Firebase Noble, Reach
November 12, 2557
The service for Jaguar was short and informal. The two other fireteams in the 37th, Regal and Bishop had been present as well as holograms of the small number of Spartans on extended leave. Lusana included.
"Cedo Nulli. I yield to no one. Not only did Jaguar go above and beyond what the call of duty asked, but they were good people. Inside and out. No doubt that they remained unyielding even at the time of their deaths."
Tyrant stood in the center, holding four sets of dog tags, each one belonging to one of Jaguar. In the center of the chamber stood four large boxes, holding the bodies of their fallen. The other 37th Spartans stood around, all with puzzled and uncertain looks on their faces, something that seldom happened. "I'll never forget them on a personal level. They never deserved to die like this."
"Then what's the plan?" Fowler asked. His question was on every other Spartan's mind.
Tyrant gave an equally hardened gaze. "Track them, find them and kill them."
Eon was in the briefing room of their section at Firebase Noble obtaining their pre-mission synopsis. Tyrant had earlier dispatched Fireteam Regal to Installation 02 in an ONI corvette to recover their fallen comrades. They had less than twenty-four hours to find out what happened to Jaguar or Regal would suffer a similar fate. Thankfully, they had escaped without being compromised and managed to gather quite a lot of intel Tyrant was about to share with Eon.
"You do know that Jaguar's report to HIGHCOM was about them dying in a disaster onboard Halo?" Bowman asked. When Tyrant nodded, he continued, "Halo's supposed to be stable. The only atypical thing that could cause a disaster is something artificial."
The rest of Eon eyed their commander curiously.
Tyrant knew that he'd eventually have to come out with the truth. He was sending Eon out to plot their next move against the killers but they needed to be back at full capacity. It did no good to send an Eon Lead who had been whisked away onto the field hours after being certified to be a Spartan.
"You're correct Eon Lead. Jaguar's death wasn't at the hands of a disaster. At least a natural one." He looked at the holotank in the center, a wide five by four foot display. "Hades are you there?"
"I certainly am." The AI materialized onto the table in a swirl of blue light.
Hades, being the 37th's primary liaison between Tyrant and field teams wore a plain black shirt and pants and he had shaved his head bald. His signature item was an electric guitar, covered in various designs from time to time. This time, it had four hands crossed together with the initials of the fallen.
"Listen, I'm so sorry about what happened."
"Save it." Tyrant said, sharing the sympathy, but not wanting to keep it going. "Eon's here."
"Already? I thought they were going to rest up."
"We're good to go." Bowman sharply said.
"Bring up the file on Jaguar's deaths."
"Yes sir." Hades vanished. "Want me to step off?"
"Please. This is something I want Eon to hear in private. Cut off all recording devices until I issue the clear."
"You got it."
Tyrant tapped the data and it expanded onto the holotank. "Three days ago, one of the UNSC's deep space scanners on Halo Installation two had malfunctioned. Engineers don't know why or how. So we sent in a repair team who went MIA after checking in twice. Additional recon drones later spotted a Covenant assault force numbering a significant size. It's a large fleet, but not as large as the one that hit Reach. We presume they are responsible for the lost contact and initially hostile."
The Spartans nodded, knowing that the attack on Reach involved one of the largest Covenant fleets ever seen loomed over its darkened skies. Photographers had captured some eerie and chilling images, such as a significant one of a quartet of cruisers emerging from the horizon of clouds, like giant black monsters waiting to claim the helpless below.
"Jaguar was sent in because of our stealth reputation. They carried ample equipment to properly diagnose the scanner and repair it. Needless to say, its malfunctioning should have been a dead giveaway that it was compromised. Still, I gave the order." Tyrant turned away, guilt in his eyes. "The force was primarily brutes. They discovered Jaguar and killed them."
"You sent them to their deaths." Pine breathed.
"Yes. All of them. They knew the risks and took on the task without a second thought. It's hard bearing the brunt of all of it. I have to write letters to all of their families. One little drawback to our unique unit regulations."
"Good thing that's been abolished."
"I suppose so. We're working with ONI on our end to find out how Jaguar was discovered." The teams were all part of Tyrant himself. Their greatest successes and failures were shared alike.
The 37th had a unique requirement prior to entering in the unit. The use of a healthy relationship with someone else, regardless was required to be even considered for qualification inside. The idea was to believe that someone married, engaged, etc was less likely to make reckless mistakes and uphold a vow to return home alive.
Austal was nearly kicked out of the unit due to that rule. Now with it gone, the spectrum broadened up to new potential recruits previously rejected due to this term.
"I suppose that's the price we bear for the UNSC and humanity. The price that Wiles, Paboucek, Cullen and Lupano all paid yesterday. Let's all make sure we don't have to pay it ever again. A stealth frigate will be here to escort you back to Halo Installation 02 once we get a full assessment of the malfunctioning post. Until then, that's all I've got for you."
Marcus Austal lived about twenty minutes out of Firebase Noble, just on the outskirts of New Alexandria.
After Reach's glassing, many parts of the planet were spared from the scorching from above. The metro area happened to be one of the lucky places where the rebuilding process could start. Remarkably, the city had already boomed to nearly its previous status before the attack. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for the rest of the planet.
There would be times where he would be gone for days on end without any ample leisure. Stressful for sure.
Then again, what did he have in mind. No immediate family. His parents had died when he was thirteen and he was moved in the care of his aunt until he completed school. Post-graduation saw him joining the military and eventually landing a slot in the Spartan-IV program.
That was one of the drawbacks of having an apartment in his complex. The area was great, with good places to shop and eat, plus it was definitely safe. However, the cost of his rental was quite significant and unfortunately, he had a couple of accounts in a New Corsican bank in his name established by his parents. He had monitored them since he was nineteen and watched them grow into bountiful amounts. Sadly, he couldn't touch the money until he was twenty-four years old. He remembered when his parents created the accounts. They had believed that he would have finished science or math school and have already had his degree to go and inherit the family riches. Nobody knew what had come in that Los Angeles gas attack. Both of his parents were in the lobby when it broke out. Investigations came up cold, but part of him believed that it was no coincidence.
It was for sure that Austal wouldn't make the same mistake for his own family.
He settled into his bed and promptly closed his eyes, falling into a deep sleep.
Colonial Natural Resources Department Earth and Luna Headquarters
Vancouver, Canada
Tricia Drestler looked over at her ringing chatter. She gave a sigh upon looking at its ID.
Out of all times the boyfriend Chris tried to call her, it was now, when showing the Vice Minister of the CNRD their newfound servers and database to replace their old headquarter area in London.
The sun was beginning to shine outside, sparkling over the crisp waters of the harbor and the glass buildings across on Vancouver Island reflected the brilliant orange glow.
She excused herself and walked to a secluded area.
"Chris?"
"Hey Trish," His voice was crackled with concern, "I've got something for you?"
"Can it wait? I'm showing the department's number four our new facility."
"No. Just come to the coffee shop across the street." The line clicked dead.
It was odd; Chris knew that she wouldn't be off for another two hours and she told him that she would be among the staff showing the Vice Minister their new place. If the department was to crack down on energy and natural resource use, then getting approval from the higher-ups was essential.
"Trish?" Her boss called out, "Where are you?" He was a stern faced man in a jacket and khakis. Next to him stood the slightly shorter Vice Minister with wire thin glasses and snowy hair.
"I'm here. It's just my boyfriend. He wants me to meet with him at the coffee across the street."
"Really?" Her boss gave her that look, "Are you kidding me? When the Vice Minister's in town?"
Her chatter rang again. The Vice Minister nodded, "Go."
She thanked them and hurried downstairs, her brown high heels clicking on the marble floor.
Trish stood nearly six feet tall with reddish hair and beautiful blue shaded eyes. Her newfound job as one of the administrators for the Canadian area of the department was important, especially with the thought of Chris proposing in the near-future.
The street was bustling with cars, so she waited until one of the crosswalks blinked green and hurried over.
As she prepared to head inside the coffee shop, the door opened and a different man stepped out. He had a bit of stubble on his chin and a couple of small scars running down his jawbone. He was clad in a black windbreaker and his eyes bored into her as she walked past. When he exited, he made no move to keep the door open for her entrance.
Trish rolled her eyes and went inside. She found the blond haired Chris within seconds and sat down in the seat across from him.
"What's this all about?"
"It's no big deal. Why don't we head back to your work?"
She gave him a quizzical stare. Chris seemed a little off today. "What?"
"Let's just go." He stood up and began to exit.
"Chris." She put her hand on his arm, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah." His eyes told her otherwise, but she didn't really want to upset him too much.
They crossed the street back to the building, a massive glass paned face that was preceded by a large courtyard, complete with a hologram of Earth that rotated in the center near a pair of fountains.
Chris grabbed her hand and squeezed it. She looked around, noticing that there was strangely a lack of people around. She could still see the security officer busy at his computer.
The doors automatically opened up, breezing a wall of warm air in their direction.
"Trish." The security officer stood up, "Do you need a guess pass for-" His question was cut off by a brief soft sound as he flinched, hands moving down to see the single bullet wound in his chest.
Trish and Chris turned around; the same man in the black windbreaker leveled a smoking pistol. It thumped again, discharging a bullet straight into Chris' stomach. He let out a sharp yelp of pain and fell down, blood beginning to seep from the wound.
Trish wanted to scream and jumped when another bullet struck the floor a few inches from her feet. The gunman now had the weapon pointed at her face.
"Sweetie, I wouldn't touch him if I were you." He threatened in a cold and hard voice.
Trish glared at him despite her fears of running amok. Sure there had been threats of takeovers and attacks to the department, but nothing this real. She knew like usual ransom gunmen, they wouldn't harm her whether the demand was met or the counter-terror teams. Her limbs began to shake as she cast a long look at her boyfriend, now groaning on the floor with a hand clamped over his wound.
"What do you want from me?" She asked, voice beginning to shake as well.
"Your cooperation. Do as I say and I promise you and your boyfriend will be unharmed any further."
A rattle of gunfire caused a bunch of screams to erupt. This time, five more armed men in similar clothing held submachine guns. They marshaled a group of staff to the stairs.
"Upstairs now!" One of them fired a stream of bullets into the ceiling for motivation.
He motioned for Trish and Chris to join them.
Moving slowly and deliberately, she picked him up, draping his left arm over her shoulder. He grunted, putting pressure on his legs and trying his best to help despite being wounded. The look he gave her completely was disheartening.
"I'm sorry."
The lone gunman holstered his silenced pistol and shoved the dead security officer off the desk chair. He tapped an earpiece on his left side once he had settled in.
"Clear."
Been quite a while. I'm such a busy person. XD
Thank you very much for reading and reviewing. You give my writing purpose.