We thundered outta slip like bat outta hell. Concord was a short jump, no one had gone on ice. The red alert had been sounded and we'd all been dragged along this crusade to a far-flung theatre of war. At least, that's what I thought it was. Concord wasn't a front or a theatre, it was a sideshow. A bloody one, but a sideshow nonetheless.

Systems were slow to come online, temperamental as a result of extensive slip space travel. While they were down, I had total control, moving the ship in as tight an arc as possible towards the planet. Thirty years ago, this manoeuvre would have killed everyone on board. Ironically, it was the covenant we had to thank for the artificial gravity that stopped the blood clotting in our veins and arteries.

"Comms are up!" Drip said, his voice shaking.

"Nav online!" Mei called out, her voice shaking only a little as the war table began to feed the bridge a live view of the star system.

A cluster of ships appeared in orbit over Concord's northern pole and turned towards us, I glanced at the Nav panel and saw a ship on the monitor, right between us.

"Curran, you're right on top of the enemy!" Captain Harper yelled, his voice straining.

"These coordinates were FUBAR, we're totally exposed! Enemy on an intercept course by my mark." Curran growled, his voice fighting panic, "crew are panicking, sir."

There was a ping on the Nav console again as Curran updated the position, he believed his ship would be destroyed.

"Van Graff, get us out of the firing lane, hard burn towards Concord's moon"

"Aye Captain!" I replied, grinning eagerly as I kicked the thrust into its highest 'gear' and gunned it towards Concord's large moon.

"Curran, get your bridge under control, put yourself on a course for that moon."

"Aye, sir"

Kohli blinked as she sat beside me, leaning over to the captain and whispering to him, "Sir, you know he's not going to make it, right?"

The captain was washed white with dread, "I know, but his crew are inexperienced and his ship can't take on a squadron of covenant capital ships. The least he can do is mask our movement for a bit." he replied coldly. Then he looked at me, "Keep us inside the emissions flare of his thrusters, we can hide there."

I nodded, it was a near impossible task, requiring both manual control and a near constant stream of computer calculations as I began to guide the Song of the East into position in the emissions tail left behind. Tense minutes passed as the other systems came online and Drip, who had to clear his throat, turned to the captain.

"S-sir, communique from the planetary…" he frowned, "the orbit, Sir."

"This… Sierra… debris field, on my location…. Fujikawa…. Captain Harper, Sir…." the voice said, it was calm and composed, like the rays of a solar flare in the void, unaffected by the chaos that passed through it.

Kohli jolted upright and turned, "Sierra?" she asked, looking to the captain. I tell you, she looked like she'd been poked in the butt-cheek. Her face was tight with concentration and as alert as a freshly prodded bear.

"Sir, he mentioned your name," Drip said, "and Fujikawa…"

Captain Harper paced about, thumbing his chin dimples as he considered the information. "Can you clear up the signal?"

Drip shrugged, "It's possible if we have enough contact time, I'd need to tight beam their ship with the comms array but the signals are weak, Sir. It's possible they're not even using a ship to communicate.

"Right, so we need eyes on. Nav? Helm? Any ideas?"

"Are they our mission, sir?" Mei asked, "we shouldn't make risky manoeuvres for secondary objectives."

"They are." Kohli interjected, firmly. "A Sierra code can mean only one thing."

Captain Harper met her gaze and nodded, "We're here to extract a SPARTAN team."

"Well," Mei said, swallowing, "if we slingshot around Concord using the moon as cover, we can gather information as we pass"

"And I can make the pick-up" I said, expressing that confidence I was famous for, "I used to make these kinda cannonball runs all the time back on the Peony."

"Sir, this is a trap we've sprung, I don't doubt that Cadet Van Graff can pull it off but we need intel…" Mei trailed off as Curran's ship lurched, firing its emergency thrusters to alter its course.

"What is he doing?" Kohli asked, "Drippier, get Curran on the line, what the hell is he doing?"

"Curran, status report, what's going on?" The captain demanded; his knuckles white as they clasped the edges of the war table.

"Couldn't retain control, sir. We're under attack! Elites have boarded and I've enacted Cole Protocols. We'll take as many out as we can."

I watched with an open mouth as a miniscule blip flashed in the far off reaches of space and streaked across the sky. On the screen beside Mei, Curran's ship engines cut out as all power shifted to the MAC gun. His fighters deployed, too, no doubt carrying the HAVOK nukes it was armed with.

"Sir, his engine emissions are gone, we have thirteen minutes before we can no longer hide in the background" I said, butting in, "do I maintain this course?"

"Yes, Cadet, plot a slingshot trajectory around that planet, as well. Our only hope is staying mobile and getting out quick."

Brettman turned, "might I suggest we deploy a transport on the near side of the moon, they might help us triangulate their position."

"Get it done Cadet, good thinking."

Curran's ship had fired a few MAC rounds now, damaging the shields of half the enemy squadron, several bright flashes flared on the screen as Curran's nukes detonated, wiping out two corvettes. We all cheered for that and again when Curran dumped his entire reserve of archer missiles onto the remaining ships with low shields.

"Coming up on the moon, sir" I said, keeping him in the loop, "we need to hear from them again, and FAST. I can't guarantee this can work at all; those Corvettes are way quicker than us."

"Noted Ensign, Brettman, deploy the Pelican. Van Graff, as soon as they are away, I want you wrapping us around that planet, okay?"

"Aye, Sir!"

We all waited for the dark silhouette of the moon to pass, I tugged on the controls, pulling us around in a slightly tighter arc, adjusting the ship so that the widest view of the planet could be achieved. Slowly the shadow of Concord's moon slipped away, carefully undressing the battle beyond like some kind of twisted snuff movie. The first things we saw were several streaks of plasma, running through space like a tear on a cheek. The damn covenant had finished playing with their food, we could see Curran and his crew, now. The bolts struck the ship square on the bridge, cleaving the bridge crew from the rest of the ship and detonating it in a rough ball of light that seemed as big as the system's own sun.

"Shit…" Valette said, "how many did they take out?"

Mei leaned forward, "three," she said, her voice quivering, "he managed to take out three!"

"Another transmission, sir!" Drip exclaimed, "it's much clearer"

"This is Sierra-006, Grey Team leader, Captain Harper, do you read me? We are behind you, you've passed us. Recommend slingshot and retrieval. Captain Harper, do you read me?"

"Sierra-006, this is Captain Harper of the UNSC Song of the East. I read you, we have a Pelican en route to your location, please stand-by."

"It's good to hear your voice Captain, we were worried for a moment."

"Thank me when we're out of the bloody system, SPARTAN. Be ready." he spoke watching Kohli the whole time, looking as though he knew something was annoying her. I mean she looked irritated but she always looked irritated. "Brettman, send that Pelican to pick them up, make sure that nothing is left of Fujikawa's nav console. Cole Protocol is paramount. Valette, what's our weapons status?"

"Primed and ready on your mark, Sir."

"Excellent." he breathed deeply, "okay, let's do this. Van Graff, bring us around."

I watched through the window as the Song of the East skirted the orbit of Concord. The planet was a mess, carved up by a fleet of plasma excavators and a planetary war that had lasted several months. Kohli sat glaring at the southern pole and the blood orange aurora that encompassed the mountain range that ran around the edge of the Antarctic shelf. The destruction was beautiful and dramatic, had humans not lived here, I might have even said that aloud. It was a strange admission but the quietness from the rest of the crew suggested that it evoked introspection from everyone present, their eyes glued to the destruction like a spotlight to an orator.

"Sir, the Pelicans have made contact, I have a team sweeping the wreckage but Fujikawa seems to have successfully executed the Cole Protocol. Grey team are aboard and en route to the rendezvous." Brettman informed us, twisting his body towards the captain.

"Excellent work, Cadet." Harper replied, "nav, how close are we to a visual on the covenant squadron."

"If they held position, about ten minutes. It's hard to say what they might do considering they hold the advantage." Mei said, awkwardly.

Annoyingly, she was more than right to be unsure. Harper, Curran, and Fujikawa together would have struggled against a single cruiser. That they were corvettes was only a small point in our favour because they still had shields and they still had better guns. The fleetmaster could move close and finish us off if he was bold, or he could sit half a system away and pick us off from afar. I wasn't sure which they might pick, they had intended to trap us but to what end? The likely answer was that they were searching for grey team or an artifact on the planet. Did they think Grey team was still planet side?

"Drippier, can you run a scan of the planet? Specifically, the areas that Grey team were operating from?" I asked, breaking the silence that had fallen whilst the captain considered his options.

Drip looked to Mei, who shrugged and then to the captain. "Cadet, call Grey team and get a rough non-classified answer from them. What are you thinking, Van Graff?"

"I'm thinking the Covenant don't know that Grey Team are off planet."

"Pelican convoy is docking," Brettman said, "Hold course."

"Get them up here ASAP for a debrief."

"Aye, Sir."

With only four minutes until assumed visual contact, the two minutes that passed waiting for Grey Team to spill onto the bridge was excruciating. When their leader, Jai, arrived on the bridge, every Cadet, Ensign, and marine on the bridge turned to gawk at the SPARTAN, who towered over everyone like a space elevator. None of us had seen a SPARTAN up close and were it not for the ONI propaganda vids that made them famous, most people would rightly doubt they were even human. Jai stood taller than even the captain, with arms as thick as the Song's bulkheads. When he stepped onto the bridge, he seemed to know us all instantly, his manner like that of a Lord, lauding his status over the subdued proletariat.

"Covvies think I'm still planet side, Sir. Brilliant manoeuvre from your man Fujikawa. I'm sorry he had to give his life for us." Jai said, his visor emotionless like the great void of space.

I glanced around, noticed the submissiveness in my fellow Cadets faces. Even Mei seemed quiet and small in the face of the SPARTAN. I shook my head. "Fujikawa was a good guy… what did you get him killed for?"

The SPARTAN turned quick on his heel, making me jump a little as he stalked towards me, his giant heavy boots clomping on the deck. He looked me over, his faceless helmet was sizing me up until he reached out and grabbed my arm.

"Cadets? They sent cadets?!" He exclaimed, stepping back a bit. "What game is Parangosky playing?"

Alex Harper coughed to clear his throat, "Admiral Harper was wondering the same thing. I was put on this mission last minute, SPARTAN."

"Okay, well, we can discuss that later. Let's just get out of the system first." He replied, dismissively.

I refocused on my own job as the edge of Concord gave way to open space. To the planet's polar south travelled one corvette, one of the undamaged ones and ahead, scouring the wreckage of Curran's destroyer, were the other two covenant ships.

"What's the plan, Captain?" I asked, tensing up.

Alex stood and stepped forward. Attaching a small device to his collar. "Cadets…" He began, his voice reverberating throughout the ship. "By now, you will have heard of the fate of friends. Rumours of panic aboard Curran and Fujikawa's vessels will have reached you also. It is natural to be scared and to feel powerless. In the Navy, the fundamental attribute we require is trust. Trust in the people in your section, trust in your officers, trust in the crewman beside you. You have been taught to know that the person beside you will do their job and you know that because you have been taught as they have. You were taught to conquer that most basic of human instincts… self-preservation. We are the brave. We are the steel. We are those who act when others would kneel. These words I offer as a mere reminder, a reminder that you are trained, you are capable, and you are courageous. Now, all hands, battle stations!" He removed the pin and pocketed it before looking straight at me.

"Your orders sir?"

"Charge them." He said.

I nodded with a grin that would have hurt a normal man's jaw and kicked the Song into max thrust. That was when the battle began.