CCS Illuminate Elegy, Orbiting Blue Sky, Weiran System, 01/20/2526

Vol POV

Once again I viewed the surface of Blue Sky from the Illuminate Elegy. The planet was irreversibly scarred at this point, with a large portion of the surface having already been glassed. The planet was bleeding, suffering at the hands of a war it had no part in, all it could do now is pitifully whimper as we methodically shatter what's left. At this point even the most extreme of environmental change would never be able to fully reverse the ecological damage done. At its best this planet would be useful to strip for materials, as any benefits for agriculture have been stamped out by war.

Part of me couldn't help but see the planet and be reminded of Earth. At least it keeps me grounded, keeps me knowing what I'm doing this all for.

Not only Earth but the people on her as well, as much as they may hate me.

I purge those thoughts from my mind. Self pity is nice but it will only get me so far, I've quickly started to realize that I need to be proactive if I am to accomplish anything. It's painful to drag myself out of paranoia and fear, but I need to do it.

And I'm not up on the Illuminate Elegy again just to sulk. As it turns out when I got hit by the shotgun blast it damaged some of the systems in my armor. Nothing that bad, just enough so that the HUD started acting wonky and the shield would occasionally falter. Me being the paranoid bastard I am wasn't going to let a faulty shield get me killed.

Honestly I'm glad that the armor got damaged, as most of the shrapnel that did penetrate was absorbed by the armor, and only a bit actually penetrated skin.

I meander my way back to the armory. The Illuminate Elegy is a lot quieter right now, with most of the combat ready personnel fighting on the surface. I would hesitate to call the crew on the Illuminate Elegy a skeleton crew, as most of the personnel normally on board aren't necessary for the functioning of the ship, but for lack of a better term I'll call it a skeleton crew.

I step into the armory. The same sangheili weapons master I met when I first joined is working there. I learned when I dropped off my armor that he had been injured in a pirate raid and now can't fight as effectively, hence why he is working as a weaponsmaster. I can only imagine the frustration he might feel to be so close to combat yet not be able to participate in it. Still it's the best he can do.

He nods as I step into the room. He reaches behind the desk and with minor exertion pulls it up. "I fixed all the problems I was able to detect," he says placing it on the desk, "In addition I replaced your shield generator with a substitute while a Huragok engineer repairs it.."

I give a cursory glance over my armor. He purposefully left a lot of the scoring and marks from my fight unrepaired, creating a semi-illusion of claw marks across my armor. I nod in thanks and reply, "dully noted," I pick up the armor, "I'll be sure to ask them next time not to damage my armor."

He snorts and crosses his arms, "the system might take a moment to recognize the new hardware, make sure that you run a diagnostic check a couple times before taking it into combat."

"Yes mom," I sarcastically drawl.

He gives me a side glance and I mentally facepalm for forgetting that most sangheili never get to know their parents, before he can question my slip I pretend to examine the armor. "Anyways," he continues, "your equipment is provided by the Covenant, but get enough replacements and you're bound to make some San'Shyuum soil himself in frustration."

"So don't waste equipment like ammo, I got it," I surmise.

The weapons master leans back in an odd mixture of annoyment and amusement, pressing his mandibles together in a terse smile, "and make sure to stay alive."

"I, uh," I flutter my mandibles in slight surprise. Most random sangheili I meet don't care much for my well being, this is a pleasant change of pace, "thanks."

"Anytime," he hesitates, drumming his 2 fingers on the desk for a second before asking, "how do they fight?"

"You mean the humans?"

"What else?"

I shrug, pretending to be apathetic to the fight, "they use a lot of underhanded tactics. I can't blame them, as they don't stand much of a chance," I lie.

"So they don't put up much of a fight," he guesses.

He's saying that with the expectation that this war is going to be over by the end of the year. Part of me wishes I could agree with him on that notion, but that is anything but close to the truth.

I give a fake smile, "anyways hopefully this will end soon and we can get back to High Charity."

"You don't enjoy fighting the humans?"

"Not really."

I stand there awkwardly for a couple of seconds before I continue, "Listen. I'm enjoying the conversation but I gotta get going, my squad is waiting for me."

"Wait," he says before I walk away. He fishes under the counter and places two plasma grenades on the table, "we have a surplus at the moment. Come back with an interesting story and I'll consider it payment."

I pick them up, examine them for a moment and attach them to my waist. "I'll see what I can do," I reply.

I nod goodbye and he returns it with a wave of a hand. As I exit the armory I can see him getting back to work, disassembling a plasma rifle.

The path back to the hangar is short. There is a group of unggoy loading some machinery onto a phantom. A sangheili major stands watching over them, barking out the occasional order. One unggoy makes the mistake of wandering too close to the major who kicks him and orders him to work faster.

I ignore the blatant display of xenophobia. And wait for a phantom to arrive. Despite nothing having changed I feel as if the invasion of Blue Sky has reached its end.

Maria POV

Maria taps the pen impatiently on the desk. It's her fourth attempt at writing a letter. The last three attempts were barely passable at best. Maria dully notes that if she was as good with humans as she was with guns she might not be in this situation.

She doesn't even know why she's doing this. There's no way she'll be able to send a physical letter back to her family. For all her family knows, Maria's already dead.

She ignores the voice in her head, grabs a new piece of paper and tries again.

Dear Mama,

I know we've never had the best relationship. But things have gone to shit around here. I'm not sure if I'll ever see you again, as much as I want to. I'm sorry for everything I've done, and I'm equally sorry that I never got the chance to make it up to you. So much happened between us that I felt it was easier to just forget it all, try to start over somewhere else.

I want you to know that I love you so much, to the point that it hurts. There's so much you've done for me, and I've never been fully able to repay you for your kindness. I wish I could give you the entire universe, finally give you the home you deserve. But as it stands, I'm still a confused child who still doesn't know what to do with her life.

One way or another I'll find a way out of here. Find my way back home, and talk with you one last time.

Your loving daughter,

Maria Aguilera

A gust of cold air washes into the room as the door opens. Maria frowns at who dares interrupt her brooding session, until Austin steps in.

Maria pushes the letter to the side and twists herself to face him, "can I help you?"

He stands next to her desk, and places a plate down next to her letter. There's a rubbery looking sausage with what looks to be ketchup on top of it, "I know you haven't been eating," Austin says, "or at least haven't' been eating as much."

Maria pushes the plate away, and tries thinking of the best way to edit her letter, "I'm not hungry."

Austin leans against the desk and pushes the plate back towards her, he gives her a disappointed gaze, "yes you are. This is the nicest food I can find, now eat."

"But…"

Austin pulls out a knife and cuts into the sausage, "don't make me bring out the airplane."

Maria chuckles and gingerly picks up a piece of sausage with her fingers. It waves gingerly in the air like a rubbery flag. She's seen more appetizing sausages from a can.

She takes a bite out of it. It tastes like ketchup, "is this really the best we have?" Maria asks disappointedly.

Austin feigns dejection, finding a way to distract her from the lack of tasty food, "I cooked that myself with care and love!"

Maria takes another bite and grimaces , "try salt and pepper next time."

Austin doesn't respond seeing that Maria is actually eating. He glances at the note on the other side of the desk. He raises an eyebrow.

"What were you doing?" he asks, quickly adding on afterwards, "if you're willing to share."

Maria glances at the letter as she eats the sausage, "tried writing a letter to my mother."

Austin gives her a cautionary look, "and how's that going?"

"It's not," Maria dejectedly replies.

She eats the last bit of the sausage, and licks her fingers a couple of times, as much as she doesn't want to admit it, being on a diet of rations made the ketchup comparable to the holy grail of food. Maria stands up and lazily strolls over to her bed, leaning on the bed, she pats a spot next to her, "come join me," she says.

Maria takes off her shirt, revealing her bra underneath, and tosses the shirt to the other side of the room as Austin does his best to look anywhere else.

Austin stammers, "I… I, uh. I don't think this is the time for that."

Maria throws a pillow at him, "I don't want to have sex you dumbass. I'm tired, bored, and lonely. I just want the company."

Austin picks up the pillow, tentatively walks over to the bedside and sits next to Maria. She exhales a breath she didn't know she was holding and leans back against the back of the bed, a hair's breadth away from Austin.

For several moments they sit there, Maria listening to the rhythmic thumping of her own heart, mixed with the melodic droning of the ventilation. She can almost imagine that all of this never happened, and that she's back at her home with her biggest worries being when she's going to go grocery shopping.

"How are you feeling?" Austin breaks the silence. Maria pulls her head up and looks at Austin through half-closed eyelids.

Maria takes a deep breath, "I'm so tired. I feel like everyone is expecting me to know what to do, when I don't even know."

Austin hesitates, and taps his hands together nervously, "uh. Care to elaborate?"

Maria pulls away and flicks him on the cheek, "you're a shitty therapist. You know that?"

He shrugs, "I'm doing my best. I studied agriculture, not psychology."

She takes another deep breath. Trying to imagine that her breath is her stress flowing out of her body. James from her squad back in the army had always said it helped him destress. It isn't working for Maria.

"How do you do it?" Maria asks, "how are you so calm when so much is going on?"

He chuckles to himself, "truth be told I'm terrified. But… I can focus on what good there is. I'm getting to spend time with my children, I'm getting to help people I care about. And… I'm getting to spend time with you."

He immediately flushes as soon as he says that. As Maria laughs at his awkwardness, "it doesn't hurt that you got a really nice ass."

He chuckles at that, "with all that's going on, all you can focus on is my ass?"

She shrugs, "you said yourself to focus on the good."

Maria sighs again and they fall back into silence. The bandaid conversation helped them both relax a bit, but as soon as they stop talking anxiety starts creeping back into their heart. The pit in her stomach feeling larger than ever.

Maria thinks back to a several nights ago when they went on their little expedition to the alien ruins, "thanks for trusting me."

"About what?"

"Everything."

He taps her on her arm, in a similar fashion to what Austin does when he's nervous, "you're a more competent leader than you think. You just need to accept that about yourself."

She shakes her head, "it doesn't matter how competent or incompetent I am if we don't get out of here alive."

"We're alive right now, and that's all that matters," he reassures.

She hesitates. And eventually says, "don't tell anyone I said this. But I genuinely don't know what we should do next."

"Well," Austin starts, "at least tell me what you're thinking. Let me help you organize your thoughts."

Maria laughs, "maybe you aren't a bad therapist after all."

She stops laughing and settles back down, saying, "I want to try to get everyone to the space port. Get them off world, but I'm afraid that's the wrong choice, and if I do that then we'll all get killed."

"Okay," Austin replies, "well run me through your plan. Tell me what you're thinking of."

She shakes her head, "I don't know. We need to destroy the anti-air turret. I don't know how hard that's going to be. We need to find a way to transport everyone to the spaceport safely, and I don't know how hard that's going to be. Finally we need to be able to get everyone out of the system, and I don't know how hard that's going to be."

She shrugs and talks to herself, "there's too many unknowns. And I know that everything that can go wrong will go wrong."

"We're still alive, I wouldn't call that a failure."

She gives him a bleak smile, ignoring his response, "I just want something to go right for once."

She pulls back yet again, "I change my mind. You're a shitty therapist." She jokes.

"How dare you! No refunds," Austin jests back.

Maria gasps, "and here I was thinking that you were doing this out of the kindness of your heart."

Maria can almost imagine that she's a kid again, teasing Austin on the playground. It's a shame she never had ample time to get to know him, with life always getting in the way. There's a philosophical statement to be had here, but Maria is too tired to care.

She pulls away from him and pokes him on his nose, "thanks for being my emotional punching bag though. You can leave if you want."

He looks at the door, yet doesn't stand up. He gives Maria an awkward cough and laughs a bit drumming his fingers on his leg, "if I am to die tomorrow, I want to die knowing that I have no regrets."

Maria leans back and feigns surprise. She rests her index finger in the middle of his chest like she's interrogating him, "Austin Smith, are you flirting with me?"

He immediately blushes and stammers, pulling away in surprise, "I… I'm sorry, I thought that we were…"

"You're cute when you're nervous," she interrupts him. She laughs at his flustered face as he uncontrollably blushes, "for the record your attractiveness doesn't end at your ass," she looks him in the eyes and brushes a stray hair out the way with her finger, "the view from here isn't all that bad either."

Austin blushes and avoids her gaze, "you're uh… you're pretty as well."

Maria genuinely laughs and pats him reassuringly on the arm, "we'll have to work on your flirting skills," she scoots around him and leans back on a pillow, pulling a blanket over her, "until then let's enjoy the moment. Just the two of us."

Austin slides his way under the covers as well, as Maria wraps his arms around him. He tentatively returns the gesture, saying softly, "gladly."

Maria holds the embrace for a near minute, letting her frustrations leak out of her. She speaks up softly, "let's say on the off chance we actually survive this. Let's get the fuck out of here, go back to earth, buy a house for you, me and your kids and spent the rest of our life there."

Austin takes a deep breath and for a moment Maria wonders if he fell asleep. Eventually he softly replies, "sounds like you don't have much planned here."

Maria pokes him in the belly, "do I ever? Fuck what anyone else says, fuck the UNSC, fuck the innies, fuck these aliens. Let's just live the rest of our lives happy."

Austin pokes her back and she jokingly glares at him, "for once I'm inclined to agree with your insane plan."

Maria chuckles, "you just signed up for a life of adventure with me. How do you feel?"

"Strangely scared."

"Good."

Vol POV

"The human bunker has been found," Yr informs me.

I nearly choke on my food. I manage to swallow it as Yr laughs at my misfortune, coughing a couple times afterwards. "What?"

"I said, the human bunker has been discovered," he repeats.

"I heard that," I clear my throat, and continue, "just wasn't expecting it."

He ignores my response and says, "we're to be part of the attacking team."

"I thought they were just going to glass it to oblivion when they found it," I respond.

"The bunker is far too deep to be effectively destroyed by orbital bombardment," he says, "even then we can't promise that they won't find a method to survive. Manually clearing the bunker will be more effective."

I frown, "at the cost of lives, I'm assuming."

"You worry far too much," he says, "this will be a chance to prove yourself."

I take another bite out of the flavorless meat, "I can't wait," I sarcastically reply.

He either misses my sarcasm or doesn't care, "good, finish your meal, we are reporting to the forward encampment soon."

I give the food a look. Suddenly I have no appetite upon learning that I am to be fighting humans some more. I push it to the side, "I'm not hungry, let's go."

He notices my sudden lack of appetite but decides not to comment on it. We leave the temporary base and head out to where the phantoms are constantly loading and unloading passengers.

"Where's the rest of the squad?" I inquire.

"Helping set up the encampment. I came back to grab you," he replies.

"How considerate."

He walks over to an already running phantom sitting near the edge of the base. I assume that's the one that's going to transport us.

The back is already open and we enter, stepping to the side as a couple other sangheili meander their way in. Most of them are practically buzzing with excitement, there hasn't been much action recently and most warriors have grown restless.

I mentally tally the sangheili in boredom until a familiar ranger steps in, Zoya, "didn't think we would need a ranger for a bunker," I tell Yr as Zoya finds a spot near the entrance of the phantom.

"We don't," he simply states, "she volunteered for this mission."

She gazes around the phantom. Her covered visor locks with my eyes, and for a moment I can see her recognize me despite not being able to see her face.

Then she looks away, "I don't think she likes me," I note.

Yr smiles, "she doesn't anyone. At best she stands them."

I mentally imagine her leaving behind on the field of battle, because she doesn't want to deal with me, "Can I rely upon her?" I ask.

"Yes," Yr replies, "despite her demeanor you can trust her to help in an encounter."

"That's oxymoronic."

Yr grins, "She enjoys the thrill of battle. If you can't like her you can at least respect her."

"We'll see about that."

The doors close and the phantom takes off. The ride is actually rather short, I forgot just how damn quick Covenant technology is. Within several minutes the phantom has landed on a grassy knoll and the same doors are opening back up letting us out.

I exit the phantom when I can and survey the area around me.

At the base of the hill is the encampment. It's… disappointingly small, calling it a base would be insulting to bases. There's several portable energy shields set up and lines of supply cases with weapons or equipment ready to be used.

In the middle of the encampment, however, is what looks to be the sister variant of the Tyrant Anti-Air cannon. Slightly smaller, and more portable, it is set up aiming towards another hill in the distance.

From this range I can barely see a rectangular shaped indent in the side of the hill with a giant metal door standing in the middle of it.

I suppose they were never going to open up if we knocked. So we just had to knock harder.

Yr taps me on the back, "you're in the way."

I suddenly realize that from my position I'm forcing the other sangheili to walk around me. I step out of the way and ask Yr, "how long until we start drilling?"

The phantom we rode her on takes off and heads back in the direction that we came from. The drill whirs up, and starts firing.

Yr smiles as he watches the plasma bore tear its way into the metal door, "now," he replies.

"Oh."

Maria POV

Maria steps out of her room, wearing only a tank top and jeans as she goes to grab some food.

To her surprise she immediately runs into Alex, complete with his signature flask filled with alcohol.

"Oh!" she blinks surprisedly, "didn't think you were awake."

He takes a swig from his flask, "couldn't sleep," he mumbles in response, "went for a walk."

Maria lets out a small laugh. She shares his same annoyance that the best walk they can get is around the bunker with nothing for a good view.

He takes another swig, "what were you doin'?" he asks.

She glances back at the doorway into her room, Austin is in her bed half asleep still. "Was hungry," she says, "I was going to see if there's any leftovers I could nab."

He nods, "do you know where Austin is?" he asks.

"Why do you want to know?" she replies.

"His kids are bothering me."

"Oh, uh," she rubs the back of her neck awkwardly, "Austin and I were sharing a moment together in my room. Sorry about his kids."

He blinks several times without moving as he processes that. "Did you…" he starts, trailing off.

Maria's eyes narrow, "and who gave you permission in my love life."

"So you did?" he continues.

"No we didn't," Maria exasperates, "and I don't have to tell you the truth even if I did."

"I thought that…"

Maria interrupts him, "Alex we stopped dating years ago. Our relationship is over. I like you as a friend, but I need you to understand that we aren't dating anymore, and I can do whatever I want with my life."

He blinks again, eyes narrowing with fury, "I do all this, donate my family bunker" he says gesturing to the bunker around him, "and this is how you repay me?"

"What?" Maria accused, "I don't owe you anything. I'm thankful for what you did, but that doesn't mean I owe you a relationship."

Alex shakes his head, "I don't give a shit who you fuck. You always talk down to me like I'm a child, you barely respect me, and even when I'm just trying to make small talk you make it seem like I'm insulting you."

Maria gestures at him, "Alex look at yourself! You broke sobriety, you're a mess, hell you're barely awake most of the time. I get it, we're all stressed, but I treat you like a child because half of the time you're too drunk or tired to actually act as a functioning adult!"

Alex glares at her, "you never gave a shit about me anyways. When my father killed himself you barely said anything. You only care about yourself and what can help you out!"

"Your father was an insurrectionist," Maria replies, "he killed himself because he got caught."

"He was human! Like both of us!" Alex yells, "but you don't give a shit because the UNSC told you that he was a bad person."

"Alex," Maria takes a deep breath trying her best to calm herself, with all that is going on she can't have infighting among the bunker, "you need to let go of the past. You can't change your father's death, and you aren't doing him a favor by following in his steps. Now go back to sleep, you're piss drunk and can barely stand."

"Stop telling me what to do!" he yells.

The lights flicker and the entire bunker shakes, the temperature rises an almost imperceptible amount. Almost immediately any rage between Alex and Maria is dropped as they stare at the lights as they flicker like fireflies.

They look at each other, and turn to face the lights again.

"What was that?" Maria asks herself.

The shaking continues as the lights continue to flicker. Maria immediately takes off to the control room, Alex following several steps behind her.

They reach the control room, Maria switches cameras until she finds the one looking at the entrance of the bunker from the inside. At the very center of the door is a blinding hot white light that makes everything else in the screen look pitch black in comparison.

"Oh shit," Maria breathlessly says. They've been found.

She turns to Alex, as she slams her hand on the alarm button, the fluorescent white light is replaced with a deep blood red alarm, "I know we were just in an argument, but listen to me. Take everyone that can't fight to a side entrance. Gather all the vehicles you can and wait near there. Tell anyone who can fire a gun to grab a weapon and head to the entrance."

His face turns white as he realizes the gravity of the situation, he puts down the flask on the desk, and grabs a nearby pistol. He nods vigorously as Maria turns back to the screens. People are just starting to wake up, glancing around confusedly at the alarm with fear.

She turns back around and follows Alex out of the control room, and they split up as Maria heads back to her quarters.

Just as she reaches her door it opens, with Austin walking out of the room with a large yawn, "what's going on?" he asks seeing Maria, "I woke up and you weren't here."

Maria shakes her head, "no time to explain. We're under attack," the lights continue to flicker as the faint rumbling in the distance continues, "we need to form a defensive line as the main entrance. Let's go."

Austin stops mid yawn and clenches his teeth down. The crushing weight of the situation bearing down on him. "I'll get everyone prepared," he says, "let's pray to god that we survive this."

Vol POV

The plasma bore attacked the main bunker door. Sending waves of heat radiating from the molten metal. The metal itself liquifies on impact, incinerating any liquid nearby in an ever expanding heat wave, sending an almost screeching like noise.

"Typical of heretics," Yr said watching the same sight, "hiding away like the cowards they are."

I don't respond. I don't have the will to do so. I feel disgusted with myself, more than usual at least. Can it be said that choosing to do nothing is as bad as choosing to do wrong? I don't know, but I still don't like it.

Yr looks at me, "you're quiet."

I don't turn to face him, "what's that supposed to mean."

"You're quiet whenever you're upset."

I now turn to him and return the look, "I don't like fighting, and we're about to get in a fight."

He chuckles to himself, "you'll be fine. Don't worry."

"That's not what I'm worried about."

The drill slowly stops. There's a large gaping hole in the bunker door. Molten metal pools around the opening, as unggoy load a metal sheet over the molten steel.

As they approach the opening gunfire shoots outwards. I duck away as Yr stoicly watches gunfire pour out of the opening. A couple of unggoy get nicked by stray gunfire as they try to load the ramp in place, one even getting his methane pack punctured sending a blue gas spilling out of his suit. Nonetheless they continue their suicidal march to start the raid.

The ramp is put in place, and an almost warcry like sound erupts from the encampment.

Almost immediately unggoy and kig-yar are sent into the hole. They are the first wave in, designed to soak as much firepower and distract the humans for the second wave.

I walk over to the unggoy squads. Bahad is near the edge, he shoots me a look but immediately does his best to ignore me and focus on the fight.

His wave is up next, unggoy heavies. I put my hand on his shoulder and say, "hold back."

He looks at me again, "'scuse me?" he asks, confused at what I'm implying.

"If you don't want to die," I respond, watching the entrance as cannon fodder are sent in, "then stay back."

He pauses, "hol' up. But what 'bout everyone else?"

I give him a demanding look, "I'm trying to save your life. Now stop arguing."

He shakes his head, "I thank ye for your kindness. But I ain't gonna let my brothers go in and die."

His compassion is admirable, and if it were any other situation than I would have commended him. But as it stands, the lump in my throat doesn't want to let anyone I know die, especially not when I could change something.

"You aren't going to change a fight by yourself," I say, "better to stay behind and live to make a difference later."

"I like the sentiment," he says, "but doing nothing is worse than trying and failing."

"Even when failing results in your death?"

"Your kind never cared about mine anyways," he snaps back, "I'd rather die side-by-side with my brethren, than one again do nothing at the orders of you."

The sheer vitriol emanating from his voice tells a genuine hatred towards the system. Another warcry, and the last wave of unggoys charges in. Bahad moves to join them, but I grab his methane pack and hold him back.

He twists around and for a second I wonder if he's going to fire his fuel rod cannon at me, but after a tense moment he deflates. "Fine," he surrenders.

"Thanks," I let out a breath of relief, "I know you don't like it. But I'm not doing this out of my own want. I'm doing this because I want you to survive."

"You're lying."

Yr walks over, seeing me talking to Bahad. He watches the rest of the unggoy heavies charge into the hole, as Bahad holds back, "care to explain what you're doing?" he demands.

I turn to face him, "what is one heavy going to do in this battle? I told him to hold back."

Once again he's unhappy with me undermining his authority, yet doesn't want to reprimand me. I'm 100% abusing my position as a friend to him, and at the moment I can't really be bothered to care.

The last of the heavies charge in. The gunfire continues in a steady stream as the sounds of fighting echoes out from the inside of the bunker. Two Mgalekgolo charge into the opening.

The leading Sangheili Ultra of this entire operation raises his energy sword and releases a warcry.

The other sangheili warriors around the camp reply in tandem, Yr included, and charge into the entrance.

I lean down and whisper to Bahad, "now we go in."

I follow Yr in as Bahad follows next to me. Stepping over bodies of fallen unggoy and kig-yar around me. My eyes adjust to the relative darkness of the interior of the bunker as I take cover behind a nearby shield generator.

It's obvious that fighting through this bunker is going to be an extremely difficult slog. The entrance is defended really well, with a second floor overlooking the entrance, ladened with cover and mounted turrets.

On the first floor have makeshift barricades set up, with humans peeking out occasionally to shoot or throw grenades.

If there wasn't any cover set up by the first wave of unggoy then I would most likely have been shredded by a machine gun as soon as I stepped in.

A frag grenade lands right next to me. Shit.

I grab Bahad by his methane pack and pull him away from the grenade, tossing him behind another shield generator as I move to avoid the grenade.

The grenade detonates and my shield flares as some of the shrapnel bounce of my energy shields. A minor who wasn't paying attention has his shields overwhelmed and takes some shrapnel to his chest. In the chaos of the battle I am unable to tell if he's dead or injured.

I peer through the opaque blue energy shield in front of me. The Mgalekgolo and slowly pushing up, almost buckling under the sheer amount of firepower, their shields only able to block so much.

Orange blood is leaking out of their armor as they do their best to keep standing. Their assault cannon glows and releases a green bolt of plasma. It strikes one of the cover, which slides against the ground and melts under the intense heat.

I send a couple shots with my plasma rifle downrange. I doubt it is going to hit anything but cover, but it reassures me that I'm at least slightly in control of what's going on.

The shield generator that I am standing behind buckles under the fire and collapses. Almost immediately I am pushed back as my shield blocks a couple bullets. Bahad fires his fuel rod gun downrange buying us a second to duck back into cover and let my shields recharge.

This is going to take too long. I grab one of the plasma grenades I was handed in the armory and ignite it, holding it for a second before tossing it towards the humans.

I'm going to hell for this.

The plasma grenade detonates on one of the covers, reducing most of it to molten slag and most likely incinerating the human behind it.

Another plasma grenade detonates. And the defenses buckle once again. Another barrage from the mgalekgolo and suddenly there is an opening. Wasting no time, the mgalekgolo charge the opening.

The defensive line is immediately broken, as some of the defending humans turn to face the mgalekgolo as the others continue firing outwards at the entrance.

The lapse of fire as the Mgalekgolo distract the humans is what is needed for several sangheili to break through the defensive line as well. I hold back, however, as I watch a couple sangheili minors get picked off by the machine gun fire from the second floor.

I follow behind as safe as I can, watching the fight unfold without directly participating in it. Bahad, occasionally fires off a shot, but stays next to me, watching my apathy with confusion.

Over the firefight, I can hear a voice yell. It stands out because it takes my mind a couple seconds to translate it from English. A distinctly feminine voice yells, "everybody fall back!"

It's barely audible over the sounds of the fight, but I can see the humans listen to the order, retreating deeper into the bunker. A couple falling as they are hit by stray plasma bolts.

The retreat is clumsy and disorganized, and many of the humans die before even getting deeper into the bunker.

I scan the battle, I can see Yr almost at the front of the fight, running some unlucky human through with his energy sword.

I see another human running away from him, aiming an assault rifle at him as he escapes. I grit my mandibles and aim at the offending human. I let a stream of bolts fly from my rifle, the first couple miss but the last one hits its mark on the human's chest, sending him tumbling.

As he falls he fires the assault rifle, the shots that would have hit Yr now missing due to his lack of a chest. I don't know if Yr would have died. I don't want to take the chance.

The mgalekgolo are the first to follow humans. With sangheili right on their heels, practically jumping at the chance to prove themselves in battle.

I follow behind them. The path splits into a T-junction, with everyone taking a left to chase the humans. Another frag grenade explodes in the hallway, and I can see another minor fall with half of his body rent away by the shrapnel.

I look down the other side. There's a sign labeled 'Living Quarters' in English. Right below it is another sign pointing in the same direction labeled 'Operations'.

The pursuing party chases the humans down the other direction. There's no cover here turning the hallway into a bloodbath as both humans, unggoy, sangheili, and kig-yar are picked off.

"Follow me," I tell Bahad, heading down the right hand side.

I start walking down the corridor, but someone grabs onto my armor pulling me back.

I turn around and face Yr. He's looking at me with equal confusion and anger, "where are you going?"

I pull myself from his grip, "there's something important down here."

"How do you know?"

I ignore him yet again and start walking down the hallway. Yr yells out to me, but eventually he gives up and starts following me.

"I don't appreciate your insubordination," he says, jogging up to me.

"We can talk about it when we aren't in a warzone," I dully reply.

We reach another T-junction. I follow the same sign to 'Operations'. There's a large door at the end of the hallway. It's different than the majority of the doors leading into rooms I saw, with this one being more heavily armored.

Yr looks at the door, "how did you know this was here?"

I grab the door handle and try opening the door. Thankfully whoever last was here left the door unlocked, and it swings open revealing a large room on the inside.

On the other side of the room are a bunch of computer screens, most of them off, but a couple showing security cameras at different parts of the base.

There's a table pulled into the middle of the room with a golden flask sitting on it. I walk over to it as Yr and Bahad walk into the room and look around.

I pick it up. It's embroidered with a fancy 'J'. I open it up and sniff the inside. Wine.

Yr speaks up from next to me, "infidels! They are planning to collapse the tunnel."

I look up and follow his gaze. On one of the screens I can see a couple of humans at the end of a hallway. Plasma bolts streak down the same hallway as humans take cover on the other side.

Barely visible I can see a woman, with fiery red hair, step out into the hallway wielding a rocket launcher. I look back at the hallway, I can see what Yr was talking about. The entire hallway is lined with explosives, with it looking like colorless christmas decorations.

The rocket fires and the camera goes out.

Even from how far away we are I can still feel the rumble of the explosion.

"Damn heretics," Yr shouts from next to me. He looks at me, "do you know where they are heading?"

I realize the predicament I put myself in. He somehow realizes that I know more than I should. I should consider myself lucky that he isn't performing an impromptu interrogation.

I walk up to one of the computers. A switch turns on in my mind that I haven't used since my reincarnation as I stare at the terminal in front of me. Memories of using computers in my previous life flood back as I try to make sense of the futuristic computer in front of me.

There's a map app located on the desktop. I click on it. Immediately on one of the larger screens on the wall an image of the surface of the planet pops up. It was obviously taken before the invasion started by satellites, with the capital city still alive and breathing.

I shake my read in response to Yr, "I don't know what I'm supposed to be looking for."

I drag the map around a bit, there's nothing much to see. The only information being the coordinates listed in the center of the screen.

I remember. The coordinates I had gotten from the office. I pull the piece of paper out from my armor. It's wrinkled up and hard to read, but the same coordinates are still visible: 47.615042, -122.198301

I type it into the computer. The map zooms into a forested area outside of the main city. It's close by to where we are, maybe an hour walk, definitely a lot shorter if we have vehicles.

"Is that where the humans are heading?" Yr asks from beside me, watching the same map with rapt attention.

I shrug, "I don't know. All I know is that location is important somehow."

Maria POV

Maria breaths a sigh of relief. Austin holds his left arm, a plasma bolt grazed his arm during the fight, but all it did was give him a serious burn.

"That should buy us a moment," Maria says satisfied. Some rubble continually falls from where she collapsed the tunnel.

Austin watches the rubble with dissatisfaction, "but for how long though?"

"However long we need."

The sound of engines reverberates from behind Maria. She turns around as a small convey of warthogs round a nearby hill with Alex at the lead. They come up to the exit as the people gathered around cheer in response. In how bad things have gone, any good sign is better than nothing.

Alex jumps out of the warthog, "your rescue has arrived!" he proclaims.

Maria walks up to him and claps him on the back encouragingly, "thanks for actually listening to me."

He gives a slight smile, obviously having not forgotten the argument they had just had, "I couldn't let you take all the glory here," he replies.

Maria returns the smile, "good to hear," she looks at the sky. It's darkening as a storm slowly starts brewing, almost as if the planet itself is reacting to the battle and is crying in response to the loss of life.

She gives him a look, "take everyone to the spaceport. I'm leaving you in charge. But leave me a warthog."

Alex frowns, "hold up. What are you going to do?"

She gives him a pained look, "someone needs to go clear out the anti air cannon so you all can escape."

"No you're not," Austin says from behind Maria, stepping up and joining the conversation, "we're getting everyone out alive. No one is being left behind."

"How beautifully naive," Maria says, "but we can't trust in luck. I'll do everything I can to stay alive, but I'm not going to let you leave planetside with a gun aimed directly at you."

Alex and Austin both are visibly displeased. Austin speaks up, "at least let me help you. Someone needs to watch your back so you don't get yourself killed."

Maria shakes her head, "absolutely not. You have kids. I won't have them be fatherless."

Austin smiles, "it's nice that you care, but this isn't up for discussion."

Alex speaks up, "I'm coming along as well."

Maria shakes her head, "I like the enthusiasm. But at the very minimum I need someone to stay behind and make sure everyone is safe."

Austin looks at Alex, "I'm nominating you. I'm not a good leader. I trust that you are capable enough to get the job done."

Alex stutters as he struggles to find the words. Maria speaks up before he can respond, "while I'm liking the bonding session we are having, we don't have a lot of time."

She glares at Austin, "is there anyway I can convince you to not come?"

"No."

"You're an ass," she jokes. Maria then turns to Alex, "then you're leading everyone. Get everyone out," she walks over to one of the warthogs and grabs a walkie talkie from the dashboard, "I'll radio when things are safe."

"What are we supposed to do till then," he asks.

"Do your best to stay alive," she replies. She gestures to the now collapsed tunnel heading into the bunker, "we got all the weapons out that we could. Try to conserve ammo but don't be stingy at the same time."

"Uh huh," Alex nods. He seems slightly distant, obviously trying to process what's going on and struggling to do so.

Maria walks over to the warthog he came in, Alex grabs her arm, "wait," he says, he pulls her the back of the convoy there's a man sitting in a warthog, with the only difference being that this one has a mounted chaingun, "at least take this one. It was my fathers before he died."

Maria nods. It's a generous gift from Alex. He's always been stingy when it comes to stuff his father used to own, "thanks, I'll take every advantage I can."

"There's a grenade launcher in the passenger seat. Thought you might need it," Alex says. Maria glances past him and sees said weapon with extra grenades sitting next to it.

She waves at Austin who jogs over. He's now carrying an assault rifle with a couple extra mags hanging from his hip. The body armor he is wearing looking distinctly off from the civilian clothes underneath. Maria tells him as he approaches, "we're running out of time. We need to get going before they find out where we escaped to."

She looks at Alex, "expect resistance as you head to the spaceport. And good luck."

She mentally debates it for a second, but she leans in and hugs him. Patting him on the back a couple times reassuringly, "when I get back. We'll have a lot to talk about."

He nods, "I'll be waiting for you."

She turns back to Austin, "anything you want to get done before we head off?"

He shakes his head, "I just said goodbye to my kids."

Maria doesn't say anything beyond that, knowing there's a fair chance it will be his final goodbye. Instead, getting on the chaingun and saying to Austin, "you know the local area better than I do. Lead me to the turret."

Austin climbs into the driver seat and jokes, "of course lady Maria." Maria doesn't laugh, or even smile. But in the moment, with how bad things are going, she can't help but feel a slight glimmer of hope.

So… It's been a while. This is going to be a slightly more serious AN. While I don't like pulling this card, life happened and I was unable to write for a while. In addition to that I had a huge bout of writer's block which made it extremely difficult to write. While I would like to explain what happened, it's very personal and I'm not comfortable sharing it with y'all. On the bright side I feel better now than I have felt in years, and I'm going to try to keep this high going as long as possible.

Originally this and the next chapter were supposed to be a single really long chapter, but as I wrote it I realized it would be easier to get it out in 2 parts. I already have a fair bit of the next chapter written already, but at this rate I'm unsure of how soon I'll be able to get it out. Hopefully quicker than it took to get this chapter out.

This chapter is ok in my eyes. There were so many moving parts that it was hard getting it all together in a way that I liked.

There's a reference to a certain boss from a certain game I really like, I'm certain a couple of y'all will get the reference.

Thanks everybody for reading and enjoying my story. It really means the world to me. We reached 150 followers, and I want to thank each and every one of y'all for supporting me. It really gives me something to look forward to when I wake up.

See y'all next time.

If you're reading this, it means that I am getting the chapter out with minimal editing. It's been so long since I've uploaded previously that I decided to just get this out and get the fine tuning done later.