The sounds of gunfire echoed around the pit which, following the airstrike, was now a smouldering, snow-less crater of equipment and discarded viscera. Maddie lined up behind her SPARTAN escort and looked out into the battle arena. Beneath the helmet, Maddie's eyes narrowed in suspicion as she spied her relief force. Hidden among the rocks on the far side, were four SPARTANs in armour she'd never seen before. It was modular in nature, less of a suit and instead attached to the under-suit that all SPARTANs wore. The variance in SPARTANs confused her and, for the first time, she looked properly at the one labelled B312. He was much shorter than Naomi, who was the only kind of SPARTAN she had ever known until B312 had followed her into that cavern.
"New models." Tuk noted. Maddie muted her helmet.
"How can you tell?"
"Three completely different sets of vitals. Those out there must be the newest ones, their base rates of fitness, their genetic modification, and weaponry are all similar. Those two," he said, referring to Naomi and B312, "Are similar, but the smaller one is twenty years younger, and seems to have a few corners cut in his modification."
"That's unusually sloppy for ONI."
"Not if it's by design" he stipulated. Maddie imagined him rubbing his chin. "You don't spend much time improving something that is necessarily disposable."
"A disposable SPARTAN? That doesn't sound right."
"You would be more likely to know, than I, Madeleine."
She nodded and unmuted herself as Naomi and B312 - she found herself annoyed that she could only refer to him by a number, began to lay down suppressing fire at the encroaching covenant forces. Maddie dashed out into the open and towards two of the new SPARTANs as plasma whipped up dirt and rock around her ankles. She slid into cover besides them and levelled her pistol at a squad of grunts waddling down the slope and into the pit. In several short bursts, she'd sent two of them tumbling limply down the slope towards the churned-up gravel pit below them. The two SPARTANs, which her HUD identified as 'Program' and 'Fender', intensified the fire from their assault rifles, giving Naomi and 'B' the chance to pull back behind them.
"Evie- uh, Program, take the Lieutenant back to phase line 2"
"You're really bad at this, Fender"
"Just get a move on before Naomi kicks my ass again, Evie"
She put a firm hand on Maddie's shoulder and bundled her away, heading back the way that they had come, down the mountain path and towards a second kill zone. Beneath her feet, gravel and dirt became snow once more as they exited the bombed-out pit. Maddie glanced up and saw two more of the new SPARTANs positioned on either side of the ridge. The rock provided plenty of cover for the one named 'Executive' to level her sniper rifle up the path. They let a shot loose and Maddie ducked as it seemed to whip past her head. It didn't, rather, it slammed through something squishy above her and burst into the rock behind it, spraying chunks of blood-stained rock out from behind it.
"They're flanking us! You're going to be overrun!" Executive said, quickly, covering her squad mate, Fender, as he retreated and took a knee.
Maddie looked up and saw the lithe forms of Jackals hopping over the rock and bounding, like a horde of gazelle, towards the SPARTAN. She got a shot off, then two more, felling a combatant with each buck of the powerful rifle. The last shot missed, but the SPARTAN seemed unfazed, drawing two pistols and peppering the remaining Jackals until she ran out of ammo.
That was when an Elite sprung from the back of the pack and ignited its blade. Maddie freed herself from the grip of the SPARTAN and sent five shots hurtling towards it. Three found their mark, weakening its shields so that the SPARTAN could force it to retreat. It didn't, in true warrior fashion it charged the woman down, taking a roundhouse kick to the head as a reward. The elite fell before Maddie with a thump into the snow, little flakes fluttering into the air around it, groaning in apparent pain before Maddie put a bullet through its eye.
"Nice shot, Ma'am," Program said, as a spray of gunfire erupted from the rock above them. Maddie ducked as a new voice, 'Director', relayed more enemy positions to the team.
"get her back to mother, Evie!"
"Code names!" She yelled, grabbing Maddie once again.
Director muttered something under his breath as Maddie was hauled down the slope towards the landing zone. Maddie could almost feel Tuk searching the data banks in her helmet as she looked at the SPARTAN hauling her more closely. She didn't seem as imposing as Naomi but there were subtle signs that she had been more of an investment than "B". The armour was newer, her muscle mass seemed more defined beneath her suit, layer, her armour was more advanced, clearly heavier, yet she tossed Maddie around like she was nothing. The girl was also young and rather gangly, she retained a more natural physique than her older counterparts.
A new type of SPARTAN?
Maddie didn't have the time to let that sink in as Evie deposited her with Katya and Duggan. Katya had organised a defence and quickly told Maddie to take her spot behind a bundle of rocks nearby. She looked up, noticing the barrel of a gun jutting out from the crag on the other side of the LZ.
That must be 'mother'.
"Permission to speak Ma'am?"
"Granted." Katya said, looking up the path, where a lone human in ODST jogged.
"Do all your missions end up with SPARTAN support?"
Katya didn't reply, her eyes focused on Drake as he made his way towards them.
"Mine do" Maddie admitted, dryly, cocking her pistol. "I'm two for two, now."
"Cool" Duggan grinned.
"Cut the chatter, exfil ETA is ten minutes!" He said sliding to the rocks beside Maddie, and handing her his DMR. "You're a better shot" he said as she took it, giving him the shotgun on her back. Maddie relaxed a little, taking comfort in the feeling of the large black rifle perched upon the rock, its rubber grip fitting neatly into her hands.
"Sir, what are they?" She asked.
"Classified. Even I'm not sure. SPARTANs, probably. Don't think about that now, though let's focus on living first, eh Lass?"
Maddie nodded and Drake explained the plan. The others would fight a slow retreat back to the base of the hill, to this little 'platform' where they would hold out until a Pelican arrived to pick them up. What followed was a quiet and tense few minutes spent listening to the encroaching sounds of gunfire and combat. Finally, the SPARTANs raced into view like a squad of dancers. There was grace in each of their movements and each of the newest generation seemed to show a subtle sense of individuality. Fender had a little guitar on his 'rear wing' and Program had a wrist mounted computer. It was a far cry, in SPARTAN terms, from the uniformity shown by Naomi and "Bee".
The first jackal came into view and Maddie focused, moving the reticule in her scope over its legs and squeezing the trigger. The shield absorbed it and he threw himself to the side, only for Maddie to pivot and squeeze again. The gun kicked and sent a bullet flying through the air towards the little figure, where it squawked in pain, the bullet piercing his shoulder. A burst sounded from above. Mother. Maddie watched as it wriggled as though it had been electrocuted and then fell limp.
Suddenly, more and more of them appeared, a veritable horde of Alien's burst into the kill zone, where, now in the open, they panicked. The grunts in pairs threw up their arms, the others, igniting their grenades, tried to charge them down. Maddie targeted those ones first. One shot. Down. Two shots. Down. Both of them exploded, injuring more of their brethren with their misplaced grenades. Maddie glanced to her right as one of the SPARTANs shrugged off a volley from a plasma rifle.
Shields!
She refocused, tracing the shot back to its source. An elite stood near the right of the opening, suppressing her unit with accurate bursts of the weapon. Three quick shots put its shields on the brink, then two more at its head sent blood spattering over the wall. The Elites seemed to realise that this was an elite team that they faced, holding themselves back and throwing more fodder at them. Maddie watched their little feet tearing up the ground ahead of them, bits of snow seemed to make them stumble towards them like a drunken mob as they kicked it up into the air. It formed a sort of mist around them, creating a mythical scene of an old brutal medieval battlefield. As if to prove that point, bodies began to pile up in to a wall, forcing the grunts to chamber over their dead to reach them.
Someone tossed a grenade, trying to dislodge the wall but it wouldn't budge, it gave the enemy enough cover to get Elites to the front, and a swarm of them began poring over the lip. Maddie felled one, then two, it fell not four feet ahead of her and she rose to a knee, seeing "b" go hand to hand as they fought them off.
Drake touched his ear and glanced behind him, "get down!" He yelled.
A turret in the bay of a Pelican erupted a chasm of fire down upon the Elites, forcing them to dive for cover. The Pelican lowered and Maddie made her way over to it, standing just at the top of the ramp, helping her squad up and into the seating area. First came Duggan, clutching his arm, then Katya who nodded at her as she entered. Drake followed next, then "B" and three other SPARTANs.
"New contact!" The pilot yelled, as green bomb exploded just below the ramp. It rocked the Pelican and Maddie lost her balance. Drake was thrown to the floor, his shotgun slid across the deck and out in the night, followed swiftly by Maddie. Briefly, she caught sight of a banshee, screaming through the sky before she spun out of control and landed with a thud on the ground.
She blinked, looking up as Fender checked her vitals. She heard him give the all clear before the banshee banked towards her and rattled a string of shots off. Fender leaned over her and took three shots to the back and side, slumping on top of her with a grunt. Maddie could smell the plasma burn and scrambled out from under him, heaving as the heavy armour crushed her.
"He's alive, but unconscious," Maddie growled, dragging him behind a set of rocks, "draw away that banshee until we can figure something out."
The pilot didn't argue, and the banshee didn't check on its kill. It dove for the transport, the pair of them rumbling out of sight. The top of the mountain had slowed a little, it seemed there weren't many of the enemy left. Naomi and Mother formed a defensive line ahead of her and Maddie glanced around.
Drake's shotgun!
She grabbed it, pumping it with a firm clink and grinned as an Elite dropped stealthily behind Mother. She aimed and felt the gun grunt. There was a gurgling and the Elite slumped. Two more charged, Naomi cracked its shields and Maddie stepped forward unloading a shell into its gut. It sunk to its knees, viscera spilling from the wound. Naomi had moved on but the Elite didn't clutch the wound, his hand moved towards a grenade. Maddie raised the gun and fired it straight into its face, killing it.
Maddie remembered, standing next to Naomi, her fight in her favourite valley, beneath the burned remains of her favourite ash tree. It was just after their flight from the city of Orestis where Naomi had commandeered a banshee. She blinked.
"We need a plasma pistol!" Maddie said, starting forward, "covering fire!"
The SPARTANs pushed forward, laying down fire as Maddie slid into the low wall of dead bodies and began sifting through the discarded pistols for one with the right amount of charge.
"Harper, what are you doing?" Naomi asked, a little irritated as an Elite died, mid-swipe, in front of her.
"Gnomes, jack yourself that banshee!" She shouted, pointing into the sky, where the pilot was trying to follow the Pelican. Smartly, the pilot sealed the space worthy pelican and tried to use the altitude to keep the banshee away from it. This worked, and the banshee circled, waiting for its inevitable attempt at rescue.
Maddie finally found one, and clipped it to her belt, scurrying back to Naomi and tossing it to her as the pulled back to safer ground. The Elites were down to about four or five troops, swords drawn in one hand and rifles in the other. They advanced as a group, pinning Naomi and Mother back as Maddie yelled instructions to the pilot.
Naomi leapt into the air, pirouetting above the Elites and slamming a knife into one of their shoulders. Maddie waited until she struck again, spinning away from the other two before drawing her pistol and riddling the elite with bullets. Mother ditched her weapon and drew her knife, crouching low in a stance that she remembered from her days failing to learn MMA in school. The Elite to her left swiped, then the other followed. Mother moved between them with grace and speed, hooking the first off balance with a sweep of her foot as the other pressed the attack.
Maddie noticed the Pelican dive back into the fray as a squadron of broadswords and banshees clashed behind them, swooping freely between each other with huge yellow and blue explosions being the only thing to separate them in their torrid dance of danger and death.
"Harper, this is Drake!"
Maddie looked to the Elite on the floor ahead of her and jammed her shotgun in its mouth, its eyes wide in surprise even after she pulled the trigger.
"Yes sir?"
"We're being pulled by Parangosky, get to the Ides and initiate Cole protocol, there's another pelican en-route."
Maddie grimaced, "E.T.A?"
"Another ten minutes. We're making a pass, Naomi, this is your chance."
A woosh could be heard, and a giant shadow passed over head as the Pelican passed them by, followed by the banshee. Naomi grunted, kicking the elite with a spin to the side of the face, it's neck snapping with a nasty crack. Naomi turned robotically, and sprinted towards the ledge of the cliff. The pistol glowed as she ran. She raised it and let go of the trigger. The bolt zipped into the sky for a full second, veering towards the banshee before it cackled, sparkling in an electromagnetic wave that killed its engines. It dropped from the sky. Naomi followed, dropping the pistol and launching herself from the side of the cliff and free falling out of sight.
"Watch out!" Mother grimaced, throwing an Elite towards another, that was thrusting at Maddie's head.
She rolled away and Maddie stood, reeling as another advanced on her. She side stepped its tired swings and shot it in the leg. A second saw Maddie as the easy target and moved to kill her, slicing the barrel off of her shotgun before Mother clattered into it. Maddie dropped it to the floor, letting it crunch snow as she ignited her wrist blade and crouched, jamming it into the neck of the felled Elite. It gurgled and died. Maddie saw that it wasn't over, there were two left, one wrestled with Mother on the ground, the other advanced on her as she pulled her axe free.
It dipped into its fighting stance and Maddie followed suit, twirling the axe in her hand as it watched her carefully. She smiled, hoping to show this SPARTAN what the name "viper" meant among the UNSCs finest. Maddie knew her strengths, she was fast, a small target but powerful for her size, she had reach that would surprise this Elite so long as she stayed close, neutralising its advantage of brute strength, speed, and practice. Its teeth were wolf like, bared and flexing along each little row of teeth.
Come and get it split jaw.
She threw a feint right, baiting the Elite into attack. Then she deftly changed directions, parrying the sword wide with her bracer as she brought the axe around and jammed it into the side of the Elite. It yelped in surprise and roared, knocking Maddie back with an angry fist. She flew through the air, landing in a slump on the snow as the Elite yanked the blade from its hip and staggered towards her, dumping it in the snow as she scrambled to her feet. She knew she needed to get close, but the Elite was wary now and even more crucially, he was wounded, walking with a slight limp. An animal in trouble was always more dangerous than one that thought it had the advantage.
It huffed as it rounded on her again, she ducked between a low branch, then moved back, baiting him again. Luckily for Maddie, the wound was deep and alien blood oozed from the socket she had made in his side. He growled in frustration and swung at the tree but Maddie was already on the move, diving into his attack she ducked the blade and sliced at its heel with her wrist blade. Again, it roared but it was cut short as Maddie spun, driving the axe into the front of its throat with a heavy crunch with such force that she almost decapitated it.
Maddie glanced up, watching Mother grind her knife into the last Elite's eye before yanking it free with a quick slip of the hand. It fell into the snow and all was strangely calm. What had been a raging vortex of stress and fighting only minutes ago now seemed like the eye of the storm. Maddie felt her chest rise and fall; Mother barely even looked inconvenienced.
"Who says we need SPARTANs, eh?" Maddie joked, clearly gasping for breath. "I could do your job with no clothes on" she added, holstering her blades and tapping the woman on the back of the shoulder pads. The SPARTAN laughed, nervously, which gave Maddie pause, SPARTANs were awkward but they weren't nervous. Then again, she'd only ever met Naomi, and her situation, wasn't exactly an encouraging one for social interaction. Still, with characteristic zeal, Maddie channelled her inner conversationalist. "We should probably go check on your friend." She said, with a shrug.
Mother stopped looking at Maddie, realising that her friend had been hurt and darted over to him, sliding beside him and talking to him quietly. Maddie watched the skies, Naomi was busy warding off enemy banshees, destroying them to make way for the incoming Pelican.
Naomi was as graceful in the sky as she was on the ground, the way she seemed to make that Banshee an extension of herself was awe inspiring, and Maddie stood alone on the top of the mountain, watching the world destroy itself before her. Naomi danced through the sky in the foreground, directing her eyes to the stars above, where a gigantic battle raged, MAC rounds streaking through the sky like a thousand comets, plasma fire created blue and purple vortices of violence that engulfed whole battle-groups. Then Naomi dived, like a hawk, towards the ground, where the UNSC slaughtered and rampage its way through Covenant defences. Maddie smiled, a victory, she thought. Pyrrhic though it might be, the UNSC needed this, and desperately so. Naomi twirled again, heading straight for a lone Phantom.
It emerged from the east, where the glassing of the next nearest continent burned the sky back into a chilling faux-daylight forged in claret and honey. She pursued it relentlessly, going first for its guns and cannon, then it's engine. She swooped in tidy, wide arcs, landing each hit successively as she allowed the forces of nature guide her shots, pulling as hard as she could without, presumably, allowing gravity to knock her unconscious.
She pulled hard to the right before slamming her boosters on, darting away to a new approach vector. Somehow, the lone phantom had broken through the vicious cyclone of broadswords and banshees, pressing on towards them with a dogged determination and a sullen acceptance that the craft wasn't to survive. Naomi seemed to realise this as she began bombing the weak undercarriage and its two circular engines.
Fender was hauled to his feet with a grunt. "Some good fighting there, Lieutenant." He said, coughing. "You certainly live up to your reputation"
Maddie glanced away from the fight, looking at the beleaguered SPARTAN as he stood with the help of Mother.
"My reputation?"
He nodded, "The Viper, one of the Sirens of Skopje. Everyone knows who you are, especially us SPARTANs."
"Why? You guys are genetically engineered, had you been in my position, you would have been able to do so much more." As she said this, she could see herself standing in Mother's visor. Her suit was battle hardened and she stood proudly. As an augmented human female, she stood tall at 5'11. She could see in that visor, a warrior. She wasn't a spook. She wasn't some toy for ONI to play with, she was someone who had faced the odds and come out clean. The longer she stared, the more Maddie got the feeling that even ONI wasn't what she would be best at, or even known for.
Maddie had the voice of her ancestors in her head. She knew that she had the power to lift her people up, to teach them to defend themselves so that the destruction around her: the genocide and the glassing, could never happen again.
"You prove that we were already capable of great feats of daring, compassion, and survival. You're the reminder that a SPARTAN is more than the sum of their augmentation, it's about mentality, discipline, passion, and courage. Those aren't the sort of things that come out of a test tube."
"Even still," Maddie replied, quietly. They looked a little uncomfortable, as though they shouldn't be talking of this, but Maddie's attention returned to the sky, where Naomi was flying straight towards the craft, which smoked black plumes like blood from a wound.
"Is she going to-" Fender said, hoarsely
"Ram it. Yeah." Maddie replied, "gather weapons and ammo, this isn't over yet. Maddie scurried about, kicking, dragging, and pulling all sorts of weapons towards her as a roar was heard in the sky. Naomi fell to the ground, slamming snow, dirt and rock into the air as she hit the deck, her steely blue armour glinting in the moonlight.
Above, her Banshee veered straight into the gap between the strong armour on top of the shell, and the undercarriage. The explosion ripped its fuselage in two as it careered into the mountain just up the slope.
Maddie swallowed, waiting.
Silence.
Then, 'wort'.
"Tell me evac is nearly here." Maddie said, her voice shaking as Covenant pulled themselves from the wreck.
Naomi turned and pointed, "a minute out." She said, gesturing at a pelican steaming towards them.
An elite roared behind her and charged. Almost twenty of them had survived. She drew her pistol, feeling its weight and proceeded to make seven shots, all to the head in rapid succession. Each kick seemed to return the sights to a new target and Maddie allowed instinct to take over as the group charged, the grunts falling around them as soon only jackals and Elites remained. Her gun clicked empty so she dropped it and reached for a needler, levelling it at an Elite and firing. It was powerful, she needed to wrestle with it to stop the recoiled from snapping her arms but it's tracking latched onto the Elite and it grunted, spasming as half a clip found its mark before exploding into a pink mist.
Maddie saw the jackals flanking, and relayed the order, grabbing a carbine from the small pile and taking a knee. Again, the focus she had was immense, she spied its hands, and squeezed the trigger. The alien weapon bucked and the shot melted burned its right forearm and hand. The shot made its shield drop, exposing the body. Maddie shot twice, the first hit the rock behind it, the second went into its shoulder.
Fender was shooting his DMR from the floor, firing at the flanking Jackals. His position wasn't ideal and Maddie found herself tackled by a skirmisher as it tried to pounce, snapping at her throat with its claws. She wheeled at the blow but managed to parry the follow up, and plunge her wrist blade into its chest.
As she stood, Maddie could feel the snow whipping around her as the drop ship lowered its ramp. Maddie jumped on board and took control of the chain gun, spooling it up and driving the attackers back. The flight sergeant yelled for the rest to get on and Naomi turned, grabbing the wounded SPARTAN before walking up the slope, Mother walking backwards, still firing.
An Elite growled loudly, bursting forward. It weirded a needler. He roared and fired everything he could at them, the shots speeding towards them as they began to pull away.
"Ramp!" Maddie called.
"Too late!" The pilot screamed.
Maddie could only watch. The pink streaks shot forth like crystalline shards of flamboyant death. She saw in them memories of her sister and her churned up stomach. She closed her eyes, hoping that it would end it quickly. Then she was thrown to the floor. One of the SPARTANs decked her, sending stars to explode in her eyes from the impact. Her eyes shot open, clearing just in time to see them take the brunt of the attack. The Pelican twisted to avoid it, but some got through, peppering the SPARTAN with the shards until her shields cracked and her visor shattered.
Maddie blinked. Fender yelped. Naomi slammed the emergency door button, closing it as they climbed high into the sky. Naomi then knelt beside the SPARTAN, and visibly sighed.
"Is she alright?" Fender asked, as Maddie pulled herself to her feet. He got a weary thumbs up and he chuckled. "Damn. You are one lucky girl. Evie will be glad you're not dead, Saskia too. They like outnumbering me and Vic."
"Jesus, Mother," Maddie said, heaving. She stumbled towards the SPARTAN, who still lay on the floor, catching her breath. "Was like getting hit by a train-"
She blinked.
"Hey, Mads." She smiled.
"Maggie?"