CCS Illuminate Elegy, Orbiting Blue Sky, Weiran System, 01/07/2526

Age 19

"The planet looks… nice," I say looking out the window, "as far as first combat goes I'll take a tropical planet."

Yr gives me a look from next to me, "I'm sure you'll have time to appreciate the scenery during combat."

"Yeah," I deadpan, "I always love a good flower picking session during a gunfight."

The Illuminate Elegy had landed in the system a couple hours ago. The reason the Illuminate Elegy needs to be here is that there have been Forerunner relics detected on the planet, so bureaucracy got in the way and the Covenant can't glass the planet.

Hence why a CCS ship was sent in. The expeditionary fleet technically had enough manpower to take the colony by itself but the Covenant sent a CCS ship instead so that there would be no chance of anything going wrong.

And also the Covenant just has this many ships to spare.

"What'd you say this planet was called again?" I ask.

"You never asked," Yr responds, "there's no formal name for this planet. I've heard Kors II be used, but I don't care all that much."

"Do the humans not have a name for their colony?" I ask, trying to prod him further.

He pauses, "If I remember correctly I think the translation for their name comes approximately out to Blue Sky," he snorts derisively, "an absolutely unimaginative name."

"Yeah," I sarcastically respond, "I'm sure they decided to name their colony Blue Sky because they knew it would piss off whoever invaded."

"If you're going to found a colony then the least you could do it give it a name of importance," he mockingly gestures to the planet, "a colony like that and all they can come up with is Blue Sky. What do you think they called their homeworld, 'Brown Dirt'?"

A fleet of phantoms undock from the Illuminate Elegy and make their way planetside. Yr's terminal chimes from next to me.

"We're waging total war," I reply, "and all you can think about is their poor naming conventions."

"Irregardless of the fact that you were the one to ask for the colony's name," Yr says, "we can continue the conversation later. Our transport is leaving soon."

Yr walks off leaving me standing at the window gazing at the planet.

"Blue Sky," I whisper in English. The word tastes utterly foreign yet distinctly calming. I haven't had a reason to speak English in 19 years. It's… odd.

At least my English skills will be of use soon.

Maria POV

Maria watched in mild satisfaction as the people of Blue Sky slowly moved into the bunkers. They had no choice really, the war had just broke out and it was already on their doorsteps, reactions have been sluggish in response so all they could really do is bunker down and hope they can weather the storm.

It was sad to see so many people she cared about facing impending doom, but at least she can bask in the solidarity from a now unified colony. She had always expected that she would meet her end with her stint in the UNSC, Maria specifically came to an outer colony to hopefully ignore all the violence going on.

Now it just seemed to find her.

Maria is broken from her concentration as someone walks up beside her. She turns around, "Alex!" she greets, "about time you got here."

The titular richest person on the colony looked exhausted. His hair was undone and far longer than she had ever seen him with, he had stubble poking out of his chin where he normally kept it clean shaven. His clothes are wrinkled, messy and probably dirty. In clammy gray hands he holds a flask with a J written on the front.

Maria looked at the flask and crossed her arms, "When did you start drinking again?" she scolded him.

Alex tiredly looked from the flask to Maria. He glances at his watch and slurs, "several hours ago."

"Have you been drinking all day?" Maria demands, "we're about to be in a warzone and all you can think about is how best you can get drunk!"

Alex looks disappointed with himself, she runs her hands through her hair and sighs, "sorry. I'm really fucking stressed right now. I'm trying to keep everyone organized and it feels like no one wants to."

Alex just stood there silently in front of her. As much as Maria doesn't want to admit Alex is probably suffering more than she is.

"Sorry Alex," Maria says, "you have been doing your best. Hell most of us would be sitting ducks if you didn't lend your family bunker out."

Alex brightens up if only a bit, he looks in her eyes, opens his mouth and whispers, "thanks."

Maria returns the smile if for only a moment before turning back serious, "were you able to find the weapons I asked for?"

When the people of Blue Sky initially realized that they were about to be invaded, the distinct lack of effective weaponry became immediately apparent. For most of its history, Blue Sky was largely an agrarian colony and never needed a strong military presence.

Again, why Maria chose to move here.

But when she realized she was in desperate need of weapons in order to actually defend their home Maria realized there simply wasn't enough in the militia to stand a chance.

So Maria turned to Alex. She had always suspected him, and especially his father for insurrectionist ties. It would explain the constant state of paranoia the elder Jameson seemed to exude when he was alive and why an obscenely rich business savant would even find interest in a backwater colony. When he died her fears were partially alleviated, but she always suspected that the Jameson manor had a weapons cache hidden inside it.

That's why Maria asked Alex if he could find any weapons. She knew he had some hidden somewhere, she was more asking if he was willing to share it to help the colony.

Alex takes another deep swig from the flask and says, "yeah. Found some guns, some armor and a fuck ton of explosives."

That all but confirms his insurrectionist ties, and Alex is definitely lucid enough to realize that. Maria sighs and replies, "thanks. As far as I care I don't give two shits about where they came from? But, where are the weapons right now?"

Alex lazily walks over to the truck that he came here in. He unlatches the back and opens it up. The entire bed is filled to the brim with weaponry. Frag grenades, assault rifles, pistols, ammo, helmets, body armor, rockets and a lot of plastic explosives.

Maria lets out a whistle of approval. "Damn," she notes, "that's enough to field a small army."

Alex lets out a grim smile, "there's more back home."

"Good," Maria replies, picking up a pistol and testing the sights, "grab what's left of the weaponry, and take it to the armory. If anyone asks, just tell them I found it. If anyone bothers after that, just tell them to fuck off," Maria tosses the empty pistol back into the truckbed.

Alex nods and takes another swig from his flask, Maria grabs the flask out of his hands, and scolds him, "and for fucks sake stop drinking so much."

Maria glances at the flask in her hands. She probably shouldn't but she puts it up to her mouth and chugs whatever is left.

She coughs, "is this fucking wine?"

Alex shrugs.

Maria hands the now empty flask back to Alex, "My apologies Lord Jameson," she sarcastically mocks putting on a kingly accent, "I wasn't aware that you are such leagues above us rabble that you shall only feast in the finest wines."

Alex glances at the flask and shrugs, "was all I could find."

Maria purses her lips. She can still taste the alcohol in her mouth. The wine was probably the nicest she'll ever drink, but can't he have anything else but wine?

"Hey auntie!" A voice yells from behind Maria and Alex.

Maria immediately shuts the truck and twists around.

"Hannah!" Maria says, moving to block any angle of the truck bed, "how's it going?"

The young girl skips over to the truck. She's wearing overalls, and has large rimmed glasses with lenses that are almost shaped like spheres. Her glasses are partially covered by her long fiery red hair that she shares with Maria.

"Good!" Hannah chirps, swaying in place to some imaginary beat, "how are you doing auntie Maria?"

Maria smiles, "I'm doing fine. I see someone has been working on their manners. What are you doing outside the bunker?"

Hannah beams, "Thanks! I wanted to tell you something."

Maria bends down to get on eye level with Hannah, "You can tell me in a second, now do your auntie a favor. She needs to talk with her friend a bit longer, go wait over there," Maria says pointing over to a nearby tree, "and count to 100. Can you do that for me?"

Hannah nods vigorously, "of course!"

Hannah runs off to wait by the tree. Maria turns back to Alex who watched the interaction with half amusement and half disinterest.

"What did I tell you to do again?" Maria quizzes Alex who stares blankly back.

He pauses a couple of seconds, and eventually answers, "grab the rest of the weapons. Take them to the armory."

"Good enough, just don't take too long," Maria replies, "if you're sober enough to remember this, after that lock down the bunker. I'm tired of people thinking they can leave just because they are too bored."

Alex nods. And Maria stressed, "can you remember that?"

Alex nods, albeit a bit slower this time, "yeah… I think."

"And…" Maria continues, speaking in a lower tone, "when you inevitably grab more alcohol. Bring the rest.."

Alex raises his finger and opens his mouth to respond, but Maria continues before he can respond, "if we get out of this alive I'll buy you all the fucking wine you want. I know you have enough hidden away to last you several months."

A shrill voice yells from behind a nearby tree, "100, I'm done counting Auntie!"

"God damn it," Maria mutters, "you know what? Take the truck and go a couple hundred feet down the road. After I'm done talking with Hannah we'll finish the conversation."

Alex nods and jumps in the truck, turning it on and driving down the road.

Hannah skips over to Maria, "is that your boyfriend?" Hannah asks excitedly.

Maria smiles, "Ex-boyfriend sweetie. We haven't dated in a couple of years," Maria explains.

Hannah frowns, "he seems… weird," she glances at his car, which is parked on the side of the road, "why is he waiting over there?"

Maria mutters, "because he's a moron sweetie," she bends down to Hannah's level and takes her hand, "now why are you here? And where's your brother?"

Hannah looks at the ground, suddenly finding the dirt extremely interesting, "I don't know. Papa told me to watch him and now I can't find him."

Maria takes a deep breath, "wait what? Why didn't you tell me that immediately?"

Hannah avoids Maria's gaze, "I'm sorry auntie Maria. It won't happen again. I was afraid that papa would be upset with me, so I wanted to find you."

Maria runs her hand through her hair, and lets out a sigh of frustration, "it's okay sweetie. We all make mistakes. But when and where did you last see your brother?"

"We wanted to go swimming at Jameson Grove, we were bored of being in the bunker all day," Hannah explains, "I told Aiden that papa wouldn't be happy if he found out that we left the bunker. He said Papa was too busy to notice."

"Does your father even know where you are right now?" Hannah asks.

"No, I'm sorry."

"Okay, sweetie," Maria says trying to mask her frustration, "go back in the bunker. Tell your papa what happened and that your auntie is going to find your brother. Okay?"

Hannah beamed as if she suddenly forgot she was supposed to be upset, "okay. Thanks auntie Maria! Bye bye."

"Stay safe," Maria replies. She lets out a long sigh after her niece is out of earshot and groans in frustration.

Maria glances down the road; Alex is still sitting in his car, waiting for her. Maria jogs over to the car and hops in the passenger side door.

Alex is sitting in the driver seat with one hand on the steering wheel and the other on his signature golden flask. He's taking another swig as she enters. He tries to hide it but Maria immediately demands, "are you hiding alcohol in your car?"

"Maybe."

Maria considers scolding him but just takes a deep breath and waves a hand, "fuck it. Whatever, I don't care anymore," she closes the door and grabs the flask and takes another swig.

"Fuck I hate wine," she comments as she hands the flask back. She wipes residual wine from her lips and continues, "change of plans. You know that forest nearby the bunker? Jameson Grove?"

Alex nods, "of course."

"Didn't the river that runs through it flood recently?" Maria asks, "with the last typhoon?"

Alex nods.

"Well, my adorable dumb as hell nephew is somewhere there, and we're going to rescue him," Maria orders, "Capiche?"

He nods. He puts the car in drive but the car doesn't move.

She looks at him. He's clammy and is gripping the steering wheel so hard his fingers are turning white, "are you okay?" Maria asks, suddenly concerned.

He slowly points into the sky. Maria leans forward and follows his finger. She can see it as well, small dots in the sky flying down in some sort of swarm formation. If it were any other time she would have appreciated the sheer amount of coordination it takes.

But as it stood now, her stomach sinks and she suddenly finds it hard to breath.

"We need to go," Maria says, she glances at Alex who is sitting there barely able to move, "right fucking now!"

Vol POV

You know maybe my vision of warfare in Halo was kind of skewed by the game, but I expected to make planetfall and immediately be shooting. I had envisioned a World War II-esque scene where we are inserted in the middle of a battlefield and immediately surrounded by explosions and gunfire.

But instead the phantom ride was completely silent if not a little tense. We reach planetside, Yr gets debriefed and apparently we are defending a Tyrant Anti-Aircraft Cannon so that control of the airspace around is completely controlled by the Covenant.

Which leads me here.

And that leads me to another point that I didn't think I would ever say. I'm bored while in a warzone. Nothing is going on out here right now. I'm in the middle of some hilly grassland area. There's a couple mountains in the distance on either sides of me, and a city peeking over the horizon. So I'm in the middle of butt fuck nowhere, defending an anti-air cannon, because I was told to do so.

Occasionally the Cannon will light up, aim somewhere in the distance and let out an ear-splitting 3 shots, but that's about all the excitement I've been able to find recently.

Currently the squad I'm in is stationed inside the cannon itself. There's a couple squads outside patrolling the nearby area, and I know there's a couple Ghosts nearby for those squads to use if we were to get engaged.

I go up the ramp to the second level on the Cannon. Two grunt heavies in my squad are up there. One manning a Plasma Turret on the side of the railing and the other a fuel rod gun which he is leaning against a wall.

They're chatting quietly to each other. While there are squads where absolute silence would be enforced, Yr is relaxed enough to not care all that much.

I step to the side and glance over the horizon. Still nothing.

The cannon turns and fires. The entire platform I'm standing on shakes and there's the deafening thunder of the cannon firing.

I track the shots until I can't see them anymore. That's going to ruin someone's day whenever it finds them.

I glance back at the Unggoy Heavies. They barely reacted to the shots and are now watching me as I stare at them.

I wave awkwardly, "so, uh," I start, "how's it going?"

They stare at me as if I suddenly lit myself on fire. I take a deep breath and try again, "my apologies. My name's Vol. I don't think we've had the chance to talk yet."

I can't see the Unggoy's face due to their breathers so I can't really tell what they thought of my statement.

Eventually after a painful awkward couple of seconds the fuel-rod Unggoy takes a step forward and says, "Name's Bahad, grandson of Mehem. Of Naqlim's northern glacier. Friend here's named Kilm, nephew of Nwass, Of Naqlim's frozen tundra," he gestures to the Unggoy manning the plasma turret who nods.

He continues, "my friend here makes sure no one gets close, while my job's to blow shit up," he sayss resting his hand on the fuel-rod gun next to him.

I purse my mandibles in mild surprise. He's definitely different then most of the Unggoy I've talked to. I continue, "nice to meet y'all," I pause and think of what to say next, "my job's to make sure we don't die."

I'm sure that would work well on a resume. Bahad takes his hand off the fuel-rod gun and laughs a bit, "glad to hear. You'll have to pardon my friend here," he says gesturing again to Kilm, "he doesn't talk much."

I shrug, "I don't care all that much. Just wanted to get to know who I'm working with."

Bahad seems to relax a bit, "ay. I can agree with that."

I glance between Bahad's relaxed posture and Kilm's more tense one. I note, "No offence. But most other Unggoy I've talked to seemed hesitant to converse with me. Why do you seem not to care?"

Bahad pauses, "I don't know how it works on High Charity friend, but here most Sangheili I've worked with rarely every talk with their Unggoy underlings," he then glances at his fuel rod gun, leaning against the wall, and adjusts it, "I just learned not to care. As long as I keep shooting at the enemy, and my shots keep them distracted, I can be as much as an insufferable ass as I want."

I stare at him, "that's… a lot," I blink and shoo away stray thoughts, I jovially reply, "is this always how you introduce yourself?"

He shrugs, "I just learned that if we won't get along, I want to know right away and not a month later when I'm emotionally invested."

"That happen often?" I ask.

"Not really," he says, "most of the time Sangheili I've talked to don't exactly come back for a second conversation. Not that I care."

"Hmph," I snort in amusement, "most of us aren't emotionally developed. I wouldn't care that much."

He laughs again, chuckling as he responds, "understatement of the century."

I frown slightly at his response. Defaulting to the idea that only I can make fun of my own race. I mentally shake away the thoughts and respond, "nevertheless. I suppose as the new guy, I'll politely ask if there's any wisdom you want to share?"

"About what? Shooting?"

I shrug, "something more along the lines of anything I should know now that I'm actually fighting for the Covenant?"

"Ah," he nods, "there's not much to know. You'll figure it most out. Just be careful. Most people with power don't want to give you that power."

"So, I've heard," I respond, "speaking of people with power," I continue, glancing over the edge of the balcony to where most of the squad is below and making sure I'm speaking quiet enough, "what do you think of Yr?"

Bahad immediately stiffins. He rests his hand on the fuel-rod gun, "lemme just say. Remember when I said a bit ago that most Sangheili I've met don't want to converse with species lower than them? That extends to our glorious squad leader."

It makes sense, as much as I don't want to immediately admit it. He's nice to me because I'm Sangheili, and he had no one else in the squad he could relate to. If I was any other race chances are I would have never had the chance to chat with him.

I glance over the edge again. I can see Yr's red armor poking out from below. He didn't seem to hear our conversation.

I speak ever so quiet just in case, "sorry 'bout that. Not much I can do there."

"Like I said," he stresses, "I don't care."

"Fair enough."

The anti-air cannon fires again. For just a moment I'm reminded of another reason why I dislike being here. The world goes shaky and out of focus before straightening a moment later.

"You ever get used to that?" I ask.

He gives me a glance, "do you mean the cannon firing?"

"Yeah."

He shrugs, "kind of. You can never ignore it, but you eventually kind of get used to explosions and loud noises."

I go to reply but am cut off by the sound of shouting. Bahad immediately picks up the fuel-rod gun off the wall and shoulders it, while Kilm aims down his plasma cannon. Following them I grab the plasma rifle from my waist and raise it eye level.

I glance over the edge of the railing and down below. Yr is jogging out towards the field yelling something, I can't make out what's specifically he is saying, but he's pointing towards a nearby hill several hundred feet away.

I squint at the hill. On top of it I can see a distinct non-natural shape. It seems so very familiar for a second before I connect the dots. It's a warthog. I can see two figures next to them. Humans. They have been spying on us for who knows how long.

The humans have obviously seen that we know they are there. There look to be about 2 of them. They scramble into the warthog and the vehicle shaped blob in the distance falls below the horizon and disappears.

From beside me I can hear the whine as two ghosts speed after them. One manned by a Sangheili, one by an Unggoy.

Just as suddenly as everyone sprang to life, everyone slowly calms down. Everyone scans the horizon in case there are more groups spying on us.

Bahad turns to glance at me, fuel rod gun on his shoulder, "have you seen combat yet?"

I momentarily debate saying yes. Somehow thinking that if I say no he would ridicule me. I hold my breath for a second and examine him, the question seems more out of genuine curiosity than spite.

"No," I respond, "shipped from High Charity. I've fought before in training and sparring sessions, and even small mock battles, but never actual combat."

"Oh," he responds. He gives me a look that I can somehow see through his mask, "good luck."

Maria POV

"Didn't I tell you to stay in the bunker!" Maria demands, as she scolds her nephew, "god. What if something found you out here. We are literally under attack and the last thing I need right now is an impulsive child to deal with."

Aiden stammered in response. Maria had found him wandering near the riverbank by himself. By the time she had found him he had already had his fill swimming, and in a fit of independence decided to wander the riverbank.

"I'm… I'm safe though!" Aiden replies, "I already found the aliens. They're friendly!"

Maria screams, "You found WHAT?"

Aiden smiles, "let me show you. It's really cool! Trust me."

"No," Maria demands, "I'm taking you back to the bunker right now, and that's final."

Maria glances back at Alex who is sitting in the truck several feet away watching the conversation through an open window with a loaded assault rifle on his lap, "we're leaving right now," Maria says to him, "we're not alone. Keep your eyes peeled."

Maria grabs Aiden by the arm and drags him to the truck despite his protest. Half way over she sits him down and scolds, "Listen. You obviously want to be treated like an adult, so I'll do exactly that. I'm so extremely god damn stressed from everything that's going on, and the LAST thing I need is you to go through a rebellious phase. If I hear another word out of your mouth you are grounded for eternity."

"You don't understand, I found some aliens here. They're different than the ones attacking us!" he exasperates.

Maria frowns. Aiden almost never argues back, she had instilled a sense of respect in him from a young age. But there's the same nagging bit of information that she doesn't understand. If he did find aliens then they would already be dead. If he didn't then he wouldn't come up with such an excuse. If he did find friendly aliens… then what? She isn't an ambassador.

"You have exactly one minute," Maria tells him before she realizes she is saying it, "to convince me not to lock you in a chest and ship you back to earth via delivery."

Aiden brightens up, shouts, "follow me!" and sprints through the brush.

Maria glances back at Alex, "if I'm not back within 5 minutes, leave."

He nods.

Maria follows where Aiden ran off to. The ground is wet and muddy from the flood recently. Most of the foliage has been torn up, with only the trees consistently remaining. They're vaguely similar to Earth trees Maria has seen yet distinctly alien enough to feel like even Earth's weirdest corner wouldn't have this. They look almost like mushrooms with the canopy being made of interwoven wooden structures instead of leaves, and a small leaf covering on the top.

"Aiden, where are you?" She demands.

"Over here!" he yells back.

Maria follows the voice until she finds him in an opening. There's a large mound building into a mountain with a steep vertical wall nearby.

The recent flooding has stripped the wall clean of and mud from hundreds of landslides over millennia and reveals a structure hidden in the wall. An entrance built into the stone wall of the mountain.

That's distinctly alien.

And something completely different than the one's she's about to fight. She's seen the images of the purple bulbous technology the invaders are using. This is far different. This is refined, clean.

"Woah," Maria says. The entrance leads down into the ground. There's definitely something down there.

"Right!" Aiden exclaims, "Look how cool this is!"

Maria mutters under her breath, "god fucking dammit. This complicates things."

There's the sound of rustling from some nearby. Maria pulls a pistol off from her waist and aims it in the direction. It's Alex. The car bursts through some nearby foliage, skids across the slick around momentarily and comes to rest several feet away from Maria.

"Guys," he says, rolling down the window, "we need to - woah." He stops as he sees the entrance to the facility.

"Exactly!" Aiden shouts, "even your weird friend finds this cool!"

"That's enough from you," Maria says to Aiden, "Alex. What were you saying."

He gathers his breath and takes a swig from his flask, "we don't have much time. We need to leave right now. Attack's have already started in Hidalgo."

It's the longest continuous phrase Maria's heard him say in the past couple weeks. Maria just wishes it had been for literally anything else.

The inner child of Maria wants to explore the alien ruins. Find what secrets it's hiding, but the pragmatic adult doesn't care and only wants to find safety.

Maria takes a deep breath and makes her choice, "Aiden, we're going," Maria gave the ultimatum.

"But-"

"I'm not in the mood."

She loads him into the backseat. She hesitates for a second and hands him a sidearm from Alex's trunk, "don't shoot this unless absolutely necessary. Okay?"

Aiden replies, "yes ma'am."

She jogs to the back of the truck and grabs a rocket launcher, loads it on the truck bed, heads to the otherside of the car, and loads it next to Aiden, "don't touch this," she says as she places it there.

She climbs into the passenger seat. Alex placed the assault rifle he was holding on the seat. She grabs it and holds it in her hands, ready to fire it, "I'll shoot anything we see," she says, "let's go."

The engine of the car roars and they immediately take off. Maria muses that as drunk as he is, Alex is still a good driver, as he swerves around trees and avoids unnecessary bumps. She can't decide if that's a good or a bad thing.

They break out of the forest and into a clearing. They can already see the capital city of Hidalgo, with fires dancing across some of the buildings and phantoms flying in between the chaos, firing plasma bursts randomly.

"So," Maria starts, trying to ignore the shaking of the car as it flies over the plains, "your dad's bunker. Let's try not to get it discovered."

Maria pulls up a phone from her pocket and starts a call.

Almost immediately she gets a response. The voice on the other side is firm yet worried, "Maria, thank god. Please tell me you found my son."

Maria responds, "Everything's fine Austin," the car shakes violently and she bites her lip, "fuck, kinda. Listen, we're on our way back, you're son's safe with me. Shut the bunker right now, let no one in or out. I gave people more than enough time. I want everyone who can wield a gun watching any entrance they can find. Understand?"

There's no response. "Austin, are you there?" Maria asks.

"Yeah," an exhausted voice replies, "just never thought that this would actually happen," there's the sound of some typing and talking in the background, "order's sent. Bunker's going into full lockdown."

Maria sighs, "good. I'll talk to you later."

There's a pause from the other side and she can hear the faint sound of Austin fiddling in the background, "you want to say something," Maria notes.

"I, uh," Austin coughs, "how are you going to get back."

"I'll figure that out," Maria responds, "in the meantime you get the bunker secure."

"Good luck, you'll need it."

"Thanks, you too."

She relaxes and hangs up.

Alex speaks from besider her, "I don't wanna rain on your parade but we got some lost puppies followin' us."

Maria followers his eyes to the rear view mirror. She rolls down the window and looks out the window, there's two banshees in the distance. They obviously are trying to follow the truck.

"Hope your truck can weather plasma rain," Maria says leaning back into the car, "don't think they are in range yet, but they're definitely chasing us."

"Hmph," Alex simply grunts.

"You said before that your bunker has multiple entrances right?" Maria asks.

Alex nods in response.

"Where's the closest one?" Maria continues.

Alex points up ahead. There's a plateau in the distance. Alex's family manor is on top of the plateau. It's vaguely in the same area as the bunker, there must be a hidden entrance inside the manor.

"Guess we're taking a field trip to your manor then," Maria says.

She glances back out the window and at the banshees. She can barely make out their silhouettes at this distance. "They're gaining on us," Alex comments from the driver seat, taking a glance at his rear view mirror every other second.

"Thanks for the heads up," Maria sarcastically replies, "I'm on it."

She crawls into the backseat where the rocket launcher is. Aiden has to awkwardly squeeze out of the way so that Maria doesn't kick him in the face, but despite the limited space Maria is able to squeeze into the back.

She grabs the rocket launcher, it's hard to maneuver with it in the cramped space of the truck. Maria rolls down the window and experimentally sticks her head out.

They just reached an open field, with the last remnants of the forest fading behind them. At this point there's nothing in the way between them and the plateau ahead of them. So to put it bluntly, they're sitting ducks.

Maria leans back into the truck, and faces Aiden, "Here's what I need you to do Aiden."

"What?" Alex yells from the front of the car.

"Not you!" Maria yells back, "just focus on driving!'

Aiden is looking at Maria, waiting for her to finish, "I need you to hold on to me while I lean out the car. Whatever you do, don't let go, okay?"

Aiden nods vigorously, Maria adds on afterwards, "we'll be fine. Don't worry."

Maria leans out the window again and looks back. The Banshees occasionally are taking pot shots at this point, most of the shots don't even get close, but it's only a matter of time before they hit something that they shouldn't.

Maria pulls the rocket launcher out the window. At this point she is sitting on the window itself, having to use both hands to stabilize the SPNKR rocket launcher.

She can feel Aiden grab onto her shirt from inside the car. While she's not at risk of falling out, any large bump or tight turn could send Maria flying out of the car. Lovely.

Maria holds the rocket she gazes down the sight, and lines up the banshee on the right. She holds the trigger and the rocket beeps, locking on to the banshee.

The rocket launcher lets out a consistent beep and Maria lets go of the trigger.

Whoom

The rocket flies towards the banshee like a miniature star. The seconds count by infinitely slow as Maria watches the rocket travel.

1

2

3

4

5

Impact.

The banshee tries to dodge the rocket at the last second, but the rocket clips the wing, blowing off the entire appendage and damaging the rest of the craft. While the banshee is largely still intact it tumbles awkwardly towards the ground.

It hits the ground moments later, a purple fiery ball impacting the ground and sending dirt and mud flying in all directions as the craft detonates sending metal shards in all directions.

Maria aims towards the other banshee. It obviously sees the threat and pulls down, using the rough of the topography to make it near impossible to get a lock.

Maria pulls herself back into the car.

"I got one of the bastards," Maria says to Alex, "the other fucker is making it hard to get a good lock though."

Alex shrugs and responds, "we're getting close."

He gestures to the plateau. At this rate they might actually get to the manor before the other banshee is actually a threat.

The rest of the ride to the manor is tense, with all 3 of them constantly checking behind them in case the lone banshee chasing them becomes dangerous. Said banshee is dodging between mounds and rocks, keeping its distance just far enough to not be taken out, but close enough to be a constant threat.

Eventually they reach the base of the plateau. They slowly start heading the ramp up. The banshee, upon seeing this, ducks around the other side of the plateau.

"I don't like this," Maria starts, "once we're on top of the plateau, we're sitting ducks."

Alex grunts, "you have a better plan?"

"Yeah, not dying," Maria dryly replies.

Alex grunts again but besides that doesn't show any reaction. Maria holds the rocket launcher tighter in her lap.

They reach the crest of the ramp up. They don't see the banshee immediately, but that doesn't help alleviate the fear. In the middle of the plateau the manor still stands, so tantalizingly close.

There's a screaming sound and a green ball flies right over the car and explodes in front of them. The car violently shakes and for a second the car shifts to only being on two wheels.

The car slams back down on the road and they skid off the road before Alex is able to gain traction and climb back onto the paved road.

Maria pulls herself out the window and aims the rocket launcher. A strafe of plasma bolts fly behind, barely missing the trunk.

Maria looks up, the banshee crosses right above her, blocking the sun momentarily.

She aims down the sights and holds the trigger. The SPNRK launcher slowly locks on, but as it's about to fully lock on the banshee dives over the edge of the plateau.

Maria pulls herself back into her car, "we're sitting ducks until we can get inside."

Alex grunts, "no shit."

The banshee comes up from the edge of the plateau, it fires another banshee bomb, as Alex is forced to swerve out of the way.

Maria pushes the door open and pulls herself half way out of the car. Aiden grabs on her as soon as she starts leaning out, and she aims the rocket launcher once again. The car shifts and Maria almost falls out.

Suddenly her vision of the banshee is obscured as Alex maneuvers the manor in between them. Maria pulls herself back into the car and they pull up to a wall, as a door opens and Alex pulls the truck into the garage.

The door closes and they all hop out of the car. Maria grabs the assault rifle from the passenger seat and tosses it to Alex. He catches it with both hands as he gets out of the car.

"The banshee doesn't have the firepower to take us on," Maria notes, as she walks back to the truck bed. She opens it up and continues, "but I don't want to leave this stuff here. Let's grab as much as we can and come back for the rest later."

There's an army vest on the right side of the truck bed. Maria puts it on and stuffs as much of the vest and her pockets with ammo and explosives.

She grabs a shotgun from the truck bed, and grabs a sidearm just in case.

Alex follows suit as she steps to the side, grabbing a vest, using it to grab a couple extra mags for the assault rifle, and stuffing the rest with plastic explosives.

"Hey," Maria says turning to Aiden, "you think you could do your auntie a favor and hold this for me?" she says holding out a dmr.

He nods, and Alex shoots Maria a dirty look.

She glares at him back and they continue arming up.

There's an explosion that shakes the house, the entire thing rumbles but besides that not much happens.

"Seems our friend up above wants us to come outside," Maria comments. She finishes loading her pockets and says, "let's go. I don't want him to get lucky and collapse the entire building on us."

Alex nods and walks to a nearby door. It leads to a long hallway but he ducks to the side and opens another door, there's a stairway leading to what Maria assumes is a basement.

They walk down there. It's full of shelves filled to the brim with wine. Maria walks up to one of the wine racks and pulls one out. It reads Aegir Cabernet Sauvignon, 2486.

"Where the hell did your father get this," Maria asks, marveling at the rows upon rows of expensive wine, "all this probably cost as much as the manor itself."

Alex grunts and heads over to a shelf at the back wall. He pulls a wine bottle and the entire thing rumbles and groans as the shelf rotates to the side revealing a hidden passage.

"My father watched too many old movies," Alex comments, "he always wanted to be a spy, then life got in the way."

"Ah," Maria says. Putting the wine back where she got it, "I've heard the story before. Old paranoid guy fucks off to the middle of nowhere with his wealth to live the rest of his life in peace."

Alex groans but doesn't say anything.

"Sorry," Maria says walking over to him and rubbing the back of her neck, "I'm stressed. But at least, we're finally safe."

Another rumble as the banshee continues firing at the house.

"Let's let everyone know we're back," Maria says, walking down into the bunker, "and then we figure out what the fuck we can do to survive."

UNSC Colony Database

Colony Designation: Blue Sky

Colony ID: A-1764-07

System: Weiran System

Orbital Position: Second Planet

Population: ~346,300

Discovered: 2476

Colonized: 2502

Government:

United Earth Government (UEG) (Dissolved)

United Nations Space Command (UNSC)

Blue Sky Parliament

Mass: 5.31541 x 1024 Kg

Radius: 6522.6 Km

Surface Gravity: 6.338 m/s^2

Surface Temperature: -10.4°C to 45°C

Accessing Restricted Data

…

…

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Forerunner Presence:

[Error] [Error] [Error]

This information is restricted by the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI). If you believe this is an error, please contact your administrator.

A Really Long Authors Note:

(I'm no longer gonna number my author's notes because it's annoying to do so.)

Okay, so originally Blue Sky was supposed to be a colony with Chinese influences, but as I started to write this I used placeholder names in the meantime. But the colony took a personality of itself, so now it's more of a Southern USA / Northern Mexico mix of people.

Also this chapter is naturally going to focus more on Maria, I need to introduce her and the people around her. I eventually came to the realization that whether I liked it or not Vol was gonna be on the backburner for this chapter.

I also originally wanted to have a fight scene involving Vol in this chapter, but I realized that it wasn't that good as a scene because there were never really any stakes and it felt more like a fight scene for the sake of having a fight scene. So after much deliberation I got rid of that scene. Don't worry though, I'm not gonna have an arc take place in a war without having fighting.

And on that note, I basically have the entire Blue Sky arc planned out. That's part of the reason why this chapter took so long.

There's also A LOT of information I'm giving this chapter. I tried to put it in a way where it flows nicely and doesn't get all that confusing, but I dunno. What do y'all think? I've edited this chapter to the point where it hurts to do so anymore so I give up, so hopefully it works well enough.

Thanks for reading.

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE

WE REACHED 100 FOLLOWERS. Really quickly as well. Holy shit. Hopefully I'll stop procrastinating now and actually update frequently. Hopefully. Still thank you all for liking this story, it definitely took off a lot faster than I thought it would.

So thanks again, hope y'all are liking this story!