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The Road to the Fall Back Location, Twenty Minutes Later
Dimah Tchakova's POV
"Dimah, two o'clock!" Chyler yelled as she laid down MA5D fire on a large alien.
Bringing her M6F handgun to the right direction, it took her a couple of seconds to find a target within her range but, once she did, she pulled the trigger until the slide clicked into place. Fortunately that proved to be enough since her target dropped to the ground dead. Still, she didn't let this kill lull her into a false security and immediately she released the empty clip from her handgun before reaching down to her combat belt to grab a full one. Sliding it quickly into the weapon just as she had many times before, she pulled the slide in order to chamber a round.
It'd been twenty minutes since the first aliens appeared to try to kill them and at first the armored giants, the robots Sully had learned of during his illegal hacking, had been enough to keep them at bay. However, when the threats came from more than one direction, those that had weapons were required to fight, to survive. The leader of the robots, whose name was revealed to be Sierra-Zero-Six-Nine, made contact with several of the armed faculty members who moved on the periphery of their large group, calling out enemy locations. While some of the teachers showed that while no longer fit for field duty they had still kept their skills, others had performed less than effectively and she'd even heard one say 'the sarge would kick my ass if he saw me now'. As for the cadets, it soon became clear who were freshmen and who were less than a year away from graduating from the Academy. For those senior cadets who had squad members next to them, they worked like a machine, knowing their roles well and executing them competently. For those who found themselves with unfamiliar people they managed to settle into a rough but minimally effective revolution of positions between defense and offense.
While she didn't think they were doing poorly, it'd still come with a cost in the form of lives.
Between their positions being called out and the time it took for those closest to take aim, the aliens still managed to get a few shots off before they were killed more often than not. Sometimes they were lucky in that the shots went wide, missing entirely, but a few times they hit their mark, either killing someone instantly or seriously wounding them. On General Black's orders those that were killed were left behind, those injured moved to the center of the group to be carried by the unarmed and the gap in the perimeter defense filled by the closest person.
So far they'd lost seventeen people and twice as many were being carried close to the center of the group.
She counted her blessings that no one had died close to her yet but in some ways hearing the death cries without being able to see those who fell was worse.
Nevertheless the fear of being the next to fall stopped most people from deviating from the pattern of mobile combat that they'd settled into. She wanted to hurry up, she wanted to SAY 'HURRY UP', but there was never enough time to speak up since the aliens just kept coming. She had to focus everything on being ready to fire the second an alien fell within range of her M6F magnum.
It was then that she heard something above, something getting closer, but her memories were at a loss to identify what it could be.
"We've got airborne incoming!" Sierra-Zero-Six-Nine yelled, causing her to look up to the sky. "Concentrate fire!"
Bringing her weapon up, she soon spotted the source of the odd sound she was hearing. Honestly it looked like someone had taken a missile tube and tacked on two maneuvering thrusters to the rear but there was no mistaking its deadly speed and agility. Taking aim and using her scope to increase her odds of hitting it, she started shooting the same time that everyone else did. An unending stream of bullets streaked towards the aircraft, creating almost a wall of sparks as some rounds bounced off lacking the penetration power needed to get at the inner workings. Fortunately some did not mean all and, after a shot from a particularly high powered firearm, the aircraft went out of control, crashing into the forest.
The explosion that followed was larger than what she'd been expecting but it did have the side benefit of sending a number of aliens flying, with injuries that could well be fatal.
"We'd better pick up the pace," Sierra-Zero-Six-Nine said via the com-gear in everyone's helmets. "It's a good bet that the pilot managed to radio in our location and numbers. More will be coming along with an increase in ground troops. Double time it, people! We're going to have company!"
Frightened at the idea of facing more than one of the aircraft along with more ground forces than they'd seen so far, she increased her pace as much as she could without steamrolling over those ahead of her. She knew that the others were moving as swiftly as they could but, with the injured slowing them down and some no longer fit enough to move as quickly as the cadets, it felt that the increase was marginal at best.
Faster! FASTER! she thought even as she remembered to keep watch on the woods for enemies. We must go faster!
It was then that she saw one of the aliens raising some sort of weapon towards her and her arms then moved to bring her weapon to bear on it, only for it to be stopped by the body of the person ahead of her.
"Dimah! Look out!" Chyler exclaimed, trying to do what she'd been unable to do.
However it was too late as pink crystals were launched from the alien's weapon and, even as time seemed to slow, she knew it would help her not. However, just as it looked as though certainty was about to set in, a large green form got between her and the oncoming crystals and moments later she heard the sound of them shattering. A few seconds later the sound of a XBR55 firing was accompanied by the sound of an alien dying from where the crystals had been fired.
"Are you cadets okay?" Sierra-Zero-Six-Nine asked as he searched the woods for further threats.
"Y-yeah… we're fine," she said, recovering from how close she'd come to dying.
"Then get moving!" Sierra-Zero-Six-Nine ordered as he moved to resume his previous position at the rear of the crowd. "We've got to get to the fallback position as soon as possible."
"Right!" she said as she hurried to move with the rest of the Academy residents.
However, even as she ran, she couldn't get over the fact that, had it not been for the robot or whatever it was, she would have died. She would've been one of the ones that'd been left behind in order to not slow down the others. She would have died with no way of knowing whether or not her body would ever be found, never mind recovered for a proper burial. The idea terrified her but oddly enough she also felt a wellspring of determination fill up within her that refused to allow that possibility to become a reality.
She had a path to follow and a heritage to live up to! She would not be made a corpse left to rot away on this planet until nothing but bones remained!
She was going to survive this and she'd do whatever she had to in order to make that happen.
WHATEVER she had to!
The Fall Back Location, Forty Minutes Later
Alex Zero-Six-Nine's POV
Well what do you know! We got here in sixty minutes, he thought as the unarmed carried the wounded into the mine while the rest took up defensive positions. Guess there's something to be said for incentive.
Still, the steady increase in pursuit had him concerned.
It'd been his hope that if the ODSTs put up enough resistance at the Academy buildings that it'd cause the Covenant forces to focus their efforts there first before turning their attention towards any fleeing humans. These things were soldiers, after all, holy warriors judging by their sole message, so it'd been feasible to assume that they'd be more inclined to fight opponents who could fight back the hardest than 'cowards' fleeing from battle.
Instead, though, they'd been encountering greater numbers of ground forces the further they got from the central Academy area and it'd especially kicked up a notch once they'd shot down the enemy aircraft. Either they'd been less fixated on a challenge than he'd anticipated or they'd received orders to prioritize the largest mass of targets in the area. Whatever the reason, they were in for a tough fight sooner than he'd been anticipating so they needed to get their defenses up as soon as possible.
"Zero-Seven-Zero! Get on the top of that rock face with two more snipers!" he ordered before turning to those faculty members who still had their combat edge. "Three of you to each sniper. Watch their backs and point them at high value targets."
"How're we supposed to know which are high value?" a teacher asked, sounding a little uncertain.
"They'll be the ones giving the orders or wielding the biggest weapons," he replied, silently reminding himself that these former soldiers hadn't seen action in a couple of years. "Our best chance of holding out until the evacuation ship gets here is to sow as much discord as possible while reducing their ability to kill us. Now MOVE!"
With their roles defined the faculty members moved to support the snipers who were already making their way up the side of the rock face.
"Those of you with shotguns move to the entrance of the mine," he said, turning to others in the group of evacuees. "It'll be your job to protect the wounded and the unarmed until the rescue ship arrives. Just watch you don't hit a friendly by accident."
The ones armed with the aforementioned weapon moved to the mine entrance, forming two ranks, semi-circles, with the ones in the front kneeling while the ones to the rear remained standing.
Good.
If they fired one row at a time it'd allow the others time to reload, minimizing their period of vulnerability.
"The rest of you get behind whatever cover you can find and prepare yourselves," he said to those who had yet to be assigned a task. "Our 'uninvited guests' will be here soon and I doubt they'll be nice enough to wait until we're ready to kill them."
With all roles assigned he moved towards the mine entrance to check on the wounded, to see if their condition had worsened any. He'd done his best to use his empathic abilities to detect approaching hostiles as soon as possible and called out the directions they were coming from. Nevertheless they had suffered casualties and many had been injured along the road to the fallback position. He wasn't ignorant of the fact that both the cadets and the members of the faculty had found it hard to leave their dead behind but thankfully they'd known that speed took priority over giving into grief. For the deaths to have meaning, those who yet lived needed to make it off Circinius IV to the nearest safe UNSC planet.
He would make sure that those who'd died had not done so in vain.
"How're they doing?" he asked Colonel Mehaffey, who was tending to one of the wounded.
"Most were lucky," Mehaffey replied, tying the bandage securely on a cadet's arm. "Others less so. While most suffered flesh wounds and minor burns that could be treated by any competent medic, some have incurred injuries that need more care than we can manage at the moment."
"How long do you think the seriously wounded have?" he asked, wanting to know how many more were likely to die before they reached safety.
"An hour. Two if we're lucky," she replied grimly.
"Then they're on the first evacuation ship out of here," he decided, seeing it as the logical choice. "Do what you can to stabilize them for travel."
Colonel Mehaffey nodded.
Walking away, he moved swiftly to a jagged outcropping nearest to the bottleneck that the Covenant would likely be coming through at any moment. Crouching behind it, he quickly took stock of how much ammunition he had left so as to better understand how much he'd have to ration it in the fight to come. He had another two magazines for his XBR55 and enough shells for his M90 to reload twice over before running dry. When added to the two M9 grenades, he estimated that he'd be able to dispatch a good many enemy hostiles but after that he'd need to resupply. That could be done either by taking up the weapon of a fallen defender or by taking hold of acquired enemy weapons but he felt more confident using human weapons.
Those he knew how to use and what their limitations were.
Of the enemy weapons he only had the fragmented accounts from Blue team and they were hardly enough to let him know the proper use of any of them. He could of course learn how to fire them through deductive reasoning but that would not necessarily mean he would not get hurt if he used them.
Unlike how civilians thought that using a gun was as simple as pointing it in the right direction and pulling the trigger, he knew there was more to using any kind of projectile weapon than that.
Reaching out with his empathic abilities, he cast a wide net and waited for the first sign of approaching hostiles. Their minds, their emotions, were like a distorted copy of those felt by humans, making them difficult but not impossible to comprehend. By using what he'd learned under Doctor Halsey's guidance as a baseline he'd managed to discern how the enemy felt right before they pulled the trigger on their weapons. By zeroing in on their location and waiting for this feeling, he gained enough warning to either shoot first or evade the enemy fire, causing them to miss.
It was this ability of his that would let him know of the enemy's arrival once they got within range because, the more warning they had, the better off they were.
"Snipers in position, Alex," Joy told him via his helmet's com-system.
"Good. Keep your scopes on the road for now," he said as he brought his XBR55 up to eye level in order to do the same. "If they approach from any other direction I'll do my best to let you know."
"Don't force yourself," Joy said firmly. "You're going to have your hands full as it is. I've got overwatch covered."
He couldn't argue with that.
The entire benefit of a choke point was that the enemy could only come at you from a single direction and in certain numbers. Therefore it was vital to make sure that none made it from one end of the corridor to the other and into the open area where his allies were waiting. With the amount of guns aimed at the corridor exit, it was a safe bet that nothing would be getting very far down it before being slain… assuming that the Covenant didn't have something new to throw at them. So far they'd seen the alien equivalent of a fighter jet and it'd taken some precision shooting and high caliber rounds to bring it down. If they had something like a tank, the bottleneck could be obliterated and his entire plan for holding off the enemy would go up in smoke.
I sure hope that the Aegis Fate is on its way, he thought as he waited keeping his senses sharp.
The lives of over a thousand innocent people were counting on it arriving soon.
Entering the Circinius system, UNSC Aegis Fate
Captain Greg Hammer's POV
"Status?" he asked as the Charon-class Frigate exited hyperspace.
"Two Covenant ships descending towards the surface of Circinius Four," the operations officer replied while putting the sensor data on the main screen. "UNSC Hannibal heavily damaged. Life support failing. Negative reaction to hail attempts."
Not good.
The Hannibal was a Marathon-class heavy cruiser and they weren't easy to beat, even outnumbered three to one. Still, given the amount of time since the call for reinforcements went out and their arrival, the fact that they'd managed to hold the ships in orbit as long as they had did credit to both the crew as well as the captain. He'd read the reports given by the Heracles, the only ship to survive the initial operation to investigate Harvest, and knew that the enemy ships had armaments that could melt through UNSC ship armor with little difficulty. He also knew that, whether it was M.A.C. rounds or a nuke that made it past their shields, the damage was not severe enough to take them out with one hit. So to force the enemy ships to focus on something that could not easily damage them, much less destroy them, took some pretty clever work.
Still, it meant that they wouldn't have any support from orbit when they descended to evacuate survivors. With the amount of damage the heavy cruiser had sustained, most of its weapons systems were likely offline along with any Longswords it might've been carrying.
"What's the status of the Covenant ships?" he asked, hoping that the Hannibal had at least managed to some damage before being taken out of the fight.
"Checking. One has some damage to its primary hull. The second one shows no sign of damage," the operations officer replied as images of each enemy vessel were highlighted. "Based on sensor readings, though, it looks like the Hannibal managed to take out at least one Covenant vessel before getting knocked out of the fight."
So we could take out one, maybe both, enemy ships if we strike in just the right spots, he thought as he considered the possibilities. Then again we might not. If it took everything the Hannibal had just to do this much damage, the Aegis Fate won't be able to do much.
"Open a com-channel on the frequency we were given by FLEETCOM," he ordered as he chose discretion over opportunity. "It's time to let the people we're saving know we're here."
"Aye, sir," the communications officer said before putting action to word.
"This is the UNSC Aegis Fate to Sierra-Zero-Six-Nine. Do you read?" he asked before waiting for a reply.
"This is Sierra-Zero-Six-Nine," a voice replied through the comm-system. "We read you!"
"What's your situation?" he asked, hoping that they hadn't arrived just in time to hear the last words of the last survivor.
"We've managed to orchestrate a bottle neck situation and have the enemy's land forces stuck at a set distance," Sierra-Zero-Six-Nine replied, the sounds of combat as background noise. "But their air support is increasing in number. ETA to pickup?"
"Assuming there're no distractions during descent? Twenty minutes," he said, looking to his helm officer, who mouthed the estimated amount.
"And if there is?" Sierra-Zero-Six-Nine asked, sounding like he expected the situation to go that way.
"Then we'll have to play it by ear," he replied, unable to give a number without knowing what sort of 'complications' might come his way.
"We'll be waiting," Sierra-Zero-Six-Nine said with a tone that told him he meant business. "Over and out."
"Do you have a lock on their position?" he asked, already thinking up ways to ensure their speedy arrival.
"Aye, captain," the operations officer replied before bringing up a map of the area surrounding Corbulo Academy. "According to Sierra-Zero-Six-Nine's transmission, they're here."
A waypoint appeared on the map roughly ten kilometers from the central Academy grounds.
"Set a course for the waypoint. Best speed," he ordered the helm officer. "This is a strict swoop and scoop operation people. We're here to save lives, not take on three heavily armed Covenant ships."
"And if they decide to take us on?" the operations officer asked, bringing up an unpleasant possibility.
It was one he was aware of but hadn't wanted to bring up in front of the crew since it wasn't exactly an optimistic scenario. His crew needed to believe that they had a chance, that their training would be enough to see them through, but honestly he didn't like the odds of them surviving combat with the Covenant vessels. Whatever the case, there was no walking away from it now.
"Then we do our best to do a fly by over their location, drop Major Hendricks and his men along with supply pods full of ammunition," he replied, showing no fear in front of his crew. "They'll either keep the evacuees alive until we force a withdraw or… until the next evacuation ship arrives."
There. He was honest with them but showed them what it meant to be a soldier as well.
"It'd almost be waste to drop the major down there," the operations officer said with confidence. "We'll be back before he gets a chance to fire a single shot."
"Nah! We can't ruin his fun," the helm officer said as he piloted the ship towards the waypoint. "It's been months since he took down that Insurrectionist base. Let's give him a little time to get his hands dirty."
He couldn't help but smile at the courage his crew was displaying. They were facing the unknown and faced very real odds of meeting their end. Some people might prefer to flee and only return when they had a better idea of what it was they were facing but, if they did, that they would be condemning innocents to die.
That was something he'd never allow.
Their approach to the planet was without incident and, as the familiar fires of reentry began to show on the main view screen, he thought for a moment that the Covenant had decided his ship was beneath their notice. Not that he was going to argue with the good fortune since it increased the odds of him accomplishing his mission. However it was as the last of the reentry fire faded from sight that the screen showing the current location of the enemy ships indicated a changing of course.
"One Covenant ship has changed the direction of its descent. It's on an intercept course!" the operations officer said before displaying the predicted path of the vessel in question.
"Which one?" he asked, hoping for an affirmative answer since they could handle that one if push came to shove.
"The one with the hull damage," the operations officer replied, bringing up more detailed scans of the Covenant ship approaching.
Not the best situation but not an unsalvageable one, he thought as he considered the newest development.
"Bridge to Major Hendricks," he said after pressing the intercom button on his chair. "Get your men canned and armed for a fight. We've got an angry dance partner that doesn't want us cutting in. We'll take care of it while you keep the evacuees alive until we get back. Understood?"
"Understood, captain," Major Hendricks said with his usual professionalism. "We'll try not to have too much fun without you. Hendricks out."
"Plot a course for a flyby over the pickup point," he ordered the helm officer as he mentally girded himself for a fight.
"Aye, sir," the helm officer said as he worked to adjust their course.
"Prep supply pods one through four for drop," he ordered the operations officer without turning away from the screen, "The second we're on top of the pickup point, let'em drop."
"Aye, sir," the operations officer said as he brought the auto-load system for the pods online.
"Prep Archer missile pods to fire. Defense gun turrets online," he said as he began to think up ways to quickly dispatch the incoming enemy vessel. "On my word, open fire."
Taking in the information the view screens, he sharpened his gaze as he watched the ship's coordinates get closer to the pickup point.
When they were less than a second from overlapping he knew it was time.
"ODST and supply pods release!" he ordered as he put his plan into motion. "Lock Archer missiles on the incoming ship and FIRE!"
With beeps and boops pods were dropped while missiles flew to convince the Covenant vessel that they were top priority rather than the evacuees. Seeing the radar register the missiles leaving the ship, he watched as they crossed the distance towards their target. Mentally he counted down until the moment of impact but, just as they reached the halfway point, the enemy vessel fired some sort of countermeasures. One after another the plasma weaponry of the enemy succeeded in detonating the missiles before they could impact on the Covenant ship's hull. Three managed to get through, though, but even without asking he knew it wasn't critical damage.
"Status on the alien ship?" he asked as the last of the detonations faded away.
"Light damage to their hull but no change in speed or course," the operations officer replied from his post.
The fact that they're using countermeasures means they don't have any energy shields, he thought with renewed optimism. Either the Hannibal knocked them offline before being taken out of the fight or they didn't have any to begin with. Either way this fight got a lot more even.
"Adjust heading two-four-nine-zero-mark-seven," he ordered as he took a look at the topography of the region. "Let's put some mountains between us and their retaliation."
Just because the enemy had no shielding didn't mean that they could trade shots out in the open. The Covenant vessel had proven that it could intercept Archer missiles at the current range and, with only three or so making it through, it'd take a while before the damage piled up. The Aegis, at the moment, didn't have any viable countermeasures against incoming plasma fire other than to evade it or hope their hull armor could take the hits. Considering how many lives were on the line, he wasn't about to take any chances.
"Incoming fire!" the operations officer declared looking up from his screens. "Three torpedoes!"
"Focus rear defense turrets on them. Let's see if we can get them to blow early," he ordered as the enemy projectiles registered on radar. "Helm! Evasive maneuvers!"
Gravity aboard the ship shifted a bit as a result of the quick change in direction but it was preferable to getting hit.
"Status on those torpedoes?" he ordered wanting to know the reaction the turrets had on them.
"Negative effect from turret fire," the operations officer reported, his hands moving about the console. "They're still coming and it looks like they've got a solid lock on us. They're adjusting course to match our evasive maneuvers."
"Helm! Increase speed!" he ordered, not wanting to resort to Archer missiles as interceptors unless he had no choice. "Get us behind those mountains NOW!"
Like any good captain he could both feel as well as hear his ship's engines increase their output even as a whisper of vibration grew in strength. Seeing the mountains getting closer, the ship soon arrived and, with a hard ninety degree turn, the helm officer put stone between them and the incoming fire. Seconds later something outside the ship detonated but, seeing as how they were still alive and the number of damage alerts were fewer than a direct hit would warrant, he took it to be good news.
"The torpedoes scraped the top of the mountain and detonated, sir," the operations officer reported from his station. "Light scorching on ship's armor but otherwise we're still fully functional."
"Let's keep it that way," he said as the ship cleared the mountain, once more allowing a visual on the enemy vessel. "Bring the M.A.C. gun online and begin charging."
"What!? You want to fire the M.A.C gun? IN atmosphere?!" the tactical officer asked in surprise at the order.
"Missiles aren't getting the job done and we need to end this fight quick before our 'friend' calls for backup from his friend," he replied with resolve and urgency. "Now get the gun charging! I doubt they're just going to just sit there and wait for us."
"Aye, sir! M.A.C. gun charging!" the tactical officer said as he worked to follow his orders.
"Until then we get our shots in when we can and use the topography to our advantage when we can't." he said, turning to look at the helm officer. "We'll be depending a lot on your skills. No pressure, eh?"
"Yeah. NO pressure," the helm officer said with a roll of her eyes.
Fall Back Location, Daisy-Zero-Two-Three's POV
As the booms of an atmospheric battle between a Covenant ship and the UNSC Aegis Fate echoed throughout the area, she had to wonder if Alex's plan as slipping towards failure.
Don't get her wrong, he was good team leader, but even if the Fate managed to slip free of pursuit the window it'd have to reach them and land would be ridiculously small. Minutes most likely. Even if they started bringing out the wounded and the unarmed as soon as they were notified of the frigate's approach, the ship would risk getting blown to bits remaining stationary long enough for people to be evacuated. Given the Hannibal's absence following the descent of the two Covenant ships, she could only presume that the ship wasn't in any state to provide support. They also hadn't heard anything from the ODSTs that'd been deployed to distract the enemy ground forces at the Academy so it was likely they were all dead.
In short, unless another ship entered the system and kept the enemy vessels occupied, all that Alex's plan had done was make the body count bigger.
"Things aren't looking good!" she declared before popping off a pair of shots to kill a bird alien that didn't have its shield in the right position.
"But they're still better than they were before," Alex said as he buried a couple of rounds from his XBR55 into one of the larger two leggers. "Our ammo's replenished and we've got reinforcements. We can do this."
"All that's not going to mean much if our ride out of here gets shot down," she pointed out before spotting one of the smaller aliens charging her position with those weird glowing grenades in hand.
"The Aegis Fate'll be back. We just have to make sure there's something for them to come back to," Alex said, not willing to let their current reality get to him.
Easier said than done, she thought as she took a strategic glance at the enemy forces.
According to what she could see, the enemy forces were primarily made up of the tiny tank carriers and the shield-carrying birds. There were a few of the large two legged leader types that Rogue team had encountered in the Covenant scouting team but their armor didn't look quite as fancy and their shields went down easier. Not that she was complaining considering their current situation but it still made her wonder. Were the stronger shields harder to build or were they only given to soldiers of a certain rank? That was something for ONI to figure out later.
Some of the large ones had attempted to charge their front lines but they didn't last very long since, before they got too close, a single round from a sniper rifle brought them down. The three snipers at the top of the rock face were doing an excellent job targeting leaders and enemies of opportunity, shaking up the lower ranks and sometimes scattering them. In the first couple of minutes of fighting they'd managed to take out six before the enemy figured out what was going on and then they moved behind cover. After that it all became a game of who'd stick their heads out at the wrong time and who'd time their shots just right. Of course the Covenant soldiers tried to return fire and kill the snipers but since their shooters were lying prone, the incoming fire hit rock or flew overhead more often than not.
From what she'd heard there had been a few attempts by the enemy to circle around to get them from behind but those sent to protect the snipers were doing their jobs.
Then, out of nowhere, a green blast of plasma that was four times as big as anything that'd been sent their way thus far flew through the air to slam into the rock face just below Joy's position.
"Sierra-Zero-Seven-Zero! Status!" Alex exclaimed in concern for their teammate.
"A little singed but okay. No deaths," Joy replied, quelling the worry that'd manifested in her heart. "Where the hell did that come from?"
"Checking!" Alex said, likely using the scope of his battle rifle to zero in on the green plasma's origin point. "Shit! Looks like we've got something new that wants to play. Twelve feet tall, shield on one hand and a big cannon on the other. Looks pretty armored."
"Not good," she said as she peeked out from behind cover to take a look for herself.
"And it just got worse. We've got two, I repeat, two of the giants," Alex said, sounding daunted for the first time since Covenant began attacking.
"If they fire too many of those shots, they'll tear our defenses to pieces," she said, imagining how bad it could get.
"Then it's time to follow one of the Chief's pieces of advice," Alex said as he slapped a fresh mage into his XBR55. "If your defense is weak, ATTACK!"
With that Alex broke from cover and charged forward towards the throng of enemy soldiers, presumably to tackle the two giants up close and personal.
"That IDIOT!" she exclaimed before charging after him, her M90 shotgun in hand. "Joy! I'm going after him! Handle things here until we get back!"
"Consider them handled," Joy said followed by a shot from her sniper rifle. "Make sure our fearless leader doesn't get himself killed."
As if that was something just anyone could do. If there was one thing she'd learned since being teamed up with Alex it was that, thanks to his empathic ability, catching him by surprise was almost impossible. Doctor Halsey had put him through rigorous training to find the limits of his unique power as well as to see how it fared under various combat conditions. In the end it'd been hypothesized by Doctor Halsey that the only way to defeat the ability was to overwhelm it with more input than Alex was capable of interpreting. There hadn't been enough people at the base on Reach to get that far but there'd been enough signs that pointed in that direction for it to be a logical possibility.
At the moment, though, it looked like there weren't enough Covenant troops or Academy residents to put that kind of strain on Alex's empathic ability.
That didn't mean that he didn't need backup.
Leaving the foes ahead of Alex for him to take care of she focused on those that tried to take advantage of the fact that they were no longer within his field of fire. Of course this meant that their attention shifted to her soon after but judicious use of her M9 shotgun took care of most of those kind of foes and where she fell short…
CHOOM!
…Joy, it appeared, was watching her back.
With Rogue team working together Alex managed to make it to the giants but soon after they made it clear that they wouldn't be killed as easily as their smaller comrades. Fire from Alex's XBR55 didn't do much good against the armor plating protecting the giant's body, with only random rounds drawing blood from the gaps between plates. When the large shield that looked like it was permanently fused to the giant's arm was brought into play, it was even less likely that a fatal shot would land. When Rogue team's leader had to reload the giant brought its weapon arm to bear it began to charge up, revealing a useful piece of information. The weapon wasn't designed for rapid fire but rather a single powerful shot that required a couple of seconds charging time before it could shoot.
Alex seemed to realize this as well but, instead of charging in quickly to kill the giant before it could shoot, her team's leader backed off, putting some distance between the two of them.
She moved to take it on at close range but, when a shield swing came out of nowhere and sent her crashing through a nearby tree, she remembered that there'd been two giants. Using her shotgun to clear the area in her immediate vicinity she got back to her feet in time to see the second giant begin to lumber towards her, its intent obvious. The rest of the Covenant forces seemed inclined to give the giants room to operate but there were still a few random shots either by the fearful or the ambitious. Firing lethally discouraging thoughts at the surrounding foes without taking her eyes off the second giant, she tried to think of a way to overcome it so that she could back Alex up. The armor was strong enough to take rounds from an XBR55 and, while shotgun rounds might do a better job due to the power behind them, she'd need to get closer to achieve maximum effect.
Considering the power she'd just been hit with, she wasn't sure she'd be able to take advantage of an opening even if it presented itself.
This was looking more and more like the scenario Deja told them about during one of their first lessons involving the wolves and the deer. If she tried to just go in and attack it, she could very well wind up getting the horns right to the gut. According to the lessons given to them by Deja, while a single wolf was almost certain to meet a grizzly end trying to take a deer down on its own, victory was feasible with help from the rest of the pack.
"Joy? You remember that training sessions at the end of our third year? Remember how we won?" she asked, using the internal switch to flick on her comm-system. "Ready to go two for two?"
"Sure. Just be careful," Joy replied, sounding a little worried.
Not that she blamed the sniper, considering the power the giants were packing, but all their brothers and sisters knew that they'd been enhanced so that they could do what ordinary soldiers couldn't. With that in mind she charged her large sparring partner head on, firing her shotgun as fast as she could work the pump action to eject the spent round and load a fresh one. As she'd expected, the giant brought its shield into play to block all the shells but that was what she wanted it to do. Waiting until she was just outside its swing reach before ceasing fire and changing course to the alien's left, she started reloading. Just like the most basic of thought patterns, once the thing lowered its shield arm it tried to reacquire her and, when it seemed lost, she fired a round into its hide to help it along.
She leapt backwards when it swung its shield arm at her but fired again to make it follow her in the hopes that its second or third try would connect.
God, this thing is so simpleminded! she thought as she continued to coax it along. If it was smart it'd use its friends for cannon fodder to line up the perfect shot with its arm cannon.
Since it wasn't, though, it was easy to get it into the center of the road, leading to the fallback point, and then fired a few more shots to make sure it was looking in the right direction.
"How's it looking Joy?" she asked with all the variables in their proper position.
"Beautiful," Joy replied, sounding quite happy at the moment. "Shall I?"
"By all means. Shoot," she replied, preparing herself for a possible follow up.
CHOOM!
CHOOM!
With the two sniper rounds slamming into the giant, she listened to it bellow out in pain even as orange blood splattered the back of its armor. As she saw it fall to one knee she thought it might be dead already but, when it used its cannon arm to keep from eating dirt, she decided her follow up was needed. Darting forward she leapt into the air, reorienting mid-air, and then landed on its back before aiming her shotgun at the center of the bloody mess Joy had created.
KOOM!
CHK-KOOM!
The two shotgun rounds shredded the exposed flesh that Joy had taken advantage of around the back of the neck, finally blasting the last bits of life out of the giant.
"Thanks, Joy," she said as she shifted her aim to take advantage of the shock the rest of the Covenant were feeling at her victory. "Your aim's as good as ever."
"It helps when the target has a good chunk of its neck exposed like that," Joy said as she resumed sending rounds to valuable members of the enemy force. "A major design flaw if I ever saw one."
"Yeah, well, let's hope they don't wise up anytime soon," she said as a shot downed one of the bird aliens. "How's Alex doing?"
"Up to his usual insanity," Joy replied with incredulous exasperation. "Strange thing is that it's actually working."
"Really?" she asked rhetorically.
"Yeah, but don't tell him I said that. His ego might get too big. Again."
"Can't have that, can we?" she said as she made her way back to where she'd last seen the first giant. Once there she soon found out what Joy'd meant.
Only he could try something this insane and have it work out! she thought incredulously even as she decided to let it play out for the time being.
Alex-Zero-Six-Nine's POV
I can't believe this is actually working! he thought, waiting for just the right moment. This guy brings new meaning to the phrase 'dumb muscle'.
When he'd originally gone after it he'd planned on trying to sneak around it so he could shoot it from the rear where its shield couldn't reach. He'd even hoped that the existence of a strong frontal offense and defense meant that its rear was somehow more vulnerable. It'd only been when the thing had fired a shot from its arm cannon that missed him but landed right in the middle of a crowd of tank carriers that he'd been hit with an epiphany. It'd taken him less than three seconds to go with the idea and so far he had yet to be disappointed.
After all why should he work so diligently to kill the walking tank when with a little work he could make the big thing work for him?
With that in mind he'd tapped into his empathic abilities get a feel for the layout of the enemy forces and then done his best to make the giant fire its arm cannon rather than use its shield arm. It'd taken a few near misses to get the timing just right but once he had it locked things couldn't have gone better. Moving from position to position he provoked the giant and, when his mental math told him that the cannon shot would go where he wanted it to, he stopped just long enough for the big lug to aim and then fire.
Then, just as planned, he dodged to the side, allowing the shot to fly through the air before impacting right in the middle of a crowd of Covenant soldiers.
He didn't press his luck too hard, of course, since he knew that even the stupidest hired muscle would clue into the fact that its shots were killing its allies. So to keep the thing's temper hot he'd occasionally peppered it with rounds, aiming for the gaps in its armor.
He didn't know precisely how much time had passed since he'd first perfected his little game but he was fairly certain that most of the enemy soldiers in the area had been successfully killed.
Now, do I finish this one off and head back to the main group or do I try to lead this lumbering giant to another battalion of its friends? he thought as he considered doing more damage to the enemy forces.
The question was answered for him when out of nowhere twin blades made of energy burst from the giant's chest, causing it to yell out in pain before dropping to the ground. Looking towards the source of the blade, he saw that one of the large two legged aliens that liked to call the shots had been the one to kill the giant. It was ruthless and made it clear that Covenant forces didn't care all that much about each other but it also made strategic sense. The giant's hand cannon was capable of inflicting serious damage to the alien force and its wielder was proving to be too easily manipulated to be trusted with it anymore.
Solution? Eliminate the cannon wielder.
Guess that made for another useful bit of information: the Covenant were willing to kill their own to accomplish their mission and didn't hesitate to kill should one of their own prove to be a threat.
That made taking hostages and trying to use them as leverage a weak tactic at best.
Better get back to the main group, he decided before taking his last of his M9 grenades. But not before giving the swordsman a going away present.
Lobbing the pinless explosive at the leader, he then began to shoot his way back to where the Academy residents, the ODSTs and Joy were still fighting. He didn't bother with finesse along the way, using bullets, the butt of his battle rifle or his fist to clear his path back to the fallback location. The sound of an M9 shotgun joining him let him know that Daisy was following his lead, so between the two of them, they cleared a path. He heard a few shots from sniper rifles and spotted one bird like alien go flying backwards, a spray of blood marking its path. One of the snipers at the top of the rock face, probably Joy, was providing fire support and so it was that he arrived back behind the cover he'd previously left, with only minor damage to his armor.
"The big bogies are defeated," he declared, linking once more with the comms of the faculty at the fallback position. "Took out a good number of their troops, too."
"There's still plenty more where they came from, Sierra-Zero-Six-Nine," Joy reminded him even as she let loose another shot. "Still, you've bought us a bit of breathing room. I don't think they expected you and Sierra-Zero-Two-Three to be able to take down those giants so easily."
"Good. Shaken enemies hesitate and make mistakes," he said glad that his aggressive action had had a side benefit. "It'll give the Aegis Fate more time to create a window and then come to pick up the first load of evacuees."
"That'll only work as long as the other Covenant ship doesn't get involved," Joy pointed out as the armed evacuees fought with more vigor due to the example he and Daisy had set.
He didn't say anything but he agreed that, if the other ship joined the one currently attempting to destroy the UNSC Aegis Fate, then their ride home would be destroyed swiftly. Looking towards where the central Academy buildings were located, he saw the Covenant ship hovering over it but not firing down at the ground. This all but confirmed that the ODSTs that'd been left behind to draw the enemy's attention away from the evacuees were dead, or at least were not putting up enough of a fight to warrant bombardment. It was likely that, so long as the vessel attacking the Aegis Fate didn't slide too close to defeat, they'd stay out of the fight.
Based on the flight speed of the attacking Covenant ship, they'd be able to get in the UNSC vessel's face in under a minute.
After that… even he couldn't be optimistic about the future.
"We need to figure out a way to remove the last ship from the equation, even if it's only temporarily," he said, voicing his thoughts out loud. "Doing so would distract the ship attacking the Aegis Fate and give them an opening to exploit."
"With all due respect, Sierra-Zero-Six-Nine, we aren't packing anything powerful enough to get that ship to even notice us, never mind make them ignore the Aegis Fate," Colonel Mehaffey said from her position inside the mine.
She was right.
Even with the supply pods dropped by the Aegis Fate, the contents were geared more towards fighting infantry and armored vehicles rather than spaceships. Indeed, based on what'd happened at Chi Ceti, only nukes or M.A.C. rounds had proven effective at damaging them, with the latter having to be planted inside the enemy vessel by a boarding party. There was no chance of making an improvised M.A.C. gun of sufficient power to do any good and any nukes they MIGHT be able to get ahold of would likely fry them along with the enemy. Nukes had a blast radius and, even if they were far enough away to avoid instant death, the burns and possible radiation poisoning would likely make many people wish they had.
It didn't change the fact that what little good fortune they had right then was due more to the arrogance of the enemy than their combat prowess. Unless the Covenant ship deployed almost all its crew until only a skeleton was left to mind the ships and they somehow survived that, the future was looking grim.
"Look! More fighters!" one of the cadets yelled, pointing to a spot in the air. "They're coming this way!"
Shifting his gaze to where the cadet had pointed, he confirmed the presence of over ten enemy fighters heading towards them. This undermined the recovered morale that the deaths of the two giants had given the evacuees because the fighters had never come in groups larger than three. With the supply pods had come several anti-aircraft weapons that'd helped knock them out of the sky but they had come with minimal ammunition. Most of the weapons and ammunition inside had been focused in other areas.
"What's the status of our anti-aircraft weaponry?" he asked, hoping that they had enough to at least remove two thirds of the incoming fighters.
"We got seven rockets left for the launchers and only four shots for the Stanchion," one of the ODST members reported from his place near the supply pods.
Enough to take out most of the incoming fighters but it'd rely on them scoring a killing strike with every rocket and every shot from the Stanchion. Once the first of their number was destroyed they'd almost certainly scatter and attack from multiple vectors in order to make targeting them difficult. That'd increase the odds of a missed shot, making it more likely that a greater number of the incoming fighters would survive to attack. Looking back to the Covenant ground forces, he could see that they were pulling back and that implied that the weapons on the fighters were not precision instruments. An odd deviation from how the tri-jawed one had been all too willing to kill one of the giants when it proved a hindrance.
"Get all evacuees into the mine," he ordered even as he picked up one of the rocket launchers. "Get them out of the open."
The various people who'd been defending the location left their positions of cover and made for the entrance of the mine with as much speed as they could muster, leaving only Rogue Team and the ODSTs outside, armed with the most powerful weapons they possessed, including the anti-aircraft weapons.
Raising his weapons to look through the scope, he put the crosshairs on the center fighter before waiting for it to get a little closer. He needed it to come close enough to make evasion unlikely but not so close that he wouldn't survive long enough to pull the trigger.
"Make these shots count," he said to all present as he mentally gauged the closing gap between him and his target.
Then, as though tapped by some divine force, all of them fired at once and, miraculously, they all fired at different targets rather than two or more aiming for the same one. Rockets shot across the sky and shots from the Stanchion cut through the air like a hot knife through butter. Of the targets aimed at, ten were successfully dispatched to crash violently into the ground but the rest veered off, with only one suffering any damage at all. Dropping the launcher to the ground he brought his XBR55 forward as the best weapon he had now that all the anti-aircraft weaponry had been exhausted. Bringing it up so he could utilize the scope, he did his best to get a lock on where his experience thought the cockpit most likely resided. Even if his weapon couldn't do enough damage to bring it down, if he could get a single round to get through to the pilot it would accomplish much the same thing. He knew without asking that Joy was doing the same thing and, with her aim being second only to Linda's, he was certain she'd hit the mark.
He didn't know the ODSTs well enough to know if he could trust their aim but, if any unenhanced UNSC soldiers could do it, they could.
As soon as the fighter he'd chosen was well into the effective range of his XBR55 he opened fire, sending shots to where he figured the pilot was. When he didn't get the desired reaction he adjusted his aim a bit and resumed firing, hoping that the correction would succeed in at least dealing the pilot a disabling blow. This time, though, he noticed a decided reduction in control, confirming that the pilot had been injured at least but the fighter was still on course for him and would likely open fire soon. Thus he took the ineffectiveness of his first shot and the partial effectiveness of his second shot to figure out where to send his next barrage and opened fire.
This time the fighter lost direction altogether but, much to his dismay, it was still more or less on a path right for him.
Diving to the ground and staying there it flew over his head before crashing into the trees just outside the landing zone he'd chosen for the frigate. Quickly getting his feet back under him, he looked around to see how the others had faired only to grimace at partial success. Half of the remaining defenders had successfully shot down their targeted fighters but the others had not been able to score a fatal hit and so they'd been mowed down by incoming fire. Rogue team came out without a scratch but two thirds of the ODSTs were either dead or lying on the ground injured, making it unlikely either would be able to get back into the fight.
Looking for the remaining fighters, he found them keeping their distance but, as evident by the pock marks being made in the ground, their intent was to kill from a distance. The good thing about that was that it looked like their aim from such a distance wasn't precise enough to do more than cause the flung dirt and rocks to give them mild scrapes.
"They're never going to hit us from that far away," Daisy said, conserving ammunition since all the fighters were well outside of her weapon's effective range.
No, they weren't… and that meant their firing was meant as a distraction as well as to keep them from going anywhere else!
Taking his eyes off the fighters, he looked with special focus on the last known position of the Covenant ground forces. If the shots from the fighters were a distraction then it might mean that they were about to get by infantry again. However nowhere he looked could he see any sign of them and that bothered him. The Covenant wanted humanity dead and, unless someone else came up with one helluva plan, it was highly likely that by now they were the only humans left along with the evacuees.
So why weren't they launching more fighters or sending their infantry back in?
No fighters… no infantry… what does that leave them with? he thought as Joy continued to take shots with her sniper rifle at the fighters.
Looking back at the central Academy area, he got his answer as the second Covenant ship changed course from its holding pattern to a straight line towards the fallback position.
Dammit! he thought as the situation worsened. "Get everyone as deep into the mine as they can go! NOW!"
"It's not going to do any good," Joy pointed out as she abandoned her snipers nest at the top of the rock face. "Based on the data recovered about Harvest, a concentrated blast from that ship is the equivalent of a nuke."
"It's better than doing nothing," he said, unwilling to just wait for the end to burn them extra crispy. "Now get everyone breathing into the mine and as deep as they can get before the Covenant ship gets here."
With her objection raised and rejected Joy was quick to follow his orders, helping those members of the ODST still alive into the mine, with Daisy lending an extra set of arms to expedite matters. As much as he didn't want to believe that there was nothing further he could do, it was indeed the truth. Even with all the digging he'd done into the Academy and the next closest settlement, there was no tool or weapon that he could get to quickly enough to change what was about to happen. Only the Aegis Fate had weapons that could hurt the enemy ship and they had their hands full with the one chasing them about the area.
The only thing he could do was put those he'd been charged to protect behind the strongest barriers he could and hope for the best.
Best to let Captain Hammer know, he thought before opening a comm-channel. "Sierra-Zero-Six-Nine to Aegis Fate. Come in!"
"We read you but we're a little busy at the moment," Captain Hammer said with the sounds of activity on the other side almost drowning the officer out.
"We're about to join you. The other Covenant ship is headed our way and the ground forces have pulled back," he said as he kept his eyes locked on the approaching ship even as his team continued moving the ODST below ground. "I'm sending everyone deep into the mines as a precaution."
"Damn! We'll try to wrap up our fight as soon as we can," Captain Hammer said, registering the urgency of the development. "Take care of those people from the Academy, Sierra-Zero-Six-Nine, and we'll be there to pick you up."
"We'll be waiting," he said before the connection was terminated.
With that done he followed Daisy into the mine, considering for a moment using his strength to bring down the ceiling in order to seal the entrance, but in the end he dismissed the idea. Without a means to fuse the rocks together the lethal levels of heat would still get through and cook them, plus if the Aegis Fate somehow managed to defeat its current foe, digging them out would only prolong their stay.
I'm not a very religious person, God, but if you're listening I'd appreciate any help you can give us, he thought upwards since that was where most religions and mythologies put the good guys.
Almost as if in answer to his prayer thunder echoed through the air and a moment later something dropped from the sky, spearing the approaching Covenant vessel right through the center of its mass. This shook it and caused it to list off balance before those aboard looked to restore some measure of stability, veering off from its previous approach course.
"Where did that-?" he asked before his Mjolnir armor picked up a transmission.
A UNSC transmission.
"This is the UNSC Thermopylae. Backup's arrived, gentlemen," came a woman's voice, sounding both determined and angry. "No one's getting fried on my watch!"
As soon as he heard the name of the ship he couldn't help but be a bit confused since it was not on one of the ones that'd been assigned to a system close to the Circinius system. He did recall his effort through Doctor Halsey and Chief Mendez to reassign additional ships for evac but, if his memory served him right, the Thermopylae was a UNSC destroyer, not a Charon-class frigate.
Not that he was complaining, of course.
Of course now I have the problem of trying to figure out which deity decided to answer my prayer, he thought as he watched another heaven-descending blow that he now recognized as a M.A.C. round slam into the ship that'd intended to render his mission a failure.
This one struck left of center and closer to the front of the ship but the damage was still significant.
Another shot like that and the Covenant ship was going down.
It might not have gone as well as I'd hoped but, considering how things could've gone if the space elevator had been used and everyone'd stayed at the central Academy buildings… I'm calling this 'mission accomplished', he thought, looking to the smoking remains of the Academy in the distance.
Nevertheless… he didn't think things would go so well next time.
UNSC Thermopylae, Two Hours Later
Joyce-Zero-Seven-Zero's POV
"We did the best we could, Alex," she said, reassuring Rogue team's leader as he watched the wounded and the dead taken off the Pelican that'd transported them up from the planet.
"I know but that doesn't mean we can just brush this off," Alex said, turning away from the previous focus of his gaze. "People are dead because we miscalculated, we failed to take into account all the variables, and we won't get lucky a second time. Next time it'll be worse."
"I'm not saying we should brush it off," she said sternly, disapproval of her friend's mood clear. "I'm just saying that for all the things we're supposed to be, we're not infallible. We're not invulnerable. We're still just as human as anyone else aboard the Thermopylae. All we can do is give it our all on every mission and hope that it's enough."
"You're right," Alex said grudgingly, accepting her wisdom. "Here's hoping it'll be enough."
"Sierra-Zero-Six-Nine, Sierra-Zero-Seven-Zero, Sierra-Zero-Two-Three please report to briefing room six immediately," came a woman's voice through the ship's internal communications system. "I repeat: Sierra-Zero-Six-Nine, Sierra-Zero-Seven-Zero, Sierra-Zero-Two-Three please report to briefing room six immediately."
"Looks like it's time for the debriefing," Daisy said after they finished listening to the message.
"Better not keep the officer waiting," Alex said before he began walking towards the nearest lift. "Fall in, Rogue team."
With those words she and Joy fell into line behind their leader.
While some people might've needed a map to find their way they didn't because one of the things that Alex had them do during the final year of their training was to memorize the layout of every class of UNSC ship currently in service. His reason for that was that there was that the Insurrectionists were known to have a few stolen UNSC ships under their command and might steal more in the future. By committing the layout of each ship class to memory, they'd be able to efficiently move about in order to accomplish their mission should it involve being aboard one. So they knew exactly where briefing room six was located, as well as the most efficient way there.
As a result it took them less than two minutes to reach the room and, when the door slid open, they beheld the standard accessories one would expect from a briefing room. Standing at the head of the table was lady officer with a rank insignia indicating she was a colonel.
"Rogue team reporting as ordered," Alex reported as he along with the rest of them crisply saluted.
"At ease, Rogue team. After what you've managed to do here in Circinius, I think I can let you relax a bit," the colonel said with a genuine grin. "Allow me to introduce myself. Colonel Audrey Lasky."
Alex's head tilted slightly at the woman's name.
"If I may inquire, Colonel, would you be any relation to Cadet Thomas Lasky?" Alex asked with mild curiosity.
"Yes, he's my son. I take it you met him during your mission at the Academy?" Colonel Lasky asked, looking a little surprised at the inquiry.
"Yes. He was in one of the classes I taught on urban warfare," Alex replied.
"I imagine he was… difficult. The latest reports I've received implied a level of rebelliousness," Colonel Lasky said, sounding like she was a bit uncomfortable with the information.
"While a level obedience is required in order to assure maximum efficiency and probability of success, a mindless drone that blindly follows orders is not desirable. A soldier needs to be able to think independently when the situation dictates it and there are times when a soldier might be called upon to disregard the orders of a superior officer in the interests of the greater good," Alex said in order to reassure the colonel. "Properly tempered, there's no reason to completely wipe out Cadet Lasky's defiance."
"I suppose not but enough about my wayward son. Let's proceed with the debriefing," Colonel Lasky said, sounding pleasantly surprised by the reassurance. "Could you please summarize your activities after first setting foot on Circinius IV. I may ask questions along the way so be ready for interruptions."
For the next hour and a half Rogue team summarized their activities on Circinius IV from beginning to end, with only a few questions asked along the way. Most of the inquiries were focused on Covenant behavior and combat tactics, with a few being about the weapons used, but that was to be expected. This early in the conflict against the Covenant, information was of top priority: who they were, where they'd come from and what their military threat level was just for starters. Right now the Covenant held a technological advantage over the UNSC, as well as the benefit of being a complete unknown. While it would take some time before humanity could negate the former, every scrap of relevant intel acquired chipped away at the latter, bringing them one step closer to evening things out. Indeed, the right piece information could be just what they needed to turn things around and start dealing out damage rather than just taking it.
"Well, I think that'll be enough to satisfy ONI," Colonel Lasky said as her hands left her pad. "As for me, I can only thank you all for what you did down there. According to what I'd been told, I'd expected there to be much greater losses and few survivors, if any."
"Rogue team didn't do it alone, Ma'am. The cadets and faculty acquitted themselves well down there," Alex said, not allowing all the credit to be dumped on them. "Including your son. With further training and experience I have no doubt all the cadets will prove themselves assets to the UNSC."
"After surviving the firefight down on Circinius IV, they're certainly a few steps ahead of other recruits," Colonel Lasky said, only letting wisps of pride in her son leak through her mask of professionalism. "You are dismissed, SPARTANs. I expect you'll be handed your next mission soon enough."
"I imagine so, Ma'am," Alex said as he stood up and saluted once more.
With that they left the briefing room for the auxiliary crew quarters, where any non-assigned soldiers stayed for the duration of a mission or a trip. It was as good a place as any to stay until their new orders arrived.
And it'd provide him an opportunity to discuss the battle they'd just survived, both what they'd done right and the mistakes they'd made.
The former could be built upon to be better while the latter had to be eliminated entirely.
Note: Now I know that those who are knowledgeable about Halo facts and lore will say that it is highly unlikely if not impossible that the Aegis would've fared very well against the Covenant ship or that one could've been destroyed by the Hannibal. However I really, really, REALLY wanted to change how things had gone in the movie 'Halo: Forward Unto Dawn' so I tried to balance making the fight very difficult but not so much so as to make getting out of there impossible. I hope any hardcore fans of the Halo franchise won't be too offended at how non-canon things went and simply enjoyed the overall story.