Africa Storm

Answers to some reviews:

edboy4926: Let's just say that the war against the Neuroi will never be the same again.

minecraft93: Well, it's not like they want to.

Maroon567: No, it's Neuroi. The color of the planes is black, but Doolittle can't see it clearly, hence his doubt of the planes being colored black.

DEFCON-1: To put it simply, the war will become more intense.

August 27, 1945 (Local Calendar)

Pescara, Duchy of Romagna

Near the base of the 501st JFW, there are many trucks parked nearby with weapons, equipment, etc. scattered around them. With the defense of Romagna now fall once again to the hands of the 504th JFW, the 501st is about to be relocated to the frontline of the western front, which is near the borders of Karlsland with Batavian and Gallia.

However, the mood in the briefing room indicates that something bad had happened. Really bad.

Every member of the 501st have been in the room for a couple of minutes. After having silence for that long, Minna decides to break it.

"Alright, everyone please listen!" The attentions of the 501st are now on her. "I am here to informed all of you about three disastrous events that took place yesterday."

"What kind of events, Commander?" Asked Perrine.

"On August 26, 00:39 Zebra time, at Pacific Ocean, a group of planes believed to be belong to the Neuroi bombarded USS Hornet and USS Wasp along with their escorts, resulting in the loss of 1,254 personnel, three destroyers, two cruisers, and USS Hornet with Wasp under heavy damage and believed to be out-of-service for 2 months at the least. One of the greatest loses is a Medal of Honor recipient; the posthumously promoted General James Harold "Jimmy" Doolittle."

The revelation shocks everyone in the room. However, Minna is not finished at the slightest.

"On 01:15 Zebra time, the same group of planes performed a raid on Tokyo. The raid resulted in the loss of more than 800 people on both military and civilian."

"Then, happened almost at the same time as the Neuroi raid on Tokyo, another group of planes launched an attack on Pearl Harbor. The attack resulted in the loss of 2,549 personnel, 248 aircraft, 2 aircraft carriers USS Yorktown and USS Lexington, 3 battleships USS Arizona, USS Oklahoma, and USS Utah, and dozens of cruisers, destroyers, and submarines."

After Minna delivers the shocking news, she can see that everyone has the same expression; shock, disbelief, terrified.

"H-How is it possible?! Both Fuso and Liberion should be out of Neuroi's range of attack. Furthermore, there shouldn't be any attack ever since the Fuso Sea Incident!" Exclaimed Shirley.

"Indeed. We believe that the Neuroi actually has the capability to launch the attacks, but decided to only executed them years after the beginning of the war. Thanks to that, they caught us with our pants down." Replied Mio as she clenches her hand.

"Due to these events, we will receive less support from Fuso and Liberion due to both countries have started to strengthen their defense. In fact, some of their ships have been called back."

Some of the girls realize that it's a big blow in the overall capability of Allied forces. Both Fuso and Liberion were far away from the frontline and thus can safely devoted their industries to help the war effort. These were unlike Britannia and Romagna during the early stages of the war that – while defended by the witches – lose at least one factory or two each time they're attacked and replacing even one is not an easy task.

But now both countries are going to devoted most of their resources to the defense of themselves. Which means that they will be less supplies, less ships, less troops, etc. Many Allied top brass have realized that depending on one or two countries for you war industry is not such a good idea. Something needs to be done, and fast.

"That is everything I have. You are dismissed!" Stated Minna.

As she and Mio exit the room, the rest of the 501st are discussing about the turn the war has decided to make.

"Say Shirley, how much did the attack damaged Liberion?" Asked Erica.

"To the point that we don't have enough ships to protect our coasts. Luckily if I am not wrong, there are currently a large number of aircraft carriers and some battleships under construction." Replied Shirley, quite shocked about the events especially Pearl Harbor.

"Well, that's a good thing. Anyway, Yoshika, is your family…"

"Don't worry, Lynne. My home is at Yokosuka, and it's a part of Greater Tokyo, not the capital city itself." Assured Yoshika, though she can't help but worried about her mother and grandmother.

"Man, to think that Neuroi will attack with planes, who would ever…"

"That's it!" Exclaimed Trude as she interrupted Francesca.

"What is it, Barkhorn?" Asked Perrine.

"I forgot to asked Commander about the Neuroi's designation. Every time they attack, their designation was either heavy, drone, turtle, or something like that. But never a vehicle name. So why this one is given that name?" Explained Trude.

Now that she said it, everyone realize that something is different with these attacks. While Neuroi have vehicle-like appearances, ranging from tank to airplane, they were never called that because their strange design. At least by their standards.

This means that something must be different that makes the Neuroi designated as "planes" instead of other designation like "heavy" or "light". And then there's Minna's word "belong", as if she wanted to say that the Neuroi didn't look like a plane, but rather have a plane. Remembering how Neuroi look like, they doubt that even one of them can enter said plane. Even the witch-like Neuroi have "striker unit" as their body, thus making piloting a plane also an impossibility.

"Well, I think I'll ask Minna about that. For now, we can only hope there won't be anything bad happen." Commented Trude.

Of course, like what Murphy said, "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong."

October 27, 2557 (UNSC Calendar)

UNSC Infinity

Lasky is currently waiting for a connection between the Infinity and the HIGHCOM. At first, Lasky decided to contact the HIGHCOM after finishing the inspection of almost all Library Facility while occasionally send them reports. However, after he saw the attacks that the Neuroi did on Liberion carriers, Tokyo, and Pearl Harbor, he knows that he must act. And fast.

But he can't just rush in and help the local. He needs the permission from HIGHCOM. After all, they're his superiors and the ones who execute this expedition in the first place.

When the connection is established, Lasky gives a salute to his superiors. When he looks at the people on the other side, he doesn't see Fleet Admiral Sir Terrence Hood, Chief of Naval Operations.

"At ease, captain." Said one of them, General Hogan of UNSC Marine Corps.

"Thank you, sir. Permission to speak?"

"Permission granted."

"Where is Lord Hood?"

"Lord Hood is currently busy with some administrative problems. So unfortunately, he won't be attending this meeting."

"I understand. Sir, I am pretty sure all of you had received my reports?"

"Indeed, we have, Lasky. I am surprised that there are other humans besides us in the galaxy. Who knows how could this happen." Said General Nicolas Strauss of UNSC Army.

"I have some theories. Either they're our cousins or when the Forerunner seeded the galaxy, they seeded humans on more than one planet. The last one is a theory made by one of the monitors."

"Monitors? Plural?" Asked Hogan.

"Yes, sir. There are two monitors tasked to guard the Forerunner facility designated as 'Library Facility'; 074 Sadness Gateway and 711 Aggressive Fiber."

"Thanks for the information, Lasky. I know you enough Lasky, that you won't made this contact with the HIGHCOM due to…" Hogan glances a little bit at the woman besides him. "…reasons unless it is very important."

"Indeed, sir. This is my latest report on the planet."

Lasky sends the report to the HIGCOM for them to see. When they read it, they show little surprise and some intrigue.

"So they're being invaded like us, except in happens during 1936 while for us the first alien invasion happened in 2525." Commented General Dellert of UNSC Air Force.

"I agree, sir. At first, they can hold back the Neuroi with WWII weaponry. Then, their latest attacks show that they possessed energy shielding, orbital-capable fighter planes, laser, and possibly plasma. This makes their air force on par with the UNSC and the Covenant, at least on terms of combat capability. I believe that the Neuroi is only recently show the true extend of their weaponry, which is why there are high casualties on the latest attacks." Explained Lasky.

"It's indeed troubling. We barely hold the Covenant with the best of what the 26th century can offer, and it still didn't enough to prevent them from attacking the Inner Colonies and even Earth. The result of this invasion will be more obvious than Forerunner is a forerunner." Said Strauss.

"Which is why I am asking your permission for a proposal, sir." Stated Lasky.

"What kind of proposal, Lasky?" Asked Hogan.

"I proposed that we use the combined fleet to support the local humanity in fighting back the Neuroi. Then, we established connection with the planet and the UNSC so that they will have a better chance next time they received an alien invasion. This will also result in what I believed to be a reunification of humanity."

The faces that the top brass show suggest that they agree with the proposal. After all, while the UNSC's role is the defense of Earth and her colonies, almost all of them won't mind helping other humanity that's not part of their colonies.

There's one problem however.

"What do you think will happen if you revealed yourself?"

Lasky's entire body become stiff when he heard that. He can feel that cold sweat is starting to formed on his forehead. He slowly focused his vision on the only woman in the committee, but more powerful than the rest of them combined; Admiral Serin Osman of Office of Naval Intelligence.

"I am…afraid that I don't understand the question, ma'am." Said Lasky worriedly.

"Let me put this, Captain. You said that these Neuroi air force is on par with us and the Covenant. What else that they could be on par with us? Their army maybe? Perhaps even their navy. We know little to nothing about them and as far as we could guess, they're another Covenant in all but ideology and name."

"I agree with you, ma'am. However, the fleet is consisted of several of our best ships including Infinity and Shadow of Intent. I am sure that…"

"Sorry for interrupting, Captain. But please answer this question; let say Infinity and Shadow of Intent are part of the ships in the defense of Reach. Can you defend Reach from falling?" Asked Osman.

Lasky really want to say yes, if that means the CINCONI will give her blessing. However, he knows that both Infinity and Shadow of Intent – no matter how powerful they are – will be outnumbered and outgunned by the 315 Covenant ships, even with the supports of the ODPs and 152 ships.

"No, ma'am. Not even with both ships we can prevent the Fall of Reach." Said Lasky with a sigh.

"That's right, Lasky. There's a chance that the Neuroi is a powerful as the Covenant at its height. Sure, the chance is perhaps low, but still a chance." Said Osman.

Just like her predecessor and the rest of ONI, Osman shows a sign of paranoia on something that she didn't know. Fortunately, ONI's paranoia is what makes them capable of preventing the extinction of humanity most of the time. Emphasis on "most of the time".

"So, how is it, ma'am?" Asked Lasky.

"For now, keep yourself hidden, observe, and wait for further order. That way, even if the planet's fall, it won't happen with the best of our best." Replied Osman.

The rest of the committee, who were agree with Lasky earlier, now agree with Osman. Though Lasky know it's out of fear rather than because they see Osman's proposal as better. It's always like that, the only time they're brave enough to defy ONI is when their proposal is about mundane stuff and not too important, the one where ONI won't bother making them "disappear".

"I understand, ma'am." Said Lasky with a salute.

"Good to hear, Captain. I believe this meeting is over." Said Osman.

"Before that, we need a name for the planet. We can't just call it 'planet', and the name that the Forerunner used, this…'something-or-whatever' is too difficult to be pronounced." Suggested Dellert.

"I believe 'Frontier' is a good name. The location of the planet is quite far from the Outer Colonies. It will also become our furthest colony when we colonized it." Suggested Osman.

Lasky realizes the emphasis on "when" and the usage of the word instead of "if". He really wishes that he doesn't know the meaning behind it. About the name though, everyone agrees and this time it's genuine.

"Now, I believe the meeting is finished this time."

With that, the connection between Infinity and the HIGHCOM is severed. Lasky calls Roland to demand something from him.

"Roland, please tell the cooks that I want them to make the strongest coffee available in the ship."

"At…once, sir."

Lasky then exits the bridge and headed straight to the mess hall. This is a very stressful day, and he knows it.

Library Facility – Sector 00, The Alps

Gal 'Jarhed is currently approaching 711 Aggressive Fiber. He's about to ask for a help to get to Sector 01 – which is Africa – before the monitor immediately say something.

"You're here, the ally of the Reclaimers? Good, now I want your help to…"

"Wait, wait, Oracle. I don't understand what you're trying to say." Said Gal immediately.

"I am sorry. It's just that we received that there's a…complication at Sector 01. Namely, the discharged Prometheans are escaping thanks to the meddlers."

"Discharged Prometheans?"

"Yes. The Neuroi attacked not only the humans, but also performed expeditions to the facility. We managed to fend them off despite they also managed to gain something or two. The expeditions caused us the losses of several Prometheans and Armigers. In order to replenish our forces, we created a large number of Promethean Knights. But some of them are not…suitable." Explained Fiber.

Gal really does not want to know how the monitors managed to create more Knights, knowing that it won't be pleasant at all. Still, at least he knows what the monitor is trying to say; there's a group of Knights that are combat capable but have problems that makes them went rogue.

"I see. Then why are you asking us instead of the humans?" Asked Gal.

"The Reclaimers are busy exploring the facility and some are on their way to Sector 07, which is in Antarctica. Also, I know that weaponry speaking, you're more advanced than the Reclaimers." Explained Fiber.

"I understand. In that case, my brothers and I are more than willing to help you." Said Gal.

"Excellent. Now, what are we waiting for?"

Few minutes later…

Library Facility – Sector 01, North Africa

A teleportation gird appears inside a vast room. From it, Aggressive Fiber along with some Promethean Knights appear. They're soon followed by the Swords of Sanghelios, ranging from the tiny Unggoys to the giant Mgalekgolos. They're lead by Special Operations Officer Gal 'Jarhed.

They walk a few steps before stopping in front of a door. Fiber floats around a little bit before delivering a bad news.

"Oh dear, large number of Knights right behind that door. We open it, and they'll fire at us." Reported the Monitor.

At first, Gal is willing to do just that, some casualties on their side but complete annihilation of the Knigts. However, he realizes that because there's no Flood in here, there's a chance that the security is not as strict as the ones with them.

"Oracle, is there a way for us to flank them?" Asked the Sangheili.

"There is. One moment." After few seconds, they can hear that something is opening. When they look at the wall, they see a door is opening. "Go through that door and you will see a ventilation. It's big enough for you to walk through it. Just follow it and you will arrive at the other side."

"Understood. 'Lodam, Tang, you're with me." Said Gal as he activates his Energy Sword.

The three of them go through the door. When they see the room, it's a small one with a vent on the wall. Vata approaches the vent, opens it, aims his weapons inside, before getting in. He's soon followed by Gal and then Tang.

The three of them walk through the vent with a little discomfort. While it's big enough for them to walk, they need to crouch a little, making having a walk not quite comfortable. Halfway to they're destination, they can hear the screams of humans. When they look at their left, they see another vent. The only things they can see are hard light going to one side, copper bullets going to another side, and various grenades thrown from both sides. The screams though help them figuring what's happen on the other side.

Gal, Vata, and Tang continue their walk before finally reaching another vent. This one is a dead end. Vata kicks the vent off before they exit the ventilation. They scan around and find themselves in a similar room. They exit the room quietly and see that right in front of them is a group of Promethean Knights with their backs shown.

Gal is the first to make a move. He runs to the Knights and cuts through one. He then diverts the sword to the one besides him. The other Knights soon realize they are attacked from behind. They start firing their weapons at the trio. Luckily, the three of them manage to take cover before their shield are down. From behind their cover, Vata attacks back with his Type-57 Carbine while Tang with his Type-27 SASR. Gal deactivates his Energy Sword and now wields Type-56 Needler.

It is at that moment that the Swords and Fiber's forces breach in. On the first wave are the Mgalekgolos who immediately fired their assault cannons at the Knights. Then, the Sangheili Zealots charge in with their Energy Swords. It's a good thing that there is a difference between the Knights that against them and the ones who support them. The ones against them have orange illuminations while the others have blue illuminations.

With their back attacked once again, the rogue Knights spilt-up; some attack the flanking trio while the remaining attack the main forces. Casualties start to build up among the Swords and Fiber's. Some Unggoys and two Sangheilis are killed with some Kig-Yars wounded. There are only few place can be used to cover, so the rest must constantly dodge. Some Knights belong to Fiber have been destroyed. Fortunately, half of them are revived by the Watchers. They destroyed the rogue Watches to prevent the same thing happen to the destroyed rogue Knights.

Seeing that the number of rogue Prometheans are depleted, Gal activates his sword again and joins with his Zealot brothers. He quickly destroys many Knights and Watchers before they can deplete his energy shield. With their efforts, they manage to finish off all the rogue Knights and Watchers.

"Excellent! Excellent! The result is that the entire Knights and Watchers that went rogue are destroyed…which isn't actually good since there's perhaps a…"

Whatever Fiber wants to said, he stops speaking the moment there's gunfire from the door leading to the next room. Fiber immediately knows that the humans are currently falling back to their position. He opens the door to see that three humans are walking backwards towards their room as they fire the Z-130 Suppressor on their hands. Gal knows that's a brilliant idea since their current weapons won't be enough to bring down the Knights' shield.

After the three of them enter the room, Fiber closes the door and the soldiers finally let out a sigh of relief.

"Jesus, that's a close one." Said a soldier in Karlsland uniform.

"It is, meddlers. Now, which one of you open the containment door?" Asked Fiber without warning.

Right now, Gal doesn't know what he actually wanted. Either telling Fiber that his priorities are kind of screwed up or the fact that he shouldn't told the humans, thus making them aware of the aliens behind them.

Slowly, the three humans turn around, their fingers on the triggers of the Suppressors. The moment they see the aliens and the Prometheans, they do exactly one thing; fire at will. The Swords – thanks to instinct – retaliates and kill all three of them.

"Oh dear, that's unfortunate." Said Fiber simply.

"Alright, new rule; try not to surprise the humans." Said Gal.

"I did not sign up for this!"

That's the line that pass through the mind of Michelle Wittmann. It was to be a simple reconnaissance mission. She, along with Fredrica Staudegger, Rachel Roy, and the 13th Infantry Company of Karlsland will go to the nearest Neuroi position, see whatever happen at the position, return back, and report it.

Everything become bad the moment they found this accursed cave.

When they were about to camped, they found the cave and decided to used it. When they went inside, they realized that it's deeper than what they though, so they decided to went further in. That was when they discover what inside the cave.

She didn't know how to describe it. Despite the fact that it's handmade, it also radiated a feeling of natural and paralyzing. They were just about to set up a camp, perhaps took some pictures and send it to the top brass…

…when whoever that idiot was open the damn door!

From that door, came upon dozens of what she could only described as robots from one of those Liberion comic books. The robots immediately fired at them the moment they see the witches and the soldiers. It became an almost hopeless battle the moment they found out that the robots have energy shields and except machine guns, grenades, and cannons, most of their weapons were unable to bring down the shields.

It was only when they took out some of them and used their own weaponry that they possessed a fighting chance. Unfortunately, the weapons have a very strange design that everyone have a problem using them. It's a good thing that someone finally figured out how to reload the damn thing. But by then, they have lost more than half of the company and now on the run.

Currently, Wittmann, Staudegger, and Roy are hiding behind a wall as some Promethean Knights approaching their position. They check their Suppressors before looking at each other.

"You girls ready?" Asked Staudegger.

"Ready than ever." Replied Roy with Wittmann nodding.

"Good. Let's…"

Before Staudegger can finish her sentence, something is rolling near her feet. She only manages to has a brief look at it before that thing – revealed to be a grenade – explode on her feet and disintegrate her. Both Wittermann and Roy are out of the range and immediately fall back. Three Knights then appear and shoot the witches. They raise their shields and keep it before returning fire. They destroy one and forcing two to take cover. The witches slowly walk backward while keeping the aim of their weapons at the covering Knights.

Suddenly, more than a dozen of them appear and begin shooting. The witches quickly raise their shields to protect them. The intense fire prevents them from retaliating. The attack starts to become too much for the witches and Roy's shield is finally destroyed. The shots from the Knights hit her and she falls.

"ROY, NO!"

Wittmann tries to approach Roy, but doing so cause her to be vulnerable. The shots hit her at the knee and scratch her side. She falls as well but manages to keep her shield up. But she slowly loose her consciousness from the wounds.

"Hehe, so this is how I die, huh? Instead of dying due to old age or fighting Neuroi, I die here, inside a cave, with no one will ever know my demise. Our demise." Thought Wittmann.

The last thing she saw is a humanoid figure attacking the Knights before losing her consciousness.

After finishing the Knights, Gal takes a look at the downed figures of two female humans. From little information that he has about the UNSC, they are rather young to serve in the military. But that could be because he never met someone younger. One thing for sure though is that despite faint, one of them radiates an aura of a warrior. Gal has a bad feeling about the condition of the other female.

"Sir." Gal looks at the speaker and sees Vata. "The Oracle told us that there are only few Knights left. We're moving in to finish them off."

"Good to hear, brother. Tell some of our brothers that I need them to evacuate these humans."

"At once, brother."

As Vata goes back and the rest of the forces headed to the other way, Gal crouches to inspect the still-alive female human. She was definitely armed with a Suppressor from a fallen Knight. She's also wearing some kind of machine at both of his legs.

That, and the fact that by UNSC standards, she doesn't wear the lower part of her uniform. Perhaps it's thanks to the machine on her legs. Gal sees that her knee is bleeding and puts his hands to stop it.

"Worry not, young warrior. You will live to see another glorious battle. That is something I can promise." Said Gal to Wittmann.

Half an hour later, the combined forces of Fiber's Prometheans and the Swords of Sanghelios eradicated the remaining rogue Prometheans, clean Sector 01, and perform medical evacuation on the only survivor, Hauptmann Michelle Wittmann, the Black Baron.

And the chapter is finished.

If you have question or suggestion, feel free to tell me.

Review please.