Mistakes Are Made
August 20, 1945 (Local Calender)
Florence, Duchy of Romagna
It has been at least more than a month since the 501st Joint Fighter Wing "Strike Witches" destroyed the Venezia Hive, thus pretty much liberating the entire Apennine Peninsula. With it, more land of Europe is liberated from the Neuroi.
Within that month, waves of good news came at high speed. The combined forces of Liberion, Britannia, and Karlsland managed to push the Neuroi to the Libya-Egypt border. While Gallia still can't be considered safe, the country's situation had become better. The situation on the Eastern Front is better than before; the Neuroi is no longer on offensive, thus giving a chance to the Allied forces to counterattack.
Until further notification, the 501st is currently taking a well-needed rest.
At the historic center of the city, Miyafuji Yoshika is touring with Lynette Bishop and Francesca Lucchini. Their destination is the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore. It's one of the most famous heritage site in Romagna.
"Wow, it looks so cool and amazing!" Stated Yoshika as she sees the cathedral.
"Of course! If there's one thing Romagna is definitely famous about, it's our historical value." Replied Francesca.
"According to a book I read, under the dome of the cathedral, there's a painting called The Last Judgement." Said Lynette.
"Really? Is the painting made during the Renaissance?"
"Yes, it is."
"Then we should see it. I heard from the locals that those kind of paintings are one of the best in Europe."
"I don't think we can. You see those people there?" Said Francesca as she points at said people. "With the recent defeat of Neuroi Hive at the northern peninsula, tourism once again blooming, albeit not too much."
"Uuh, that's a shame." Commented Yoshika.
"Don't worry, Yoshika. Maybe some other time." Assured Francesca. "Speaking of which, how is Major's condition?"
"According from what I heard, the doctor still doesn't allow her to serve as anything and ordered her to rest." Said Yoshika.
"Ordering Sakamoto? Good luck." Commented Lynette.
"I don't think it will be that hard. Rumors said that the doctor assigned to take care of Sakamoto is a kind of doctor that will do anything – even dirty business – to make sure his patient becomes healthy. Only rumors, but that should say something."
"Anyway, is Major still going to be a part of 501st? She lost most of her magic after all." Asked Francesca.
"From what I heard, she is. But not as combatant." Answered Lynette.
The three of them let out a sigh. While they glad that Mio is fine after the entire ordeal destroying Venezia Hive, they also feel sad that one of the best witches of Fuso is no longer capable of fighting on equal or higher ground against the Neuroi. They also know that it's one of few things that scared Mio; being unable to help her subordinates/friends.
"Well, that's not good. We're here to take a rest, not lamenting the fate of our Major." Said Francesca, trying to lighten up the mood.
"I agree. I suggest we also but some souvenirs for our friends." Suggested Lynette.
"That's a great idea, Lynette. Let's go!" Said Yoshika as she grabs both Francesca and Lynette's hand.
UNSC Infinity
While the SPARTANs are preparing for their expedition, that doesn't mean the marines and ODSTs do nothing. In fact, Lasky also ordered them to be ready, just in case something happen.
In a training facility, a group of marines are creating rank-and-file. In front of them, an African descent marine is walking around while keeping his eyes at them. He's Sergeant Major Jonathan Chester Arnold, who tend to be considered as "Sergeant Major Avery Johnson II". Make senses since he's African and also love to smoke a cigar although a different brand. Arnold being one of Johnson's personal student and thus has a somewhat similar attitude probably didn't help.
"Alright, listen up, marines! As you all know, we have arrived at the planet that's the location of one of those ancient alien ruins. Five SPARTANs will be dropped into the planet. This mission is stealth but in case things go south, we come in!" Said Arnold.
A marine raises his hand and asked, "Sir, what kind of opposition we should expect?"
"Good question, marine. Higher-ups have determined that this planet's locals have the technology to produced radio and propeller plane."
Murmurs start to come from the marines. That's one of few thing they didn't expect. Most of the times, they expected a primitive alien or one as advanced as the Covenant. Not that they want the latter part to happen again.
"More specifically, World War II era technology."
The murmurs now become louder.
"Silence, marines!"
The murmurs immediately stop as the marines once again pay attention to Arnold.
"I am going to explain on what-to-do when we're deployed. Because we will be deployed only when things go south for the SPARTANs, that means a firefight is nothing but assured. Our main objective is to extract the SPARTANs alongside our alien allies. Don't hesitate to shoot-to-kill! Higher-ups believed that the locals will be similar to humans. That's not an excuse to be a pussy!" Stated Arnold.
Another marine raises her hand, "Sir, do we have to worry about the locals' weaponry?"
"You must, because their weapons still can kill you. But most of the time, that's a waste of time. When we extract the SPARTANs, we will be accompanied with at the very least two Pelicans. The only thing strong enough to damage it is the infamous Flak 88. And I doubt the Allies nor the Axis can accomplished something like knocking down a Pelican without sustaining very severe casualties. The chance for Hell to freeze is higher than that. And if that's not enough, one of the alien's destroyer is more than willing to give us some fire support." Answered Arnold with a grin.
His grin however vanished as his face becomes more serious.
"I am not going to sugar-coated it. While this planet might remind you of WWII, not that I care much about it, this is not Earth. As such, don't anticipate anything. Treat it like an alien planet that has inhabitant that looks similar to human. Be prepared for everything. Crystal?"
"Clear!" Shouted the marines.
"Just remember, we are UNSC Marine Corps, and nothing will stop us. Are we clear?"
"Hoo-ah!"
"I said 'are we clear'?"
"HOO-AH!"
"Good, marines. Now get your equipment and be ready to be called anytime!"
With Arnold's words, the marines disperse and start jogging towards the armory.
Night Time (Local)
Gallian Airspace
Flying at the sky, night witch Jennifer J. DeBlanc of the B-Unit of the 506th Joint Fighter Wing "Noble Witches" is patrolling to make sure that no Neuroi use night as an opportunity to strike the Allied forces when they're vulnerable.
During the early days of her role as night witch, it felt really lonely. She very rarely patrol with other night witch and thus spent most of her time alone. Of course, it changed when she spotted a Neuroi or two. Fortunately, the newly-developed "Night Witch radio community" managed to solve the problem.
Well, somewhat. It's kind of useless if you're trying to talk with someone who doesn't like talking.
"This is Squadron Leader Sayn-Wittgenstein reporting. No sign of Neuroi."
What she heard makes Jennifer laughs a little.
"You know, Heinrike, if you really want to talk in the radio community, you should just say so." Said Jennifer.
"It's…well…I guess you're right. Still, first thing first, how's the situation at your end?"
Jennifer looks at her "radar" for a moment before replying.
"Nope. No Neuroi detected. So far, it's a quite night."
"Good." Silence falls for few seconds before Heinrike talks again. "You know, thing seems to become relaxed. Neuroi's attacks are now less often to happen."
"Yeah. Remembering they lost two hives in span of a year, I guess it's not that strange they're now trying to regroup." Replied Jennifer.
"That make sense. Speaking of which, have you heard the most recent rumor?"
"Rumor? You mean the rumor about the retaking of Europe all the way to Karlsland?"
"Yeah, I really hope it's a rumor that will become a truth."
"You really miss your home, huh?"
"Missing my home is an understatement. I am sure every other Karlslander feel the same thing."
"I can't imagine that. I can, technically speaking, go back home anytime I want and yet I still miss it."
Jennifer and Heinrike continue their conversation when the former realizes something. When she looks at the sky, she sees falling stars.
"Look, look, Heinrike! Falling stars!" Shouted Jennifer.
"There's no need to yell for something like a falling star!" Replied Heinrike harshly.
"What, you don't like falling star?"
"It's less about not liking it and more because you're too loud." Heinrike then becomes silence and seems to be thinking about something. "Wait a minute. Speaking of falling star, those are…"
Before Heinrike can finish her sentence, someone interrupted it with a reminder.
"While I have no problem with you girls talking to each other, you have a job to do."
"Same with me, I encouraged it in fact. That's not an excuse to neglect your job however."
Both Jennifer and Heinrike become tense when they heard the voices of Rosalie de Hemricourt de Grunne and Geena Preddy respectively.
"Sorry about that, Commander/Pardon me, Major." Said Jennifer and Heinrike at the same time.
"We'll let this slide. Next time though, no excuse." Stated Rosalie.
Hearing that, both night witches immediately return to their own patrol.
Unbeknown to them, if they look at the "falling stars" longer, they will notice that there's something strange about them.
Dropping towards the ground and the "falling stars" that the night witches saw are none other than five Single Occupant Exoatmospheric Insertion Vehicles – or Egg as they're informally known – and a Type-54 Mass Deployment Carapace. Each Eggs consist of one SPARTAN of Fireteam Vanguard while the Type-54 MDC is filled with the Sword of Sanghelios' expeditionary team.
As the Eggs reach the altitude of 3,000 feet, the upper exterior panels separate acting as a drag-type chute, slowing their descent some and helping to keep the pods on course by keeping them upright. At about 50 meters, the pods' computer controlled braking rockets engage, slowing the pods further. Thanks to these, the Eggs reach the ground safely.
On the other hand, the Type-54 MDC only need to use a low-range gravity dampening pulse to reach the ground safely.
From one of the Eggs, Abbas emerges after the door was blasted open. He relaxes his body for few moments before taking his equipment from the pod. When he looks at this surrounding, he can see that they landed near the Ardennes and his teammates are fine and so do the aliens.
When he looks at the Sword of Sangehelios' team, he sees one Special Operations Officer Elite. He doesn't seems to be armed, but look can be deceiving. The other is a Special Operations Elite who is armed with Type-57 Covenant Carbine and a pair of Special Operations Grunts who are armed with Type-54D Directed Energy Pistol. What stand the most for Abbas is the presence of a Jackal. He's armed with Type-27 Special Application Sniper Rifle.
"A Jackal? Isn't he a little too bloodthirsty to be a part of SpecOps?" Asked Abbas.
Surprisingly, it's the Jackal who answered that question. Abbas never heard a Jackal speaking in English, so this kind of surprised him.
"Do not compare me with my kin, human. I have trained myself so that my thirst can't compromised the mission." Retorted the Jackal.
Abbas cringes a little when he heard the Jackal speaking. The Jackal's sounds quite…harsh to put it easy. It makes hearing him speaking a little jarring.
"He's right, human. This Ruutian is less bloodthirsty than other Kig-Yars." Defended a Grunt.
"Though he does still have some thirst. So keeping an eye on him is advisable." Stated another Grunt.
"Both of you are not helping!" Exclaimed the Jackal.
"Enough!" Shouted the Special Operations Officer, silencing all of them. "Apologize for my subordinates…misconducts. I assured you that it won't happen again."
"It's fine. I have no problem with it." Replied Abbas. "My name is Hasan Abbas. You can identify me as Abbas."
"Very well, Abbas. I am Gal 'Jarhed. The Sangheili beside me is Vata 'Lodam. The Unggoys are Yadab and Dayab. And the Kig-Yar is Tang."
"Thank you for the introduction." As Gal introduced his subordinates, the rest of Fireteam Vanguard regroup at Abbas. "Now it's my turn. This is Gabriel Locke. The one with shotgun is Douglas Adams. The sniper here is Anne Koyuki. And finally, my second-in-command Christine Smith."
"It is an honor to work with you." Said Gal.
"The honor is mine." Replied Abbas. "Now, what do you think about starting our mission?"
"I fully agree with that decision."
With that, both Fireteam Vanguard and 'Jarhed's team walk to the forest. When they already few meters away, Abbas press some buttons at his wrist.
"What are you doing, Abbas?" Asked Douglas.
"Just you wait and see…or rather hear." Replied Abbas.
Few seconds later, they hear the sound of multiple explosions. Both team turn around and aim their weapons at the source except Abbas and Gal.
"I believe you just destroyed your pods." Said Gal.
"I am." Said Abbas.
"Well, at least at this point our pod is already on its way back to the fleet." Commented Vata as he and others calm down.
Unknown Location
Inside a dark room, three figures from hologram appear. The first one took an appearance of a young man in lab suit, the second a young woman in winter outfit, and the third an old bearded-man in traditional Arabian outfit.
"Is there anything to report?" Asked the young man.
"I have nothing to report, Berlin." Replied the old man.
"Same here." Replied the young woman. "Though the situation at all fronts are not good."
"Indeed. While the loss of our territory is worrying, it is not critical for the mission success, Vladivostok." Replied Berlin.
"I know. But still…"
Their conversation is halted when the old man suddenly received a hologram photo. When he looks at it, his eyes become wider than saucers.
"Something wrong, Suez?" Asked Berlin, noticing his friend's face.
"Both of you, take a look at this." Replied Suez. His tone indicates that it's something serious.
Both Berlin and Vladivostok take a look at the photon given by Suez. Their eyes are now in the same condition as Suez previously.
"No…no, it can't be…" Muttered Vladivostok.
"What are they doing here?!" Exclaimed Berlin.
"That's your mistake, Berlin. You said that the territory that we lost is not critical. While that is true, do you remember why we took it instead of only Karlsland, some of Orussia, and North Africa?"
Berlin thinks about it for a moment before he remembers the reason. His hologram then becomes static before it returns to normal.
"It seems that our security guards are no longer an option. As the new commander-in-chief since the destruction of Gallia and Venezia, I authorized the upgrade of our forces from security guards to defense forces." Stated Berlin.
"Are you sure that's enough?" Asked Vladivostok with a worried tone.
"We have no choice. I don't have authorization to use military forces and the only way to acquire it is by asking the government. But if I do that..."
"There's a chance that they will use it to find the Confederation and burn our new homes, just like what they did to our home planet." Continued Suez.
"Indeed, Suez. This meeting is adjourned!"
With that, the three holograms disappear, leaving the dark room empty.
Somewhere in Gallia…
Both teams manage to pass through the forest. Now, they're searching for a place where they can learn about the locals, that means settlement or military base. As they're moving forward, Koyuki suddenly gives a signal to stop. She then gives another to take cover. She and the rest of Vanguard uses a big log while 'Jarhed's team take a cover behind rocks.
"What's wrong, Koyuki?" Asked Smith.
"I detect a movement up ahead." Replied Koyuki.
Abbas, Locke, Gal, and Vata take a peek from their cover to see a vehicle is moving to the right from their point of view.
"That's a German halftrack." Said Locke.
"You know that, Locke?" Asked Abbas.
"Yeah. When you don't have anything to do, turns out searching about 20th century history is kinda fun."
"Locke has the information that can help us in the mission. Giving him an advisor role is a good decision." Suggested Gal.
"I agree, 'Jarhed. Now Locke, who are those people?" Asked Abbas as he points at the soldiers that exited the now-stopping vehicle.
"Those are German soldiers. To put it simply, they're the bad guys of WWII." Explained Locke.
Both teams are now waiting for the vehicle to pass. However, after few minutes the halftrack didn't move a little bit.
"Damn it, what took them so long?" Said Adams with exasperated tone and mood.
"They're currently repairing their vehicle if you're wondering, human." Replied Tang.
"Wait, you can understand them?" Asked Locke surprised.
"Yes. They're speaking in English and thanks to the wind and the fact that they speak quite loudly, I can hear almost everything they say."
Locke is confused when he heard that. The German military during WWII used, well, German for communication purpose. So it's strange that they're speaking English. Perhaps it's a clue to solve the full identity of the locals.
"What are they saying?" Asked Abbas.
"Wait… They're talking about someone named 'Rommel'. Then 'Patton'…and now someone called 'Montgomery'." Answered Tang.
"Erwin Rommel, George Patton, and Bernard Montgomery…oh, s**t!" Cursed Locke.
"Something wrong, Locke?" Asked Smith.
"The three of them are three of the most famous commanders during WWII. It looks like they not only have WWII technology, but they're also experiencing the same event! Abbas, there's a war in this planet!"
While the aliens don't make a fuss about it, the rest of Vanguard are shocked when they heard that. Not there's a war part, but the part where the war is similar, if not outright the same as the Second World War.
"What. The. F**k?" Said Smith.
"You tell me." Said Koyuki, agreeing with Smith.
"Alright, everyone. Keep calm." Stated Abbas. "So Locke, what do you think we should do?"
"Well, the order stated that we must try to avoid contact at all cost. However, knocking or silently killing are permitted. Now, we will wait for them for two minutes at the most. If not…" Locke cocked his MA5D ICWS. "…we deal with them. Every time we wait is every time we wasted. After all, no one is going to miss a Nazi."
"Sounds good to me. Anyone have an objection?" Said Abbas. When no one say anything, the result is clear.
Both Fireteam Vanguard and 'Jarhed's team are now waiting for the two minutes, the minutes that will decide the fate of the Karlsland troops.
And finally it's done.
Some of the weapons that will be used appeared in Halo 5. Since the story take place between Halo 4 and Halo 5, the weapons and vehicles from the latter game will make an appearance.
If you have question or suggestion, feel free to tell me.
Review please.