking it, but Maddie wanted him to be staring at her for some reason, she felt disappointed when Mallar touched his arm delicately and pulled him from his trance. She clutched at the fabric of her ONI fatigues around her arms and fiddled with it, desperately wishing for rest after such a hectic day.
Knowing finally where she had to go was liberating, and so was sticking it to ONI, she felt a thousand kilograms lighter and stifled a yawn as the meeting drew on. Plans were drawn up, reinforcements were begged and haggled for, and Maddie found herself feeling a little detached from it all. For the first time in her career, she found herself on the inside, fully in the loop of some of the most important events in human history… and wishing that she could go back to a time when she didn't have a clue.
Maybe I'm just tired.
Katya had remained oddly quiet as time drew on. Maddie hadn't expected her to talk to her, of course, but it seemed strange that she didn't engage with the others.
"So that brings us to the ODST." Sterling said, "My men are depleted, for the most part but I still have enough SOEVs to insert troops into the AO."
Katya didn't respond to this, so Maddie leaned forward, "Sure, we will need a different ship to launch from compared with the rest of the ODST to keep our mission a secret."
"The rest?" Lord Grissom asked, from beneath his greying brows, "You want to commit even more troops to the attack."
"Yes, Sir. ODST's will be essential in keeping the covenant occupied and distracted as our forces cross the plains. They will also be the vanguard for the assault on Mount Sundial as well, which should reduce casualties."
Grissom shook his head, "this is ridiculous, we're forcing an attack across open ground for absolutely no reason. Even if we're successful and push the Covenant off the continent, we might not hold the planet long enough to mine it for resources. The casualties are going to be absolutely horrendous!"
"Of course, they are, but if we wait, we won't have to worry about that at all because we will have lost the opportunity to strike forever and might as well abandon the system right now." Drake replied, stoically. "Every sacrifice the seventh fleet has made" he glanced pointedly at Kiko and George, "will have been a waste."
"It's not that I don't understand" Lord Grissom replied, pulling the thick rimmed glasses he wore from his face and placing them delicately into a small case, "it's simply that you're asking me to commit forces to an attack that we know is going to be costly. I rather hoped that my men might survive this."
"Then you are naive, Commander" Sterling replied, his arms folded rigidly across his chest.
The pair of them began to argue with Admiral Reitker and Drake about deployments and supplies but Maddie caught Katya staring out of the window at the burning continents of Meridian.
"Earth to Katya"
Katya frowned and her eyes darted towards Maddie. She scowled and Maddie sighed.
Well at least she's okay. What's she thinking about, the meeting?
"What?" she replied, sourly.
"Nothing to say?"
Katya swallowed and looked away; her bright eyes dimmed shamefully for a moment before meeting Maddie's own.
"T-thanks… for coming to get me."
Wasn't expecting that.
"I was talking about the meeting but you're welcome" she smiled warmly; Katya didn't seem to take it that way and Maddie pouted, cursing herself for putting the woman off her.
"Sorry, I just… getting shot hurts." she said, bitterly.
Maddie laughed, "so does getting crushed by a building."
"You're still competing with me."
"Not sure that will ever change, Katya."
She seemed to consider this for a moment, her eyes wandered the room, as though she were looking for inspiration. It looked as though she had everything and nothing to say as she fidgeted beneath Maddie's gaze.
"It's cute that you think I have forgiven you and that anything could change between us."
"Maybe not as I was but what if I changed?"
"Hmph. We will see, although I doubt that I'll see much more action. Now that we have what we need I imagine you'll be back in the field, leading ops."
"If you're not involved, I won't be happy. You've more than proven yourself in the last few weeks and you already know all the specifics."
"I felt I owed it to you to see the mission completed… especially after Skopje," she whispered.
Maddie swallowed. It had been a long time since she'd spoken or seen Katya and she'd tried to forget that Katya now knew almost everything she had been up to in the past five years. The conversation at the table had moved on as the Commanders began to draw up a plan for Admiral Harper's involvement in the operation.
"About that-" Maddie began.
"Honestly, it makes so much sense" Katya snorted, "ego is sure to go to your head when you do all of that at sixteen years of age."
"It wasn't ego" Maddie growled, "tell a child that the world is on their shoulders, torture them for a month and then see what happens, if you don't believe me."
"But it does make sense." she smiled, clearly enjoying Maddie's irritation. "All that responsibility on the shoulders of someone so young… friends mustn't factor into your life after something like that. I… I was wrong to assume that you were just a bad person. I never thought for a second that this might be something that you had gone through."
"To be fair, Katya, how could you have known?"
"I think we both have a lot of skeletons in our closets. Perhaps it is both our fault that thing's got so out of hand."
Maddie wasn't sure what to say, naturally she agreed but she didn't want to phrase it in a way that would offend Katya, not when she was actually starting to warm to her.
"Just a couple of dumb kids, right?"
"We haven't been Eighteen for a while, now." she noted.
"Maybe it's time we both grew up a little bit."
Katya didn't say anything to that, she seemed to think about it before slipping back into the conversation, taking part for the first time since it had begun.
"Well then, that's the full plan." Reitker announced, "minor changes will be made here and there but you will all be alerted to them. All that remains is a name."
Katya stood in place and picked up her crutches, "Call it Siren" she said, throwing the quickest of glances at Maddie before turning to leave.
Reitker and the others didn't pick up on it, and they agreed with the name, having more important things to worry about. Mallar stormed out of the room in a hurry with George in tow, he caught Maddie's eye and paused for a moment before smiling weakly and rushing after his friend. Drake and Reitker conversed sharply with each other and Grissom seemed to ooze towards her like syrup as Katya hobbled away behind her.
"Harper… you are the Admiral's Granddaughter, yes?"
Maddie bit the inside of her cheek in an attempt to remain cool.
"I'd like to think that I've proven myself more than just an Admiral's Granddaughter, Sir." She replied pointedly.
Lord Grissom chuckled and shook his head, "no, no, no, my dear, you misunderstand me. I am simply intrigued to meet a member of the man's family. Nepotism has no place in the military, not when the stakes are so high."
"You sound like a courtier" she smiled, pretending that she didn't know he was a nobleman. "Are you trying to curry favour with me to advance your career, my Lord?"
"Ah, yes, I am if that's possible." He added with a relaxed sense of joviality. "I'm a good Commander, but there are better out there. One must always keep an eye out for opportunities."
"You sound like an ambitious man, Sir."
"I am, Agent Harper. So, you would do well to remember me."
"And you me." Maddie replied with a hint of venom. Grissom smiled again, though less confidently this time. "I am nothing if not a pragmatist."
"Hear hear!" He boomed, "ruthlessly so, in my case"
"You would do well at ONI, I think, Sir."
"Perhaps, but I am far too interested in glory and legacy for it, I'm afraid. I would like to be remembered, if that's possible."
Maddie watched with a raised brow as the man seemed to collect himself.
"Don't worry about that, Sir. I have a feeling the 7th will be very famous one day."
He stretched a little, standing upright as if he just remembered where he was.
"And what makes you so sure of that?"
"Because we will make it so, Sir."